Patent ID: 8213144

Claim:
A method of providing protection against arc flash on a low voltage power circuit including a circuit breaker having a specified trip function for responding to a fault, the method comprising: overriding the specified trip function with an altered trip function determined by a central control processing unit based on a location of the fault relative to the circuit breaker such that arc energy in the fault during a trip with the altered trip function is reduced when compared with arc energy during a trip with the specified trip function; wherein the overriding the specified trip function with an altered trip function further comprises performing an adjustment of a trip curve of the circuit breaker in-situ via a human-machine-interface and the central control processing unit over a data network, the data network being disposed external of the circuit breaker; and identifying a characteristic associated with the circuit breaker via a tag associated with the circuit breaker, the tag being configured to interface with the data network to communicate the associated characteristic to the central control processing unit.