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US 6,141,197 AGranted
Smart residential circuit breaker
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsEdward E. Kim, John J. Dougherty, Esteban Santos, David Arnold, Richard E. Saunders, Ronald D. Ciarcia, James I. Smith, Richard A. Menelly
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A circuit interrupter of the type including an electronic trip unit for overcurrent determination includes a separate circuit to power the trip unit along with a Hall Effect or GMR Device to sense the current flow within the protected circuit. A removable option plug electrically interconnects with the trip unit to enable ground fault and arcing fault protection.
Claims30
A residential circuit interrupter comprising:
- a pair of separable contacts arranged for connection within an electric circuit;
- an electronic trip unit including an electric switch and a magnetic switch for separating said contacts upon occurrence of an overcurrent condition within said electric circuit;
- a Hall effect or GMR element connecting with said electronic trip unit and in magnetic proximity to an electrical conductor arranged for carrying circuit current within one phase of said electric circuit, said Hall effect or GMR element provides a current signal to said trip unit representative of said circuit current;
- a power supply circuit connecting with the electrical conductor, said power supply circuit providing operating power to said trip unit and said Hall effect or GMR element;
- and
- a conditioner circuit connecting with said Hall effect or GMR element for receiving signal output from said Hall effect or GMR element representative of said circuit current and providing signal input to said electronic trip circuit.
3 more elements
A circuit interrupter comprising:
- a pair of separable contacts arranged for connection within an electric circuit;
- an electronic trip unit including means for separating said contacts upon occurrence of an overcurrent condition within said electric circuit;
- a Hall effect or GMR element connecting with said electronic trip unit and in magnetic proximity to an electrical conductor arranged for carrying circuit current within one phase of said electric circuit, said Hall effect or GMR element provides a current signal to said trip unit representative of said circuit current;
- a conditioner circuit connecting with said Hall effect or GMR element for receiving signal output from said Hall effect or GMR element representative of said circuit current and providing signal input to said electronic trip circuit;
- and,
- a power supply circuit connecting with said Hall effect or GMR element and said trip unit for providing operating power to said trip unit and said Hall effect or GMR element, said power supply circuit comprising:
- a first and second rectifier diodes electrically connected to the first and second conductor in the electric circuit respectively;
- a current limiting resistor electrically connected to said first and second rectifier diodes;
- and,
- a voltage regulator zener diode.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.