Low-Voltage Series Arc Fault Detection Based on Multi-Feature Fusion and Improved Residual Network

Deep learning-based image classification techniques have been widely utilized in low-voltage AC series-type fault arc detection. However, the transformation of signals into images frequently leads to significant loss of current signal characteristics, thereby compromising arc recognition accuracy. Additionally, uncharacterized signal content may be lost due to multiple factors, including sensor bandwidth limitations, sensor-event distance, and the topological configuration of the circuit where the fault originated. To address this challenge, a novel framework for identifying series-type low-voltage AC fault arcs is presented, which integrates the Markov transfer field (MTF) with multi-feature fusion and an improved residual neural network (ResNet18). This approach employs fast Fourier transform (FFT) to compute magnitude and phase data and then converts the original current signals, magnitude spectrograms, and phase spectrograms into MTF images. An adaptive weighted averaging strategy is subsequently applied to fuse these MTF images, generating composite discriminative features that preserve both amplitude and phase information from the original signals. The proposed system incorporates a convolutional block-based attention mechanism (CBAM) into the ResNet18 architecture to enhance feature representation while reducing training complexity. Extensive experimental evaluations on a diverse dataset demonstrate that the developed method achieves an impressive recognition accuracy of 99.88% for series fault arcs. This result validates the effectiveness of the proposed framework in maintaining critical signal characteristics and improving detection precision compared to existing approaches.