Intelligent circuit breakers with solid-state bidirectional switches

A method, comprising:

• connecting a circuit breaker between a utility power source and a branch circuit comprising a load, wherein the circuit breaker comprises a solid-state bidirectional switch which is configured to be placed in one of (i) a switched-on state to connect the utility power source to the branch circuit and (ii) a switched-off state to disconnect the utility power source from the branch circuit;
• sensing current flow through the circuit breaker and generating a current sense signal that is indicative of a magnitude of the sensed current flow through the circuit breaker;
• sensing a voltage at a point in an electrical path through the circuit breaker and generating a voltage sense signal that is indicative of a magnitude of the sensed voltage;
• applying the current sense and voltage sense signals to a processor of the circuit breaker to process the current sense and voltage sense signals to determine an occurrence of a fault event;
• generating, by the processor, a control signal that is applied to a switch control circuit of the circuit breaker to cause the switch control circuit to place the solid-state bidirectional switch in the switched-off state in response to the occurrence of the fault event.

A circuit breaker, comprising:

• a solid-state bidirectional switch coupled between a line input terminal and a load output terminal of the circuit breaker, and configured to be placed in one of (i) a switched-on state and (ii) a switched-off state;
• a switch control circuit configured to control operation of the solid-state bidirectional switch by placing the solid-state bidirectional switch in one of the switched-on state and the switched-off state;
• a current sensor configured to sense a magnitude of current flowing in an electrical path between the line input terminal and the load output terminal and generate a current sense signal;
• a voltage sensor configured to sense a magnitude of voltage at a point in the electrical path between the line input terminal and the load output terminal and generate a voltage sense signal;
• and
• a processor configured to process the current sense and voltage sense signals to determine an impending occurrence of a fault event, and cause the switch control circuit to place the solid-state bidirectional switch in the switched-off state in response to the determined impending occurrence of the fault event.