Patent Document ID: 20080158744
Application ID: 11646733
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. A circuit interrupter for interrupting current on a line conductor, comprising: separable contacts in electrical communication with the line conductor; a trip mechanism for selectively opening said separable contacts when activated; a bimetal connected in series with the line conductor; a microprocessor in electrical communication with said trip mechanism; a series arc detection sequence resident on said microprocessor, said series arc detection sequence comprising a plurality of series fault detection algorithms; a low-pass filter circuit configured to provide a low-pass signal from said bimetal to said series arc detection sequence, said sequence being configured to select a particular algorithm from said plurality of algorithms based on said low-pass signal; and a high-pass filter circuit configured to provide a high-pass signal from said bimetal to said series arc detection sequence, said sequence being configured to calculate a plurality of statistical features from said high-pass signal and being configured to send an output signal to activate said trip mechanism based on a comparison of said plurality of statistical features to said particular algorithm.