The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 07, 1983
Filed:
Jun. 22, 1981
Henry C Sibley, Adams Basin, NY (US);
General Signal Corporation, Stamford, CT (US);
Abstract
A vital contact checking circuit which senses the state of the back contact of a relay in either a dynamic or static situation. In the former, a signal is coupled from its source to a detector by a coupling device, such as a transformer, and an additional winding on the transformer is connected to the heel and back contact of the relay whose contact is being checked. When a circuit is established through the back contact the additional winding is short circuited, thereby preventing the signal from the source from reaching the detector and effectively eliminating it. A variation of this scheme, also for use in a dynamic situation, involves using the coil structure in a resonant circuit, the sensing winding causing detuning when the back contact is closed so that again, the detector does not receive the signal from the source. For performing a vital check on a static contact, another scheme is utilized because a failure in the oscillator or detector circuit of the schemes already described would give the same indication as a closed back contact. Therefore, the primary and secondary windings of the main transformer are wound on separate cores and the sensing winding links the individual cores so that the detector produces an output only if the sensed contact is indeed closed.