This disclosure describes systems, methods, and apparatus for determining a relay delay for a relay of a relay device used to switch AC power to and from a load. The relay delay can be pre-determined as a model or polynomial including variables for temperature and age, such that the switching instructions can be sent to the rely a relay delay before a zero crossing of the AC signal that the relay is switching, and where the relay delay accounts for temperature and age of the relay in real time or near real time.

The blinking device includes multiple power terminals, multiple load terminals, multiple contact switches, a control circuit, and multiple mounting substrates, and a case in a box shape for accommodating these therein. The multiple contact switches are individually associated with multiple power supply paths individually connected to multiple pairs each defined as a pair of one power terminal of the multiple power terminals and one load terminal of the multiple load terminals. At least one power supply path of the multiple power supply paths is formed on at least one of a front face, where at least one contact switch is mounted, and a rear face, where no contact switch is mounted, of each of the multiple mounting substrates. The case is configured to accommodate the multiple mounting substrates so that the multiple mounting substrates are stacked in a thickness direction.

A control method applied to a relay circuit is provided. The relay circuit includes a controller, a relay, a controllable switch, and a power supply. The controllable switch is connected in series with a coil of the relay. The power supply is configured to supply power to the coil of the relay. The controllable switch is controlled by the controller. The method includes: receiving an operating parameter of the relay by the controller; and adjusting a driving force applied to the relay, based on the operating parameter by the controller, to reduce a sum of a conduction loss and a driving loss of the relay, thereby improving the efficiency of the relay.

A controllable trip device includes a magnetic actuator, including a coupling member intended to be coupled to a switching mechanism of an electrical circuit breaker to cause the switching thereof and a coil configured to displace the coupling member towards a tripped position when it is supplied with a pulse of a current of intensity greater than a first predefined threshold for a duration greater than or equal to a predefined duration, a control device, configured to supply the coil, immediately on receipt of a control signal, with a series of pulses of duration equal to the predefined duration and of intensity greater than or equal to the first threshold and less than or equal to a second threshold equal at most to 120% of the first threshold.

The present invention is intended to provide constant drive conditions of a relay switch. A relay drive circuit includes a current mirror circuit, a current suppression circuit 26, and a transistor Q3. The current mirror circuit includes a transistor Q1, a first resistor element R1, a transistor Q2, and a second resistor element R2. A relay coil 18 is provided on a current supply path extending from a collector terminal of the transistor Q1 to an earth conductor. The current suppression circuit 26 includes a capacitor C1 as a current suppression element configured to suppress, after conduction between an emitter terminal and a collector terminal of the transistor Q2 has been made, the current flowing through the current suppression element itself as compared to that in such conduction.

Disclosed is a method for closing the contacts of an electrical switching device during a switch-on process, wherein for a fixed first time period, the first time period and the first voltage being selected in such a way that the armature is not set into motion during the first time period, or the first voltage is applied to the coil until a certain current value is reached, the first time period being the time period until said certain current value is reached, and the first voltage being selected in such a way that the armature is not set into motion during the first time period, wherein a suitable second voltage is defined, the second voltage being greater than the first voltage and being applied to the coil during a second time period in order to move the armature from the open position into the closed position.

A method for predicting the usability of a relay or a contactor is described herein. A current flowing through the relay or the contactor and/or a voltage applied to the relay or the contactor is measured repeatedly, and the measured values are transmitted to an observation unit. The observation unit makes a prediction relating to the usability of the relay or of the contactor on the basis of the measured values and a model. Furthermore described are an observation unit and a battery which are configured to carry out the method according to the disclosure.

A load switching circuit includes a supply power availability (SPA) detector, a rail voltage detector, a swell detector, a surge detector, control logic, make and break timers, and a relay driver. The detectors detect various conditions, and generate signals in response to some detected conditions. The control logic is configured to: (1) release a relay within 300 ms after receiving a power-up signal; (2) start the make timer upon receiving a rail voltage present signal and wait for a first delay time, then operate the relay; (3) start the break timer upon receiving a swell detected signal to wait for a second delay time, then release the relay; (4) cause a shunt switch to conduct within 10 ms after receiving a surge detected signal; and (5) release the relay within 10 ms after receiving a rail fail signal.

The present invention relates to a method for monitoring the state of the earthing contacts of a contactor controlled by an exciter coil, said contactor being operated as part of an isolation unit for galvanically isolating a voltage source from an electric consumer device connected to the voltage source, wherein a first power loss (22), which is transferred via the earthing contacts, and a second power loss (23), which is transferred via the exciter coil, are detected, and the first power loss (22) and the second power loss (23) are fed as input variables to a thermal model (21) of the contactor, the thermal model (21) determines an earthing contact temperature (24) according to at least one of the input variables and provides said contactor temperature as an output variable, and the provided earthing contact temperature (24) is evaluated.

A relay system includes a relay device and a controller. The relay device includes a contact and a driving mechanism configured to switch the contact between an open mode and a closed mode. The controller is configured to control the relay device. The controller is configured to, when freezing occurs on the contact, to commence first application of electric current to the driving mechanism to generate a driving force acting in a direction in which the contact is not switched between the open mode and a closed mode.