Communications: electrical – Condition responsive indicating system – Specific condition
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-03
2001-06-05
Lieu, Julie (Department: 2736)
Communications: electrical
Condition responsive indicating system
Specific condition
C340S539230, C340S650000, C324S133000, C361S001000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06243016
ABSTRACT:
A system and a method for monitoring and warning regarding the presence of manually and temporarily fitted ground connectors on high voltage conductors. as well as a warning device and a conductor means included in the system.
The present invention relates in general to a system and a method for preventing accidents and destruction in installations having high voltage lines, and more particularly, the invention relates to a system and a method for monitoring and warning regarding the presence of temporarily and manually fitted grounding connectors on high voltage conductors. The invention also relates to a warning device and a conductor means Included in the system.
In connection with repair work, upgrading, revisions and controls of installation equipment in power, connector and transformer stations, and regarding outdoor power line equipment, it is obligatory, for safety reasons, to provide manual grounding of the high voltage lines that have been disconnected in advance. This means that personnel having to do work on installations or lines, themselves attach temporary contacts having a separate conductor to earth. E.g. in three-phase installations manual grounding is then mounted to each respective one of the three phase conductors as safety grounding, marker grounding or staff grounding. In most countries, the use of these types of manual grounding Is subject to strict governmental regulations. Prior to starting maintenance work, the operating personnel must give warning to the operation central. After finishing work, the groundings must be removed before the operation central is notified that the voltage can be switched in again.
Such manual attachment of a grounding contact may be made by attaching a sturdy clamp somewhere on a cable, or possibly by attaching a specially adapted connecting clamp on a connecting detail arranged for such a purpose on a high voltage rail conductor.
In the first place it is important to insure that such a manually mounted contact has actually been attached in such a manner that safety regulations are complied with. In some cases, imperfect attachment of manual grounding has resulted in personal injury. However, it is equally important to check that such manual groundings have been removed prior to putting the installation into operation again by switching in high voltage. Such a forgotten ground connection may then turn out to be very expensive for the power company
etwork company owning the installation, through the damage and the interruption in operating time that may be the result of a short-circuit through the ground connection when high voltage is switched in.
There is no system to be found in the market, that solves. In a satisfactory manner, the problem of safeguarding against such forgotten ground connections.
Thus, the primary goal of the present invention is to solve the problem stated above. Hence, in a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a system of the type defined in the appended claim
1
.
In a second aspect of the invention, there Is provided a conductor means of the type defined in appended claim
10
.
In a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a warning device of the type defined in appended claim
39
.
Preferred embodiments of the second and third aspect of the invention appear from the dependent claims
3
-
9
and
11
-
38
, respectively.
Hence, using the present invention, an option is achieved for warning about manual grounding to all parties concerned, in any manual revision/disconnecting procedure wherein manual grounding is required, and similarly when reversing-reswitching the installation. Thereby the parties involved can be certain that manual grounding has been attached prior to work start-up, and that it has been removed after work has ended. Experiments have Indicated that the system works quite well.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4897606 (1990-01-01), Cook et al.
patent: 31 25981 (1983-03-01), None
patent: 0 298 203 (1989-01-01), None
Patent Abstracts of Japan, Publication No. 09163534A dated Jun. 20, 1997.
RU 2015516-C1, High-voltage warning device for power lines—has fail-safe indicator circuitry ensuring correct warning signal.
Patent Abstracts of Japan, Publication No. 10142285A dated May 29, 1998.
Lieu Julie
Wenderoth , Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
LandOfFree
System and a method for monitoring and warning regarding the... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with System and a method for monitoring and warning regarding the..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and System and a method for monitoring and warning regarding the... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2484018