Patent ID: 7068483

Claim:
A protection system for a circuit comprising: a circuit breaker having at least one contact and being operable for opening and closing of said contact, said circuit breaker being coupled to said circuit; a lockout device having a locking member and being operably connected to said circuit breaker to prevent said circuit breaker from closing said contact thereby causing a lockout state and to permit said circuit breaker to close said contact thereby causing an enable state, said locking member being movable; at least one control processing unit controlling said lockout device; and a network communicatively coupled to said at least one control processing unit and said lockout device, wherein said at least one control processing unit selectively generates a lockout signal and communicates said lockout signal over said network to said lockout device, said circuit breaker being placed into said lockout state by said locking member of said lockout device in response to said lockout signal, and wherein said at least one control processing unit selectively generates an enable signal and communicates said enable signal over said network to said lockout device, said circuit breaker being placed into said enable state by said locking member of said lockout device in response to said enable signal.