CIRCUIT BREAKER INDICATION DEVICE

A circuit breaker device with an integrated indication light display. The integrated indication light display may display a representation of the amount of current running through a circuit that the circuit breaker device is connected to. The indication light display may be a Light Emitting Diode Bar and may display multi levels indicating whether there will be a circuit overload.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Broadly, an embodiment of the present invention provides a circuit breaker device with an integrated indication light display. The integrated indication light display may display a representation of the amount of current running through a circuit that the circuit breaker device is connected to. The indication light display may be a Light Emitting Diode Bar and may display multi levels indicating whether there will be a circuit overload.

The present invention may include a device that determines and displays a current level from a circuit breaker. The induction created by the wire feeding circuit breaker may drive an indicating device, such as a display. The present invention may provide a visual display of up to all of the circuits in a panel. Therefore, the present invention may provide an early warning of any circuit that is close to overloading and thereby provides a warning for a potential electrical fire. Further, in certain embodiments, the device may display which circuits are underutilized. The indicating display of the present invention may be integrated with the circuit breaker and may easily be installed into a circuit breaker panel.

Referring toFIG. 1 through 3, the present invention may include a circuit breaker housing16containing a standard circuit breaker10. The circuit breaker10may further include an indication light display14. In certain embodiments, the indication light display14may include a series of lights that may move up and down a bar. In certain embodiments, the series of lights may be a Light Emitting Diode (LED) bar. For example the LED bar may be a Kingsbright® LED display. However, it is envisioned that the indication light display14may be any display including, but not limited to, Liquid Crystal Display, Organic LED, plasma, or any suitable displaying device. As illustrated inFIGS. 1 and 2, the indication light display14may display a non-overload condition, only displaying one lit bar and up to an overload condition, in which all bars may be lit.

In certain embodiments, the circuit breaker10of the present invention may be powered by a current transformer. The current transformer may be used to measure alternating electric currents. When the current is too high to measure, the current transformer may produce a reduced current that is accurately proportional to the current in the circuit so that the current may be measured. In certain embodiments, the current transformer may be a Triad® CT. The current transformer may sense the alternating current and supply a signal to an integrated circuit or a multi processor unit.

As illustrated inFIG. 3, the integrated circuit may receive and process the signal in the signal processing box. The boost regulator may stabilize the voltage that is read through the current transformer. The integrated circuit may sense analog voltage levels and drive the indication light display14. The integrated circuit may control the cascading indication light display by feeding the analog signal and proportionally lighting up the lights, such as LED segments, on the indication light display14. In certain embodiments, the integrated circuit may be protected by resistors, such as two resistors. The integrated circuit of the present invention may include an LM 3916.

In certain embodiments, a multi processor unit (MPU) containing a microchip may be used. The MPU may receive the information from the current transformer and then display a representative level of current on the indication light display14, such as the LED bar mentioned above. The more AC current that is used, the more segments on the LED bar are displayed. For example, if fifteen amps are going through the current transformer, all the LED bars may be lit, including red LED bars indicating a maximum capacity of the circuits. Conversely, if only one amp is going through the current transformer, only a single green LED bar may be lit.

In alternative embodiments, the present invention may further include a software application on a smart device. Instead of, or in addition to the indication light display14, the circuit breaker10may further include a wireless transmitting component, such as Wi-Fi. The wireless transmitting component may transmit a level of current running through the circuit to the software application. The software application may then display a representation of the amount of current on the smart device. Therefore, a user may use a smart device to determine whether a circuit is about to be overloaded, functioning normally, or whether the circuit is being underutilized.