Patent ID: 8103460
Filing Date: 2012-01-24
Classification: G01R

Abstract:
1. A method for identifying the health status of a contactor, the method comprising the steps of: providing a processor programmed to perform the steps of: counting the number of operations performed by the contactor; identifying a closing time of the contactor; using the number of operations and the closing time of the contactor to assess the health status of the contactor, and where the health status of the contactor is a first health status, reporting the health status of the contactor; and setting an operation count variable to one of a plurality of different operation count variables as a function of the number of times the contactor has been operated and setting a closing time variable to one of a plurality of different closing time variables as a function of the identified closing time and using the operation count variable and the closing time variable to assess the health status; wherein the contactor has a maximum contactor count value and is characterized by a maximum contactor closing time value and wherein the step of setting an operation count variable includes setting the operation count variable as a function of the percent of the maximum contactor count value represented by a current number of operations performed and the step of setting a closing time variable includes setting the closing time variable as a function of the percent of the maximum contactor closing time value represented by a recent closing time of the contactor.