Power supply for faulted circuit indicator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9847671-B2
Application number	US-201514680365-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 7, 2015
Priority date	Apr 11, 2014
Publication date	Dec 19, 2017
Grant date	Dec 19, 2017

Abstract

A faulted circuit indicator includes a microprocessor or discrete logic to determine a fault condition and initiate one or more fault indications, a super capacitor, a battery, and power supply circuitry for providing power to the microprocessor and one or more fault indicators. The power supply circuitry: inductively receives energy from a power line; determines whether an induced voltage is sufficient to power one or more functions of the FCI device; and if not, determines whether available voltage from the super capacitor is sufficient to power the one or more functions of the FCI device. If so, the power supply circuitry draws voltage from the super capacitor and, if not, the power supply circuitry draws voltage from the battery when it is determined that the available voltage from the super capacitor is not sufficient to power the one or more functions of the FCI device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for powering a faulted circuit indicator (FCI) device, comprising:
inductively receiving energy from a power line to which the FCI device is in proximity to;
monitoring an induced voltage corresponding to the received energy;
determining whether the induced voltage is sufficient to power one or more functions of the FCI device;
determining whether available voltage from a super capacitor is sufficient to power the one or more functions of the FCI device, when it is determined that the induced voltage is not sufficient to power the one or more functions of the FCI device, the determining whether the available voltage from a super capacitor is sufficient to power the one or more functions of the FCI device further comprising:
determining whether the available voltage from the super capacitor exceeds a boost maximum voltage, and
forwarding the voltage from the super capacitor to a voltage regulator for powering the one or more functions of the FCI device when the available voltage from the super capacitor exceeds the boost maximum voltage;

drawing power from the super capacitor when it is determined that the available voltage from the super capacitor is sufficient to power the one or more functions of the FCI device; and
drawing power from a battery when it is determined that the available voltage from the super capacitor is not sufficient to power the one or more functions of the FCI device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the FCI device is physically coupled to the power line.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more functions of the FCI device comprise at least one of fault monitoring or fault indication.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the fault indication comprises at least one of a mechanical fault indication, an optical fault indication, or a radio frequency fault transmission indication.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining whether available voltage from a super capacitor is not sufficient to power the one or more functions of the FCI device is indicative of a power line fault condition.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether the induced voltage meets a minimum threshold voltage;
activating a processor of the FCI device when the induced voltage meets a minimum threshold voltage; and
maintaining the processor in a deactive state when the induced voltage does not meet the minimum threshold voltage.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
forwarding a first portion of the receiving energy to a voltage regulator for powering the one or more functions of the FCI device and a second portion of the received energy to the super capacitor to charge the super capacitor.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first portion and the second portion are based on relative impedances of the voltage regulator and the super capacitor.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
forwarding the voltage from the super capacitor to the voltage regulator via a boost regulator when the available voltage from the super capacitor does not exceed the boost maximum voltage and when the available voltage from the super capacitor is sufficient to power the one or more functions of the FCI device.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the super capacitor comprises a device having a higher energy density that a non-super capacitor, shorter charge and discharge cycle than the battery, and is able to tolerate more charge and discharge cycles than the battery.

11. A faulted circuit indicator (FCI), comprising:
a microprocessor, or discrete logic to determine a fault condition and initiate one or more fault indications;
a super capacitor;
a battery; and
power supply circuitry for providing power to the microprocessor and one or more fault indicators,
wherein the power supply circuitry:
inductively receives energy from a power line proximate to the FCI;
monitors an induced voltage corresponding to the received power;
determines whether the induced voltage is sufficient to power one or more functions of the FCI device;
determines whether available voltage from the super capacitor is sufficient to power the one or more functions of the FCI device, when it is determined that the induced voltage is not sufficient to power the one or more functions of the FCI device;
draws voltage from the super capacitor when it is determined that the available voltage from the super capacitor is sufficient to power the one or more functions of the FCI device; and
draws voltage from the battery when it is determined that the available voltage from the super capacitor is not sufficient to power the one or more functions of the FCI device, and

wherein determining whether the available voltage from a super capacitor is sufficient to power the one or more functions of the FCI device further comprises, performing by the power supply circuitry:
determining whether the available voltage from the super capacitor exceeds a boost maximum voltage; and
forwarding the voltage from the super capacitor to a voltage regulator for powering the one or more functions of the FCI device when the available voltage from the super capacitor exceeds the boost maximum voltage.

12. The FCI of claim 11 , wherein the one or more functions of the FCI device comprise at least one of fault monitoring or fault indication.

13. The FCI of claim 12 , wherein the fault indication comprises at least one of a mechanical fault indication, an optical fault indication, or a radio frequency fault transmission indication.

14. The FCI of claim 11 , wherein determining whether available voltage from a super capacitor is not sufficient to power the one or more functions of the FCI device by the power supply circuitry is indicative of a power line fault condition.

15. The FCI of claim 11 , wherein the power supply circuitry is further configured to:
determine whether the induced voltage meets a minimum threshold voltage;
activate a processor of the FCI device when the induced voltage meets a minimum threshold voltage; and
maintain the processor in a deactive state when the induced voltage does not meet the minimum threshold voltage.

16. The FCI of claim 11 , wherein the power supply circuitry is further configured to:
forward a first portion of the receiving energy to a voltage regulator for powering the one or more functions of the FCI device and a second portion of the received energy to the super capacitor to charge the super capacitor.

17. The FCI of claim 11 , wherein the power supply circuitry is further configured to:
forward the voltage from the super capacitor to the voltage regulator via a boost regulator when the available voltage from the super capacitor does not exceed the boost maximum voltage and when the available voltage from the super capacitor is sufficient to power the one or more functions of the FCI device.

18. The FCI of claim 11 , wherein the super capacitor comprises a device having a higher energy density that a non-super capacitor, shorter charge and discharge cycle than the battery, and is able to tolerate more charge and discharge cycles than the battery.

Assignees

• Thomas & Betts Int Llc
• Thomas & Betts Int Llc

Inventors

• Khoshnood Bahman
• Karnakanti Srinivas
• Martin David
• Dodds William J
• Bright Eugene
• Putta Jagadish Reddy
• Delgado Camilo

Classifications

• H02J7/345 Primary

  using capacitors as storage or buffering devices · CPC title

• H02J50/10

  using inductive coupling · CPC title

• H02J5/005

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02J9/06 Primary

  with automatic change-over {, e.g. UPS systems} · CPC title

• H02J7/025

  Electricity · mapped topic