Electrical transmission or interconnection systems – Electromagnet or highly inductive systems
Patent
1992-12-23
1995-06-06
Gaffin, Jeffrey A.
Electrical transmission or interconnection systems
Electromagnet or highly inductive systems
45413, H01F 3814
Patent
active
054225191
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to systems for transmission of electrical power and data signals and in particular to systems which can be used to transmit power and signals between electrical units which must be electrically isolated from each other.
With the increasing use of electrically and electronically controlled appliances, particularly but not exclusively appliances for domestic use, an ever increasing effort must be made to ensure that these appliances are electrically safe.
The consequences of electric shock to a user are rarely higher in the domestic environment than in the bathroom. The designer of appliances to be fitted or used there must pay the highest regard to all practical methods of minimising risks of electric shock to the user, and this is particularly important when the user is required to control the appliance from inside the bathtub or shower.
It is therefore essential that a user be fully protected from a mains or other high voltage electrical power supply employed in operation of a bathroom system such as a whirlpool bath (that is a bath in which jets of air, water, or an air/water mixture are pumped into the bath under the surface of the water); such supply would ordinarily be used in a whirlpool installation to power an air heater and blower which can be controlled by the user. Control circuitry can be arranged to operate at a low, safe, voltage, but danger to the user can still arise from any possibility (through the introduction of water, an electrical fault, or otherwise) of control elements handled by the user becoming live from connection with the high voltage power supply.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention aims to provide a system through which the controls and control circuits for an appliance can be supplied with power from an external supply and through which the control circuits can send signals generated in response to the user's manipulation of the controls, the system allowing complete electrical isolation between the external supply and the controls and control circuits.
Accordingly, the present invention provides an electric power and data signal transmission system comprising a first and a second transducer each operable to generate a magnetic field in response to an applied electrical signal and to generate a voltage in response to an applied magnetic field said transducers being arranged such that the magnetic field generated when an electric signal is applied to either one of the transducers causes the other one of the transducers to generate a voltage, the transducers being electrically isolated from one another a first processing circuit; and a second processing circuit: the system being operable in mutually-exclusive drive and signal-transmission modes, wherein in the drive mode the first processing circuit is operable to apply an alternating signal to the first transducer and the second processing circuit operable to generate an output supply voltage from voltage signals generated in the second transducer by the application of the alternating signals by the first processing circuit to the first transducer; and in signal-transmission mode the second processing circuit is operable to apply electrical data signals to the second transducer and the first processing circuit is operable to generate an output data signal responsive to a voltage generated in the first transducer by the signals applied to the second transducer.
The system may operate on a time-sharing basis in which data and power transmission take place in separate, mutually exclusive modes. Alternatively, the system may be configured such that data and power transmission can take place simultaneously if required.
Either or both of the transducers may incorporate a winding to generate or detect a magnetic field.
An additional advantage offered by the present invention is that the first and second sides of the system may easily be physically separable from one another. This offers advantages in construction, maintenance and repair of the system.
Preferabl
REFERENCES:
patent: 4761724 (1988-08-01), Brown et al.
patent: 4924171 (1990-05-01), Baba et al.
patent: 4942352 (1990-07-01), Sano
patent: 4982461 (1991-01-01), Mikiya et al.
Gaffin Jeffrey A.
Ganjoo Peter
Leigh Steward Products Limited
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