System and method for assessing circuit interrupter operating mechanism reliability, and circuit interrupter

A method of determining if a circuit interrupter having an operating mechanism has acceptable trip margin, said method comprising:

• determining a model trip margin;
• providing a circuit interrupter, said circuit interrupter disposed in situ, said circuit interrupter comprising a housing and further comprising an operating mechanism enclosed within the housing;
• determining a trip margin of the circuit interrupter by:
• providing an internal trip margin sensor assembly enclosed within the housing, said internal trip margin sensor assembly structured to generate trip margin data;
• providing a transfer function module;
• providing a computer structured to execute the transfer function module;
• executing said transfer function module on said computer;
• transmitting said trip margin data to said transfer function module;
• utilizing said trip margin sensor assembly to generate trip margin data;
• processing said trip margin data to generate a trip margin;
• determining if said trip margin is acceptable relative to said model trip margin;
• if said trip margin is acceptable, continuing to 1) utilize said trip margin sensor assembly to generate further trip margin data, 2) transmit said further trip margin data to said transfer function module, 3) process said further trip margin data to generate a further trip margin, and 4) determine if said further trip margin is acceptable relative to said model trip margin;
• and
• if said trip margin is not acceptable, initiating a remediation on the circuit interrupter.