Electrical switching apparatus, power distribution system, and method employing breakpoint trip

Abstract

An electrical switching apparatus includes a housing, separable contacts within said housing, an operating mechanism structured to open and close said separable contacts, and a trip assembly cooperating with said operating mechanism to trip open said separable contacts in response to a trip signal. The trip assembly includes a sensor structured to sense current flowing through said separable contacts, a number of breakpoint trip mechanisms providing a number of breakpoint trips in response to a number of time-current functions of said sensed current over a number of ranges of predetermined values of said sensed current, and a mechanism structured to provide said trip signal responsive to said number of breakpoint trips. A method of operating the electrical switching apparatus and a power distribution system incorporating the electrical switching apparatus are also provided.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.