Fault current tolerant switching mechanism for a remotely operated circuit interrupter

A remotely operated circuit interrupter structured to be connected between a power source and one or more loads, the remotely operated circuit interrupter comprising:

• primary separable contacts coupled to an operating mechanism and a thermal-magnetic trip device structured to interrupt current from flowing to the one or more loads by opening the primary separable contacts during a fault event;
• and
• a fault current tolerant secondary switching mechanism that includes secondary separable contacts coupled to the primary separable contacts in series, one or more Rogowski coils structured to continuously sense a rate (di/dt) of change of load current, a di/dt measurement circuit, a secondary solenoid driver and one or more solenoids, the di/dt measurement circuit being coupled to the one or more Rogowski coils and structured to receive a signal including the sensed di/dt, determine that the sensed di/dt has reached or exceeded a threshold current rate of change, and output a fault signal to the secondary solenoid driver based on the determination, the secondary solenoid driver being coupled to the di/dt measurement circuit and the one or more solenoids, the secondary solenoid driver being structured to actuate the one or more solenoids to fully open the secondary separable contacts based on the fault signal using series arc voltages of the primary separable contacts and the secondary separable contacts,
• wherein during the fault event, the fault current tolerant secondary switching mechanism protects the secondary separable contacts from tack-welding or damages by causing the secondary separable contacts to fully open and stay open until the fault event has been cleared, not by keeping the secondary separable contacts closed.