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One pet-friendly inventor patented "a device for watering pets, e.g., a dog or cat." The device, he helpfully noted, "has the general shape of a toilet."
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7937247 | Virtual metering Methods for improving the accuracy of characterizing unmonitored paths or virtual meters in a utility system. The hierarchical arrangement of IEDs in the utility system is determined. Measured quantities of a characteristic of the utility being monitored are receive... | 05/03/2011 |
| 7928722 | Apparatus and method for voltage sensing in electrical metering systems A voltage isolation circuit. The input voltage Vin is connected to a primary winding of a transformer T1 through a current limiting resistor R1. R1 is preferably sized such that the current flow in the primary at nominal input voltage is approxi... | 04/19/2011 |
| 7881075 | Apparatus and methods for mounting and retaining power monitoring systems A system for mounting and retaining an electronic device in an opening in a door or panel comprises a power monitoring device for monitoring characteristics of the power transmitted through one or more power lines. An apparatus is coupled to the power monitoring dev... | 02/01/2011 |
| 7865320 | High density metering system A method of monitoring the electrical power in multiple branch circuits of an AC electrical power distribution system comprises monitoring at least one voltage common to said multiple branch circuits using a main meter unit, monitoring currents of the multiple branc... | 01/04/2011 |
| 7788055 | Method and system of calibrating sensing components in a circuit breaker system A method and system to calibrate a motor circuit protection device is disclosed. An example method calibrates a signal chain of a circuit breaker. The signal chain includes a current transformer, a burden resistor, a stored energy circuit and a controller. The circu... | 08/31/2010 |
| 7688005 | Lighting load management system for lighting systems having multiple power circuits A lighting control system is provided for a space that is equipped with multiple lamps for illuminating the space and multiple power circuits for supplying power to different groups of the lamps. The control system stores information relating to the past illuminatio... | 03/30/2010 |
| 7642676 | Contact verification method for a transfer switch mechanism An algorithm for verifying the state of switches (such as in a transfer switch mechanism) and for controlling the switches. The control algorithm controls automatic actuation of the switches. The verification algorithm measures the instantaneous voltage on the sourc... | 01/05/2010 |
| 7598629 | Control circuit for a remotely controlled circuit breaker Circuit for determining the presence or absence of a remotely controlled circuit beaker connection to a control circuit and the current state of an internal operating device of a remotely controlled circuit breaker connected to a control circuit. ... | 10/06/2009 |
| 7570074 | Electronic overload relay for mains-fed induction motors An induction motor having a rotor and a stator is protected during running overloads by connecting the motor to an overload protection relay that can be tripped to interrupt power to the motor in the event of an overload, tracking the stator winding temperature of t... | 08/04/2009 |
| 7548036 | DC motor mechanical shock protection system A DC motor mechanical shock protection system monitors the motor current to determine the torque the motor is applying to the gearbox, and takes mitigating action if the torque approaches a level that can damage the driven device and/or the drive system. This protec... | 06/16/2009 |
| 7521884 | Apparatus and method for controlling a transfer switch mechanism A controller for an automatic transfer switch mechanism in an electrical distribution panel, which automatically determines motor phase by monitoring the back EMF voltage of the motor when no power is applied to the motor as defined by a pulse width modulation circu... | 04/21/2009 |
| 7511474 | DC motor phase detection method for determining a distance traveled by a load A DC motor phase detection algorithm that monitors the change in motor current to detect pulses in the current caused by the motor's commutator brushes crossing over the gap between rotor commutator segments as the motor shaft rotates. A pulse is generated each time... | 03/31/2009 |
| 7498535 | Circuit breaker operator Apparatus for providing an accelerated linear motion to a circuit breaker operating handle during ON or OFF operation of the circuit breaker. The accelerated linear motion being applied to the operating handle at a particular point during its movement such that the ... | 03/03/2009 |
| 7495876 | Circuit breaker integral temperature monitoring for advance detection of defective power conductor connections A circuit breaker includes a breaker enclosure, a plurality of conductor connections, and a temperature sensor. The breaker enclosure contains internal components that include a trip unit. The plurality of conductor connections electrically couple the trip unit to a... | 02/24/2009 |
| 7469190 | Automated system approach to analyzing harmonic distortion in an electric power system A method and system to detect and evaluate harmonic distortion in an electrical power system is disclosed. A plurality of monitoring devices is installed in the electrical power system. The hierarchy of the electrical power system is received. Data indicative of har... | 12/23/2008 |
| 7444249 | Digital power metering system for reducing spectral leakage when determining the frequencies present in a power signal A digital power metering system reduces spectral leakage when determining the frequencies present in a power signal by a technique that includes sampling the signal and performing a transformation from the time domain to the frequency domain. The system initially me... | 10/28/2008 |
| 7397333 | Trip unit having bimetal element located outside the yoke A trip unit in a miniature circuit breaker includes a magnetic yoke and a bimetal mounted on the outside of the yoke. The bimetal is welded at one end to a load terminal that leads to a terminal connector and at the other end to a pigtail. The pigtail, instead of th... | 07/08/2008 |
| 7397212 | DC motor phase estimation with phase-locked loop A DC motor phase estimation algorithm that estimates a speed-related harmonic frequency of a DC motor current under dynamic load conditions having known geometry parameters. The algorithm estimates the phase and magnitude of a complex coefficient in a complex single... | 07/08/2008 |
| 7355132 | Side-mounted lock-off accessory for a circuit breaker A circuit breaker lock-off device is side-mounted to a circuit breaker case in a tenacious engagement. The lock-off device has a generally planar body carrying a lock-off arm pivotable in a plane parallel to the body to place an engagement tab extending therefrom in... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7349815 | Automated integration of data in utility monitoring systems An automated integrated monitoring (IM) algorithm that automatically puts data from a utility monitoring system into context by temporally aligning the data to a common reference point and by identifying the location of each monitoring device in a hierarchy relative... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7345860 | Load recognition and series arc detection using load current/line voltage normalization algorithms A method and system for determining whether arcing is present in an electrical circuit. The methods includes sensing a change in an alternating current in the circuit and developing a corresponding input signal, analyzing the input signal to determine the presence o... | 03/18/2008 |
| D562257 | Transfer switch for alternative power sources to a load center | 02/19/2008 |
| 7327558 | Front-accessible communications port for enclosed electrical equipment An improved electrical equipment enclosure includes an electrical enclosure, electrical equipment in said electrical enclosure, said electrical equipment including one or more devices requiring a network connection to devices outside of said enclosure, and a network... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7311538 | Tap-off interlock A bus to tap-off device interlock having a first position wherein the tap-off device can be installed or removed from the busway section and a second position in which an installed tap-off device can not be removed from the busway section and an uninstalled tap-off ... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7274974 | Independent automatic shedding branch circuit breaker An independent automatic shedding system that automatically allows any combination of loads to powered under limited power availability (such as a standby power source) without overloading the generator or rewiring, while contributing to the stability of the power g... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7272518 | Automated hierarchy classification in utility monitoring systems An auto-learned hierarchy algorithm that learns the hierarchical layout of a power monitoring system. Historical power data from each meter is received and placed into a data table. The main is assumed to be at the top of the hierarchy and is designated as the refer... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7268654 | Circuit breaker latching mechanism A latching mechanism for a movable member mounted for movement between first and second positions. The latching mechanism includes a primary latching mechanism mounted for movement between a latched position where the primary latching mechanism engages the movable m... | 09/11/2007 |
| 7253637 | Arc fault circuit interrupter system In order to determine whether arcing is present in an electrical circuit, a sensor signal corresponding to current in said electrical circuit is processed. The sensor signal is filtered to determine the presence of noise in a predetermined frequency range and produc... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7250836 | Terminal support for a circuit breaker trip unit A terminal assembly for use in a circuit breaker. The terminal assembly includes a first member and a second member abutting the first member. The second member includes a pair of protruding arms to be inserted into a corresponding pair of recesses in a circuit brea... | 07/31/2007 |
| 7249023 | Navigated menuing for industrial human machine interface via speech recognition An industrial human-machine interface device that permits speech-controlled navigation through a menu using a speech-recognition processor. The speech-recognition processor is coupled to a microcontroller and a display. The microcontroller is interfaced with a power... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7232965 | Linear motion compensator An linear motion compensator for translating a particular amount of linear movement produced by an input device into a particular amount of linear movement required to properly operate an output device, without causing damage to either the input device or the output... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7211750 | Switching mechanism with shock absorber A switching mechanism provides sequential switching of first and second circuit breakers to enable switching between a primary power supply and a backup power supply. The switching mechanism comprises an actuating mechanism to sequentially actuate a pair of circuit ... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7185281 | Remote metering display with motion sensor A remote metering display is used for displaying power-related information generated by a power meter linked to the display. The remote metering display comprises a display screen, a plurality of user interface buttons for navigating through menu options depicted on... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7183667 | Method and apparatus for power inverter synchronization A control circuit synchronizes an ac power inverter to the mains voltage of an electrical grid by matching the fundamental phasor components of the inverter's output voltage to the fundamental phasor components of the mains voltage. Once such matching meets an accep... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7180759 | Push-pull inverter with snubber energy recovery A power inverter comprises a push-pull inverter circuit that includes a transformer having a primary winding coupled to a DC bus and a secondary winding coupled to an AC bus, main power switches coupling each end of the primary winding to a DC return, and one or mor... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7176771 | Circuit breaker filter assembly An improved filter assembly for a circuit breaker includes a generally rectilinear filter housing having at least two filter mounting zones for receiving at least two filter assemblies, so as to define, in the aggregate, a filter assembly, and at least two filter as... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7177771 | Digital dynamic filtering and beat frequency reduction for power monitoring A power metering apparatus meters a power signal in a powered system. A low-pass filter receives the power signal and outputs a filtered signal. The filter implements a corner frequency programmable based on a first clocking signal and anti-aliases high frequency co... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7151656 | Arc fault circuit interrupter system A system for determining whether arcing is present in an electrical circuit in response to a sensor signal corresponding to current in the circuit includes a circuit for analyzing the sensor signal to determine the presence of broadband noise in a predetermined rang... | 12/19/2006 |
| 7146420 | Internet listener/publisher A communication scheme which allows Internet access to selected services behind a corporate firewall on a corporate Intranet with a publisher on the Intranet in communication with the Intranet web services and a listener on the Internet and is responsive to select r... | 12/05/2006 |
| 7140702 | Medium voltage motor control center arc resistant enclosure A medium voltage controller for electrical equipment, such as motors, transformers, reactors, and capacitors, having an arc resistant cabinet, swaged internal electrical connections, a one-piece self-aligning withdrawable finger cluster, a pull-out instrument compar... | 11/28/2006 |
