Research on low-voltage series arc fault detection method based on least squares support vector machine

Arc fault is one of the important reasons of electrical fires. In virtue of cross talk, randomness and weakness of series arc faults in low-voltage circuits, very few of techniques have been well used to protect loads from series arc faults. Thus, a novel detection method based on support vector machine is developed in this paper. If series arc fault occurs, high frequency signal energy in circuit will increase a lot, and current cycle integrals are variable and erratic. However, high frequency signal energy will be influenced by cross talk in a nearby branch circuit. Besides, current cycle integrals will also vary while the working states of circuit changed. To better describe series arc faults, two characteristics include high frequency signal energy and current integral difference are extracted as support vectors. Based on these support vectors, least squares support vector machine is used to distinguish series arc faults from normal working states. The validity of the developed method is verified via an arc fault experimental platform set up. The results show that series arc faults are well detected based on the developed method. © Yang et al.; Licensee Bentham Open.