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:
Sep. 08, 1998
Filed:
Sep. 29, 1997
Thomas Christopher Rae, Irwin, PA (US);
Eaton Corporation, Cleveland, OH (US);
Abstract
A circuit breaker with an arc fault circuit provides immunity to false trips caused by tungsten bulb burnout and by a cold tungsten filament energized through a solid state dimmer. The detector circuit includes a pulse generator which generates pulses in response to the step increases in current occurring each time an arc is struck. A zener diode limits the amplitude of pulses generated by the pulse generator to a value which is below that of pulses generated by the tungsten lamp. When a time attenuated accumulation of these pulses reaches a predetermined value, the circuit breaker is tripped. By clipping the pulses with the zener diode, the few large pulses generated by tungsten bulb burnout or energization of a cold tungsten bulb by a solid state dimmer switch are insufficient to allow the time attenuated accumulation of pulses to reach the trip value.