Patent ID: 6992872

Claim:
A method of protecting multiple feeder circuits fed from a shared electrical distribution system, comprising: providing a bypass line, said bypass line being configured to bypass corresponding separable circuit breaker contacts in each of a plurality of feeder circuits between a load side and a line side of the electrical distribution system; providing bypass switches in said bypass line, said bypass switches being configured to selectively couple each of the feeder circuits one at a time to said bypass line; providing a fault lockout protection controller coupled to said bypass line; controlling said fault lockout protection controller to detect the existence of a fault condition on said load side of the feeder circuit selectively coupled to said bypass line prior to closing said corresponding separable circuit breaker contacts of the selectively coupled feeder circuit by providing a test voltage to said load side to induce a test current in said load side, said test voltage being less than a voltage in said line side; and controlling said fault lockout protection controller to prevent closure of said corresponding separable circuit breaker contacts upon detection of said fault condition.