ABB has created a low-voltage circuit breaker - the Emax 2 - with integrated energy management functions, which the company says can help an individual building reduce peak power by as much as 15 percent.
Breakers like the Emax 2 are used where protection and control of large amounts of energy are used in a low-voltage environment like industrial and commercial buildings, data centers or ships. The breaker contains a protection trip relay with an integrated power controller that measures and evaluates energy consumption, then manages the loads to maintain or reduce the peak power usage as determined by the user. This will also help prevent blackouts since the root cause is often peak demand exceeding supply.
To manage energy, the electricity supply to non-essential equipment is switched off and back on again as soon as acceptable power levels are reached. Intelligent decision making is achieved by a built in controller and software that uses complex algorithms to decide when it is appropriate to switch the power while maintaining the overall functionality or productivity of the connected equipment. The breaker also has a communication module that allows it to share vital consumption and system reliability data directly with smart grid and other protocols.
The development of the new Emax 2 breaker took several years and was led by ABB’s development center in Bergamo, Italy.
