Relay contact monitoring system
AssigneeHunter Fan Company
InventorVinay Mehta
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A switching system for switching on and off heating and air conditioning units in an environmental control system. The switching system includes a thermostat and a relay conductively coupled to the thermostat. The relay has a contact, which is responsive to a change signal for changing its position. The system further includes a programmable monitor having predetermined positions stored in a memory. The monitor is conductively coupled to the contact and to the thermostat for continually determining the position of the contact, and for sending a change signal to the relay for switching the position of the contact, as needed, to be in conformance with a predetermined position stored in the memory.
Claims15
An air temperature control system comprising:
- a. a thermostat;
- b. a relay conductively coupled to the thermostat, the relay having a contact;
- c. a programmable monitor conductively coupled to the contact and to the thermostat for continually determining the position of the contact, and adjusting the position to be in conformance with a predetermined position stored in the monitor.
A programmable thermostat for use in an environmental control system, the thermostat comprising:
- a. a relay having a contact;
- b. a microprocessor conductively coupled to the contact for continually determining the position of the contact, and adjusting the position to be in conformance with a predetermined position.
A switching system for switching on and off a heating unit and an air conditioning unit in an environmental control system, the switching system comprising:
- a. a thermostat;
- b. a relay conductively coupled to the thermostat, the relay having a contact, the relay responsive to a change signal for changing its position;
- c. a programmable monitor having predetermined positions stored in a memory, the monitor conductively coupled to the contact and to the thermostat for continually determining the position of the contact, and for sending a change signal to the relay for switching the position of the contact to be in conformance with a predetermined position stored in the memory.
A method for switching on and off heating and air conditioning units in an environmental control system, the system having a microprocessor-controlled programmable thermostat, a snap action relay conductively coupled to the thermostat, the relay having a contact, the relay responsive to a voltage pulse for changing the contact's position, and a programmable monitor conductively coupled to the contact and to the thermostat, the monitor having a memory, the method comprising the steps of:
- a. storing predetermined contact positions in the memory;
- b. continually determining the position of the contact;
- c. comparing the position of the contact with the predetermined contact positions;
- and
- d. correcting the position by sending a voltage pulse to the relay for switching the position of the contact to be in conformance with a predetermined position stored in the memory.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.