Eaton Intelligent Power Limited

Jianyang Liu

Xin Zhou

Andrew Lawrence Gottschalk

Brian E Carlson

Michael Slepian

Yanjun Feng

Santhosh Kumar Chamarajanagar Govinda Nayaka

Santosh Kumar Chamarajanagar Govinda Nayaka

Theodore James Miller

Andrew A Rockhill

Zhixi Deng

A system and method are provided for protecting semiconductor components from thermal failure in an electronic circuit interrupter. The electronic trip unit (ETU) is configured to determine what range of current the detected current signal corresponds to, out of several ranges categorized as being either non-fault/normal, non-severe fault, and severe fault. The ETU then selects a mode of operation in which to operate based on the determined range of current. In modes of operation corresponding to a fault condition, the ETU monitors certain characteristics of the current such as magnitude and/or rate of rise, and if the aforementioned current characteristics exceed a specified threshold for a minimum interval of time, the ETU will trip the electronic interrupter. If, however, the aforementioned current characteristics fall below the specified threshold prior to the minimum interval of time elapsing, the ETU will not trip the electronic interrupter.

Thermal failure prediction module and method for solid state circuit protection device

An improved PCB Rogowski coil addresses the challenges presented by space constraints within circuit interrupters. The disclosed coil comprises a plurality of PCBs that are coupled together, in contrast with known coils constructed from only a single PCB. During a pre-assembly stage, three PCBs are coupled to one another in order to form a partial coil assembly structured to be mounted onto a circuit interrupter primary conductor. After the partial coil assembly is mounted onto the primary conductor, a fourth PCB is connected to the partial coil assembly via press-fit connectors to form a complete coil. In contrast with known PCB Rogowski coils which are structured to be mounted perpendicularly to the primary conductor, the disclosed modular PCB Rogowski coil enables a substantial portion of the PCB surface area to be mounted in parallel to the primary conductor and to thus occupy significantly less space than known PCB Rogowski coils.

Compact flat-mount segmented Rogowski coil

A circuit interrupter including a current sensor having a normal sensor output and an over current detection output, a solid state switch module structured to have a closed state to allow current to flow through the circuit interrupter and an open state to interrupt current flowing through the circuit interrupter, a gate driver structured to control the solid state switch module including a desaturation function output, wherein the gate driver is structured to cause the solid state switch module to interrupt current flowing through the circuit interrupter when the DESAT function output changes to the on state, and an electronic trip circuit structured to output a trip signal to the gate driver when the normal sensor output reaches a first threshold level or the overcurrent detection output changes to the on state.

Solid state circuit interrupter

A circuit interrupter including a current sensor having a normal sensor output and an over current detection output, a solid state switch module structured to have a closed state to allow current to flow through the circuit interrupter and an open state to interrupt current flowing through the circuit interrupter, a gate driver structured to control the solid state switch module including a desaturation function output, wherein the gate driver is structured to cause the solid state switch module to interrupt current flowing through the circuit interrupter when the DESAT function output changes to the on state, and an electronic trip circuit structured to output a tri when the normal sensor output reaches a first threshold level or the overcurrent detection output changes to the on state.

Growing community of inventors

Lake Forest, CA, United States of America

Jianyang Liu