Systems, methods, and devices for bipolar high voltage direct current ground fault detection
AssigneeGE Aviation Systems LLC
InventorPeter James Handy
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems, methods, and devices for aircraft power distribution include a bipolar high voltage direct current source component; an electrical loading component capable of drawing electrical power from the bipolar high voltage direct current source component; a set of switching components configured to selectively couple power from the bipolar high voltage DC source component to the electrical loading and a ground fault interruption component coupled to the set of switching components. The ground fault interruption component is configured to detect a ground fault based on a sensed difference between a current flowing out of the set of switching components and back from the electrical loading component.
Claims18
A system for aircraft power distribution, comprising:
- a bipolar high voltage direct current (DC) source component with a positive voltage lead and a negative voltage lead;
- an electrical loading component capable of drawing electrical power from the bipolar high voltage direct current source component;
- a set of switching components configured to selectively couple power from the bipolar high voltage DC direct current source component to the electrical loading component by switching between an open state that decouples power from the bipolar high voltage direct current source component to the electrical loading component and a closed state that couples power from the bipolar high voltage direct current source component to the electrical loading component wherein a first subset of switching components are coupled to the positive voltage lead of the bipolar high voltage direct current source component and a second subset of switching components are coupled to the negative voltage lead of the bipolar high voltage direct current source component;
- and
- a ground fault interruption component coupled between the set of switching components and the electrical loading component, and including a transformer with a high permeability core or an air core and a pair of windings in-phase;
- wherein each of the windings corresponds to a respective one of the first and second subset of switching components of the set of switching components the windings being configured to sense a voltage spike associated with a ground fault.
A method of ground fault mitigation, the method comprising:
- applying power a bipolar high voltage direct current source component with a positive voltage lead and a negative voltage lead;
- closing a set of switching components to couple power from the bipolar high voltage direct current source component to an electrical loading component, wherein a first switching component of the set of switching components is coupled to the positive voltage lead and a second switching component of the set of switching components is coupled to the negative voltage lead;
- detecting a ground fault with a ground fault interruption component based on a sensed difference between a current flowing out of the set of switching components and back from the electrical loading component in a transformer having a high permeability core or an air core and a pair of windings in-phase wherein each of the windings corresponds to a respective one of the first and second switching components of the set of switching components the windings being configured to sense a voltage spike associated with a ground fault;
- feeding a signal indicative of the detected ground fault to the set of switching components;
- and
- opening the set of switching components to decouple power from the bipolar high voltage direct current source component to an electrical loading component.
A ground fault interruption device, comprising:
- a bipolar high voltage DC source component;
- a set of switching components coupled to the bi-polar high voltage DC source component and configured to selectively couple power from the bipolar high voltage DC source component to a load;
- wherein a first switching component of the set of switching components is coupled to a positive side of the bipolar high voltage DC source component and a second switching component of the set of switching components is coupled to a negative side of the bipolar high voltage DC source component;
- a ground fault interruption component (i) coupled between the set of switching components and the load and (ii) including a transformer with a high permeability core or an air core and a pair of windings in-phase;
- wherein each of the windings corresponds to a respective one of the first and second switching components of the set of switching components, the windings being configured to sense a voltage spike associated with a ground fault.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.