Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit

• US 5,365,394 A
• Filed: 12/09/1993
• Issued: 11/15/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/1992
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fanox Electronic, S.L.
• Original Assignee: Fanox Electronic, S.L.
• Inventors: Gomez Ibarguengoitia, Francisco
• Primary Examiner(s): Deboer, Todd
• Application Number:
  US08/165,003
• Time in Patent Office: 341 Days
• Field of Search: 361/28, 361/30, 361/31, 361/33, 361/86, 361/93, 324/158 P
• US Class Current: 361/33
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 38/30 Constructions
• CPC Class Codes: H02H 3/006 Calibration or setting of parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H02H 7/085 against excessive load H02H6/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02H 7/09 against over-voltage; against reduction of voltage; against phase interruption

Abstract

A protective electronic relay is disclosed of the type which includes a feed source with a one-phase transformer, rectifying bridge, filter condenser and voltage regulator. Pickups are provided where one-phase signals are generated, connected to some diodes, connected to some capacitors and to a zener diode for the purpose of obtaining rectified, filtered and limited signals with a voltage level proportional to the line intensity of the protected motor. A multiple microswitch connected to some resistors permits presetting of the voltage level and nominal triggering intensity of a relay. An R-C network that can be timed in various scales comprised of resistors a capacitor and another multiple microswitch allows adjustment of the triggering time constant and is applied to that voltage level at the non-inverting input of an operational amplifier whose inverting input is at a reference voltage. Upon the non-inverting input of the operational amplifier reaching the reference voltage, due to a symmetric overload, the output of the operational amplifier passes to logic state 1. This sends a positive signal to the gate of a thyristor, driving it into conduction and depolarizing the base of a transistor making it pass from saturation to cut-off. As a result a relay connected to the collector of the transistor is triggered, changing the state of its contacts and causing disconnection of the protected motor.

Claims

1. Electronic relay to protect motors an thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, of the type that is applied to motors by means of its contacts, producing the automatic disconnection of the motor under certain circumstances and that has a feed source provided with a one-phase transformer, rectifying bridge, filter condenser and regulator that provides a stabilized voltage;

characterized in that it has some pickups where one-phase signals are generated, connected to some diodes, connected to some capacitors and to a zener diode for the purpose of obtaining rectified, filtered and limited signals, with a voltage level proportional to the line intensity of the protected motor;

including a multiple microswitch which connected to some resistors permits the presetting of said voltage level and nominal triggering intensity of a relay, also including a R-C network that can be timed in various scales comprised of resistors a capacitor and another multiple microswitch that allows adjustment of the triggering time constant and that applied to that voltage level at the non-inverting input of an operational amplifier whose inverting input is at a reference voltage, so that upon the non-inverting input reaching said reference voltage, due to a symmetric overload, the output of the operational amplifier passes to logic state 1, sending a positive signal to gate of a thyristor, which enters into conduction and depolarizes the base of a transistor making it pass from saturation to cut, whereby relay connected to the collector of transistor is triggered, changing the state of its contacts and causing disconnection of the protected motor and lighting up of a LED connected by means of a resistor to the collector of the transistor.

2. Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, according to claim 1, characterized in that the pickups are comprised of a U-shaped frame, one of whose vertical branches is longer in order to permit fastening thereof to the printed circuit plate through the tongues;

and between which a core that supports a coil is located;

it being foreseen that in each one of the free spaces determined between the coil and the frame, each one of the feed cables of the motor is made to pass through;

all in order that the intensity that passes through said cables that is consumed by the motor, generates a magnetic field in the frame, closing the force lines through the core;

obtaining an induction in the coil in whose outlet an alternating current induced by the magnetic field proportional to the intensity consumed by the motor is obtained, this voltage being a high value that facilitates subsequent processing thereof.

3. Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, according to claim 2, characterized in that it has a triggering block due to short-circuit comprised of a voltage divider formed by some resistors of which some of them can be independently connected or disconnected by means of a multiple microswitch that allows the triggering intensity due to short-circuit to be selected;

said divider injecting the presettable voltage of the circuit in the base of a transistor, which also connects with a capacitor that protects against high frequency interference said transistor, which has its collector connected to the base of another transistor whose collector connects to gate of thyristor through a diode;

the collectors of these transistors also being connected at the stabilized feed voltage of the circuit by means of both resistors;

so that normally the first transistor is in short and the following transistor in saturation, sending a logic level 0 to thyristor which is insufficient to trigger the relay, but when due to a short-circuit, the presettable voltage exceeds the blocking base-emitter voltage of the first transistor, the latter passes to conduction and the following transistor to cut, whereby the stabilized voltage, equivalent to logic level 1, is injected in the gate of the thyristor, which brings about the triggering process by short-circuit, in relay.

4. Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, according to claim 3, characterized in that it has a reset button which pressed, connects the gate of the thyristor to the ground, said thyristor being blocked, and polarizing the base of transistor whose collector is connected to relay, producing this polarization by means of a divider formed by resistors, whereby said transistor passes to saturation causing the LED to go out and the resetting of relay;

another button being provided for which when pressed, short-circuits with ground the one-phase signal of a coil, simulating a phase fault that causes the triggering of relay and allowing the verification whether the operation due to phase unbalance is correct.

5. Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, according to claim 4, characterized in that it has a diode shunt connected to the coil of relay, thus protecting the transistor connected to it against the disconnection surge of said coil;

including other protecting diodes connected to the output of the operational amplifiers which thus remain protected against short-circuits between them by connection to different logic states;

some capacitors that protect at different voltages in the presence of transistory high frequency surges having been provided for of which the operational amplifiers are protected by means of a resistor and a capacitor that introduce a small delay in the outputs thereof for the purpose of avoiding untimely triggerings that could be caused by said surges.

6. Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, according to claim 5, characterized in that the coils or pickups can be replaced by some pickups in which in a novel manner the corresponding coils include ferromagnetic cores in order to permit broad ranges of nominal intensities, as well as a miniaturization of the electronic relay unit, which were impossible to achieve in presently known pickups.

7. Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, according to claim 2, characterized in that it has a reset button which pressed, connects the gate of the thyristor to the ground, said thyristor being blocked, and polarizing the base of transistor whose collector is connected to relay, producing this polarization by means of a divider formed by resistors, whereby said transistor passes to saturation causing the LED to go out and the resetting of relay;

another button being provided for which when pressed, short-circuits with ground the one-phase signal of a coil, simulating a phase fault that causes the triggering of relay and allowing the verification whether the operation due to phase unbalance is correct.

8. Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, according to claim 2, characterized in that it has a diode shunt connected to the coil of relay, thus protecting the transistor connected to it against the disconnection surge of said coil;

including other protecting diodes connected to the output of the operational amplifiers which thus remain protected against short-circuits between them by connection to different logic states;

some capacitors that protect at different voltages in the presence of transitory high frequency surges having been provided for of which the operational amplifiers are protected by means of a resistor and a capacitor that introduce a small delay in the outputs thereof for the purpose of avoiding untimely triggerings that could be caused by said surges.

9. Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, according to claim 1, characterized in that the pickups also connected to other diodes in turn connected to capacitors and resistors for the purpose of rectifying and filtering by other ways the one-phase signals of pickups, after which they are injected in inverting inputs of other operational amplifiers, said inputs receiving positive polarization by means of some resistors and the non-inverting inputs of said operational amplifiers connecting to a divider formed by resistors which keep them polarized at half the presettable voltage, while the inverting inputs of these operational amplifiers are polarized at a presettable voltage when the corresponding phases are balanced, whereby the outputs of the operational amplifiers are in logic state 0, except when any of the one-phase signals drops below half the presettable voltage, whereby the output of the operational amplifier affected by this phase fault will pass to logic state 1, sending a positive signal to gate of the thyristor that bring about the triggering process relay.

10. Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, according to claim 9, characterized in that it has a triggering block due to short-circuit comprised of a voltage divider formed by some resistors of which some of them can be independently connected or disconnected by means of a multiple microswitch that allows the triggering intensity due to short-circuit to be selected;

said divider injecting the presettable voltage of the circuit in the base of a transistor, which also connects with a capacitor that protects against high frequency interference said transistor, which has its collector connected to the base of another transistor whose collector connects to gate of thyristor through a diode;

the collectors of these transistors also being connected at the stabilized feed voltage of the circuit by means of both resistors;

so that normally the first transistor is in short and the following transistor in saturation, sending a logic level 0 to thyristor which is insufficient to trigger the relay, but when due to a short-circuit, the presettable voltage exceeds the blocking base-emitter voltage of the first transistor, the latter passes to conduction and the following transistor to cut, whereby the stabilized voltage, equivalent to logic level 1, is injected in the gate of the thyristor, which brings about the triggering process by short-circuit, in relay.

11. Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, according to claim 10, characterized in that it has a reset button which pressed, connects the gate of the thyristor to the ground, said thyristor being blocked, and polarizing the base of transistor whose collector is connected to relay, producing this polarization by means of a divider formed by resistors, whereby said transistor passes to saturation causing the LED to go out and the resetting of relay;

another button being provided for which when pressed, short-circuits with ground the one-phase signal of a coil, simulating a phase fault that causes the triggering of relay and allowing the verification whether the operation due to phase unbalance is correct.

12. Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, according to claim 11, characterized in that it has a diode shunt connected to the coil of relay, thus protecting the transistor connected to it against the disconnection surge of said coil;

including other protecting diodes connected to the output of the operational amplifiers which thus remain protected against short-circuits between them by connection to different logic states;

some capacitors that protect at different voltages in the presence of transitory high frequency surges having been provided for of which the operational amplifiers are protected by means of a resistor and a capacitor that introduce a small delay in the outputs thereof for the purpose of avoiding untimely triggerings that could be caused by said surges.

13. Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, according to claim 12, characterized in that the coils or pickups can be replaced by some pickups in which in a novel manner the corresponding coils include ferromagnetic cores in order to permit broad ranges of nominal intensities, as well as a miniaturization of the electronic relay unit, which were impossible to achieve in presently known pickups.

14. Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, according to claim 1, characterized in that it has a triggering block due to short-circuit comprised of a voltage divider formed by some resistors of which some of them can be independently connected or disconnected by means of a multiple microswitch that allows the triggering intensity due to short-circuit to be selected;

said divider injecting the presettable voltage of the circuit in the base of a transistor, which also connects with a capacitor that protects against high frequency interference said transistor, which has its collector connected to the base of another transistor whose collector connects to gate of thyristor through a diode;

the collectors of these transistors also being connected at the stablized feed voltage of the circuit by means of both resistors;

so that normally the first transistor is in short and the following transistor in saturation, sending a logic level 0 to thyristor which is insufficient to trigger the relay, but when due to a short-circuit, the presettable voltage exceeds the blocking base-emitter voltage of the first transistor, the latter passes to conduction and the following transistor to cut, whereby the stabilized voltage, equivalent to logic level 1, is injected in the gate of the thyristor, which brings about the triggering process by short-circuit, in relay. latter passes to conduction and the following transistor to cut, whereby the stabilized voltage, equivalent to logic level 1, is injected in the gate of the thyristor, which brings about the triggering process by short-circuit, in relay.

15. Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, according to claim 14, characterized in that it has a reset button which pressed, connects the gate of the thyristor to the ground, said thyristor being blocked, and polarizing the base of transistor whose collector is connected to relay, producing this polarization by means of a divider formed by resistors, whereby said transistors passes to saturation causing the LED to go out and the resetting of relay;

another button being provided for which when pressed, short-circuits with ground the one-phase signal of a coil, simulating a phase fault that causes the triggering of relay and allowing the verification whether the operation due to phase unbalance if correct.

16. Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, according to claim 15, characterized in that it has a diode shunt connected to the coil of relay, thus protecting the transistor connected to it against the disconnection surge of said coil;

including other protecting diodes connected to the output of the operational amplifiers which thus remain protected against short-circuits between them by connection to different logic states;

some capacitors that protect at different voltages in the presence of transitory high frequency surges having been provided for of which the operational amplifiers are protected by means of a resistor and a capacitor that introduce a small delay in the outputs thereof for the purpose of avoiding untimely triggerings that could be caused by said surges.

17. Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, according to claim 16, characterized in that the coil or pickups can be replaced by some pickups in which in a novel manner the corresponding coils include ferromagnetic cores in order to permit broad ranges of nominal intensities, as well as a miniaturization of the electronic relay unit, which were impossible to achieve in presently known pickups.

18. Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, according to claim 1, characterized in that it has a reset button which pressed, connects the gate of the thyristor to the ground, said thyristor being blocked, and polarizing the base of transistor whose collector is connected to relay, producing this polarization by means of a divider formed by resistors, whereby said transistor passes to saturation causing the LED to go out and the resetting of relay;

another button being provided for which when pressed, short-circuits with ground the one-phase signal of a coil, simulating a phase fault that causes the triggering of relay and allowing the verification whether the operation due to phase unbalance is correct.

19. Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, according to claim 1, characterized in that it has a diode shunt connected to the coil of relay, thus protecting the transistor connected to it against the disconnection surge of said coil;

including other protecting diodes connected to the output of the operational amplifiers which thus remain protected against short-circuits between them by connection to different logic states;

some capacitors that protect at different voltages in the presence of transitory high frequency surges having been provided for of which the operational amplifiers are protected by means of a resistor and a capacitor that introduce a small delay in the outputs thereof for the purpose of avoiding untimely triggerings that could be caused by said surges.

20. Electronic relay to protect motors and thyristors against symmetric overload, phase unbalance and short-circuit, according to claim 1, characterized in that the coils or pickups can be replaced by some pickups in which in a novel manner the corresponding coils include ferromagnetic cores in order to permit board ranges of nominal intensities, as well as a miniaturization of the electronic relay unit, which were impossible to achieve in presently known pickups.