US 11,728,101 B2
Methods for estimating a property of an electrical switching device, devices for implementing these methods
Stéphane Delbaere, Meylan (FR); and Rémy Orban, Saint Martin d'Uriage (FR)
Assigned to Schneider Electric Industries SAS, Rueil Malmaison (FR)
Filed by Schneider Electric Industries SAS, Rueil Malmaison (FR)
Filed on Jul. 15, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/376,285.
Claims priority of application No. 2007607 (FR), filed on Jul. 20, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0020539 A1, Jan. 20, 2022
Int. Cl. H01H 1/00 (2006.01); H01H 71/12 (2006.01); H01H 11/00 (2006.01); H01H 71/04 (2006.01)
CPC H01H 1/0015 (2013.01) [H01H 71/123 (2013.01); H01H 2011/0068 (2013.01); H01H 2071/044 (2013.01)] 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for estimating an energy value of an electric arc during an opening phase of an electrical switching device, the method comprising:
detecting a movement of electrical contacts of the switching device beyond an opening threshold;
measuring, for at least one electrical phase of the electrical device, the electric current through the at least one electrical phase;
evaluating, for the at least one electrical phase of the electrical device, the voltage of an electric arc between the electrical contacts that are associated with the at least one electrical phase;
calculating, for at least said at least one electrical phase of the electrical device, an energy value associated with the electric arc, by numerically integrating a product of the measured electric current and of the evaluated voltage, the integration being performed over a time interval starting from the detection of the movement of the electrical contacts;
determining that the energy value exceeds a predefined threshold; and
when the predefined threshold has been exceeded, automatically identifying an anomaly condition by means of a warning device, thereby facilitating preventative maintenance operations to be performed on the electrical contacts,
wherein evaluating the voltage of the electric arc comprises calculating the voltage on the basis of the following formula: U=2 (a+bx+(c+dx)/I
where I is the electric current measured for said at least one electrical phase, x is the movement of the electrical contacts of said at least one electrical phase, and a, b, c and d are numeric parameters.