A method for operating a medium voltage circuit breaker or recloser comprising at least one electric pole, each including a movable contact and a fixed contact, being in a closed or an open position after switching operations of the medium voltage circuit breaker or recloser, and an electromagnetic actuator, includes: monitoring a travel curve of the movable contact, the travel curve being derived by an evaluation of a shape of an applied current and a shape of an applied voltage using a mathematical representation of the electromagnetic actuator.

A gas monitoring system includes a gas-insulated switchgear, wherein the gas-insulated switch gear has at least two separated chambers which are filled with an insulating gas surrounding high or medium voltage components. A first sensor is connected to the first chamber and a second sensor is connected to the second chamber, both sensors adapted to measure a physical property of the insulating gas in their respective chambers over time. A computer unit is adapted to calculate from the two sensor measurements a leakage rate of the insulating gas in one of the two chambers using an adaptive filter, in particular a Wiener filter.

A method for monitoring a circuit breaker includes measuring at least two operating condition related parameters of the circuit breaker during operation of the circuit breaker; obtaining first data representing a vector having at least two components respectively representing the at least two measurements of the at least two parameters; judging location of the vector represented by the obtained data with respect to a vector space having an envelope separating healthy and unhealthy status of the circuit breaker, where the envelope has at least one portion of curvature; and generating a signal indicating the health status of the circuit breaker in consideration of the location of the vector if it is outside of the envelope.

A testing system includes a truck carrying a circuit breaker, a fixed contact, and an actuator piston connected to a movable contact. A test platform supports the truck in a contact testing position and includes a sensor circuit mounted on the test platform and positioned under the truck and aligned with the circuit breaker when the truck is on the test platform in the contact testing position. The sensor circuit is configured to acquire displacement data of the actuator piston when the movable electrical contact is moved between the open and closed positions. A controller is coupled to the sensor circuit and configured to receive the displacement data and determine electrical contact erosion within the circuit breaker.

A recloser including a circuit interrupter including a first contact and a second contact movable relative to the first contact between a closed position and an open position and an actuator coupled to the circuit interrupter, the actuator including a plunger coupled to the second contact for closing and opening the circuit interrupter and a single coil used for driving the plunger. The recloser further includes a sensor board supported by the actuator, the sensor board including a plurality of position sensors for detecting a position of the plunger, an external indicator for indicating a condition of the circuit interrupter, the external indicator including a first display portion that indicates the closed position and a second display portion moveable relative to the first display portion and that indicates the open position, and a handle for mechanically opening and closing the circuit interrupter without any electrical assistance.

A sensor system for measuring an angle of a gate of an isolating switch of overhead lines, comprising an optical fiber angle sensor, a base, a support plate, a light source fiber, a laser transmitter, an aluminum box, a relay, a step-down power module, a control circuit board, a photoelectric converter, and a receiving optical fiber. The support plate is arranged on an upper part of a pillar insulator; the optical fiber angle sensor is arranged on the base to detect a rotation angle of the gate; the laser transmitter is controlled to emit a laser beam into the light source fiber; the laser beam is received by the receiving optical fiber and transmitted to the photoelectric converter to convert a light intensity into a voltage signal; the converted voltage signal is transmitted to the control circuit board for processing, and the angle of the gate is output.

A method of determining if a circuit interrupter operating mechanism has an acceptable trip margin includes determining a model trip margin, providing a circuit interrupter, the circuit interrupter disposed in situ, the circuit interrupter including an operating mechanism, determining a circuit interrupter trip margin by: providing an internal sensor assembly, the internal trip margin sensor assembly structured to record trip margin data, providing a transfer function module, providing a computer structured to execute the transfer function module, executing the transfer function module on the computer, utilizing the trip margin sensor assembly to generate trip margin data, transmitting the trip margin data to the transfer function module, processing the trip margin data to generate a trip margin, and determining if the trip margin is acceptable relative to the model trip margin.

The present disclosure relates to a method for monitoring an electromechanical component of an automation system. The method includes sensing a current mechanical state variable of the electromechanical component, sensing a current electrical state variable of the electromechanical component and determining a state of the electromechanical component based at least in part on a behaviour model of the electromechanical component, wherein the behaviour model takes into account an effect of the sensed current mechanical state variable on the sensed current electrical state variable.

A power contactor and a method for producing a housing body for a power contactor are disclosed. In an embodiment a power contactor includes a first electrical contact, a second electrical contact, a switch element configured to provide an opened position and a closed position, wherein the switch element, in the closed position, contacts the first electrical contact and the second electrical contact with one another, and wherein the first electrical contact and the second electric contact are insulated from one another when the switch element is in the opened position and at least one temperature sensor integrated into the power contactor, wherein the sensor is configured to detect a temperature of the power contactor in a pre-defined distance from the first electrical contact and/or the second electrical contact.

A structure for closing an actuator in a magnetically actuated switch assembly, where the actuator includes an armature and a winding, and the switch assembly includes a manual actuation device coupled to one end of the armature and a movable terminal in a vacuum interrupter coupled to an opposite end of the armature. The structure includes commencing a closing operation of the actuator using the manual actuation device to move the armature towards a closed latch position, detecting that the actuator is being manually closed, and energizing the winding to assist moving the armature to the closed latch position when the armature gets to a predetermined distance from the closed latch position.