Residential load center with arcing fault protection
First Claim
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1. A load center having arcing fault protection comprising:
- a main circuit breaker adapted for connecting between an external voltage source and a protected circuit having a plurality of branches, said main circuit breaker containing a pair of separable main contacts, said main circuit breaker including main overcurrent means for interrupting current flow through said main circuit breaker upon occurrence of an overcurrent condition within said protected circuit, said main circuit breaker including a single main arcing fault detection device for interrupting current flow through said main circuit breaker upon occurrence of an arcing fault condition within any branch in said protected circuit; and
a plurality of branch circuit breakers, each one of said branch circuit breakers connecting internally with said main circuit breaker contacts and connecting externally with said protected circuit through a plurality of electrical conductors, each one of said branch circuit breakers containing a pair of separable branch contacts and branch means for determining occurrence of all overcurrent condition within said protected circuit and for interrupting current flow through each one of said branch circuit breakers upon occurrence of all overcurrent condition within said protected circuit.
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Abstract
A residential load center includes an electronic trip unit as the main circuit breaker for overcurrent and arcing fault protection while connecting with thermal magnetic circuit breakers in each of the branch circuits for overcurrent protection within the individual branch circuits.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A load center having arcing fault protection comprising:
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a main circuit breaker adapted for connecting between an external voltage source and a protected circuit having a plurality of branches, said main circuit breaker containing a pair of separable main contacts, said main circuit breaker including main overcurrent means for interrupting current flow through said main circuit breaker upon occurrence of an overcurrent condition within said protected circuit, said main circuit breaker including a single main arcing fault detection device for interrupting current flow through said main circuit breaker upon occurrence of an arcing fault condition within any branch in said protected circuit; and
a plurality of branch circuit breakers, each one of said branch circuit breakers connecting internally with said main circuit breaker contacts and connecting externally with said protected circuit through a plurality of electrical conductors, each one of said branch circuit breakers containing a pair of separable branch contacts and branch means for determining occurrence of all overcurrent condition within said protected circuit and for interrupting current flow through each one of said branch circuit breakers upon occurrence of all overcurrent condition within said protected circuit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19)
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14. A method for providing arcing fault protection to an electric circuit comprising the steps of connecting a main circuit breaker between an external voltage source and a protected circuit, said main circuit breaker containing a pair of separable main contacts, said main circuit breaker including main overcurrent means for interrupting current flow through said main circuit breaker upon occurrence of an overcurrent condition within said protected circuit, providing said main circuit breaker with a single main arcing fault detection device, arranging the single main arcing fault detection device for detecting an arcing fault condition and for interrupting current flow through said main circuit breaker upon occurrence of an arcing fault condition anywhere within said protected circuit;
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connecting a plurality of branch circuit breakers with said main circuit breaker each one of said branch circuit breakers connecting internally with said main circuit breaker contacts and connecting externally with said protected circuit through a plurality of electrical conductors, each one of said branch circuit breakers containing a pair of separable branch contacts and branch means for determining occurrence of an overcurrent condition within said protected circuit and for interrupting current flow through each one of said branch circuit breakers upon occurrence of an overcurrent condition within said protected circuit. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
determining when said main circuit breaker trips;
turning off said branch circuit breakers;
turning on a first branch circuit breaker;
turning on said main circuit breaker;
determining whether said main circuit breaker has tripped;
turning off said first branch circuit breaker when said main circuit breaker trips and;
turning off said main circuit breaker when said main circuit breaker does not trip.
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Specification