ABB’s groundbreaking air circuit breaker is set to bring major benefits to energy markets. Networks stand to benefit from improvements to cybersecurity, reliability, adaptability, safety and more.
According to research released this year by the International Energy Agency (IEA), global energy demand grew at a faster than average rate of 2.2 per cent in 2024 – and electricity demand grew at almost twice that pace.
The IEA attributes the increase to electrification, digitalisation and rising temperatures, with transportation and data centres forming particularly energy-hungry growth points.
As our societies’ critical infrastructure – advanced manufacturing and data centres, rail infrastructure and hospitals – becomes increasingly reliant on robust electricity networks, engineers are looking for greater resilience and security in those power systems.
To ensure these systems can operate effectively and efficiently, global leader in electrification and automation ABB has introduced SACE Emax 3, a new model of air circuit breaker technology that has been designed to integrate seamlessly into existing systems and equipment.
Safe and secure
According to Milad Mostowfivala, ABB Australia and New Zealand’s Senior Product Marketing Manager for Smart Buildings and Smart Power, the Emax 3 introduces advances across three key pillars: cybersecurity, reliability and adaptability.
The circuit breaker’s cybersecurity pillar, Mostowfivala said, has become increasingly important as artificial intelligence functionality has grown in digital systems.
“At the same time, the cyber threat has increased, because there has been more interest from bad actors in being able to intrude into controls and confidential data,” he said.
“We have introduced the first circuit breaker on the market that is compliant with the cyber security standard IEC62443-4-2 SL2. This standard specifies technical security requirements for industrial automation components, and SL2 ensures protection against intentional misuse by attackers.
“It has a role-based access control safeguard, which allows you to restrict access only to certain people and, at the same time, assists in protecting against any unauthorised interrogation control, takeover, or data breaches.”
Mostowfivala says the SACE Emax 3 features that enhance overall operational safety and build trust among stakeholders in modern electrical systems are important for energy network operators across any number of sectors.
“We are focusing on the data centre market, telecommunication providers, defence, and critical infrastructure such as airports, metros, suburban rail, and health care,” he said.
“The utility sector will also benefit from this – both power and water utilities.”
Reliable technology
As well as a secure product, the SACE Emax 3 is also a distinctly dependable one, with remote racking and embedded rapid arc flash detection features that contribute to the dependability of its operation.
“Emax3 is able to provide arc flash protection directly from pressure and temperature sensors that directly link to the circuit breaker, rather than connect via a secondary controller,” Mostowfivala said.
“That elimination assists with making the operation faster in terms of its fault-clearing action. It enables quicker commissioning and troubleshooting of a system when it’s installed at any site and significantly reduces the risk of injury and equipment damage, ensuring safe and uninterrupted operations.”
Also enhancing the product’s safety is its remote racking device function, which allows for manual disconnection of electrical power from a sub-network without an operator being physically present.
“Whereas previously a human technician would have to go in and do the racking themselves, exposing them to potential electric shock or injury, racking can now be done on your smart phone,” Mostowfivala said.
“That assists oil and gas customers on offshore rigs, for instance, or defence or data centre customers who have a significant number of restrictions regarding the operation of their facility.”
Ready for anything
After security and reliability, the third pillar of SACE Emax 3’s resilience is its adaptability. Its sensors can capture and log such electrical data as rate of change of frequency, changes in voltage stacks and voltage swells and power quality, while predictive maintenance capabilities provide accurate estimations on when maintenance is needed.
“In some cases, switchgear requires frequent inspection and service, but sometimes it’s the other way around,” Mostowfivala said.
“Some switchgear is rarely used at the capacity in which the rating was designed for. In that case, it means that the asset is being underutilised, and costly maintenance activities aren’t necessary.”
Emax 3’s predictive maintenance can monitor an asset in real time and respond to changes within the load profile of electrical systems.
“It’s crucial to understand when maintenance should be conducted, and this algorithm can help with planned shutdown and can also equally assist with providing a forward view into the health index of the circuit breaker,” Mostowfivala said.
“It uses humidity level, ambient temperature, internal temperature, contact-wear, vibration exposure and corrosiveness of the atmosphere are all taken into account.”
And all this functionality can be easily incorporated into existing systems, simply by swapping out an old circuit breaker and upgrading to the new Emax 3.
“As a technology provider, we are at the forefront of innovation,” Mostowfivala said. “With this new release, we are the first to enable brand-new functionalities for the market and we believe that we will be able to create a safer, robust and more trusted electrical distribution system.”
To find out more about ABB’s groundbreaking air circuit breaker, register to attend the upcoming virtual launch of the SACE Emax 3 on 22 October 2025.
