At IMTS 2026, Eaton sales manager Neil O'Shea said a plant's electrical system is like the circulatory system—if something suddenly spikes (or drops), you're in trouble.
"If the electricity goes high, it probably means something bad is happening," said O'Shea. "Shafts are binding, bearings are wearing—something is in trouble. If all of a sudden the power drops, a belt might have broken, a shaft might have broken—some mechanism within your machine might have broken."
The Eaton Power Defense Circuit Breaker was the first designed to let plant personnel see an electrical system's inner workings. O'Shea said it cuts costs by preventing downtime and flags potential issues before they happen. Rather than waiting for the belt to break, the motor to burn out or the electrical system to short, the breakers identify problems before they happen. The breaker also lets you download information before, during or after an event for analysis.
The circuit breaker communicates information to the cloud and then to whatever device or automation system a user has implemented. Eaton also has its own platform to manage smart buildings, Brightlayer, an EMS platform that delivers reliable energy insights and control. O'Shea said it's a fundamental building block to all industrial automation.
"Our roots go back to the beginning of alternating current," O'Shea said. "Our first principal engineer was Nikola Tesla, so we've been the leader in circuit protection since the beginning of circuit protection."
Eaton developed the Power Defense Circuit Breaker as a building block for IoT and the factory of the future, with bolt holes designed as a plug-and-play replacement. The breaker is also designed to be communication-agnostic to fit existing building automation systems.
The Eaton Power Defense molded case circuit breaker portfolio is now available at DigiKey.
"DigiKey is one of Eaton's premier electrical distributors," O'Shea added. "They offer a lot of tools and resources, technical support, and they try to keep a lot of our products in stock. So, if a customer wants and needs an electrical product, more than likely, DigiKey has it in stock and will ship in an amazingly fast time."
