Claims:1. A supervision system for monitoring health of a flux shift device in air circuit breakers, wherein said system comprising:
a voltage divider network having resistors R1 and R2, electrically coupled to one or more ports of said flux shift device (FSD), for generating a feedback signal from said flux shift device;
a release unit adapted to receive said feedback signal from said flux shift device and monitors said feedback signal from said flux shift device continuously along with performing metering and protection of a circuit from a fault;
wherein, in case of an unhealthy condition of said flux shift device, said release unit adapted to send an alarm signal to trigger an indicator.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said release unit is a controller unit.
3. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said release unit adapted to continuously monitor an output voltage from said FSD in the form of said feedback signal.
4. The system as claimed in claim 3, wherein said release unit adapted to send said alarm signal when said output voltage from said FSD is zero.
5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said indicator is selected from at least one alarm or LED indicator or any combinations thereof.
6. A method for monitoring health of a flux shift device in air circuit breakers by using the system as claimed in claims 1-5, wherein said method comprising:
generating, by a voltage divider network, a feedback signal from said flux shift device, and thereby continuously feeding said feedback signal to a release unit;
monitoring, by said release unit, said feedback signal; and
generating, by said release unit, an alarm signal if said feedback signal is zero;
triggering, by said alarm signal, at least indicator indicative of unhealthy condition of said flux shift device.
, Description:TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[001] The present subject matter described herein, in general, relates to switchgears, air circuit breakers and protection relays, and more particularly relates to a supervision system which monitors the healthiness of a flux shift device (FSD) in air circuit breakers and gives indication to the user in case of any failure.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[002] A circuit breaker is an automatically operated electrical switch designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by excess current, typically resulting from an overload or short circuit. Its basic function is to interrupt current flow after a fault is detected.

[003] The modern circuit breakers comes with a microprocessor based electronic trip units, the trip units that not only provide overcurrent protection, but also comprehensive metering and extended protective relaying .These intelligent trip units can communicate all this information to displays at the breaker or at remote locations.

[004] In case of air circuit breakers, the electronic trip units senses the fault current and gives command to the flux shift device. The Flux Shift Device (FSD) is basically a transducer which is converting electrical energy into the mechanical energy. The basic structure of the FSD is as shown in the figure 1.

[005] The flux shift device operates the breaker mechanism and breaker gets open to clear the fault. All the time the breaker operation is completely dependent on the functioning of flux shift device. So, if the flux shift device does not operate or gets disconnected from the trip unit, the breaker will not trip which may lead to damages to the distribution systems, bus bar and load. In order to prevent such incidents, the healthiness status of the FSD is required to be monitored continuously. Moreover, there is a need for the user/operator to get the healthiness status of the FSD and any failure in the FSD should give “alarm” to the user. The supervision system is required to monitor healthiness of the flux shit device.

[006] However, so far there are prior art that teaches various design or the mechanical arrangement of the flux shift device. However, there exist a need for a supervision system that can monitor the status of the Flux shifting device as the breaker operation of the circuit breakers is completely dependent on the flux shifting device and if the FSD does not operate or gets disconnected from the trip unit it will further damage the distribution system, bus bar and load.

[007] Thus, there exists a dire need to provide a system to monitor the status of the flux shifting device and give alarm to the user in case of failure in the flux shifting device, thereby preventing electrical hazards and damage to electrical distribution systems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[008] The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the present invention. It is not intended to identify the key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concept of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description of the invention presented later.

[009] An object of the present invention is to provide a supervision system to monitor the status of flux shifting device and give alarm to the user in case of failure in the flux shifting device.

[0010] Another object of the present invention is to provide a circuit diagram of a flux shifting device which is interfaced with a controller unit, wherein the feedback signal is generated by a potential divider network R1 and R2 which is used for monitoring the healthiness status of the FSD.

[0011] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a release unit coupled to the flux shifting device, and the release unit based on the feedback signal generates an alarm with the help of which the FSD connection can be monitored continuously.

[0012] Still another object of the present invention is to provide a remote monitoring system to check the healthiness of flux shift device in air circuit breaker and thereby triggering an alarm to prevent electrical hazards in power plants or substation.

[0013] Accordingly, in one aspect, the present invention provides a supervision system for monitoring health of a flux shift device in air circuit breakers, wherein said system comprising:
a voltage divider network having resistors R1 and R2, electrically coupled to one or more ports of said flux shift device (FSD), for generating a feedback signal from said flux shift device;
a release unit adapted to receive said feedback signal from said flux shift device and monitors said feedback signal from said flux shift device continuously along with performing metering and protection of a circuit from a fault;
wherein, in case of an unhealthy condition of said flux shift device, said release module adapted to send an alarm signal to trigger an indicator.

[0014] In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for monitoring health of a flux shift device in air circuit breakers by using the system as mentioned above, wherein said method comprising:
generating, by a voltage divider network, a feedback signal from said flux shift device, and thereby continuously feeding said feedback signal to a release unit;
monitoring, by said release unit, said feedback signal; and
generating, by said release unit, an alarm signal if said feedback signal is zero;
triggering, by said alarm signal, at least indicator indicative of unhealthy condition of said flux shift device.

[0015] Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

[0016] The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

[0017] Figure 1 illustrates the basic structure of the Flux shifting device.

[0018] Figure 2 illustrates a circuit diagram of flux shift device interface with the controller, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0019] Figure 3 illustrates the block diagram of the supervision system of air circuit breaker with release unit, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0020] Figure 4 illustrates a flowchart representing the flow of the supervision system logic which gives alarm signal to the user in the unhealthy condition of the FSD, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0021] Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may have not been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figure may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features, and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

[0022] The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments of the invention. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.

[0023] Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted for clarity and conciseness.

[0024] The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0025] It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0026] By the term “substantially” it is meant that the recited characteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations or variations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intended to provide.

[0027] Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of the features of the other embodiments.

[0028] It should be emphasized that the term “comprises/comprising” when used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof.

[0029] In the present invention, there is provided a supervision system to monitor the healthiness of the flux shift device in air circuit breaker and accordingly give alarm to the user in case of failure in the FSD.

[0030] A typical flux shift device in respect of the air circuit breaker operates the breaker mechanism and breaker gets open to clear the fault current in the circuit. As shown in figure 1, when current flows through coil winding the plunger pops out and operates the breaker mechanism.

[0031] Referring to figure 2, a circuit diagram of flux shift device interface with the controller is illustrated to show basic function of the trip circuit. In one implementation, J1 indicates a FSD connector having at least two pins, pin 1 and pin 2, wherein an input voltage will be fed to pin 1, while pin 2 can be connected to R1 of the voltage divider network. Thus, in exemplary implementation, a 18V positive input voltage can be fed to first pin of the FSD as shown in figure 2. As transistor (Q1) is OFF, no current flows through the FSD coil. When microcontroller senses the fault it gives signal to base of Q1 and Q1 is thereby turned ON. As soon as Q1 turns ON the current flows through the FSD coil and FSD pops out.

[0032] In one implementation, in the circuit diagram as shown in figure 2, the feedback signal generated by potential divider network R1 and R2 can be used for the healthiness monitoring of the FSD. J1 is FSD connector, it can have two pins, pin1 and pin2, 18v dc given to pin1 and pin2 connected to R1 of voltage divider network. In one exemplary implementation, if FSD is connected, then according to value of R1=560K-ohm and R2=100K-ohm, VO=2.7v output voltage (based on voltage divider network) signal goes to release unit or a microcontroller. However, if FSD is not connected, then the output voltage will be zero. It means that there will be no signal to the microcontroller. Hence, with this feedback signal the FSD connection can be monitored continuously. The microcontroller will generate the alarm based on the feedback signal. Any disconnection at FSD or FSD wire will bring feedback signal to zero. This system ensures the FSD healthiness and generates the alarm in unhealthy conditions.

[0033] In one implementation, referring to figure 3, which illustrates the working principle of the supervision system with the help of a block diagram. The figure 3 block diagram describes the general interfacing of all modules necessary to perform Protection through Smart Breaker in Electrical distribution system. Alarm indicators can be wired to release alarm contacts through external relay contacts or Matrix relay module. The release unit (301) monitors the feedback signal from the FSD (302) continuously in parallel with its existing functions of metering and protection. In case of an unhealthy condition, the release unit gives alarm signal to user with the help of indicator devices (303). The indicator can be selected from at any type of alarms or LED indicator or any combinations thereof.

[0034] In one implementation, reference is made to figure 4, wherein a flowchart for the flow of the supervision system logic for monitoring of a FSD, is provided. As shown in the flowchart:
? Initially all the modules and the peripherals of the system will be initialized;
? Scheduler starts to execute all the task with priority;
? As per the input parameters, that may include current and voltages, the trip unit will shows the metering value on the display module;
? A release unit for healthiness monitoring of the FSD is added to the scheduler. Hence, as soon as the unit powers on the unit starts, the release unit will start monitoring the FSD;
? An alarm task is also added in the schedule which can be linked with FSD status monitoring task;
? When the FSD status detected by the trip unit is unhealthy, the alarm flag will be set to 1.
? Finally, users can verify the status of FSD and then do a connection of the FSD in between smart release and breaker properly which can be detected in run time by release and the alarm flag can be reset to 0.

[0035] Some of the noteworthy features of the present invention, are as follows:
• The supervision system is a safety feature in electronics trip unit which monitors the healthiness of flux shift device & it gives indication to user in case of any failure.
• In the present invention, a flux shift device is interfaced with a controller wherein the microcontroller senses the fault and generates alarm based on the feedback signals.
• In the present invention, a design of the circuit diagram of FSD interfaced with controller is provided to ensure the FSD healthiness and generate alarm in case of unhealthy condition of FSD.
• In the present invention, the release unit monitors the feedback signal from the FSD continuously in parallel with its existing task of metering and protection.

[0036] Some of the non-limiting advantages of the supervision system of the present invention are as follows:
• Checking the healthiness of Flux Shift Device and indicate by Alarm.
• Remote and continuous monitoring of healthiness of the FSD.
• Preventive measure to the electrical Hazards in power plant or substation.
• Save the human life in power plant or substation.

[0037] Although a system to monitor the healthiness status of the Flux shift device of an air circuit breaker has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methods, it is to be understood that the embodiments disclosed in the above section are not necessarily limited to the specific features or methods or devices described. Rather, the specific features are disclosed as examples of implementations of the system to monitor the healthiness status of the Flux shift device of an air circuit breaker thereby preventing electrical hazards and saving human life in power plant or substation.