System and method for providing access to electrical circuitry based on operational status

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11366451-B2
Application number	US-201916580992-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 24, 2019
Priority date	Sep 24, 2019
Publication date	Jun 21, 2022
Grant date	Jun 21, 2022

Abstract

Embodiments of this present disclosure may include a handle disposed on an outer surface of a housing of electrical circuitry. The handle may provide access to at least a portion of the electrical circuitry. The handle may include a status indicator that emits light in response to a control signal from control circuitry. The status indicator may be disposed around the handle. The control circuitry may detect a state of the electrical protection circuitry. The control circuitry may also transmit the control signal to the status indicator based on the state. The control signal may control one or more properties of the light emitted by the status indicator, and thus indicate to an operator the state of the electrical circuitry.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
electrical protection circuitry coupled between a power supply and a load, wherein the electrical protection circuitry is configured to electrically couple to the power supply via a first plurality of phases and to the load via a second plurality of phases;
a handle disposed on an outer surface of housing of the electrical protection circuitry, wherein the handle is configured to provide access to at least a portion of the electrical protection circuitry;
a status indicator configured to emit light in response to a first control signal; and
control circuitry configured to:
receive an actuation request based at least in part on a position of the handle, wherein the actuation request comprises an identity parameter identifying an operator that initiated the actuation request;
determine a current operational status associated with the electrical protection circuitry from a plurality of operational statuses based on a combination of a supply side status of a first phase of the first plurality of phases, a load side status of a second phase of the second plurality of phases, and the position of the handle;
query a database to determine whether the identity parameter matches a list of authorized operators of the electrical protection circuitry associated with operating the electrical protection circuitry while in the current operational status; and
transmit a second control signal to the handle in response to determining that the identity parameter matches the list of authorized operators, wherein the second control signal is configured to permit access to the electrical protection circuitry.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to store, in the database, an indication indicative of the identity parameter matching the list of authorized operators, wherein the database comprises a plurality of indications representative of a plurality of previously authorized operators.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the identity parameter comprises fingerprint data, biometric data, image data, audio data, radio frequency tag identifier, or any combination thereof.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electrical protection circuitry comprises a control system configured to:
receive an indication of the handle being rotated into an additional position associated with the actuation request;
receive data corresponding to the identity parameter of the operator that rotated the handle, wherein the data is received from a sensor disposed on the handle; and
transmit the identity parameter to the control circuitry to authenticate an identity of the operator based on the data, wherein the handle is configured to provide access to electrical circuitry housing in response to the identity of the operator being authenticated.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the database is configured to store an association of the identity parameter with a device identifier, wherein the device identifier comprises a tag identifier or string of data configured to identify a first device from a plurality of devices, and wherein the association between the identity parameter and the device identifier is configured to provide authorization for the operator to interact with the first device.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the database comprises an association between the identity parameter, the device identifier, a desired permission level selected based at least in part on the device identifier, and an assigned permission level selected based at least in part on the identity parameter, and wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine that the identity parameter matches the list of authorized operators when the desired permission level for the device identifier matches the assigned permission level for the identity parameter.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the assigned permission level is determined based at least in part on an education level associated with the identity parameter, a training certificate associated with the identity parameter, a job role associated with the identity parameter, a job responsibility associated with the identity parameter, a number of years of experience associated with the identity parameter, a technical background associated with the identity parameter, or any combination thereof.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the power supply is coupled to the electrical protection circuitry via three electrical lines, wherein each of the three electrical lines is respectively associated with an electrical line status of a plurality of electrical line statuses, and wherein the control circuitry is configured to receive the actuation request based at least in part on the position of the handle and the plurality of electrical line statuses.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the handle is associated with three status indicators disposed on the outer surface of housing of the electrical protection circuitry, wherein each of the three electrical lines corresponds to a respective status indicator, and wherein each of the three status indicators emit light respectively based on the plurality of electrical line statuses.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to update a data record in a database to indicate that the identity parameter matches the list of authorized operators in response to determining that the identity parameter matches the list of authorized operators.

11. A device, comprising:
a first plurality of connections configured to couple to a first plurality of phases of a supply voltage;
a second plurality of connections configured to couple to a second plurality of phases configured to couple to a load;
a handle disposed on an electrical circuitry housing, wherein the handle is configured to rotate about an axis central to a base of the handle; and
a control system configured to:
receive an indication of the handle being rotated into a position associated with an authentication request;
receive data corresponding to an identity of an operator that rotated the handle, wherein the data is received from a sensor disposed on the handle;
determine a current operational status associated with electrical protection circuitry from a plurality of operational statuses based on a combination of a supply side status of a first phase of the first plurality of phases, a load side status of a second phase of the second plurality of phases, and the position of the handle;
authenticate the identity of the operator based on the data based on a list of authorized operators of the electrical protection circuitry associated with operating the electrical protection circuitry while in the current operational status; and
transmit an actuation signal to circuitry disposed on the handle in response to authenticating the identity of the operator, wherein the actuation signal is configured to enable the handle to provide access to the electrical circuitry housing.

12. The device of claim 11 , wherein the control system is configured to authenticate the identity of the operator based at least in part by transmitting an actuation request comprising the data to a computing device in response to the handle being
rotated into the position, wherein the computing device is configured to authenticate the identity of the operator based at least in part by querying a database to match the data to a dataset stored in the database.

13. The device of claim 11 , wherein the handle comprises spring-loaded circuitry or locking circuitry, wherein the spring-loaded circuitry or locking circuitry is configured to unlock and enable the handle to rotate to provide access to

Assignees

• Rockwell Automation Tech Inc

Inventors

• Main-Reade David
• Bellows Troy M
• Branicki Maciej
• Di Stefano Claudio
• Hecht Karen R
• Hemmingson Mayo D
• Lasko Scott B
• Murgatroyd Ian
• Pethick Stephen
• Scudder Austen K

Classifications

• G08B5/36

  using visible light sources · CPC title

• G06F16/90335

  Query processing · CPC title

• G05B11/06

  in which the output signal represents a continuous function of the deviation from the desired value, i.e. continuous controllers (G05B11/26 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G07C9/00563

  using personal physical data of the operator, e.g. finger prints, retinal images, voicepatterns · CPC title

• G07C9/27

  with central registration · CPC title