DE2329642A1 - MULTI-PHASE RELAY FOR CONTROLLING CONTACTORS - Google Patents

Description

PATK IfTAKWALT Dipl. Ing. R. HOLZEK

AUOSBURO

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Augsburg, June 7, 1973

Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghouse Building, Gateway Center, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania 15222, V.St.A.

Multi-phase relays for controlling contactors

The invention relates to a multi-phase relay for controlling SchaItschUtζen, with a relay in one of its Operating position holding release, furthermore with the release depending on predeterminable overload limit values and phase asymmetry limit values in the sense of a

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Opening the contactor, actuating means, each have bimetals assigned to a phase and bendable in the same direction, and with a sliding piece arrangement for converting the bimetal bends into a release movement of the release.

Thermal overload contactors, which in case of overload interrupt a multi-phase circuit are already known

The object of the invention is to be achieved in the case of a multi-phase relay of the general type set out at the beginning Art to provide a release mechanism that is as simple as possible in terms of its structure, which is nevertheless reliable works and responds faster to overload conditions that cause phase asymmetry than to overload conditions that do not affect the phase symmetry.

In terms of solving this problem, such a multi-phase relay according to the invention is characterized in: that the sliding piece arrangement consists of two mutually parallel sliding pieces and one on one of the two Sliding pieces can be swiveled around a fixed pivot point.

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steered lever, the latter on one of his The fulcrum distant point attacks directly on the trigger, and that the one sliding piece on the more stretching Sides of the bimetallic parts and the other push stack on the weaker stretching sides of the Has bimetals abutting parts and at one between the pivot point of the lever and its point of application on Acts located trigger point in the direction of the trigger back on the lever, so that with simultaneous deflection of all bimetals a straight-line displacement of the entire sliding piece arrangement and in the event of a deflection of less than all bimetals a displacement of said other sliding piece relative to said one Sliding piece and 'consequently a pivoting movement of the lever results

A preferred embodiment of the invention is Described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, for example.

Fig. 1 is a side view showing

arranged as a thermally actuated relay according to the invention next to a contactor can be,

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Fig. 2 is a front view of the relay

according to the invention,

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the fiction

proper relays,

Fig. 4 is a rear view of the invention

appropriate relay,

Fig. 5 is also a rear view of the

relay according to the invention, but in the tripped state,

6 along a horizontal section

the line VI-VI in Fig. 4,

FIG. 7 shows one of FIG. 6 corresponding

Representation, but in a different operating position, and

8 is an exploded view of a

the bimetal elements.

Fig. 1 shows an electrical control device or, a thermally actuated relay 10 in connection with a

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Contactor 12 for switching a load, for example a three-phase motor, the relay and the contactor are electrically connected to one another by an electrical connection 1 * 1 running between terminals 16 and 18. The contactor is constructed in the usual way, as shown, for example, in US Pat. No. 3,368,171.

According to Pig, 4, the relay 10 has a cast insulating housing 20 with a front wall 22, a upper wall 24, a bottom wall 26 and each other opposite side walls 28 and 30. These walls form an open cavity 32 for receiving of the functional parts of the relay, the cavity 32 consists of three chambers, which by insulating, integral with Partitions 34, 36 and 38 molded into the housing are separated are. As FIGS. 2 and 3 show, the partitions 34, 36 and 38 extend over the top wall 24 and over a part of the front wall 22 of the housing 20 and delimit spaces in each of which one, in each case one phase assigned line connection is arranged. Each line connection has an approximately L-shaped connection piece which protrudes through an opening in the upper wall 24 of the housing 20 into the cavity 32, where it is fastened by means of a screw 42. The housing 20 is

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provided with a cover 44 (Fig. 1 and 3) which is fastened by means of screws 46 which are inserted into threaded bores 48 (Fig. 4) are screwed in.

The relay mechanism located in the cavity 32 has an operating mechanism 50 and an operating mechanism 52, which are fastened in a suitable manner in the housing. The working mechanism 50 has an electric conductive, L-shaped frame 54, which extends through an opening in the upper wall 24 to the front (Fig. 2) extends towards where it forms a connection piece provided with a connection screw 56. The frame is fastened to the front wall 22 by means of a screw 58 and has two protruding parallel prongs 60 and 62 (Fig. 4) which are used to attach other parts of the working mechanism 50, for example one Adjusting lever 64, a release lever or compensation bimetal 66, a contact carrier 68, a reset pin 70 and a compression spring 72. The working mechanism is used to press and lift the contact carrier 68 with a movable contact 76 to or from a stationary one Contact 74 for the purpose of opening and closing a circuit.

Fixed contact 74 is on the top

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a U-shaped connecting piece 78 is mounted, the lower end of which is attached to a connecting lug 80, which latter extends through an opening in the front wall (FIG. 2), where it has a clamping screw 82. The adjustment lever 64 is pivotally mounted on the prong 60 and has a lower end portion 84 which is substantially is bent at a right angle and provided with a slot in which the release lever or the compensation bimetal 66 is pivotably mounted. The adjusting lever 64 is assigned an adjusting knob 86, which is rotatable in the upper Wall 24 of the housing 20 is mounted and one with the upper end of the adjusting lever 64 has cooperating cam surface 88, so that the position of the lever 64 accordingly different currents, as indicated by dashed lines position 64a in Fig. 4 shows. The adjustment knob 86 is described in more detail in US Pat. No. 3,265,831.

The release lever 66 has a bent upper part, which in its latched position on the upper The end of the contact carrier 68 rests, as shown in FIG. 4, and that in its notched position (FIG. 5) to the left is withdrawn so that the contact carrier 68 under the

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Influence of the compression spring 72 can assume its uppermost position A compression spring 94 arranged between the release lever 66 and the partition wall above the end part 84 of the adjusting lever 64 urges the release lever 66 into its latched position (Fig. 4), the lower end of the release lever 66 acts with it a slide assembly, generally designated 92, as will be described later.

The upper end of the contact carrier 68 is divided into three parts, namely one on one side of the prong 62 located middle part 96 and side parts 98, only one of which is shown and which is on the other side of the Prongs 62 are located. The prong 62 thus guides the contact carrier 68 when it is under the pressure of the spring for the purpose of opening the contacts 74 and 76 upwards moves and when the contact carrier when pressing down the reset pin 70 for the purpose of closing the contacts and 76 is moved downwards. Contacts 74 and 76 can be in be connected in the known way in the excitation circuit of the contactor.

At a distance from the fixed contact 74 is another

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Fixed contact 100 arranged, with which the movable contact 76 closes when the contact carrier 68 is released by the release lever 66 and the contacts 76 and 76 open under the pressure of the spring 72. The contact sits on a connection lug 102 which extends through an opening in the front wall 22 of the housing 20 and is provided with a clamping screw 104 for connecting the contact to a circuit, for example to a Alarm circuit to indicate the trigger status of the relay

Although the release lever 66 is shown as a simple lever, it can be designed as a bimetal and then serves in a known way to compensate for the ambient temperature,

When the contact carrier 68 is released by the release lever 66 and is therefore in the position shown in FIG Moved position, the end 68a of the contact carrier 68 takes the reset pin 70 at its lower end and moves move it into a position indicating the release state, in which the other end of the reset pin 70 protrudes further from the relay housing and thus the tripped state of the relay. To reset the relay and to close contacts 74 and 76, the reset

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pin 70 is pressed down by hand against the spring pressure of the spring 72 until the upper end of the central part 96 of the contact carrier is below the end part 90 of the release lever 66, so that the spring 9 ¹ I returns the release lever to its original position in which it is about the upper end of the central part 96 of the contact carrier engages and thereby locks the contact carrier 68 in its closed position shown in FIG. During the resetting, a protrusion 70a protruding beyond the lower end of the resetting pin 70 presses down the spring-like connecting piece 78 on which the fixed contact 7 ¹ * is mounted, and holds this contact in its open position. When the reset pin 70 is released, a compression spring 104 lifts the reset pin so far that the spring-like connection tab 78 with the fixed contact 74 can spring back into the closed position with the contact 76.

The actuation mechanism of the relay has a bimetal 52 and a sliding piece arrangement 92 for each phase Converting the bimetal bends into a release movement of the release lever 66. The bimetals 52 are each with provided an electrical connection device, which a

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. 23? 9642 M.

Connecting piece 112, a clamping screw 11 * 4 (FIGS. 3 and 4), a flexible conductor piece 116 and a connecting piece 118. The bimetals themselves consist of a heating element 106, the actual bimetal 108 and an insulating washer 110 located in between, as shown in FIG. 8. Furthermore, each bimetal 52 to a mounting bracket 120, an insulating washer 122, an electrically conductive washer 124, an insulator 126, an intermediate portion 128, two insulation sleeves l60, a further insulating washer 132 and screws 13 ¹ I and 136th The screw 13 ¹ I is screwed into a bore 138 of the connecting piece 118 and the screw 136 into a bore I ¹ IO of the mounting bracket 120. The mounting bracket 120 is fastened to the connection piece 40 by means of the screw 42. The circuit through the actuating mechanism 52 runs from the connection tab 112 through the cable 116, the connector 118 and through the screw 134 to the intermediate piece 128, then through the right leg of the bimetal down and the left leg of the bimetal up, on through the electrically conductive Washer 124, from there through the left and right legs of the heating element 106, through the mounting bracket 120 and to the connection piece 40.If an overcurrent flows through the heating element 106, the bimetal 108 bends (in Fig.

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To the right). According to FIG. 8, the bimetals 108 each have a projection 142 at their lower ends, which cooperates with the sliding piece arrangement 92.

As can best be seen from FIGS. 6 and 7, the sliding piece arrangement 92 consists of two sliding pieces 144 and 146 and from a lever 148. The lever is mounted on the sliding piece 146 so as to be pivotable about a fixed pivot point and engages with a projection 162 directly on the release lever 66. The sliding pieces 144 and 146 shown as flat parts, which are in the same Plane are displaceable, have parts 150, 152 and or 156, 158 and 160, each with the approaches of the bimetals 108 cooperate. The approaches 150, 152 and 154 of the sliding piece 144 are in direct contact the less stretching sides of the bimetals and the lugs 156, 158 and 160 of the sliding piece 146 lie directly on the more stretching sides of the bimetals. The sliding piece 144 engages at one between the pivot point 168 and the projection 162 of the lever 148 located lug 164 of the lever. On his the sliding piece 144 on the side facing the lever 148 has a recess 166 (Fig. 4), which the transverse Part 154 of the sliding piece 144 receives.

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The actuation mechanism just described works as follows: Occurs in all phases of the circuit symmetrical overload, then all bimetals bend (of which it is assumed that their more stretching Pages in Figs. 4 to 7 are on the right) to the right and those on parts 150, 152 and 154 of the sliding piece adjacent lugs 142 of the bimetals also push the sliding piece 144 to the right. This shift in the Sliding piece 144 is transferred via the lever 148 to the other sliding piece 146, which, if it is not held back is shifted together with the sliding piece 144. As a result, the slide assembly shifts 144 to 148 as a whole and without relative movement between the two sliding pieces 144 and 146 in the sense the disengagement of the release lever 66 into its disengaged shown in Fig. 6 with dash-dotted lines 66a Position so that the relay opens.

If the bimetals 108 cool after the relay has been triggered, they slide on the parts 156 to 160 of the sliding piece 146 abutting lugs 142 of the bimetals restores the entire sliding piece assembly to its original, in Fig. 6 position shown back, so that the relay can be reset in the manner described above.

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When an asymmetrical overload condition occurs, only those phases assigned to the overloaded phases bend Bimetals by, while the bimetals assigned to the other phases remain in their normal position. Polly move the bimetallic which sags to the right according to FIG. 7 with parts 152 and 154 of the sliding piece 144 cooperate, the latter also to the right in the manner described above. However, since the Approach l42a of the bimetal on part 156 that is assigned to the non-overloaded phase and is therefore not sagging of the sliding piece 146 is applied and prevents displacement of the same together with the sliding piece 144, moves the sliding piece 144 relative to the sliding piece 146 and presses at 164 against the lever 148 so that it follows this pivots right about its pivot point 168. This makes the release lever 66 in the above with respect to the symmetrical Overload condition described manner, but pivoted into its disengaged position much faster, since the point 162 acting on the release lever 66 is now a rotary movement instead of a straight-line movement executes, because the speed of the trigger movement is the ratio of distance a (FIG. 7) between points 168 and 162 to distance b between points 168 and 164 directly proportional. As asymmetrical overload

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conditions very destructive to consumers, for example Electric motors, the accelerated response of the relay to asymmetrical overloads is extremely advantageous.

So that a manual triggering of the relay is also possible, the sliding piece 144 of the illustrated embodiment has a manually operated one from the relay housing protruding part, as shown in Figs is"

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Claims (4)

2379642 Λ Claims ίlejMulti-phase relay for controlling contactors, with a release holding the relay in one of its operating positions, furthermore with the release as a function of predefinable overload limit values and phase asymmetry limit values in the sense of opening the contactor actuating means, each assigned to a phase and have bimetals that can bend in the same direction, and with a sliding piece arrangement for converting the bimetallic bends in a triggering movement of the trigger, characterized in that the sliding piece arrangement (92) consists of two sliding pieces (144, 146) that can be moved parallel to each other and one on one of the two sliding pieces (146) about a fixed pivot point (168) pivotally articulated lever (148), the latter on one of his The fulcrum remote point (162) engages directly on the trigger (66), and that the one sliding piece to the itself more stretching sides of the bimetals (10 8) parts (156, 158, 160) and the other sliding piece (144) on the less stretching sides of the bimetallic parts (150, 152, 154) and on one between the pivot point of the lever and its point of application point (164) located at the trigger toward the trigger - 16 - 3 0 9 8 V- : ·! / 0 / ♦ 2 7 2379R42 fr attacks towards the lever in such a way that with simultaneous deflection of all bimetals there is a straight shift the entire sliding piece arrangement and with a deflection of less than all bimetals a shift of said other sliding piece relative to said one sliding piece and consequently a pivoting movement of the Lever gives " 2. Multi-phase relay according to claim 1, characterized in that the two sliding pieces (1 * 14, 146) as flat parts are formed and displaceable in a common plane. 3. polyphase relay according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said other sliding piece (144) has a manually operable projection which enables the trigger (66) to be triggered by hand, 4. Multi-phase relay according to claim 3, characterized in that the manually operable projection of the other sliding piece (144) protrudes through a housing opening from the housing (20) accommodating the contactor. - 17 - 309883/0427