Importance

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Abstract

A power line fault detector (10) includes a capacitive impedance (12) and another impedance (14) connected in series between the hot and ground conductors of the power line, with a trigger circuit (16) being connected between the neutral conductor of the power line and the junction of the impedances. The impedances have values selected such that the voltage at the junction thereof with respect to the neutral conductor does not exceed a preselected limit unless the power line is faultily connected. The trigger circuit normally has a high impedance but switches to a low impedance when the voltage across it exceeds the preselected limit, then producing a surge of capacitive impedance charging current. A sensing circuit (20, 21, 26) senses the surges of current in the trigger circuit and provides an indication to the operator that the power line is faulted.

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First Claim