Patent ID: 7505820
Filing Date: 2009-03-17
Classification: H02J

Abstract:
1. An apparatus comprising: one or more electrical loads; one or more solid state switching devices, each configured to perform power switching functions for a respective electrical load of the one or more electrical loads, wherein each of the one or more solid state switching devices has a power switching function; a supervisory controller configured to issue commands to control the power switching functions of the one or more solid state switching devices; a nonvolatile memory device configured to store default commands, thereby providing a backup control circuit for the power switching functions of the one or more solid state switching devices; and a monitor device to determine whether or not the supervisory controller is functioning properly, wherein each electrical load is controlled in a desired state and wherein the default commands may either correspond to the commands most recently issued from the supervisory controller to the one or more solid state switching devices during normal mode, or correspond to a predetermined risk-abating configuration for the one or more solid state switching devices, such that the one or more solid state switching devices are locked into either an existing configuration, or a known safe configuration, when the supervisory controller is not functioning properly.