Circuit interrupting device with reverse wiring protection
First Claim
1. A circuit interrupting device comprising:
- a first electrical conductor capable of being electrically connected to a source of electricity;
a second electrical conductor capable of conducting electrical current to a load when electrically connected to said first electrical conductor;
a third electrical conductor capable of being electrically connected to user accessible plugs and/or receptacles where the first, second and third electrical conductors are electrically isolated from each other;
at least one movable bridge electrically connected to the first electrical conductor, said at least one movable bridge capable of electrically connecting the first, second and third electrical conductors to each other;
a circuit interrupting portion configured to cause electrical discontinuity between said first, second and third electrical conductors upon the occurrence of a predetermined condition; and
a reset portion configured to reestablish electrical continuity between the first, second and third electrical conductors after said predetermined condition occurs.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Resettable circuit interrupting devices, such as GFCI devices, that include reverse wiring protection, and optionally an independent trip portions and/or a reset lockout portion are provided. The reverse wiring protection operates at both the line and load sides of the device so that in the event line side wiring to the device is improperly connected to the load side, fault protection for the device remains. The trip portion operates independently of a circuit interrupting portion used to break the electrical continuity in one or more conductive paths in the device. The reset lockout portion prevents the reestablishing of electrical continuity in open conductive paths if the circuit interrupting portion is non-operational or if an open neutral condition exists.
-
Citations
22 Claims
-
1. A circuit interrupting device comprising:
-
a first electrical conductor capable of being electrically connected to a source of electricity;
a second electrical conductor capable of conducting electrical current to a load when electrically connected to said first electrical conductor;
a third electrical conductor capable of being electrically connected to user accessible plugs and/or receptacles where the first, second and third electrical conductors are electrically isolated from each other;
at least one movable bridge electrically connected to the first electrical conductor, said at least one movable bridge capable of electrically connecting the first, second and third electrical conductors to each other;
a circuit interrupting portion configured to cause electrical discontinuity between said first, second and third electrical conductors upon the occurrence of a predetermined condition; and
a reset portion configured to reestablish electrical continuity between the first, second and third electrical conductors after said predetermined condition occurs. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A circuit interrupting device comprising:
-
a first pair of terminals capable of being electrically connected to a source of electricity;
a second pair of terminals capable of conducting electrical current to a load when electrically connected to said first pair of terminals;
a third pair of terminals capable of being electrically connected to user accessible plugs and/or receptacles where the first, second and third pair of terminals are electrically isolated from each other;
at least one movable bridge electrically connected to the first pair of terminals, said at least one movable bridge being capable of electrically connecting the first, second and third pairs of terminals to each other;
a circuit interrupting portion configured to cause electrical discontinuity between said first, second and third pairs of terminals upon the occurrence of a predetermined condition; and
a reset portion configured to reestablish electrical continuity between the first, second and third pairs of terminals after said predetermined condition occurs. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. A GFCI device comprising:
-
a housing;
a pair of line terminals disposed at least partially within said housing and capable of being electrically connected to a source of electricity;
a pair of load terminals disposed at least partially within said housing and capable of conducting electrical current to a load when electrically connected to said line terminals;
a pair of face terminals connected to a pair of user accessible receptacles where each face terminals extends from and is integral with a metallic structure disposed at least partially within said housing where said line, load and face terminal pairs are electrically isolated from each other;
at least one movable bridge having a pair of bridge load contacts and a pair of bridge face contacts attached thereto where said bridge load contacts and said bridge face contacts are electrically connected to the line terminals;
a circuit interrupting portion comprising at least one coil and movable plunger assembly, a mechanical switch, the mechanical switch being positioned to engage a sensing circuit used to detect a predetermined condition; and
a reset portion comprising a reset button positioned to engage a portion of the sensing circuit causing the coil assembly to be activated resulting in the at least one movable bridge to be positioned so that the bridge load contacts electrically make with a corresponding pair of load terminal contacts and the bridge face contacts electrically make with a corresponding pair of face terminal contacts where the pair of load terminal contacts are electrically connected to the pair of load terminals and the pair of face terminal contacts are electrically connected to the pair of face terminals.
-
Specification