LCDI power cord system and method
AssigneeTower Manufacturing Corporation
InventorsVictor V Aromin, Louis Jay Shatkin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for an LCDI power cord and associated circuits is provided. The system and method include energizing shielded neutral wires and shielded line wires and monitoring the energized shields for surges, e.g., arcing, detected by a Leakage Current Detection Circuit (LCDC) and/or voltage drops, e.g., shield breaks, detected by a Shield Integrity Circuit (SIC).
Claims23
A method for constructing a power cord and circuit for detecting and interrupting line voltage between an alternating current (AC) line end and a load end of the power cord upon detection of a power cord atilt, the method comprising:
- providing an insulated conductive neutral wire between the load end and AC line end of the power cord;
- providing a neutral wire shield having a conductive side and a non-conductive side;
- wrapping the insulated conductive neutral wire with the neutral wire shield with the conductive side facing out;
- wrapping a conductive flexible media around the neutral wire shield;
- providing an insulated conductive line wire between the load end and line end of the power cord;
- providing a tinned wire;
- providing a line wire shield having a conductive side and a non-conductive side;
- wrapping the insulated conductive line wire and the tinned wire with the line wire shield with the conductive side facing in and in contact with the tinned wire;
- and
- connecting the tinned wire to the conductive flexible media at the load end of the power cord.
A method for constructing a power cord having a load end and an AC line end, the method comprising:
- providing an insulated conductive neutral wire between the load end and AC line end of the power cord;
- providing a neutral wire shield having a conductive side and a non-conductive side;
- wrapping the insulated conductive neutral wire with the neutral wire shield with the conductive side facing out;
- wrapping a conductive flexible media around the neutral wire shield;
- providing an insulated conductive line wire between the load end and line end of the power cord;
- providing a line wire shield having a conductive side and a non-conductive side;
- wrapping the insulated conductive line wire with the line wire shield with the conductive side facing in;
- and
- connecting the neutral wire shield and the line wire shield in series at the load end.
A method for interrupting AC line voltage between an alternating current (AC) line end and a load end of a shielded power cord upon detection of a power cord fault, the method comprising:
- providing a leakage current detection circuit (LCDC) for detecting AC leakage current from the power cord and interrupting line voltage between the AC line end and the load end of the shielded power cord if leakage current is detected, wherein providing the LCDC further comprises:
- providing a hi-stable latching device having an on/off state;
- providing a charge holding device connected to the bi-stable latching device;
- charging the charge holding device to a first charge;
- providing a shield integrity circuit (SIC) for monitoring shielded power cord integrity and interrupting line voltage between the AC line end and the load end of the shielded power cord if shield integrity is compromised;
- connecting the LCDC and SIC to the shielded power cord;
- providing a power supply circuit (PSC) for energizing the LCDC, SIC, and the shielded power cord with a first voltage;
- and
- energizing the shielded power cord with the first voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.