Patents by Inventor Edmund O. Schweitzer, III

Edmund O. Schweitzer, III has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 5349490
    Abstract: A directional element measures the negative sequence voltage and the negative sequence current and from those quantities produces a scalar quantity related to the negative sequence impedance of a power transmission line relative to the location of the directional element. The scalar quantity is then compared against two threshold quantity settings, one to determine a forward fault, the other to determine a reverse fault. The scalar quantity must be less than the forward threshold quantity for a forward fault and greater than the reverse threshold quantity for a reverse fault.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 1992
    Date of Patent: September 20, 1994
    Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey B. Roberts, Edmund O. Schweitzer, III
  • Patent number: 5325061
    Abstract: The relay includes means for obtaining current and voltage samples on the power transmission line for a particular possible fault type. The current sample is multiplied by the replica impedance of the power transmission line, while the voltage sample is multiplied by a polarizing voltage to provide a first complex expression having a real portion and an imaginary portion. The product of the current sample and the replica impedance is multiplied by the polarizing voltage to produce a second complex expression having a real portion and an imaginary portion. The real portion of the first complex expression is then divided by the real portion of the second complex expression to produce a scale value m which is compared against known reference scale values for each zone, so as to determine underimpedance conditions in any one of the zones.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 1992
    Date of Patent: June 28, 1994
    Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventor: Edmund O. Schweitzer, III
  • Patent number: 5317472
    Abstract: In a protective relay (10), which contains a microprocessor (30), for monitoring a power transmission line, an output enable decoder (72) and a one-shot timer (74) produce a very short (5 microsecond) signal in response to an address signal from the microprocessor. The output from the timer is applied as one input to AND gate (70). A conventional address decoder, responsive to an address signal identifying a particular output port from the microprocessor, provides another output to AND gate (70). AND gate (70) produces a latch control signal when the two signals are coincident in time. The latch control signal enables the particular output port to receive instructions from a data bus (60).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 1992
    Date of Patent: May 31, 1994
    Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventor: Edmund O. Schweitzer, III
  • Patent number: 5262679
    Abstract: The polarizing potential transfer switch system takes advantage of an existing loss-of-potential (LOP) circuit (32) in a power transmission line protective system to differentiate between a trip signal produced by the distance elements in a protective relay (22) due to the operation of the transfer switch and a true fault condition. This is accomplished by a logic circuit (40) which includes a first timer (58) which permits the operator of the transfer switch (10) five seconds to complete the potential transfer operation between two buses (14 and 16) and a second timer (68) which gives the LOP circuit (32) a selected number of cycles in which to block a trip signal produced by the distance elements in the relay (22).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 1991
    Date of Patent: November 16, 1993
    Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Edmund O. Schweitzer, III, Jeffrey B. Roberts, William D. Hawbaker
  • Patent number: 5208545
    Abstract: In one embodiment, the sampling order of voltage/current data channels from a power transmission line is controlled so that the average sampling instant for each channel is the same. In one example involving a six-channel system, the sampling order will alternate between 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 6,5,4,3,2,1. The sampled data is applied through a digital filter which averages the sampling instant for each channel. In another embodiment, low-pass filters are positioned on each channel, the low-pass filter introducing a predetermined delay for each channel which compensates for the sampling delay on each channel where the channels are sampled in a particular sequential order, i.e. 1,2,3,4 . . . n. The shortest delay will be present in the low-pass filter associated with the first channel, a slightly longer delay will be present in the low-pass filter associated with the second channel and so on through the nth channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 1991
    Date of Patent: May 4, 1993
    Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Inc.
    Inventor: Edmund O. Schweitzer, III
  • Patent number: 5160926
    Abstract: A display transducer adapter for obtaining and displaying power system information from a protective relay. The information includes watt, voltage, current, reactive power, and fault location information. The information may be converted from a digitized format into analog signals and those signals may be provided as outputs, the functions of which are user selectable. The user may also selectively scale the outputs to cover a specified range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 1991
    Date of Patent: November 3, 1992
    Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventor: Edmund O. Schweitzer, III
  • Patent number: 5140492
    Abstract: A distance relay for protection of power transmission lines, having a plurality of mho elements, each with a predetermined mho impedance characteristic. The relay has the capability of calculating a polarized reference voltage which remains constant through fluctuations in measured transmission line voltage. The difference voltage between the measured line voltage and the product of the measured line current and the mho element characteristic impedance is then compared against the polarized reference voltage in a product-type phase comparator to determine under-impedance conditions. If an under-impedance condition is present, the mho element produces a set output and a calculated "torque" value. The set outputs, if any, are then compared against a look-up table for fault type determination. If more than one set output is present, the magnitudes of the respective torque values are compared for fault type determination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 1990
    Date of Patent: August 18, 1992
    Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventor: Edmund O. Schweitzer, III
  • Patent number: 5115226
    Abstract: An apparatus for detecting a power system disturbance. The apparatus may be a current rate-of-change relay for qualifying system-separation transfer-trip commands.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 1989
    Date of Patent: May 19, 1992
    Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventor: Edmund O. Schweitzer, III
  • Patent number: 5041737
    Abstract: A bus-tie relay apparatus which includes a multi-position mechanical switch (54) and a logic circuit (56) responsive to the position of the mechanical switch (54) for producing digital signals on five digital lines (58), wherein a valid digital signal comprises the presence of high conditions on two, and two only, of said digital lines (58). A sensor (80) senses the condition of the digital lines (58) and retrieves the values of a relay element setting group from memory associated with that digital signal. A plurality of such relay element setting groups are stored in the apparatus, each one of which comprises values corresponding to the characteristics of an inplace relay associated with a particular one transmission line in a group thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 1990
    Date of Patent: August 20, 1991
    Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Edmund O. Schweitzer, III, Jeffrey B. Roberts
  • Patent number: 4998098
    Abstract: An voltage monitoring system including means for providing a voltage from a current and for reducing the voltage. The system also includes means for integrating the current. The integrating means provides an output which increases from an initial condition at a rate proportional to the voltage. The system further includes means for sensing when the output of the integrating means is above a predetermined level and for resetting the integrating means to the initial condition. Additionally, the system includes means for indicating when the output of the integrating means exceeds the predetermined level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 1989
    Date of Patent: March 5, 1991
    Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Inc.
    Inventor: Edmund O. Schweitzer, III
  • Patent number: 4996624
    Abstract: A method of locating a phase-to-ground fault in a radial distribution system with a tapped load. The method includes determining the positive-sequence impedance from the residual current, the residual current compensation factor and the phase-to-ground voltage of the faulted line. The positive-sequence impedance is then used to determine the distance to the fault.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 1989
    Date of Patent: February 26, 1991
    Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventor: Edmund O. Schweitzer, III
  • Patent number: 4766549
    Abstract: A system for locating faults on a transmission line by taking measurements at only one end of the line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 1984
    Date of Patent: August 23, 1988
    Assignee: Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.
    Inventors: Edmund O. Schweitzer, III, Masaoki Ando
  • Patent number: 4300182
    Abstract: A system for electronically metering an A.C. electrical power system to derive performance parameters such as real and reactive power useful in revenue metering and fault protection applications. Voltage and current sensors associated with the power system provide isolated output signals proportional to the voltage and current in the system. From these signals finite-duration impulse-response filters periodically determine Walsh function correlation coefficients by integrating the voltage and current signals at least once during each period of the power system and periodically sampling and holding the integrated signal in sequence with the integration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1979
    Date of Patent: November 10, 1981
    Inventor: Edmund O. Schweitzer, III