A method of establishing, and recording, the cause of a power interruption to the load in solenoid-operated electronic miniature circuit breakers of various types without extensive digital resources is presented. In some designs of electronic miniature circuit breakers a circuit breaker trip event will change the inductance of the trip solenoid. This change will take place for an electronic trip or a mechanical trip. A record of the electronic trip signal issued to the solenoid will be present to check against and differentiate the occurrence of an electronic trip from a mechanical trip. The mechanical trip occurs without the electronics and is also indicated by the change in inductance. Thereby, the cause of the power interruption can be determined, recorded and reported.

Systems and methods for detecting an arc fault in a circuit breaker use a single-coil current rate of change (di/dt) sensor for monitoring both low frequency alternating current (AC) and broadband high frequency noise on a power line. The di/dt sensor is optimized to amplify any broadband high frequency noise, typically from about 1 MHz to 40 MHz, that may be present on the power line. Low frequency signals representing the current being monitored, typically from about 1 Hz to 10 KHz, is provided to an active integrator circuit with a high gain to enable the single-coil sensitivity. To shorten capacitor charge up time of the active integrator circuit, a charging current is provided to the active integrator circuit upon startup of the circuit breaker.

A unipolar switching module made of insulating material and including an incorporated thermomagnetic tripping set, and/or a current measurer and power supply set for an electronic controller A multipolar low-voltage molded case circuit breaker can include unipolar switching modules, which interact with the tripping set and/or the current measurer and power supply set.

A method for protecting an electrical low-voltage circuit for a protective switching device. A mechanical break contact unit, which is switched by opening or closing contacts for current flow in the low-voltage circuit, and an electronic interrupter, which is switched by semiconductor-based switching elements into a high-impedance state or a low-impedance state of the switching elements, are connected in series. If the level of current in the low-voltage circuit exceeds a current threshold value, prevention of current flow through the low-voltage circuit is initiated by high-impedance switching of the electronic interrupter. When the electronic interrupter is high impedance or switched to high impedance, the level of current in the low-voltage circuit continues to be determined, and if a first residual current threshold value is exceeded, the contacts of the mechanical break contact unit are opened.

A circuit breaker device for a low-voltage circuit has a mechanical isolating contact unit connected in series with an electronic disconnection unit. The mechanical isolating contact unit is switched by opening contacts to prevent current flow or closing the contacts for current flow in the low-voltage circuit. The electronic disconnection circuit is switched by semiconductor-based switching elements into a high-resistance state of the switching elements or into a low-resistance state of the switching elements for current flow in the low-voltage circuit. When the amount of an instantaneous current value of the low-voltage circuit exceeds at least one current threshold value, prevention of the current flow of the low-voltage circuit is initiated. The at least one current threshold value is adjusted according to the magnitude of the voltage of the circuit breaker device.

A method includes receiving a first set of operational parameters that correspond to one or more semiconductor devices of a solid-state circuit breaker and sending a first command to the solid-state circuit breaker to turn off the one or more semiconductors in response to the first set of operational parameters exceeding a first set of thresholds. The method includes sending a second command to the solid-state circuit breaker to turn on the one or more semiconductors in response to the first set of operational parameters being equal to or less than the first set of thresholds. The method includes receiving a second set of operational parameters that correspond to one or more electrical properties associated with an operation of the solid-state circuit breaker coupled to a load device and generating a baseline profile representative of the first set of operational parameters and the second operational parameters.

The present disclosure provides a high voltage and high current switch with zero-phase waiting and a control method. The switch includes two or more switching units connected in series, each of the switch unit modules includes a main switch circuit, an auxiliary switch circuit, a voltage-equalizing power supply circuit unit, a switch control and communication circuit unit, and a current transformer; and the auxiliary switch circuit and the voltage-equalizing power supply circuit unit are connected in parallel between two ends of the main switch circuit, and the current transformer is connected to the main switch circuit; an output of the current transformer is connected to the voltage-equalizing power supply circuit unit which supplies power to the switch control and communication circuit unit, and the switch control and communication circuit unit is configured to control the closing and opening of a main relay and an auxiliary relay.

A circuit breaker includes contacts movable between a closed position wherein a line terminal and a load terminal are in electrical communication, and an open position wherein the line and the load terminals are electrically isolated. A primary trip coil and a secondary trip coil are connected to the contacts, each causing the contacts to move from the closed position to the open position when activated, thereby tripping the breaker. A monitoring circuit, upon a determination being made that the breaker is not operating within acceptable trip parameters, causes activation of the primary coil, and, upon a determination being made that the breaker is not operating within acceptable disable parameters, causes activation of the secondary coil. The breaker is user resettable if the breaker has been tripped by the primary trip coil, but is not user resettable if the breaker has been tripped by the secondary trip coil.

In one embodiment, there is a fault interrupter device comprising at least one sensor comprising at least one first transformer having at least one outer region forming an outer periphery and at least one inner hollow region. There is also at least one second transformer that is disposed in the inner hollow region of the at least one first transformer. The transformers can be substantially circular in configuration, and more particularly, ring shaped. In another embodiment there is a rotatable latch which is used to selectively connect and disconnect a set of separable contacts to selectively disconnect power from the line side to the load side. The rotatable latch is in one embodiment coupled to a reset button. In at least one embodiment there is a slider which is configured to selectively prevent the manual tripping of the device.

A trip for electrical switching device including a protective housing, first electrical connection terminals, and a supply module including at least one transformer and second input and output terminals able to be connected to the first connection terminals according to a direction of connection. The supply module is able to generate a supply voltage on the basis of an input voltage received between the second input terminals and to deliver the supply voltage between the second output terminals. The supply module is movable with respect to the protective housing.