Series Arc Fault Detection and Localization in DC Distribution System

Series arc faults can cause fire hazards in dc distribution systems. During a series arc fault, the line impedance usually increases rapidly and the arc current includes high-frequency components. To capture the arc-induced high-frequency signals, parallel capacitors are added to the circuit. The characteristics of the currents through these capacitors permit fault detection and localization. This paper determined that a Rogowski coil could be constructed with adequate bandwidth to cover the relevant frequency band of 1 kHz-1 MHz, found that the amplitude of the pulse and the difference in the integrated fast Fourier transform of the current signal are well correlated with the series fault, described experiments to demonstrate that, over the range tested, the two parameters are robust with respect to the pressure of the atmosphere in which the arc forms, the electrode material, the speed at which the electrodes separate to initiate the arc, the switch operation, the load-type and the load change, and demonstrated that within the well-known limits of traveling wave localization, such localization can be used based on the capacitor current pulse information after it has been validated by the spectrum analysis as a fault and not a spurious signal. The proposed approach was demonstrated in two low-voltage dc cable circuits.