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. 16, 2002
Filed:
Mar. 22, 2000
Arthur L. Lanni, Cary, NC (US);
Mietek T. Glinkowski, Raleigh, NC (US);
ABB Technology AG, Zurich, CH;
Abstract
A method and system are disclosed for monitoring vacuum integrity in a vacuum interrupter. The method includes injecting sonic signals into a body and detecting sonic signals reflected from the body. A composite value is calculated from the reflected sonic signals and a determination made based on the composite value as to whether the vacuum is acceptable. The system includes the following components: a transducer for sending sonic signals into a body; a receiver for receiving sonic signals reflected from the body; a signal processor for calculating a composite value from the sonic signals reflected from the body; and a processing unit for determining from the composite value whether the body has an acceptable vacuum therein.