A method for protecting an electrical low-voltage circuit includes ascertaining the level of the voltage of the low-voltage circuit in the form of instantaneous voltage values. A change in the current is ascertained over time such that instantaneous current change values are provided. The instantaneous current change values are compared to instantaneous current change threshold values in order to recognize a short circuit in the low-voltage circuit, and if the current change thresholds are exceeded, an electronic interruption unit switches from the low-resistance state to the high-resistance state in order to interrupt the low-voltage current circuit. The process has a trigger time from the short circuit event to the high-resistance state. The trigger time is largely independent of the phase angle. A circuit breaker device for protecting an electrical low-voltage circuit is also provided.

A method for protecting an electrical low-voltage circuit includes ascertaining the level of the voltage of the low-voltage circuit in the form of instantaneous voltage values. A change in the current is ascertained over time such that instantaneous current change values are provided. The instantaneous current change values are compared to instantaneous current change threshold values in order to recognize a short circuit in the low-voltage circuit, and if the current change thresholds are exceeded, an electronic interruption unit switches from the low-resistance state to the high-resistance state in order to interrupt the low-voltage current circuit. The process has a trigger time from the short circuit event to the high-resistance state. The trigger time is largely independent of the phase angle. A circuit breaker device for protecting an electrical low-voltage circuit is also provided.

Embodiments of the present invention provide for impedance shift analysis for failure prediction in an electrical power distribution network. In an embodiment of the invention, the method includes receiving a sequence of electrical measurements indicative of an impedance measured for a segment of an electrical power distribution network over a period of time. Then, a set of impedance measurements is computed for the period of time and the set of impedance measurements is organized into a distribution correlating each one of the impedance measurement with a corresponding computed current measurement. A trend line for the distribution is identified and a slope computed of the trend line. Finally, on condition that the slope exceeds a threshold steepness, an impending failure in the segment is determined and a notification transmitted over a computer communications network to an end user requesting physical inspection of the segment.

A method for detecting fault direction of transmission line of an AC power system and control system using the same. The method includes: sampling current values and voltage values of three phases at one end of the transmission line for a series of time points; for each of the series of time points, computing instantaneous symmetrical voltage components of the three phases based on the voltage value samples for the respective one of the series of time points; for each of the series of time points, computing instantaneous symmetrical current components of the three phases based on the current value samples for the respective one of the series of time points; for at least two of the series of time points, calculating energy directional elements each based on the respective ones of the computed instantaneous symmetrical voltage components and the respective ones of the computed instantaneous symmetrical current components; identifying the fault direction in consideration of the calculated energy directional elements; and generating a fault direction signal indicating the identified fault direction. Simulation results show the graph of the energy directional element calculated based on instantaneous symmetrical voltage components and instantaneous symmetrical current components exhibits distinctive characteristics either for forward or reverse fault. In consideration of such difference, by calculating the energy directional element at each sampling time point, the fault direction information may be identified accurately.

A method for detecting fault in a power transmission line of a power transmission system and protection system using the same. The method includes: obtaining a system parameter of the power transmission system, adjusting protection reachability of a fault detecting element based on the obtained system parameter such that the adjusted protection reachability of the fault detecting element is applicable to a predetermined protection range, identifying whether there is an internal fault occurring on the transmission line using the adjusted fault detecting element, and generating a fault detection decision signal indicating the identified fault. If the predetermined protection range is desirable for the fault detecting element, its protection reachability may be adjusted in consideration of the influence imposed by the SIR such that the reach point of the adjusted fault detecting element can be extended to approach the end of the predetermined protection range. Consequently, the influence on its accuracy by various SIR values can be taken into account and accordingly the fault detecting solution can remove substantial errors as a result thereof.

Disclosed are advances in the arts with novel methods and apparatus for detecting faulty connections in an electrical system. Exemplary preferred embodiments include monitoring techniques and systems for monitoring signals at one or more device loads and analyzing the monitored signals for determining fault conditions at the device loads and/or at the main transmission lines. The invention preferably provides the capability to test and monitor electrical interconnections without fully activating the host system.

The present invention provides a method for current for fault identification in a transmission line and an apparatus thereof. The method comprises the following steps: measuring the real-time values of the currents and the voltages of the other unbroken healthy phase conductors when a single-phase fault occurs; calculating the inductive voltage and the capacitive coupling voltage according to the measured currents and voltages respectively; comparing the capacitive coupling voltage with the inductive voltage multiplied by a factor, in which the multiplication result is used as a self-adjusted threshold based on the real time load condition of the transmission line; and identifying the fault type based on the maximum of the capacitive coupling voltage and the multiplication.

A method for controlling a charging apparatus of a vehicle, in particular an electric or hybrid vehicle, wherein the charging apparatus has a charging device including a protection and monitoring device. The vehicle includes a high-voltage on-board power system and an electrical energy storage apparatus connected to the high-voltage on-board power system. The method includes electrically connecting the high-voltage on-board power system to charging connections of an energy supply system by the charging apparatus. The charging connections include a neutral conductor, a protective conductor and at least one phase conductor. A protective conductor resistance is detected between the neutral conductor and the protective conductor by feeding in a test current by the protection and monitoring device. A frequency of the test current is filtered out of the compensation frequency range on a narrowband basis.

Determination of information relating to a location of an electrical fault in an electrical energy distribution system based on phasor information is disclosed. A component can receive phasor information and electrical energy distribution system information. The system can determine a distance factor based on the phasor information. The distance factor can be employed to determine fault location information. A set of fault location information can be generated. Fault location information can be corrected for fault characteristics. Equivalent circuit models can be employed in determining the distance factor. Fault locations can be validated to facilitate generating subset of fault location information. Access to fault location information can be facilitated.

Determination of information relating to a location of an electrical fault in an electrical energy distribution system based on phasor information is disclosed. A component can receive phasor information and electrical energy distribution system information. The system can determine a distance factor based on the phasor information. The distance factor can be employed to determine fault location information. A set of fault location information can be generated. Fault location information can be corrected for fault characteristics. Equivalent circuit models can be employed in determining the distance factor. Fault locations can be validated to facilitate generating subset of fault location information. Access to fault location information can be facilitated.