IP Library Granted Patent US 8,749,246
Granted Patent B2
US 8,749,246 · App. 13/028,798 · Granted Jun 10, 2014

Method and device for determining a maximum leakage current

Inventor: Oliver Schaefer (Gruenberg-Harbach, DE)
Assignee: Bender GmbH & Co. KG
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,749,246
App. No.
13/028,798
Granted
Jun 10, 2014
Kind
B2
Abstract

The invention relates to a method and a device for determining a maximum leakage current in unearthed power supply networks with a plurality of conductors. The method comprises the steps of: feeding of a measurement signal U P with a measurement frequency f Puls into a conductor arrangement, setting the measurement frequency f Puls , measuring a line-to-line voltage U L-E for each conductor, determining a maximum occurring line-to-line voltage U L-Emax from the measured line-to-line voltages U L-E , determining a voltage U Ze across a measurement resistance R M for calculating a leakage impedance Z E , calculating the leakage impedance Z E , and calculating a maximum leakage current THC. The device comprises a signal generator for feeding in the U P with the f Puls , a network coupling circuit between the signal generator and the conductor arrangement, a voltage measuring circuit for measuring the U L-E , and an impedance measuring circuit for determining the Z e by means of the determining of the U Ze .

Claims (40)

1. A method for determining a maximum leakage current in unearthed power supply networks with a plurality of live conductors, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

(a) feeding a measurement signal U P with a measurement frequency f Puls into a conductor arrangement formed in the unearthed power supply networks;

(b) setting the measurement frequency f Puls ;

(c) measuring a line-to-line voltage U L-E for each conductor of the plurality of live conductors;

(d) determining a maximum occurring line-to-line voltage U L-Emax from the plurality of measured line-to-line voltages U L-E obtained by measurement in step (c);

(e) determining a voltage U Ze across a measurement resistance R M taking into account the measured line-to-line voltages U L-E for each conductor of the plurality of live conductors;

(f) calculating a leakage impedance Z E using the voltage U Ze determined in step (e) across the measurement resistance R M ;

(g) calculating a maximum leakage current THC using the calculated leakage impedance Z E and using the maximum occurring line-to-line voltage U L-Emax ; and

(h) repeating the previous steps (a) thru (g),

wherein the measurement frequency f Puls is changeable during the measurement of step (c), and the setting of the measurement frequency f Puls in step (b) takes place automatically by means of an interference frequency analysis.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the interference frequency analysis comprises a method including the following automatically running steps of

i. setting of the measurement signal value U P =0 volt;

ii. setting of a centre frequency f G — BP of a band-pass filter to a lower threshold frequency f Puls — min of a measurement range of a signal generator;

iii. determining the absolute value |U Ze | of the voltage U Ze across the measurement resistance R M ;

iv. storing the absolute value |U Ze | and the associated frequency f G — BP set;

v. repeating the determination of the absolute value |U Ze | of the voltage U Ze with step-by-step increasing of the centre frequency f G — BP of the band-pass filter, until f G — BP corresponds to an upper threshold frequency f Puls — max of a measurement range of a signal generator;

vi. determining a smallest measurement value |U Ze | min from the voltages recorded |U Ze | and determining the associated centre frequency f G — BP ; and

vii. setting of the measurement frequency f Puls to the value f G — BP belonging to the measurement value |U Ze | min and setting the measurement signal value to U P >0 volt.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein differential voltages U Lnm between conductor pairs n, m are determined from the measurement of the line-to-line voltages U L-E , following that, respective spectral components of these differential voltages U Lnm at the point f Puls are calculated and the method is continued with a return jump to setting the measurement frequency f Puls , in the event that |U Lnm | (f Puls )>0 is true for one of the differential voltages U Lnm .

4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein after the step (e) of determining the voltage U Ze , a threshold value query U Ze <U Ze — max is carried out, wherein U Ze — max corresponds to a measurement range threshold value of the signal generator and the method is continued with a return jump to setting the measurement frequency f Puls , in the event that U Ze >U Ze — max .

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein determination of the voltage U Ze takes place across the measurement resistance R M with applied measurement voltage U P by means of the measurement of the line-to-line voltages U L-E , addition of the measured line-to-line voltages U L-E and subsequent band-pass filtering of the aggregate signal for obtaining a voltage component giving the voltage U Ze at the frequency f Puls .

6. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the centre frequency f G — BP of the band-pass filter for filtering out the voltage U Ze is automatically set to the measurement frequency f Puls of the signal generator.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step (f) of calculating the leakage impedance Z E takes place in accordance with the relationship Z E =(U P *R M )/U ZE −(R M +R A ).

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step (g) of calculating the maximum leakage current THC takes place in accordance with the formula THC=U L-Emax /Z E0 , wherein Z E0 is the leakage impedance at the network frequency that arises in a frequency-corrected manner from the value Z E calculated at the measurement frequency f Puls .

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein an initialisation is carried out at the start of the method.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a self test is carried out at the start of the method.

11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein after the initialisation a timer is started, and the method begins again with a self test when the timer has run out or the measurement of the line-to-line voltages in step (c) is constantly continued when the timer has not run out.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the measurement signal U P is generated with a signal generator from a rectangular signal characteristic.

13. A method for determining a maximum leakage current in unearthed power supply networks with a plurality of live conductors, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

(a) feeding a measurement signal U P with a measurement frequency f Puls into a conductor arrangement formed in the unearthed power supply networks;

(b) setting the measurement frequency f Puls ;

(c) measuring a line-to-line voltage U L-E for each conductor of the plurality of live conductors;

(d) determining a maximum occurring line-to-line voltage U L-Emax from the plurality of measured line-to-line voltages U L-E obtained by measurement in step (c);

(e) determining a voltage U Ze across a measurement resistance R M taking into account the measured line-to-line voltages U L-E for each conductor of the plurality of live conductors;

(f) calculating a leakage impedance Z E using the voltage U Ze determined in step (e) across the measurement resistance R M ;

(g) calculating a maximum leakage current THC using the calculated leakage impedance Z E and using the maximum occurring line-to-line voltage U L-Emax ; and

(h) repeating the previous steps (a) thru (g),

wherein the measurement frequency f Puls is changeable during the measurement of step (c), and the setting of the measurement frequency f Puls in step (b) takes place automatically by means of an interference frequency analysis,

wherein the step (g) of calculating the maximum leakage current THC takes place in accordance with the formula THC=U L-Emax /Z E0 , wherein Z E0 is the leakage impedance at the network frequency that arises in a frequency-corrected manner from the value Z E calculated at the measurement frequency f Puls , and

wherein an initialisation is carried out at the start of the method and after the initialisation a timer is started, and the method begins again with a self test when the timer has run out or the measurement of the line-to-line voltages in step (c) is constantly continued when the timer has not run out.

Assignments (3)
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Jun 19, 2012
From: DIPL.-ING. WALTHER BENDER GMBH & CO. KG
To: BENDER GMBH & CO. KG
Reel/Frame 028406/0586 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE ASSIGNEE NAME PREVIOUSLY RECORDED ON REEL 026246 FRAME 0417. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE ASSIGNEE NAME TO APPEAR IN FULL AS DIPL.-ING. WALTHER BENDER GMBH & CO. KG AS IDENTIFIED ON THE ATTACHED COMMERCIAL REGISTER.. Recorded Nov 25, 2011
From: SCHAEFER, OLIVER
To: DIPL.-ING. WALTHER BENDER GMBH & CO. KG
Reel/Frame 027281/0793 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 9, 2011
From: SCHAEFER, OLIVER
To: DIPL.-ING. W. BENDER GMBH & CO. KG
Reel/Frame 026246/0417 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20120206148A1 · Aug 16, 2012