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:
Mar. 20, 1984
Filed:
Aug. 09, 1982
George K Woodworth, Manassas, VA (US);
IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A DC arc suppression circuit is disclosed for suppressing arcs which occur across a mechanical switch or circuit breaker. Several embodiments are described which employ a bipolar transistor to actively shunt the load current around the mechanical switch when the contacts are opened for a period of time long enough to enable the contacts to be separated by a sufficient distance to prevent arcing. Arcing is prevented when contact bounce occurs upon closure of the contacts, by providing a diode connected in parallel with the base-emitter portion of the circuit which restores the arc suppressing capacity of the circuit almost immediately upon the first closure of the contacts.