US 8,570,715 B2Granted

Load center with branch-level current sensors integrated into power buses on a unit with on-board circuit breaker mounts

OwnerDarcy Cookinventor

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Abstract

A load center comprising a housing and, mounted within the housing as a single pre-fabricated unit of interconnected elements, two power buses, conductive paths branching off from each power bus, respective branch circuit breaker mounting sites each conductively linked to a corresponding one of the two power buses by a respective one of the conductive paths, and current sensors each association with a respective one of the conductive paths branching off from the power buses to provide an output responsive to current passing through said respective conductive path from the corresponding one of the two power buses to the respective branch circuit breaker mounting site. A processor in the housing receives current level signals indicative of the current passing through the conductive paths to produce, and preferably transmit, data for consideration in terms of power consumption by branch circuits fed through the load center.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A load center comprising:

a circuit board;
two power buses carried on the circuit board and each arranged for conductive connection to a respective one of two incoming power lines intended to feed the load center;
conductive paths branching away from each power bus in conductive connection therewith
respective branch circuit breaker mounting sites defined on the circuit board and each conductively linked to a corresponding one of the two power buses by a respective one of the conductive paths, each branch circuit breaker mounting site being arranged to engagingly receive a branch circuit breaker in a position placing said circuit breaker in electrically conductive connection with the respective conductive path;
and
current sensors mounted on the circuit board, each in association with a respective one of the conductive paths branching off from the power buses to provide an output responsive to current passing through said respective conductive path from the corresponding one of the two power buses to the respective branch circuit breaker mounting site;
wherein the conductive paths comprise conductive branch traces on the circuit board between the power buses and the branch circuit breaker mounting sites, and the branch circuit breaker mounting sites are arranged in rows comprising two circuit breakers each, the two circuit breakers of each row connecting to a same one of the two power buses via branch traces found among different layers on the circuit board.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.