World wide web enabled and digital rating plug for electronic trip unit in circuit breakers

摘要

Improvements to a rating plug (7) for an electronic trip unit (27) of a circuit breaker are disclosed. The rating plug (7) includes a non-volatile memory (55) which has access to current and frame rating information. A microcomputer in the electronic trip unit (27) may receive new current rating information over the World Wide Web (110) from a vendor system to update the current rating information of the rating plug (7). A program within the circuit breaker may detect errors in the new current rating information and may reject such and revert to a safe mode of operation. A billing system may be connected to the vendor system for calculating charges based on the transmission of the new current rating information. Preferably, the non-volatile memory (55) of the rating plug (7) is programmed at the factory site and a label adhered to the outer case of the rating plug (7) for indicating the current rating. The rating plug may then be inserted within the electronic circuit breaker and the field and the current rating altered as necessary using the remote altering system.