Patent ID: 8559150

Claim:
An electric circuit breaker apparatus for protecting an electrical circuit including a source and a load against excessive current loads, comprising: circuit breaker circuitry arranged in the electrical circuit in series between the source and the load and including a first circuit breaker corresponding to a mechanical interruption element in series with a second circuit breaker corresponding to a solid state interruption element; a first remotely programmable circuit breaker trip device programmed to receive an external command with a programmable current threshold corresponding to an overload condition, detect a load current level in the electrical circuit being carried by the solid state interruption element, and cause the second circuit breaker to break the electrical circuit depending on the detected current level in accordance with a first specified current duration associated with the programmable current threshold by activating the solid state interruption element so that load current no longer flows to the load; a second electrical circuit breaker trip device of a different type than the first remotely programmable circuit breaker trip device configured to cause the first circuit breaker to break the electrical circuit in accordance with a second specified current duration if a current flowing in the electrical circuit exceeds a predetermined rated current for more than the second specified current duration corresponding to the same type of overload condition by activating the mechanical interruption element to break the electrical circuit so that load current no longer flows to the load, wherein the predetermined rated current is larger than the programmable current threshold.