EP1033735B1 - Electronic trip device comprising a removable long-time-delay module with a conection/disconnection function - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to an electronic release comprising a housing, an electronic processing circuit disposed inside the housing, means for connecting the processing circuit to conductors of a network to be protected, means for determining trip parameters. comprising a removable module, fixing means of the removable module on a front face of the housing, the removable module coming into contact, in the fixing position, with the processing circuit. The use of a removable module for determining long-delay protection parameters is conventional in electronic trip units. Some triggers comprise a processing circuit directly connected to conductors of a network to be protected, so as to allow a voltage measurement, for example by means of a resistive divider bridge. This direct connection, without transformer, must be interrupted, especially for performing dielectric insulation tests. In some protective devices there is provided a removable device disposed on the front which, when removed, interrupts the voltage connection.

Such a trigger is described in EP-A-0 320 409.

The object of the invention is a trigger in which these two functions are performed simply and reliably.

According to the invention this object is achieved by the fact that the connection means comprise, inside the housing, a part movable between a connection position and a disconnection position and having flexible contacts ensuring, in the connection position contact between first contact points of a printed circuit, connected to the conductors of the network, and second contact points of the printed circuit forming voltage inputs of the processing circuit, the connection means comprising elastic means pushing the movable part in the disconnected position, the removable module, in the fixing position, pushing the movable part in the connection position, against the action of the elastic means. Said part can be mobile in rotation or in translation.

According to a first development of the invention, the part is mobile in rotation and has rotation lugs having a rectangular section end, the inner faces of the side walls of the housing having associated guide elements each delimiting a narrow rectangular passage and a circular space.

According to another embodiment of the invention the housing comprises a guide rib on an inner face of at least one side wall of the housing, the removable module having side lugs coming into contact with an end of an auxiliary part, the workpiece auxiliary being in contact with the moving part and guided by the guide rib.

According to another development of the invention, the processing circuit comprises at least a first printed circuit board disposed in the housing near the front face and having terminals intended to come into contact with associated contacts of the removable module, and a second printed circuit board, set back from the front face and having the first and second contact points, the movable part being interposed between the second printed circuit board and the front face.

• La figure 1 représente un mode particulier de réalisation d'un déclencheur selon l'invention, en vue éclatée.
• La figure 2 représente schématiquement les connexions électriques entre divers éléments du déclencheur selon l'invention.
• La figure 3 représente la base du boîtier du déclencheur selon la figure 1.
• Les figures 4 et 5 représentent, respectivement en vue de dessus et en vue de dessous, la pièce mobile du déclencheur selon la figure 1.
• Les figures 6 et 7 représentent respectivement un contact et un ressort de la pièce mobile selon les figures 4 et 5.
• La figure 8 illustre deux positions d'un ergot de rotation de la pièce mobile selon les figures 4 et 5 par rapport à des éléments de guidage associés du boîtier.
• Les figures 9 et 10 représentent la pièce auxiliaire du déclencheur la figure 1, respectivement en vue de face et en vue arrière.
• Les figures 11 et 12 représentent respectivement en vue de dessus et en vue de dessous, le module du déclencheur selon la figure 1.
• Les figures 13 et 14 représentent un mode particulier de réalisation de divers éléments du module amovible.
• Les figures 15 et 16 représentent, en coupe au niveau d'un contact de la pièce mobile, la position des différents éléments dans un déclencheur selon la figure 1, respectivement en position de fixation et en position déverrouillée du module amovible.
• La figure 17 représente une variante de la figure 16, dans laquelle la pièce mobile est mobile en translation.

Other advantages and features will emerge more clearly from the following description of particular embodiments, given by way of non-limiting examples, and represented in the appended drawings in which:

• FIG. 1 represents a particular embodiment of a trigger according to the invention, in an exploded view.
• Figure 2 shows schematically the electrical connections between various elements of the trigger according to the invention.
• FIG. 3 represents the base of the trigger housing according to FIG.
• FIGS. 4 and 5 show, respectively in plan view and in bottom view, the moving part of the release according to FIG.
• Figures 6 and 7 respectively show a contact and a spring of the moving part according to Figures 4 and 5.
• Figure 8 illustrates two positions of a rotational lug of the movable part according to Figures 4 and 5 with respect to the associated guide elements of the housing.
• Figures 9 and 10 show the auxiliary part of the trigger Figure 1, respectively in front view and in rear view.
• FIGS. 11 and 12 respectively represent, in plan view and in bottom view, the trigger module according to FIG.
• Figures 13 and 14 show a particular embodiment of various elements of the removable module.
• Figures 15 and 16 show, in section at a contact of the moving part, the position of the various elements in a trigger according to Figure 1, respectively in the fixing position and unlocked position of the removable module.
• Figure 17 shows a variant of Figure 16, wherein the movable part is movable in translation.

The trigger shown in Figure 1 comprises a housing 1 provided with a front face 2, forming part of a housing cover and accessible to the user. In known manner, a removable module 3 is intended to be fixed on the front face of the housing. It allows the determination of the long-delay protection parameters, generally in cooperation with adjustment members, not shown in FIG. 1, constituted for example by potentiometers, switches or keys arranged on the front face.

The removable module 3 also cooperates with a processing circuit 4 (FIG. 2) carried by a printed circuit 5. In FIG. 1, the printed circuit 5 consists of three printed circuit boards 5a, 5b, 5c connected by parts flexible. The plate 5a is disposed near the front face 2, so that, in the position of attachment of the removable module to the trigger, contacts 6 of the removable module 3 (Figures 2 and 13) come into contact with parts associated circuit board constituting terminals 7 of the processing circuit (fig.2). The plate 5a is substantially parallel to the front face 2. The plate 5b is arranged recessed with respect to the front face, close to the bottom of the housing 1. It is substantially parallel to the previous one and comprises, on its upper face, first and second contact points 8 and 9. In a preferred embodiment, the plate 5b has 4 pairs of contact points. The first point of contact 8 of each pair is connected, via the printed circuit and a connector 10 to a conductor 11 of a network to be protected (FIG 2). In the particular embodiment shown in Figure 1, the connector 10 is mounted on the plate 5c, disposed in an intermediate position between the plates 5a and 5b, substantially perpendicular to the front face 2 of the release. The connector 10 is connected to the conductors 11 of the network through an orifice 12 disposed in the bottom of the housing 1 (FIG 3). The second contact points 9 form the voltage inputs of the processing circuit 4.

The trigger comprises a part 13 movable between a connection position and a disconnection position. The moving part 13 comprises flexible contacts 14 (FIGS. 5 and 6) intended to ensure, in the connection position, a contact between the first contact points 8 and the second contact points 9, thus allowing the processing circuit 4 to measure the mains voltage.

The part 13 is normally pushed back into the disconnected position by elastic means constituted, in the preferred embodiment shown in FIGS. 1, 4, and 7, by a torsion spring 15. The removable module 3, when it is in the fixing position on the front face 2 of the casing 1, pushes the moving part 13 back to the connection position, against the action of the torsion spring 15.

An auxiliary part 16 is preferably interposed between the removable module 3 and the moving part 13. The auxiliary part 16 (FIGS. 1, 9 and 10) is guided by a guide rib 17 (FIG. 1) formed on an internal face 18 of FIG. a side wall of the housing 1. It can move along the guide rib 17, vertically in Figure 1, between first and second positions. In the first position, the removable module 3, in the fixing position, is in contact, via at least one lateral tab 19, with an end 20 of the auxiliary part 16. The auxiliary part, in contact with the movable part 13, maintains it in its connection position. When the removable module 3 is not fixed on the front face of the release, it does not exert on the moving part 13, through the auxiliary part 16, a sufficient pressure to keep it in the connection position. The moving part is then pushed into the disconnected position by the torsion spring 15 and pushes the auxiliary piece 16 in its second position, upwards in Figure 1. The upward movement of the auxiliary piece 16 is preferably limited by a retaining pin 21 disposed on the inner face 18. In a preferred embodiment the part 13 is rotatable. It comprises two rotation pins 22 (Figures 1, 4 and 5) integral with side flanges 23 and projecting outwardly. The rotation pins 22 preferably have an end of rectangular section intended to cooperate with guide elements 24 (Figures 1 and 8) integral with the inner faces 18 of the side walls of the housing. Each guide element 24 delimits on one of the faces 18 a narrow rectangular passage 25, terminating in a circular space 26. FIG. 8 represents a rotation pin 22 in two different positions with respect to the corresponding guide element 24 . In a first position the lug, 22a, is ready to be introduced into the guide element. Its orientation is such that it can be introduced into the rectangular passage 25 whose width 11 is slightly greater than the width 12 of the section of the end of the pin and less than the length L of this section. The circular space 26 has a diameter slightly greater than the length L. Thus, when, after passing through the passage 25, the lug is in the second position (lug 22b in FIG. circular space 26, it can rotate freely.

In a particular embodiment (FIGS. 9 and 10), the auxiliary part 16 has a protruding part 27 provided on its underside with a rib 28 in which the associated lateral flange of the movable part 13 can slide. auxiliary piece 16 is in its second position, high, pushed by the torsion spring 15, the portion 27 limits the rotation of the part 13, so that the rotation pins 22 can not escape from the circular spaces 26 corresponding guide elements 24.

The trigger preferably comprises a single auxiliary part 16, although the assembly may, optionally, be symmetrical. To facilitate the assembly of the whole, the room mobile 13 may comprise, on the flange 23 opposite to that which cooperates with the auxiliary part 16, a retaining pin 29 (Figures 4 and 5) capable of cooperating with a rib 30 of the inner face of the associated wall of the housing (FIG. 3). The retaining lug 29 thus makes it possible to keep the moving part 13 inside the casing 1, even in the absence of the auxiliary part 16, for example before fitting it. The respective dimensions of the various components, a certain elasticity of the flanges 23 as well as the auxiliary part 16, made of thermoplastic material, as well as the increasing section of the retaining pin 21, allow the installation and, possibly, the dismantling, of the moving part 13 and the auxiliary part 16 despite the presence of retaining lugs 29 and 21.

The torsion spring 15 has a central portion and two ends. A first end, free, is intended to bear on a groove 31 disposed in the bottom of the housing 1 (Figure 3). The central portion of the torsion spring is mounted on a lug 32 disposed in the extension of one of the rotational lugs 22, that is to say projecting inwards relative to the corresponding lateral flange 23 of the moving part 13. (Figures 4 and 5). The torsion spring is prepositioned on the moving part by appropriate retaining elements.

In the particular embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the moving part 13 carries four identical flexible contacts 14 intended to be associated with each of the phase conductors and with the neutral conductor of a three-phase network with neutral. The contacts 14 are mounted on the moving part 13 either by heat sealing or by clipping. They are arranged at the lower part of the piece 13 in locations delimited by lateral protective walls 33. Each contact 14 has a fastening zone 34 and ends with two separate flexible contact zones 35 intended respectively to come into contact with each other. contact with the contact points 8 and 9. To improve the contact, each contact zone preferably comprises, at its lower part, a slight bulge 36, which can be obtained by stamping. Figures 15 and 16 show, in section, the respective positions of the removable module 3, the auxiliary part 16, the movable part 13 and its contacts 14, and the printed circuit board 5b. In the position of attachment of the removable module 3 (FIG. 15), the contacts 14 are in contact with the printed circuit board 5b which is arranged between the bottom of the housing and the moving part 13. In the unlocked position of the removable module 3 (FIG. 16), the torsion spring 15 pushes the moving part 13 and its contacts 14 in the disconnected position.

A particular embodiment of the removable module 3 is shown in Figures 11 to 14. Its side tabs 19 have at their free ends retaining hooks 37 which keep it secured to the front face 2 of the housing in the unlocked position. The lateral lugs 19, arranged in pairs on either side of the module 3, pass through corresponding orifices 38 of the front face 2 (FIG. 1). They have a certain elasticity, which makes it possible, by bringing the two lateral lugs of each pair together, to introduce them into the corresponding orifice 38. Once the removable module 3 is put in place, it is fixed on the front face by means of a screw 39 (FIG. 12) which is screwed into a complementary threaded orifice 40 formed in the front face of the release (FIG 1). The screw 39 is preferably of the captive type, secured to the removable module 3 in translation along the axis of the screw. In this way, the unscrewing of the screw, through an orifice 41 formed in the external face of the removable module 3, automatically causes the detachable module 3 to be lifted relative to the front face 2 of the release, its unlocking and, consequently, the transition to the disconnected position of the moving part 13.

The outer face of the removable module comprises, in a conventional manner, orifices 42 for the passage of switches or setting potentiometers. These orifices 42 are aligned with orifices 43 of the front face of the release. The switches or potentiometers of adjustment, being part of the processing circuit, are carried by the printed circuit 5. The elasticity of the tabs 19 also allows a complete extraction of the removable module 3, in spite of the retaining hooks 37.

The removable module 3 comprises a printed circuit 43, shown in profile in FIG. 13. The printed circuit 43, carrying the contacts 6 of the removable module, is disposed inside a suitable housing 44 provided in the lower part of the module removable. The printed circuit 43 is held in place in the housing 44 by a cover 45 (FIG. 14) which clips into the housing. The cover 45 has orifices 46 for the passage of the contacts 66. Furthermore, the cover 45 carries a light guide 47. When the removable module 3 is in the fixing position, one end of the light guide comes into contact with a diode light-emitting alarm (LED 49, Fig. 2) of the processing circuit 4, mounted on the printed circuit 5. The alarm diode 49 lights up, for example, when the long delay trip threshold is reached. The corresponding light information is transmitted directly by the light guide 47 to a corresponding orifice 48 formed on the outer face of the removable module (FIG 11), thus constituting a light indicator.

FIG. 2 schematizes the electrical connections between the printed circuit 5 and the printed circuit 43 of the removable module 3. In the particular embodiment represented in FIG. 2, the printed circuit 43 is connected to five terminals 7 of the processing circuit 4, by contacts 6. A first terminal 7 is connected to a common point with four conductors formed on the printed circuit and connected respectively to the other four terminals 7. Each of the conductors can be interrupted, the number and arrangement of the integrity of the drivers corresponding to a coding, on 4 bits, of the long delay parameter value associated with the selected module.

Alternatively, the part 13 may be replaced by a part 13a movable in translation in the housing (Figure 17). The auxiliary part is then constituted by a part 16a, integral with the moving part 13a. In the particular embodiment shown in FIG. 17, the resilient means intended to push the removable module 13a into the disconnected position are constituted by a spring 50, guided in appropriate elements of the housing, and resting on the one hand on the bottom of the housing 1 and, secondly, on a flange of the auxiliary part 16a. In the fixing position of the removable module 3 on the front face of the release, that pushes the auxiliary part 16a, and the moving part 13a towards the bottom of the housing, against the action of the spring 50 which is then compressed. The contacts 14 then come into contact with the printed circuit 5b. On the other hand, as soon as the removable module 3 is in the unlocked position, as represented in FIG. 17, the spring 50 pushes the intermediate piece 16a upwards, this latter driving the moving part 13a, and interrupting the contact between the contacts 14 and the printed circuit 5b.

In all cases, the unlocking of the removable module 3 is accompanied by the automatic disconnection of the voltage inputs of the processing circuit. The interruption of the voltage connection, in particular for the realization of dielectric tests, is carried out simply, by unlocking the removable module 3, without the risk that the user accesses the live conductors (220 V) from the front panel, unlike what was happening in the known devices. The assembly according to the invention thus advantageously combines two functions, namely the calibration of the long delay and the disconnection of the voltage measurement.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the printed circuit 5 consists of 3 parts and, in the disconnected position, the mains voltage is present only at the lower input of the connector 10, on the contacts 8 and in the conductors of the printed circuit board 5c making the connection between the connector 10 and the contact points 8. All these locations are remote from the front face 2 of the circuit breaker and, moreover, their access is protected by the presence of the front face and, if this is removed, in that the connecting conductors between the connector 10 and the contact points 8 are preferably formed on the face of the printed circuit board 5c arranged towards inside, between the printed circuit boards 5a and 5b.

According to an alternative embodiment, an additional printed circuit board may be disposed between the front face 2 and the printed circuit board 5a. This further limits the risks of access to live parts. In this case the contact points 7, the light-emitting diode 49, the potentiometers or setting switches, are located on the additional printed circuit board, or a suitable passage is provided therein.

Claims (10)

1. Electronic trip device comprising a case (1), an electronic processing circuit (4) arranged inside the case, connecting means for connecting the processing circuit (4) to conductors (11) of a power system to be protected, means for determining tripping parameters comprising a removable module (3), means (39, 40) for fixing the removable module on a front panel (2) of the case, the removable module (3) coming into contact, in the fixed position, with the processing circuit, trip device characterized in that the connecting means comprise, inside the case (1), a movable part (13) movable between a connected position and a disconnected position and comprising flexible contacts (14) making, in the connected position, a contact between the first contact points (8) of a printed circuit (5b), connected to the power system conductors (11), and second contact points (9) of the printed circuit (5b) forming voltage inputs of the processing circuit (4), the connecting means comprising spring means (15) urging the movable part (13) to the disconnected position, the removable module (3), in the fixed position, urging the movable part (13) to the connected position against the action of the spring means (15).
2. Trip device according to claim 1, characterized in that said movable part (13) is movable in rotation.
3. Trip device according to claim 2, characterized in that the movable part (13) comprises rotation pins (22) having an end of rectangular cross-section, internal faces (18) of side walls of the case comprising associated guiding parts (24) each bounding a narrow rectangular passage (25) and a circular space (26).
4. Trip device according to one of the claims 2 and 3, characterized in that the movable part (13) comprises an additional pin (32) for fixing of a torsion spring constituting the flexible means (15).
5. Trip device according to claim 1, characterized in that said movable part (13a) is movable in translation.
6. Trip device according to any one of the claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the case (1) comprises a guide rib (17) on an internal face (18) of at least one side wall of the case, the removable module (3) comprising lateral lugs (19) coming into contact with one end of an auxiliary part (16), the auxiliary part being in contact with the movable part (13) and guided by the guide rib (17).
7. Trip device according to any one of the claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the removable module (3) comprises securing latches (37) designed to keep the module securedly affixed to the front panel (2) in an unlatched position.
8. Trip device according to any one of the claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the processing circuit comprises at least a first printed circuit board (5a), arranged in the case (1) near to the front panel (2) and comprising terminals (7) designed to come into contact with associated contacts (6) of the removable module (3), and a second printed circuit board (5b), arranged in a laid back position with respect to the front panel (2) and comprising the first and second contact points (8, 9), the movable part (13) being interposed between the second printed circuit board (5b) and the front panel (2).
9. Trip device according to any one of the claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the means for fixing the removable module (3) comprise a threaded orifice (40) formed in the front panel (2) of the trip device and a complementary screw (39) securedly affixed to the removable module (3) in translation along the axis of the screw.
10. Trip device according to any one of the claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the removable module (3) comprises a light guide (47) coming into contact with an alarm light-emitting diode (49) of the processing circuit (4) when the removable module (3) is in the fixed position.

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