Thermally indicative electrical insulators

Abstract

An electrical protection device includes a housing including a plurality of sidewalls. The plurality of sidewalls includes one or more thermochromic sidewalls. The electrical protection device includes a switch assembly located in the housing and an electrical connector extending from the housing. The electrical connector is configured to place the switch assembly in electrical connection with a main bus at an electrical distribution panel. In response to a condition at the electrical protection device causing a temperature of a respective thermochromic sidewall of the one or more thermochromic sidewalls to exceed a temperature threshold, the respective thermochromic sidewall is configured to provide an indication of the condition of the electrical protection device. The indication may be a visual indication including a color change and an expansion of the material. The indication may be an audible indication including emitting a noise.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.