Faulted circuit indicator with end-of-life display and discharge
AssigneeSchweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.
InventorLaurence V. Feight
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A faulted circuit indicator (FCI) for providing an indication of a fault on a monitored conductor, determining whether the FCI is near the end of its useful life (or entered into an end-of-life mode) and altering an operation of the FCI if the useful life of the FCI has reached a select threshold. The operation alteration may include an alteration of the display and/or deactivation of certain features and/or functions of the FCI. Thus, the useful life of the FCI will be increased. Further, utility personnel will be more likely to notice that the FCI is in end-of-life mode. The FCI may also include a battery discharge module and a thyristor for discharging the battery for disposal upon decommissioning of the FCI.
Claims25
A faulted circuit indicator for providing an indication of a fault on a monitored conductor, the faulted circuit indicator comprising:
- an acquisition circuit in communication with the monitored conductor for receiving power system information from the monitored conductor;
- a processing circuit for receiving the power system information, determining whether a fault has occurred and providing an indication thereof;
- a display for displaying that a fault has occurred upon receipt of the indication of a fault from the processing circuit;
- a battery for providing power to the display;
- and
- an end-of-life module operating on the processing circuit for determining whether the faulted circuit indicator operates within an end-of-life mode and altering an operation of the faulted circuit indicator when operating within the end-of-life mode, wherein the end-of-life mode is determined when the useful life of the battery is below a select threshold.
A faulted circuit indicator for providing an indication of a fault on a monitored conductor, the faulted circuit indicator comprising:
- an acquisition circuit in communication with the monitored conductor for receiving power system information from the monitored conductor;
- a processing circuit for receiving the power system information, determining whether a fault has occurred and providing an indication thereof;
- a display for displaying that a fault has occurred upon receipt of the indication of a fault from the processing circuit;
- and
- a battery for providing power to the display;
- a battery discharge module and a thyristor in communication with the battery and the battery discharge module, wherein the battery discharge module is configured to discharge the battery through the thyristor.
A faulted circuit indicator for providing an indication of a fault on a monitored conductor, the faulted circuit indicator comprising:
- an acquisition circuit in communication with the monitored conductor for receiving power system information from the monitored conductor;
- a processing circuit for receiving the power system information, determining whether a fault has occurred and providing an indication thereof;
- a display for displaying that a fault has occurred upon receipt of the indication of a fault from the processing circuit;
- a battery for providing power to at least the display;
- and
- an end-of-life module operating on the processing circuit for determining the useful life of the faulted circuit indicator, wherein if the useful life of the battery is below a select threshold, said end-of-life module alters an operation of the faulted circuit indicator and said display reflects the altering of the operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.