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:
Jun. 10, 2003
Filed:
Aug. 24, 2001
Joseph C. Zuercher, Brookfield, WI (US);
Steven Christopher Schmalz, Greenfield, WI (US);
Eaton Corporation, Cleveland, OH (US);
Abstract
Arcing in dc electrical systems subject to cyclic disturbances is detected by a current sensor, and a bandpass filter sensitive to arcing noise, which filters the sensor current. The absolute value of the bandpass filtered signal is integrated over repetitive intervals in a resettable analog integrator. A low cost microprocessor samples and resets the analog integrator at a frequency below the pass band and generates a time attenuated accumulation of the samples that produces an arcing signal if it reaches a predetermined limit. To improve nuisance immunity, the sensed dc current is compared in a high speed comparator to the average sensed dc current, and only samples taken by the microprocessor during a predetermined time period after the sensed dc current exceeds the average sensed dc current in a predetermined manner are accumulated. The average sensed dc current is also used by the microprocessor to provide overload protection.