Faulty protective earth ground circuit detection system and method

摘要

A system and method for detecting the presence of a voltage on a ground conductor which is coupled to a Protective Earth (PE) terminal (16c) associated with a power source (15). The power source is used to apply a voltage to a device (14). The system may use a high impedance device (20) coupled across a switch (K3), with the switch being in communication with a portion of the device. A control system (24) may monitor a voltage across the high impedance device and determine if the voltage across the high impedance device exceeds a predetermined threshold. Exceeding the predetermined threshold indicates that an unsafe voltage from the power source is present on the ground conductor. A natural high impedance path (17,18) between the device and the Earth is used to provide an Earth connection through the device to the Earth during operation of the system.