Remote load switching circuit breaker

A remote load switching circuit breaker system comprising:

• a load;
• a hot conductor electrically coupled to a power source;
• a load conductor electrically coupled to the load;
• a user device;
• a remote load switching circuit breaker electrically coupled to the hot conductor and the load conductor, the remote load switching circuit breaker comprising:
• a primary contact coupled to a primary contact trip mechanism and structured to trip the circuit breaker upon detecting a fault condition by a sensor;
• a secondary contact in series with the primary contact and coupled to a secondary contact driving circuit, wherein the secondary contact is switched on and off remotely by a user using a user device communicatively coupled to the remote load switching circuit breaker via wireless communication;
• a shunt element coupled to the primary contact and structured to measure a shunt voltage drop;
• a control circuit comprising a controller and a communication module communicatively coupled to the user device for receiving a user command and transmitting a message associated with the remote load switching circuit breaker to the user device, the controller including a firmware configured to instruct the control circuit to perform a pre-check for at least one of power quality test and breaker line parameters test based at least in part on the user command;
• and
• a power supply and sensing circuit structured to supply power to the control circuit, the secondary contact, the secondary contact driving circuit, and the primary contact trip mechanism, and to sense voltages at a plurality of points in the circuit breaker and transmit the sensed voltage to the controller for determining respective current based on the sensed voltages, wherein the secondary contact is fully powered by the power supply and sensing circuit, without having to receive power from an external power supply.

A method for operating a remote load switching circuit breaker after a pre-checking power quality of a circuit breaker, comprising:

• performing, by a controller of the remote load switching circuit breaker, a breaker self-test for a predefined period, the breaker self-test comprising testing a circuit including breaker electronics and operations of the breaker electronics, the remote load switching circuit breaker comprising:
• (i) a primary contact coupled to a primary contact trip mechanism and structured to trip the remote load switching circuit breaker upon detecting a fault condition by a sensor;
• (ii) a secondary contact in series with the primary contact and coupled to a secondary contact driving circuit, wherein the secondary contact is structured to be switched on and off remotely by a user using a user device communicatively coupled to the remote load switching circuit breaker via wireless communication;
• (iii) a shunt element coupled to the primary contact and structured to measure a line voltage;
• (iv) a control circuit comprising the controller and a communication module communicatively coupled to the user device for receiving a user command and transmitting a message associated with the remote load switching circuit breaker to the user device, the controller including a firmware configured to instruct the control circuit to perform a pre-check for at least one of power quality test and the breaker self-test based at least in part on the user command;
• and (v) a power supply and sensing circuit structured to supply power to the control circuit, the secondary contact, the secondary contact driving circuit, and the primary contact trip mechanism, and to sense voltages at a plurality of points in the remote load switching circuit breaker and transmit the sensed voltage to the controller for measuring respective current based on the sensed voltages, wherein the secondary contact is fully powered by the power supply and sensing circuit, without having to receive power from an external power supply;
• determining whether the remote load switching circuit breaker has passed the breaker self-test;
• performing the power quality test including testing for voltage signal, frequency and zero cross detection;
• determining whether the remote load switching circuit breaker has passed the power quality check;
• and
• turning on the remote load switching circuit breaker only after passing the breaker self-test and the power quality test.

A method for operating a remote load switching circuit breaker, comprising:

• opening, by the controller of the remote load switching circuit breaker, a secondary contact without closing a primary contact and alerting a user of the detected fault, the remote load switching circuit breaker comprising (i) the primary contact coupled to a primary contact trip mechanism and structured to trip the remote load switching circuit breaker upon detecting a fault condition by a sensor;
• (ii) the secondary contact in series with the primary contact and coupled to a secondary contact driving circuit, wherein the secondary contact is structured to be switched on and off remotely by a user using a user device communicatively coupled to the remote load switching circuit breaker via wireless communication;
• (iii) a shunt element coupled to the primary contact and structured to measure a line voltage;
• (iv) a control circuit comprising the controller and a communication module communicatively coupled to the user device for receiving a user command and transmitting a message associated with the remote load switching circuit breaker to the user device, the controller including a firmware configured to instruct the control circuit to perform a pre-check for at least one of power quality test and breaker self-test based at least in part on the user command;
• and (v) a power supply and sensing circuit structured to supply power to the control circuit, the secondary contact, the secondary contact driving circuit, and the primary contact trip mechanism, and to sense voltages at a plurality of points in the remote load switching circuit breaker and transmit the sensed voltage to the controller for measuring respective current based on the sensed voltages, wherein the secondary contact is fully powered by the power supply and sensing circuit, without having to receive power from an external power supply;
• attempting to clear the fault by opening and closing the secondary contact based on the user command to reset;
• determining whether the fault is still present in the remote load switching circuit breaker;
• and
• operating the remote load switching circuit breaker if the fault is not present;
• or
• repeating the attempt to clear the fault by opening and closing the secondary contact for a predefined number of times, determining that the fault is a permanent fault upon detecting the fault after the attempt to clear the fault for the predefined number of times, and opening the primary contact and notifying the user of the permanent default.

A method for checking a status of a remote load switching circuit breaker, comprising:

• determining by a controller of the remote load switching circuit breaker, upon a detection of an overload condition, whether the overload condition is within a range that the remote load switching circuit breaker is capable of resolving by opening a secondary contact, the remote load switching circuit breaker comprising (i) a primary contact coupled to a primary contact trip mechanism and structured to trip the remote load switching circuit breaker upon detecting a fault condition by a sensor;
• (ii) the secondary contact in series with the primary contact and coupled to a secondary contact driving circuit, wherein the secondary contact is structured to be switched on and off remotely by a user using a user device communicatively coupled to the remote load switching circuit breaker via wireless communication;
• (iii) a shunt element coupled to the primary contact and structured to measure a line voltage;
• (iv) a control circuit comprising the controller and a communication module communicatively coupled to the user device for receiving a user command and transmitting a message associated with the remote load switching circuit breaker to the user device, the controller including a firmware configured to instruct the control circuit to perform a pre-check for at least one of power quality test and breaker self-test based at least in part on the user command;
• and (v) a power supply and sensing circuit structured to supply power to the control circuit, the secondary contact, the secondary contact driving circuit, and the primary contact trip mechanism, and to sense voltages at a plurality of points in the remote load switching circuit breaker and transmit the sensed voltage to the controller for measuring respective current based on the sensed voltages, wherein the secondary contact is fully powered by the power supply and sensing circuit, without having to receive power from an external power supply;
• transmitting the message to the user alerting the detected overload condition;
• determining whether the overload condition has been removed by the user or a user command to open the secondary contact has been received;
• and
• closing the secondary contact based on a determination that the overload condition has been removed, or
• opening the secondary contact based on the received user command, applying a predefined cool-off period based at least in part on the determined range, and closing the secondary contact upon a lapse of the predefined cool-off period.