Granted Patent B2

US 12,217,596 · App. 17/970,196 · Granted Feb 4, 2025

Inventors: Greg Martinjak (Solon, OH); Spencer Allemang (Novelty, OH); Thomas Bendlak (Macedonia, OH)

Assignee: ERICO International Corporation

G08B21/185G01R1/02G01R31/40G08C17/02H02H9/02

Abstract

Claims (45)

1. A surge protection system, the surge protection system comprising:

a surge protection device including a flag movable between a ready state corresponding to normal operation of the surge protection device and a triggered state corresponding to an end-of-life state of the surge protection device; and

a surge protection monitor system that includes a sensor, the sensor including: a switch, and an electronic transmitter configured to wirelessly transmit signals based on a state of the switch;

the sensor having an installed configuration in which the sensor is secured to the surge protection device with the switch aligned to detect a position of the flag that corresponds to the triggered state; and

with the sensor in the installed configuration, the electronic transmitter being configured to wirelessly transmit an end-of-life signal to indicate that the surge protection device is in the end-of-life state, in response to detection of the position of the flag by the switch.

2. The monitor system of claim 1 , wherein, with the sensor in the installed configuration, the switch is aligned to be contacted by the flag via movement of the flag to the triggered state, to thereby detect the position of the flag.

3. The monitor system of claim 2 , wherein the switch is configured to power on the sensor for transmission of the end-of-life signal when the switch is moved by the flag.

4. The surge protection system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor includes a housing that defines a cavity;

wherein, in the installed configuration of the sensor, the surge protection device is received into the cavity to secure the sensor to the surge protection device; and

wherein the housing of the sensor permits the flag to remain visible from outside the housing, with the surge protection device received into the cavity and the flag in the triggered state.

5. The surge protection system of claim 4 , wherein, in the installed configuration of the sensor, the surge protection device is received into the cavity to removably secure the sensor to the surge protection device.

6. The surge protection system of claim 4 , wherein the flag is entirely contained within a housing of the surge protection device until the flag moves to triggered state.

7. The surge protection system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor further includes a light source configured to be activated based on the sensor detecting a state of the flag to visually indicate the end-of-life state.

8. The surge protection system of claim 1 , wherein the surge protection device is a first surge protection device and the surge protection system includes a plurality of surge protection devices;

wherein the monitor system further includes:

an electronic hub configured for wireless communication with one or more remote devices; and

a plurality of sensors, each configured to be removably secured to a corresponding surge protection device of the plurality of surge protection devices to detect an end-of-life state of the corresponding surge protection device and wirelessly transmit a corresponding end-of-life signal to the electronic hub; and

wherein the electronic hub is configured to transmit a hub signal to one or more of a remote server or a mobile device, in response to receiving one or more end-of-life signals, the hub signal indicating a corresponding end-of-life state of one or more of the surge protection devices.

9. The surge protection system of claim 8 , wherein the electronic hub is configured to:

receive, from the plurality of sensors, a plurality of the end-of-life signals that correspond to two or more of the plurality of surge protection devices being in an end-of-life state; and

in response to receiving the plurality of the end-of-life signals, transmit a single state indicator that indicates an aggregated end-of-life state of the two or more surge protection devices.

10. The surge protection system of claim 8 , wherein the electronic hub is configured to:

receive, from the plurality of sensors, a plurality of the end-of-life signals that correspond to two or more of the surge protection devices being in an end-of-life state; and

in response to receiving the plurality of the end-of-life signals, illuminate one or more light sources on the electronic hub to indicate an aggregated end-of-life state of the two or more surge protection devices.

11. The surge protection system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more light sources include at least one light source configured to illuminate with one or more of different colors, different brightnesses, or different frequencies to indicate different end-of-life states.

12. The surge protection system of claim 8 , wherein the surge protection device is a first surge protection device, and wherein the electronic hub is further configured to receive a signal from a second surge protection device, via a wired connection, to indicate an end-of-life state of the second surge protection device.

13. A retrofit system to monitor a surge protection device, the retrofit system comprising:

a sensor configured to be removably secured to a surge protection device;

the sensor including:

a housing configured to removably engage the surge protection device to secure the sensor to the surge protection device;

a detector configured to detect a movement of a component of the surge protection device corresponding to an end of life state of the surge protection device; and

a transmitter configured to transmit a wireless signal to a remotely located hub, in response to the detected movement, to indicate the end of life state of the surge protection device.

14. The retrofit system of claim 13 , wherein the housing defines a cavity that is configured to receive the surge protection device to secure the sensor to the surge protection device.

15. The retrofit system of claim 14 , wherein the housing is configured to receive the surge protection device into the cavity with a press fit engagement.

16. The retrofit system of claim 14 , wherein the detector is a switch that is disposed within the cavity of the sensor housing to be activated by contact with a flag of the surge protection device.

17. The retrofit system of claim 13 , further comprising:

an electronic hub configured to receive end-of-life signals from a plurality of retrofit sensors, corresponding to respective end-of-life states of each of a plurality of surge protection devices;

wherein the electronic hub is configured, in response to receiving multiple end-of-life signals, to wirelessly transmit an aggregated end-of-life signal to a remote device, the aggregated end-of-life signal indicating an end-of-life of any combination of one or more of the plurality of surge protection devices.

18. A method of monitoring surge protection devices, comprising:

retrofitting a surge protection device by:

removably engaging a housing of a sensor with the surge protection device to secure the sensor to the surge protection device, so that a detector of the sensor is arranged to detect a movement of a component of the surge protection device corresponding to an end-of-life state of the surge protection device; and

pairing the sensor with a remotely located hub to permit wireless communication between a transmitter of the sensor and the remotely located hub;

wherein the transmitter is thereby configured to transmit a wireless signal to the remotely located hub to indicate the end-of-life state of the surge protection device in response to the detector detecting the movement of the component of the surge protection device.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein removably engaging the housing with the surge protection device includes inserting the surge protection device into a cavity of the housing to align the detector to detect a movement of a flag of the surge protection device that corresponds to the end of lift state of the surge protection device.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the detector is a switch configured to be moved by the flag to detect the movement of the flag.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (134)