Electric arc and radio frequency spectrum detection
US5477150A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 27, 1994 |
| Grant date | Dec 19, 1995 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 27, 2014 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01R31/1272
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A principal object of the invention is to detect sparks or arcs (12) in electric circuits (13) or otherwise to detect a spectrum of a broad band of distinct instaneous radio frequencies in radio frequency noise. The invention rejects extraneous narrow-band signals having frequencies within the broad band, such as by means of filters (21, 27, 29) or a balanced mixer arrangement (32-39 ) . The mixer 37 may be fed from a radio frequency signal duplicator (32, 33, 34) having an input (25) coupled to a source of the spectrum, a first output for one spectrum as duplicated by that duplicator connected to one mixer input (35), and a second output for the other spectrum as duplicated by that duplicator connected to tile other mixer input (36). Alternatively, the radio frequency mixer (37) may receive the output of a wide band noise generator (68) at its other input (36, FIG. 5 ). A combination of multitude of the distinct instantaneous radio frequencies indicative of the spectrum or the arc (12 ) is detected, such as with a frequency combination detector (42) having an input (40) coupled to the radio frequency mixer output (38).
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.