A solid state switching device, such as a solid state circuit breaker, includes at least one heat sink, a control electronics printed circuit board (PCB), and power electronics. The power electronics are useful to regulate the flow of current from one terminal of the solid state switching device to another terminal. The power electronics can include one or more solid state devices such as FETs, Thyristors, Thyristors+SiC JFET in parallel, IGBTs, and IGCTs. The control PCB can include a variety of circuit elements useful to perform the function of a gate driver useful to activate the solid state device of the power electronics. The heat sink includes one or more signal vias formed therethrough to permit nesting of the control PCB within the heat sink.

A fault-arc identification unit for an electric circuit, includes at least one voltage sensor, for the periodic determination of electric voltage values; and at least one current sensor, for the periodic determination of electric current variables of the circuit. Both sensors are connected to an evaluation unit, designed such that: electric voltage values are fed to a first fault-arc identification function which carries out a first fault-arc identification based upon a signal profile of the voltage, and emits a first fault-arc identification signal upon a first threshold value being exceeded; electric voltage values and current variables are fed to a second fault-arc identification function which carries out a second fault-arc identification based upon the voltage values and current variables, and emits a second fault-arc identification signal upon a second threshold value being exceeded. The fault-arc identification signals are fed to an inclusive disjunction function, to emit a fault-arc identification signal.

A low-voltage protective switching device includes: at least one outer conductor path from an outer conductor supply terminal of the low-voltage protective switching device to an outer conductor load terminal of the low-voltage protective switching device; a neutral conductor path from a neutral conductor terminal of the low-voltage protective switching device to a neutral conductor load terminal of the low-voltage protective switching device; a mechanical bypass switch disposed in the outer conductor path; a first semiconductor circuit arrangement of the low-voltage protective switching device connected parallel to the mechanical bypass switch; an electronic control unit; a current measuring arrangement disposed in the outer conductor path, the current measuring arrangement being connected with the electronic control unit; and a first mechanical disconnecting switch disposed in series to the first semiconductor circuit arrangement and in parallel to the mechanical bypass switch. The electronic control controls the mechanical bypass switch.

A digital device is provided. The digital device uses three states, including a ground (GND) state, a voltage (VDD) state, and a FLOAT state. On designing a chip, two storage units and a pad circuit are set inside; the pad circuit comprises a current limiter and two switches; and less ports contained are required than the conventional. That is, one port obtains three states. As comparing to the conventional having only two states, the present invention uses the port connected with two storage units in the pad circuit for obtaining the three states; a circuit featuring “pull up” and “pull down” is used to identify the state of connection of the port; and the port determines a plurality of definitions through the three states of GND, VDD and FLOAT. Thus, a pad is saved for reducing the space and cost of the chip.

A multi-circuit DC breaking system is proposed. According to an exemplary embodiment of the present technique, there may be an advantage that by combining current-limiting technology and multi-circuit breaking technology, a failure may be quickly detected, a magnitude of a fault current may be firstly limited, and a breaking operation is performed, in a range of various fault currents, by distributing the fault currents to some circuits of multi-circuits configured in parallel, thereby easily increasing the capacity thereof.

A circuit breaker includes: at least one external conductor section from an external conductor supply connection in the circuit breaker to an external conductor load connection in the circuit breaker; and a neutral conductor section from a neutral conductor connection in the circuit breaker to a neutral conductor connection in the circuit breaker. The at least one external conductor section includes a mechanical bypass switch and a first mechanical isolating switch which are serially arranged. A second mechanical isolating switch is arranged in the neutral conductor section. A semiconductor circuit arrangement in the circuit breaker is connected in parallel to the bypass switch. A current measuring device is arranged in the at least one external conductor section that is linked to an electronic control unit in the circuit breaker. The electronic control unit operates the bypass switch, the first and second mechanical isolating switches, and the semiconductor circuit arrangement.

A low-voltage circuit breaker includes: at least one external conductor section of an external conductor power terminal of the low-voltage circuit breaker connected to an external conductor load terminal of the low-voltage circuit breaker; and a neutral conductor section of a neutral conductor connection of the low-voltage circuit breaker connected to a neutral conductor load terminal of the low-voltage circuit breaker. A mechanical bypass switch is arranged in the at least one external conductor section. A semiconductor circuit arrangement of the low-voltage circuit breaker is switched parallel to the bypass switch. A first current measuring arrangement is arranged in the at least one external conductor section, which is connected to an electronic control unit of the low-voltage circuit breaker. The electronic control unit is configured to actuate the bypass switch and the semiconductor circuit arrangement when a prespecifiable overcurrent is detected by the current measuring arrangement.

An electrical AC/DC converter arrangement includes: an AC circuit breaker; a rectifier; at least one smoothing capacitor; at least one first isolating relay for electrical isolation; at least one first current sensor; and a control and monitoring unit. An input of the AC circuit breaker forms an AC input of the arrangement. An output of the AC circuit breaker is connected, at least indirectly by a circuit, to an input of the rectifier. The at least one smoothing capacitor connects a first output of the rectifier to a second output of the rectifier. The first output of the rectifier is connected, at least indirectly by a circuit, to an input of the at least one first isolating relay. An output of the at least one first isolating relay forms a first DC output of the arrangement and connects a DC network to at least one first DC load.

Circuits for providing overcurrent protection are disclosed herein. The circuits feature depletion mode MOSFETs connected to resistive elements, preferably, Positive Temperature Coefficient (PTC) devices, configured in such a way so that the voltage across the PTC device is the same as the gate-to-source voltage of the MOSFET. The circuit may further be configured using a TVS diode, for clamping the drain-to-source voltage of the MOSFET during the overcurrent events. Heat transfer between the MOSFET and the PTC device facilitates overcurrent protection. A two-terminal device including a depletion mode MOSFET, a PTC device, and a TVS diode may provide overcurrent protection to other circuits. A bidirectional circuit c including two MOSFETS disposed on either side of a PTC is also contemplated for AC voltage overcurrent protection.

A protective apparatus of an energy storage device includes a current breaker that interrupts the current of the energy storage device, and a control part. There are a plurality of conditions having different current thresholds and cumulative thresholds, and the control part calculates a cumulative value N of times during which the current exceeds any one of the current thresholds Is, and executes current interruption processing of interrupting the current when the calculated cumulative value N exceeds one of the cumulative thresholds Ns associated with the current threshold Is.