Patent attributes
A method of testing live AC circuits for neutral-ground, neutral-isolated ground, and isolated ground-ground faults, involves measuring impedances of circuit portions, including hot-neutral, neutral-ground, neutral-ground and isolated ground loops. In general either a test current generating a driving voltage is used, or in the case of hot-neutral, a load current generating a load voltage, and the voltage without current are use to measure voltage drop. These voltages are proportionate to the impedances of the circuits, which are expressed as ratios indicating the presence of faults. The method is reliable, despite much variation in circuit characteristics, including oversized neutral, shared neutral same phase, shared neutral opposed phase, supply line impedance, and high impedance grounds, it is easily able to detect faults across conductors and shared neutral loads.
