Fault detection device, electrical instrument and fault detection method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9389262-B2
Application number	US-201213356751-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 24, 2012
Priority date	Mar 3, 2011
Publication date	Jul 12, 2016
Grant date	Jul 12, 2016

Abstract

A fault detection device includes an interface electrically connected to an electrical instrument to transfer commercial power to the electrical instrument, transmit a command for driving one of a plurality of loads included in the electrical instrument to the electrical instrument, and detect current flowing in one of the plurality of loads of the electrical instrument; and a terminal configured to receive a current signal corresponding to the current flowing in one of the plurality of loads from the interface, determine whether the one load has a fault on the basis of the received current signal and display whether the load has a fault. A faulty load is determined by detecting current of only a load suspected to have a fault when a fault is generated in the electrical instrument so as to improve fault detection accuracy.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrical instrument comprising:
a load part having a plurality of loads;
an input unit;
a power supply unit to provide drive power to the plurality of loads of the load part;
a fault detector comprising a current detector to respectively detect currents flowing in the plurality of loads;
a controller to determine whether each of the loads has a fault on the basis of detected current of each load; and
a display to display whether each load has a fault,
wherein the controller controls the selected load to be driven and sequentially controls a plurality of loads to be driven when the plurality of loads are selected, and receives a current signal from the current detector when each of the loads is driven,
wherein the power supply unit includes a first power terminal, and
wherein the fault detector includes a connecting terminal connected to the first power terminal and a second power terminal that is connected to a commercial power supply and transfers commercial power to the connecting terminal through the current detector.

2. The electrical instrument according to claim 1 , further comprising a communication unit to transmit information about a fault of the load to a server in response to an instruction from the controller.

3. The electrical instrument according to claim 1 , wherein the fault detector further comprises an A/D converter to convert a signal corresponding to current detected by the current detector into a digital signal and to transmit the digital signal to the controller.

4. The electrical instrument according to claim 1 , wherein the display unit displays a message representing a fault of the load.

5. The electrical instrument according to claim 1 , further comprising a communication unit to transmit a signal corresponding to current of each load to a terminal capable of determining a fault in response to an instruction of the controller.

6. The electrical instrument according to claim 1 , further comprising a storage unit to store a normal power range for each load,
wherein the controller calculates power of each load on the basis of current detected when each load is driven, determines whether the calculated power is within a normal power range of each load, and determines that the load has a fault when the calculated power is out of the normal power range.

Assignees

• Jo Se Jin
• Kim Myung Chul
• Kim Yoon Sup
• Noh Ki Hong
• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jo Se Jin
• Kim Myung Chul
• Kim Yoon Sup
• Noh Ki Hong

Classifications

• G01R31/2825 Primary

  in household appliances or professional audio/video equipment (testing LAN's H04L43/50; testing TV systems H04N17/00; testing loudspeakers H04R29/00) · 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

• G01R19/165

  Indicating that current or voltage is either above or below a predetermined value or within or outside a predetermined range of values · CPC title

• G01R31/00 Primary

  Arrangements for testing electric properties; Arrangements for locating electric faults; Arrangements for electrical testing characterised by what is being tested not provided for elsewhere ({measuring superconductive properties G01R33/1238;} testing line transmission systems H04B3/46; testing or measuring semiconductors or solid state devices during manufacture {H10P74/00}) · CPC title

• G01R31/3012

  Built-In-Current test [BIC] · CPC title