CN218730703U - Drive module and contactor - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a drive module for driving a movable contact of a main circuit of a contactor (10) in a movement with respect to a stationary contact, said drive module comprising: a transmission (200) having a driven portion (210) and a driving portion (220), said driving portion (220) being operatively associated with said movable contacts; an operating handle (300) operatively coupled to the driven portion (210) of the transmission (200) to move the movable contact relative to the stationary contact via the transmission (200); wherein the operating handle (300) comprises a stop portion (310), the stop portion (310) being configured to be able to cooperate with a housing (20) of the contactor (10) when the movable contact is engaged with the stationary contact to prevent movement of the operating handle (300). A contactor (10) comprising such a drive module is also disclosed.

Description

Drive module and contactor

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a contactor, and more particularly, to a contactor for controlling the opening of a motor of a fire pump.

Background

Contactors are known in the art which are generally equipped with a main circuit, a control circuit and possibly an electromagnetic mechanism. The main circuit comprises a fixed contact and a movable contact, and the movable contact can move relative to the fixed contact to close and open the main circuit. The optional electromagnetic mechanism comprises an iron core, a coil and an armature, wherein the coil and the armature are arranged around the iron core, the armature can be connected with the moving contact, a magnetic field is induced in the iron core when the coil is electrified, the armature can be attracted to move towards the iron core by the magnetic field, and meanwhile, the armature drives the moving contact to move towards the fixed contact so as to close the main loop; when the coil is powered off, the magnetic field in the iron core disappears, so that the armature moves away from the iron core, and meanwhile, the armature drives the moving contact to move away from the static contact to break a main loop. The control circuit may then be remotely located with respect to the main circuit of the contactor and is used to control the energisation and de-energisation of the electromagnetic mechanism and thus the closing and opening of the main circuit. The control circuit may be in a normally open mode, with the electromagnetic mechanism in a normally different electrical mode accordingly.

In some applications, in the event of a control loop failure, such as a control loop burn out, it is still necessary to close the main loop to ensure proper operation of other components associated with the main loop. This is particularly the case if the contactor is used to control the opening of the motor of the fire pump, since it is necessary to be able to ensure proper operation of the fire pump in the event of a fire.

Therefore, there is a need for a drive module for driving the movable contacts of the main circuit of a contactor which allows to reliably close the main circuit with a simple and easy-to-operate structure in case of failure of the control circuit of the contactor.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

To this end, according to an aspect of the present invention, a driving module is provided, which is used for driving a moving contact of a main circuit of a contactor to move relative to a static contact, and the driving module includes: a transmission member having a driven portion and a driving portion, the driving portion being operatively associated with the movable contact; the operating handle is operatively coupled with the driven part of the transmission piece so as to drive the movable contact to move relative to the fixed contact through the transmission piece; wherein the operating handle includes a stop portion configured to be cooperable with a housing of the contactor to prevent movement of the operating handle when the movable contact is engaged with the stationary contact.

According to various embodiments, the drive module proposed by the present invention may further comprise one or more of the following further improvements.

In some embodiments, the position of the stop relative to the operating handle can be adjusted.

In some embodiments, the stop is a pin that is fixable relative to the operating handle, the operating handle having a plurality of holes in different positions for fixing the pin.

In some embodiments, each of the plurality of holes is in communication with a common runner provided in the operating handle, the pin being slidable in the common runner.

In some embodiments, the driven portion of the drive member is provided with a first non-circular through hole, the drive module further comprising a drive shaft at least partially having a cross-section complementary to the first non-circular through hole and disposed through the first non-circular through hole, wherein the operating handle is coupled with the drive member via the drive shaft.

In some embodiments, the actuating end of the operating handle is provided with a second non-circular hole, and the actuating end of the operating handle is sleeved on the shape matching section of the transmission shaft through the second non-circular hole so as to allow the operating handle to drive the transmission shaft to rotate through the shape matching of the second non-circular hole and the shape matching section when the operating handle rotates.

In some embodiments, the form-fitting section is provided at an end of the drive shaft.

In some embodiments, the cross-section of the first non-circular through-hole, the drive shaft, and the second non-circular hole is triangular or rectangular or pentagonal or hexagonal or elliptical.

In some embodiments, the drive module further comprises a fixedly arranged support, the transmission shaft being provided with a circular cross-section outside the transmission, the circular cross-section being positioned in a corresponding circular hole of the support.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a contactor is provided, the contactor comprising the driving module as described above.

According to various embodiments, the contactor of the present disclosure may further comprise one or more of the following further improvements.

In some embodiments, the contactor further comprises an electromagnetic drive mechanism including an armature connected to the movable contact; wherein a spindle passes through a first through-hole in the armature and a second through-hole in the drive portion of the transmission to allow the spindle to rotate freely in the first through-hole and to allow translational movement to be transmitted between the transmission and the armature through the spindle.

In some embodiments, the electromagnetic drive mechanism further comprises an iron core and a coil disposed around the iron core.

In some embodiments, the contactor further comprises a control circuit, the closing and opening of the control circuit controlling the energizing and de-energizing of the electromagnetic drive mechanism.

In some embodiments, the primary circuit is associated with a motor of a fire pump; wherein: when the main loop is closed, the motor can drive the fire pump to operate; when the main loop is disconnected, the motor cannot drive the fire pump to operate.

In some embodiments, the housing of the contactor is provided with an actuation hole allowing the actuation end of the operation handle to pass through from the outside.

Drawings

To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the drawings that are required to be used in the embodiments will be briefly described below, it should be understood that the following drawings only illustrate some embodiments of the present disclosure and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope, and for those skilled in the art, other related drawings may be obtained from the drawings without inventive effort. In the drawings:

fig. 1 schematically shows a perspective exploded view of a part of a contactor according to an embodiment of the invention, comprising a drive module according to an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 2 schematically shows in a side view the cooperation between the operating handle of the drive module and the housing of the corresponding contactor according to one embodiment of the invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of an operating handle of the driving module according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a perspective view of an operating handle of a driving module according to another embodiment of the present invention.

List of reference numerals

10. Contactor

100. Support piece

130. Circular hole

200. Transmission member

210. Driven part

220. Driving part

221. Second through hole

240. A first non-circular through hole

250. Transmission shaft

251. Circular cross-section

252. Form-fitting section

300. Operating handle

310. Stopper part

320. Hole(s)

330. Public chute

340. Actuating terminal

341. Second non-circular hole

350. Operation terminal

600. Main shaft

700. Armature iron

740. First through hole

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, a driving module and a contactor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. To make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present disclosure more clear, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, but not all embodiments of the present disclosure.

Thus, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present disclosure, presented in conjunction with the figures, is not intended to limit the scope of the claimed disclosure, but is merely representative of selected embodiments of the disclosure. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments disclosed herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

The singular forms include the plural unless the context otherwise dictates otherwise. Throughout the specification, the terms "comprises," "comprising," "has," "having," "includes," "including," "having," "including," and the like are used herein to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, or groups thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, or groups thereof.

In addition, even though terms including ordinal numbers such as "first", "second", etc., may be used to describe various elements, the elements are not limited by the terms, and the terms are used only to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first component could be termed a second component, and, similarly, a second component could be termed a first component, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

In the description of the present invention, it is to be understood that the terms "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "inner", "outer", etc. indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, or orientations or positional relationships that are conventionally placed when the disclosed products are used, or orientations or positional relationships that are conventionally understood by those skilled in the art, which are merely for convenience of describing and simplifying the present disclosure, but do not indicate or imply that the referred device or element must have a specific orientation, be constructed in a specific orientation, and be operated, and thus should not be construed as limiting the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 1 to 4, according to an aspect of the present invention, a driving module is provided, which is used for driving a movable contact of a main circuit (not shown) of a contactor 10 to move relative to a fixed contact, the fixed contact of the main circuit of the contactor 10 may be fixedly disposed relative to a fixed frame of the contactor 10, for example, and the movable contact may move to engage with and disengage from the fixed contact, so as to close and open the main circuit. In order to be able to drive the movable contacts to control the closing and opening of the main circuit, the driving module may be provided with a transmission 200 operatively associated with the movable contacts and an operating handle 300 operatively coupled with the transmission 200. The operating handle 300 can be operated by an operator, and the operating handle 300 can drive the moving contact to move relative to the fixed contact via the transmission member 200.

To this end, in one embodiment, as shown in fig. 1-4, the transmission member 200 may be provided with a driven portion 210 and a driving portion 220, wherein the transmission member 200 is operatively associated with the movable contact via its driving portion 220 and operatively coupled with the operating handle 300 via its driven portion 210 to allow the movable contact to be moved relative to the stationary contact via the transmission member 200 when the operating handle 300 is operated by an operator. According to the present invention, a stopper 310 is provided on the operating handle 300, and the stopper 310 is configured to be capable of cooperating with the housing 20 of the corresponding contactor when the movable contact is engaged with the stationary contact, so as to prevent the movement of the operating handle 300, thereby locking the engagement between the movable contact and the stationary contact. The invention thus allows to manually complete the engagement between the moving and stationary contacts and the locking of this engagement when required in a very simple manner. More specifically, the present invention allows to achieve the cooperation of the stop 310 of the operating handle 300 with the casing 20 of the contactor 10 without any modification of the casing 20 of the contactor 10, thus achieving the locking of the engagement of the moving contacts with the static contacts.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 1-4, the position of the stop 310 relative to the operating handle 300 can be adjusted. Such an embodiment is particularly advantageous in allowing the same operating handle 300 to be used for housings 20 of contactors 10 of different sizes, shapes and configurations, so that the operating handle 300 can be adapted to the housing 20 to cooperate with the housing 20 to lock the cooperation between the movable and stationary contacts. In one particular embodiment, as shown in fig. 1 and 3-4, the stop 310 may be provided as a pin that is capable of being fixed relative to the operating handle 300. More specifically, the position of the pin on the operating handle 300 is adjustable, while the pin can be fixed relative to the operating handle 300 while achieving the locking function. In a variant, as shown in fig. 3, a plurality of holes 320 are provided in the operating handle 300 in different positions for fixing the pin, to allow the position of the pin on the operating handle 300 to be adjustable according to the specific configuration of the housing 20 of the contactor 10. A row of 3 holes 320 is shown in fig. 3 arranged along the length of the operating handle 300, but it should be noted that the number and arrangement pattern of the holes 320 in fig. 3 is merely illustrative and not restrictive, and the number and arrangement of the holes 320 may be selected according to actual needs. In another variation, as shown in fig. 4, a plurality of holes 320 at different positions for fixing the pin are provided in the operating handle 300, and a common slide groove 330 communicating with each of the plurality of holes 320 is also provided, along which the pin can slide to be locked in the appropriate hole 320 as needed.

In some embodiments (not shown), a mating stop for mating with the stop 310 of the operating handle 300 may additionally be provided in the housing 20 of the contactor 10 to achieve locking of the stop 310 of the operating handle 300 on the mating stop of the housing 20.

In some embodiments, when it is desired to release the locking between the movable and stationary contacts, at least a portion of the pin can come out of the corresponding hole 320 in the operating handle 300, so that the pin is no longer in contact with the housing 20, thereby releasing the locking.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 1, the driven portion 210 is provided with a first non-circular through hole 240, and the driving module further comprises a driving shaft 250, and the driving shaft 250 may be provided to have a cross section complementary to the first non-circular through hole 240 in the driven portion 210 of the driving member 200 at least in part and to pass through the first non-circular through hole 240. In this case, operating handle 300 is then coupled with transmission member 200 via drive shaft 250. More specifically, the operating handle 300 may drive the transmission shaft 250 to move, so that the transmission shaft 250 drives the transmission member 200 to move by matching with the shape of the first non-circular through hole 240, and thus the driving portion 220 of the transmission member 200 can drive the movable contact to move relative to the fixed contact. In some embodiments, the cross-section of the first non-circular through-hole 240 and the drive shaft 250 may be triangular or rectangular or pentagonal or hexagonal or elliptical, preferably square.

It should be noted that in the context of the present invention, two components being "operably associated" may be understood as being arranged to be capable of transferring motion or power between each other.

Thus, according to the present invention, by providing the transmission member 200 having the through-hole 240 with the non-circular cross section and the transmission shaft 250 that is shape-fitted to the through-hole 240, the movement and the power transmission between the transmission shaft 250 and the transmission member 200 can be simply and reliably realized, and the movement transmitted to the transmission member 200 through the transmission shaft 250 can be the superposition of the rotational movement and the translational movement due to the non-circular cross section.

As shown in fig. 1 and 3-4, according to a more specific embodiment, in order to enable the driving of the transmission shaft 250 by the operating handle 300 in an equally reliable and simple manner, the actuating end 340 of the operating handle 300 may be provided with a second non-circular hole 341, the second non-circular hole 341 being fitted over the transmission shaft 250, more particularly over a corresponding form-fitting section 252 of the transmission shaft 250, e.g. at a longitudinal end of the transmission shaft 250, to allow the operating handle 300 to drive the transmission shaft 250 in rotation by form-fitting of the second non-circular hole 341 with the transmission shaft 250, and thus to drive the driving portion 220 of the driving member 200 in a superimposed translational and rotational movement. Similarly, the cross-section of the second non-circular bore 341 and the corresponding form-fitting section 252 of the drive shaft 250 may be triangular or rectangular or pentagonal or hexagonal or elliptical, as shown. Additionally, as shown, the operating handle 300 may further include an operating end 350 disposed opposite the actuating end 340, the operating end 350 being the portion of the operator's hand holding the operating handle 300.

In a more specific embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, the drive shaft 250 of the drive module is provided with a circular cross-section 251 outside the transmission, which circular cross-section 251 is positioned in a corresponding circular hole 130 of the frame of the contactor 10 or of the support 100 comprised by the drive module. More specifically, circular cross-sectional sections 251 may be provided on each side of drive shaft 250 outside drive member 200, each circular cross-sectional section 251 being positioned in a respective circular aperture 130 of support member 100 or chassis. The purpose of this arrangement will be described in detail when describing the contactor 10 as proposed by the present invention.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a contactor 10 is also provided, which includes the driving module as described above.

According to some embodiments, the housing 20 of the proposed contactor 10 is provided with an actuation hole allowing the actuation end 340 of the operation handle 300 to pass through from the outside, to allow the actuation end 340 of the operation handle 300 to contact the corresponding component for operation.

According to some embodiments, the contactor 10 comprises a fixedly arranged frame and the fixedly arranged support 100 of the drive module may be part of the frame, e.g. integrally formed with or attached to the frame.

In some embodiments, the contactor further comprises an electromagnetic driving mechanism comprising an armature 700 (shown in fig. 1), the armature 700 being arranged in connection with the movable contact, the transmission member 200 of the driving module 10 being able to transmit a power and translation motion to the movable contact via the armature 700 to drive the movable contact towards or away from the stationary contact. In particular, as shown in fig. 1, a main shaft 600 may be provided which passes simultaneously through a first through hole 740 in the armature 700 and a second through hole 221 in the drive portion 220 of the transmission member 200, the main shaft 600 being separate from the above-mentioned drive shaft 250, the main shaft 600 having, for example, a circular cross-section, the first through hole 740 being, for example, a circular through hole 740, to allow the main shaft 600 to be able to rotate in the first through hole 740 and to allow a translational movement to be transmitted between said transmission member 200 and said armature 700 by means of the main shaft 600. More specifically, as shown in fig. 3, the spindle 600 may form an interference fit with the second through hole 221 in the transmission member 200.

Thus, when the operating handle 300 rotates the transmission shaft 250, the transmission shaft 250 can rotate the transmission member 200, and due to the non-circular cross section of the transmission shaft 250 and the first non-circular through hole 240, the motion transmitted by the transmission shaft 250 to the transmission member 200 is a superposition of a rotational motion and a translational motion, which allows, on the one hand, the main shaft 600 to rotate in the circular first through hole 740 of the armature 700, and, on the other hand, the main shaft 600 to exert a translational motion on the armature 700, thereby allowing the armature 700 to drive the movable contact connected thereto to move to close or open the stationary contact, and thus to close or open the main circuit.

In some embodiments, not shown, the electromagnetic drive mechanism further includes a core and a coil disposed around the core, the coil, when energized, will induce a magnetic field in the core that will attract the armature 700 to move relative to the core, thereby moving the movable contact. In a more specific embodiment, the contactor 10 may further comprise a control circuit cooperating with the electromagnetic drive mechanism to allow remote control of the closing and opening of the main circuit of the contactor 10, i.e. the closing and opening of the control circuit may control the energizing and de-energizing of the coil of the electromagnetic drive mechanism accordingly. For example, the control circuit may be a normally open circuit, i.e. normally open, which in turn causes the electromagnetic drive mechanism to be normally de-energized, thereby causing the main circuit to be normally open.

Thus, the movable contacts of the main circuit of the contactor 10 can be driven to move in two ways, one way being to control the electromagnetic drive mechanism by means of the control circuit, and the other way being to transmit the motion to the movable contacts by means of the drive module, i.e. by means of the operating handle 300, through the transmission shaft 250 and the transmission member 200. This allows to still be able to close the main circuit of the contactor when the control circuit itself is not available, for example when the control circuit fails, more specifically for example when the control circuit burns out.

In a more specific embodiment, as described above and shown in fig. 1, the circular cross-section 251 of the drive shaft 250 of the drive module, which is arranged outside the transmission piece, is positioned in a corresponding circular hole of the support 100 or the frame. More specifically, circular cross-sectional sections 251 may be provided on each side of drive shaft 250 outside drive member 200, each circular cross-sectional section 251 being positioned in a respective circular aperture 130 of support member 100 or chassis. In this way, when the movement of the armature 700 of the electromagnetic drive is controlled, for example by a control circuit, the armature 700 carries the spindle 600 in translation, in which case the circular cross-section 251 of the drive shaft 250 is freely rotatable in the circular hole 130 of the support 100 or of the frame, thus allowing free rotation of the transmission member 200. That is, the transmission member 200, the transmission shaft 250 of the drive module do not affect the movement of the armature 700 when the main circuit of the contactor 10 can be closed and opened by the control circuit and the electromagnetic drive mechanism.

In a particular embodiment, not shown, the main circuit 10 of the contactor is associated with an electric motor for turning on the fire pump, which is turned on and therefore able to drive the fire pump to operate when the main circuit is closed, and is deactivated and therefore unable to drive the fire pump to operate when the main circuit is open. The utility model provides a contactor 10, through setting up drive module and allow still can closed major loop in the condition that control circuit can not be used to can ensure the motor of fire pump all the time and consequently ensure that the fire pump can be started.

Exemplary embodiments of the drive module and contactor according to the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments, however, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes may be made to the above specific embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention, and various combinations of the various technical features and structures provided by the present invention may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

The scope of the present disclosure is not defined by the above-described embodiments but is defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.

Claims (15)

1. A drive module for driving a movable contact of a main circuit of a contactor (10) in motion with respect to a stationary contact, characterized in that it comprises:

a transmission (200) having a driven portion (210) and a driving portion (220), said driving portion (220) being operatively associated with said movable contacts;

an operating handle (300) operatively coupled to the driven portion (210) of the transmission (200) to move the movable contact relative to the stationary contact via the transmission (200);

wherein the operating handle (300) comprises a stop portion (310), the stop portion (310) being configured to be able to cooperate with a housing (20) of the contactor (10) when the movable contact is engaged with the stationary contact to prevent movement of the operating handle (300).

2. The drive module according to claim 1, characterized in that the position of the stop (310) relative to the operating handle (300) is adjustable.

3. The drive module according to claim 2, characterized in that the stop (310) is a pin which can be fixed relative to the operating handle (300), a plurality of holes (320) being provided in the operating handle (300) in different positions for fixing the pin.

4. The drive module according to claim 3, characterized in that each of the plurality of holes (320) communicates with a common runner (330) provided in the operating handle (300), the pin being slidable in the common runner (330).

5. The drive module according to any one of claims 1 to 4,

the driven part (210) of the transmission member (200) is provided with a first non-circular through hole (240),

the drive module further comprising a drive shaft (250) having at least partially a complementary cross-section to the first non-circular through-hole (240) and being arranged to pass through the first non-circular through-hole (240),

wherein the operating handle (300) is coupled with the transmission (200) via the transmission shaft (250).

6. The drive module of claim 5,

the actuating end (340) of the operating handle (300) is provided with a second non-circular hole (341), and the actuating end (340) of the operating handle (300) is sleeved on the shape matching section (252) of the transmission shaft (250) through the second non-circular hole (341) so as to allow the operating handle (300) to drive the transmission shaft (250) to rotate through the shape matching of the second non-circular hole (341) and the shape matching section (252) when rotating.

7. The drive module of claim 6,

the form-fitting section (252) is arranged at an end of the drive shaft (250).

8. The drive module according to claim 7, wherein the cross-section of the first non-circular through hole (240), the transmission shaft (250) and the second non-circular hole (341) is triangular or rectangular or pentagonal or hexagonal or elliptical.

9. The drive module according to claim 5, further comprising a fixedly arranged support (100), the drive shaft (250) being provided with a circular cross-sectional section (251) outside the transmission piece (200), the circular cross-sectional section (251) being positioned in a corresponding circular hole (130) of the support (100).

10. A contactor, characterized in that the contactor (10) comprises a drive module according to any of claims 1-9.

11. The contactor according to claim 10,

the contactor (10) further comprises an electromagnetic driving mechanism, the electromagnetic driving mechanism comprises an armature (700), and the armature (700) is connected with the movable contact;

wherein a main shaft (600) passes through a first through hole (740) in the armature (700) and a second through hole (221) in the drive portion (220) of the transmission piece (200) to allow the main shaft (600) to rotate freely in the first through hole (740) and to allow a translational movement to be transmitted between the transmission piece (200) and the armature (700) by the main shaft (600).

12. The contactor according to claim 11, wherein said electromagnetic drive mechanism further comprises a core and a coil disposed about said core.

13. A contactor according to claim 12, characterized in that said contactor (10) further comprises a control circuit, the closing and opening of which controls the energizing and de-energizing of said electromagnetic drive mechanism.

14. The contactor according to any of claims 10 to 13,

the main loop is associated with a motor of the fire pump;

wherein:

when the main loop is closed, the motor can drive the fire pump to operate;

when the main loop is disconnected, the motor cannot drive the fire pump to operate.

15. Contactor according to any of claims 10 to 13, characterized in that the housing (20) of the contactor (10) is provided with an actuation hole allowing the actuation end (340) of the operating handle (300) to pass through from the outside.

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