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US 6,717,782 B2Granted
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.
Claims47
A circuit breaker comprising:
- a housing having a line phase connection and load phase connection accessible from an exterior of said housing;
- a conductive path within said housing between said line and load phase connections;
- a circuit interrupting portion disposed within said housing and configured to open said conductive path upon the occurrence of a first predefined condition;
- a reset portion having an actuator extending through said exterior of said housing, wherein activation of the reset portion activates the circuit interrupting portion, and configured to close said conductive path upon actuation of said actuator;
- and
- a reset lockout portion, responsive to activation of the circuit interrupting portion, for preventing the closing of said conductive path if a second predefined condition exists.
3 more elements
A circuit breaker comprising:
- a housing having line and load phase connections and line and load neutral connections accessible from an exterior of said housing;
- a conductive path within said housing and connected between said line and load phase connections;
- a circuit interrupting portion disposed within said housing and configured to cause electrical discontinuity at a point along said conductive path upon the occurrence of a first predefined condition;
- a reset portion which, upon activation, activates the circuit interrupting portion, and configured to reestablish electrical continuity in said conductive path;
- and
- a reset lockout portion, responsive to activation of the circuit interrupting portion, for preventing reestablishment of electrical continuity of said conductive path if a second predefined condition exists.
3 more elements
A GFCI circuit breaker comprising:
- a housing;
- a pair of input conductors, one of said pair being a phase conductor and the other being a neutral conductor, said conductors being disposed within said housing and terminating through an exterior surface of said housing;
- a pair of output conductors, one of said pair being a phase conductor and the other being a neutral conductor, said conductors being disposed within said housing and terminating through an exterior surface of said housing, wherein said input phase conductor is connectable to said output phase conductor such that electrical continuity exists between said input and output phase conductors;
- a circuit interrupting portion disposed within said housing and configured to break the continuity between said input phase conductor and said output phase conductor upon the occurrence of a ground fault;
- a reset portion which, upon activation, activates the circuit interrupting portion, and configured to make electrical continuity between said input phase conductor and said output phase conductor after a ground fault occurs;
- and
- a reset lockout, responsive to activation of the circuit interrupting portion, for preventing the making of electrical continuity between said input phase conductor and said output phase conductor if a predetermined condition exists.
4 more elements
An AFCI circuit breaker comprising:
- a housing;
- a pair of input conductors, one of said pair being a phase conductor and the other being a neutral conductor, said conductors being disposed within said housing and terminating through an exterior surface of said housing;
- a pair of output conductors, one of said pair being a phase conductor and the other being a neutral conductor, said conductors being disposed within said housing and terminating through an exterior surface of said housing, wherein said input phase conductor is connectable to said output phase conductor such that electrical continuity exists between said input and output phase conductors;
- a circuit interrupting portion disposed within said housing and configured to break the continuity between said input phase conductor and said output phase conductor upon the occurrence of an arc fault;
- a reset portion which, upon activation, activates the circuit interrupting portion, and configured to make electrical continuity between said input phase conductor and said output phase conductor after an arc fault occurs;
- and
- a reset lockout, responsive to activation of the circuit interrupting portion, for preventing the making of electrical continuity between said input phase conductor and said output phase conductor if a predetermined condition exists.
4 more elements
A circuit breaker comprising:
- a housing having a line phase connection and load phase connection accessible from an exterior of said housing;
- a conductive path within said housing between said line and load phase connections;
- a circuit interrupting portion disposed within said housing and configured to open said conductive path upon the occurrence of at least one of a plurality of predefined conditions;
- a reset portion having an actuator extending through said exterior of said housing, wherein activation of the reset portion activates the circuit interrupting portion, and configured to close said conductive path upon actuation of said actuator;
- and
- a reset lockout portion, responsive to activation of the circuit interrupting portion, for preventing the closing of said conductive path if a second predefined condition exists.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.