CN220382023U - Stroke control mechanism for molded case circuit breaker and molded case circuit breaker - Google Patents

Abstract

There is provided a stroke control mechanism comprising: the driver comprises a first driving rod and a second driving rod, and can move between a closing position and a separating position, and a handle of the molded case circuit breaker is positioned between the first driving rod and the second driving rod; when the driver moves from the closing position to the opening position, the first driving rod is engaged with the handle and pushes the handle to move along a first direction; when the driver moves from the opening position to the closing position, the second driving rod is engaged with the handle and pushes the handle to move along a second direction opposite to the first direction; and a closing assembly configured to engage and bias the actuator to the closing position when the actuator moves from the opening position toward the closing position, and when the molded case circuit breaker is tripped, the pushing force of the handle on the second driving lever is less than the holding force of the closing assembly to hold the actuator in the closing position, thereby holding the actuator in the closing position. According to a second aspect, there is also provided a molded case circuit breaker comprising the above-described travel control mechanism.

Description

Stroke control mechanism for molded case circuit breaker and molded case circuit breaker

Technical Field

The present application relates to a stroke control mechanism for a molded case circuit breaker and a molded case circuit breaker including such a stroke control mechanism.

Background

Molded Case Circuit Breakers (MCCBs) have three general operations, respectively: the starting points of the switching-on operation, the switching-off operation and the reset operation after tripping are different. The stroke of the electric operation of the molded case circuit breaker is a key for ensuring the switching-off and switching-on functions, the stroke of the electric operation must be pushed through a fixed position to ensure the normal operation of the three conventional operations, but cannot exceed the maximum position of switching-off and switching-on, so that the molded case circuit breaker must be accurately controlled, otherwise, the molded case circuit breaker is damaged.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above-mentioned drawbacks and disadvantages, it is an object of the present utility model to solve at least the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and to provide a stroke control mechanism capable of precisely controlling strokes of different operations of a molded case circuit breaker at a low cost.

The stroke control mechanism for a molded case circuit breaker according to the present utility model comprises: the driver can move between a closing position and a separating position and comprises a first driving rod and a second driving rod which is horizontally spaced from the first driving rod, and a handle of the molded case circuit breaker is positioned between the first driving rod and the second driving rod; wherein when the driver moves from the closed position toward the open position, the first drive lever is configured to engage the handle and push the handle to move in a first direction; the second drive lever is configured to engage the handle and urge the handle to move in a second direction opposite the first direction when the driver moves from the open position toward the closed position; and a closing assembly configured to engage and bias the driver to the closing position when the driver moves from the open position toward the closed position, and wherein an urging force of the handle in the first direction against the second drive lever is less than a holding force of the closing assembly to hold the driver in the closing position when the molded case circuit breaker is tripped, the closing assembly thereby holding the driver in the closing position.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present utility model, the travel control mechanism further comprises a brake release assembly configured to engage the actuator and bias the actuator to the brake release position when the actuator is moved from the brake release position toward the brake release position.

According to a preferred embodiment of the utility model, the actuator comprises a first mating feature on a side near the closing position and a second mating feature on a side near the opening position spaced apart horizontally from the first mating feature, wherein the closing assembly is configured to engage the first mating feature to bias the actuator towards the closing position and the opening assembly is configured to engage the second mating feature to bias the actuator towards the opening position.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present utility model, the travel control mechanism further comprises a first stop portion near the side of the closing position and a second stop portion horizontally spaced from the first stop portion near the side of the opening position, wherein the first stop portion is configured to engage with the closing assembly to limit further movement of the closing assembly toward the side of the opening position, and the second stop portion is configured to engage with the opening assembly to limit further movement of the opening assembly toward the side of the closing position.

According to a preferred embodiment of the utility model, the closing assembly comprises a telescopic closing push rod and a closing spring, wherein the closing push rod is pivotable about a first pivot axis, the closing spring being mounted to the closing push rod in its length direction such that the closing push rod is telescopic in its length direction under the influence of the closing spring, and wherein an end of the closing push rod is configured to engage the first mating feature and the first stop.

According to a preferred embodiment of the utility model, the end of the closing push rod is provided with a first recess configured to engage with the first mating feature and a second recess configured to engage with the first stop.

According to a preferred embodiment of the utility model, the brake release assembly comprises a retractable brake release push rod and a brake release spring, wherein the brake release push rod is pivotable about a second pivot axis horizontally spaced from the first pivot axis, the brake release spring being mounted to the brake release push rod in a length direction of the brake release push rod such that the brake release push rod is retractable in its length direction under the influence of the brake release spring, and wherein an end of the brake release push rod is configured to engage the second mating feature and the second stop.

According to a preferred embodiment of the utility model, the end of the brake release push rod is provided with a third recess configured to engage with the second stop and a fourth recess configured to engage with the second mating feature.

According to a second aspect of the present utility model, there is also provided a molded case circuit breaker including the stroke control mechanism as described above.

Drawings

The above and other features and advantages of exemplary embodiments of the present utility model will become more apparent from the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are provided for illustrative purposes only and do not limit the scope of the present utility model in any way, wherein:

fig. 1 shows starting points and strokes of three operations of the prior art electrical operation of a molded case circuit breaker;

fig. 2 shows starting points and strokes of three operations of the electrical operation of the molded case circuit breaker according to the present utility model;

fig. 3 illustrates a state in which a handle moves to a dead point during a closing operation of the molded case circuit breaker according to the present utility model;

fig. 4 shows a view of a molded case circuit breaker according to the present utility model, wherein the driver is in a closing position;

fig. 5 shows a view of the molded case circuit breaker according to the present utility model from the other side, wherein the driver is in the closing position;

fig. 6 shows a front view of the molded case circuit breaker of fig. 5 with an outer housing of the molded case circuit breaker partially removed;

fig. 7 is a view showing a process in which a driver of the molded case circuit breaker of fig. 6 moves from a closing position toward a breaking position;

fig. 8 is a view showing the driver of the molded case circuit breaker further moved from the state shown in fig. 7 toward the opening position;

fig. 9 shows a view of the driver of the molded case circuit breaker in the breaking position.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the technical solutions of the present disclosure more clear, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings of the specific embodiments of the present disclosure. Like reference numerals in the drawings denote like parts. It should be noted that the described embodiments are some, but not all embodiments of the present disclosure. All other embodiments, which can be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without the need for inventive faculty, are within the scope of the present disclosure, based on the described embodiments of the present disclosure.

Possible implementations within the scope of the present disclosure may have fewer components, have other components not shown in the drawings, different components, differently arranged components, differently connected components, etc., than the examples shown in the drawings. Furthermore, two or more of the elements in the figures may be implemented in a single element or a single element shown in the figures may be implemented as multiple separate elements.

Unless defined otherwise, technical or scientific terms used herein should be given the ordinary meaning as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. The terms "first," "second," and the like in the description and in the claims, do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one element from another. Where the number of components is not specified, the number of components may be one or more; likewise, the terms "a," "an," "the," and the like do not necessarily denote a limitation of quantity. The word "comprising" or "comprises", and the like, means that elements or items preceding the word are included in the element or item listed after the word and equivalents thereof, but does not exclude other elements or items. The terms "mounted," "configured," "connected," or "connected" and the like are not limited to physical or mechanical mounting, configuration, connection, but may include electrical mounting, configuration, connection, whether direct or indirect. "upper", "lower", "left", "right", etc. are used merely to denote relative positional relationships when the apparatus is in use or positional relationships shown in the drawings, and when the absolute position of the object to be described is changed, the relative positional relationships may be changed accordingly.

Fig. 1 shows starting points and strokes of three operations of closing, opening and resetting of an electric operation of a molded case circuit breaker in the prior art. As can be seen from the figure, the closing position is located at the leftmost end of the handle travel, the opening position is located at the rightmost end of the handle travel, and the releasing position is located between the closing position and the opening position. The stroke of the switching-on operation is from the rightmost end to the leftmost end, the stroke of the switching-off operation is from the leftmost end to the rightmost end, and the stroke of the resetting operation is from the middle tripping position to the rightmost end. It follows that the starting points and strokes of the three operations of the electrical operation of the molded case circuit breaker are different, which presents challenges for accurate control of the stroke of the electrical operation. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a stroke control mechanism capable of precisely controlling strokes of different operations of a molded case circuit breaker at a low cost, for example, by unifying starting points of the different strokes.

Fig. 2 shows the electrical operation stroke of the optimized molded case circuit breaker, and it can be seen from the figure that the trip position and the closing position are unified to be the same point, i.e. when the molded case circuit breaker fails to cause trip, the handle is still kept at the closing position. Therefore, the stroke of the reset operation is consistent with the stroke of the opening operation, and three strokes of the electric operation of the molded case circuit breaker are simplified into two strokes, so that the control of the strokes is simpler. The stroke control mechanism of the molded case circuit breaker realizing such stroke optimization is described below by way of example.

Fig. 4 shows a view of a molded case circuit breaker including a travel control mechanism according to the present utility model, wherein the actuator 10 is in a closed position. The driver 10 includes a first driving lever 11 and a second driving lever 12 horizontally spaced apart from the first driving lever 11, and a handle 20 of the molded case circuit breaker is located between the first driving lever 11 and the second driving lever 12 such that when the driver 10 moves from the closing position toward the opening position, the first driving lever 11 engages the handle 20 and pushes the handle 20 to move in a first direction (i.e., toward the opening position); when the actuator 10 moves from the open position toward the closed position, the second drive rod 12 engages the handle 20 and urges the handle 20 to move in a second direction opposite the first direction (i.e., toward the closed position). In the illustrated example, the driver 10 is in the form of a rack, and as can be seen in fig. 5, the rack 10 is engaged with the drive gear 30 and is capable of sliding horizontally along the slide rail 40 between a closing position and a opening position under the drive of the drive gear 30. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the actuator 10 is not limited to the form depicted in the present specification and drawings so long as it is capable of actuating movement of the handle 20 of the molded case circuit breaker between the closed and open positions.

The travel control mechanism of the molded case circuit breaker according to the present utility model includes a closing assembly for engaging the driver 10 and biasing the driver 10 to the closing position when the driver 10 moves from the opening position toward the closing position. Specifically, the closing assembly is pivotally mounted to the first pivot shaft 401, and includes a telescopic closing push rod 210 and a closing spring 220 sleeved outside the closing push rod 210 along a length direction of the closing push rod 210, and as can be seen in fig. 6, the closing spring 220 is sleeved between two protruding portions on an outer periphery of the closing push rod 210, so that the expansion and contraction of the closing spring 220 can drive the expansion and contraction of the closing push rod 210. To facilitate the limiting of the closing assembly and its engagement with the driver 10, a first recess 211 and a second recess 212 are provided at the ends of the closing push rod 210. The first recess 211 is adapted to engage with a first mating feature 101 on the driver 10 on a side near the closing position to urge the driver 10 toward the closing position; the second recess 212 is adapted to engage a first stop 501 on the molded case circuit breaker housing 50 to limit further movement of the closing assembly toward the side of the open position. The first mating feature 101 and the first stop 501 are for example in the form of protrusions.

Correspondingly, the stroke control mechanism of the molded case circuit breaker according to the present utility model further comprises a breaking assembly for engaging the driver 10 and biasing the driver 10 to the breaking position when the driver 10 moves from the closing position toward the breaking position. The brake release assembly is pivotally mounted to the second pivot shaft 402 and includes a retractable brake release plunger 310 and a brake release spring 320 disposed about the brake release plunger 310 along the length of the brake release plunger 310. Similar to the closing assembly, the opening spring 320 is sleeved between two protruding portions on the periphery of the opening push rod 310, so that the opening spring 320 can stretch to drive the closing push rod 310 to stretch. To facilitate the retention of the brake release assembly and its engagement with the driver 10, a third recess 311 and a fourth recess 312 are provided at the ends of the release plunger 310. The fourth recess 312 is adapted to engage the second mating feature 102 on the side of the actuator 10 proximate the open position to urge the actuator 10 toward the open position; the third recess 311 is adapted to engage with a second stop 502 on the molded case circuit breaker housing 50 to limit further movement of the opening assembly toward the side of the closing position. The second mating feature 102 and the second stop 502 are, for example, in the form of protrusions.

It should be noted that, referring to fig. 5, the first pivot shaft 401, the second pivot shaft 402, the first stopper 501 and the second stopper 502 are provided on the housing 50 of the molded case circuit breaker, and in fig. 6 to 9, the housing 50 is removed but the four components are remained for clarity of illustrating the internal structure of the molded case circuit breaker. Preferably, the first and second stops 501, 502 and the first and second pivot axes 401, 402 are symmetrically disposed with respect to a midpoint of travel of the driver 10.

The operation of the stroke control mechanism during the movement of the driver 10 from the closing position to the opening position is described below with reference to fig. 6 to 9. In fig. 6, the actuator 10 is in the closed position, the first recess 211 of the closing push rod 210 abuts the first mating feature 101 on the actuator 10, holding the actuator 10 in the closed position, and the third recess 311 of the opening push rod 310 engages the second stop 502. As the driver 10 is driven toward the opening position (i.e., in the rightward direction in fig. 6 to 9), the driver 10 drives the closing assembly to rotate clockwise toward the opening position to a position where the second recess 212 of the closing push rod 210 is engaged with the first stopper 501, as shown in fig. 7. As the actuator 10 moves further toward the opening position, the actuator 10 disengages from the first recess 211 of the closing push rod 210, and the closing push rod 210 abuts against the first stopper 501, and cannot continue to rotate clockwise. In connection with fig. 4, it is conceivable that in the process, the first driving lever 11 of the driver 10 pushes the handle 20 of the molded case circuit breaker in the first direction shown in fig. 7, i.e., drives the handle 20 toward the opening position.

The driver 10 continues to move toward the tripped position from the position shown in fig. 7 to the position shown in fig. 8, in which the fourth recess 312 of the trip pusher 310 is engaged with the second mating feature 102 on the driver 10, pushing the trip pusher 310 clockwise against the force of the trip spring 320 toward the tripped position, and the third recess 311 of the trip pusher 310 is clear of the second stop 502. When the opening push rod 310 rotates clockwise past the dead point, the force of the opening spring 320 pushes the opening push rod 310 to extend toward the upper right as shown in fig. 9, thereby pushing the driver 10 to move to the bottom toward the opening position and being held at the opening position by the opening assembly.

Due to the symmetrical construction of the travel control mechanism, the movement of the driver 10 from the off position towards the on position (and thus the movement of the handle 20 in a second direction opposite to the first direction, pushed by the second drive rod 12 of the driver 10) is deduced by a person skilled in the art from the above description and will not be repeated here.

In particular, when the molded case circuit breaker encounters a fault trip, the handle 20 of the molded case circuit breaker has a tendency to push (the second driving lever of) the driver 10 toward the opening position, but since the nature of the closing spring 220 is selected such that the pushing force of the handle 20 on the second driving lever 12 in the first direction is smaller than the holding force of the closing assembly to hold the driver 10 in the closing position, the driver 10 remains in the closing position when tripped, thereby achieving unification of the reset stroke and the opening stroke.

Another advantage of the travel control mechanism according to the present utility model is that, referring to fig. 3, the handle 20 of the molded case circuit breaker is moved to the dead point of the closing operation by the pushing of the second driving lever 12 of the driver 10. After passing the dead point, the handle 20 is accelerated to rotate anticlockwise, while the driver 10 is still moving at a constant speed, and the driver 10 does not interfere with the accelerated rotation of the handle 20 because the first driving rod 11 is spaced from the second driving rod 12 by a certain distance from the handle 20. It is contemplated that the second drive rod 12 will not interfere with the accelerating clockwise rotation of the handle 20 after the handle 20 moves past the dead point of the brake off operation under the pushing of the first drive rod 11 of the driver 10.

Although the utility model has been described in the specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings on the basis of various embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the above embodiments are merely preferred implementations, and that certain technical features in the embodiments may not be necessary to solve a particular technical problem so that these technical features may be omitted or omitted without affecting the solution of the technical problem or the formation of the technical solution; furthermore, the features, elements, and/or functions of one embodiment may be combined, or otherwise matched as appropriate with the features, elements, and/or functions of other one or more embodiments, unless such combination, or match is clearly impractical.

Claims (9)

1. A stroke control mechanism for a molded case circuit breaker, the stroke control mechanism comprising:

the driver can move between a closing position and a separating position and comprises a first driving rod and a second driving rod horizontally spaced from the first driving rod, and a handle of the molded case circuit breaker is positioned between the first driving rod and the second driving rod; wherein when the actuator is moved from the closed position toward the open position, the first drive lever is configured to engage the handle and urge the handle to move in a first direction; when the actuator moves from the open position toward the closed position, the second drive rod is configured to engage the handle and urge the handle to move in a second direction opposite the first direction;

and a closing assembly configured to engage and bias the driver to a closing position when the driver moves from a breaking position toward the closing position, and wherein an urging force of the handle in a first direction against the second drive lever is less than a holding force of the closing assembly to hold the driver in the closing position when the molded case circuit breaker is tripped, the closing assembly thereby holding the driver in the closing position.

2. The travel control mechanism of claim 1, further comprising a brake release assembly configured to engage the driver and bias the driver to a brake release position when the driver moves from a brake release position toward a brake release position.

3. The travel control mechanism of claim 2, wherein the actuator includes a first mating feature proximate a closing position side and a second mating feature horizontally spaced apart from the first mating feature proximate a opening position side, wherein the closing assembly is configured to engage the first mating feature to bias the actuator toward the closing position, and wherein the opening assembly is configured to engage the second mating feature to bias the actuator toward the opening position.

4. The travel control mechanism of claim 3, further comprising a first stop proximate a closing position side and a second stop horizontally spaced apart from the first stop proximate a opening position side, wherein the first stop is configured to engage the closing assembly to limit further movement of the closing assembly toward the opening position side, and wherein the second stop is configured to engage the opening assembly to limit further movement of the opening assembly toward the closing position side.

5. The travel control mechanism of claim 4, wherein the closing assembly comprises a retractable closing push rod and a closing spring, wherein the closing push rod is pivotable about a first pivot axis, the closing spring being mounted to the closing push rod along a length of the closing push rod such that the closing push rod is retractable along its length under the action of the closing spring, and wherein an end of the closing push rod is configured to engage the first mating feature and the first stop.

6. The travel control mechanism of claim 5, wherein an end of the closing push rod is provided with a first recess configured to engage the first mating feature and a second recess configured to engage the first stop.

7. The travel control mechanism of claim 5, wherein the trip assembly includes a retractable trip pusher and a trip spring, wherein the trip pusher is pivotable about a second pivot axis horizontally spaced from the first pivot axis, the trip spring being mounted to the trip pusher along a length of the trip pusher such that the trip pusher is retractable along its length under the action of the trip spring, and wherein an end of the trip pusher is configured to engage the second mating feature and the second stop.

8. The travel control mechanism of claim 7, wherein an end of the trip push rod is provided with a third recess configured to engage the second stop and a fourth recess configured to engage the second mating feature.

9. A molded case circuit breaker, characterized in that it comprises a stroke control mechanism according to any one of claims 1-8.