DE29815620U1 - Housings for electrical systems - Google Patents

Description

Dr.-ing. R.König ■ Dipl.-ing. K.Bergen ■ Dipi.-Bioi. G.König Wilhelm-Tell-Stp. 1 &Lgr; 4&Ogr;21 9 Düsseldorf Tel. &Ogr;21 1 -93OSSO Patent Attorneys

2 Sept. 1998 42 898 B

ELSIC Electrical safety equipment and

Betriebsmittel GmbH, Trompeterallee 210-222

41182 Moenchengladbach

"Housings for electrical systems"

The invention relates to a housing for accommodating electrical systems and/or devices, in particular a so-called "transformer box".

Such receptacles are known in various versions made of both plastic and sheet metal and can consist of a large number of individual parts or, according to DE-GM 298 14 694.0, can be made up of a maximum of two parts, and finally, according to DE-GM 298 15 314.9, can also consist of a tent-like enclosure.

These housings usually have at least one inspection and/or assembly opening as access for the personnel carrying out the necessary work, whereby the question of lighting plays a decisive role and either pre-installed or portable lights are required. In the first case, additional construction costs arise, while in the second case

Handling problems may occur and connection boxes must be provided.

The invention is based on the problem of proposing housings of the type described above in which the problems mentioned do not occur, but which instead offer optimal illumination comfort.

The problem is solved in a surprisingly simple way by means of translucent areas of the housing. The invention thus ensures that no additional lighting measures are required for the inspection and/or assembly work, which usually takes place during the day anyway.

It should be emphasized that the invention can be used for all the types of housing mentioned above, regardless of whether they are made of sheet metal, plastic or textile materials. For the last two types of design, different translucent or light-permeable materials are possible, which can be matched to the material of the housing walls in terms of appearance and/or stability if necessary, which can then be inserted into the recesses in the housing, for example by means of a frame; in the case of textile materials for the housing, flexible light-permeable inserts are also suitable.

The invention can be optimally used in housings made of plastic, especially glass fibre reinforced polyester

can be used, since there it is possible to have a one-piece design of the translucent areas provided according to the invention with the rest of the box, which obviously brings with it further cost savings and manufacturing simplifications, including less sealing requirements.

A special variant of the invention consists in that the ventilation hoods or domes, which are provided on the roof of housings made in particular of plastic, are made translucent, whereby these domes are enlarged in a further embodiment so that at least part of the roof becomes translucent or translucent, and can even be designed as a ventilation hood or dome which extends, for example, over the entire width of the housing.

A dome designed in this way can easily be removed from the roof by loosening a few screws, so that there is then space for rope ducts for cranes.

Although the arrangement of the areas according to the invention is possible at any wall position with a greater or lesser effect, the roof-side arrangement, even without a "dome" design of the roof area or part of the roof, offers the considerable advantage of light entering the housing from above and the generally given "invisibility", which is not least of all appreciated by some users for safety reasons.

and/or optical reasons depending on the application. In the case of plastic housings with integrated translucent areas, they are manufactured as follows:

First, the so-called "glass" (fiberglass material) is adjusted in the usual way in terms of its refractive index to the resin material used or vice versa. In the final state as a housing wall, this is then translucent or light-permeable and is coated in the areas not intended for light transmission with a UV-resistant or UV-protective colored varnish, while the light-permeable areas are coated with clear UV-protective varnish.

The attached drawings show two possible embodiments of the invention. They show:

Fig. 1 a two-part housing design with a horizontal plane of symmetry and translucent or light-permeable areas in the housing walls;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the housing according to Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows a particularly preferred embodiment in which a specially designed roof-side ventilation is made translucent; and

Fig. 4 a top view of the housing according to Fig. 3

As already mentioned, the invention can be used in a variety of ways, but will be explained here using the example of a two-part plastic housing design with a horizontal plane of symmetry.

According to Fig. 1, the housing 1 consists of two half-shells 1a and 1b, which are identical at least as preformed bodies and which are to be connected to one another at their peripheral edges 2a and 2b. For reasons of even load distribution, a plate 3 is located in the base area of the housing 1, on which the device to be housed, for example a transformer, can rest and which transmits the supporting forces to the base, so that the housing, particularly if it is made of plastic, does not suffer any damage in this area, in particular does not become leaky.

According to the invention, the walls of the housing 1 are provided with light-permeable or translucent areas 4 and 5 (shown by crossing lines), which are arranged as required and/or appropriate; thus, the area 4 is located in the upper half of the housing 1a in the upper part, while the area 5 is provided in the lower half of the housing near the edge 2b. In addition to the position, the shape of these areas can of course also be freely selected. The area 6 is provided in a particularly advantageous manner in the roof 7 and therefore provides effective skylight.

The method of introducing the translucent areas has already been explained above; it should only be noted here again that these can be installed in the manner described there in housings made of a wide variety of materials without departing from the scope of the invention. The embodiments shown are, however, optimal in that they are glass fiber reinforced polyester housings in which the translucent areas are integrated.

The embodiment according to Figs. 3 and 4 corresponds in its basic structure to that according to Figs. 1 and 2, but in contrast has a ventilation dome 8 on the roof 7 which extends over the entire width of the housing and which is not only removable to enable crane access, but is also translucent (again indicated by the intersecting lines) and thus provides excellent skylight during the daytime hours.

For the sake of simplicity, the possible inspection and/or assembly openings are not shown in the two side views according to Fig. 1 and Fig. 3, since they were explained in detail in the utility model documents mentioned at the beginning and attributable to the same applicant; they are conveniently located opposite the translucent areas 4, 5.

Claims (10)

1. Housing for accommodating electrical systems and/or devices, in particular a transformer box, characterized by translucent areas ( 4 , 5 , 6 ). 2. Housing according to claim 1, characterized in that the regions ( 4 , 5 , 6 ) made of translucent material are inserted into the housing walls ( 1a , 1b ). 3. Housing according to claim 1, characterized in that the regions ( 4 , 5 , 6 ) made of translucent material are formed integrally with the housing walls ( 1a , 1b ). 4. Housing according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized by translucent ventilation vents or ventilation domes ( 8 ). 5. Housing according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the roof ( 7 ) is at least partially designed as a translucent ventilation dome ( 8 ). 6. Housing according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the dome ( 8 ) is removable. 7. Housing according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the dome ( 8 ) extends over the entire housing width and preferably only over a part of the housing depth. 8. Housing according to one of claims 1 and 3 to 7, characterized in that it consists of glass fiber reinforced polyester with light-permeable areas ( 4 , 5 , 6 ; 8 ). 9. Housing according to one of claims 3 to 8, characterized in that the light-permeable areas ( 4 , 5 , 6 ; 8 ) are coated with colorless UV protection varnish. 10. Housing according to claim 9, characterized in that the remaining housing areas are coated with colored UV-protective varnish.