CN113258668A

CN113258668A - Remote driver, device and test method

Info

Publication number: CN113258668A
Application number: CN202110101856.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: J.多延; T.霍赫穆思; P.卡尔; T.洛尔
Original assignee: Siemens AG
Current assignee: Siemens AG
Priority date: 2020-01-28
Filing date: 2021-01-26
Publication date: 2021-08-13
Also published as: DE102020200995A1; DE102020200995B4

Abstract

The invention relates to a remote drive for coupling to a residual-current circuit breaker for operating the residual-current circuit breaker by means of a controllable drive of the remote drive. The remote drive has a control device which has at least two electrical connections on the output side. The two electrical connections can be connected to a residual current circuit breaker in order to test-trigger the residual current circuit breaker by generating a residual current. The remote driver has an input interface for receiving a trigger signal of the fault current protection switching device. The control device of the remote drive is connected on the input side to the input interface and on the output side to the drive device, and the drive device is controlled by the control device to switch the residual-current circuit breaker device back on after receiving the trigger signal. The functionality of the fault current protection switching device can be checked by manually operating a test button arranged on the operating side of the fault current protection switching device, omitting to perform manual field tests.

Description

Remote driver, device and test method

Technical Field

The invention relates to a remote drive (Fernantrieb) for communication with a faultCurrent protection switch device

To operate the coupled fault current protection switching device by means of a controllable (or controllable) drive device of the remote drive. Furthermore, the invention relates to an arrangement of a remote drive and a residual current circuit breaker coupled thereto, and to a test method for performing an FI test of a residual current circuit breaker by means of a remote drive coupled to the residual current circuit breaker.

Background

The term "protective switching device" which can in principle be coupled to a remote drive can be considered, for example, to be a line protection switch (LS-switch), a fault current protection switch (FI-switch), a fire protection switch, and a combination device such as a FI-LS-protection switch or a load isolation switch.

A fault current protection switch is a switching device for detecting a ground fault current when there is a current flowing "in the wrong path", e.g. via a person's body to ground, in a circuit protected by the switching device. In the event of such an earth fault current, the circuit protected by the fault current protection switch is interrupted in the shortest time and is thus isolated from the rest of the power network. For this purpose, the current intensity of the current flowing to the load is compared with the current intensity of the current flowing back from the load by means of a sum current transformer with a positive sign. In the event of a fault current, for example a ground fault current, the currents flowing to and fro through the sum current transformer have different magnitudes. Thereby, a magnetic field is generated in the magnetic core of the sum current transformer, thereby inducing a secondary current in a secondary coil wound around the magnetic core. This secondary current ultimately leads to the opening of the switching contacts arranged in the protected circuit and thus to the interruption of the circuit concerned. In this way, personal protection can be achieved, as well as property protection or fire protection of electrical devices or equipment. Such fault current protection switches are known in principle, for example, from patent documents EP 0957558 a2, DE 102014208036 a1 or DE 102014202485 a 1.

The remote driver may enable operation of the low voltage protection switching device from a remote location. Such low-voltage protection switching devices are also referred to as series-mounted devices. Here, a remote drive, which can be controlled from a remote location, is mechanically coupled to the protection switching device and can be used to open and close the coupled protection switching device. Such remote drives are known in principle from the prior art, for example from german patent document DE 10216055B 4.

Furthermore, the remote drive has the function of automatically switching on the coupled protective switching device again after its triggering or disconnection due to a fault. A remote drive having such an automatic reclosing function is also called "automatic reclosing devices" in english, and is simply referred to as an ARD. A problem that may occur here is that when the reclosing process has already been initiated by means of the ARD remote drive, there are still operating states, such as short circuits or ground fault currents, which lead to triggering of the protective switching device. This can lead to undesirable consequences, such as damage to the equipment, even in any case to be avoided because the current is dangerous to health or life.

Disclosure of Invention

The object of the invention is therefore to provide a remote drive, an arrangement of a remote drive and a residual-current circuit breaker coupled thereto, and a test method for performing FI tests of a residual-current circuit breaker, which have improved functionality and which overcome the aforementioned disadvantages.

According to the present invention, the above technical problem is solved by a remote drive, a device and a test method according to the present invention. Advantageous embodiments of the remote drive, the device and the test method according to the invention are also subject matter of the invention.

The remote drive according to the invention is provided for coupling with (or to be coupled to) a residual-current circuit breaker in order to operate the coupled residual-current circuit breaker by means of a controllable drive of the remote drive. For this purpose, the remote drive has a control device which has at least two electrical connections on the output side for performing the FI test. The two terminals can be connected to a residual current circuit breaker in order to test (or test) the residual current circuit breaker by generating a residual current. In addition, the remote drive has an input interface for receiving a trigger signal of the fault current protection switching device coupled to the remote drive. The control device of the remote drive is connected on the input side to the input interface and on the output side to the drive device, the drive device being controlled by the control device to switch the residual-current circuit breaker device back on (only) after receiving the trigger signal.

A test line can be connected to the two electrical connections of the control device, via which test line the remote drive can be electrically connected to the coupled fault-current protection switching device, so that a fault current can be induced in the fault-current protection switching device via the test line in order to bring about triggering of the fault-current protection switching device in this way. Alternatively, the electrical connections can also be led out as test lines from a remote drive. Since the FI test can be (automatically) initiated by a coupled remote driver, it is no longer necessary to perform a field test of the functionality of the fault current protection switching device by manually operating a test button arranged on the operating side of the fault current protection switching device. Accordingly, a corresponding manual equipment check, which needs to be performed regularly, can be dispensed with.

The trigger signal of the coupled fault current protection switching device is transmitted mechanically or electrically to the remote drive by means of the input interface of the remote drive. Since the triggering of the residual current circuit breaker is close in time to the FI test initiated by the remote drive, the triggering of the residual current circuit breaker is detected by the control device of the remote drive, which is connected to the input interface. The automatic reclosing of the residual current circuit breaker, initiated by the remote drive, is only carried out in this case if it is determined that the triggering of the residual current circuit breaker was caused by the FI test and not by the detected residual current. In this way, a renewed switching on of the fault current protection switching device in the event of a fault current still being present is effectively avoided. This significantly increases the personal safety and the safety of the electrical device protected by the fault current protection switching device.

In an advantageous further development of the remote drive, the control device has a measuring device for measuring the potential of the electrical connection lines of the residual current circuit breaker device with respect to one another and with respect to ground. The measuring device can be connected to each connection line of the residual current circuit breaker via a plurality of measuring lines and to the ground contact.

The term "electrical connection line" here includes the phase and neutral conductors of the fault-current protection switching device which are coupled. The measurement of the ground potential of the electrical connection is also referred to as insulation resistance measurement or discharge current measurement. The measuring lines required for this purpose can be connected directly to the measuring device and can be routed from the remote drive; as an alternative to this, the measuring device can also have an electrical connection, via which the measuring line can be electrically conductively connected to the measuring device if required.

The potential of the electrical connection lines of the residual current circuit breaker, which are associated with the respective measuring lines, of the residual current circuit breaker connected to the remote drive can be measured with respect to the ground potential by means of the measuring device in order to determine whether a ground fault current is still present which leads to triggering of the residual current circuit breaker. If this is the case, a reconnection of the fault current protection switching device initiated by the remote drive is effectively prevented. The remote drive can only be switched on again if the defective operating state no longer exists. This effectively prevents access to existing fault states. Thus, the danger of the current to health or life and the damage to the electrical equipment are effectively avoided. The safety of the electrical device is thereby significantly improved.

Furthermore, the voltage or the potential difference between the two connecting lines can be determined by measuring the potential between the two connecting lines. In this way, it can be determined, for example, whether the upstream (or preceding) main switch is open, so that no voltage is present between the individual phase lines.

In a further advantageous development of the remote drive, the control device has a communication device for receiving control commands to initiate the FI test.

The communication device can be used to communicate the remote drive with a superordinate unit, for example a control center or a control room, and is advantageously designed to be bidirectional. For example, critical operating states may be transmitted from a remote drive to a superordinate location. On the other hand, data and information, for example control data for controlling a remote drive or reference data relating to the coupled protective switching device, can be transmitted from a superordinate, possibly spatially remote, location to the control device of the remote drive. The communication device can also be used for data input by an operator in the field, for example for parametric data transmission from the mobile device to a remote drive. The control data that can be transmitted to the remote drive via the communication device also include control commands, which are used, for example, to open or close a protective switching device connected to the remote drive, but also to initiate an FI test or to measure the insulation resistance of the electrical connection lines of the fault-current protective switching device.

In a further advantageous embodiment of the remote drive, the communication device is designed for wireless and/or wired communication.

Wired communication may provide a higher degree of security, while wireless communication requires less installation expense. For wireless data exchange via the communication device, known transmission standards such as ZigBee, bluetooth or IR (infrared) are advantageously used. However, the invention is not limited to the mentioned standards.

In a further advantageous further development of the remote drive, the FI test can be initiated automatically by the control device after the end of a predefinable time interval.

In this way, the functionality of the fault current protection switching device coupled to the remote drive may be checked periodically (or at regular intervals). The safety of the electrical device protected by the fault current protection switching device is thereby further improved.

In a further advantageous development of the remote drive, the control device has a memory device for recording the FI test.

By means of the storage device, FI tests initiated by the remote drive can be recorded with respect to different parameters, such as the point in time of the test, the time interval between two tests, the result, etc., and transmitted to the superordinate unit via the communication device if necessary. Likewise, the fault-induced triggering of the coupled fault-current protection switching device or the corresponding data/parameters relating to the insulation measurement performed can be stored in a memory device or transmitted to a superordinate unit. This further simplifies and improves the monitoring of the electrical device.

The arrangement according to the invention has a remote drive of the type described above and a fault-current protection switching device coupled to the remote drive. In this case, the two electrical connections of the control device of the remote drive are connected in an electrically conductive manner to the residual current circuit breaker device, so that a residual current can be induced in the main circuit of the residual current circuit breaker device.

Reference is made to the preceding statements regarding the advantages of the remote drive according to the invention. By means of the device according to the invention, improved monitoring of the electrical system protected by the residual current circuit breaker system can be achieved.

In an advantageous further development of the device, the residual current circuit breaker arrangement has a communication interface for data communication with a remote drive.

For example, the trigger signal may be transmitted to the remote driver via a communication interface of the fault current protection switching device. Furthermore, within the scope of the installation of the device, the communication interface can be used to parameterize the remote drive in that type-related reference data of the residual-current circuit breaker device to be coupled to the remote drive do not have to be downloaded from a database, but are transmitted from the residual-current circuit breaker device to the remote drive by direct communication. In this way, different device configurations can be flexibly implemented with little installation effort. If a current measuring device for measuring the current in the connecting line is integrated into the residual current circuit breaker, an enable signal (freerabesignal) for performing the FI test can also be transmitted from the residual current circuit breaker to the remote driver by means of the communication interface as soon as no current is detected in the connecting line.

In a further advantageous embodiment of the device, the communication interface of the residual current circuit breaker is designed wirelessly.

The advantage of reduced installation effort is even more evident when using a wirelessly designed communication interface.

The test method according to the invention for FI testing of a residual-current circuit breaker by means of a remote driver of the aforementioned type coupled to the residual-current circuit breaker has the following steps:

a) the FI test is initiated by the control device of the remote drive,

b) a fault current is induced in the main circuit of the fault current protection switching device,

c) receiving a trigger signal of the residual current circuit breaker via an input interface of the remote drive coupled thereto, said input interface being connected to the control unit, and

d) the control device outputs a control command to control the drive device in order to switch the residual current device back on.

With the test method according to the invention, the FI test that needs to be carried out at predefined intervals on the residual-current circuit breaker can be carried out automatically by a coupled remote drive at configurable or preset time intervals, or else by corresponding control commands from a remote location, without the need for manual operation of a test button on the residual-current circuit breaker. Corresponding manual plant inspections, which need to be carried out regularly in the field, can thus be dispensed with, so that maintenance costs are significantly reduced. Furthermore, parameters of the FI test, such as the point in time, the measured values, etc., may be recorded, stored and thus archived. Furthermore, automatically switching the residual current circuit breaker device back on by the remote drive improves the availability of the device.

In an advantageous further development of the test method, an enable signal is transmitted from the fault-current-protection switching device to the remote drive before the FI test is started.

If the fault-current protection switching device has a current measuring device for measuring the current in the connection line, an enable signal for performing the FI test can be transmitted from the fault-current protection switching device to the remote driver as soon as no current flows through the connection line. In this way, it is ensured that the FI test is carried out in a state in which no current flows and therefore without interruption. Although this is not a mandatory requirement, it allows both damage to the electrical device to be avoided and the usability of the device to be improved.

Drawings

Embodiments of a remote driver, an arrangement consisting of a remote driver and a fault-current protection switching device coupled thereto, and a test method for performing FI tests are explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a remote drive in perspective;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a conceptual structure of a remote drive in a side view;

figures 3 and 4 show schematic diagrams of a first embodiment of a remote drive/device;

figures 5 and 6 show schematic diagrams of a second embodiment of a remote drive/device;

fig. 7 shows a schematic diagram of a test method according to the invention.

In the different figures of the drawings, the same parts are provided with the same reference numerals throughout. This description applies to all figures in which corresponding parts are also identified.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 shows a schematic illustration of a remote drive 1 with an Automatic Reset Device (ARD) in a perspective view. The remote drive 1 has an insulating material housing 2, the insulating material housing 2 having a front side 4, a fastening side 5 opposite the front side 4, and a narrow side 6 and a wide side 7 connecting the front side 4 and the fastening side 5. On the front side 4, an operating element 3 is arranged, which can be coupled to an operating element of a residual current circuit breaker 100 (see fig. 2) by means of a mating connector 8(griffver binder) in order to be able to be operated, i.e., switched on and off, by means of the remote drive 1 in the coupled state. The remote drive 1 can be fastened by its fastening side 5 to a mounting rail or mounting rail (not shown) which is used primarily for equipment fastening in the electrical installation distributor.

On the broad side 7 facing the fault-current protection switching device 100 to be coupled, the remote driver 1 also has an input interface 9 for receiving a trigger signal of the coupled fault-current protection switching device 100. In the illustration of fig. 1, the input interface 9 is designed mechanically; it may however also be possible that the trigger signal is electrically transmitted from the fault current protection switching device 100 to the remote drive 1. The mechanical trigger signal can be realized, for example, by an auxiliary switch integrated in the residual current circuit breaker 1 to be coupled.

The conceptual structure of a remote drive 1 according to the invention is schematically shown in a side view in fig. 2. The remote drive 1 has a drive device 20 for remote operation of the operating element 3. For this purpose, the operating element 3 is arranged projecting on the engaging roller 11, so that upon operation of said operating element 3 the engaging roller 11 rotates about its axis of rotation 12. In the example shown, the drive device 20 has, in addition to an electric motor (not shown), a gear with a gear wheel 21, which gear wheel 21 meshes with the teeth 13 formed on the circumference of the meshing roller 11. By means of this motor/gear unit, the rotational speed of the motor can be adapted to the torque required for operating the protective switching device 100 coupled to the remote drive 1 and thus to the mechanical load coupled to the actuating element 3 via the mating connector 8. However, for the sake of clarity, the motor and transmission are not or not fully shown in fig. 3. Furthermore, the drive device 20 can also be designed without a transmission: in this case, the electric motor is speed-controllable and acts directly, i.e. without transmission via one or more gear stages, on the teeth 13 formed on the meshing roller 11.

For controlling the drive device 20, the remote drive 1 has a control device 30 which is arranged and designed on the circuit board 10 and which, in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, comprises at least one processor or microcontroller 31 and a memory device 32. Although it is advantageous to use a common circuit board for arranging the individual components of the control device on account of the modular construction of the individual components of the control device and the low assembly effort associated therewith, it is not critical to the invention. It is also possible to connect the individual electronic components to one another in an electrically conductive manner without using a common circuit board.

Furthermore, the control device 30 has two output connections 33 and 34, which are arranged on one of the narrow sides 6 of the housing 2 in the example shown and can be electrically conductively connected to the residual current device 100 by plugging electrical connecting lines (see fig. 3). In order to perform the FI test caused by the remote drive 1, a fault current is generated in the fault-current protection switching device 100 via the two output connections 33 and 34 in order to trigger the fault-current protection switching device for testing.

The control device 30 also has a communication device 50, which is also arranged on the printed circuit board 10 and with which communication with a superordinate unit, for example a control center or a control room, or also with a protective switching device to be coupled or coupled, can be effected. The communication device 50 is advantageously designed wirelessly. As transmission standards, for example, ZigBee, bluetooth or infrared can be considered; however, this is not critical to the invention. The wireless interface may be arranged directly on the circuit board 10; for a wired interface, on the other hand, suitable connection possibilities are provided in the region of the housing surface.

Furthermore, a measuring device 40 is arranged on the circuit board 10, which measuring device serves to measure the potential of the electrical connection lines of the circuit breaker arrangement 100 connected to the remote drive 1. For this purpose, the measuring device 40 has a plurality of measuring lines 41 which are led out of the housing 2 of the remote drive 1 and can be electrically conductively connected to corresponding contact points on the residual current device 100. However, the manner in which the measuring device 40 is electrically connected to the contact locations is not critical to the invention. It is therefore likewise possible to provide electrical connections in the region of the housing surface of the remote drive 1, into which electrical connection lines can be inserted, in order to electrically conductively connect the remote drive 1 to the connection lines of the residual current circuit breaker system 100.

In fig. 3 and 4 a first embodiment of a remote drive 1 according to the invention and a device according to the invention are schematically shown. Fig. 3 schematically shows a front view of the device, which is composed of the remote drive 1 and the residual current circuit breaker 100 coupled thereto. The residual current circuit breaker 100 is designed as a four-pole, i.e. it is connected to four electrical connecting lines (three phase conductors L1, L2, L3 and a neutral conductor N). First ends of two test lines T1 and T2 are connected to the two electrical connections 33 and 34 on the output side of the control unit 30. The two test lines T1 and T2 are part of a test circuit for performing FI testing of the coupled fault current protection switching device 100. For this purpose, the second ends of the two test lines T1 and T2 are electrically conductively connected to the residual current device 100 via the connecting lines L3 and N. However, it is also possible for two test lines T1 and T2 to be connected to two of the four connection lines, namely two of the three phase conductors L1, L2, L3, or to one of the three phase conductors L1, L2, L3 and to the neutral conductor N. By applying a test voltage to the two connections 33 and 34, a test current flows between the connection lines L3 and N via the two test lines T1, T2, which test current is interpreted by the fault-current protection switching device 100 as a fault current, thereby triggering the fault-current protection switching device 100.

Fig. 4 schematically shows a part of the control device 30 of the remote drive 1 shown in fig. 3. A control command for initiating the FI test may be transmitted to the control device 30 via the control interface 35. In the example shown, the control interface 35 is designed by wire. However, it is also possible that the control interface 35 is designed wirelessly and transmits wirelessly to the control device 30 a control command for initiating the FI test. By means of the control command, the test circuit is turned on by closing the switch S1 to perform the FI test. Also disposed in the test circuit is a test resistor R1 that defines the magnitude of the test current fed as a fault current into the main circuit of the fault current protection switching device 100. The test resistor R1 can be embodied as a fixedly arranged resistor, as a variably settable resistor or as a configurable resistor network. In the latter two cases, different fault-current protection switching devices 100, which are characterized by different rated fault currents, can be checked by means of one and the same remote drive 1.

The mechanical or electrical tripping signal of the residual current circuit breaker 100 can be transmitted via the input interface 9 of the remote drive 1 to the control device 30 of the remote drive 1. With the aid of the microcontroller 31 it can be checked whether the trigger signal is temporally related to the FI test previously initiated by the control device 30. The test result and/or the test record can be transmitted, for example, to the superordinated unit via the communication interface 36 (see fig. 2) which is part of the communication device 50. The communication interface 36 can be designed wirelessly or wired, but in the views of fig. 3 and 4 the communication interface 36 is designed wired. Furthermore, the field signal sensor can additionally be provided with test results via the signal contacts, in order to be able to identify the relevant circuit more quickly in the field. Furthermore, the drive device 20 may also be controlled via the communication interface 36 in order to switch back on the fault current protection switching device 100 coupled to the remote drive 1.

In fig. 5 and 6 a second embodiment of a remote drive 1 according to the invention and a device according to the invention is schematically shown. Fig. 5 shows a front view of an alternative arrangement, and fig. 6 again shows schematically the corresponding part of the associated control device 30. For the sake of clarity, the test circuit described in detail in the first embodiment is omitted from the view of the second embodiment. However, this does not mean that the embodiments cannot be combined in connection therewith: the test circuit shown in the first exemplary embodiment shown in fig. 3 and 4 can likewise be a component of the second exemplary embodiment.

The residual current circuit breaker 100 is again designed as a four-pole and is connected to four electrical connections, namely three phase conductors L1, L2, L3 and a neutral conductor N. Four measuring lines 41 lead out of the remote drive 1 coupled to the residual current circuit breaker 100 and are each electrically conductively connected to one of the connection conductors L1, L2, L3, N. In this case, the measuring lines 41 can be electrically conductively connected directly to the connecting lines respectively associated therewith, or can also be electrically conductively connected to a respective contact point, which is associated with the respective connecting line and is provided on the residual-current circuit breaker device 100, for example one of the two connecting terminals of the respective connecting line. On the remote drive 1 side, the other end of the measuring line 41 is connected in an electrically conductive manner to the measuring device 40 of the control device 30. By means of the measuring line 41, a potential or voltage measurement between two of the connecting lines L1, L2, L3 and N can be carried out. If the measured voltage, i.e. the potential difference between the two connection lines L1, L2, L3, N, i.e. the potential difference between the two phase conductors L1, L2, L3, or the potential difference between one of the phase conductors L1, L2, L3 and the neutral conductor N is very small or even zero, this indicates a short circuit between the respective connection lines.

Furthermore, the measuring device 40 has a protective conductor PE, by means of which the measuring device can be electrically conductively connected to ground potential. For grounding, the protective conductor 40 can be connected in an electrically conductive manner to a grounding lug, which is arranged, for example, in the electrical installation distributor. In this way, the insulation resistance of the respective connection conductor to ground can be measured by measuring the potential of one of the connection conductors with respect to ground potential. If the measured potential value is below a predefined limit value, an earth (fault), i.e. an earth fault current, can be deduced therefrom. The predefined limit values can be stored in the memory element 32 of the control device 30 or can be called up from the superordinate unit via the communication device 50.

The measurement of the insulation resistance can be carried out continuously or discontinuously after the completion of the fault disconnection before the transmission of the enable signal from the residual current circuit breaker 100 to the remote drive 1, in order to ensure that there is no longer any ground fault current which would have triggered the residual current circuit breaker 100. In this way, an automatic switch-back to a still present fault state is effectively avoided.

Instead of the measuring lines 41 leading from the remote drive, the remote drive 1 can also have suitable contacts into which, if required, separate measuring lines can be plugged in order to connect the measuring device 40 with the residual current device 100 if required. This has the advantage that, when using a remote drive 1 without a measuring function, the unused measuring lines 41 do not hang loosely unused outside the housing 2 of the remote drive 1.

With reference to fig. 7, a test method according to the invention for FI testing of a fault current protection switching device 100 by means of a remote driver 1 of the aforementioned type coupled to the fault current protection switching device 100 is briefly described below:

in a first method step 201, an FI test is initiated by the control device 30 of the remote drive 1. This can be done by a corresponding control command sent from the superordinate unit to the remote drive 1 by means of a time signal (when the FI test is performed automatically at predefined time intervals) or by a field operator (who transmits the control command to the remote drive 1 via a corresponding input device).

In a second method step 202, a fault current is induced in the main circuit of the fault-current protection switching device 100 by the coupled remote driver 1 via the test circuit.

In a third method step 203, a trigger signal of the residual current circuit breaker 100 is received by the control device 30, which is connected to the input interface 9 of the coupled remote drive 1. Only if the received trigger signal is correlated in time with the FI test previously initiated by the control device 30, a control command for controlling the drive device 20 is output by the control device 30 in a fourth method step 204 in order to switch the residual current device 100 back on.

With the remote drive 1 according to the invention, FI tests required at defined time intervals, for example as specified by the standards of importance for fault current protection switching devices, can be carried out completely automatically by the installed remote drive 1 without the check button of the fault current protection switching device 100 having to be operated in the field for this purpose. In this case, the triggering and automatic reclosing of the residual current circuit breaker 100 takes place via a remote drive 1 coupled to the residual current circuit breaker 100.

Measuring the potential of the electrical connection lines L1, L2, L3, N of the residual current device 100 by means of the measuring device 40 arranged in the remote drive 1 ensures that an automatic FI test is only carried out when no current flows. Furthermore, it is also conceivable for the communications device 50 to transmit a query to the operator or superordinate unit: if and when the FI test may be performed if necessary.

Further, parameters of the automatic FI test may be determined by the communication device 50. Thereby, the execution may be stopped or activated, for example. It can furthermore be determined at what time interval the FI test should be performed. Likewise, the execution of the automatic FI test may also be recorded together and/or transmitted to the superordinate unit.

List of reference numerals

1 remote drive

2 insulating material housing

3 operating element

4 front side

5 fixed side

6 narrow side

7 broad side

8-mesh connector

9 input interface

10 circuit board

11 meshing roller

12 rotating shaft

13 teeth

20 drive device

21 gear

30 control device

31 microcontroller

32 storage device

33. 34 output connector

35 control interface

36 communication interface

40 measuring device

41 measuring circuit

50 communication device

100 fault current protection switchgear

201 first method step

202 second method step

203 third method step

204 fourth method step

L1, L2, L3 phase conductor

N neutral conductor

PE protection conductor

T1, T2 test circuit

R1 test resistance

S1 switch

Claims

1. A remote drive (1) for coupling with a residual-current circuit-breaker device (100) for operating the coupled residual-current circuit-breaker device (100) by means of a controllable drive device (20) of the remote drive (1),

-having a control device (30) which, for performing the FI test, has at least two electrical connectors (33, 34) on the output side, which can be connected to a residual current device (100) in order to trigger the residual current device (100) by generating a residual current,

-having an input interface (9) for receiving a trigger signal of a fault current protection switching device (100) coupled to the remote driver (1),

-wherein the control device (30) is connected on the input side with the input interface (9) and on the output side with the drive device (20), and

-wherein the drive device (20) is controlled by a control device (30) to re-switch on the fault current protection switching device (100) only after receiving a trigger signal.

2. Remote drive (1) according to claim 1,

wherein the control device (30) has a measuring device (40) for measuring the potential between the electrical connecting lines (L1, L2, L3, N) of the residual current circuit breaker (100) and the potential to ground, wherein the measuring device (40) can be connected to the connecting lines (L1, L2, L3, N) and to a ground contact via a plurality of measuring lines (41).

3. Remote drive (1) according to one of the preceding claims,

wherein the control device (30) has a communication device (50) for receiving a control command for initiating the FI test.

4. Remote drive (1) according to claim 3,

wherein the communication device (50) is designed for wireless and/or wired communication.

5. Remote drive (1) according to one of the preceding claims,

wherein the FI test can be initiated automatically by the control device (30) after the predefinable time interval has ended.

6. Remote drive (1) according to one of the preceding claims,

wherein the control device (30) has a memory device (32) for recording FI tests.

7. An apparatus is provided with

-a remote drive (1) designed according to any of the preceding claims, and

-a fault current protection switching device (100) coupled with the remote driver (1),

-wherein the two electrical connectors (33, 34) of the control device (30) of the remote drive (1) are connected with a fault current protection switching device (100) such that a fault current can be induced in the main circuit of the fault current protection switching device (100).

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the first and second electrodes are disposed on opposite sides of the substrate,

wherein the fault current protection switching device (100) has a communication interface for data communication with the remote drive (1).

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first and second electrodes are disposed on opposite sides of the substrate,

wherein the communication interface of the fault current protection switching device (100) is designed wirelessly.

10. Test method for FI testing of a fault current protection switching device (100) by means of a remote driver (1) coupled to the fault current protection switching device (100), the remote driver (1) being designed according to one of claims 1 to 6, the method having the following steps:

a) initiating a FI test by a control device (30) of the remote driver (1);

b) inducing a fault current in a main circuit of a fault current protection switching device (100);

c) receiving a trigger signal of the residual current circuit breaker (100) via an input interface (9) of the remote drive (1) connected to the control device (30),

d) a control command is output by the control device (30) to control the drive device (20) in order to switch back on the fault-current protection switching device (100).

11. A test method according to claim 10, wherein an enable signal is sent from the fault current protection switching device (100) to the remote driver (1) before the FI test is initiated.