EP0188143A1 - Protective switching device - Google Patents

Abstract

The apparatus according to the invention comprises in an insulating housing an interruptible current path on which are arranged cooperating contacts, one of which (CF) is fixed and the other (CM) is movable in response to the actuation of a trigger. The movable contact (CM) is arranged at a first end of a contact-carrying arm (20), the second end of which is associated with an erasable support constituting the output member of the lock (15), the contact-carrying arm being subjected to the action of an elastic means of abrupt opening and to the action of an elastic means of closing. The contact-carrying arm (20) is mounted without a fixed fulcrum, so as to pivot, either by bearing on a bearing of the toggle mechanism (31) during a trip on fault, or on a bearing (22 ) of the erasable support of the lock (15) during a manual or automatic voluntary release. The invention applies in particular to protective switch devices of the circuit breaker type.

Description

The present invention relates to a circuit breaker-type protective switching device, comprising in an insulating housing an interruptible current path on which are arranged cooperating contacts, one of which is fixed and the other of which is movable in response, either to actuation of a trip member on electromagnetic and / or thermal fault via a lock, or on the actuation of a voluntary trip and reset member such as a lever via a toggle mechanism.

Circuit breakers of this type are known, in particular from US Pat. No. 2,352,517. In these circuit breakers, the movable contact is arranged at a first end of a contact carrier arm, the second end of which is associated with an erasable support. constituting the output member of the lock, the contact-carrying arm being subjected to the action of an elastic means of abrupt opening and closing; the contact-carrying arm is mounted without a fixed fulcrum, so as to pivot either by leaning on a span of the toggle mechanism when tripping on a fault, or on a span of the erasable support of the lock during manual or automatic voluntary activation. The elastic means of abrupt opening and closing is then constituted by an applicable member, on the one hand, against the contact-carrying arm at a point thereof situated between its second end and its point of support on the mechanism to knee pad, on the other hand, against the housing. It is in particular desirable to give the elastic opening and closing member a simple and space-saving configuration.

The object of the present invention is in particular to simplify the production of a circuit breaker of the aforementioned type, while making it possible to give this circuit breaker a small footprint, particularly in depth.

It also aims to simplify the design and production of the lock, in particular by a specific arrangement of the elastic opening and closing member.

Another purpose is, in a circuit breaker using a floating contact carrier arm, to urge this arm and the toggle mechanism by simple means preventing the floating of said mechanism.

According to the invention, in an apparatus of the type described, the elastic member for abrupt opening and closing is also applicable against the toggle mechanism, said member being constituted by a single torsion spring, for example a pin or with a blade, comprising a first branch in abutment against the toggle mechanism and a second branch in abutment on the contact-carrying arm in the direction of opening in the event of tripping on fault, the spring being disengageable at the end of opening of the movable contact by abutment of its first branch against its second branch.

The elastic stressing of the contact carrier arm is thus carried out in a particularly simple and compact manner; in particular, the branches of the pin or leaf spring may extend substantially parallel to the front face of the housing.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly on reading the description below.

• La figure 1 montre très schématiquement en élévation les principaux constituants d'un disjoncteur modulaire conforme à l'invention ;
• La figure 2 représente une partie du mécanisme de commande du disjoncteur de la figure 1 en position enclenchée ;
• Les figures 2a, 2b montrent deux détails du mécanisme de la figure 2 ;
• Les figures 3 et 4 montrent le même mécanisme respectivement dans les positions de déclenchement sur défaut et de déclenchement volontaire ;
• La figure 4a montre un détail du boîtier du disjoncteur ;
• Les figures 5 et 6 représentent la bielle brisée associée au bras porte-contact, en position déployée et respectivement rétractée ;
• Les figures 7 et 8 représentent une pièce de couplage disposée près de la deuxième extrémité du bras porte-contact pour coopérer avec un appareil voisin de déclenchement ou de signalisation.

In the attached drawing:

• Figure 1 shows very schematically in elevation the main components of a modular circuit breaker according to the invention;
• FIG. 2 represents a part of the control mechanism of the circuit breaker of FIG. 1 in the engaged position;
• Figures 2a, 2b show two details of the mechanism of Figure 2;
• Figures 3 and 4 show the same mechanism respectively in the fault tripping and voluntary tripping positions;
• Figure 4a shows a detail of the circuit breaker housing;
• Figures 5 and 6 show the broken connecting rod associated with the contact carrier arm, in the deployed position and respectively retracted;
• Figures 7 and 8 show a coupling piece disposed near the second end of the contact arm to cooperate with a neighboring device triggering or signaling.

The protective switch device illustrated in the figures is a modular circuit breaker with insulating housing 10. The circuit breaker has a pair of separable contacts, namely a fixed contact CF and a movable contact CM arranged on a current path provided in the housing between a first terminal 11 and a second terminal 12.

The housing 10 comprises an electromagnetic trip member 13 with a movable active element 14 and a bimetal thermal trip member 16 capable of actuating a lock 15, to separate the movable contact CM from the fixed contact CF following a fault such as a overcurrent, short circuit or overload, appearing at terminals 11 and 12.

The movable contact CM is carried by a rocker arm 20 without fixed support relative to the housing. The current path established between terminals 11 and 12 when the circuit breaker is tripped comprises a conductor 17a, the winding of the electromagnetic trip device 13, a conductor 17b, the fixed contact CF, the movable contact CM, the rocker arm 20, a conductor flexible 17c, bimetallic strip 16 and a conductor 17d.

A voluntary tripping member 30 such as a pivoting lever, a push button or a rotary button is associated with the front face 18 of the case 10 of the circuit breaker, by being connected to the rocking arm 20 by a toggle link 31. It will be observed that the size in depth of the circuit breaker, that is to say the space between the front face 18 and a rear face 19 provided with fixing means on a support, is reduced due to the arrangement of the elements housed in the housing, in particular because the rocking arm is disposed substantially parallel to the plane of the face 18 in the vicinity thereof, while being connected directly to the lever 30 by a toggle link 31 of low height, while the lock 15 is laterally rejected.

The contact carrier arm 20 is mounted so as to pivot in a floating manner in order to pivot on axes or trunnions whose position relative to the housing is liable to vary; it is also subject to a single pin spring 40 arranged and mounted on a fixed axis 41, so as to constitute both a means for abrupt opening and a means for closing the movable contact CM.

According to the invention, in order to separate the contacts (arrow F in FIG. 1), the contact-carrying arm 20 pivots upon tripping on a fault by resting on a bearing 3la of the toggle mechanism 31 (FIG. 3) and during a manual or automatic voluntary release by relying on a surface 22 of the lock 15 (Figure 4).

The pivoting takes place in the event of a defect around the bearing 3la by lowering the bearing surface 22 of the lock (arrow fl in FIG. 1) under the effect of the spring 40; the pivoting takes place in the event of voluntary triggering around the range 22 remaining in the high position (arrow f2 in FIG. 1) by lifting the arm by means of the range 3la itself raised by the actuation of the lever under the effect of the spring 40 and of an assistance spring specific to the lever 30.

In more detail, the contact-carrying arm 20 has, at a first end 20a, the movable contact CM and comprises, near its median part, a guide slot 21 in which the bearing 3la situated at the end of the toggle 31. The arm 20 is articulated near its second end 20b to a lever L1 of a broken connecting rod L1, L2 by means of a journal of axis Al determining the above-mentioned range 22; the arm 20 carries, at its second end 20b, a lug 23 which intervenes during coupling to a neighboring device as will be explained below.

The contact-carrying arm 20 has, near the contact CM, an oblique surface 24 contributing to the opening of the contact) movable CM during a tripping process in which a rotating insulating screen E arriving on this surface 24 along the arrow f3 participates to come between the contacts.

The arm 20 finally presents towards the surface 18 and near its first end 20a, a shoulder 25 capable of cooperating with a stop 26 provided in the housing.

As can be seen in FIGS. 2 and 2a, the hairpin spring 40 mounted on the axis 41 has a first branch 42, the free end 43 of which is folded transversely and rests on the contact-carrying arm 20 in order to exert on the middle zone from it, a downward force f4; the spring 40 has a second branch 44 on which the bearing 3la of the toggle 31 is likely to be applied by receiving an upward force f5. The free end 45 of the second branch 44 can abut against the transverse free end 43 of the first branch to disengage the spring, as will be explained below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

The voluntary trigger lever 30 is pivotally mounted about a fixed axis A2 between a voluntary engagement position - on the left in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 - and a voluntary triggering or manual reset position after tripping on fault - on the right in figure 4 -. The lever is biased in a conventional manner by a spring which tends to rotate it from left to right according to arrow f6 (FIG. 4).

The lock 15 has, as already said, a broken connecting rod with two levers L1, L2. The axis Al of articulation of the contact-carrying arm 20 on the lever L1 is capable of moving from a high armed position (FIGS. 2 and 4) to a low triggering position (FIG. 3) while being guided in means molded with a side wall of the housing 10 and described more fully with reference to Figures 5 and 6.

The lever Ll comprises a tail 50 on which can be applied, according to an arrow f7 (FIG. 2), the bimetallic strip 16 in the event of overload, in order to cause the breakage of the broken connecting rod. It further comprises a support or a socket 51, for example a step, to receive a cooperating element, by example a pin 52, lever L2 in the armed position; and a flared housing 53 formed between the step 51 and the tail 50 for guiding and receiving the pin 52 in the triggered position (FIG. 3).

The lever L1 further comprises a lug 54 for positioning and guiding against conformations which have come from molding with the side wall of the housing, a profile 55 provided to facilitate the initial release of the lever L1 upon tripping on a fault and a shoulder 56 intended to cooperate with a coupling part (see Figures 7 and 8).

The lever L2 is articulated on an axis A3 fixed relative to the housing 10 and has two arms 57, 58 substantially orthogonal; the arm 57 is associated with the mobile active element 14 of the electromagnetic trip device 13 which is, for example a core, a striker or, in the present example, a part of the insulating screen E of arc breaking. The arm 58 carries the pin 52 at its end.

Preferably, the axes A1 and A3 are aligned with the axis A52 of the pin 52 in the armed position; the alignment Al, A52, A3 along a straight line XX (FIG. 5) is then obtained in a perfect manner since the axes Al and A3 come from molding with the housing 10 and that the lug 54 of the lever L1 is applied in armed position against a stop also produced by molding the housing.

It is advantageous that the lever L1 is metallic and that the 1 lever L2 is molded in plastic material with insertion of a metal needle to form the pin 52 intended to cooperate with the metal step 51 of the lever L1.

A spring not indicated is interposed between the contact-carrying arm 20 and the lever L1 in order to tend to rotate the latter counterclockwise around the axis Al (arrow f8, FIG. 3). A return spring also not shown is associated with lever L2 to tend to rotate it counterclockwise around A3 (arrow f9, figure 3).

FIG. 3 shows the protective device in the tripped fault position, the broken connecting rod being broken and the spring 40 being disengaged; FIG. 4 shows the device in the voluntary release position, the contact-carrying arm 20 being in the position applied against the stop 26 of the housing after lifting by the toggle joint 31, the broken connecting rod L1, L2 remaining intact and the spring 40 still being disengaged.

FIG. 4a shows the guidance of the bearing 3la of the toggle joint 31 which cooperates with the arm 20 against a ramp 27 with two ribs molded in the wall of the housing 10, making it possible to dictate the stroke of the bearing 3la between an engagement position 31al and a voluntary trigger or reset position 31a2.

Figures 5 and 6 show a ramp 60 formed by a rib molded with a side face of the housing 10. The ramp 60 forms a flared V-shaped trough by means of a vertical branch 60a and an oblique branch 60b, so as to accommodate and guide the axis Al; the ramp 60 also includes an inclined branch 60c connected to the vertical branch 60a.

The pin 52, the thickness of the branch 60a and the position of the lug 54 of the lever Ll applied in abutment against this branch under the effect of the torque f8 are determined to perfectly align, along XX in the armed position, the axis A52 of pin 52, axis Al housed at the bottom of the V of the chute and axis A3.

When a fault occurs, the lever L2 is pushed clockwise (arrow f10, FIG. 6) and releases the pin 52 from the step 51 of the lever Ll, so that the latter, driven downwards by the lever 20, pivots in clockwise around the axis Al (arrow fll, Figure 6) by the effect of the guide of the lug 54 along the branch 60c to the position indicated in Figure 6; the pin 52 is then engaged in the flared housing 53 of the lever L1.

It can be seen in FIGS. 7 and 8 that the lever L1 is associated by means of a coupling piece 70 capable of pivoting around a fixed axis A4 with a neighboring device not indicated for triggering or signaling. The coupling piece 70 for this purpose comprises a facet 71 capable of cooperating with the shoulder 56 of the lever Ll, a drive finger 72 designed to cooperate with the lug 23 which is provided at the second end 20b of the support arm contact 20, as well as a lug 73 projecting transversely into a window 28 provided in a side face of the housing as an input or output means.

During a trip on a fault affecting the lock 15, the lever Ll-end of the arm 20 assembly descends (arrow fl, FIG. 8) mainly under the effect of the spring 40; and the lug 23 drives via the finger 72 the coupling part 70 which, therefore, pivots clockwise (arrow f12, FIG. 8); the coupling lug 73 moves towards the upper end of the window 28 and actuates a corresponding coupling member of the neighboring device.

When the neighboring device trips on fault, it can lift the lug 73 clockwise from the position in FIG. 7, so that the coupling piece 70 rotates according to the arrow f12 and in doing so drives by the facet 71 1 applied against the shoulder 56, the pivoting of the lever L1 and the breaking of the broken connecting rod.

• Dans la position enclenchée des figures 1 et 2, le bras porte-contact 20 est disposé sensiblement parallèlement à la face avant 18 du disjoncteur et la manette 30 occupe la position d'enclenchement à gauche sur les figures. Le contact mobile CM est appliqué sur le contact fixe CF sous l'effet de l'effort produit par le ressort 40 selon la flèche f4, tandis que l'extrémité 20b du bras porte-contact est en appui sur la portée 22 de la serrure 15 dont les leviers Ll, L2 sont en position déployée.

The circuit breaker shown in the figures works as follows:)

• In the engaged position of Figures 1 and 2, the contact carrier arm 20 is disposed substantially parallel to the front face 18 of the circuit breaker and the handle 30 occupies the locking position on the left in the figures. The movable contact CM is applied to the fixed contact CF under the effect of the force produced by the spring 40 according to the arrow f4, while the end 20b of the contact carrier arm is in contact with the bearing surface 22 of the lock 15, the levers L1, L2 are in the deployed position.

When an overcurrent or a short circuit occurs, the output element 14 of the magnetic trip device 13 pushes the arm 57 of the lever L2 and causes a clockwise rotation of this lever. The pin 52 of the arm 58 of the same lever is therefore driven to the right, so that the lever L1 is released and allows the end 20b of the contact carrier arm to descend. It should be noted that initially very briefly the arm pivots around the movable contact so that the upper end of the guide slot 21 abuts against the bearing 3la of the toggle 31. Therefore, the arm 20 can pivot clockwise around the bearing 31a, the ends 20a, 20b of the arm coming in the position indicated in FIG. 3. The spring 40 is then disengaged since its branches 42 and 44 are now in mutual support.

To pass from the deployed position of FIGS. 1 and 2 to the retracted position of FIG. 3, the broken connecting rod evolves as follows. As soon as the pin 52 is released from the step 51, the lever L1 slides through its surface 55 on the axis A4. The already described descent from the axis A1 leads to the release of the surface 55 from the axis A4. The lug 54, hitherto in abutment against the branch 60a of the rib 60 of the housing, descends on the oblique ramp portion 60c of this rib and forces the lever L1 to pivot clockwise. Due to the simultaneous time pivoting of the lever L2 around the axis A3 and the presence of the flared housing 53 in the lever Ll, the pin 52 comes to the bottom of this housing (Figure 3).

In the event of an overload, the movement of the arm 20 is the same as that which has just been described, but it is the lever L1 which causes the lock to retract. The bimetallic strip 16 in fact actuates the tail 50 of the lever Ll according to the arrow f7 and constrains the lever to pivot clockwise to release the step 51 from the pin 52.

During a voluntary, manual or automatic triggering, the lever 30 passes from the position of FIGS. 1 and 2 to that of FIG. 4. Firstly, the knee switch exceeds its neutral point and the bearing 3la comes to bear against the 'upper end of the guide slot 21; the branch 44 of the spring 40 then exerts on the bearing 3la an effort confirming the rotation of the lever according to the arrow f6, while the branch 42 of the same spring continues to exert its effort according to f4 on the arm 20.

The end 20b of the arm 20 bearing on the bearing 22 of axis Al kept fixed, the continued rotation of the lever therefore produces the opening of the contact-mobile. The spring 40 disengages by stop of its branch 44 against its branch 42 and the movement of the lever 30 and of the arm 20 under the effect of the spring specific to the lever takes place until the application of the shoulder 25 provided at the end 20a of the arm against the stop 25.

The reclosing of the circuit breaker, from the position of FIG. 4, takes place by rotation of the handle 30 counterclockwise. The bearing 3la is applied against the branch 44 of the spring 40; this branch emerges from the other branch 42 which, therefore, can exert on the arm 20 the desired closing force. The contact-carrying arm pivots counterclockwise around the bearing 22 of axis A4 and the movable contact is applied and remains applied to the fixed contact by the spring 40.

i After tripping on fault, resetting is automatic; the elements of the device occupying the position indicated in FIG. 3, the lever is brought to the right, from so that after passing the neutral point of the toggle joint 31, the bearing 3la lifts the contact carrier arm 20 until the shoulder 25 of the arm stops against the stop 26 of the housing. The continued rotation of the lever to the right determines a counterclockwise pivoting of the arm around the shoulder support point 25 / stop 26. The broken connecting rod deploys under the effect of the spring making L2 pivot according to arrow f9 and of the spring rotating L1 according to arrow f8. The lug 54 of the lever Ll rises by sliding along the ramp portion 60c and comes against the vertical stop 60a, so that the pin 52 is positioned in the step 51 on the axis XX. The connecting rod is then armed.

It goes without saying that modifications can be made to the embodiment described without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims (9)

1. A circuit breaker-type protective switch device, comprising in an insulating housing an interruptible current path on which are arranged cooperating contacts, one of which is fixed and the other of which is movable in response, either to actuation of '' a tripping device on an electromagnetic and / or thermal fault via a lock, or on the actuation of a voluntary tripping and resetting device such as a lever via a toggle mechanism, the movable contact being arranged at a first end (20a) of a contact-carrying arm (20), the second end (20b) of which is associated with an erasable support constituting the output member of the lock (15), the contact-carrying arm being secured to the action of an elastic means of abrupt opening and closing, and being mounted without a fixed fulcrum, so as to pivot, either by bearing on a bearing surface (31a) of the toggle mechanism (31) during a trip on fault, either on a scope (22) of the erasable support of the lock (15) during a manual or automatic voluntary triggering, the elastic means of abrupt opening and closing being an applicable member, on the one hand, against the support arm contact (20) at a point thereof situated between its second end (20b) and its point of support on the toggle mechanism (31),
characterized by the fact that the elastic means of abrupt opening and closing is applicable on the other hand against the toggle mechanism, said element being constituted by a single torsion spring (40) which comprises a first branch (44) in support against the toggle mechanism (31)) and a second branch (42) bearing on the contact carrier arm (20) in the direction of opening in the event of tripping on fault. 2. Apparatus according to claim 1,
characterized in that the spring (40) is disengageable at the end of opening of the movable contact (CM) by abutment of its first branch (44) against its second branch (42). 3. Apparatus according to one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the housing (10) has a guide ramp (27) dictating the stroke of the end (31a) of the toggle mechanism upon triggering or manual or automatic resetting,
characterized by the fact that the contact-carrying arm (20) has a guide means (21) allowing the movement of the end (31a) of the toggle mechanism (31). 4. Apparatus according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the lock (15) comprises a broken connecting rod with two levers (Ll, L2) in mutual support astable and the contact carrier arm (20) is articulated at its second end (20b) by means of an axis (Al) on the first lever (Ll) of the connecting rod, while the second lever (L2) of the connecting rod is pivotally mounted relative to a fixed axis ( A3) of the housing, the broken connecting rod being subject to the fault triggering member, the first lever (L1) of the broken connecting rod comprising a tail (50) which can be urged by a thermal tripping element (16), the second lever ( L2) of the broken connecting rod comprising an arm (57) which can be urged by an electromagnetic tripping element (14). 5. Apparatus according to claim 4,
characterized in that the first lever (Ll) is provided with a positioning lug (54) cooperating with a stop of the housing (10) as well as a support (51) for a pin (52) associated with the second lever (L2), so that in the armed position of the broken connecting rod (Ll, L2) the axis (A52) of the pin is aligned with the axis (XX) joining the axis (Al) of the first lever and the fixed axis ( _A 3) for pivoting the lever (L2) relative to the housing (10). 6. Apparatus according to claim 5,
characterized by the fact that the positioning lug (54) cooperates during a trip on fault with a ramp portion (60c) allowing the first lever (L1) to disengage from the thermal trip element (16). 7. Apparatus according to claim 5,
characterized in that the first lever (Ll) is provided with a profile (55) arranged opposite the support (51) relative to the axis (Al) and taking support from the start of a trigger on a fixed range (A4) relative to the housing. 8. Apparatus according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the second lever (L2) of the broken rod cooperates with an insulating rotary screen interposable between the fixed contact (CF) and the movable contact (CM ) when triggered, the contact carrier arm (20) having an inclined surface (24) which can be pierced by the screen. 9. Apparatus according to one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that one of the first levers of the broken connecting rod (L1, L2) is made of plastic and has an inserted metal needle constituting the pin (52), the other lever of the connecting rod being metallic.

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