Circuit breaker with independent trip and reset lockout
AssigneeLeviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.
InventorsNicholas L. DiSalvo, William R. Ziegler, Frantz Germain, David Herzfeld, Stephen Stewart, Roger M. Bradley
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Resettable circuit breakers having an independent trip mechanism and a reset lockout are provided. The trip mechanism operates independently of the fault protection operations, and the reset lockout prevents the resetting of the circuit breaker if the fault protection is non-operational or if an open neutral condition exists.
Claims16
A circuit breaker comprising:
- housing means;
- line and load connection means accessible from an exterior of said housing means for connecting to external wiring;
- means for conducting electricity between said line and load connection means, said means for conducting electricity including switch means for opening and closing said means for conducting electricity;
- circuit interrupting means disposed within said housing means for causing said switch means to open in response to the occurrence of a predefined condition;
- reset lockout means responsive to activation of said circuit interrupting means for inhibiting closing of said switch means after said circuit interrupting means causes said switch means to open;
- and
- reset means for activating said circuit interrupting means so that said reset lockout means does not inhibit closing of said switch means, and for closing said switch means.
A method for testing the operation of a circuit breaker having a housing with line and load phase connections accessible from an exterior surface of said housing, and a conductive path between said line and load phase connections, said method comprising:
- manually activating a trip portion of the circuit breaker to open said conductive path and to enable a reset lockout portion that inhibits closing said conductive path;
- and
- activating a reset portion to perform a reset operation, wherein during said reset operation a circuit interrupting portion is activated, and wherein if the circuit interrupting portion is operational, the circuit interrupting portion disables the reset lockout portion and facilitates closing of said conductive path, and wherein if the circuit interrupting portion is non-operational, the reset lockout portion remains enabled so that closing said conductive path is inhibited.
A power distribution system comprising:
- a source of electricity;
- at least one load;
- a circuit breaker regulating power from said source of electricity to said at least one load, said circuit breaker includes:
- housing means;
- line and load connection means accessible from an exterior of said housing means for connecting to external wiring;
- means for conducting electricity between said line and load connection means, said means for conducting electricity including switch means for opening and closing said means for conducting electricity;
- circuit interrupting means disposed within said housing means for causing said switch means to open in response to the occurrence of a fault;
- reset lockout means responsive to activation of said circuit interrupting means for inhibiting closing of said switch means after said circuit interrupting means causes said switch means to open;
- and
- reset means for activating said circuit interrupting means so that said reset lockout means does not inhibit closing of said switch means, and for closing said switch means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.