| CPC H01H 71/04 (2013.01) [G01R 31/327 (2013.01); G01R 31/3274 (2013.01); G01R 31/3275 (2013.01); H01H 2071/044 (2013.01)] | 11 Claims |

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1. An apparatus for monitoring a circuit breaker, comprising:
a force sensor comprising:
a first face, and
a second face,
wherein the force sensor is attached to a stationary contact of the circuit breaker and is configured to measure a force applied to a fixed point of the force sensor by an element of a linkage mechanism in an actuating mechanism of the circuit breaker in a present operation cycle and generate a first data set representing signals corresponding to a measurement of the force in the present operation cycle;
a microprocessor,
wherein the microprocessor is configured to judge a health condition of the circuit breaker in consideration of normal operating condition related parameters of the element according to a history profile when the circuit breaker operated normally and current operating condition related parameters of the element in the present operation cycle extracted from the force represented by the first data set, and wherein the microprocessor is configured to generate a signal indicating the health condition of the actuating mechanism of the circuit breaker; and
a pin,
wherein the pin defines the fixed point, the pin being arranged through the force sensor through a hole defined at each of the first face and the second face, and through a hole defined at an end of the element of the linkage mechanism, wherein the pin pivotably couples the force sensor to the element of the linkage mechanism at the fixed point and forms a fulcrum; and
wherein the force sensor is electrically communicable with the microprocessor;
wherein the microprocessor is configured to extract a horizontal and a vertical component of the force measurement from the signals corresponding to the first data set, and extract a current operating condition related parameters of the element of the linkage mechanism of the circuit breaker based on the first data set.
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