US 8,605,394 B2Granted

Apparatus, method, and system for monitoring leakage current and detecting fault conditions in electrical systems

AssigneeMusco Corporation

InventorsJoe P. Crookham, Myron Gordin, Darrell N. Chelcun

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Abstract

Disclosed herein are apparatus, methods, and systems for monitoring and detection of conditions indicative of an electrical fault for an electrical circuit or system. In one aspect, a central control can simultaneously monitor a plurality of geographically distributed electrical circuits or systems for conditions that have been predetermined to be indicative of an electrical fault or concern, and provide either some communication (e.g., a warning) or instruction (e.g., to terminate power) back to the monitored circuit/system, the owner/operator/user of the circuit/system, or both. The central control can collect, store, mine, and analyze data from the diverse monitoring of plural systems. A knowledge base can be built up over time and used to establish monitoring of the same, other circuits and systems, develop more accurate monitoring and communication of faults or concerns, and account for factors related to normal operation of a circuit or system.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A method of monitoring leakage current in user electrical circuits or systems based on subscription to a monitoring service wherein the monitoring service monitors one or more conditions not including leakage current at or near the user electrical circuits or systems comprising:

a. subscribing by a user to the monitoring service;
b. installing a device for measuring leakage current in a circuit or system of the subscribed user;
c. defining one or more leakage current threshold levels for one or more conditions indicative of an electrical fault or an electrical fault concern relative to the circuit or system wherein the defining is based, at least in part, on:
i. operating conditions of a load in the circuit or system;
ii. user preferences;
and
iii. one or more initial leakage current measurements;
d. selecting by the user a desired response from the monitoring service for each defined threshold level;
e. communicating measured leakage current to the monitoring service;
f. comparing measured leakage current to (i) the one or more defined thresholds and (ii) the one or more monitored conditions at or near the circuit or system;
g. if the comparison is unfavorable, effectuating the desired response to an approached threshold, reached threshold, or exceeded threshold by the monitoring service;
and
h. reviewing by the monitoring service the one or more threshold levels of step c and the one or more desired responses of step d with the user periodically.

10 more elements

A method of monitoring and detecting a fault condition in an electrical system comprising:

a. continuously measuring leakage current in the electrical system during operation of the electrical system;
b. establishing a threshold level for leakage current that defines a fault condition for the electrical system wherein the threshold level is determined based on operating characteristics of a load of the electrical system and initial leakage current measurements used as a baseline;
c. identifying one or more conditions external to the electrical system which may increase leakage current but do not indicate a faint condition in the electrical system;
d. collecting leakage current measurements;
e. establishing a trend for leakage current based on collected measurements data;
f. determining if there exists a potential fault condition for the electrical system or a load of the electrical system based on (i) proximity of the measurements to the threshold level, (ii) the trend, and (iii) the presence of said one or more conditions;
and
g. taking one or more actions if it is determined a potential fault condition exists comprising:
i. communicating an alert;
or
ii. facilitating interruption of power to the electrical system.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 12/833,544Filed 9 Jul 2010 · us provisional application
Priority: 9 Jul 2009
Published: US 2011/0007443 A113 Jan 2011
Granted: 10 Dec 2013
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification7 codes

H02H 3/347
Of a three-phase system: using summation current transformers
H05B 47/22
Of two or more light sources connected in parallel: with communication between the lamps and a central unit
H01H 83/02
Protective switches, e.g. circuit-breaking switches, or protective relays operated by abnormal electrical conditions otherwise than solely by…:…
H02H 3/042
With warning or supervision in addition to disconnection, e.g. for indicating that protective apparatus has functioned: combined with means for…