General Electric Company

Robert M Beatty

Edward B Miller

Paul G Huber

An improved switch input arrangement for a system that remotely controls distributed electrical loads. The switch input arrangement is part of a transceiver decoder that receives commands from central controller for controlling the state of latching relays for controlling the power circuits of the loads. The improvements include: monitoring the state of contact closure inputs to the transceiver decoder, selectively enabling/disabling specific contact closures to control the masking of switch inputs, inclusion of an accumulated switch buffer to store the last actuation state of all relays, an answerback to insure that action occurs responsive to a switch input, a shifting threshold and multiplexing technique for more accurate reading of contact closure switch inputs, and the inclusion of a power-up reset message annunciated to the central controller to alert it that certain commands may have to be issued in order to reestablish the desired states of the transceiver.

Arrangement for sensing remote binary inputs

An improved relay actuating processor for a system that remotely control distributed electrical loads. The relay module is a part of a transceiver decoder that receives commands from a central controller for controlling the state of latching relays for controlling the power circuits of the loads. The improvements include: the use of a progressively variable pulse length relay actuation signal to shorten perceived response time; the provision of automatic power and reset detective and annunciation; a matrix arrangement for pulsing relays that minimizes the number of relay drivers required for a given number of relays to be controlled; utilizing a power clamp limiting circuit for protecting relay drivers from overcurrent; automatic verification of a control actuation command from the central controller; the use of an improved watch dog reset including AC coupling; warning (flicker) mode operation which provides a warning that lights in a given area will soon go off; and a multi-mode reset arrangement permitting the automatic testing of relays.

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Warwick, RI, United States of America

Robert M Beatty