Arc fault circuit interrupter and method of parallel and series arc fault detection

摘要

An arc fault circuit interrupter (2) includes separable contacts (4), a neutral conductor (27), an operating mechanism (6) structured to open and close the separable contacts, at least one current sensor (8,50,52) structured to sense current flowing through the separable contacts and output a sensed current value; and a processor (14). The processor (14) includes a first routine (34) structured to provide parallel arc fault detection, a second routine (200) structured to provide series arc fault detection, and a third routine (400) structured to enable (404) the first routine and disable the second routine for a predetermined time when the sensed current value is greater than a predetermined value and to enable (405) the second routine and disable the first routine for the predetermined time when the sensed current value is less than the predetermined value.