Appliances Modeling and Simulation: A Virtual Platform Applied for Arc Fault Testing

This study is devoted to the development of a virtual electric network composed by linear and nonlinear household appliances, the supply voltage and an arc fault which can be inserted in series or in parallel in the line. The configuration and composition of the entire device can be changed at will. This virtual platform is used to the establishment of a current and line voltage signatures database for the development of an arc fault detector. We describe in this paper some load modeling using both Matlab/simulink (for the performed universal motor model) and SimPowerSystem block (for the supply voltage, wires and arc models). The simulation platform presented includes a vacuum cleaner, a discharge lamp, a drill and an electric arc fault. Validation criteria of the different models are based on the comparison of the harmonic distortion (frequency characteristic) and the calculus of the index of agreement (time characteristic). The experimental results obtained validate the models for single and combined loads in the presence or not of an arc in series in the electric line.