Three wire air gap off power supply circuit for operating switch and regulating current when switch or load is open

Abstract

A three wire power supply circuit is provided for selectively connecting and disconnecting a load from an alternating current power source having neutral, line and ground conductors. The load is connected to the neutral conductor. The power supply circuit is provided with a relay connected at one terminal to the load and at another terminal to the line conductor, a control circuit connected to the relay and operable to open and close the relay, a first rectifier circuit connected in parallel with the relay and operable to supply as much as full line power to the control circuit when the relay is open, and a second rectifier circuit connected at one terminal to the line conductor and connected at another terminal to the ground conductor. The second rectifier circuit is operable to supply power to the control circuit regardless of the position of the relay. An air gap switching mechanism is connected to the relay and the control circuit and operable to open the relay when the air gap switching mechanism is activated. The power supply circuit is operable to provide pulsed power versus steady state power to selected circuit components that require more power than that available via a regulated supply.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.