SURFACE LEAKAGE PROTECTION - NEXT GENERATION OF ELECTROCUTION PROTECTION TECHNOLOGY

In past decades, many efforts have been given to improving the Residual Current Device (RCD) that has been the major and only means for electrocution protection since 1955. However, all of those efforts are based on the principle of RCDs, which are no longer in accordance with modern appliance usage, and in many cases RCDs may cause nuisance trips or fail to work. This paper proposes an innovative technology, Surface Leakage Protection (SLP), which focus on electrocution protection before electrical accidents happen, and immediately remove the power supply to an appliance when a leakage happens on the surface of the appliance, before a person can be electrocuted. The paper further gives a detailed description of SLP by introducing an SLP embodiment that monitors the surface of an appliance through the grounding wire of a three-wire plug, and can cut off the power supply to the appliance instantly once the electricity leakage occurs, no matter whether the leakage comes due to poor insulation of the appliance or is caused by faulty grounding or by erroneous wiring with power supply. No appliance grounding is required when using an SLP. That means that families which have no grounding wire available can also prevent electrocution by employing an SLP device with their appliances.