Eaton Corporation

Eaton Intelligent Power Limited

Theodore James Miller

Xin Zhou

Kevin Lynn Parker

Daniel Alan Hosko

John Joseph Shea

James Leo Lagree

Richard Paul Malingowski

Harry James Carlino

David Raymond Rohn

Zhi Gao

James I Wise

Gerald Zheng

John E Downs

David Richard Olenak

George Gao

Robert Tracy Elms

Joseph C Engel

Mark Allan Juds

Patrick Thomas Walsh

Joseph J Matsko

Mark Alan Juds

James Patrick Sisley

Kelly Julia McCarthy

Santhosh Kumar Chamarajanagar Govinda Nayaka

Frank Joseph Stifter, Jr

Brian Scott Jansto

Jianyang Liu

Bruce Wu

Rishabh Dixit

Asish Das

Harish Gode

Sapana Darekar

Charles M Wertz

Robert Frederick Brooks

Sunnybhai Patel

Randy P Shvach

Lothar Jagusch

Sui Ouyang

Zhixi Deng

David Walter Brooking

Taoufik Sekkat

Leonardo E Bernal

Zachary Mueller

Timothy F Thompson

Frank Joseph Stifter Jr

A solenoid driver circuit for a circuit breaker is provided. The circuit breaker includes a control circuit, a solenoid and secondary contacts and is structured to be coupled between a power source and a load. The solenoid driver circuit includes a first switch coupled to a solenoid and a first resistor structured to sense solenoid current; a second switch coupled to a second resistor, the second switch structured to be turned on based on a switch drive signal from the control circuit; one pulse width modulation (PWM) current controller coupled to the control circuit, the first switch, the second switch and the first resistor, the one PWM current controller structured to adjust the solenoid current and drive the solenoid to open or close the secondary contacts using a plurality of peak solenoid current limits including a first peak solenoid current limit and a second peak solenoid current limit.

Solenoid driver for a circuit breaker

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

Systems and methods are provided for monitoring the effects of conductive dust deposits that compromise the ability of a trip unit to accurately detect AC current in a circuit interrupter. When a Rogowski coil is used as a current sensor in the circuit interrupter and the trip unit processes the output of the Rogowski coil using a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) processing circuit, the DC component of the processing circuit output signal can be analyzed to determine whether any conductive dust has formed unintended electrical pathways on the PCBA and compromised the ability of the PCBA to accurately measure AC current in the circuit interrupter. It can be determined that such unintended electrical pathways have formed when the DC component of the processing circuit output either exceeds a predetermined threshold or has increased by a significant amount after opening of the separable contacts.

Method to detect signal corruption from conductive dust in a circuit breaker

A circuit interrupter includes separable contacts; an operating mechanism; an electronic trip unit; and a current sensor assembly including: a harvester circuit having a primary conductor through which input current passes, a secondary winding and a harvester core structured to saturate at a first input current level, a Rogowski coil structured to measure voltage at an output of the Rogowski coil, the measured voltage indicative of output current of the Rogowski coil, where linearity of the output of Rogowski coil deviates more than a deviation tolerance based at least in part on saturation of the harvester core at the first input current level, and a compensation coil arranged at 180 degree opposite to the secondary winding of the harvester core, the compensation coil structured to delay saturation of the harvester core until the input current reaches a second input current level higher than the first input current level.

System and method of improving linearity of current sensor for a circuit interrupter

In a circuit breaker arrangement, this disclosure describes a method and circuit design enables a current transformer to be used to detect ground faults in circuit breakers (such as a main-tie-main circuit breakers) that have been designed to receive signals from Rogowski coils.

Current sensor output converter for circuit breakers that are configured for Rogowski coils

A circuit interrupter including a busbar, a Rogowski coil disposed around the busbar and structured to sense current having a first frequency flowing through the busbar, a test injector circuit structured to input a test signal having a second frequency to the Rogowski coil, high or band pass filter circuitry structured to receive an output of the Rogowski coil, the output including a first component having the first frequency and being proportional to the current through the busbar and a second component having the second frequency and being proportional to a temperature of the Rogowski coil, and to attenuate the first component of the Rogowski coil output, and an electronic trip unit including a temperature measurement unit structured to receive an output of the high or band pass filter circuitry and to estimate the temperature of the busbar based on the output of the high or band pass filter circuitry.

Circuit interrupter and method of estimating a temperature of a busbar in a circuit interrupter

A data connection apparatus of a supporting apparatus includes a stationary part and a movable part. One of the stationary and movable parts has a circuit board having a number of electrically conductive pads, and the other has a receptacle within which the circuit board is received, such as when a circuit interrupter is moved to an installed position within a cassette of a draw-out switchgear cabinet. The data connection apparatus includes a housing within which the receptacle is formed, with the housing having a plurality of electrical contacts within the receptacle. The housing and the circuit board each have relieved regions in the exemplary form of ramped surfaces and edges that facilitate reception of the circuit board in the receptacle. Moreover, the circuit board and the housing are situated on structured that afford a certain level of flexibility to further facilitate reception of the circuit board in the receptacle.

Data connection apparatus and supporting apparatus

A Rogowski coil includes a magnetic core and a winding. The magnetic core includes an encircling body. The winding includes a conductive wire. The winding is disposed in a generally helical coil about the core body.

Rogowski coil with low permeability core

A circuit for receiving the output from one of either a current transformer or a di/dt sensor includes: an input pair having a first input and a second input; a first output; a second output; a current transformer input circuit connected between the first input and the second input; and a di/dt sensor input circuit connected between the first input and the second input. The current transformer input circuit is configured to receive output from a current transformer connected to the input pair and to output a signal representative of the current sensed thereby via the first output. The di/dt sensor input circuit is configured to receive output from a di/dt sensor connected to the input pair and to output a signal representative of the current or time rate of change of the current sensed thereby via the second output.

Single input circuit for receiving output from a di/dt sensor or current transformer and circuit breaker including same

A molded case circuit interrupter advantageously employs a circuitry component that is situated adjacent a rear exterior surface of the molded case of the molded case circuit interrupter. Previous circuit interrupters have sometimes employed a non-conductive backsheet of a nominal thickness of 0.062 inches that was adhered to the rear surface of the molded case circuit interrupter in order to electrically isolate screws, posts, and the like that were mounted to and that were exposed on the rear portion of a molded case thereof. The disclosed and claimed concept provides a circuitry component in place of or in addition to the back sheet, with the circuitry component including flexible ribbons having electrical conductors that extend through holes formed in the molded case and that are electrically connected with electronic components that are situated within the interior of the molded case.

Molded case circuit interrupter having circuitry component situated adjacent rear exterior surface

A circuit interrupter includes a sensor structured to output a sensor signal, a control unit structured to receive an external control signal, the control unit including: a communication interface structured to receive the external control signal, and a waveform generator structured to generate a waveform equivalent to the sensor signal in response to the external control, and a signal processing circuit structured to receive and process the sensor signal or the generated waveform and to output the processed sensor signal or generated waveform to the control unit.

Circuit interrupter and system for testing the same

A current sensing circuit for use with a Rogowski coil arranged around a conductor having a primary current includes input terminals structured to receive an output voltage of the Rogowski coil, an analog to digital converter structured to convert a differential voltage to a digital differential voltage signal, a digital integrator structured to receive the digital differential voltage signal, to implement a discrete-time transfer function that is a transform of a transfer function of an analog integrator, and to output a digital integrator output signal, and a direct current blocker filter structured to remove a direct current bias from the digital integrator output signal and to output a digital current output signal that is proportional to the primary current in the conductor.

Current sensing circuit and current sensing assembly including the same

A circuit interrupter includes an electronic trip unit structured to receive power from a power supply. The electronic trip unit includes a start-up process and is structured to proceed through the start-up process when the electronic trip unit begins receiving power from the power supply and a timing circuit including a capacitor structured to begin charging when the electronic trip unit begins receiving power from the power supply. The electronic trip unit includes a processor that is structured to read a voltage across the capacitor when the start-up process has completed and to determine an elapsed time of the start-up process based on the read voltage across the capacitor.

Circuit interrupter including electronic trip unit and method of determining elapsed time of start-up process

A direct current arc fault detector includes a first current sensor sensing an alternating current component of current flowing in a DC power circuit; a second current sensor sensing a DC component of the current; and a bandpass filter filtering the sensed AC component. A demodulating logarithmic amplifier includes an input of the filtered AC component, and an output. An integrator or minimum detector includes an input connected to the amplifier output, and an output. A processor repetitively inputs and then resets the integrator or minimum detector output, and determines an arc when, for a predetermined time: the sensed DC component being greater than a first predetermined value, and a present value of the integrator or minimum detector output being greater than or different from a previous value of such output by more than a second predetermined value, or the present value being greater than a third predetermined value.

Direct current arc fault detector and circuit interrupter, and method of detecting an arc in a direct current power circuit

A circuit interrupter that includes a passive integration channel structured to receive an output signal from a di/dt current sensor and generate a first signal output based on the output signal, and an active integration channel structured to receive the output signal from the di/dt current sensor and generate a second signal output based on the output signal that is proportional to the primary current received by the di/dt current sensor. Circuit protection functionality is provided based on the first signal output responsive to the primary current being determined to be greater than a threshold level, current metering and circuit protection functionality is provided based on the second signal output responsive to the primary current being determined to be less than or equal to the threshold level, and a seed current value is provided to the active integrator based on the first signal output.

Wide range current monitoring system and method for electronic trip units

Growing community of inventors

Oakdale, PA, United States of America

Theodore James Miller