Ground fault circuit interrupter
AssigneePower Electronic Systems, Inc.
InventorRoy A. Kampmeyer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A ground fault circuit interrupter for use on a circuit having an AC power source electrically connected to a load circuit via hot and neutral lines. The ground fault circuit interrupter having at least a pair of switching components forming part of the circuit for opening the circuit upon occurrence of a ground fault. The switching components are electronic semiconductors, preferably MOSFETs, which permit substantially instantaneous switching. In addition, preferably the ground fault circuit interrupter includes a pair of redundant switching channels so that failure of any one component does not prevent the ground fault circuit interrupter from properly opening the circuit upon detection of a ground fault.
Claims20
A ground fault circuit interrupter for use on a circuit including an AC power source and a load electrically connected via hot and neutral lines, comprising a switching component forming part of the circuit for opening the circuit upon occurrence of a ground fault, said switching component being an electronic semiconductor which permits substantially instantaneous switching.
A ground fault circuit interrupter for protecting a circuit including an AC power source and a load electrically connected via hot and neutral lines, wherein the improvement comprising:
- a channel having a pair of MOSFET switching components forming part of the circuit for opening the circuit upon occurrence of a ground fault, each of said pair of MOSFET switching components being connected in series across its drain and source to the hot line of the circuit, and said sources of said pair of MOSFET switching components being adjacent and disposed back to back;
- and
- each of said MOSFET switching components having a diode connected across its drain and source, and said diodes being disposed in a back-to-back relation;
- whereby, during a normal non-fault condition, current flows in a path from drain to source through one of said pair of MOSFET switching components while current flows in a path from source to drain of said opposite MOSFET switching component through its diode, and during a ground fault condition, both MOSFET switching components are placed in an off condition and prevent any flow of current through the drain to source paths.
A method of providing ground fault protection to a circuit including an AC power source and a load electrically connected via hot and neutral lines, comprising the steps of:
- electrically connecting each of a pair of MOSFETs in series across its drain and source to the hot line of the circuit, said sources of said pair of MOSFETs being disposed back to back, each of said MOSFETs having a diode connected across its drain and source, and said diodes being disposed in a back-to-back relation;
- during a normal non-ground fault operating condition, permitting current to flow in a path from drain to source through one of said pair of MOSFETs while permitting current to flow in a path from source to drain of said opposite MOSFET via its diode;
- and
- when a ground fault is detected, substantially instantaneously driving both MOSFETs into an off condition to prevent any flow of current within the MOSFETs through the drain to source paths.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.