Ground fault monitor circuit
First Claim
1. A fault monitoring system comprising,a wrist strap monitoring circuit connected to monitor the grounded status of an operator at a workstation;
- a proximity monitoring circuit connected to monitor the presence status of a person in proximity to said workstation;
at least one surface monitoring circuit connected to monitor the grounded status of a surface related to said workstation;
logic circuit means connected to each of said wrist strap monitoring circuit, said proximity monitoring circuit and said at least one surface monitoring circuit to receive signals therefrom which signals are representative of the status monitored by the respective monitoring circuit; and
alarm means connected to be selectively activated by said logic circuit means when one or more of said monitoring circuits produces a signal indicative of a prescribed status condition thereat.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A sensor circuit for detecting a ground fault in devices that eliminate or prevent static electricity and for producing appropriate alarm signals to indicate an undesirable ungrounded condition. In particular, the sensor circuit includes means for monitoring a ground-fault system by using a wrist strap monitoring circuit, a proximity monitoring circuit and at least one surface monitoring circuit. The wrist strap monitoring circuit and the surface monitoring circuits are used to detect the status of a grounding connection between an operator and/or a surface at a work station and a ground potential. The proximity monitoring circuit is used to determine whether an operator (or another person) is in proximity to the work station. A logic circuit means detects the status of the aforementioned monitoring circuits and selectively activates an alarm means if a fault condition exists.
46 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A fault monitoring system comprising,
a wrist strap monitoring circuit connected to monitor the grounded status of an operator at a workstation; -
a proximity monitoring circuit connected to monitor the presence status of a person in proximity to said workstation; at least one surface monitoring circuit connected to monitor the grounded status of a surface related to said workstation; logic circuit means connected to each of said wrist strap monitoring circuit, said proximity monitoring circuit and said at least one surface monitoring circuit to receive signals therefrom which signals are representative of the status monitored by the respective monitoring circuit; and alarm means connected to be selectively activated by said logic circuit means when one or more of said monitoring circuits produces a signal indicative of a prescribed status condition thereat. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification