CIRCUIT INTERRUPTER INCLUDING SUPERVISORY FUNCTION FOR PROTECTIVE FUNCTION AND HARDWARE CIRCUIT REPETITIVE TEST FUNCTION

摘要

A circuit interrupter for a power circuit includes separable contacts, an operating mechanism structured to open and close the separable contacts, and a trip circuit cooperating with the operating mechanism to trip open the separable contacts. The trip circuit includes a number of hardware circuits having a processor with a number of routines. The routines provide a number of protective functions structured to detect a number of faults of the power circuit, a number of repetitive test functions for the number of hardware circuits, and a supervisory function cooperating with the number of repetitive test functions. The supervisory function is structured to prevent availability of protection by the number of protective functions from falling below a predetermined threshold as a result of a plurality of intermittent error conditions of the number of hardware circuits.

主权项

1. A circuit interrupter for a power circuit, said circuit interrupter comprising:
separable contacts; an operating mechanism structured to open and close said separable contacts; and a trip circuit cooperating with said operating mechanism to trip open said separable contacts, said trip circuit comprising a number of hardware circuits including a processor having a number of routines structured to provide:
a number of protective functions structured to detect a number of faults of said power circuit,a number of repetitive test functions for said number of hardware circuits, anda supervisory function cooperating with said number of repetitive test functions, said supervisory function being structured to prevent availability of protection by said number of protective functions from falling below a predetermined threshold as a result of a plurality of intermittent error conditions of said number of hardware circuits.