ARC FAULT DETECTION USING SINGLE CURRENT SENSOR AND WIDEBAND ANALOG FRONTEND

摘要

Systems and methods for detecting an arc fault in a circuit breaker use a single-coil current rate of change (di/dt) sensor for monitoring both low frequency alternating current (AC) and broadband high frequency noise on a power line. The di/dt sensor is optimized to amplify any broadband high frequency noise, typically from about 1 MHz to 40 MHz, that may be present on the power line. Low frequency signals representing the current being monitored, typically from about 1 Hz to 10 KHz, is provided to an active integrator circuit with a high gain to enable the single-coil sensitivity. To shorten capacitor charge up time of the active integrator circuit, a charging current is provided to the active integrator circuit upon startup of the circuit breaker.