Abstract:
A two terminal arc suppressor for protecting switch, relay or contactor contacts and the like comprises a two terminal module adapted to be attached in parallel with the contacts to be protected and including a circuit for deriving an operating voltage upon the transitioning of the switch, relay or contactor contacts from a closed to an open disposition, the power being rectified and the resulting DC signal used to trigger a power triac switch via an optoisolator circuit whereby arc suppression pulses are generated for short predetermined intervals only at a transition of the mechanical switch, relay or contactor contacts from an closed to an open transition and, again, at an open to a close transition during contact bounce conditions.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
     This Application is a Continuation Application of, and claims the priority of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/723,055, filed Mar. 12, 2010, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention relates generally to the field of arc suppressors and more specifically to the area of two terminal arc suppressors used to prevent the contact points of switches, relays or contactors from suffering premature failures due to the deleterious effects of contact current arcing during the contact closed to contact open transition and during the contact open to contact closed transitions. More particularly, the present invention relates to a device for extending contact life without requiring any external control wires, power wires or any other wires other than the two contact terminal wires that are used to connect the arc suppressor invention to the two contact points between which the arc is to be suppressed. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Every time an electrical heater, lamp or motor is turned on or off, using a single or multiphase switch, relay or contactor, an electrical arc occurs between the two contact points where the single or multiphase power connects to the load. The instantaneous energy contained in the resulting arc is very high (thousands of degrees Fahrenheit). This heat causes the metal molecules in the contact points to travel from the warmer point to the colder point. This metal migration pits out and destroys the contact surfaces over time, eventually leading to equipment failure. 
     This type of contact failure results in increased maintenance costs, unnecessary down time on production lines, higher frequency of product failures and many other issues that cost companies time, money and reputations. Current solutions in use today address contact arcing with modestly effective devices, including Solid State Relays (SSR&#39;s), Hybrid Power Relays (HPR&#39;s) which are custom-designed and expensive, and RC snubber circuits, which barely mitigate the problem. 
     Contact current arc suppression technology is either expensive and short-lived or durable, but risky at the product&#39;s end-of-life. 
     Environmental and health concerns, over the years, have lead to the replacement of highly durable mercury displacement relays (MDR) with electromechanical relays and contactors, leaving both industry and products vulnerable to the negative effects of contact arcing. 
     There are various undesirable effects of using the current technology, namely, environmental risks associated with disposal, high costs of replacement, and catastrophic end-of-life that needs to be proactively mitigated. Efforts are being made to reduce or eliminate these undesirable behaviors. 
     Arc Suppressors generally attach across the contact and/or coil terminals of a switch, relay or contactor and require some kind of external power connection or require power from the coil connection. 
     The two terminal arc suppressor of the present invention extends product life of contacts used today in industry, by many orders of magnitude, typically in excess of 500 times. Its product architecture makes it a generic, low-cost component solution that fits easily into new or existing product design and can be scaled to any type of switch, relay or contactor. 
     The use of the arc suppressor of the present invention results in increased machinery up-time and dramatic improvements in overall system reliability. It extends switch, relay or contactor life in excess of 500 times, thus resulting in reduced maintenance, repair and replacement costs. 
     Standard switches, relays or contactors are durable and potentially viable for use for up to 10,000,000 cycles when no load current is flowing. However, these same switches, relays or contactors decay more rapidly when carrying a load current. Their electrical life expectancy is reduced to a fraction of their mechanical life, typically down to 10,000 cycles or less. By comparison, without being subjected to electric currents, standard switches, relays or contactors are as durable as MDR&#39;s or SSR&#39;s. However, when subjected to electric current, the durability and reliability of these same standard switches, relays or contactors are far lower than environmentally objectionable MDR&#39;s unless arc suppressor technology offered by the present invention is added to the configuration. 
     The inevitable end-of-life (EOL) event for any switch, relay or contactor is failure. Standard switches, relays or contactors either fail closed, open or somewhere in between. But, the EOL failure mode of an MDR is typically catastrophic, with an explosion of its mercury-filled contact chamber and the release of highly toxic mercury vapors into its operating environment. Needless to say, this type of failure is especially undesirable when the MDR is operating in equipment that is used to process or prepare food. To mitigate risk, safety dictates proactive early replacement of these MDR&#39;s. The law requires proper disposal of these MDR&#39;s, a step often overlooked, to the detriment of the environment. Due to ignorance, equipment containing MDR&#39;s is typically buried in landfills that may be close to populated communities. 
     Industrial and commercial fryers, dryers, heaters, cookers, steamers, rollers, burners, ovens, slicers, dicers, coolers, fridges, freezers commonly utilize MDR&#39;s in the food processing industry. Thus, there is a need for arc suppressor fortified standard switches, relays or contactors so that the mercury-based devices can be eliminated. 
     Another important dimension of generic switch technology is the use of two components, namely, the relay or contactor coil and its associated contact that may fail occasionally. This is because these components operate in an asynchronous mode. Coil activation generally results in contact closure or opening and this action deploys in a time scale measured in milliseconds. However, coil deactivation may not be as responsive in opening the contact in the same time frame. This is due to micro-welding effects of the pitted-out contact surface landscape. The contact spring force is, sometimes, not strong enough to achieve the separation because of this micro-welding effect. In fact, this issue is accounted for in the relay and contactor manufacturing industry. A less-than-one-second delay in coil deactivation response is not considered a failure. This type of contact failure is reason enough to invalidate the use of the energization status of the relay or contactor coil to assume existence of a suppressible arc in any contact arc suppression solution. 
     The arc suppressor of the present invention only uses two wires to monitor the contact status and suppress the contact current arc, at the very instant that the contacts transition either from the open-to-close state, or, from the close-to-open state. In doing so, the arc suppressor of the current invention also bridges the gap between the electrical life and the mechanical life of standard switches, relays or contactors. It enables these lower-cost, lower-risk and green standard switches, relays or contactors to achieve the equivalent durability and reliability of MDR&#39;s and SSR&#39;s. 
     The arc suppressor of the present invention extends the inevitable EOL of a standard switch, relay or contactor by a factor in excess of 500 times. The arc suppressor to be described herein enables innately environmentally-friendly, low cost, designed standard switches, relays or contactors to be used in applications that these devices could historically not be applied to. Where the industry-standard arc solution was the durable but highly-toxic MDR&#39;s or expensive and inefficient, but nontoxic SSR&#39;s and HPR&#39;s, it can now be standard switches, relays or contactors fortified by a two terminal arc suppressor of the present invention. 
     Other advantages of the arc suppressor of the present invention include: Two wires only, no cooling required, no need for an external power supply, no neutral connection is required to feed its power supply, it monitors contact status, it suppresses an arc when it occurs and it is only turned on for the duration of one-half period which substantially reduces the fire hazard stemming from having the arc suppressing semiconductor turned on all the time during the contact closed state. When switches, relays or contactors fail, serious fire hazard conditions are often present. 
     There is a general assumption in the prior art that the coil and contact of a relay or contactor are a somewhat rigidly connected structure which response uniformly to cause and effect. This is not the case. The relay or contactor coil, which in turn activates the relay or contactor contact, is operating in an asynchronous mode. Simply expressed, they appear to not be related to each other, at least on an electronic level. When the coil is being energized by the application of a current through the two associated electromagnetic coil wires and thus forced to a change states from the non-magnetized state to the magnetized state, the relay or contactor contact will not timely respond with a corresponding change in state. In most relay or contactors, there is no guaranteed instance of simultaneity between a relay or contactor coil energization and its associated contact activation. The relationship between a relay or contactor coil and a contact is magnetic and mechanical. Because of the magnetic/mechanical connection, there is a great deal of resulting time lags between the relay or contactor coil change of state and the relay or contactor contact change of state. The time delays between the coil state changes and the contact state changes differ significantly from relay or contactor state-to-relay or contactor state, from time-to-time, from environment-to-environment, from device-to-device, from manufacturer-to-manufacturer, from changes in contact operating current, contact operating voltage and coil operating voltage. 
     Arcing and resulting micro-welding occur even with most prior art arc suppression approaches. 
     The only element that determines arc suppression timing is the contact and not the energizing coil of a relay or contactor. Thus the ideal arc suppressor should only require 2 wires for operation, not three, four or more. 
     Those skilled in the arc recognize that arcing only occurs when the contact transitions from the closed state (make) to the open (break) state. This includes contact bouncing during the transition to the on-state. The arc suppression element in the present invention is only active for not more than 10 ms during the contact transitions. Arc suppression timing is determined by the opening or closing of the contact only. As earlier indicated, arc suppression timing does not depend on the status of the relay or contactor coil. 
     Appropriate, i.e., timely arc suppression offered by the present invention minimizes thermal and mechanical stresses on the arc suppressor components and thus mitigates the need for cooling. It also minimizes thermal and mechanical stresses on the switch, relay or contactor components and thus mitigates the need for venting. Further, it minimizes the effects of metal migration. 
     Full arc suppression of mechanical switches, relays or contacts with current state-of-the-art technology is not achievable for mechanical contacts. 
     Arc suppression is only required for mechanical contacts such as the ones on switches, relays and contactors. It is not required for solid state switches or hybrid power relays; however, those devices are expensive and not universal. 
     An arc suppressor whose arc suppression element is “always on” during the closed contact state is dangerous. They must be inherently safe and, if not designed correctly, the arc suppressor becomes a fire hazard and a liability. 
     Arc suppressors of the prior art with three or more wires are neither optimal nor inherently safe because they rely on coil and power to decide when to suppress the arc. 
     Arc suppressors suppress the arcs generated during switch, relay or contactor transitions when switching lamps, heaters, motors and similar electric loads. Such loads are referred to as resistive, inductive and capacitive loads. 
     Contact stick times due to the effect of micro-welding of 200 ms are common. Even contact stick times of up to 999 ms are deemed acceptable by relay and contactor manufacturers. 
     Metal migration is the movement of metal alloy material from one contact surface to another. Metal molecules move from the warmer contact point (usually the moving one) to the colder contact point (usually the static one) as the heat of the arc melts the contact alloy material. This micro welding occurs with each contact made under power and increases as the contact surface deteriorates. Only the spring loaded contact armature strength breaks the micro welded contact connection. 
     Microwelding is due to the arcing that occurs during the transition from contact open to contact close occurring in high current density areas of the contact surface. This effect is also amplified by contact bounce during the transition from the open to the close contact state. The strength of the micro-weld connection greatly depends on the switch contact surface condition and the strength of the contact arc welding power. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides an arc suppressor for switch contacts coupling a voltage source to a load where the arc suppressor comprises a pair of terminals adapted to be connected across a set of switch, relay or contactor contacts to be protected and where a solid state triggerable switch is connected between the pair of terminals. A triggering circuit is operatively coupled to the solid state triggerable switch and operative when the switch contacts move from a closed state to an open for driving the solid state triggerable switch into a conductive state to short out the switch contacts and further including a pinch-off circuit that is coupled to the triggering circuit for controlling the length of time that the solid state triggerable switch remains in its conductive state following movement of the switch contacts from the closed state to the open state. 
     Embodiments are disclosed for use when the power source feeding the load through the switch contacts is alternating current and direct current. 
     While the present disclosure is directed toward suppression of contact current arcs, further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. It should be understood that the description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The forgoing features, objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, especially when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like the numerals in the several views refer to the corresponding parts: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating the manner in which an arc suppressor in accordance with this invention is connected in circuit with contacts to be protected. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates generally an example of a two terminal arc suppressor block diagram; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates generally an example of an AC two terminal arc suppressor schematic diagram; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates generally an example of a DC two terminal arc suppressor schematic diagram. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates generally an example of a two terminal arc suppressor timing diagram; and 
         FIG. 6  illustrates generally an example of a circuit package, a two terminal arc suppressor of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The following detailed description relates to a two terminal arc suppressor directed toward extending the life of switches, relays and contactors used to switch either an alternating current (AC) or a direct current (DC) source to a load. 
     The following detailed description includes discussion of a two terminal arc suppressor connected to a mechanical switch, relay or contactor. Additionally, elements of a two terminal arc suppressor discussed including a contact power harvester, a pinch-off circuit, a triggering circuit, a solid state triggerable switch, an RC snubber circuit, contact lead terminals, a voltage surge limiter and a timing diagram is included. 
     The present invention can be readily understood from a discussion of  FIGS. 1 through 6 . 
       FIG. 1  illustrates generally an example of a system including a two terminal arc suppressor  8 . In an example, an AC or a DC power source  1  is connected via wire  2  to the terminal  3  of a mechanical switch, relay or contactor contact for further connection to the mechanical switch, relay or contactor wiring  6  to the mechanical switch, relay or contactor  9 . A load  16  is connected, via wire  15 , to the second terminal  12  of the mechanical switch, relay or contactor for further connection, via the internal mechanical switch, relay or contactor wiring  10 , to the mechanical switch, relay or contactor  9 . A first wiring terminal  5  of the two terminal arc suppressor  8  comprising the present invention is connected to the mechanical switch, relay or contactor terminal  3  via its internal wiring  7 , and its wire terminal  5  and through an external wire  4 . The second wiring terminal  14  of the two terminal arc suppressor  8  is connected to the mechanical switch, relay or contactor terminal  12  via its internal wiring  11 , its wire terminal  14  and through an external wire  13 . Thus, the arc suppressor  8  is connected directly in parallel with the contacts to be protected. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates generally by means of a block diagram an example of a functional circuit of the two terminal arc suppressor  8 . In this embodiment, the internal wiring bus  7  of the two terminal arc suppressor  8  is common and shared with a contact power harvester  24 , a triggering circuit  32 , a solid state triggerable switch  36 , an RC snubber circuit  38 , contact lead terminals  40  and a voltage surge limiter  42 . The internal wiring bus  11  of the two terminal arc suppressor  8  is common and shared with the contact power harvester  24 , the solid state triggerable switch  36 , an RC snubber circuit  38 , contact lead terminals  40  and a voltage surge limiter  42 . The triggering circuit  32  connects to common resistor capacitor node of the RC snubber circuit  38  via a connection  44 . The contact power harvester  24  connects via connection  26  to the pinch-off circuit  28 . The pinch-off circuit  28  then connects, via connection  30 , to the triggering circuit  32 . The triggering circuit  32  connects, via connection  34 , to the solid state triggerable switch  36 . 
       FIG. 3  illustrates by a circuit schematic diagram an implement of an AC two terminal arc suppressor comprising an exemplary embodiment. 
     In  FIG. 3 , the voltage surge limiter  42  comprises a surge limiting element like a Metal Oxide Varistor (MOV) or Transient Voltage Suppressor (TVS) that is connected directly across the arc suppressor&#39;s input terminals  5  and  14  and in parallel with a triac Q 2  which, along with resistors R 5  and R 6  that are connected in series between the internal bus wire  7  and a main terminal of the output of the IR detector section of an optoisolator triac U 1  make up the solid state triggerable switch  36  shown in the block diagram of  FIG. 2 . A capacitor C 5  and a resistor R 4  constitute the RC snubber circuit  38  of  FIG. 2  and the second main terminal of the output section of the optoisolator triac U 1  is connected to the common terminal  44  between the capacitor C 5  and the resistor R 4 . 
     The IR emitter diode  46  of the optoisolator triac U 1  is connected across the DC output terminals of a full wave bridge rectifier BR 2  and, marked +− in  FIG. 3 . The AC input terminals of the bridge rectifier are connected by a capacitor C 4  and a conductor  45  between the internal buses  7  and  11 . Thus, the triggering circuit  32  of  FIG. 2  is made up of the IR emitter diode  46 , the full wave bridge rectifier BR 2 , a capacitor C 3  and an AC coupling capacitor C 4 . 
     The pinch-off circuit  28  of  FIG. 2  comprises a NPN transistor Q 1  whose collector and emitter terminals are connected across DC output terminals of the bridge rectifier BR 2  and its base electrode is connected through a current limiting resistor R 2  to a DC output terminal + of a further full wave bridge rectifier BR 1 . The transistor Q 1  and the resistor R 2  and capacitor C 2  make up the pinch-off circuit  28  shown in the block diagram of  FIG. 2 . 
     The contact power harvester  24  of  FIG. 2  is seen to comprise the AC coupling capacitor C 1 , the bridge rectifier BR 1  and a conductor  47 . So long as the contacts being protected are open, an AC voltage is applied to BR 1  and a DC output is present to charge C 2  to the point where Q 1  becomes forward biased to turn off the optoisolator triac IR emitter diode  46  rendering Q 2  non-conducting. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates a circuit schematic diagram of an implementation of a two terminal arc suppressor for a DC power source comprising an exemplary embodiment. In  FIG. 4 , the voltage surge limiter  42  comprises a surge limiting element such as a metal oxide Varistor or Transient Voltage Suppressor that is connected directly across the arc suppressor&#39;s input terminals  5 ′ and  14 ′ and in circuit with a NPN transistor Q 10  which, along with resistors R 11  and R 12 , are connected to the output of the IR detector section of an AC Darlington optoisolator driver U 10  and make up the solid state triggerable switch  36  shown in  FIG. 2 . A capacitor C 11  and a resistor R 13  constitute the RC snubber circuit  38  of  FIG. 2 . 
     The oppositely poled IR emitter diodes of the AC Darlington optoisolator U 10  are connected across the DC power contact via current limiting resistor R 10  and differentiating and timing capacitor C 10 . As soon as the DC current carrying contact that is connected to terminals  5 ′ and  14 ′ transition from the closed to the open state, current rushes through C 10  limited by R 10  and forward biased either of the IR emitter diodes of U 10 . The IR detector section of U 10  conducts a base current for Q 10  so that Q 10  becomes saturated and temporarily conducts the load current through bridge rectifier BR 10 . BR 10  provides for non polarized operation of the DC two terminal arc suppressor. 
     In the timing diagram of  FIG. 5  the arc suppression pulse duration is set by the product of R 10  and C 10  at a value in a range from about 0.1 ms to 10 ms. As soon as the DC current carrying contact that is connected to terminals  5 ′ and  14 ′ transition from the open to the closed state, C 10  is discharged via R 10  and again forward biases either of the IR emitter diodes of U 10 . The IR detector section of U 10  conducts a base current for Q 10  so that Q 10  becomes saturated and temporarily conducts the load current through full-wave bridge rectifier BR 10 . 
     Having described the constructional features of the preferred embodiments of the two terminal arc suppressor for both AC and DC power sources, consideration will next be given to their mode of operation and, in this regard, reference will be made to the timing diagram of  FIG. 5 . 
     Timing graph  110  depicts the status of the contact state starting at a contact open state, followed by a contact transition to closed state, followed by a contact closed state and followed by a contact transition to open state. Timing graph  120  depicts the status of the contact arc suppression pulse timing especially during the contact transition to closed state and the contact transition to open state. During the contact open state the contact power harvester  24  is able to harvest power from the AC terminals  3  and  12  of  FIG. 1  because the switch, relay or contactor contacts are open and terminal  5  is not shorted to terminal  14 . Thus, power is provided to the pinch-off circuit  28 . This pinches off the power that activates the triggering circuit  32 , thus preventing the triggering circuit  32  from triggering the solid state triggerable switch  36  from firing arc suppression pulses on wire terminals  5  and  14  via its internal connections  7  and  11 . 
     During the contact closed state the contact power harvester  24  is shorted out and cannot harvest power as it could earlier from the open contact that is connected to terminals  5  and  14 . As soon as the contact of the mechanical switch, relay or contactor  9  opens, an AC voltage is again present on the internal wiring connections  7  and  11  of the two terminal arc suppressor  8 . As soon as voltage is available on the two internal wiring connections  7  and  11 , the triggering circuit  32  receives AC current, via its AC coupling capacitor C 4 , wire connection  45 , rectified by bridge rectifier BR 2  and it is passed as a DC current through the IR emitter diode  46  of the input section of U 1 . As soon as current is flowing through the input section of U 1 , the output section of U 1  in the triggering circuit  32  responds with placing the triac Q 2  of the solid state triggerable switch  36  into the conduction state and, in effect, shorting out the connected contact of the mechanical switch, relay, or contactor  9  and taking over the current conduction for one half period of an AC power cycle. 
     At the same time, as the mechanical switch, relay or contactor  9  transitions to the open state, an AC voltage is available for the contact power harvester  24 . As soon as AC voltage is available at the internal wire connections  7  and  11  of the two terminal arc suppressor, capacitor C 1  and wire connection  47  of the contact power harvester circuit pass an AC current through bridge rectifier BR 1 . The rectified output of BR 1  is available on its DC plus and minus terminals. A zener diode D 1  limits the rectified DC voltage to a maximum voltage, in this example to 3.3V. As soon as DC voltage becomes available at the rectified output of BR 1 , capacitor C 2  starts charging and making its charge voltage available to the base of Q 1 , via a current limiting resistor R 2 . The collector and emitter of Q 1  connect to the input section of U 1 . U 1  is already in the conducting state and, in return, firing power triac Q 2  as soon as the contact made AC voltage available at terminals  5  and  14  through its action of transitioning from the closed to open state. A short time later, that is determined by the charging time constant of C 2 , the input voltage to U 1  is pinched off by Q 1  resulting in termination of the firing pulse, and resulting in holding of Q 2  until the end of the current half cycle in that since the mechanical switch, relay or contactor contact is now in the open state. 
     Generally, when a mechanical switch, relay or contactor contact transitions from the open to closed state, the force at which the two contact points hit each other cause them to repel each other thus resulting in repeated opening and closing of the contacts again, and again, i.e., contact bounce. The two terminal arc suppressor of the present invention suppresses contact arcing during contact bounce conditions because a contact bounce consists of a series of contact transitions to the open state and the arc suppressor acts accordingly in the manner already described. 
     In addition, due to the optimal and short timing of the firing of the sold state triggerable switch the two terminal arc suppressor is also tolerant of contact chatter during which a mechanical switch, relay or contactor rapidly, successively, and continuously changes between the open and close states. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates generally an example of a two terminal arc suppressor  8  mechanical outline. The two terminal arc suppressor  8  is housed in housing  20 . Wire terminals  5  and  14  protrude through housing  20  for electrical access and connection to the mechanical switch, relay or contactor single or multiphase contacts  9 . 
     It can be seen, then, that the present invention provides a two terminal arc suppressor that is adaptable for use with AC and DC power sources in single or multiphase power systems and that does not require a neutral connection or any external power beyond that which is being switched by a switch, relay or contactor or other contacts are being protected. Having only two wires to contend with, the arc suppressor of the present invention can be quickly installed in that it does not require any additional or other connections to associated or auxiliary equipment. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the circuits of  FIGS. 3 and 4  can be fabricated using solid state, ceramic and thick film technologies only resulting in a device that is rugged and not subject to the failure due to excessive current loads or high operating temperatures. 
     In that the circuit is active only during contact transitions, the device undergoes minimal thermal stress on its internal components which is projected to lead to a Mean-Time-Between-Failures (MTBF) in excess of 20 years. 
     This invention has been described herein in considerable detail in order to comply with the patent statutes and to provide those skilled in the art with the information needed to apply the novel principles and to construct and use such specialized components as are required. However, it is to be understood that the invention can be carried out by specifically different equipment and devices, and that various modifications, both as to the equipment and operating procedures, can be accomplished without departing from the scope of the invention itself. 
     The description of the various embodiments is merely exemplary in nature and, thus, variations that do not depart from the gist of the examples and detailed description herein are intended to be within the scope of the present disclosure. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.