Electrical wiring device with wiring detection and correction

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11855436-B2
Application number	US-202217828156-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 31, 2022
Priority date	Apr 29, 2019
Publication date	Dec 26, 2023
Grant date	Dec 26, 2023

Abstract

An electrical wiring device including a housing assembly including a plurality of terminals at least partially disposed therein, the plurality of terminals including a HOT/LOAD terminal, a NEUTRAL terminal, a first traveler terminal, and a second traveler terminal, wherein, when in use, at least one of the terminals is connected to line hot; a first series FET and a second series FET disposed in series between the HOT/LOAD terminal and one of the first traveler terminal or the second traveler terminal; at least one of a first sensor producing a first sensor output according to current flow or a voltage at the one of the first traveler terminal or the second traveler terminal and a second sensor producing a second sensor output according to current flow through the NEUTRAL terminal or according to a voltage between the first series FET and second series FET; and a controller configured to determine to which of the plurality of terminals line hot is connected based, at least, on the first sensor output or the second sensor output and to provide, during operation, at least one of a first control signal to the first series FET and a second control signal to the second series FET according to a user adjustable load setting.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrical wiring device, comprising:
a housing assembly including a plurality of terminals at least partially disposed therein, the plurality of terminals including a first terminal, a second terminal, a third terminal, and a fourth terminal, wherein, when in use, one of the plurality of terminals is connected to line hot and one of the plurality of terminals is connected to line neutral;
a first plurality of wiring identification circuits each comprising an input side and output side, the input side being isolated from the output side, wherein the input side is electrically connected between a respective pair of the plurality of terminals and the output side produces an output if a voltage exists between the respective pair of the plurality of terminals, the outputs of the first plurality of wiring identification circuits forming a first plurality of outputs; and
a control circuit receiving the output from each wiring identification circuit of the first plurality of wiring identification circuits and configured to determine, during use, to which of the plurality of terminals line hot and line neutral are connected according to first plurality of outputs.

2. The electrical wiring device of claim 1 , comprising:
a fifth terminal at least partially disposed within the housing assembly for connection to earth ground;
a second plurality of wiring identification circuits each comprising an input side and output side, the input side being isolated from the output side, wherein the input side is electrically connected between a respective terminal of the first plurality of terminals and the fifth terminal and the output side produces an output if a voltage exists between the respective pair of the plurality of terminals, the outputs of the second plurality of wiring identification circuits forming a second plurality of outputs; and
wherein the control circuit receives the second plurality of outputs and determines the location of line hot and line neutral according to first plurality of outputs and the second plurality of outputs.

3. The electrical wiring device of claim 2 , wherein the controller determines to which of the plurality of terminals line hot is connected by comparing the first plurality of outputs to the second plurality of outputs.

4. The electrical wiring device of claim 2 , wherein the controller determines at least one of a positive half cycle of line hot and a negative half cycle of line hot from the second plurality of outputs, the positive half cycle of line hot or the negative half cycle of line hot being used to determine to which of the plurality of terminals line hot and line neutral are connected.

5. The electrical wiring device of claim 1 , further comprising at least one face receptacle structure comprising a first receptacle and a second receptacle, wherein each of the plurality of terminals is configurable via a respective relay switch to be in electrical communication with either the first receptacle or second receptacle, wherein the controller is configured to operate each relay switch according to which of the plurality of terminals line hot and line neutral are connected such that line hot is connected to the first receptacle and line neutral is connected to the second receptacle.

6. The electrical wiring device of claim 1 , wherein the electrical wiring device is a dimmer, wherein the dimmer comprises a first series FET and a second series FET, the dimmer determining which control sequence of a plurality of control sequences to apply to the first series and the second series FET according to, at least, which of the plurality of terminals line hot is connected.

7. The electrical wiring device of claim 1 , wherein the electrical wiring device further comprises a circuit interrupter mechanism, the circuit interrupter mechanism being configured to interrupt electrical continuity between at least two of the first terminal, the second terminal, the third terminal, and the fourth terminal in a tripped state, wherein the controller causes the circuit interrupter to enter the tripped state according to, at least, which of the plurality of terminals line hot is connected.

8. The electrical wiring of device of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to notify a user, via a wireless connection to a remote device, to which of the terminals line hot is connected.

9. The electrical wiring device of claim 1 , wherein the input side is connected to and isolated from the output side via optical isolation or inductive coupling.

10. The electrical wiring device of claim 1 , wherein the output side is connected to a DC voltage supplied by a battery.

11. The electrical wiring device of claim 10 , wherein the output side is connected to a DC voltage supplied by a power supply circuit, the power supply circuit being connected between two terminals of the plurality of terminals.

Assignees

• Pass & Seymour Inc

Inventors

• Mueller Brian
• Haines Joshua P
• Finlay Sr David A
• Savicki Jr Gerald R

Classifications

• H02H11/003 Primary

  using a field effect transistor as protecting element in one of the supply lines · CPC title

• H02H11/004

  in case of incorrect phase sequence; with switching for obtaining correct phase sequence (protection of motors against wrong direction of rotation H02H7/097) · CPC title

• H05B47/14

  by determining electrical parameters of the light source · CPC title

• H05B47/20

  Responsive to malfunctions or to light source life; for protection · CPC title

• H05B47/10 Primary

  Controlling the light source · CPC title