Reporting circuit breaker and system

Abstract

A circuit breaker having internal power monitoring and data signal generating apparatus, and a system for utilizing such a circuit breaker in a facility having a plurality of tenants served by branch circuits from a plurality of distribution panels. The circuit breaker radiates signals indicative of power consumption of the branch circuit protected thereby, together with a unique address identifier tied to one tenant. Electrical billings are based on summing all signals for each tenant. Changes to branch circuits during tenancy will not disturb correct billings since individual circuit breakers are associated with that tenant using power supplied by each branch circuit. Hence changes to branch circuits may be limited to modify building space locations served by the modified branch circuit, and need not be further modified to maintain correct billing in light of the circuit changes.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A circuit breaker, comprising:
 a plurality of terminals disposed to receive and electrically connect to external power conductors;   a circuit closure device connected to provide a continuous electrical circuit extending between at least two of said plurality of terminals, and to interrupt said continuous yet interruptible electrical circuit in response to a current flow between said plurality of terminals in excess of a selected threshold value, wherein the circuit closure device comprises separable contacts disposed serially within said continuous electrical circuit, an externally accessible operating handle which is capable of moving between a first position wherein the contacts close to complete an electrical circuit extending between two of the terminals and a second position wherein the contacts are separated to open said electrical circuit extending between two of the terminals;   a current monitoring device disposed to provide a signal in response to a flow of current in said continuous electrical circuit, which said signal is indicative of magnitude of the flow of current;   a transmitter disposed to generate a first radiated signal which is indicative of the sensed magnitude of the flow of current, and a second radiated signal which is indicative of identification of the circuit breaker; and   a housing disposed to entirely and internally contain said circuit closure device, said current monitoring device, and said transmitter, wherein said housing is dimensioned and externally configured in the manner of a conventional commercially available circuit breaker for use with plug-in distribution panels.   
     
     
         2 . The circuit breaker of  claim 1 , wherein said current monitoring device comprises a current transformer current measuring device. 
     
     
         3 . The circuit breaker of  claim 1 , wherein said second radiated signal is a unique identification signal capable of distinguishing the circuit breaker generating the second radiated signal from other structurally similar circuit breakers which generate other radiated signals containing identification data. 
     
     
         4 . The circuit breaker of  claim 1 , wherein the second radiated signal contains identification data correlating the circuit breaker generating the second radiated signal with a predetermined one of plural occupants of a facility containing the circuit breaker which generates the second radiated signal in a manner which distinguishes the predetermined one of the plural occupants from radiated signals of circuit breakers associated with other ones of the plural occupants. 
     
     
         5 . The circuit breaker of  claim 1 , wherein the transmitter is wireless. 
     
     
         6 . The circuit breaker of  claim 5 , wherein the transmitter is a radio frequency transmitter. 
     
     
         7 . The circuit breaker of  claim 1 , further comprising an illuminable indicator disposed on the externally accessible operating handle of the circuit closure device, and circuitry disposed to illuminate the illuminable indicator so as to annunciate an operating condition of the circuit breaker. 
     
     
         8 . The circuit breaker of  claim 7 , wherein the illuminable indicator comprises a light emitting diode. 
     
     
         9 . The circuit breaker of  claim 7 , wherein the circuitry is disposed sense current flowing through the terminals of the circuit breaker and to illuminate the illuminable indicator responsive to sensing of current flowing through the terminals of the circuit breaker. 
     
     
         10 . The circuit breaker of  claim 9 , wherein the illuminable indicator is green. 
     
     
         11 . The circuit breaker of  claim 7 , wherein the circuitry is disposed sense tripping of the circuit breaker and to illuminate the illuminable indicator responsive to sensing tripping of the circuit breaker. 
     
     
         12 . The circuit breaker of  claim 11 , wherein the illuminable indicator is red. 
     
     
         13 . A method of managing a commercial facility having plural tenants and building space subdivided into tenant spaces occupied by individual tenants for whom power consumption is to be billed to a dedicated billing account for each tenant according to usage of each one of the tenant spaces, and wherein remodeling changes to the tenant spaces occur over, comprising the steps of:
 providing a commercial facility subdivided at least into a plurality of tenant spaces each having and individual tenant, and a plurality of electrical distribution panels which collectively provide branch circuits to each one of the plural tenant spaces, wherein each branch circuit is protected by a circuit breaker located in one of the electrical distribution panels, and each branch circuit comprises a point of use portion and a power transport portion;   providing and operating a remote electrical monitoring and reporting system which is disposed to monitor electrical consumption characteristics of at least one branch circuit at the circuit breaker serving that one branch circuit, to generate radiated consumption data signals indicative of monitored electrical consumption characteristics, and to generate radiated address data signals which identify that tenant which is associated with that circuit breaker for which the radiated consumption data signals were generated, such that for each individual tenant there is correspondence between total electrical consumption data for all branch circuits serving that individual tenant and the billing account for that individual tenant;   receiving and processing radiated consumption data signals and radiated address data signals for a plurality of the branch circuits of the commercial facility in a manner which determines billing charges for at least two of the tenants and generates billing charges to be applied to each one of the at least two tenants;   effecting at least one tenant usage change wherein remodeling changes comprise at least one of the group including adding at least one load device to the point of use portions of branch circuits, construction of new branch circuits, and reconnection of reused point of use portions of branch circuits to branch circuits not formerly serving the reused point of use portions of branch circuits;   continuing after effecting at least one tenant usage change to operate the remote electrical monitoring and reporting system such that billing charges for the tenants continue to reflect, for each tenant, only electrical power actually consumed by each one of the tenants after the tenant usage changes, and wherein the billing charges are based only on the radiated consumption data signals and radiated address data signals associated with individual branch circuits.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , comprising the further step of causing the radiated consumption data signals and the radiated address data signals associated with each tenant to originate within the circuit breakers serving that tenant. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the step of providing a commercial facility subdivided at least into a plurality of tenant spaces each having and individual tenant, and a plurality of electrical distribution panels which collectively provide branch circuits to each one of the plural tenant spaces, wherein each branch circuit is protected by a circuit breaker located in one of the electrical distribution panels, and each branch circuit comprises a point of use portion comprises the further step of providing a circuit breaker as defined in  claim 1  as that circuit breaker protecting at least one of the branch circuits. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the step of providing a circuit breaker as defined in  claim 1  as that circuit breaker protecting at least one of the branch circuits comprises the further step of providing a circuit breaker as defined in  claim 1  for each of the branch circuits. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the step of effecting at least one tenant usage change comprises the further step of reallocating at least part of a point of use portion of at least one branch circuit to serve another one of the tenant spaces. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the step of effecting at least one tenant usage change comprises the further step of continuing to supply each tenant space which has undergone tenant usage changes with branch circuits which originate at a circuit breaker located closest to the point of use portion of the branch circuit for each branch circuit which has been modified to accommodate the tenant usage changes.