by Brianna Crandall — April 5, 2019 — Silicon Valley-based Amber Solutions, a disruptive company with technological breakthroughs that upgrades current 1950s-era electrical infrastructure, just announced plans for its next-generation smart circuit breakers, based on the company’s patent-pending technologies. Amber intends to deliver two configurations: the first is an electro-mechanical/solid-state hybrid for quicker time to market, and the second is a solid-state version with additional disruptive features.
CEO Thar Casey holds Amber’s premium solid-state smart circuit breaker, engineered to bring safety, energy awareness and intelligence. Image courtesy Amber Solutions
Amber’s circuit breakers are engineered to bring safety, energy awareness and intelligence above traditional and even connected solutions. The range of features includes enhanced reliability, arc-free switching, whole building energy awareness with power metering and management, capacitive touch and wireless control, programmability, and other functions not found in traditional circuit breakers.
Amber’s premium solid-state circuit breaker was demonstrated to the industry earlier this year at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show and the International Builder’s Show.
The first of the two planned circuit breaker configurations is a hybrid solution that offers Amber-powered solid-state functions, plus traditional electro-mechanical elements. This configuration upgrades current circuit breaker architecture with connectivity for remote wireless whole-building energy awareness, alerts and Internet of Things (IoT) functions, and enables quicker time to market for partners.
The second configuration improves upon the traditional electro-mechanical structure with solid-state, arc-free switching, also in today’s standard product footprint, that delivers Amber’s breakthrough advantages for whole-building energy awareness, alerts, IoT functions and wireless control. Both configurations are for global retrofit and new panel installations and will be an upgrade over legacy 1950’s era electrification infrastructure.
Thar Casey, CEO of Amber Solutions, stated:
We are pleased to announce this highly disruptive upgrade to the world’s old circuit breaker technology. The solid-state nature of our products delivers superior quality and advanced IoT with M2M integration for a truly modern, next-generation infrastructure within the electrical foundation of buildings.
And in conjunction with Amber’s broader portfolio of smarter outlets and switches, our circuit breaker becomes a strategic control center for what we call a “5th utility” in homes and buildings — intelligent infrastructure embedded directly in the walls of residential and commercial buildings.
On its own, Amber’s smart solid-state circuit breaker is reportedly unique and competitive. Yet, when installed in conjunction with Amber-powered solid-state outlets and switches, the portfolio will become a next-generation energy management ecosystem. Amber’s circuit breaker at the center of this ecosystem provides a highly disruptive whole-building energy awareness, management and cost-saving foundation that is connected and controllable down to every electrical endpoint in a building — every outlet and switch location, every recessed lighting can, and more.
This Amber-powered, IoT-optimized, next-generation infrastructure is said to be a breakthrough upgrade to the 1950s-era electrical infrastructure that exists in almost every building today, globally.
Amber will be working with major electrical product manufacturers and smart platform providers to bring its smart circuit breakers and other products in its portfolio to global market in 2020. Find out more on the Amber website.
