A Novel Algorithm for Fast DC Electric Arc Detection

Abstract

Electric arcing is a common problem in DC power systems. To overcome this problem, the electric arc detection algorithm has been developed as a faster alternative to existing algorithms. The following issues are addressed in this paper: The calculation of the proposed algorithm of incremental decomposition of the signal over time; the computational complexity of Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and the incremental decomposition; the test bench used to measure electric arcs at given parameters; the analysis of measurements using FFT; and the analysis of measurements using incremental decomposition. The parameters are the DC voltage, electric load, and width of the gap between electrodes. The results showed that the proposed algorithm allows for a faster calculation—about seven times faster than FFT—and cheaper implementation in electric arc detection devices than FFT.

Keywords

• electric arc
• signal processing
• FFT
• incremental decomposition