MONITORING SYSTEM FOR A MECHANICALLY DRIVEN CIRCUIT BREAKER

• Main Authors: BREISCH, Sebastian, FRANTISEK, Ondrej, BOY, Felix, STUCCHI, Alessandro, TUEYSUEZ, Arda, CORTINOVIS, Gianluca
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 07.08.2024
• Subjects: BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; ELECTRIC SWITCHES; ELECTRICITY; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES; RELAYS; SELECTORS

The present invention relates to a monitoring system for a mechanically driven circuit breaker, the circuit breaker comprising a fixed contact and a movable contact and a main actuator (10), wherein in a first state of the circuit breaker the moveable contact is spaced from the fixed contact and in a second state of the circuit breaker the moveable contact is in contact with the fixed contact, and wherein the main actuator (10) is configured to transition the circuit breaker from the first state to the second state, and wherein the monitoring system comprises:- an actuation device (20);- at least one sensor (30); and- a processing unit (40);wherein the actuation device (20) is configured to apply a micromotion to a part (50) of the main actuator (10) involved in transitioning the circuit breaker from the first state to the second state without the circuit breaker transitioning from the first state to second state;wherein the at least one sensor (30) is configured to acquire sensor data associated with the application of the micromotion to the part (50) of the main actuator;wherein the at least one sensor (30) is configured to provide the sensor data to the processing unit (40);wherein the processing unit is configured to determine if the circuit breaker has a fault, wherein the determination if the circuit breaker has a fault comprises utilization of the sensor data.