US 8,477,057 B2Granted

Systems, methods, and apparatus for sensing AC voltage

AssigneeGeneral Electric Company

InventorsParag Vishwanath Acharya, Fred H. Boettner

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Abstract

Certain embodiments of the invention may include systems, methods, and apparatus for sensing AC voltage. According to an example embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for sensing AC voltage. The method includes providing a voltage sensing circuit in communication with an AC power source; rectifying an AC signal from the AC power source with rectifier circuitry of the voltage sensing circuit; applying a first voltage to an analog-to-digital (A-to-D) converter circuit, wherein the first voltage is across a second resistive element of a first half cycle voltage divider comprising a first resistive element and the second resistive element and in communication with a positive DC output of the rectifier circuitry; and analyzing the first digital voltage value and the second digital voltage value by a processor to determine a voltage of the AC power source.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method for sensing AC voltage, comprising:

providing a voltage sensing circuit in communication with an AC power source;
rectifying an AC signal from the AC power source with rectifier circuitry of the voltage sensing circuit;
applying a first voltage to an analog-to-digital (A-to-D) converter circuit, wherein the first voltage is across a second resistive element of a first half cycle voltage divider comprising a first resistive element and the second resistive element and in communication with a positive DC output of the rectifier circuitry;
applying a second voltage to the A-to-D converter circuit, wherein the second voltage is across a fourth resistive element of a second half cycle voltage divider comprising a third resistive element and the fourth resistive element and in communication with a negative DC output of the rectifier circuitry, wherein the first half cycle voltage divider and the second half cycle voltage divider share a common ground;
converting the first voltage and the second voltage to a first digital voltage value and second digital voltage value respectively;
and
analyzing the first digital voltage value and the second digital voltage value by a processor to determine a voltage of the AC power source.

4 more elements

A system for sensing an AC voltage, comprising:

rectifier circuitry in communication with an AC power source;
a first half cycle voltage divider comprising a first resistive element and a second resistive element and in communication with a positive DC output of the rectifier circuitry;
a second half cycle voltage divider comprising a third resistive element and a fourth resistive element and in communication with a negative DC output of the rectifier circuitry;
a first capacitive filter in parallel communication with the second resistive element of the first half cycle voltage divider;
a second capacitive filter in parallel communication with the fourth resistive element of the second half cycle voltage divider;
at least one analog-to-digital (A-to D) converter circuit in communication with the first half cycle voltage divider and the second half cycle voltage divider;
wherein the first half cycle voltage divider and the second half cycle voltage divider share a common ground;
and
wherein the at least one A-to-D converter circuit is operable to present a first digital voltage value representing a first voltage across the second resistive element of the first half cycle voltage divider and a second digital voltage value representing a second voltage across the fourth resistive element of the second half cycle voltage divider to a processor for analyzing a voltage of the AC power source.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.