DE8313273U1 - Electrical component, in particular circuit breaker - Google Patents

Description

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DR. HEINZHARMSEN

DR. WOLFGANG UTESCHER DlPLCHEM. PETER HARMSEN HJ. BARTHOLATUS DR. MICHAEL SCHAEFFER DR. FRIEDRICH W. FRICKE

Anu/alte Harmsen, Utescher pp, Postf 102905,2000 Hamburg 1 Patent Attorneys

DR. G. SIEWERS

DIPL-ING. HANS W. SCHÖNING

Peter PukallUS authorized representative at

European Patent Office Our sign

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Subject: Date 3 . 5 . 19 8 3

Electrical component / in particular circuit breaker «

The invention relates to an electrical component, in particular a circuit breaker with a disk-shaped housing which has at least one connection terminal on the front end wall and a transverse groove-like recess on the rear end wall, which is delimited at the top and bottom by undercut claws which enable a positive locking on a support rail.

The circuit breakers that have been on the market for many years and are used for electrical installations are basically extremely easy to install. This is because the transverse groove-like recess on the bottom of the fuse elements is limited on one side by a spring claw. For installation, it is sufficient to hang the circuit breaker on one side using the recess on the bottom and then place it in a position

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parallel to the support rail. When this pressure is applied, the spring claws give way and then snap into place.

Since the spring claws can be pulled back with a handle outside the circuit breaker, in most cases the circuit breaker can be dismantled very easily.

However, experience has shown that situations often arise in which a quick replacement of electrical components, circuit breakers or similar is impossible. This situation always occurs when, in larger installations, a large number of circuit breakers are installed next to one another in such a way that the terminals on one side of the circuit breakers are connected to a continuous busbar. In such a case, if a single electrical component is to be replaced, the busbar or busbar must be removed from all of the circuit breakers connected in parallel because the continuous busbar does not allow the electrical component to be replaced to be removed even after the spring claw has been released. The busbar lying on the step surface of the electrical component prevents it from being pulled out forwards and a parallel displacement parallel to the support rail plane is prevented by the fixed locking claw or the opposite housing part that contains the spring claw.

The aforementioned difficulties in the intended replacement of electrical components not only lead to

in the case of larger parallel circuits, this not only leads to significantly increased working times, but also to a large number of circuits having to be switched off for safety reasons, even though the vast majority of these circuits are undisturbed and could basically continue to operate.

The object of the present invention is to create an improved electrical component of the type mentioned in the introduction, which can be replaced very easily and quickly even in parallel connection on a busbar common to a large number of components.

The above-mentioned object is achieved according to the invention in that the bottom surface of the transverse groove-like housing recess is widened beyond the support rail area to one edge of the housing and in that a locking claw that can be removed from the front of the housing or retracted into the bottom surface is arranged in this recess widening.

Further details of the invention emerge from the subclaims.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawing show:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a plurality of electrical circuit breakers connected in parallel on a common busbar,

Fig. 2 is a side view of Fig. 1 with a fastening to a support rail corresponding to the state of the art,

Fig. 3 is a side view corresponding to Fig. 2 of an electrical component designed according to the invention and

Fig. 4 shows an enlarged partial side view of an electrical component according to the invention in accordance with a modified embodiment.

The circuit breakers shown in the drawings as examples of electrical components consist of a disk-shaped housing 1 with plane-parallel side surfaces. A part 2 of the housing that protrudes to the front carries the toggle switch 3, which switches off in the event of an overload and can be switched on again manually.

The lower part 4 of the housing 1 has a connection terminal 6 on an upper stepped surface 5 for the consumers connected to the circuit breaker 1, to which the clamped cable 7 leads. In the lower area of the housing 1 there is also a stepped surface 8 with a connection terminal 9, which is used to connect the supply line 10. This supply line 10 can be a thick bus line connecting a large number of circuit breakers or a bus bar 11 (as shown in Fig.). These bus lines 10 or bus bars 11 also lead to a large number of parallel circuit breakers being connected together in a block-like manner.

For fastening circuit breakers, a support rail 12 is used in a known manner, which is fixed to the floor

13 of a fuse box or similar. Cranked support rail edges 14 that protrude upwards and outwards from the base surface 13 serve to anchor the electrical components, which have a transverse groove-like recess 16 in their base surface 15, which in the previously known embodiment is limited at the bottom by an undercut claw 17 and at the top by a housing projection 18. In the housing projection 18 there is a claw 19 that is spring-loaded in the locking position and can be retracted with a handle 20.

It is obvious that a single circuit breaker can be mounted on the support rail 12 by placing the fixed locking claw 17 behind the edge

14 of the support rail 12 and then tilts the circuit breaker, which is initially set at an angle, into a parallel position. During this tilting, the spring claw 19 is pushed back in order to then lock behind the support rail. Tilting the circuit breaker 1 relative to the support rail 12 or the base surface 13 is made easier by a generally provided housing bevel 21.

If, for example, in practice 20 circuit breakers or more are installed next to each other and all are additionally connected via a continuous busbar 11 or a busbar 10 and a middle circuit breaker breaks down and has to be replaced, it becomes apparent that this is a very time-consuming job. Just as with individual circuit breakers, the upper connection to the circuit breaker can be

loosen terminal 6 and then, after loosening the screw connection 9, tilt the circuit breaker after the spring claw 19 has been pulled back with the handle 20. However, it is not possible to remove the circuit breaker because the busbar 10 or 11 in conjunction with the fixed claw 17 prevent the circuit breaker from being removed. The busbar 11 must therefore first be removed from all parallel-connected circuit breakers before the circuit breaker can be removed from the front. Therefore, a large number of circuits will have to be switched off during this installation.

In order to eliminate the aforementioned disadvantage, it is proposed according to the invention to design the base surface of the circuit breakers differently according to Fig. 3 and 4, namely in such a way that the circuit breaker can be pushed upwards parallel to the wall 13 after loosening the connection screw 9.

In the embodiment according to Fig. 3, the fixed locking claw 17 is omitted and the base surface 16 is extended to the lower edge of the housing 31. In this housing 31, in contrast to the prior art embodiment according to Fig. 1 and 2, a recess 32 is provided below the connection terminal 9, which serves to accommodate a U-shaped bracket 33. This U-shaped bracket is guided in the correspondingly profiled recess 32 and forms the second locking claw with its leg 34 running along the underside of the housing 31. In order to hold the U-shaped bracket 33 firmly on the housing 31, the two legs of the U-shaped bracket 33 are connected to a clamping screw 35, which makes it possible to tighten the two

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Clamp the legs of the bracket together so that they are held firmly to the housing 31.

The initial assembly of this fuse element is no different from the previous assembly methods. The U-shaped bracket 33 is firmly connected to the housing 31, i.e. it is connected with a force-locking mechanism. The housing of the electrical component can now be hooked onto the support rail 12, snapped into place and locked into place. If a middle electrical fuse element is to be replaced, screw 35 can be loosened from the front of the switch housing and the U-shaped bracket 33 can be pulled out downwards. After removing the clamping screw 9, the entire housing of the fuse switch can now be pushed upwards and a similar fuse element can be pushed in from above, which is then fixed in place by placing the U-shaped bracket 33 and tightening the screw 35. During this assembly, the busbar 10 is not obstructed in any way and can be reconnected by inserting and tightening the contact screw 9.

In the further embodiment of the invention according to Fig. 4, the circuit breaker 41 has an almost continuous base surface 42, which is only limited in the upper area by a fixed locking claw 43. Here, a hook-shaped slide 44 is mounted in the lower area of the housing 41. The outwardly projecting end of the slide 44 carries a handle 45, which is pressed outwards by a helical compression spring. In this outwardly pushed position, the hook-shaped part 47 of the slide 44 slides against a housing inclined surface 48, so that it protrudes above the base surface 42.

can be used to fix a support rail 12 in conjunction with the fixed locking claw 43. Thanks to the play provided in the slide opening 49 and the additional housing guide surface 50, the hook 47 of the slide 44 moves inwards to behind the base surface 42 when the actuating button 45 is pressed against the spring force 46. With this construction, too , after removing the clamping screw 9 and after pressing down the actuating button from the outside, the circuit breaker housing 41 can be pushed upwards parallel to the base surface 42 if it is a matter of replacing a circuit breaker.

The invention is not limited to the embodiment according to Fig. 3 and 4, because understandably there are a multitude of possibilities for attaching a locking claw to a smooth housing base surface in such a way that it can be removed or retracted.

Claims (3)

Expectations 1. Electrical component, in particular circuit breaker with a disk-shaped housing, which has at least one connection terminal on the front end wall and a transverse groove-like recess on the rear end wall, which is delimited at the top and bottom by undercut claws, which enable a positive locking on a support rail, characterized in that the bottom surface of the transverse groove-like recess (16) is widened beyond the support rail area (12) to one edge of the housing and that in this recess widening a locking claw (Fig. 4) is arranged, which can be removed from the front of the housing (Fig. 3) or retracted into the bottom surface (42). 2. Component according to claim 1, characterized in that the removable claw (34) is a U-shaped bracket (33) guided on the housing (31), one leg of which can be inserted into a housing opening (32) in such a way that the second leg (34) carrying the locking claw passes parallel under the recess widening, and that outside the housing (31) between the two legs of the bracket (33) a clamping screw (35) connecting the two legs is provided. 3. Component according to claim 1, characterized in that the retractable locking claw (47) is held in the locking position by a spring force (46). holding hook-shaped slide (44) which engages with a housing outside (41) lying handle (45) against the spring force (46) into a release position, in which the claw (47) within the floor area (42) is located. Component according to claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the second locking claw is a per se known spring claw (19) which can be retracted into an unlocking position with a handle (20) located outside the housing (1, 31).