Motor control center with enhanced circuit disconnect

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11158477-B2
Application number	US-202016797817-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 21, 2020
Priority date	Feb 21, 2020
Publication date	Oct 26, 2021
Grant date	Oct 26, 2021

Abstract

A system may include a power supply that generates a first voltage. The power supply may couple upstream from an electrical load. The electrical load may operate based at least in part on the first voltage. In some cases, a solid-state circuit breaker may be coupled between the power supply and the electrical load. Furthermore, a control system may be communicatively coupled to the power supply, the electrical load, and the solid-state circuit breaker. The control system may receive an operational status from the solid-state circuit breaker and may update a visualization rendered on a graphical user interface based at least in part on the operational status. The operational status may indicate an operation of the solid-state circuit breaker coupling the power supply to the electrical load.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a power supply configured to generate a first voltage;
an electrical load coupled downstream from the power supply, wherein the electrical load operates based at least in part on the first voltage;
a solid-state circuit breaker configured to couple between the power supply and the electrical load; and
a control system communicatively coupled to the power supply, the electrical load, and the solid-state circuit breaker, wherein the control system is configured to perform operations comprising:
initiating a soft-start operation according to a start-up profile associated with the electrical load;
receiving one or more operational statuses from the solid-state circuit breaker during the soft-start operation of the solid-state circuit breaker including a first operational status indicative of the solid-state circuit breaker coupling the first voltage to the electrical load;
updating a visualization rendered on a graphical user interface based at least in part on the first operational status; and
adjusting an operation of the solid-state circuit breaker in response to the one or more operational statuses being greater than an expected value.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control system is configured to perform the operations comprising:
instructing the solid-state circuit breaker to disconnect the electrical load from the power supply.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the solid-state circuit breaker comprises an integrated air-gap disconnect configured to facilitate galvanic isolation of a supply-side of the solid-state circuit breaker from a load-side of the solid-state circuit breaker.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operation of the solid-state circuit breaker is adjusted to cause a value corresponding to the one or more operational statuses to the expected value.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control system and the solid-state circuit breaker are configured to communicate a status, a control signal, or both, using one or more data objects associated with the solid-state circuit breaker.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control system is configured to perform the operations comprising:
providing a first user with a first level of control associated with the solid-state circuit breaker and a second user with a second level of control associated with the solid-state circuit breaker, and wherein the first level of control and the second level of control are different.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control system and the solid-state circuit breaker are configured to communicate using Ethernet internet protocol (IP) communication methods.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the visualization is updated to render an indication of the first operational status on the graphical user interface.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electrical load comprises a power converter, a motor, or both, wherein the solid-state circuit breaker is configured to couple to the power converter, and wherein the motor is configured to couple to the power converter.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the solid-state circuit breaker comprises one or more silicon-carbide switches configured to enable electrical disconnection between a line-side and a load-side of the solid-state circuit breaker.

11. A method, comprising:
receiving, by a processor, a request to initiate a soft-start operation for a solid-state circuit breaker according to a start-up profile of an electrical load;
sending, by the processor, one or more commands to the solid-state circuit breaker to initiate the soft-start operation;
receiving, by the processor, a plurality of operational statuses from the solid-state circuit breaker during the soft-start operation of the solid-state circuit breaker; and
adjusting, by the processor, an operation of the solid-state circuit breaker during the soft-start operation in response to one of the plurality of operational statuses being greater than an expected value, wherein adjusting the operation of the solid-state circuit breaker comprises changing a value corresponding to one of the plurality of operational statuses to the expected value.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein a configuration interface associated with the solid-state circuit breaker is configured to store the start-up profile of the electrical load coupled to the solid-state circuit breaker, wherein the start-up profile defines expected values for a respective operational status to be received when starting the electrical load, and wherein the configuration interface stores the expected values within a data object or data table.

13. The method of claim 11 , comprising:
receiving, by the processor, an additional operational status reporting that a control device of the solid-state circuit breaker tripped the solid-state circuit breaker independent of command from the processor; and
instructing, by the processor, to further disconnect the electrical load from a power supply by opening a switch coupled between the power supply and the solid-state circuit breaker.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the solid-state circuit breaker comprises silicon-carbide.

15. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium configured to store instructions executable by a processor of a control device associated with a sensing device that, when executed by the processor, cause the control device to perform operations comprising:
transmitting a first control signal to the sensing device;
receiving sensing data from the sensing device in response to the first control signal;
generating an operational status based at least in part on the sensing data, wherein the operational status indicates a state of a solid-state circuit breaker during an ongoing soft-start operation;
transmitting the operational status to a control system;
receiving one or more control commands from the control system, wherein the control system determines the one or more control commands based at least in part on the operational status and an expected operational status; and
transmitting a second control signal to a portion of the solid-state circuit breaker to adjust an operation of the solid-state circuit breaker, wherein adjusting the operation of the solid-state circuit breaker comprises changing a value corresponding to one of the operational status to an expected value corresponding to the expected operational status.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , the operations comprising:
accessing a configuration for the solid-state circuit breaker;
determining, from the configuration, a first expected value range comprising a first data value and a second data value; and
generating the operational status in response to the sensing data being the value, wherein the value is characterized by a number between the first data value and the second data value.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , the operations comprising:
accessing a configuration for the solid-state circuit breaker;
determining, from the configuration, a first expected value range and a second expected value range;
generating, at a first time, the operational status in response to the sensing data equaling a first number within the first expected value range; and
operating, at a second time, the solid-state circuit breaker to electrically decouple a line-side from a load-side in response to a subsequent operational status equaling a second number within the second expected value range.

18. The non-transitory computer-readabl

Assignees

• Rockwell Automation Tech Inc

Inventors

• Mazur David C
• Peterson Corey A
• Dilgard Robert
• Sauve Todd R
• Halpin Peter J
• Steinweg Calvin C

Classifications

• H02H7/0822

  Integrated protection, motor control centres · CPC title

• H01H2071/006

  Provisions for user interfaces for electrical protection devices · CPC title

• H01H71/1081 Primary

  Modifications for selective or back-up protection; Correlation between feeder and branch circuit breaker (circuits H02H3/06, H02H7/26) · CPC title

• G05B2219/43048

  Step change in reference, soft start, smoothing reference · CPC title

• G05B9/02

  electric · CPC title