Monitoring systems and methods for estimating thermal-mechanical fatigue in an electrical fuse
AssigneeEaton Intelligent Power Limited
InventorsGopinadh Sirigineedi, Pandarinath R, Ravishankar S, Robert Stephen Douglass, Harold Handcock, Uppu Harish
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods for estimating a thermal-mechanical fatigue in an electrical conductor in a thermal-mechanical fatigue assessment system include an electrical conductor having a cold resistance and a non-linear resistance when connected to an electrical power system, and a controller receiving temperatures of the conductor as inputs, wherein the controller is operable to estimate a service life of the conductor based on at least the input temperatures of the conductor and the cold resistance of the conductor.
Claims18
A thermal-mechanical fatigue assessment system comprising:
- an electrical conductor having a cold resistance and a non-linear resistance when connected to an energized electrical power system;
- an arc quenching medium;
- and
- a controller operable to estimate a service life of the electrical conductor based on the cold resistance of the electrical conductor and input fuse element temperatures of the electrical conductor over time, wherein the input fuse element temperatures include temperatures estimated for the electrical conductor based on current readings of the electrical conductor, ambient temperatures corresponding to the electrical conductor, a temperature differential between the electrical conductor and the arc quenching medium, and a temperature differential between the electrical conductor and the ambient temperature.
An electrical conductor service life estimation system for evaluating thermal-mechanical fatigue comprising:
- an electrical fuse including a housing, first and second terminal elements, and a fuse element having a cold resistance and a non-linear resistance when connected to an energized electrical power system;
- a controller receiving input fuse element temperatures and operable to estimate a service life of the electrical fuse in the energized electrical power system over time, wherein the input fuse element temperatures include temperatures estimated for the electrical fuse based on current readings of the electrical fuse, ambient temperatures corresponding to the electrical fuse, a temperature differential between the electrical conductor and an arc quenching medium, and a temperature differential between the electrical conductor and the ambient temperature;
- and
- wherein the estimated service life of the electrical fuse is estimated further based on a temperature differential of the input fuse element temperatures, a mean temperature of the input fuse element temperatures, and the cold resistance of the fuse element.
A method of estimating a service life of an electrical conductor in an energized electrical power system:
- measuring, by one or more sensors of a thermal-mechanical fatigue assessment system, sensor data associated with input fuse element temperatures for the electrical conductor having a cold resistance and a non-linear resistance when connected to the energized electrical power system, wherein the thermal-mechanical fatigue assessment system comprises the electrical conductor, an arc quenching medium, and a controller;
- receiving, by the controller of the thermal-mechanical fatigue assessment system, the input fuse element temperatures for the electrical conductor, wherein the input fuse element temperatures include temperatures estimated for the electrical conductor based on current readings of the electrical conductor, ambient temperatures corresponding to the electrical conductor, a temperature differential between the electrical conductor and the arc quenching medium, and a temperature differential between the electrical conductor and the ambient temperature;
- estimating, by the controller of the thermal-mechanical fatigue assessment system, the service life of the electrical conductor based on at least the cold resistance of the electrical conductor and the input fuse element temperatures;
- and
- sending, by the controller of the thermal-mechanical fatigue assessment system, instructions configured to generate a notification indicating the estimated service life of the electrical conductor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.