Protective device with improved surge protection
First Claim
1. An electrical wiring protection device comprising:
- a housing assembly including a plurality of line terminals and a plurality of load terminals, the plurality of line terminals being configured to be coupled to a source of AC power;
a fault detection circuit including a power supply coupled to at least one of the plurality of line terminals and configured to generate a fault detection signal in response to detecting at least one fault condition in the electrical distribution system;
a circuit interrupter coupled to the fault detection circuit, the circuit interrupter being configured to couple the plurality of line terminals to the plurality of load terminals to form a conductive electrical path in a reset state, and decouple the plurality of line terminals from the plurality of load terminals in response to a fault detection signal in a tripped state; and
a voltage transient suppression circuit coupled to the plurality of line terminals and the power supply, the voltage transient suppression circuit generating a leakage current in the event of a voltage transient suppression circuit failure, the leakage current simulating the at least one fault condition, the voltage transient suppression circuit also being configured to decouple the power supply from the source of AC power in the tripped state.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is directed to an electrical wiring protection device that includes a housing assembly having a plurality of line terminals and a plurality of load terminals. A fault detection circuit is coupled to at least one of the plurality of line terminals and configured to generate a fault detection signal in response to detecting at least one fault condition in the electrical distribution system. A circuit interrupter is coupled to the fault detection circuit, The circuit interrupter is configured to couple the plurality of line terminals to the plurality of load terminals to form a conductive electrical path in a reset state, and decouple the plurality of line terminals from the plurality of load terminals in response to a fault detection signal in a tripped state. A voltage transient suppression circuit is coupled to at least one of the plurality of line terminals. The voltage transient suppression circuit is configured to generate a signal simulating the at least one fault condition in the event of failure.
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Citations
49 Claims
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1. An electrical wiring protection device comprising:
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a housing assembly including a plurality of line terminals and a plurality of load terminals, the plurality of line terminals being configured to be coupled to a source of AC power; a fault detection circuit including a power supply coupled to at least one of the plurality of line terminals and configured to generate a fault detection signal in response to detecting at least one fault condition in the electrical distribution system; a circuit interrupter coupled to the fault detection circuit, the circuit interrupter being configured to couple the plurality of line terminals to the plurality of load terminals to form a conductive electrical path in a reset state, and decouple the plurality of line terminals from the plurality of load terminals in response to a fault detection signal in a tripped state; and a voltage transient suppression circuit coupled to the plurality of line terminals and the power supply, the voltage transient suppression circuit generating a leakage current in the event of a voltage transient suppression circuit failure, the leakage current simulating the at least one fault condition, the voltage transient suppression circuit also being configured to decouple the power supply from the source of AC power in the tripped state. - 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)
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28. An electrical wiring protection device comprising:
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a housing assembly including a plurality of line terminals and a plurality of load terminals, the plurality of line terminals being configured to be coupled to a source of AC power; a fault detection circuit including a power supply coupled to the plurality of line terminals and configured to generate a fault detection signal in response to detecting at least one fault condition in the electrical distribution system; a circuit interrupter coupled to the fault detection circuit, the circuit interrupter being configured to couple the plurality of line terminals to the plurality of load terminals to form a conductive electrical path in a reset state, and decouple the plurality of line terminals from the plurality of load terminals in response to a fault detection signal in a tripped state; and a voltage transient suppression circuit coupled to the plurality of line terminals and the power supply, the voltage transient suppression circuit including an inductive component coupled to at least one voltage transient suppression device, the inductive component being characterized by an inductive impedance that is a function of frequency, whereby the inductive impedance increases if the frequency of a signal propagating in the voltage transient suppression circuit increases, the voltage transient suppression circuit generating a leakage current in the event of a voltage transient suppression circuit failure, the leakage current simulating the at least one fault condition, the voltage transient suppression circuit also being configured to decouple the power supply from the source of AC power in the tripped state. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. An electrical wiring protection device comprising:
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a housing assembly including a plurality of AC power terminals, the plurality of AC power terminals including a plurality of line terminals, a plurality of load terminals, and a plurality of receptacle load terminals, the plurality of line terminals being configured to be coupled to a source of AC power; a fault detection assembly coupled to at least one of the plurality of line terminals and configured to generate a fault detection signal in response to detecting at least one fault condition in an electrical distribution system; a voltage transient suppression circuit coupled to selected ones of the plurality of AC power terminals, the voltage transient suppression circuit generating a leakage current in the event of a voltage transient suppression circuit failure, the leakage current simulating the at least one fault condition; and a circuit interrupter coupled to the fault detection assembly and the voltage transient suppression circuit, the circuit interrupter including at least four sets of interrupting contacts configured to couple the plurality of AC power terminals in a reset state, and decouple the plurality of AC power terminals in a tripped state, the circuit interrupter being responsive to the fault detection signal such that the at least four sets of interrupting contacts are driven from the reset state to the tripped state such that at least a portion of the voltage transient suppression circuit is also interrupted in the tripped state. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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Specification