Circuit breakers are the most widely used distribution management equipment in industrial production and daily life, and almost all areas of electricity are inseparable from circuit breakers. For the circuit breaker, which is an extremely important power device, its intelligent realization is of great significance.
The intelligence of circuit breakers has become a new development direction of power switchgear, power system relay protection, industrial supply and distribution system and industrial control network technology in the field of electrical engineering.
The birth and evolution of circuit breakers
Circuit breakers are divided into high voltage circuit breakers and low voltage circuit breakers according to their range of use. Generally, more than 3kV is called high-voltage circuit breaker, which is widely used in the industrial market. Low-voltage circuit breakers are commonly used in daily life.
The world's earliest circuit breaker was produced in 1885, which is a combination of a knife switch and an overcurrent tripper.
In 1905, an air circuit breaker with a free trip device was born.
After 1930, with the advancement of science and technology, with the discovery of the arc principle and the invention of various arc extinguishing devices, the circuit breaker gradually formed the current structure. At the end of the 1950s, due to the rise of electronic components, electronic trippers were produced.
Since entering the new century, with the development of AI, IoT, ICT and other technologies, intelligent micro circuit breakers have come out.
In 2013, Shenzhen Manton Technology was established in Shenzhen, focusing on the development and production of intelligent miniature circuit breakers (iMCB). As the first international leading brand to obtain China's national 3C certification and EU CE certification, Manton Internet of Things Air-Open led the wisdom micro-breaking industry to pioneer the frontier.
Under the historical opportunity of smart city construction and intelligent transformation of power grid, the intelligent miniature circuit breaker developed by Manton Technology has filled the domestic gap, surpassed the international giants, and led the intelligent power upgrading of user-side electrical safety, energy consumption monitoring and energy-saving services.
In mid-2017, the National Energy Administration organized the compilation of the China energy industry standard for intelligent micro circuit breakers, and promoted the construction of user-side smart electricity from the national energy policy and industry standards. Manton Technology has become a standard preparation unit together with ABB, Siemens, Schneider and other internationally renowned electrical companies.
Intelligent circuit breaker is the realistic requirement of the development of the times
With the development of intelligent technology, querying basic data such as electricity consumption, electricity prices, and energy consumption at any time, and controlling the circuit system in real time through the mobile Internet, has become the basic demand for a new generation of consumers.
On the other hand, with the development of the national economy and the continuous progress of technology, both industrial production and daily life have put forward higher and higher requirements for the stability, reliability and safety of power supply. Economic development is interlocked, and the energy supply needs to achieve uninterrupted power supply, and even if the power is cut off, it requires that the power outage time be as short as possible and the scope of the power outage is as small as possible.
This requires the power supply system to have a relatively high degree of automation and intelligent level, when the power system fails, the intelligent protection equipment in the system can identify the type of fault in time, quickly disconnect the fault part of the system, and prevent the failure from further expanding. In addition to being able to properly split the rated current of the related system, it is also necessary to quickly and selectively and reliably break the short-circuit fault current of the related system in the event of a related system failure, and there can be no skipping or rejecting phenomenon.
Intelligent circuit breakers integrate functions such as metering, control and communication, making it possible to modularize and systematize power equipment. The continuous development of microcontroller technology has provided technical support for the diversification of intelligent circuit breaker functions, the improvement of reliability, and the optimization of performance. As a supplement to intelligent circuit breaker technology, intelligent monitoring and control technology of circuit breaker has also been developed accordingly and widely used in engineering.
The substitution of intelligent air opening to the traditional air opening is an inevitable trend of the development of the times. With the wide application of power electronics technology and automatic control theory, the rapid development of computer and network communication technology, and the in-depth research and comprehensive application of sensor technology and artificial intelligence, the function of intelligent circuit breakers has been greatly expanded and improved.
The market demand and market size of intelligent circuit breakers
Low-voltage circuit breakers are an important part of the electrical industry, and more than 80% of the electrical energy emitted by power generation equipment is distributed and used through low-voltage circuit breakers. For every 10,000 kW additional power generation equipment, about 20,000 pieces of various low-voltage circuit breakers are needed to match it.
Key industry players in the global circuit breaker market include GE-Alstom, Schneider Electric, Siemens, ABB, and others. According to a report by global Market Insights, the global circuit breaker market is expected to exceed $13.5 billion by 2024, and the Chinese circuit breaker market will exceed $2 billion by then.
The layout of smart grids has become an important strategic measure for the country to seize the commanding heights of the future low-carbon economy, and it is also an important part of promoting the goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in the future. The intelligent circuit breaker is a widely used device in the layout of the smart grid.
Intelligent circuit breaker is a new blue ocean market under the integration of the Internet of Things and vertical industries. China installs 2 billion new empty units every year, which is equivalent to an incremental scale of 300 billion yuan. At present, there are 60 billion empty stocks, and old equipment needs to be gradually replaced and upgraded, which means nearly 10 trillion yuan of stock market. These stock and incremental circuit breakers will gradually complete intelligent transformation in the future. Such a huge market size and growth potential means that there is a huge space for the market to improve.
As an emerging industry integrating new technologies such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, big data, and mobile Internet, the smart micro-break industry is thriving and steadily advancing under the innovation exploration and leadership of the industry pioneers represented by Manton Technology.