DC ground fault circuit interrupter

Abstract

A ground fault circuit interrupter for a direct current (DC) system which can interrupt DC power connections to one or more loads when a fault is detected is disclosed herein. Specifically, the circuit interrupter includes a toroidal core having a winding wound around the core. An alternating current supply is coupled to the current sense winding. Source and return wires of an external DC current supply pass through the core, coupling the DC current supply to respective ends of an external DC load. A current imbalance between the source and return wires causes the core to saturate changing the impedance of the winding. The impedance change causes a fault signal to be generated and said fault signal is used to break the electrical connection between the external direct current supply and the external load.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.