Patent ID: 7038897
Filing Date: 2006-05-02
Classification: G01R,H02H

Abstract:
1. An arc fault detection system to detect an arc event in aircraft wiring, comprising: a pick-up sensor coupled to said wiring, being adapted to detect an event on said wiring; a differential amplifier coupled to said pick-up sensor, being adapted to amplify an output from said pick-up sensor; a high pass filter coupled to said differential amplifier, being adapted to pass output from said differential amplifier above a predetermined frequency; a plurality of first multi-pole band pass filters coupled to said high pass filter, each of said first multi-pole band pass filters being adapted to pass output from said high pass filter within a predetermined frequency band, each frequency band being non-harmonically related to each other of said first band pass filters; a plurality of first rectifier coupled to said plurality of first multi-pole band pass filters, each of said first rectifiers being adapted to generate a d.c. output based on an arc spectrum from a corresponding one of said first multi-pole band pass filters; a plurality of first level detectors coupled to said plurality of first rectifiers, each of said first level detectors being adapted to generate a logic level output based on an output from a corresponding one of said first rectifiers; a plurality of second multi-pole band pass filters coupled to power and ground terminals, each of said second multi-pole band pass filters being adapted to pass output from said power and ground terminals within a predetermined frequency band; a plurality of second rectifiers coupled to said plurality of second multi-pole band pass filters, each of said second rectifiers being adapted to generate a d.c. output based on an arc spectrum from a corresponding one of said second multi-pole band pass filters; a plurality of second level detectors coupled to said plurality of second rectifiers, each of said second level detectors being adapted to generate a logic level output based on an output from a corresponding one of said second rectifiers; and a decision logic unit coupled to outputs of said plurality of first and second level detectors, being adapted to generate a detection signal only when said first level detectors indicate a valid detection, while said second level detectors indicate no detection.