An apparatus and method causes a response action in an electrical power distribution system having, inter alia, a plurality of intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) configured to provide protective monitoring and control of the electrical power system. The method includes detecting receipt of one of a number of matrix input signals that can be received from the plurality of IEDs, and comparing the matrix input signal to a configuration of a m.times.n cross-point switch matrix having a correspond...

A clamping mechanism for mounting a circuit conditioning monitoring device to electrical cables of various diameters includes a fixed sleeve and a movable sleeve positioned within the fixed sleeve. Both sleeves include gaps whereby an electrical cable may be pasted therethrough. The inner movable sleeve further includes a clamping means, preferably a tightening screw, whereby after a cable is passed through the gaps, the inner sleeve rotates within the outer sleeve to close the gap and further c...

A fault indicator for indicating the occurrence of a fault current in an electrical conductor is mounted on the test point of an elbow connector of the type commonly used in power distribution systems. An integral collar assembly encircles the connector housing to capacitively couple the fault indicator circuitry to the system conductor within the connector. The collar assembly includes an inner magnetic core which establishes the coupling and an outer core which shields the inner core from magn...

The relay obtains three-phase current signals from two power line sources thereof, typically two independent feeder lines. The two sets of signals are processed by a single processing means, which independently controls the circuit breakers associated with each feeder line, depending on the values of current obtained.

A visual monitoring system for an electric power substation includes at least one camera for obtaining the image of various operational indicators in the substation, either within the control house, outdoors or both. The indicators could be the status of various gauges, including current, voltage and temperature gauges, or other structural elements, such as the position of various switches, the level of oil in a transformer sight glass, or whether a transformer fan is running, among others. The ...

A fault indicator for use in conjunction with a load-break elbow connector includes a resilient mounting collar which wraps around the body of the fault indicator at a location overlying the arc-suppressing non-conductive margin between the electrically conductive sheath and the connecting end of the connector. An electrically conductive layer on the inside surface of the collar capacitively couples the circuitry of the fault indicator to the conductor within the connector to provide operating p...

The relay includes an input module capable of receiving 70 volt and 5 amp signals, respectively, from conventional instrument transformers, which are responsive to power line signals at their primaries. Output signals from the input module have specified, standardized levels suitable for electronic processing circuits, i.e. 1.4 volts and 0.1 volt. The output signals from the input module are applied through an accessible connector to a separate processing module which uses those signals in a con...

A fault indicator for indicating the occurrence of a fault current in a power distribution system includes a rotatably mounted indicator flag. The indicator flag is actuated through successive 90.degree. trip and reset positions by a compact magnetic pole piece assembly having four radially extending magnetic pole segments which interact with four similarly aligned magnetic poles on the indicator flag. A pair of bidirectional windings on two of the pole segments magnetizes the pole segments to r...

A fault indicator for use in conjunction with components of a power distribution system contained within a protective enclosure includes a magnetic test point on the exterior surface of the enclosure for indicating the occurrence of a fault in associated circuits of the system. The fault indicator includes a circuit module mounted on a conventional test-point provided on one of the system components, and a magnetic indicator module mounted on the wall of the enclosure. The indicator module inclu...

A fault indicator for indicating the occurrence of a fault current in an electrical conductor includes a rotatable indicator flag having fault-indicating and reset-indicating positions in response to applied magnetic fields. Upon occurrence of a fault current the indicator flag is set to the fault-indicating position by a first magnetic field generated by current flow through the conductor. Upon termination of the fault current the flag indicator is manually reset to the reset-indicating positio...