ABB has launched Emax 2, which it says is the first low-voltage circuit breaker with integrated energy management functions. Its development took several years and was led by the company's development centre in Bergamo, Italy.
Replacing existing traditional breakers with the Emax 2 breaker, says ABB, has the potential to achieve annual savings of 5.8 million MWh, the equivalent electric consumption of 1.4 million EU households per year and reducing emissions of CO2 by 4 million tons. For an individual building installation, a reduction in peak power demand of up to 15 % can be achieved by using Emax 2 in place of traditional breakers. With energy savings on this scale it will typically pay for itself within a year.
Breakers of this kind are used where protection and control of large amounts of energy are used in a low-voltage environment like those found in industrial and commercial buildings, data centres or marine vessels.
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 may also help prevent blackouts since often they are caused by peak demand exceeding supply.
The 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 consumption and system reliability data directly with smart grid and other protocols.
"Breakers provide one of the largest untapped opportunities in the electric system to achieve energy savings. Breakers have been used to increase safety and protect electric circuits, but now for the first time we use them to save energy too," said Tarak Mehta, head of ABB's Low Voltage products division.
Linkedin
