Importance

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Abstract

The invention relates to a method for detecting accidental arcs (arc tracking) on a cable (1), especially on a cable of an aircraft electrical system. According to said method, an alternating current signal (I(t)) that has been detected is sampled time-discretely and a trigonometric function (I(k)) imitating the alternating current characteristic is determined by interpolation of a number of sampling values (y(k)). The current alternating frequency (.omega.) is then derived from this trigonometric function. The result of a comparison of the current alternating current frequency (.omega.) and a set or reference frequency (.omega.') is used to determine the presence of an accidental arc (I.sub.SA,I.sub.GA) and a warning signal (S.sub.arc) is optionally generated. A device which functions according to this method is advantageously integrated into a circuit-breaker (7) for the aircraft electrical system, so that the latter is equipped to detect and deactivate accidental arcs that occur on the electrical system cable (1).

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First Claim