Appeal No. 96-4027
Application 08/392,663
Claims 7, 12, 13 and 15 have been canceled.
Appellants’ invention relates to a solid state circuit controller for switching power to a load and
for protecting the switch from damage due to power dissipation.
Independent claim 1 is reproduced as follows:
1. A solid state controller for controlling load current through a wire by means of a solid state
switch through an input line comprising
a sealed package in which is disposed
solid state switch means serially connected to the load through a wire,
means for generating a first electrical signal proportional to the power dissipated in the wire,
means comprising an RC network for integrating the first electrical signal as a function of time
providing a second electrical signal proportional to the temperature rise of the wire, the RC network
comprising a resistor and a capacitor having values selected to provide a default low limit of ultimate
trip and low limit of trip delay,
a current path connected in parallel with the RC network and extending outside the package to
an external connecting point so that an additional RC network can be connected to the external
connecting point to externally program the controller to provide a higher ultimate trip and a longer trip
delay than the default low limit, and
means for comparing the second electrical signal to a reference for providing a trip to de-
energize the solid state switch means when a preselected maximum temperature rise of the wire has
been reached.
The references relied on by the Examiner are as follows:
Adamson et al. (Adamson) 2,977,510 Mar. 28, 1961
Cobb et al. (Cobb) 4,866,559 Sep. 12, 1989
Murphy et al. (Murphy) 4,956,741 Sep. 11, 1990
2
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