Electric arc extinguishing apparatus for a molded case circuit breaker

A molded case circuit breaker comprising:

• a non-metallic molded case;
• first and second terminals;
• first and second contacts respectively coupled to the first and second terminals;
• an operating mechanism contained within said non-metallic molded case and coupled to a respective one of the first and second contacts to cause the respective contact to disengage the other of the contacts in response to an overcurrent condition in a protected electric load;
• an arc stack comprising a first set of arc splitter plates and a second set of arc splitter plates forming a sequential arrangement of spaced apart arc splitter plates to cool and deionize an electric arc formed between said contacts when said contacts are separated in response to the overcurrent condition,
• wherein the first set of arc splitter plates is arranged to direct into a first flow channel, a flow of gases resulting from occurrence of the electric arc, wherein an outer boundary of the first flow channel is defined by a wall of the non-metallic molded case of the circuit breaker, the wall disposed to redirect at least one portion of the flow of gases directed by the first set of arc splitter plates toward a first side of the non-metallic molded case of the circuit breaker;
• a second set of arc splitter plates arranged to direct into a second flow channel, a further flow of gases resulting from the occurrence of the electric arc;
• and
• a non-metallic partition structure arranged to establish flow channel separation between the first flow channel and the second flow channel,
• wherein a boundary of the second flow channel is defined by an inner surface of a wall of the non-metallic partition structure, the inner surface of the wall of the non-metallic partition structure arranged to redirect the further flow of gases directed by the second set of arc splitter plates toward the first side of the non-metallic molded case of the circuit breaker,
• wherein an inner boundary of the first flow channel is defined by an outer surface of the wall of the non-metallic partition structure.