Patent Application
20230090370
The present disclosure relates to circuit protection devices, and more particularly, to a visual trip indicator module configured to selectively activate a light emitting device to indicate a current state of a circuit breaker.
In the past, a visual inspection of circuit breaker operating handle positions was the only method of determining which breaker within a group of circuit breakers was tripped. This can be difficult because the tripped position of the circuit breaker operating handle is very close to the off position of the circuit breaker operating handle. This is especially true when the breakers are in large panels or in an area that is not well lighted. Some manufacturers have provided mechanical flags to indicate a tripped breaker, but flags may also be difficult to see, particularly in low light areas.
A more detailed description of the disclosure, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to various embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. While the appended drawings illustrate select embodiments of this disclosure, these drawings are not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the disclosure may admit to other equally effective embodiments.
Identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. However, elements disclosed in one embodiment may be beneficially utilized on other embodiments without specific recitation.
It is desirable for users (e.g., homeowners, technicians, engineers, etc.) to be able to quickly identify the state of a circuit breaker and to quickly and easily identify which circuit breaker(s) within a group of circuit breakers are tripped. Conventionally some circuit breaker manufacturers have included a light indicator in the circuit breaker housing. Depending on the location of the light indicator in the circuit breaker housing and the enclosure in which the circuit breaker is mounted, the light indicator may not be easily seen. These light indicators require some type of mechanical and/or electrical apparatus inside the circuit breaker housing for detecting the tripped state of the circuit breaker, obtaining power for the light indicator from the line side of the circuit breaker and fixturing the indicator light in the circuit breaker housing. Therefore, additional electrical and mechanical components and modifications to the circuit breaker housing increase the cost of the circuit breaker and/or require that circuit breakers with light indicators be special orders.
Embodiments described herein provide a visual trip indication module that does not contain any electrical or mechanical components inside the circuit breaker housing. Moreover, embodiments provide a visual trip indication module that has its own independent power source and can be located on the end of the circuit breaker handle, which is a highly visible part of the circuit breaker. In one or more embodiments described herein, the visual trip indication module can be installed as a last step in manufacturing the circuit breaker or can be added to existing circuit breakers in the fields as a retrofit with minimal assembly required.
Referring to
Also attached to the PCB 46 are a microprocessor 58 with a memory 62 and a light source 66 such as a light emitting diode (LED). The light source 66 is positioned on the PCB 46 such that it is immediately adjacent a portion of the visible indicator lens 26 or a portion of the visible indicator lens 26 acting as a light pipe 70. The visible indicator lens 26 is located on the visual trip indicator module 10 such that it is clearly visible in a large or poorly illuminated electrical panel and acts as a circuit breaker locater to maintenance personnel looking for a tripped circuit breaker. A waking device 74 and a sensing device 76 can also be located on the PCB 46 or in the aperture 18 adjacent to the PCB 46. The waking device 74 and the sensing device 76 can be mechanical devices, electronic devices or of a combination of mechanical and electronic devices. In some cases, the waking device 74 and sensing device 76 are the same device or a combination of multiple devices. All of the electrical components being capable of near zero current draw during a low power state 126, which the visual trip indicator module 10 is in except during switching and tripping events. The module housing 14 also defines a circuit breaker handle connector 78, which extends outward from the housing 14 and includes a circuit breaker handle receiving aperture 82.
Referring now to
The basic operation of the visual trip indication module 10 algorithm, as illustrated in
At block 316 the sensing device 76 sends sensed data to the microprocessor 58, which uses the sensed data provided by sensing device 76 at block 320 to determine which state, switching state 130 or tripped state 134, the circuit breaker 90 is currently in. If, at block 320, the current state of circuit breaker 90 is determined to be the switching state 130 the microprocessor 58 will monitor the voltage of independent power supply 54 at block 324. At block 328 the microprocessor 58 determines the remaining life of the independent power supply 54. If, at block 328, the microprocessor 58 has determined that the remaining life of independent power supply 54 is greater than a predetermined level stored in memory 62, the microprocessor 58, at block 332, will direct a light source 66 to flash a coded signal indicating that the current status of independent power supply 54 is OK and the visual trip indicator module 10 will then return to the low power state 126.
If, at block 328, the microprocessor 58 has determined that the remaining life of independent power supply 54 is less than a predetermined level stored in memory 62, the microprocessor 58, at block 336, will direct a light source 66 to flash a coded signal indicating that the current status of independent power supply 54 is LOW and the visual trip indicator module 10 will then return to the low power state 126. If, at block 320, the current state of circuit breaker 90 is determined to be the tripped state 134 the microprocessor 58, at block 340, will direct the light source 66 to flash a coded signal indicating the tripped state 134 of circuit breaker 90 until the circuit breaker has been reset or for a predetermined period of time after the circuit breaker 90 tripped.
At block 344, after the circuit breaker 90 has been reset, the microprocessor 58 monitors the voltage of independent power supply 54 and at block 348 determines the remaining life of independent power supply 54. If, at block 348, the microprocessor 58 has determined that the remaining life of independent power supply 54 is greater than a predetermined level stored in memory 62, the microprocessor 58, at block 352, will direct the light source 66 to flash a coded signal indicating that the current status of independent power supply 54 is OK and the visual trip indicator module 10 will then return to the low power state 126. If, at block 348, the microprocessor 58 has determined that the remaining life of independent power supply 54 is less than a predetermined level stored in memory 62, the microprocessor 58, at block 356, will direct a light source 66 to flash a coded signal indicating that the current status of independent power supply 54 is LOW and the visual trip indicator module 10 will then return to the low power state 126.
With respect to blocks 324 and 328 of the algorithm above, the microprocessor 58 enters the low power state 126, in which the microprocessor 58 monitors the voltage of independent power supply 54 and determines the remaining life of independent power supply 54 If the monitored voltage is 80% or higher of the rated voltage the independent power supply 54 is OK, if the monitored voltage drops below 80% of the rated voltage the independent power supply 54 is considered LOW. The 80% voltage level indicates that approximately 10% of the expected independent power supply 54 life remains and that the independent power supply 54 should be replaced. The determined remaining life of independent power supply 54 determines how the switching state 130 is indicated by the microprocessor 58 in blocks 332 and 326.
If the current state is determined to be the switching state 130, and the remaining life of independent power supply 54 was determined to be OK by the microprocessor 58, the switching state 130 is visibly indicated by turning on the light source 66 for a short interval (nominally 2 seconds) predetermined period of time. If the remaining life of independent power supply 54 was determined to be LOW by the microprocessor 58, the switching state 130 is visibly indicated by flashing the light source 66 for a predetermined number of flashes over a predetermined time interval (nominally 2 seconds). If there is no visible indication after a switching event the independent power supply 54 is dead or not functioning and should be checked.
It is to be understood that the time periods and number of flashes could be modified as long as the determined remaining life of the independent power supply 54 is clearly communicated to a person viewing the visual indication. The appropriate visual indications described above will be presented to the user/operator each time the circuit breaker is moved from an ON position to an OFF position, or from an OFF position to an ON position After the microprocessor 58 has finished its visual indication of the determined remaining life of the independent power supply 54 the electrical components of the visual trip indicating module 10 will return to the low power state 126.
If the current state is determined to be the tripped state 134 in block 340 of the algorithm above, the microprocessor 58 will initiate continuous flashing of the light source 66 at a predetermined flash length and number of flashes per minute and keep track of the elapsed time since the tripped state 134 was entered. The flashing of light source 66 will continue until a switching state 130 is determined by the microprocessor 58 or the elapsed time reaches a preprogrammed limit, approximately 6 hours (depending on the determined remaining life of the independent power supply 54), at which time microprocessor 58 will enter the low power state 126 and turn off the light source 66. In block 344 a reset of the tripped circuit breaker 90 will be detected as a switching event causing the microprocessor 58 to enter the low power state 126, where the voltage of independent power supply 54 is monitored. At block 348, microprocessor 58 will determine the remaining life of independent power supply 54 and at blocks 352 and 356 the visual indications will be presented to the user/operator as described above for the switching state 130 and the visual trip indicator module 10 will enter the low power state 126. If there is no visible indication from the light source 66 after resetting a tripped circuit breaker 90 the independent power supply 54 is dead or not functioning and should be checked.
In one embodiment, illustrated in
The shock switch 138 is configured to wake up the microprocessor 58 when it senses any motion of the circuit breaker handle 86. Upon receiving a wake up command from the shock switch 138 the microprocessor 58 initializes the accelerometer 142. The accelerometer 142 reads accelerations in three axes (X, Y and Z) for a short time duration of approximately 100 milliseconds, which is sufficient to capture the acceleration data 146 of a trip or switching event. The X axis is IN or OUT with respect to a circuit breaker cover 118, the Y axis is UP and DOWN as the breaker handle 86 moves and the Z axis is LEFT or RIGHT. The microprocessor 58 implements the state machine 122, which has three main states, a low power state 126, a switching state 130 and a tripped state 134. The acceleration data 146 captured by accelerometer 142, is compared with a set of stored acceleration profiles 150 (
As illustrated in
In another embodiment illustrated in
In a similar embodiment illustrated in
In another embodiment illustrated in
The reflector 178 can be installed on or in the breaker cover 118 during assembly of the circuit breaker 90 or during a retrofit installation of the trip indication module 10 on a circuit breaker 90 in the field. The reflector 178 can be a mirror or any mirror-like reflective material, such as reflective tape, that can be installed on a circuit breaker cover 118. The modulated light source 162 is pulsed ON and OFF by the microprocessor 58 such that the ON pulse is sufficiently long enough (approximately 1 ms) to quickly detect a change in state of the circuit breaker 90 and the OFF pulse is sufficiently long enough (approximately 1-5 seconds depending on the state of the independent power supply 54) to extend the life of independent power supply 54. Since the ON pulse of the modulated light source 162 is controlled by the microprocessor 58, the microprocessor 58 is expecting a response from the light sensor 166 immediately after the ON pulse is executed. The microprocessor 58 can be configured to be awakened and initiate the state machine 122 by either of the detection of a reflected light 182 or no detection of a reflected light 182 or a timer 63 in the microprocessor 58. Once the microprocessor 58 has determine the current state, switching state 130 or tripped state 134, it will proceed with visually indicating the current state as described in the basic operation above.
In another embodiment illustrated in
The alignment guide 198 can be made from a thin flexible material. The 3D magnetic sensor 194 detects a magnetic field 202 generated by the magnet 190 and can determine movement of the trip indication module 10 with respect to the magnet 190 and the distance and direction from the 3D magnetic sensor 194 to the magnet 190. The detected movement wakes the microprocessor 58, which initiates the state machine 122. The microprocessor 58 uses the detected distance and direction to determine the current state of the circuit breaker 90, switching state 130 or tripped state 134, and will proceed with visually indicating the current state of circuit breaker 90 and the current state of independent power supply 54 as described in the basic operation above.
In another embodiment, which is similar to the 3D magnetic sensor 194 embodiment above and also illustrated in
The microprocessor 58 compares the current Hall-voltage with threshold voltages previously stored in memory 62 for each of the three circuit breaker handle 86 positions. Based on this comparison the current circuit breaker handle 86 position is identified by the microprocessor 58 and the appropriate state, switching state 130 or tripped state 134, of the circuit breaker 90 is initiated. The microprocessor 58 will proceed with visually indicating the current state of circuit breaker 90 and the current state of independent power supply 54 as described in the basic operation above. In retrofit applications the magnet 190 can be attached to the circuit breaker cover 118 by a fast setting glue having superior adhesion and an alignment guide 198 will provide proper alignment with the three circuit breaker handle 86 positions. The alignment guide 198 can be made from a thin flexible material as shown in
In another embodiment illustrated in
A light source 66 can be located in the terminal block 226 and connected to the indicator lens 26 by a light pipe 70 or located on the inside surface of the circuit breaker cover 118 adjacent to the indicator lens 26 and connected to the terminal block 226 by an electrical conductor 230. The visible indicator lens 26 is located in the circuit breaker cover 118 such that it is easily visible when looking at an installed circuit breaker 90. Other components such as the microswitches 154 and magnets 190 will be located at various locations inside the circuit breaker housing 218 where they can provide data to the microprocessor 58 relevant to the position of and movement of the circuit breaker handle 86. The locations generally require one element to be in a fixed position with respect to another element that moves as the circuit breaker handle 86 moves from between the ON and OFF positions and between the TRIPPED and RESET positions.
The microprocessor 58 directs the light source 66 to flash a coded signal indicating the TRIPPED state 134 of the circuit breaker 90 and, after resetting the circuit breaker 90, flashing a coded signal indicating the current state of the independent power supply 54.In the preceding, reference is made to various embodiments. However, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to the specific described embodiments. Instead, any combination of the described features and elements, whether related to different embodiments or not, is contemplated to implement and practice contemplated embodiments. Furthermore, although embodiments may achieve advantages over other possible solutions or over the prior art, whether or not a particular advantage is achieved by a given embodiment is not limiting of the scope of the present disclosure. Thus, the preceding aspects, features, embodiments and advantages are merely illustrative and are not considered elements or limitations of the appended claims except where explicitly recited in a claim(s).
The various embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as a system, method or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer-readable medium(s) having computer-readable program code embodied thereon.
Any combination of one or more computer-readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer-readable medium may be a non-transitory computer-readable medium. A non-transitory computer-readable medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the non-transitory computer-readable medium can include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Program code embodied on a computer-readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.
Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. Moreover, such computer program code can execute using a single computer system or by multiple computer systems communicating with one another (e.g., using a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), the Internet, etc.). While various features in the preceding are described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, a person of ordinary skill in the art will understand that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, as well as combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer logic (e.g., computer program instructions, hardware logic, a combination of the two, etc.). Generally, computer program instructions may be provided to a processor(s) of a general-purpose computer, special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus. Moreover, the execution of such computer program instructions using the processor(s) produces a machine that can carry out a function(s) or act(s) specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality and/or operation of possible implementations of various embodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. Many other implementation examples are apparent upon reading and understanding the above description. Although the disclosure describes specific examples, it is recognized that the systems and methods of the disclosure are not limited to the examples described herein but may be practiced with modifications within the scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense. The scope of the disclosure should, therefore, be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US2021/057287 | 10/29/2021 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63108121 | Oct 2020 | US |
