System and method for detecting an electrical short across a static switch of an uninterruptible power supply

1. A monitoring system for detecting a short circuit condition in a switching subsystem being used in a bypass input of a power supply, in which the bypass input also includes a circuit breaker in communication with the switching subsystem, the monitoring system comprising:

a voltage monitoring subsystem for monitoring a voltage across at least one component of the switching subsystem and generating a first output signal in accordance therewith; and

a processor responsive to the first output signal from the voltage monitoring subsystem that compares a voltage value of the first output signal with a predetermined threshold signal and generates a second output signal based on the comparison, the processor further adapted to consider a state of the circuit breaker in communication with the switching subsystem, and to use the state of the circuit breaker and the second output signal to determine whether at least one of a short circuit condition and an open circuit condition exists with respect to the switching subsystem.

2. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is adapted to indicate that either the open circuit condition or the short circuit condition is present.

3. The monitoring system of claim 2 , wherein:

the circuit breaker is in communication with the processor and disposed in series with the switching subsystem;

the processor is adapted to read a state of the circuit breaker to determine if the circuit breaker is open or closed; and

the processor is adapted to send a signal to an external controller when the open circuit condition is detected.

4. The monitoring system of claim 3 , wherein the processor uses the state of the circuit breaker and the comparison of the first output signal and the threshold signal to determine if either the open circuit condition or the closed circuit condition is present with respect to the switching subsystem.

5. The monitoring system of claim 4 , wherein the processor controls the circuit breaker to interrupt current flow through said switching subsystem when the short circuit condition is detected in the switching subsystem and the circuit breaker is detected as being in a closed condition.

6. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the component that the voltage monitoring circuit is monitoring a voltage across comprises a snubber capacitor.

7. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the switching subsystem comprises three independent switching circuits, one for each of three different phases of a three phase input signal; and

the voltage monitoring subsystem comprises three independent voltage monitoring circuits, one said independent voltage monitoring circuit being associated with a respective one of each of the independent switching circuits.

8. A monitoring system for monitoring operation of a static switching circuit being used in a bypass input of an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), the monitoring system comprising:

a voltage monitoring subsystem for monitoring a voltage across at least one component of the static switching circuit and generating a first output signal;

a circuit breaker coupled in series with the static switching circuit;

a processor responsive to the first output signal and to a condition of the circuit breaker, the processor adapted to compare a voltage value of the first output signal with a threshold signal and to generate a second output signal based on the comparison, the processor adapted to use the second output signal and the condition of the circuit breaker to determine if at least one of a short circuit condition and an open circuit condition exists in the static switching circuit.

9. The monitoring system of claim 8 , wherein the processor is adapted to determine if either the short circuit condition or the open circuit condition exists in the static switching circuit.

10. The monitoring system of claim 9 , wherein the processor determines that the short circuit condition exists in the static switching circuit based on the second output signal indicating that the first output signal is equal to or less than the threshold signal, and the circuit breaker is in a closed condition.

11. The monitoring system of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further adapted to control the circuit breaker when the short circuit condition exists in the static switching circuit to interrupt current flow through the static switching circuit.

12. The monitoring system of claim 8 , wherein:

the static switching circuit comprises a plurality independent switching circuits, one for each phase of a three phase input signal being supplied to the independent static switching circuits;

wherein each one of the independent static switching circuits has a snubber capacitor; and

wherein the voltage monitoring subsystem comprises a plurality of independent voltage monitoring circuits each associated with a respective one of the independent static switching circuits.

13. The monitoring system of claim 12 , wherein each of the independent voltage monitoring circuits is adapted to monitor a voltage across the snubber capacitor of an associated one of the independent static switching circuits.

14. The monitoring system of claim 13 , wherein the processor comprises a programmable logic device.

15. A method for monitoring a switching subsystem of a bypass input being used in an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), wherein the bypass input has a circuit breaker in communication with the switching subsystem, the method comprising:

monitoring a voltage across at least one component of the switching subsystem and generating a first output signal indicative of a voltage across the one component;

comparing a voltage value of the first output signal with a threshold signal and generating a second output signal based on the comparison;

detecting a state of the circuit breaker; and

using the second output signal and the state of the circuit breaker to determine if at least one of a short circuit condition and an open circuit condition exists in the switching subsystem.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising determining if either the short circuit condition or the open circuit condition exists.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising informing an external controller if the open circuit condition exists.

18. The method of claim 16 , further comprising determining that the short circuit condition exists when the voltage value of the first output signal is less than or equal to the threshold signal, and the circuit breaker is in a closed condition.

19. The method of claim 15 , further comprising placing the circuit breaker in an open state when it is determined that a short circuit condition exists in the switching subsystem.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein said comparing the first output signal with a threshold signal comprises comparing a detected voltage across a snubber capacitor of the switching subsystem with the threshold signal.