JAJU857 December 2022
DC fault and AC fault have different trip thresholds. In this design, a DC fault of 6 mA translates to 200-mV input to ADC. An AC fault of 30 mARMS translates to 600-mV input to ADC. To avoid false trips, the system must differentiate an AC fault signal from a DC fault signal.
The MSP430F5132 MCU monitors the voltage with an integrated ADC to determine which type of fault is seen. The fault type is determined in software by saving the highest and lowest values read by ADC. The MCU compares the highest and lowest ADC readings to the trip thresholds.