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:
Aug. 18, 1998
Filed:
Sep. 16, 1996
David L Dickmander, Cary, NC (US);
ABB Power T&D Company, Inc., Raleigh, NC (US);
Abstract
Apparatus and methods for detecting the direction of a fault in relation to a switch connected between a source and a load are shown to include a voltage sampler for generating samples of the voltage during first and second power cycles. A current sampler generates samples of the current during first and second cycles. A first comparator compares the current samples from the first cycle to the current samples from the second cycle and determines the sign of the difference between the samples. A second comparator compares the sign of the voltage from the first cycle to the sign of the current difference determined by the first comparator and provides an indication of fault direction in relation to such comparison. The apparatus also includes a fault inception determiner, for providing a fault inception indication in relation to the voltage samples from the first and second cycles. The fault inception determiner is a comparator which compares the voltage samples from the first cycle to the voltage samples from the second cycle and determines the sign of the difference between the samples. A synchronizer, such as a phase locked loop must be used to synchronize the generation of the voltage and current samples at approximately the same points during each system cycle.