Fault interrupting devices and control methods therefor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10033176-B2
Application number	US-201113195385-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 1, 2011
Priority date	Nov 10, 2010
Publication date	Jul 24, 2018
Grant date	Jul 24, 2018

Abstract

Fault interrupting devices and methods for controlling the same are disclosed. The fault interrupting devices may include a switch on an electrical power line and a controller configured to operate the switch. The methods for controlling fault interrupting devices may include gathering data, determining from the data that a fault has occurred, opening the fault interrupting device to interrupt the fault, analyzing the data, and determining whether the fault interrupting device can be reclosed based at least partially on the analysis of the data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for controlling a fault interrupting device, the method comprising:
gathering data before opening the fault interrupting device to interrupt a fault;
determining from the gathered data. that the fault has occurred;
opening the fault interrupting device to interrupt the fault;
while the fault interrupting device remains open, analyzing the gathered data to determine if the fault is a permanent fault; and
determining, before reclosing the fault interrupting device, that the fault interrupting device should be locked open if the analysis of the gathered data determines that the fault is a permanent fault.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing, the gathered data to determine if the fault is a permanent fault comprises analyzing the gathered data to determine if the fault is a momentary fault or is neither a momentary fault nor a permanent fault, and the method comprises determining, before reclosing the fault interrupting device, that the fault interrupting device can be reclosed if the analysis of the gathered data determines that the fault is a momentary fault or is neither a momentary fault nor a permanent fault.

3. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
reclosing the fault interrupting device if the analysis of the data determines that the fault is a momentary fault;
reclosing the fault interrupting device if the analysis of the data determines that the fault is neither, a momentary fault nor a permanent fault; and
locking the fault interrupting device open if the analysis of the data determines that the fault is a permanent fault.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the fault interrupting device is locked open before reclosing into the fault if the analysis of the data before reclosing the fault interrupting device determines that the fault is a permanent fault.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data gathered before opening the fault interrupting device to interrupt the fault is first data, and the method comprises:
reclosing the fault interrupting device if the analysis of the first data does not determine that the fault is a permanent fault;
gathering second data after reclosing the fault interrupting device; and
analyzing at least one of the first and second data to determine whether the fault is a momentary fault or a permanent fault.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein analyzing at least one of the first and second data to determine whether the fault is a momentary fault or a permanent fault includes comparing the second data to the first data.

7. The method of claim 5 , comprising;
determining from the second data that the fault has not been cleared;
re-opening the fault interrupting device to re-interrupt the fault;
reclosing the fault interrupting device if analyzing at least one of the first and second data to determine whether the fault is a momentary fault or a permanent fault does not determine that the fault is a permanent fault; and
blocking further reclosing of the fault interrupting device if analyzing at least one of the first and second data to determine whether the fault is a momentary fault or a permanent fault determines that the fault is a permanent fault.

8. The method of claim 5 , comprising:
determining from the second data that the fault has not been cleared;
re-opening the fault interrupting device to re-interrupt the fault;
performing an additional reclosing of the fault interrupting device if the fault interrupting device has performed less than a predetermined number of reclosings;
gathering third data after the additional reclosing; and
analyzing at least one of the first, second and third data to determine whether the fault is a momentary fault or a permanent fault.

9. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
determining from the gathered data a probability that the fault is a permanent fault; and
locking the fault interrupting device open if the probability is above a predetermined threshold.

10. The method of claim 9 , comprising:
determining whether the fault interrupting device has performed less than a predetermined number of reclosing attempts; and
reclosing the fault interrupting device if the fault interrupting device has performed less than the predetermined number of reclosing attempts and the probability is below the predetermined threshold.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data includes information regarding environmental conditions, and the method comprises:
analyzing the gathered data to determine if the fault is a permanent fault when the environmental conditions are within predefined limits; and
permitting reclosing of the fault interrupting device when the environmental conditions are outside the predefined limits.

12. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having embodied thereon a plurality of machine-readable instructions configured to be executed by at least one computer processor to control a recloser on an electrical power line, the plurality of machine-readable instructions comprising instructions to:
gather data before opening the recloser to interrupt a fault on the power line;
determine from the gathered data that the fault has occurred;
open the recloser to interrupt the fault;
analyze the gathered data while the recloser remains open to determine if the fault is a permanent fault; and
determine, before reclosing the recloser, that the recloser should be locked open if the analysis of the gathered data determines that the fault is a permanent fault.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the instructions to analyze the gathered data to determine if the fault is a permanent fault include instructions to analyze the gathered data to determine if the fault is a momentary fault or is neither a momentary fault nor a permanent fault, and the plurality of machine-readable instructions comprise instructions to determine, before reclosing the recloser, that the recloser can be reclosed if the analysis of the gathered data determines that the fault is a momentary fault or is neither a momentary fault nor a permanent fault.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12 , comprising instructions to:
reclose the recloser if the analysis of the data determines that the fault is a momentary fault;
reclose the recloser if the analysis of the data determines that the fault is neither a momentary fault nor a permanent fault; and
lock the recloser open if the analysis of the data determines that the fault is a permanent fault.

15. The non transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the recloser is locked open before reclosing into the fault if the analysis of the data before reclosing the recloser determines that the fault is a permanent fault.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the data gathered before opening the recloser to interrupt the fault is first data, and the machine-readable instructions comprise instructions to:
reclose the recloser if the analysis of the first data does not determine that the fault is a permanent fault;
gather second data after reclosing the recloser; and
analyze at least one of the first and second data to determine whether the fault is a momentary fault or a permanent fault.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions to analyze at least one of the first and second data to determine whether the fault is a momentary fault or a permanent fault include instructions to compare the second data to the first data.

Assignees

• Mousavi Mirrasoul J
• Tang Le
• Abb Research Ltd

Inventors

• Mousavi Mirrasoul J
• Tang Le

Classifications

• G01R31/52

  Testing for short-circuits, leakage current or ground faults · CPC title

• H02H3/40

  responsive to ratio of voltage and current · CPC title

• H02H3/07

  and with permanent disconnection after a predetermined number of reconnection cycles · CPC title

• H02H7/26

  Sectionalised protection of cable or line systems, e.g. for disconnecting a section on which a short-circuit, earth fault, or arc discharge has occured (locating faults in cables G01R31/08) · CPC title

• G01R31/50

  Testing of electric apparatus, lines, cables or components for short-circuits, continuity, leakage current or incorrect line connections (testing of sparking plugs H01T13/58) · CPC title