Advanced Circuit Breaker Leverages MEMS Switching
In this video, Menlo Micro uses its MEMS Ideal Switch architecture in a circuit breaker demonstrator. The company’s high-power MM9200 MEMS switch, when combined with a solid-state switch, can create a hot-switch system that's smaller and lighter while running cooler than legacy solutions.
The MM9200 targets applications like industrial automation, smart building controls, advanced energy-management systems, and many other space-constrained power-distribution applications. Its scalable design and process technology can address power distribution from microgrid to smart circuit breakers to smart point-of-load switching.
Ideal Switch technology offers extreme mechanical endurance, typically in the billions of switching cycles, which brings a significantly better lifetime than traditional electromechanical relays. This reliability and its arc-free capability can reduce maintenance and replacement costs. Also, the device’s 10-µs actuation speed, more than 1,000X faster than its electromechanical equivalent, enables new concepts for power switching and protection solutions.
