Lighted visual trip indicator module for circuit breakers

A visible circuit breaker trip indicator module comprising:

• a trip indicator module housing configured to be slidably received on a circuit breaker handle of a circuit breaker, the circuit breaker handle operating the circuit breaker between a plurality of predefined states;
• an aperture defined by the trip indicator module housing, the aperture receiving electronic and mechanical components of the visible circuit breaker trip indicator module;
• a printed circuit board on which the electronic components are mounted or electrically connected to;
• a sensing device for sensing an event of the circuit breaker;
• a light source;
• a microprocessor having an associated memory and configured with computer program code configured to maintain a state machine representing state transitions of the circuit breaker and configured to update a current state of the state machine based on event data received from the sensing device and configured to selectively illuminate the light source based on the current state of the state machine, thereby visibly displaying a coded signal indicating a current state of the circuit breaker;
• a waking device for waking the microprocessor and sensing device from a low power state;
• an independent power supply for powering at least one of the printed circuit board, the sensing device, the waking device, the light source, the microprocessor and the associated memory;
• and
• an aperture cover for closing the aperture.

A method for visibly indicating a tripped state of a circuit breaker comprising:

• awakening, from a low power state, by a waking device, a microprocessor having an associated memory and a sensing device;
• initiating, by the microprocessor, a state machine stored in the memory;
• sensing, by the sensing device, events in the circuit breaker;
• determining, by the microprocessor, using information from the sensing device and an algorithm stored in the memory, the current state of the state machine;
• selectively activating a light source based on the current state of the state machine to flash a coded signal indicating the current state of the circuit breaker;
• returning to the low power state;
• and
• providing power to at least one of the microprocessor, the light source, the sensing device and the memory from an independent power supply,
• wherein the microprocessor and associated memory, sensing device, light source, waking device and independent power supply are located on, or connected to, a printed circuit board (PCB) that is (1) enclosed in an aperture defined in a visible circuit breaker trip indicator module that is attachable to a circuit breaker handle or (2) located in a pocket defined by a circuit breaker housing.