An electrical system includes first, second and third busses; a first interrupter electrically connected between the first and second busses; at least one of a shorting apparatus operatively associated with the first or second bus, and the first interrupter comprising a trip coil; a current sensor to sense a fault current flowing in the first bus and responsively output a first signal; a number of light sensors to sense an arc flash operatively associated with a number of the first, second or third busses and responsively output a second signal; a second interrupter electrically connected between the second and third power busses and output a third signal; and a circuit to invert the third signal to provide a fourth signal, and to operate the at least one of the shorting apparatus and the trip coil responsive to an AND of the first, second and fourth signals.

Embodiments include a vehicle power distribution system comprising a vehicle battery having a nominal voltage; a plurality of electric loads, each load being associated with a rated voltage; and an integrated circuit coupled to the vehicle battery and comprising a plurality of solid-state circuitry blocks respectively coupled to the electric loads, each block including a circuit protection system and configured to supply the rated voltage associated with the electric load coupled to the block. Embodiments also includes a vehicle power distribution module comprising an integrated circuit configured to receive a first voltage from a vehicle battery and to supply respective rated voltages to a plurality of electric loads, the integrated circuit comprising a plurality of solid-state circuitry blocks, and each circuitry block including a circuit protection system and being coupled to a respective one of the electric loads.

A modular intelligent electronic overload device that requires only a single configuration file to describe the device with all of the available options. Furthermore, the modular intelligent electronic overload device contains embedded application files that provide commonly used control algorithms into the non-volatile memory of the modular intelligent electronic overload device that can be accessed by a user to configure the device without the need for a personal computer. Finally, the modular intelligent electronic overload device configuration parameters can be stored to virtual non-volatile memory contained in an associated user interface device, allowing for easy replacement of the modular intelligent electronic overload device.

An electrical sensor is described. The electrical sensor including an electrical signal input configured to receive an electrical signal, an alarm, one or more inputs configured to set a configuration value and at least one display configured to display said configuration value. The monitor is coupled with the electrical signal input, the alarm, the display, and the one or more inputs. Further, the monitor is configured to determine a characteristic of the electrical signal received on the electrical signal input. The monitor is configured to activate the alarm based on the configuration value set by the one or more inputs and the characteristic of the electrical signal. And, the monitor configured to generate at least one display signal based on the configuration value to be used by the at least one display to display the configuration value.

A circuit breaker is disclosed for interrupting an electrical circuit when current limit values are exceeded. The circuit-breaker includes a current sensor for determining the electrical current flow and a control device. When current limit values are exceeded, the electrical circuit is interrupted. A first current limit value, when exceeded, results in an immediate interruption and a second current limit value, when exceeded, results in a time-delayed interruption, such that the second interruption time reduces as the current increases. Only one control element is included for setting a current limit value. The element defining the second current limit value is included for the time-delayed interruption of the electrical circuit. The other parameters are either set in a fixed manner and/or are related to the settable second current limit value.

A power pedestal including a receptacle, a circuit breaker electrically connected between a power source and the receptacle and including separable contacts structured to trip open and electrically disconnect the receptacle from the power source, a current sensor structured to detect current flowing to the receptacle, and a ground fault detection device structured to sense a ground fault based on an output of the current sensor and to control the circuit breaker to trip open the separable contacts in response to detecting the ground fault. The ground fault detection device has an adjustable range of ground fault protection.

A primary current threshold is fit between an electrical capacity and electrical load for an electrical distribution component. When a first measured current exceeds the primary threshold, a power limit for the battery powering the component is reduced. When a second measured current is less than a secondary current threshold, the power limit is increased. The primary and secondary thresholds may be set for a plurality of time periods.

A set of packet-energy-transfer operating parameters is automatically configured to optimize safety, efficiency and/or resiliency in a digital-electricity power system. A set of limits is configured for packet-energy-transfer operation that does not immediately preclude safe operation of the transmission lines, wherein each limit in the set defines constraints for at least one of measurements and calculations based on impedance in series or in parallel with the transmission lines, operational efficiency of the digital-electricity power system, and/or voltage or current signal integrity. The operation of the transmission lines is measured, and the measurements are compared with the limits. Upon at least one of the limits being exceeded, a revised set of limits is automatically configured (or a new configuration is generated) based on which limit was exceeded. The measurements, comparison, and reconfiguration are repeated until an acceptable range of operation is identified or until a predetermined time limit is exceeded.

A switching device has a current transformer for measuring in a potential-free manner a current to be switched by the switching device, a current sense amplifier, to which the unrectified measurement current of the current transfer is fed on the input side, and a controller, to which the output current of the current sense amplifier is fed on the input side and which is configured so as to digitalize the fed output current and to perform one or more performance-related measurements and to output the measurement results.

A design of a protection relay, and interface with an operator of a protection relay, are disclosed. The protection relay can include a base relay for measurement of line current and for generation of a trip signal, a base Human Machine Interface (HMI) for user specifying of a base setting of an operating parameter of the protection relay, and an optionally active Human Machine Interface (HMI) unit having a processing unit to manage plural activities with controlled power consumption.