Thermally protected resettable GFCI

An improved ground-fault circuit interrupter device for safely supplying power to an electrical plug, said device comprising:

• a housing;
• said housing comprising an installation means, for use in installing said improved GFCI;
• at least one outlet for receiving load and neutral prongs of the electrical plug, the outlet having a female plug prong contact pair for each of the load and neutral prongs,
• a load terminal;
• two neutral terminals, with each said neutral terminal being adapted to be electrically connected to neutral power lines;
• a hot terminal being adapted to be electrically connected to hot power lines;
• a solenoid coil and plunger assembly which, when triggered, comprises movement of said plunger causing the contacts of a switch to disconnect, and power to be shut off;
• a power supply circuit comprising said solenoid and a diode bridge rectifier being connected in series with said hot terminal;
• a differential current transformer being capable of sensing current differences between hot and neutral conductors supplying power, to thereby indicate a ground fault and trigger said solenoid;
• a ground neutral transformer being capable of detecting neutral-to-ground faults due to mis-wiring or a short circuit, to thereby trigger said solenoid;
• a trip circuit comprising an integrated circuit chip being selectively coupled with said differential current transformer and said ground neutral transformer to provide sense amplification and to trigger said solenoid when a leakage current or a ground fault is detected;
• and
• one or more thermal sensors for sensing temperature at respective locations in said improved ground-fault circuit interrupter device and for detecting temperature greater than a predetermined threshold;
• and wherein when at least one of said one or more thermal sensors detects temperature greater than the predetermined threshold indicating abnormal heating, said at least one thermal sensor triggers said solenoid.