Circuit breaker having an electronic fault sensing and trip initiating unit
AssigneeSquare D Company
InventorsJames W. Dickens, James P. McGinnis, Henry J. Zylstra
Life of this patent
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AssigneeSquare D Company
InventorsJames W. Dickens, James P. McGinnis, Henry J. Zylstra
Estimating the term…
A circuit breaker having an electronic fault sensing and trip initiating unit which provides increased versatility and ability to coordinate the circuit breaker with other interrupting and protective devices in a wide variety of electrical distribution systems. Electronic circuits and components are provided to vary the ampere rating of the breaker, to adjust current carrying capacity, to provide a long time delay trip, a short time delay trip and an instantaneous trip depending on the amplitude of high fault currents, to provide a ground fault trip, to shorten or lengthen the trip time for short time delay faults and for ground faults, and to provide shunt trip capability. The tripping mechanism is magnetic and mechanical, and includes a plunger movable between a trip and non-trip position controlled by an electronic switch in the electronic circuitry, and a toggle mechanism which is unlatched by the plunger when it moves to the trip position. A bimetal trip mechanism is provided as back-up protection if the ambient temperature not sensed by the electronic circuitry exceeds a pre-determined level.
A circuit protective device to detect fault current conditions in an electrical power circuit having a plurality of conductors carrying any one of a plurality of different normal currents and protect said power circuit against such fault current conditions, including:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.