US-12625181-B2 - Monitoring system for a mechanically driven circuit breaker

US12625181B2US 12625181 B2US12625181 B2US 12625181B2US-12625181-B2

Abstract

A monitoring system for a mechanically driven circuit breaker that includes fixed and moveable contacts, and a main actuator, wherein the moveable contact is selectively spaced from the fixed contact, and wherein the main actuator transitions the circuit breaker between states, the monitoring system comprising an actuation device; a sensor; and a processing unit. The actuation device applies a micro-motion to the actuator without the circuit breaker transitioning states; wherein the sensor acquires sensor data associated with the application of the micro-motion; wherein the sensor provides sensor data to the processing unit; and wherein the processing unit determines whether the circuit breaker has a fault using the sensor data.

Inventors

Felix Boy
Arda TUEYSUEZ
Sebastian Breisch
Ondrej Frantisek
Gianluca Cortinovis
Alessandro Stucchi

Assignees

ABB SCHWEIZ AG

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20240131
Priority Date: 20230202

Claims (15)

1 . A monitoring system for a mechanically driven circuit breaker, the circuit breaker comprising a fixed contact and a movable contact and a main actuator, 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 is configured to transition the circuit breaker from the first state to the second state, wherein a closing shaft of the main actuator when activated enables the main actuator to operate a main shaft of the circuit breaker to transition the circuit breaker from the first state to the second state, and wherein the monitoring system comprises: an actuation device; at least one sensor; and a processing unit; wherein the actuation device is configured to apply a micro-motion to the closing shaft of the main actuator 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 is configured to acquire sensor data associated with the application of the micro-motion to the closing shaft of the main actuator, wherein the sensor data comprises rotational movement data of the closing shaft of the main actuator; wherein the at least one sensor is configured to provide the sensor data to the processing unit; wherein the processing unit is configured to determine when the circuit breaker has a fault, wherein the determination when the circuit breaker has a fault comprises utilization of the sensor data.
2 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor data further comprises linear movement data of the part of the main actuator.
3 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor data comprises force and/or torque data applied to the part of the main actuation.
4 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor data comprises force and/or torque data exerted by the actuation device.
5 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor data comprises rotational or linear movement data of at least one part of the actuation device.
6 . The system according to claim 5 , wherein the at least one part of the actuation device comprises a rotor of a rotational actuator or a plunger of a translational actuator.
7 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the determination of when the circuit breaker has a fault comprises utilization of reference sensor data.
8 . A monitoring system for a mechanically driven circuit breaker, the circuit breaker comprising a fixed contact and a movable contact and a main actuator, 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 is configured to transition the circuit breaker from the second state to the first state, wherein an opening shaft of the main actuator when activated enables the main actuator to operate a main shaft of the circuit breaker to transition the circuit breaker from the second state to the first state, and wherein the monitoring system comprises: an actuation device; at least one sensor; and a processing unit; wherein the actuation device is configured to apply a micro-motion to the opening shaft of the main actuator involved in transitioning the circuit breaker from the second state to the first state without the circuit breaker transitioning from the second state to first state; wherein the at least one sensor is configured to acquire sensor data associated with the application of the micro-motion to the opening shaft of the main actuator, wherein the sensor data comprises rotational movement data of the opening shaft of the main actuator; wherein the at least one sensor is configured to provide the sensor data to the processing unit; wherein the processing unit is configured to determine whether the circuit breaker has a fault, wherein the determination of whether the circuit breaker has a fault comprises utilization of the sensor data.
9 . The system according to claim 8 , wherein the sensor data comprises linear movement data of the part of the main actuator.
10 . The system according to claim 8 , wherein the sensor data comprises force and/or torque data applied to the part of the main actuation.
11 . The system according to claim 8 , wherein the sensor data comprises force and/or torque data exerted by the actuation device.
12 . The system according to claim 8 , wherein the sensor data comprises rotational or linear movement data of at least one part of the actuation device.
13 . The system according to claim 12 , wherein the at least one part of the actuation device comprises a rotor of a rotational actuator or a plunger of a translational actuator.
14 . A monitoring method for a mechanically driven circuit breaker, the circuit breaker comprising a fixed contact and a movable contact and a main actuator, 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 is configured to transition the circuit breaker from the first state to the second state, wherein a closing shaft of the main actuator when activated enables the main actuator to operate a main shaft of the circuit breaker to transition the circuit breaker from the first state to the second state, and wherein the monitoring method comprises: applying by an actuation device a micro-motion to the closing shaft of the main actuator 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; acquiring, by at least one sensor, sensor-data associated with the application of the micro-motion to the closing shaft of the main actuator, wherein the sensor data comprises rotational movement data of the closing shaft of the main actuator; providing by the at least one sensor the sensor-data to a processing unit; and determining by the processing unit whether the circuit breaker has a fault, wherein the determining whether the circuit breaker has a fault comprises utilizing the sensor-data.
15 . A monitoring method for a mechanically driven circuit breaker, the circuit breaker comprising a fixed contact and a movable contact and a main actuator, 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 is configured to transition the circuit breaker from the second state to the first state, wherein an opening shaft of the main actuator when activated enables the main actuator to operate a main shaft of the circuit breaker to transition the circuit breaker from the second state to the first state, and wherein the monitoring method comprises: applying by an actuation device a micro-motion to a part of the main actuator involved in transitioning the circuit breaker from the second state to the first state without the circuit breaker transitioning from the second state to first state; acquiring by at least one sensor sensor-data associated with the application of the micro-motion to the part of the main actuator, wherein the sensor data comprises rotational movement data of the opening shaft of the main actuator; providing by the at least one sensor the sensor-data to a processing unit; and determining by the processing unit if the circuit breaker has a fault, wherein the determining if the circuit breaker has a fault comprises utilizing the sensor data.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The instant application claims priority to European Patent Application No. 23154779.5, filed Feb. 2, 2023, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to monitoring system for a mechanically driven circuit breaker, and monitoring methods for a mechanically driven circuit breaker. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Mechanically driven circuit breakers are systems that can have a very long lifetime, but which might only be seldomly used. They can suffer from different failure cases, for example due to corrosion or bearing grease degradation. FIG. 1 shows an example of a mechanically driven circuit breaker system, with FIG. 2 showing a schematic representation of the circuit breaker of FIG. 1. As shown in FIGS. 1-2, a three phase circuit breaker system is shown, where there are three poles. There can however only be one pole. A main actuator 10 engages with a main shaft of the circuit breaker system to activate the poles to close and indeed also to open. A closing shaft 60 is activated to enable the main actuator to engage with the main shaft to transition to circuit breaker poles (or pole) from an open orientation to a closed orientation, where movable contacts (or contact) is brought into contact with fixed contacts (or contact). An opening shaft 60 is activated to enable the main actuator to engage with the main shaft to transition to circuit breaker poles (or pole) from a closed orientation to an open orientation, where movable contacts (or contact) is separated from the fixed contacts (or contact). One failure that can occur is the jamming of the opening shaft 60 and/or closing shaft 50 in the main actuator 10. This failure is critical to the system reliability and security as it prevents the entire device from operating. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved technique to stop a main actuator of a circuit breaker from affecting the performance of the circuit breaker. In a first aspect, there is provided a monitoring system for a mechanically driven circuit breaker. The circuit breaker comprises a fixed contact and a movable contact and a main actuator. 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. The main actuator is configured to transition the circuit breaker from the first state to the second state. The monitoring system comprises: an actuation device;at least one sensor; anda processing unit, The actuation device is configured to apply a micro-motion to a part of the main actuator 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. The at least one sensor is configured to acquire sensor data associated with the application of the micro-motion to the part of the main actuator. The at least one sensor is configured to provide the sensor data to the processing unit. The processing unit is configured to determine if the circuit breaker has a fault. The determination if the circuit breaker has a fault comprises utilization of the sensor data. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) FIG. 1 shows a mechanically driven circuit breaker system with three circuit breaker poles and with the front panel removed in accordance with the disclosure. FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of the mechanically driven circuit breaker system of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 shows details of a main actuator of a circuit breaker in accordance with the disclosure. FIG. 4 shows a schematic representation of a monitoring system for a mechanically driven circuit breaker in accordance with the disclosure. FIG. 5 shows an example of forces Fg generated in an exemplar actuator device of an exemplar monitoring system for a mechanically driven circuit breaker in accordance with the disclosure. FIG. 6 shows an exemplar actuator device, in the form of a reluctance motor, of an exemplar monitoring system for a mechanically driven circuit breaker in accordance with the disclosure. FIG. 7 shows an exemplar actuator device, in the form of a stepper motor, of an exemplar monitoring system for a mechanically driven circuit breaker in accordance with the disclosure. FIG. 8 shows an exemplar actuator device, in the form of a translator motor or actuator, of an exemplar monitoring system for a mechanically driven circuit breaker in accordance with the disclosure. FIG. 9 shows a cross section through an exemplar actuator device of an exemplar monitoring system for a mechanically driven circuit breaker that has 3 poles, no end stops, and no reset spring in accordance with the disclosure. FIG. 10 shows a cross section through an exemplar actuator device of an exemplar monitoring system for a mechanically driven circuit breaker that h