US 2026/0309766 A1Published application

Signal injection based electrical arc detection

AssigneeTesla, Inc.

InventorPedro Gonzalez

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Abstract

An electrical system includes a power transmission component that has a first terminal and a second terminal, a signal generator, one or more electrical components connected to the first terminal and the second terminal, and a processing circuit. The signal generator injects an electrical signal to the one or more electrical components. The processing circuit measures first signal energy associated with the electrical signal at one or more particular frequencies at the first terminal, measures second signal energy associated with the electrical signal at the one or more particular frequencies at the second terminal, and determines an occurrence of an electrical arc associated with the one or more electrical components based at least in part on the first signal energy and the second signal energy.

Claims20

Dependent claims

An electrical system with electrical arc detection, the electrical system comprising:

a power transmission component having a first terminal and a second terminal, the power transmission component comprising a signal generator configured to inject an electrical signal to one or more electrical components that are coupled between the first terminal and the second terminal;
the one or more electrical components;
a first circuit electrically connected to the first terminal, the first circuit configured to measure first signal energy associated with the electrical signal at one or more particular frequencies at the first terminal;
a second circuit electrically connected to the second terminal, the second circuit configured to measure second signal energy associated with the electrical signal at the one or more particular frequencies at the second terminal;
and
a detection circuit in communication with the first circuit and the second circuit, the detection circuit configured to detect an occurrence of an electrical arc associated with the one or more electrical components based at least in part on the first signal energy and the second signal energy.

3 more elements

A method of detecting an electrical arc associated with one or more electrical components, the method comprising:

injecting an electrical signal into an electrical loop, the electrical loop comprising a first terminal of a power transmission component, a second terminal of the power transmission component, and the one or more electrical components electrically coupled between the first terminal and the second terminal;
generating a first indication of first signal energy associated with the electrical signal at one or more particular frequencies at the first terminal;
generating a second indication of second signal energy associated with the electrical signal at the one or more particular frequencies at the second terminal;
and
detecting the electrical arc associated with the one or more electrical components based at least in part on the first indication and the second indication.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.