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:
Oct. 28, 2003
Filed:
Dec. 20, 2001
Joseph C. Zuercher, Brookfield, WI (US);
Steven Christopher Schmalz, Greenfield, WI (US);
Eaton Corporation, Cleveland, OH (US);
Abstract
Tripping of a circuit breaker by an arc fault detector is blocked by a disable circuit upon detection of a transient associated with cold turn-on of an incandescent bulb powered by a dimmer. The peak value of pulses generated by the bandpass filter of the arc detector in response to step increases in the ac current is decayed approximately exponentially. The amplitude of each pulse is compared with upper and lower percentage limits of the decaying peak value. If the amplitudes of the pulses remain below the upper threshold for about 3 to 4 half cycles and exceed the lower threshold each half cycle, a dimmer transient is identified and logic is set to block generation of a false arc signal.