by Shane Henson — April 17, 2013—ABB, a global power and automation technology group, launched what it says is the world’s first low-voltage circuit breaker with integrated energy management functions. Called Emax 2, the product was developed to replace existing traditional breakers and has the potential to achieve annual savings of 5.8 million megawatt-hours (MWh), or the electric consumption equivalent of 1.4 million U.S. households per year, the company said in its announcement this month.
“Because breakers are all around us, the total energy savings potential is massive,” said Tarak Mehta, head of ABB’s low voltage products division. “It’s a great example of how we can use smart technology to reduce energy wastage. This is good news for the environment and for our customers who can achieve significant cost savings by switching to our new device.”
As ABB explains, breakers like the Emax 2 are used where protection and control of large amounts of energy are used in a low-voltage environment like supermarkets and malls, hospitals and data centers. 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 nonessential 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, says ABB.
The development of the new Emax 2 breaker took several years and was led by ABB’s development center in Bergamo, Italy. ABB is a global provider of power automation technologies, including electric power, industrial motors, industrial automation and robotics offerings, that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 145,000 people, including some 7,000 research and development technologists worldwide.
