Patent ID: 7064944

Claim:
A circuit breaker for detecting overload of a circuit, comprising: a current detector configured to detect current flowing through a conductor and to output a current detection signal, the conductor being configured to electrically connect a source and a load in the circuit; a rectifier configured to rectify the current detection signal and to output a rectified signal; an overload indicative signal generator configured to integrate the rectified signal and to generate an overload indicative signal based on the rectified signal; an arc fault detector configured to detect whether an arc fault has occurred in the circuit based on the rectified signal; and a first discharge controller configured to control the overload indicative signal generator based on the detected arc fault such that the integrated signal is discharged, wherein the overload indicative signal generator comprises: an integrator configured to integrate the rectified signal, wherein the integrator comprises a resistor and a capacitor that is charged with the rectified signal; a reference voltage generator configured to generate a predetermined reference voltage; and a comparator configured to compare the reference voltage with the integrated signal to thereby generate the overload indicative signal, and wherein the first discharge controller comprises a silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) turned on when the arc detection signal is input to the gate terminal of the SCR so that the capacitor is coupled to the ground.