EP0903759B1 - Vorrichtung zum Verbinden von zwei modularen elektrischen Einheiten - Google Patents

Vorrichtung zum Verbinden von zwei modularen elektrischen Einheiten Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0903759B1
EP0903759B1 EP97830465A EP97830465A EP0903759B1 EP 0903759 B1 EP0903759 B1 EP 0903759B1 EP 97830465 A EP97830465 A EP 97830465A EP 97830465 A EP97830465 A EP 97830465A EP 0903759 B1 EP0903759 B1 EP 0903759B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
joining
units
juxtaposed
elements
pair
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP97830465A
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English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0903759A1 (de
Inventor
Flavio Purgato
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
BTicino SpA
Original Assignee
BTicino SpA
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by BTicino SpA filed Critical BTicino SpA
Priority to EP97830465A priority Critical patent/EP0903759B1/de
Priority to AT97830465T priority patent/ATE253253T1/de
Priority to ES97830465T priority patent/ES2208859T3/es
Priority to DE69725846T priority patent/DE69725846T2/de
Publication of EP0903759A1 publication Critical patent/EP0903759A1/de
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0903759B1 publication Critical patent/EP0903759B1/de
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H71/00—Details of the protective switches or relays covered by groups H01H73/00 - H01H83/00
    • H01H71/02—Housings; Casings; Bases; Mountings
    • H01H71/0264—Mountings or coverplates for complete assembled circuit breakers, e.g. snap mounting in panel
    • H01H71/0271—Mounting several complete assembled circuit breakers together

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a device for joining two modular electrical units, especially boxlike units intended to be installed side by side on a supporting rail, as defined in the preamble of claim 1 and known from DE 1 919 180 U.
  • circuit breakers which generally provide peak current protection (known as thermal/magnetic circuit breakers) can be accompanied by protective devices sensitive to differential currents, indicating devices, remote actuating devices, etc.
  • Modular-units must satisfy many different requirements, mostly governed by precise international standards. For example, the units must be easy to join together and, once joined, must be difficult to separate without using specially designed tools.
  • the devices used to join the units must as far as possible be simple, cheap to produce and take up little space and must not affect the processes and costs of production of the actual units. Nor must they occupy much space on the faces of non-juxtaposed units, in order not to interfere with the clamping, electrical interconnection, actuating and/or indicating parts which already occupy these faces.
  • publication EP 0375568 describes one such device which consists of a hook that projects from one of the units and engages a special seat provided in the other unit, and of a rotatably fastening pin mounted on one of the units and engaging in a seat provided in the other unit.
  • Publication EP 0626712 discloses another such unit having complementary pins and seats on juxtaposed faces of two units, along with sliders with engaging teeth recessed into one of the units and able to slide in the plane of the juxtaposed faces and corresponding engagement seats in the other unit.
  • the object of the present invention is to provide a device for joining modular electrical units that is extremely simple, occupies little space and requires no separate components that would be critical in structure and manufacture.
  • Each of the two electrical units to be joined together consists essentially of a body, preferably made of moulded plastic in two shells, which contains electrical and mechanical parts.
  • the body is in the general form of a rectangular parallelepiped, with a rear face designed to be connected to a mounting rail by means of suitable fixing teeth, a front face on the opposite side from the rear face, two opposing lateral faces, an upper face and a lower face.
  • the electrical units are constructed in such a way that their perpendicular lateral faces are juxtaposed to the mounting rail. There are usually more than two modular units arranged next to each other in an electrical cabinet.
  • Figure 1 shows a first electrical unit 1, for example a differential actuator, on whose front face 2 there are a control lever 3 and two cylindrical apertures 4, 5 for housing the clamping screws of two electrical connection terminals, not visible, in which two conductor ends are clamped after being inserted into the terminals through two entrance apertures 6, 7 present on the face 8, conventionally termed the upper face.
  • a first electrical unit for example a differential actuator, on whose front face 2 there are a control lever 3 and two cylindrical apertures 4, 5 for housing the clamping screws of two electrical connection terminals, not visible, in which two conductor ends are clamped after being inserted into the terminals through two entrance apertures 6, 7 present on the face 8, conventionally termed the upper face.
  • the two-pole circuit breaker 12 is made up of two single-pole circuit breakers arranged next to each other and joined by a joining device according to the invention. It is provided on its front face 13 with a control lever 14, a first pair of cylindrical apertures 15, 16 for housing two clamping screws for entrance terminals, and with a second pair of cylindrical apertures, of which only 17 is visible, for housing two clamping screws for outlet terminals.
  • the conductor ends 9, 10 have access to the entrance terminals of the circuit breaker 12 through two apertures 18, 19 in the upper face 20 of the circuit breaker.
  • the two units are interconnected functionally in a known way by means of a pin 23 which passes out of a slot 24 in the wall 21 and into a corresponding slot 25 in the wall 22, opening the circuit breaker by the tripping of the differential protective means and, if required, matching the state of the circuit breaker to that of the differential protective means.
  • the function of the device forming the subject of the present invention is to enable the firm joining of the two modular units 1 and 12 for their successive mounting in the form of a single assembly on a supporting rail.
  • the differential actuator 1 and the circuit breaker 12 each include joining elements on faces other than the lateral faces that are to be juxtaposed.
  • two joining elements 40, 41 are provided for each unit, one on the front face, 2 and 13 respectively, and one on the rear face, in such positions as to join in pairs with the corresponding joining elements of the other unit when the two units are juxtaposed.
  • the joining elements are all identical in this example, but could also be identical only within each pair.
  • Each is formed by a projection integral with the container body of the respective unit and has one side flush with a lateral face of the unit and a groove on the inner side.
  • a joining device consists of a pair of joining elements on two units in corresponding positions as described above and of a retaining element, in this example a spring steel ring 42, 43 able to fit round both joining elements of the pair and hold them firmly together.
  • One pair of joining elements on two juxtaposed units has the general form of a cylinder with an enlargement at its free end. This enlargement, or head of the pair, preferably has rounded edges.
  • a joining device with the ring mounted, indicated generally by the numeral 30, is shown in Figure 1 on the two-pole circuit breaker 12 which, as stated, consists of two juxtaposed single-pole circuit breakers.
  • Two joining devices are sufficient for firmly joining two units, but more can of course be provided, if necessary.
  • Each unit may conveniently be provided with joining elements adjacent to each of the lateral faces to be juxtaposed, each such element being in an identical position for each unit, so that all units having the same modular structure can be joined to each other.
  • FIG. 2 shows two modular electrical units 31 and 32 similar to those of Figure 1 for mounting side by side on a mounting rail (not shown).
  • the unit 31 has joining elements exactly the same as those on the units shown in Figure 1 and are therefore labelled with the same reference numbers
  • unit 32 has joining elements (only one being visible in the drawing) labelled 33, in accordance with a variant of the invention.
  • the retaining element still in the form of a ring, labelled 34, is permanently attached to the joining element.
  • the joining element 33 is shaped like a bridge integral with the container body of the unit.
  • the ring 34 preferably a split ring made of steel wire, is inserted into the bridge by appropriate elastic deformation.
  • the advantage of this variant is that the retaining element is an integral part of one of the units to be juxtaposed, and so is always available for mounting.
  • the joining device according to the invention is extremely compact and consists of parts that are easy to manufacture: it is therefore very inexpensive.
  • the joining elements can be moulded together with the two shells that make up the container body of each unit and the retaining means are very common split rings made of steel wire, or open spring washers.
  • the assembly of the units is also extremely simple and can easily be done by automatic machines, while their removal is difficult if one does not have a specially designed tool.

Landscapes

  • Breakers (AREA)
  • Connections Arranged To Contact A Plurality Of Conductors (AREA)
  • Coupling Device And Connection With Printed Circuit (AREA)
  • Connector Housings Or Holding Contact Members (AREA)

Claims (7)

  1. Vorrichtung zum Verbinden von zwei modularen elektrischen Einheiten (1, 12), die vorgesehen sind, um mit zwei jeweiligen Seitenflächen (21, 22) befestigt zu werden, die nebeneinander angeordnet sind, die zumindest zwei Paare von Verbindungselementen (40, 41) und für jedes Paar von Verbindungselementen (40, 41) ein Halteelement (42, 43) aufweist, das in der Lage ist, in beide Verbindungselemente des Paars Eingriff zu nehmen und dieselben fest zusammenzuhalten, wobei jedes Verbindungselement an einer anderen Fläche von einer der Einheiten angeordnet ist, als der Fläche, die benachbart sein soll, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die Flächen, an denen die Verbindungselemente (40, 41) angeordnet sind, Flächen der Einheiten sind, die an die Flächen angrenzen, die nebeneinander angeordnet sein sollen, wobei jedes Verbindungselement in einer Position vorliegt, in der, wenn die zwei Einheiten befestigt sind, das Verbindungselement von einer der Einheiten benachbart zu dem Verbindungselement der anderen Einheit ist und das Halteelement (42, 43) so geformt ist, um um beide Verbindungselemente (40, 41) zu passen.
  2. Verbindungsvorrichtung gemäß Anspruch 1, bei der das Halteelement ein Federring (42, 43) ist.
  3. Verbindungsvorrichtung gemäß Anspruch 1 oder 2, bei der jedes der Verbindungselemente (40, 41) einstückig zu dem Behälterkörper der jeweiligen Einheit (1, 12) ist und in der Form eines Vorsprungs vorliegt, der an einer Seite durch eine Oberfläche definiert ist, die bündig mit einer Seitenfläche (21, 22) der jeweiligen Einheit ist und eine Auflage für das Halteelement (42, 43) aufweist.
  4. Verbindungsvorrichtung gemäß Anspruch 3, bei der jedes Paar von Verbindungselementen (40, 41) an zwei nebeneinander angeordneten Einheiten (1, 12) in der allgemeinen Form eines Zylinders mit einer Erweiterung an dessen freiem Ende vorliegt.
  5. Verbindungsvorrichtung gemäß Anspruch 4, bei der die Erweiterung eine abgerundete Kante aufweist.
  6. Verbindungsvorrichtung gemäß Anspruch 1 oder 2, bei der das Halteelement (34) permanent an einem der Verbindungselemente (33) des Paars angebracht ist.
  7. Verbindungsvorrichtung gemäß Anspruch 6, bei der die Verbindungselemente (41, 33) eines Paars einstückig zu dem Behälterkörper der jeweiligen Einheit (31, 32) sind, wobei eines derselben (41) in der Form eines Vorsprungs vorliegt, der durch eine Oberfläche definiert ist, die bündig mit einer Seitenfläche der jeweiligen Einheit ist und eine Auflage für das Halteelement (34) aufweist, und wobei das andere (33) derselben in der Form einer Brücke vorliegt, an der das Halteelement (34) befestigt ist.
EP97830465A 1997-09-23 1997-09-23 Vorrichtung zum Verbinden von zwei modularen elektrischen Einheiten Expired - Lifetime EP0903759B1 (de)

Priority Applications (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP97830465A EP0903759B1 (de) 1997-09-23 1997-09-23 Vorrichtung zum Verbinden von zwei modularen elektrischen Einheiten
AT97830465T ATE253253T1 (de) 1997-09-23 1997-09-23 Vorrichtung zum verbinden von zwei modularen elektrischen einheiten
ES97830465T ES2208859T3 (es) 1997-09-23 1997-09-23 Dispositivo para unir dos unidades electricas modulares.
DE69725846T DE69725846T2 (de) 1997-09-23 1997-09-23 Vorrichtung zum Verbinden von zwei modularen elektrischen Einheiten

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP97830465A EP0903759B1 (de) 1997-09-23 1997-09-23 Vorrichtung zum Verbinden von zwei modularen elektrischen Einheiten

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0903759A1 EP0903759A1 (de) 1999-03-24
EP0903759B1 true EP0903759B1 (de) 2003-10-29

Family

ID=8230780

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP97830465A Expired - Lifetime EP0903759B1 (de) 1997-09-23 1997-09-23 Vorrichtung zum Verbinden von zwei modularen elektrischen Einheiten

Country Status (4)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0903759B1 (de)
AT (1) ATE253253T1 (de)
DE (1) DE69725846T2 (de)
ES (1) ES2208859T3 (de)

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
ITRM20020366A1 (it) * 2002-07-09 2004-01-09 Bticino Spa Apparecchio elettrico con interruttore e dispositivo di sorpasso.
KR100865288B1 (ko) * 2007-04-03 2008-10-27 엘에스산전 주식회사 배선용 차단기의 모듈화 단자 및 이를 장착한 배선용차단기
DE102010056197A1 (de) 2010-12-24 2012-06-28 Daimler Ag Betriebsverfahren

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE1919180U (de) * 1965-05-19 1965-07-08 Stotz Kontakt Gmbh Mehrpoliger installationsselbstschalter.
US4270035A (en) * 1979-07-16 1981-05-26 Heinemann Electric Company Snap on mounting clip for circuit breakers
DE4403585A1 (de) * 1994-02-05 1995-08-10 Licentia Gmbh Kombination von zwei Schaltgeräten oder anderen elektrischen Reiheneinbaugeräten
DE4426816A1 (de) * 1994-07-28 1996-02-01 Kopp Heinrich Ag Vorrichtung zur thermischen Isolierung und kinematischen Verbindung von einpoligen Leitungsschutzschaltern

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE69725846T2 (de) 2004-05-13
ATE253253T1 (de) 2003-11-15
EP0903759A1 (de) 1999-03-24
DE69725846D1 (de) 2003-12-04
ES2208859T3 (es) 2004-06-16

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