Apparatus detects an electrical fault in a primary tap having a plurality of distribution transformers each provided in a distribution circuit along a length of the primary tap, on a power distribution system. The apparatus includes a voltage monitor provided at each of the distribution circuits for monitoring a voltage in a corresponding distribution circuit, a controller in communication with each of the voltage monitor for receiving the voltage monitored and transmitted by the voltage monitors, and a fuse isolator configured to electrically connect the primary tap to a high voltage on the power distribution system and electrically disconnect the primary tap from the high voltage on power distribution system when activate. A fuse isolator actuator in communication with the controller is provided for activating the fuse isolator responsive to a control signal from the controller when a fault in the primary tap is detected by the controller, which determines that a fault exists in the primary tap based on the voltages monitored by the plurality of voltage monitors.

An apparatus for detecting difference in operating characteristics of a main circuit by using a replica circuit is presented. In one exemplary case, a sensed difference in operating characteristics of the two circuits is used to drive a tuning control loop to minimize the sensed difference. In another exemplary case, several replica circuits of the main circuit are used, where each is isolated from one or more operating variables that affect the operating characteristic of the main circuit. Each replica circuit can be used for sensing a different operating characteristic, or, two replica circuits can be combined to sense a same operating characteristic.

An ophthalmic device includes an enclosure that is compatible for wearing in or on an eye. An adjustable lens is disposed within the enclosure. Driver circuitry is disposed within the enclosure and coupled to drive the adjustable lens and change its optical power. Built-in-self-test (BIST) circuitry is disposed within the enclosure and coupled to the adjustable lens. The BIST circuitry includes an impedance measurement circuit coupled to selectively measure an impedance of the adjustable lens. A controller is disposed within the enclosure and includes BIST control logic that measures the impedance of the adjustable lens with the impedance measurement circuit to determine a health status of the adjustable lens.

Devices, methods, and systems for detecting faults on a spur wired alarm circuit are described herein. One system includes a bipolar capacitor coupled to a last device on a spur wired alarm circuit, a voltage supply coupled to the spur wired alarm circuit, and a controller configured to operate the voltage supply such that a current flows through the spur wired alarm circuit, operate the voltage supply such that the current stops flowing through the spur wired alarm circuit for a particular amount of time, determine a voltage across the bipolar capacitor while the current has stopped flowing through the spur wired alarm circuit, and determine whether a fault has occurred on the spur wired alarm circuit based on the determined voltage.

A system and associated method determines the characteristics of an electric network including distance to a fault through the use of a power divider and a measuring device that measures a quantity from which voltage magnitude can be determined. The measuring device may be a power detector. The power detector may include a power meter to measure voltage and/or a power sensor to measure amplitude. Then, the results from the power detector are used in conjunction with a Hilbert transform to estimate the phase associated with at least two voltage magnitudes when a combined signal is a minimum phase signal.

An object of the present invention relates to detecting a signal caused by a faulty point part of which the identification has been difficult with conventional EBAC. In an embodiment of the present invention, at least one probe is brought into contact with a sample on which a circuit is formed, the sample is scanned with a charged particle beam while power is supplied via the probe to the circuit identified by a contact of the probe, and a change in resistance value of a faulty point heated locally is measured via the probe. According to the present invention, even a signal caused by a high-resistance faulty point or a faulty point embedded in the sample can be easily detected.

A multiphase voltage regulator includes a plurality of power stages, a plurality of current sense circuits, a controller and a current sense interface running between the controller and one or more of the current sense circuits. The current sense interface includes a separate line for each current sense circuit coupled to the current sense interface and which is configured to support single-ended or differential current sense. The regulator also includes a plurality of pullup circuits, each of which is connected to one of the current sense interface lines and has a higher impedance than the line to which it is connected. A fault detection circuit of the controller determines if an individual one of the current sense interface lines has an open fault, based on the pullup circuit connected to the line with the open fault pulling up the voltage on the line by more than a predetermined amount.

A system for an aircraft includes a heater comprising a resistive heating element and insulation surrounding the resistive heating element. A first current flows into the resistive heating element to provide heat and a second current flows out of the resistive heating element. The system further includes a leakage sensor configured to produce a leakage sensor signal representing a leakage current from the heater and a prediction processor configured to predict heater failure based on the leakage sensor signal.

An integrated circuit test structure has a first set of unit cells in a first conductive layer. The first set of unit cells has a first portion to receive a charge of a first polarity and a second portion to receive a charge of a second polarity. The first portion is electrically independent of the second portion. The first portion has branched conductive lines interdigitated with branched conductive lines of the second portion. The integrated circuit test structure also has a second set of unit cells in the first conductive layer. The second set of unit cells are transposed relative to the first set of unit cells.

An inspection method according to an embodiment is an inspection method of performing laser marking on a semiconductor device (D) including a substrate (SiE) and a metal layer (ME) formed on the substrate (SiE), and the inspection method includes specifying a fault point (fp) in the semiconductor device (D) by inspecting the semiconductor device (D), and irradiating the semiconductor device (D) with laser light having a wavelength that is transmitted through the substrate (SiE) from the substrate (SiE) side so that a marking is formed at least at a boundary between the substrate (SiE) and the metal layer (ME) on the basis of the fault point (fp).