Patent · US Expired

Electronic processing unit, and circuit breaker including such a unit

US5627717A · kind A · utility

36Cited by
7References
21Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 28, 1994
Grant dateMay 6, 1997
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 28, 2014

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH02H3/0935
  • WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Digital processing of current signals allows close matching of arbitrary time delay curves for a circuit breaker. An analog signal proportional to the current is sampled and digitized. Digital samples, with or without further processing, are used to select increment values from a look-up table for accumulation in a counter. The counter is decremented periodically to simulate cooling of the circuit being protected. The values in the look-up table are determined according to the desired time delay curve. Processing of the digital samples may include squaring samples, accumulating the squared values to form a subtotal which is compared with an instantaneous trip threshold, accumulating the subtotals for a time period equal to half a cycle of AC line voltage, taking the square root of the accumulated subtotals, and using that square root as the address for looking up the increment value.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.