Jan Feb 2019 Electric.ie Magazine

4 ELECTRIC.IE • The Magazine & Website for the Irish Electrical Industry • Tel: +353 (0)1 4572445 Email: electrical@tec.ie RCDs Since the widespread application of RCDs in the 1960s, the number of injuries from electric shock has declined dramatically. 1957 Gottfried Biegelmeir pioneered the development of time-delayed tripping and secured the first patent for an applicable residual current circuit breaker (RCB). He had recognized the need to disconnect fault currents by detecting unbalanced currents and found a reliable way to reliable way to realize this in protection devices. Biegelmeier was chief technical officer of Felten & Guillaume, which later became part of Eaton, and is recognised as the father of the RCD for the robust tripping mechanism he invented. EATON is the world’s leading manufacturer of digital protection devices, and the first to offer RCDs with digital features that provide higher levels of functionality and availability.