Self testing ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) with end of life (EOL) detection that rejects false EOL information
First Claim
1. A ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) having a GFCI chip for detecting faults, a circuit interruption device for opening contacts to remove power from a load upon fault detection, and a contacts monitoring device for generating an output signal when the contacts are closed, the GFCI comprising:
- a processing device configured to receive inputs corresponding to output signals from the GFCI chip when faults are detected and from the contacts monitoring device indicating when the contacts are closed, the processing device being programmed to determine when the output signals from the GFCI chip meet a selected condition while the contacts are closed and to declare end of life (EOL) when the selected condition is met.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A self test (ST) ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) provides improved end of life (EOL) detection by rejecting false EOL information. A processing device receives fault detection signals indicating when faults are detected, and input signals indicating when contacts used to interrupt power to a load are closed. The processing device rejects the fault detection signals when they fail to meet a selected condition and the contacts are closed, and declares end of life (EOL) when the selected condition is met. The fault detection signals can correspond to pulses at an output of a gated device between the processing device and a GFCI chip, and the selected condition can be a selected integer number of pulses.
64 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) having a GFCI chip for detecting faults, a circuit interruption device for opening contacts to remove power from a load upon fault detection, and a contacts monitoring device for generating an output signal when the contacts are closed, the GFCI comprising:
a processing device configured to receive inputs corresponding to output signals from the GFCI chip when faults are detected and from the contacts monitoring device indicating when the contacts are closed, the processing device being programmed to determine when the output signals from the GFCI chip meet a selected condition while the contacts are closed and to declare end of life (EOL) when the selected condition is met. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A fault detector comprising:
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line side terminals for receiving an input power signal;
load side terminals for connecting to a load;
hot and neutral conductors for connecting respective line side terminals to corresponding load side terminals;
a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) device for detecting faults and controllably operating at least one switching device to open at least one of the hot and neutral conductors upon detection of a fault;
a gated semiconductor device operable to conduct in response to a selected output of the GFCI device; and
a processing device adapted to receive output signals from the gated semiconductor device and programmed to monitor the output signals and to declare end of life of the fault detector when the output signals meet a selected condition while the switching device is closed. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for operating a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) comprising:
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receiving fault detection signals indicating when faults are detected;
receiving input signals indicating when contacts used to interrupt power to a load are closed; and
determining the fault detection signals to be false when they fail to meet a selected condition and the contacts are closed, and declaring end of life (EOL) when the fault detection signals meet the selected condition and the contacts are closed. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A computer-readable medium having embodied thereon programmed code for executing a method of operating a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI), the method comprising:
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receiving fault detection signals indicating when faults are detected;
receiving input signals indicating when contacts used to interrupt power to a load are closed; and
determining the fault detection signals to be false when they fail to meet a selected condition and the contacts are closed, and declaring end of life (EOL) when the fault detection signals meet the selected condition and the contacts are closed. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification