Devices for overvoltage, overcurrent and arc flash protection
AssigneeRipd IP Development Ltd
InventorsZafiris G. Politis, Grigoris Kostakis, Thomas Tsovilis, Kostas Bakatsias
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A crowbar module includes first and second electrical terminals, a module housing, and first and second crowbar units. The first crowbar unit is disposed in the module housing and includes a first thyristor electrically connected between the first and second electrical terminals. The second crowbar unit is disposed in the module housing and includes a second thyristor electrically connected between the first and second electrical terminals in electrical parallel with the first crowbar unit.
Claims20
A surge protection system comprising:
- a crowbar device that is coupled to and between a plurality of phase lines and is configured to prevent an overvoltage condition by selectively generating a low resistance current path between the plurality of phase lines;
- a plurality of surge protection devices that are connected to respective ones of the plurality of phase lines and to the crowbar device and that are configured to protect the equipment during an overvoltage condition by conducting a limited amount of current that corresponds to the overvoltage condition;
- and
- an external trigger and alarm interface circuit electrically connected to the crowbar device.
A crowbar system comprising:
- a crowbar module including:
- a module housing;
- a thyristor disposed in the module housing;
- a coil disposed in the module housing;
- a trigger circuit disposed in the module housing;
- and
- a snubber circuit disposed in the module housing;
- and
- an external trigger and alarm interface circuit electrically connected to the crowbar module.
A surge protection system comprising:
- a crowbar device that is coupled to and between a plurality of phase lines and is configured to prevent an overvoltage condition by selectively generating a low resistance current path between the plurality of phase lines;
- and
- a plurality of surge protection devices that are connected to respective ones of the plurality of phase lines and to the crowbar device and that are configured to protect the equipment during an overvoltage condition by conducting a limited amount of current that corresponds to the overvoltage condition;
- wherein ones of the plurality of surge protection devices each comprise:
- a first terminal that is connected to a corresponding one of the plurality of phase lines;
- and
- a second terminal that is connected to the crowbar device,
- wherein the crowbar device comprises:
- a plurality of phase terminals that are connected to the plurality of surge protection devices;
- and
- a plurality of thyristors that are connected between different pairs of the phase terminals;
- wherein the crowbar device further comprises a crowbar trigger circuit that is operable to generate thyristor trigger signals to the plurality of thyristors responsive to detecting a fault condition on the phase lines;
- and
- wherein the crowbar trigger circuit comprises:
- a rectification circuit that generates a direct current (DC) signal corresponding to voltages between the plurality of phase lines;
- a comparator that compares the DC signal from the rectification circuit to a reference signal;
- and
- a plurality of isolation drivers that receive a comparator output, and, responsive to the comparator output indicating that the DC signal exceeds the reference signal,
- generates a trigger signal that turns on the plurality of thyristors.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.