Charging circuit for combination trolley and battery powered locomotives
First Claim
1. An electricl circuit for charging a mining machine battery from the voltage of a trolley wire comprising,control means connected to said trolley wire and said battery for controlling the supply of direct current power from said trolley wire to said battery to permit charging of said battery to a preselected voltage level,voltage sensing means for monitoring the level of the voltage of said trolley wire, said voltage sensing means being connected in parallel relation with said control means in said circuit,a monitoring relay connected in series relation with said voltage sensing means for terminating flow of current from said trolley wire to said battery,said voltage sensing means being operable to actuate said monitoring relay to terminate current flow to said battery when the trolley wire voltage exceeds a preselected voltage level and to continue current flow to said battery when the trolley wire voltage remains below said preselected trolley wire voltage, andmetering means connected to the battery between the trolley wire and the battery for interrupting the flow of current through said control means after a predetermined charging interval to deenergize said control means and terminate the flow of current to said battery after a preselected charge has been applied to said battery.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A battery for a combination battery-trolley wire powered mine locomotive is connected at its positive terminal by a conductor to an energized trolley wire that extends through the mine haulageway. A charging contactor having normally open contacts connected to the positive terminal of the battery is connected by a conductor to the negative terminal of the battery. Current from the trolley wire energizes the contactor to close the contacts and supply current to the battery for charging the battery to a preselected voltage level. A voltage sensing apparatus monitors the voltage appearing across the charging contactor. If the voltage exceeds a preselected level for safe charging, one or more Zener diodes is switched to a conductive state to energize a relay coil that actuates a normally closed relay to deenergize the contactor and open the contacts to terminate current flow to the positive terminal of the battery. When the voltage of the battery drops below the maximum safe voltage level, the Zener diode of the voltage sensing apparatus switches to a nonconductive state. The relay coil is deenergized and the relay contact is closed so that current flow from the trolley wire energizes the contactor and current flows through the closed contacts to the battery. An ampere-hour meter monitors the voltage level of the battery and when the battery is charged to full capacity, the ampere-hour meter actuates a normally closed contact associated therewith in the circuit to open the contact and terminate charging of the battery.
13 Citations
9 Claims
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1. An electricl circuit for charging a mining machine battery from the voltage of a trolley wire comprising,
control means connected to said trolley wire and said battery for controlling the supply of direct current power from said trolley wire to said battery to permit charging of said battery to a preselected voltage level, voltage sensing means for monitoring the level of the voltage of said trolley wire, said voltage sensing means being connected in parallel relation with said control means in said circuit, a monitoring relay connected in series relation with said voltage sensing means for terminating flow of current from said trolley wire to said battery, said voltage sensing means being operable to actuate said monitoring relay to terminate current flow to said battery when the trolley wire voltage exceeds a preselected voltage level and to continue current flow to said battery when the trolley wire voltage remains below said preselected trolley wire voltage, and metering means connected to the battery between the trolley wire and the battery for interrupting the flow of current through said control means after a predetermined charging interval to deenergize said control means and terminate the flow of current to said battery after a preselected charge has been applied to said battery.
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9. An electrical circuit for charging a mining machine battery from the voltage of a trolley wire comprising,
control means connected to said trolley wire and said battery for controlling the supply of direct current power from said trolley wire to said battery to permit charging of said battery to a preselected voltage level, voltage sensing means for monitoring the level of the voltage of said trolley wire, said voltage sensing means being connected in parallel relation with said control means in said circuit, a monitoring relay connected in series relation with said voltage sensing means for terminating flow of current from said trolley wire to said battery, said voltage sensing means being operable to actuate said monitoring relay to terminate current flow to said battery when the trolley wire voltage exceeds a preselected voltage level and to continue current flow to said battery when the trolley wire voltage remains below said preselected trolley wire voltage, a shunt circuit bypassing said monitoring relay and having a Zenner diode connected in parallel with said monitoring relay, said Zener diode operable to divert current flow from said monitoring relay when trolley wire voltages above said preselected voltage level are applied to said voltage sensing means, and metering means connected to the battery between the trolley wire and the battery for interrupting the flow of current through said control means after a predetermined charging interval to deenergize said control means and terminate the flow of current to said battery after a preselected charge has been applied to said battery.
Specification