EP0079820B2 - Contactor device with means for automatic interruption and with a local operating part - Google Patents

Abstract

A contactor apparatus is provided comprising automatic opening means and a local control member. This apparatus uses a transmission piece (40) associated with a sudden tripping mechanism (46) which is released by a bolt (29) held in position by means of a lever (24) which may be struck by a magnetizable part and adapted to maintain a power contact (13) open, this part assuming, after the appearance of a fault, visible positions so as to inform the user about the state of the apparatus. This apparatus is usable in installations where it is desired to protect the lines and the loads.

Description

The invention relates to a contactor device comprising an electromagnet for controlling a multiplicity of power contacts and means for automatic opening of these contacts which react upon the appearance of overloads in a power circuit, of a share to separate, independently of the electromagnet, and using a magnetizable part and an overload coil placed in series in this circuit, a movable power contact (belonging to this circuit) of a fixed contact with which it cooperates, and to open on the other hand a control switch placed in series with the coil of the electromagnet, this switch being able to be opened by a local control member which is able to close the contacts.

In an apparatus, known from document DE-C No. 738413, the general construction of which corresponds to that which has just been defined above, local control means capable of informing a user about the state of the apparatus and to establish a particular stable mode of operation have not been specified; moreover, in this known device, the fixed contact and the movable contact are one or the other displaced depending on whether the opening is voluntary or automatic, which means that the breaking chamber, which generally surrounds this region, has to be given , relatively large dimensions; moreover, the release of the movable contact, which moves during the appearance of a fault, is effected, on the one hand, by means of a spring which may be insufficient in the event of soldering of the contacts and, on the other hand , due to the erasure of a hook holding this contact when it is struck by the striker.

As this hook is linked to a moving part of the electromagnet, the movements or jolts which it undergoes, in particular at the time of its excitation, risk compromising its stability and consequently causing an opening of the circuit to when we want to close it.

Finally, such an automatic opening mode which benefits, if necessary, from a sufficient response time to operate a protection when rapid overloads, not exceeding a certain threshold, occur in the circuit, becomes entirely insufficient. if these overloads reach values close to those observed during frank short circuits.

The invention therefore proposes to provide a contactor device in which the above-mentioned drawbacks have been remedied, and in particular to inform the user about the state of the device, to reduce its volume, to guarantee a effective opening of the contacts in a very short time and to ensure operating stability when shocks or movements are developed by the electromagnet.

In order to achieve this, the invention proposes an _apparatus' contactor comprising, in a manner analogous to that of the switch described in German patent DE-C-968 496, a magnet electro-control of a plurality of power contacts, and means for automatic opening of these contacts which react upon the appearance of overloads in an associated power circuit, on the one hand to separate, independently of the electromagnet, and using a magnetizable part attracted by an overload coil placed in series in this circuit, a movable power contact (belonging to this circuit) with a fixed contact with which it cooperates, and to open, on the other hand, a switch control placed in series with the solenoid coil, this switch can be opened by a local control member which is able to close the contacts, said movable power contact being subjected to the action of a tension spring to close it and being able to be separated from u fixed contact by means of a pusher on which the magnetizable part can act.

According to the invention, this contactor device is more particularly characterized in that said movable power contact is capable of being separated from the fixed contact by the action on the pusher, that is to say a movement coming from the armature of the electro -magnet, either of a lever struck by said magnetizable part when the latter is excited by said overload coil, this lever cooperating with a first eclipsable latch which is separated from the electromagnet, said first latch being able to maintain this' lever in a hooking position for which the movable contact is open, and having a first causing end. the release of a first abrupt trigger mechanism, this mechanism comprising a movable transmission part which is subjected to a return spring tending to bring it from a first visible stable position where the control switch is closed towards a second stable visible position where this switch is kept open.

The invention as well as variant embodiments which derive therefrom will be better understood in the light of the description below.

• la fig. 1 représente schématiquement un appareil faisant appel à un seul mécanisme à déclenchement brusque ;
• les fig. 2 et 3 illustrent schématiquement deux appareils dans lesquels un premier mécanisme à déclenchement brusque est libéré par un second mécanisme ;
• les fig. 4a à 4d montrent schématiquement un appareil conforme à l'invention, dans lequel des moyens particuliers permettent de signaler l'apparition d'un défaut, et
• la fig. 5 représente un détail de réalisation de l'appareil selon la fig. 4.

In the accompanying drawings:

• fig. 1 schematically represents an apparatus using a single abrupt trigger mechanism;
• fig. 2 and 3 schematically illustrate two devices in which a first abrupt trigger mechanism is released by a second mechanism;
• fig. 4a to 4d schematically show an apparatus according to the invention, in which particular means make it possible to signal the appearance of a fault, and
• fig. 5 shows a detail of the apparatus according to FIG. 4.

The device illustrated in fig. 1 comprises in a housing 1 an electromagnet 2 having a yoke 3, an excitation coil 4 and a movable armature 5 subjected to the action of a return spring 6 to establish its rest position. An electrical circuit 7 for supplying the coil 4, comprising a control switch 8, leads to two control terminals 9 and 10. The armature 5 is associated with a control lever 11 capable of actuating, by lifting it, a pusher 12 of a power contact 13 further comprising a mobile contact 14 subjected to the action of a fixed spring 15 which tends to apply it to two fixed contacts 16, 17. The pusher 12 which carries the movable contact 14 is guided by surfaces 1 '. This contact 13 is mounted in series in a power circuit 18 placed between the supply and connection terminals 19, 20. This circuit 18, which also includes an overload coil 21, represents one of the power circuits of the 'device which will include at least as many as the number of phases of the network which supplies it, and whose energy must be used by a load not shown; when several power circuits are implemented, a single lever 11 therefore actuates several pushers such as 12.

The overload coil 21 cooperates with a magnetizable striker 22 which is possibly held in the rest position by a weak spring 23, and which will be suddenly attracted if a very large current, for example a short-circuit current, crosses the circuit 18.

During its movement, the striker 22 strikes a lever 24 retained by a spring 25, a first arm 24 'of which is placed opposite the pusher 12 so that the percussion is retransmitted to the latter, and that the movable contact 14 is opened very quickly by push-button 12.

When the lever 24 has thus pivoted, a second arm 26 which held a surface 27 of a latch 29, armed with a spring 30, releases this latch which moves upwards in the figure.

This lock has an end 31 and a portion 32, the latter being capable of lifting, during the movement of the lock, an arm 33 belonging to an oscillating control lever 34 and held in the rest position against a stop 35 by a spring 36 .

This lever 34 has, on the one hand, an end 38, for example insulating, which operates the opening of the control switch 8 when the lever is moved from its rest position, and has, on the other hand, a hooking tooth 37 able to cooperate with a holding surface 39, for example an inclined ramp, belonging to a transmission part 40; this transmission part also has a bearing surface 41 and cooperates with a local control member shown diagrammatically at 42.

A thrust surface 43, for example carried by an inclined ramp, is placed on the transmission part 40 in a region 66 of the latter; this transmission part is also subjected to a compression spring 44 which tends to push it in the direction S towards a fixed stop 45 carried, for example, by the housing 1. The transmission part 40 or even the control member locale 42 carry an index 71 moving opposite a scale 72 carrying marks such as F and 0.

When the device is put into service, the reference 71 is opposite position F and the transmission part 40 is retained in a corresponding stable position by the tooth 37 of the lever 34 at rest, so that, circuit 7 being closed, any control signal applied between 9 and 10 will cause the electromagnet 2 to be excited, the armature to be attracted 5, the spring to be tensioned 6, the lever 11 to tilt and the power contact to close 13, the latter being produced by the pressure spring 15. For this position F, the end 31, or the ends such as 31 when the apparatus comprises several power circuits, are placed opposite the region 66 of the part 40 so as to be able to cooperate, when the time comes, with the ramp 43. In a variant not shown, but obvious to those skilled in the art, a first intermediate pusher could be placed between ends such as 31 and the ramp 43, and a second intermediate pusher could be placed é between portions such as 32 and the arm 33 of the lever 34.

If a fault occurs downstream of the device, for example a short circuit, the coil 21 instantly attracts the striker 22 which switches the lever 24; this raises the pusher 12 which opens the contact 13, and simultaneously releases the latch 29 which moves upwards in the figure by bringing opposite the arm 26 a bearing surface 28 which prevents the lever 24 from returning to its position rest, so that the movable contact 14, which is moved very quickly, is kept in the open position by its pusher 12 and by the lever 24 independently of the lever 11 associated with the armature of the electromagnet.

In its upward movement, the bolt 29 brings, on the one hand, the end 31 towards the ramp 43 (in dotted lines) and, on the other hand, causes the arm 33 of the lever 34 to be raised by the portion 32.

As a result, during the tilting of the lever 34, the switch 8 is open and the part 40 released.

The opening of the switch 8 causes the electromagnet 2 to de-energize, the armature 5 to fall back and the lever 11 to tilt, which therefore approaches the pusher 12, held in the high position from its percussion; maintaining contact 13 in the open position is therefore confirmed by the state of rest of the electromagnet.

When the cooperation between the tooth 37 and the ramp 39 ceases, the part 40 moves rapidly in the direction S, towards the position 0, so that the ramp 43 will meet the end 31 and will push the latch 29 down when the part 40 is close to or reaches the stable position 0; as soon as the part 40 leaves its position F, the control switch is kept open by the support that the tooth 37 finds against the surface 41.

This downward movement of the latch 29 resets the mechanism placed between it and the striker, because the lever 24 can resume position illustrated under the effect of spring 25.

The device is therefore placed in a state of non-service 0, where the electromagnet cannot be excited and where the lever 24 and the latch 29 have been reset.

A new commissioning can be obtained by a voluntary action, for example manual, exerted on the member 42 and the part 40 in the direction S to the position F.

If the fault is still present, the previous operation is repeated; but, even if the part 40 is kept voluntarily in position F, no current can circulate permanently in the circuit 18, because the contact 13 is automatically opened by the coil and the striker.

In a first variant of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and which is illustrated in FIGS. 4a to 4e, the reset action of the lock and of the lever does not occur during the travel of the transmission part going from position F to position 0, but during movement of this part going from position O to position F; in addition, a stable intermediate tripping position indicated by D is provided between position F and position 0 so that, when the transmission part 40 automatically moves from F to 0 following the appearance of a fault, it is stopped in a visible position D which informs the user that the device is in the open state, and that this opening results from the appearance of a fault in at least one circuit.

Such a variant of the apparatus is shown in position F in FIG. 4a, where only the organs necessary for understanding have been represented.

A transmission part 40 'comprises, as before the surfaces 39, 41, a return spring 44 which tends to move this part in the direction S towards a stop 45, and is associated with a control member 42. The region 66 now comprises a rocking lever 47 which oscillates around a pivot 48 placed in this region and which cooperates with a spring 51 so as to assume a rest position, which is that shown, and in which this lever 47 is pressed against a stop 50 may or may not belong to this part 40 ′.

This lever has two successive surfaces 49a, 49 which are directed towards the end 31 and in such a way that, for position F, this end 31 is placed opposite the surface 49.

Between the surface 49a and a bearing surface 67 carried by the part '40' in its vicinity is a gap, or notch, or clearance 68.

The elasticity of the spring 51 is chosen such that, when the latch 29 is released towards the top of the figure, the force of its own spring 30 is sufficient to raise the lever 47.

The initial operation, when a fault occurs, is the same as in the previous example: when the portion 32 has tilted the lever 34, the latter releases the part 40 ', and at the same time the end 31 raised the lever 47 (see fig. 4b).

As soon as the part 40 'moves in direction S, the surface 49 slides on the end 31, without pushing it back, until the latter, being placed in the clearance 68, can cooperate with the bearing surface 67 to stop the movement of the part 40 'in a position D (see fig. 4c); as soon as this position is reached, the lever 47 returns to its original position.

A voluntary action, for example manual, exerted in the direction S on the member 42 allows to place the part 40 'in the position 0; during this movement, a slight movement communicated downwards of the figure to the latch 29 by the bearing surface 68 is not sufficient to operate the reset (see fig. 4d).

The reset of the lock 29 is operated when the part 40 is brought from its position O towards the position D, and therefore towards the position F, in the direction S; the starting position for resetting is that also shown in fig. 4d. During this rearming process (see fig. 4e), the surface 49a, whose inclination is different from that of the surface 49, is able to communicate at the end 31 a downward push, significant enough to overcome the force of the spring 30 and produce the reset of the lock 29 as in the previous embodiment. This rearming occurs when the part 40 'is in a position R shown in dotted lines in FIG. 4th.

The behavior of the lever 47, which only disappears towards the top of the figure when the end 31 cooperates with the surface 49, can be obtained due to the difference in inclination of the surfaces 49 and 49a; another means for moving the rocking lever only when the part 40 ′ moves in direction S is visible in FIG. 5, where a lever 47 'is pivoted on the part 40 "at a point 48' placed in such a way that the reaction T, which is communicated to it by the end 31, gives this eclipsable lever 47 'a torque of the same direction than that provided by the spring 51.

Figs. 2 and 3 represent third and fourth alternative embodiments of the invention, in which a lock 70 (having the same functions as the previous lock 29, in the context of its cooperation with the lever 24) has an end 69 which does not cooperate not directly with part 40 or respectively 47.

In these two variants, a second sudden release mechanism 52 is interposed between the first sudden release mechanism 46 and one or more latches 70 similar to the previous one 29.

This second mechanism 52, visible in detail in FIG. 2, includes a rocker arm 61, a portion 53 of which has an end 60 capable of rocking a locking lever 76 against the action of a spring 59, so that a spout 77 of this lever 76 releases a pusher 54 which is armed by a spring 62; this pusher 54 comprises, on the one hand, in its upper part, an end 55 and a portion 56 similar to the end 31 and to the portion 32 of the latch 29, and comprises, on the other hand, in its lower part, a surface 57 placed opposite a surface 58 belonging to the rocker arm 61.

When a defect appears in one of the lines such as 18, a latch 70 lifts the rocker arm 61 which releases the pusher 54 upwards, the latter in turn co-operating through the portion 56 with the lever 34 to toggle the latter.

The rearming of the second abrupt trigger mechanism 52 occurs when the pusher 54 is pushed down in the figure and transmits its movement by cooperation of the surfaces 57, 58 to the rocker arm 61, the latter acting in turn on the end 69 of the latch 70 to restore it to a position where the spring 30 is armed.

It will be noted that this downward movement can itself be caused either by the ramp 43 if a transmission part such as 40 is used (see fig. 3), or by the inclined surface 49a if a transmission part such as 40 '(see fig. 2).

A device as seen in fig. also makes use of two trigger systems capable of each releasing the second sudden trigger mechanism 52 and necessary for separate categories of faults.

When the circuit 18 is the object of a short-circuit current, the coil 21 attracts the striker 22 and the lever 24 lifts the contact carrier 12, the high position of the lever being maintained by the latch 70.

If fault currents, for example of short overload, and lower than those which produce the rapid attraction of the striker occur in line 18, the striker is not sufficiently attracted to open the power contact 13 .

In order to make the device sensitive to the appearance of such a defect, it is possible to associate with the coil 21 a magnetizable pallet 75 carried for example by an oscillating lever 73 to which a calibrated spring 74 gives a rest position.

This pallet can, for example, be crossed by the striker 22 or cooperate with a face of the coil 21 which is not affected by the movements of the striker.

Between this lever 73 and the rocker arm 61 is located an auxiliary pusher 63 whose ends 64, 65 cooperate with this lever and this rocker arm.

When such an overload fault appears, the striker 22 does not move, but the magnetic attraction of the pallet 75 causes, via the auxiliary pusher 63, the release of the second abrupt trigger mechanism 52, the movement towards 0 from there piece 40 'and consequently the opening of the control switch 8, the de-excitation of the electromagnet 2 is finally the opening of the power contacts 13 by the effect of the return spring 6.

In the exemplary embodiments illustrated, the shape and the arrangement of the various movement transmission elements are given by way of nonlimiting examples, and it must be admitted that the guide surfaces, which are not shown, and which would provide the guidance moving parts in translation, could if necessary be established to guide these parts along curved paths.

In all of the variants which have just been described, it should be understood that if the device is designed to operate as a contactor in the absence of faults, the local control member 42 makes it possible to operate manually. its commissioning F or its decommissioning O.

Although all of the possible variants of the device according to the invention make use of a movable bridge contact 14 and a contact carrier 12, it is clear that the power contact 13 could just as easily be made at using a mobile contact with a single break, the part 12 playing, in this case, the role of a simple pusher.

Claims (6)

1. A contactor apparatus comprising an electromagnet (2) controlling a multiplicity of power contacts (16, 17) and means for automatically opening these contacts which react when overloads appear in an associated power circuit, on the one hand for separating, independently of the electomagnet (2) and by means of a magnetizable part (22) attracted by an overload coil (21) placed in series in this circuit, a mobile power contact (14) (belonging to this circuit) from a fixed contact (16,17) with which it cooperates and for opening, on the other hand, a control switch (8) placed in series with the coil (14) of the electromagnet (2), this switch (8) being able to be opened by a local control member (42) which is adapted to close the contacts again, said mobile power contact being subjected to the action of a spring (15) tending to close it and being adapted to be separated from the fixed contact by means of a pusher (12) on which the magnetizable part may act, characterized in that said mobile power contact is adapted to be separated from the fixed contact by an action on the pusher either by a movement originating from the armature (5) of the electromagnet (2) or by means of a lever (24) struck by said magnetizable part (22) when this latter is activated by said overload coil (21), this lever (24) cooperating with a first retractable bolt (29) which is separated from the electromagnet (2), said first bolt (29) being adapted to maintain this lever (24) in an interlocking position in which the mobile contact (14) is open and having a first end (32) causing a first sudden tripping mechanism (46) to be released, this mechanism comprising a mobile transmission piece (40, 40') which is subjected to a return spring (44) tending to bring it from a first visible stable position (« F »)in which the control switch (8) is closed to a second visible stable position (« O •) in which said switch is maintained open.

2. The contactor apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that a second sudden tripping mechanism (52) adapted to be reset by movement of the transmission piece (40, 40') is disposed between the first sudden tripping mechanism (46) and either said first bolt (29) or respectively a second retractable bolt (70).

3. The contactor apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that resetting of the said retractable bolts (29, 70) is effected by cooperation of resetting surfaces (43, 50), driven by the mobile transmission piece (40, 40') with a second end (55, 31) belonging either to said first retractable bolt (29) or respectively to a pusher (54) of the second mechanism (52) which retransmits its movement to an end (69) of said second retractable bolt (70).

4. The contactor apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that the transmission piece (40) has a ramp (43) which cooperates with said second end (55, 31) when said piece is directed from its first stable position (« F •) to its second stable position (« O •).

5. The contactor apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that the transmission piece (40') has a resilient lever (47) which carries the resetting surface (50), and which may rock under the effect of said second end (55, 31) when the piece (40') moves from its first stable position (« F ») to its second stable position (« O »), this lever not rocking when said piece (40') moves from said second position (« 0 •) to said first position (« F •) so as to communicate to this end (55, 31) a resetting movement.

6. A contactor apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that the transmission piece (40') comprises a bearing surface (68) coming into abutment against said second end (55, 31) so as to stop this piece in an intermediate visible tripping position (D) which is placed between said first and second positions (« F ») and (« O »).

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