Did You Know...
...that the Eveready Battery began as an invention called the "electric flowerpot," which was a tube with a battery and light bulb inside? The idea was to fasten this gizmo to the side of a flowerpot so it would illuminate the flowers from the bottom. The idea died on the vine and the businessman who licensed the flower pot, Conrad Huber, was left with a pile of useless tubes -- until he found a way to market them as batteries to light the world!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7580232 | Arc detection system and method A system for identifying an arcing event in electrical distribution systems is provided. The system comprises a sensor configured to detect ultraviolet light and to generate a signal indicative of the arcing event propagating from the electrical distribution system.... | 08/25/2009 |
| 7443640 | Apparatus for detecting arc fault Disclosed herein is an apparatus for detecting an arc fault, which prevents a malfunction caused by a conventional current detecting method by detecting a source voltage applied onto a conductive wire to determine whether there is an arc fault, prevents a malfunctio... | 10/28/2008 |
| 7440245 | Arc fault circuit interrupter and method of detecting an arc fault An arc fault circuit interrupter includes separable contacts, an operating mechanism adapted to open and close the separable contacts, and a trip mechanism cooperating with the operating mechanism to trip open the separable contacts. The trip mechanism includes a pe... | 10/21/2008 |
| 7433170 | Apparatus and method of controlling the closing action of a contactor A contactor having a separable conduction path, an actuator, a magnetic stator and armature, and a controller, is disclosed. The actuator is in mechanical communication with the separable conduction path, and the magnetic stator and magnetic armature are arranged in... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7362552 | Arc fault circuit interrupter An arc fault circuit interrupter includes line and load terminals, separable contacts, a current sensor sensing current flowing between the terminals and associated with one type of load, and a first arc fault detection circuit generating a first trip signal respons... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7362553 | Arc fault circuit interrupter and method for inhibiting series arc protection based on dimmer phase angle An arc fault circuit breaker includes line and load terminals, separable contacts electrically connected between the terminals, a current sensor adapted to sense current associated with a load and flowing between the terminals and through the separable contacts. An ... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7359168 | Arc fault circuit interrupter and method for disabling series arc protection during current transients An arc fault circuit interrupter includes a line terminal, a load terminal, separable contacts electrically connected between the line terminal and the load terminal, and a current sensor structured to sense current associated with the load and flowing between the l... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7333920 | Arc fault detector with circuit interrupter There is here disclosed a method and apparatus for detecting the occurrence of arcing of a conductor by monitoring the current on an AC power line. The signal detected is split and directed along four separate paths to generate four signals having separate character... | 02/19/2008 |
| 7333308 | Control arrangement A control arrangement is operable to control an electrical relay to supply current. The arrangement comprises current supply means and control means operable to provide a relay make signal and a relay break signal to control the state of the relay to respectively ma... | 02/19/2008 |
| 7319574 | Arc fault detection apparatus, method and system for an underground electrical conductor A non-invasive underground arc fault detection apparatus is for an underground electrical conductor. The apparatus includes an electric circuit having an opening for admitting the electrical conductor therethrough. The electric circuit includes one or two transducer... | 01/15/2008 |
| 7307820 | Systems, methods, and device for arc fault detection Certain exemplary embodiments described herein comprise a method comprising a plurality of activities comprising: discriminating an arcing condition from a non-arcing broadband signal, and, in response to detecting an arcing condition, outputting a trip signal to a ... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7292422 | Occupancy-based circuit breaker control A method and occupancy-based control device in a trip unit of a main circuit breaker, with the circuit breaker coupled to an electrical distribution system including at least one feeder circuit breaker and a load circuit. The occupancy-based control device comprises... | 11/06/2007 |
| 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 |
| 7253996 | Method and arc fault circuit interrupter employing a hysteresis value for compressor rumble An arc fault detection circuit collects samples of sensed current, determines a peak current value from the samples for each line cycle, determines a hysteresis value for a compressor load as a function of differences between the peak current values, and generates a... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7239490 | Medium voltage vacuum circuit interrupter An encapsulated medium voltage vacuum circuit interrupter includes a line terminal, a load terminal, a vacuum interrupter, an operating mechanism and an elongated, insulated, generally cylindrical encapsulating housing. The vacuum interrupter includes a vacuum envel... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7236338 | System and method for remotely detecting and locating faults in a power system A system and method are provided for remotely detecting and locating faults in a power system. The system includes at least one slave controller and at least one supplemental protection module. The slave controller is disposed proximate at least one load and electri... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7209331 | Method and power feed for electrical inspections A device is provided for inspecting an installed electrical system including a power panel and branch circuits with respective circuit breakers. The device includes a power interface unit with a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) for connection with the power p... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7203040 | Method and circuit breaker for reducing arc flash during maintenance in a low voltage power circuit Maintenance trip functions override the normal or specified trip functions of a low voltage circuit breaker to reduce pickup currents and/or time delays to effect faster trips, which reduces arc energy produced by faults during maintenance or testing on a live circu... | 04/10/2007 |
| 7190562 | Method for detecting arc faults An apparatus and method for detecting arc faults that have reduced susceptibility to nuisance tripping. The apparatus includes a current sensor, an input sense circuit, an arcing sense circuit, a power supply, a tripping (firing) circuit, a processor, and an electro... | 03/13/2007 |
| 7190561 | Apparatus for detecting arc faults An apparatus and method for detecting arc faults that have reduced susceptibility to nuisance tripping. The apparatus includes a current sensor, an input sense circuit, an arcing sense circuit, a power supply, a tripping (firing) circuit, a processor, and an electro... | 03/13/2007 |
| 7161775 | Arc fault circuit breaker and apparatus for detecting wet track arc fault An apparatus includes a first circuit detecting when an absolute value of a current signal is less than a first predetermined value and outputting a signal after a first time period. A comparator compares that signal to an envelope of a rectified current signal, in ... | 01/09/2007 |
| 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 |
| 7136265 | Load recognition and series arc detection using bandpass filter signatures A method and system for determining whether arcing is present in an electrical circuit 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 of broadband n... | 11/14/2006 |
| 7100483 | Firing subsystem for use in a fast-acting safety system Cutting machines with high-speed safety systems, and firing subsystems used in high-speed safety systems, are disclosed. The cutting machines may include a detection system adapted to detect a dangerous condition between a cutting tool and a person. A reaction syste... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7082020 | Electronic switching device and an operating method thereof A switching device includes at least one MOSFET switching element and at least one JFET protective element, which is connected electrically in series to the switching element and which limits the electric current to a maximum current (saturated current) and control ... | 07/25/2006 |
| 7079363 | Hybrid DC electromagnetic contactor In a hybrid DC electromagnetic contactor, by including a power unit for supplying a certain power voltage; a main contact point of a breaking switch for providing a supply path of the power voltage by being switched in accordance with a voltage apply to an operation... | 07/18/2006 |
| 7068480 | Arc detection using load recognition, harmonic content and broadband noise A method of determining whether arcing is present in an electrical circuit includes sensing a change in current in the circuit and developing a corresponding input signal, analyzing the input signal to determine the presence of broadband noise in a predetermined ran... | 06/27/2006 |
| 7023164 | Robot and over-current protection device for a robot It is so arranged in a robot as to monitor the over-current state of each motor and that of two more than two motors when put together by seeing the total current value of the motors being monitored in parallel with absorption of both the static load torque and the ... | 04/04/2006 |
| 7003435 | Arc fault detector with circuit interrupter There is here disclosed a method and apparatus for detecting the occurrence of arcing of a conductor by monitoring the current on an AC power line. The signal detected is split and directed along four separate paths to generate four signals having separate character... | 02/21/2006 |
| 6999289 | Arc fault circuit interrupter which detects the cessation of arcs of an arc fault An arc fault circuit interrupter which protects an AC circuit subjected to a possible arcing fault includes a sensor which produces a signal that can be evaluated to see if it is associated with arc fault current. The evaluation is done by a discrimination circuit w... | 02/14/2006 |
| 6956725 | Current controlled contact arc suppressor The arc suppression system for electrical contacts includes a transistor, such as an IGBT, which is connected across the contacts. A control circuit controls the operation of the transistor such that the turning on of the transistor results in a current path around ... | 10/18/2005 |
| 6943558 | System and method for remotely detecting electric arc events in a power system A system is provided for remotely detecting and locating damaged conductors. The system includes at least one slave controller disposed proximate at least one load and electrically connected to the loads via at least one conductor. The slave controller includes at l... | 09/13/2005 |
| 6818953 | Protection of an integrated circuit against electrostatic discharges and other overvoltages The forming of an integrated circuit including at least one element of electronic protection of the circuit formed of at least one switch for short-circuiting supply conductors arranged in a rail, the switch being integrated in the rail, under said conductors. ... | 11/16/2004 |
| 6751528 | Residential circuit arc detection An electronically controlled circuit breaker for detecting arc and a method for detecting arc conditions are disclosed. The circuit breaker and method uses digital Fourier transformation on sampled line current signals and bins the even, odd, and fundamental transfo... | 06/15/2004 |
| 6693777 | Method for controlling the operation of a switching device A method for controlling the closing operation of a switching device, which is disposed on an electrical network connected to an inductive component. The method requires first data related to the electrical characteristics of the inductive component and t... | 02/17/2004 |
| 6683764 | Arc extinguishing aid The invention discloses an arc extinguishing aid with an externally powered magnetic blowout coil 3 for switching low currents in which the current direction in the externally powered magnetic blowout coil 3 is switched based on the detection of the curre... | 01/27/2004 |
| 6501628 | Method of synchronous circuit opening of generator circuit breaker, and its control apparatus To provide a method of synchronous circuit opening of generator circuit breaker and its control apparatus that can protect a sound generator system of a generator main circuit from a phenomenon that current may not pass through current zero for many cycle... | 12/31/2002 |
| 6201678 | High-voltage switch gear protection circuit A switch gear protection circuit for use in electric vehicles provides parallel circuit pathways for selectively coupling a power source to a capacitive load. A first pathway includes a main switch element that preferably is a high-current contactor or a ... | 03/13/2001 |
| 6141192 | Arcing fault protection system for a switchgear enclosure An arcing fault protection system for a switchgear enclosure includes a switching device for rapidly diverting current from the source bus of an electrical distribution system in response to the detection of arcing faults in the system. The switching devi... | 10/31/2000 |
| 6097246 | Current limiting breaking device using electromagnetic repulsion coil The present invention includes a first switch 4a, a second switch 4b and a capacitor 4d. The first switch 4a normally in a closed state is connected in series between a power source 1 and load, and opens when an accident builds up. The second switch 4b no... | 08/01/2000 |
