Molded case circuit breaker-process loop unit
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorJohn J. Dougherty
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An integrated protection unit is a circuit breaker which includes basic overcurrent protection facility along with selective electrical accessories. A molded plastic accessory access cover secured to the integrated protection unit cover protects the accessory components contained within the integrated protection unit cover from the environment. A combined overcurrent trip actuator and accessory unit is either field-installed or factory-installed within the integrated protection unit. One such actuator-accessory responds to a process current loop signal upon command to interrupt circuit current to associated electrical equipment.
Claims19
A combined circuit breaker-process loop controller unit comprising:
- a circuit breaker cover attached to a circuit breaker case;
- an accessory cover attached to said circuit breaker cover over a recess formed within said circuit breaker cover;
- a pair of contacts within said circuit breaker case controlled by an operating mechanism within said circuit breaker case for manual and automatic separation;
- a trip unit within said cover activating said operating mechanism upon occurrence of an overcurrent condition within an associated electric circuit;
- and
- a trip actuator-process loop control unit within said recess connecting with remote electric equipment activating said operating mechanism to interrupt supply current to said equipment, said trip actuator-process loop control unit including a trip coil interacting with said operating mechanism to place said operating mechanism in both active and inactive conditions.
A trip actuator-process loop controller unit comprising:
- a trip coil arranged for interacting with a circuit breaker operating mechanism placing said operating mechanism in active and inactive conditions;
- and
- a process loop circuit connecting with said trip coil and a remote process element whereby electric current in a loop circuit is responsive to a process parameter and is compared to reference values within said process loop circuit to determine when said electric current exceeds or is less than said reference values.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.