Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
361049000 | In a single phase system | 27 |
20080204951 | Safety device for prevention of electrical shocks - A safety device can provide electrical shock protection for an electrical appliance. Voltage sensors can monitor voltage levels among a power conductor, a neutral conductor, and a ground conductor. When sensed voltages indicate that these conductors are properly wired to an electrical power utility, inline switches can close to allow power to pass through the safety device to the appliance. When one or more of the sensed voltages indicates that the power level is too low to operate the appliance, one or more switches of the safety device can open to block power from passing through to the appliance. When one or more of the sensed voltages indicates that an electrical problem posing a shock hazard exists in the electrical appliance, one or more switches of the safety device can open to interrupt power from transmitting to the appliance. | 08-28-2008 |
20090002903 | Power Supply Device, Electrically-Driven Vehicle Incorporating Power Supply Device, and Method of Controlling Power Supply Device - An ECU determines based on a voltage from an insulation resistance decrease detector whether the insulation resistance of a power supply device decreases or not. When a load external to the vehicle is not connected to the power supply device, the ECU sets a determination threshold value for determining that the insulation resistance decreases to a normal first value. On the other hand, when the load external to the vehicle is electrically connected to the power supply device, the ECU sets the determination threshold value to a second value which is lower than the first value, in consideration of an increase in the capacitive component due to a capacitor of a Y-capacitor. | 01-01-2009 |
20090086390 | Novel circuit interrupting device with high voltage surge protection - The present invention provides a circuit interrupting device which is capable of providing protection against electrical surge through its innovative electrical discharge design; establishing or discontinuing electrical continuity among the input power source, output load, and user accessible load through its innovative contacts connection/disconnection design; automatic or manual testing of the condition of the key components in the circuit interrupting device by way of a simulated leakage current; and testing whether the device is properly wired by way of a reset switch. | 04-02-2009 |
20100118452 | Safety device for prevention of electrical shocks - A safety device can provide electrical shock protection for an electrical appliance. Voltage sensors can monitor voltage levels among a power conductor, a neutral conductor, and a ground conductor. When sensed voltages indicate that these conductors are properly wired to an electrical power utility, inline switches can close to allow power to pass through the safety device to the appliance. When one or more of the sensed voltages indicates that the power level is too low to operate the appliance, one or more switches of the safety device can open to block power from passing through to the appliance. When one or more of the sensed voltages indicates that an electrical problem posing a shock hazard exists in the electrical appliance, one or more switches of the safety device can open to interrupt power from transmitting to the appliance. | 05-13-2010 |
20100134934 | STARTER MOTOR CONTROL CIRCUIT - Provided is a starter motor control circuit capable of easily preventing the induction of a short-circuit current due to a ground fault in the power source line of a starter motor, in which a high current flows. A key switch ( | 06-03-2010 |
20100142104 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ELECTRICAL PROTECTION OF APPLIANCES - An electrical protection system includes a household electronic device and an electrical protection unit permanently interfaced therewith. The household electronic device is configured for detachable electric connection to an external household source and to utilize electrical power received from the household source. The electronic device operates according to an electrical power waveform, e.g., the device exhibits the electrical power waveform during operation. The electrical protection unit is configured to allow electrical power to pass from the household source to the electronic device if the power waveform is within a waveform profile, and to prevent electrical power from passing from the household source to the electronic device if the power waveform is outside a fault deviation of the waveform profile. The waveform profile is indicative of normal electrical operation of the electronic device, across its entire operational range. | 06-10-2010 |
20100259856 | Power supply control device, method for controlling power supply, program and power supply device - A power supply control device for controlling power supply to a pair of terminals to which a load is connected, comprising a voltage measuring part for measuring a voltage which has a predetermined relationship with the voltage of the pair of terminals, a short circuit detecting part for detecting whether a short circuit exists between the pair of terminals based on the measured voltage and for making power supply to the pair of terminals stop when existence of a short circuit is detected, and a constant current supplying part for supplying a constant current though the pair of terminals; wherein the short circuit detecting part is configured to detect that the previously detected short circuit is eliminated when the voltage measured by the voltage measuring part is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value upon supplying the constant current through the pair of terminals. | 10-14-2010 |
20110216453 | PROTECTIVE DEVICE FOR AN ELECTRICAL SUPPLY FACILITY - The present invention is directed to an electrical device configured to be disposed in an electrical distribution system between a source of electrical power and an electrical load. The electrical distribution system includes at least one line hot conductor, a line neutral conductor, and a line ground conductor. The line neutral conductor is connected to the line ground conductor at a termination point in the electrical distribution system. The electrical load includes at least one load hot conductor, a load neutral conductor, and a load ground conductor. The device includes a grounding confirmation circuit that includes at least one signal generator that directs at least one test signal into a current path that includes at least the line ground conductor. The grounding confirmation circuit is configured to determine a ground continuity status of the current path based on at least one ground continuity measurement. The circuit interrupter is prevented from entering the reset state if the at least one ground continuity measurement does not meet a predefined quality threshold. The at least one ground continuity measurement being a function of the at least one electrical load parameter after the circuit interrupter is in the reset state. | 09-08-2011 |
20110267722 | COST EFFECTIVE DESIGN FOR A CURRENT TRANSFORMER WITH AN INTEGRATED MAGNETIC ACTUATOR - A system comprising a magnetic actuator, a current transformer and operational electronics in a dual-coil circuit breaker. The system includes an inline, but non concentric, implementation of the primary and secondary coils to maintain a narrow width suitable for retrofitting in standard industrial rack mounted enclosures. The system further comprises a split core design that is integrated into an upper and lower plate which slide together and are retained by a secondary coil bobbin. Typically, the two parts of the split core can be manufactured into net shapes by utilizing a powder metal or metal injection molding process. Moreover, the split core design disclosed herein can reduce costs and time associated with manufacturing and assembly of the current transformer. | 11-03-2011 |
20120063040 | DIRECTIONAL FAULT LOCATION AND ISOLATION SYSTEM - A directional fault location and isolation system for a three phase electric power circuit that identifies a faulted segment by determining the direction of the fault at multiple tap points in the electric power circuit. The directional fault controller, which may be a centralized controller or a number of peer-to-peer controllers located at the tap points, includes communication equipment for exchanging information with the monitoring equipment and the sectionalizing equipment at each sectionalizing control point, which includes the tap points and may also include the substations. The controller also includes processing equipment that determines the directionality of a fault on the power line at each current monitoring device, identifies a faulted line section by identifying a change in the directionality of the fault associated with the faulted line section, and operates one or more of the sectionalizing switches to isolate the faulted line section from the circuit. | 03-15-2012 |
20120147509 | TBF Compatible with Input Power Including GFCI - A protective circuit having hot, neutral, and ground leads arranged to be placed between corresponding hot, neutral, and ground leads of a power utility outlet and corresponding hot, neutral, and ground leads of electrical apparatus. | 06-14-2012 |
20120194951 | DISCONNECT MECHANISM IN A POWER RECEPTACLE WITH GROUND-FAULT CIRCUIT INTERRUPTION FUNCTIONS - A disconnect mechanism for a power receptacle, which includes a disconnect block, a locking member slidably coupled to the disconnect block, and an electromagnetic device moveably coupled to the locking member. The disconnect block includes two side arms extending outwards. A pressing plate is disposed above the disconnect block, and a disconnect spring is disposed above the pressing plate. The moveable contact arms of the main switch of the receptacle are disposed between the pressing plate and the disconnect block, and the pressing plate pushes the moveable contact arms when the main switch is being opened when a current leakage is detected. The receptacle also includes an auxiliary switch disposed because the disconnect block and the circuit board. | 08-02-2012 |
20120212864 | FAIL-SAFE GROUND FAULT CIRCUIT INTERRUPTER - A fail-safe ground fault circuit interrupter includes separable contacts; operating mechanism; and GF trip circuit including analog GF circuit having power supply input, and a number of: GF current transformer, first resistor in series with the GF CT, capacitor in parallel with this series combination, and second resistor between the power supply input and a common connection point between the first resistor and the capacitor, trip actuator cooperating with the OM, and zener diode including cathode interconnected with the power supply input and anode interconnected with the trip actuator, trip solenoid cooperating with the OM, bi-directional light emitting diode, and resistor in series with the LED, this series combination in parallel with the trip solenoid, and first silicon controlled rectifier cooperating with the OM, and second SCR cooperating with the OM, the second SCR in parallel with the first SCR. | 08-23-2012 |
20130242440 | Enhanced Auto-Monitoring Circuit and Method for an Electrical Device - A resettable switching apparatus, useful in a GFCI receptacle, has an auto-monitoring circuit for automatically testing various functions and structures of the device. The auto-monitoring circuit initiates an auto-monitoring routine which, among other things, establishes a test fault situation on either the positive or negative half-wave of the power cycle and determines whether the detection mechanisms within the device appropriately detect the test fault and whether the device would trip in the event of an actual fault. Additional functionality of the auto-monitoring circuit permits automatic verification that the device is properly wired, that is, not miswired, and determines whether the device has reached the end of its useful life. | 09-19-2013 |
20130242441 | PROTECTION RELAY FOR SENSITIVE EARTH FAULT PROTECTION - A protection feature is disclosed for a self powered protection relay having, for example, sensitive earth fault protection. Protection can be achieved in tandem with optimal power on trip time and with integrated logic for inrush discrimination. The self supplied protection relay can include a current processing module to measure and evaluate line current to generate a trip signal, and to suppress inrush current to block earth fault detection during an inrush condition and thereby increase sensitivity of fault detection. | 09-19-2013 |
20130279050 | METHODS AND APPRATUS FOR GROUND FAULT CIRCUIT INTERRUPT DETECTION USING A SINGLE TRANSFORMER - A device is provided for use with an AC power system having a line conductor, a neutral conductor and a transformer, the line conductor and the neutral conductor are coupled between a source and a load, and the transformer includes a first primary winding coupled in series with the line conductor, a second primary winding coupled in series with the neutral conductor, and a secondary winding. The device includes a first circuit coupled to the secondary winding, providing a first detection signal if a current from the line conductor to ground exceeds a first predetermined threshold, and a second circuit coupled to the secondary winding, having a source that provides an AC signal at a specified amplitude and a specified frequency to the secondary winding. The second circuit provides a second detection signal if an impedance between the neutral conductor and ground is less than a second predetermined threshold. | 10-24-2013 |
20140146424 | EARTH LEAKAGE CIRCUIT BREAKER AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An earth leakage circuit breaker includes an earth leakage detector, a rectifier, a switching part, and a controller. The switching part is installed on an electric circuit between an alternating current (AC) power supply and the rectifier, and switches between supply and interruption of the power from the AC power supply. The earth leakage detector is installed between the AC power supply and a load. The rectifier rectifies the AC power into direct current (DC) power. The controller causes the rectifier to perform half-wave rectification until earth leakage is detected by the earth leakage detector, and causes the rectifier to perform full-wave rectification when the earth leakage is detected by the earth leakage detector. | 05-29-2014 |
20140321006 | LEAKAGE PROTECTION SOCKET WITH REVERSE CONNECTION PROTECTION - The present disclosure provides an improved leakage protection socket with reverse connection protection function. The electromagnetic tripping mechanism comprises a trip coil, an iron core and a permanent magnet that fit with a return spring, the iron core has, in its front end, a boss to pull the lock for horizontal movement, the movable input contacts are clamped by a rib slot of an upper tripper that can moves upward and downward along with the reset button. There is also provided a reverse connection trip device, which has a slope that coordinates with the boss of the iron core, upon reverse connection, the trip coil generates a magnetic field in the same orientation with the permanent magnet. | 10-30-2014 |
20150043110 | Potential Arc Fault Detection and Suppression - A wiring fault detector adapted specifically to address the requirement for arc fault protection specified in National Electrical Code (2011) article 690.11 comprises running at least one additional wire in parallel with the power conductors to be protected, thereby allowing evaluation at the location of a fault detector of an electrical parameter indicative of conductor integrity along its whole length. | 02-12-2015 |
20150070802 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ARCHITECTURE, CONTROL, AND PROTECTION SYSTEMS OF MODULAR STACKED DIRECT CURRENT SUBSEA POWER SYSTEM - A high-voltage DC (HVDC) power system and a method of controlling and protecting the HVDC power system includes a plurality of sending-end (SE) modules coupled in electrical series and a plurality of receiving-end (RE) power converter modules electrically coupled to said plurality of SE modules, the RE modules coupled in a switchyard configuration, the switchyard configuration including a plurality of load branches coupled together in electrical series, each load branch including a branch bypass switch configured to bypass load current around an associated load branch, and a branch protection system. | 03-12-2015 |
361050000 | With more than two wires | 7 |
20100309592 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR MULTI-FREQUENCY GROUND FAULT CIRCUIT INTERRUPT GROUNDED NEUTRAL FAULT DETECTION - In a first aspect, a ground fault circuit interrupt (“GFCI”) device is provided for use with an AC power system that includes a line conductor, a neutral conductor and a transformer. The line conductor and the neutral conductor are each coupled between a source and a load, and the neutral conductor is coupled to ground at the source. The transformer includes a first primary winding coupled in series with the line conductor, a second primary winding coupled in series with the neutral conductor, and a secondary winding. The device includes a grounded neutral fault detector circuit coupled to the secondary winding. The grounded neutral fault detector circuit: (a) drives the secondary winding with a multi-frequency AC signal, (b) monitors a multi-frequency load signal in the secondary winding, and (c) provides a first detection signal if the monitored load signal exceeds a predetermined threshold. Numerous other aspects are also provided. | 12-09-2010 |
20120019966 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING ARC FAULT AND/OR GROUND FAULT PROTECTION FOR DISTRIBUTED GENERATION SOURCES - A system is provided including: (1) an arc fault circuit interrupter having a line side terminal and a load side terminal, wherein the line side terminal is coupled to a voltage source, and (2) a current source coupled to the load side terminal to backfeed the arc fault circuit interrupter. Numerous other aspects also are provided. | 01-26-2012 |
20120257316 | ELECTRICAL LOAD CONTROL WITH FAULT PROTECTION - Electrical load controls are provided which include an electrical switch assembly and a fault protection device within a common housing. The switch assembly includes an actuator, and is responsive to actuation of the actuator to switch ON or OFF electricity to the load. The protection device automatically responds to a fault condition by overriding the switch assembly by automatically blocking electrical connection between phase input and output terminals and neutral input and output terminals of the load control. The actuator includes a single external interface element. In one embodiment, actuation of the actuator switches ON or OFF electricity via control of the fault protection device, and in another embodiment, movement of the interface away from the housing exposes within the housing an internal user interface for the fault protection device. | 10-11-2012 |
20130057990 | ELECTRICAL DEVICE WITH MISWIRE PROTECTION AND AUTOMATED TESTING - The present invention is directed to an electrical wiring device that includes a plurality of line terminals configured to be coupled to a source of AC power, a plurality of feed-through load terminals, and at least one set of receptacle load terminals configured to provide the AC power to a user load via an AC power plug. A circuit interrupter assembly includes a plurality of movable interconnection members. Each movable interconnection member includes a first interconnecting contact disposed on a first side thereof and a second interconnecting contact disposed on a second side thereof. The first interconnecting contact and the second interconnecting contact are offset from one another in a direction substantially orthogonal to a direction of movement. The movable interconnection members are movable in the direction of movement between a reset position wherein the plurality of line terminals, the plurality of feed-through load terminals and the at least one set of receptacle load terminals are electrically connected, and a tripped position wherein the plurality of line terminals, the plurality of feed-through load terminals and the at least one set of receptacle load terminals are electrically disconnected. | 03-07-2013 |
20130293990 | PROTECTIVE DEVICE WITH AUTOMATED SELF TEST - The present invention is directed to a circuit interrupting device including an actuator that provides an actuator stimulus upon the occurrence of the fault actuation signal. A circuit interrupter is positioned to electrically disconnect the first, second and third electrical conductors from each other upon the occurrence of the actuator stimulus. An automated test circuit is coupled to the circuit interrupting assembly. The automated test circuit is configured to automatically produce the simulated fault condition during a predetermined portion of an AC line cycle to determine whether the fault detection assembly is operational such that the fault detection assembly provides a fault detection signal without the circuit interrupter electrically disconnecting the first, second and third electrical conductors from each other. The automated test circuit is further configured to provide a device failure mode signal such that a plurality of the first, second or third electrical conductors are disconnected from each other if the fault detection signal is not detected within a predetermined time frame. | 11-07-2013 |
20140307353 | POWER SYSTEM INCLUDING A LOAD PANEL PROTECTING A FACILITY FROM A BROKEN OR MISSING NEUTRAL OF A SPLIT PHASE ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION CONFIGURATION - A power system is for a facility. The power system includes a load panel powered from a split phase electrical distribution configuration having a first line, a second line and a neutral. A two-pole circuit interrupter in the load panel receives power from the first line, the second line and the neutral, and protects an unbalanced load. The two-pole circuit interrupter is structured to trip open or open responsive to an input. A circuit in the load panel is structured to determine that the neutral is broken or missing and responsively output to the input to cause the two-pole circuit interrupter to trip open or open. | 10-16-2014 |
20160380424 | UNIVERSAL GROUND FAULT CIRCUIT INTERUPTOR (GFCI) DEVICE INCORPORATING A WATER AND FLAME BARRIER BUTTON ASSEMBLY - A water and flame barrier button assembly is incorporated into an electrical enclosure such as a GFCI housing to provide water and flame resistant set and reset buttons. The buttons are contained within flexible sealing frames that allow one end of the buttons to extend through the top portion of the GFCI housing while the opposite end of the button is exposed within the base portion of the sealing frame. The base portion of the sealing frame attaches to the interior of the housing with the exposed button end positioned inward of the sealing frame base. The base of the sealing frame contacts the GFCI circuit board while providing a rebound force to return either the set or reset button exposed end from a position depressed and in contact with the circuit board to a position not in contact with the circuit board and returning inward of the sealing frame base. | 12-29-2016 |