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US 7,916,437 B2Granted
Fault interrupter and operating method
AssigneeS&C Electric Company
InventorsGary W. Hardesty, Michael G. Ennis, Richard G. Smith
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fault interrupter and a method of operating a fault interrupter to reduce arcing time during fault interruption. Fault interrupter operation is delayed following detecting a peak current such that its operation occurs at a point of the current wave resulting in reduced arcing during fault isolation.
Claims14
A fault protection device comprising:
- a fault interrupter having a conducting state and a non-conducting state;
- a detector having a detector output indicative of a fault current state of a coupled electrical conductor;
- a controller having a controller output coupled to the fault interrupter, the controller output based upon the detector output and the fault interrupter operable responsive to the controller output to change from the conducting state to the non-conducting state;
- wherein
- the controller delays the controller output a peak-to-trip time period to reduce arcing time during fault interrupter operation.
2 more elements
A fault protection device comprising:
- a fault interrupter having a conducting state and a non-conducting state, the fault interrupter operable responsive to a fault current in a coupled conductor to change state from the conducting state to the non-conducting state;
- and
- a delay device coupled to the fault interrupter to cause the fault interrupter to delay its change from the conducting state to the non-conducting state a peak-to-trip delay time.
A method of operating a fault interrupting device to isolate a fault in a conductor coupled to the fault interrupting device, the method comprising:
- determining a peak time, the peak time being associated with the occurrence of a peak current indicative of a fault in the conductor;
- utilizing a peak-to-trip delay time to establish a trip time for the fault interrupter to operate;
- and
- operating the fault interrupter at the trip time to isolate the fault in the conductor.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.