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:
Jul. 31, 1984
Filed:
Jan. 13, 1983
Derek A Paice, Murrysville, PA (US);
Peter Wood, Murrysville, PA (US);
Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus for the interruption of DC transmission lines without substantial arcing utilizing in combination a DC circuit breaker, a DC-to-AC current converter, converter control and an AC power sink. Upon command from the converter control, DC current is converted to AC current in the current converter and is then magnetically coupled via a transformer into the AC power sink; thus, drawing power out of the DC transmission line and reducing the DC current toward a zero value at which point the DC breaker can be opened without substantial arcing. Various single and multi-phase converter circuits utilizing thyristors are employed. A bypass switch in parallel with the converter can be provided to pass the DC current around the converter during normal operation of the DC transmission line to minimize electrical losses. Alternatively in multi-phase converters, normal DC current can be multiplexed among the phases of the current converter in order to distribute the heating caused by the conduction of DC current therethrough. Interruption of DC transmission lines having bidirectional DC current flow is accomplished with alternate embodiments of the invention including current converters in a back-to-back parallel arrangement, or a current converter full wave bridge rectifier combination or a current converter connected to the DC transmission line via polarity reversing switches.