Patent ID: 8817431

Claim:
A system for electrical circuit fault detection and interruption, comprising: an electrical circuit current sensor in the form of: a bi-directional Hall-effect current sensor (HECS) integrated circuit that measures electrical circuit current and converts said current measurement into a proportional output voltage with a stable output offset voltage; a current sensor measurement phase shift correction circuit that controls a microprocessor interrupt process to match the phase of the current sensor analog-to-digital converter (ADC) measurements to the phase of the electrical circuit fundamental current load frequency; a current sensor measurement anti-alias filter that removes high frequency harmonics and noise from the current sensor ADC measurements; a microprocessor programmed to execute: a time-domain algorithm with an integrated method to detect parallel and series arc faults on resistive and masking load current waveforms; a trip command when electrical circuit faults are detected; a trip and reset switching circuit with trip and reset command inputs that control the closing and opening of the electrical circuit; an electromagnetic trip and reset mechanism that resets said mechanism by closing the electrical circuit and interrupts said electrical circuit by tripping said mechanism and opening said electrical circuit; a trip and reset sensing circuit that indicates the opening and closing of the electrical circuit; a DC power supply circuit powered by: a switch-mode power supply (SMPS) that operates over a wide range of input AC voltages to produce stable output DC voltages; or a linear power supply that operates over a narrow range of input AC voltages to produce stable output DC voltages; or any other available DC power source that produces stable output DC voltages.