Fast-Fourier-Transform Enhanced Progressive Singular-Value-Decomposition Algorithm in Double Diagnostic Window Frame for Weak Arc Fault Detection

In this study, a novel method that progressively applies the fastest form of singular-value decomposition (SVD) to extract nonperiodic arc-fault features is proposed in order to pursue a competent solution for AC weak arc fault detection. First, bus-current signals of the normal state and the arc-fault state are collected and normalized before being processed by progressive SVD (PSVD) to detect the discrepancy brought by comparatively stronger arc-fault nonperiodic components expressed in singular values. To provide a more comprehensive feature extraction for an enhanced accuracy, the fast Fourier transform (FFT) is incorporated for accumulating periodic variations caused by arc faults. Because weak arc faults are difficult to distinguish from normal signals when they start, a double diagnostic window frame (DDWF) is designed to reduce false negative errors. The effectiveness of each partial design of the method is verified by experiments with numerous load types and current amplitudes conducted on an industrial experimental platform. The proposed PSVD-FFT algorithm has achieved a satisfactory and consistent performance measured by both the detection accuracy and diagnosis time in all of the experiments. The proposed method is on average at least 10% more accurate than the selected methods for a parallel comparison (in total more than a thousand experimental cases), with a satisfactory range of execution time.