Relay contact protection
AssigneeIntegrated Electronic Solutions Pty Ltd.
InventorsJohn Sidney Crawford, Mark Andrew Potter, Kevin Alfred Altschwager
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A relay arcing protection arrangement for a relay of a type including an electromagnetic coil adapted to be connected to a control circuit and effect an opening or closing of at least two electrically conducting contactors in response to a transition signal from the control circuit, including electronic circuit means to detect arcing across the contactors, and to effect activation of a solid state current connection means providing a parallel current pathway to the electrical connectors when arcing is detected during such a selected period of time after activation.
Claims12
A relay of a type including an electromagnetic coil adapted to be connected to a control circuit and effect an opening or closing of at least two electrically conducting contactors in response to a transition signal from the control circuit, including circuitry to select and time a period of time following such transition signal,
- an electronic circuit including a voltage detection circuit adapted to detect and respond when a voltage magnitude above a selected magnitude across the said contactors is detected, and effecting activation of a solid state switch providing a current pathway parallel to the electrical connectors, when a voltage above such selected magnitude of voltage is detected during such selected period of time after activation.
A relay of a type including an electromagnetic coil adapted to be connected to a control circuit and effect an opening or closing of at least two electrically conducting contactors in response to a transition signal from the control circuit, electronic circuitry adapted to detect arcing across the contactors, and to effect activation of a current pathway parallel to the contactors substantially only when arcing is detected.
A method for limiting arcing across contactors of a relay of a type including an electromagnetic coil adapted to be connected to a control circuit and effect an opening or closing of at least two electrically conducting contactors in response to a transition signal from the control circuit,
- including providing a current pathway parallel to the contactors said pathway being adapted to be selectively activated, monitoring to detect the occurrence of arcing across the contactors, and selectively activating the parallel pathway substantially only when arcing is detected.
A method for limiting arcing across contactors of a relay of a type including an electromagnetic coil adapted to be connected to a control circuit and effect an opening or closing of at least two electrically conducting contactors in response to a transition signal from the control circuit,
- including selecting a period of time following such transition signal, detecting a voltage magnitude above a selected magnitude across the said contactors,
- and effecting activation of a solid state switch providing a parallel current pathway to the electrical connectors when such selected magnitude of voltage is detected during such selected period of time after activation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.