EP2725600A1 - Low voltage protection device - Google Patents

Abstract

The protection device has a manually operable actuator (30) that closes and opens a switch (20). A lever arm (64) is articulated with driven element of pivot gear box (50). A latch mechanism (70) is provided to inhibit the movement of driven element with closed switch and is provided with pivotally mounted pawls (71,73). A two-armed pawl lever (54) is provided with lever arms (541,542). The lever arm (541) is latched in pawl (71), and the lever arm (542) is latched into pawl (73) after releasing the lever arm (541) from pawl (71), when the switch is manually closed.

Description

TECHNICAL AREA

The present invention relates to a low-voltage protection device according to the introductory part of claim 1. The low-voltage protection device prevents electrical accidents and fires in electrical systems and is generally designed as a fault-protected socket or as line or motor protection switch.

STATE OF THE ART

A designed as a circuit breaker protection device of the type mentioned is in DE 10 2004 055 564 A1 described. This circuit breaker includes a two switching pieces having switching point and a switching mechanism with a serving as a drive knob for manual closing and opening the switch. The driving force generated manually or else by a supercharged drive spring is transmitted to a pivotally mounted, two-armed contact lever via a pivotally coupled to the drive the contact lever has two lever arms, of which the first is pivotally connected to a trained as a flap output member of the rotary joint gear , The second lever arm carries a movable of the two contact pieces. A latch mechanism acts with a pawl lever on a bracket of the rotary joint mechanism and inhibits the movement of the bracket and thus also acting as the output element tab with closed switching point.

EP 0 641 045 B1 describes a designed as a fault-protected socket low-voltage protection device. This protective device includes a housing which accommodates modular units of a socket and a residual current circuit breaker, such as plug contacts, a contact arrangement with at least one switching point formed by two switching pieces, a summation current transformer, a magnetic release, a switching mechanism with a latch having a latch and a test circuit. The switching mechanism has a drive of a movable of the two contact pieces Serving actuator, is transmitted from the driving force via a provided in the switch lock, verklinkbares rotary joint gear on a pivotally mounted contact carrier of the movable contact piece.

PRESENTATION OF THE INVENTION

The invention, as indicated in the claims, the object is to provide a low-voltage protection device of the type mentioned, the switching mechanism is characterized by a small footprint.

According to the present invention, a low-voltage protection device is provided, comprising a two switching pieces having switching point and a switching mechanism with a manually operable drive to close and open the switching point, a non-positively coupled to the drive rotary joint gear, a pivotally mounted, two-armed contact lever with two lever arms, of which the first lever arm is pivotally connected to a driven member of the rotary joint gear and the second lever arm carries a movable one of the two contact pieces, and a latch mechanism which inhibits the movement of the driven member when the switch is closed.

The latch mechanism includes two pivotally mounted pawls and the output member forming, two-armed latch lever with two lever arms, of which the manual closing of the switch the first lever arm is latched into the first latch and the second lever arm after the notching of the first lever arm from the first pawl in the second latch is latched.

Since the ratchet mechanism includes two pawls, the manual closure of the switch can be done in two consecutive phases. In the first phase, the pawl lever can first engage in a first of the two pawls. The manually applied driving force can now be transmitted to the contact lever via the latch lever which can be fixed on the contact lever. Before the ratchet lever can release, the first pawl can be opened and the ratchet lever can be disengaged. The briefly releasable latch lever can now engage in the second latch. The definitive closing of the switch still Required manually applied driving force can now be transmitted until the switch is finally closed, a contact spring transmits sufficient contact force on the closed switch and charged for automatic opening of the switch energy storage elements, such as a drive spring and a contact lever spring, the switching mechanism charged with sufficient energy are.

Due to the inhibiting effect of the first pawl practically from the beginning and the inhibiting action of the second pawl until the end of the manual closing of the switching point of the latch lever relative to a latch lever which is latched when manually closing the switch only in a single jack, have a much smaller length. A switching mechanism containing the drive, the swivel joint, the pawl mechanism and the contact lever is therefore designed to be extremely compact and has small space dimensions. The properties of the low-voltage protection device therefore remain intact despite reduced geometric dimensions of the switching mechanism.

In a preferred embodiment of the low-voltage protection device according to the invention, the first pawl may be formed with two arms and be mounted on the contact lever, a first positive connection formed by the first lever arm of the ratchet lever and a first arm of the first pawl can fix the latch lever on manual closing on the contact lever and can after releasing the first positive connection of the second arm of the pawl lever and a first at least two arms of the second pawl form a second releasable when opening the switching point positive engagement.

Furthermore, the protective device according to the invention can have a stationary stop cooperating with the first arm of the first pawl for releasing the first positive connection. The second arm of the first pawl can be guided on manual opening of the switching point to the second arm of the second pawl.

The swivel linkage may have a pivotally mounted, from the drive and a rechargeable during manual closing of the switching point drive spring drive force acted upon drive member and a with the Drive member hingedly connected coupling member and the articulated with the coupling member latch lever.

In order to additionally reduce the space requirement of the switching mechanism of the low-voltage protection device according to the invention, the coupling element of the rotary joint transmission may be bent in the manner of a banana.

In a preferred embodiment of the inventive protective device, the drive may further comprise a manually displaceable for manually opening and closing the switch against the action of a return spring, positively coupled to a drive member of the swivel gear slider, and in the slide a first trigger lever can be pivotally mounted, the Manual opening of the switching point to the first lever arm of the first pawl is feasible.

If the first release lever is designed with two arms, then a first of the two arms can carry a trigger head striking the first arm of the first pawl during manual opening and a stop can be arranged on the slider on which the second arm of the first trigger lever engages when the switch point is closed manually is supportable.

The movable contact piece can be mounted pivotably against the force of a contact spring on the second lever arm of the contact lever.

The low-voltage protection device may further comprise a current trigger which can be activated by a fault current, a short-circuit current or an overcurrent and which can be guided via a pivotably mounted, resetable second triggering lever directly to the second arm or to a third arm of the second pawl.

In an alternative embodiment of the protective device, the mechanical actuator of the current release can be directly guided to the second arm or to a third arm of the second pawl.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig.1

ein Niederspannungs-Schutzgerät nach der Erfindung, bei dem beim manuellen Schliessen einer Schaltstelle ein Klinkenhebel eines zwei Klinken enthaltenden Klinkenmechanismus in die erste Klinke eingeklinkt ist,

Fig.2

das Schutzgerät nach Fig.1, bei dem beim manuellen Schliessen der Schaltstelle der Klinkenhebel aus der ersten Klinke ausgeklinkt und in die zweite Klinke eingeklinkt ist,

Fig.3

das Schutzgerät nach den Figuren 1 und 2, bei dem beim manuellen Öffnen der Schaltstelle der Klinkenhebel gerade aus der zweiten Klinke ausgeklinkt wird, und

Fig.4

eine Ausführungsform des Schutzgerätes nach den Figuren 1 bis 3 mit einem Stromauslöser, bei dem beim Auftreten eines Fehler-, Kurzschluss- oder Überstroms der Klinkenhebel gerade aus der zweiten Klinke ausgeklinkt wird.

With reference to drawings, the invention will be explained in more detail below. This shows in a schematic representation in each case:

Fig.1

a low-voltage protection device according to the invention, in which the manual closing of a switching point a latch lever of a two-pawl latch mechanism is latched into the first latch,

Fig.2

the protection device after Fig.1 in which the pawl lever is disengaged from the first pawl during manual closing of the switching point and latched into the second pawl,

Figure 3

the protection device according to Figures 1 and 2 in which the latch lever is just released from the second pawl during manual opening of the switching point, and

Figure 4

an embodiment of the protective device according to the FIGS. 1 to 3 with a current release, in which the latch lever is just released from the second pawl when a fault, short circuit or overcurrent occurs.

WAYS FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

• eine Schaltstelle 20, einen manuell betätigbaren Antrieb 30, eine um eine feststehende Achse 51 schwenkbare Antriebsfeder 40, ein Drehgelenkgetriebe 50,
• einen um eine feststehende Achse 61 schwenkbar gelagerten, zweiarmigen Kontakthebel 60 und einen Klinkenmechanismus 70.

That in the FIGS. 1 to 4 illustrated low-voltage protection device, which is typically designed as a fault-protected socket or circuit breaker contains a housing 10 shown only as a structureless inner wall and disposed inside the housing:

• a switching point 20, a manually operable drive 30, a pivotable about a fixed axis 51 drive spring 40, a pivot joint 50,
• a pivotally mounted about a fixed axis 61, two-armed contact lever 60 and a latch mechanism 70th

The switching point 20 is formed by two switching pieces 21 and 22, of which the switching piece 21 is mounted pivotably relative to the force of a contact spring 23 on an arm 62 of the contact lever 60. The switching piece 22 is fixedly held in the housing 10. When switching point 20 is the movable Switching piece 21 supported by a contact force formed by the prestressed contact spring 23 on the fixed contact piece 22.

The drive 30 has a (not visible in the upper section) guided through the housing 10 actuating button 31 to which a slide 32 held in the housing is attached. The remote from the actuating button 31 end of the slider 32 is supported on a stationary return spring 33. On the slide 32, a pivotable about a held in the slide 30 axis 321, two-armed release lever 34 is mounted. An arm 341 of the trigger lever 34 has a trigger head 342, which cooperates with the latch mechanism 70 when manually opening the switch 20. A stop 322 mounted on the slide 30 ensures that the pivoting range of the release lever 34, which is then temporarily pivoted clockwise in the case of manual closing of the switching point, is limited.

The drive spring 40 is supported with a low bias on a fixedly arranged in the housing 10 stop 11 and a bearing 521 of a drive member 52 of the rotary joint gear 50.

The drive member 52 is pivotally mounted on the stationary shaft 51 and is acted upon by the drive 30 and the supercharged drive spring 40 with driving force. A banana-shaped bent trained coupling member 53 is pivotally connected at its one end to a lever arm of the drive member 52. The other end of the coupling member 53 is connected to a trained as a pawl 54 output member of the rotary joint gear 50. The output member resp. the pawl lever 54 is pivotally connected via a pivot joint 63 with a lever arm 64 of the contact lever 60.

A contact lever spring 66 is supported on a stop 14 fixedly arranged in the housing 10 and a spring stop 65 integrated in the lever arm 62.

The latch mechanism 70 includes the pivot lever pivotally mounted on the pivot 63 63, a two-armed pawl 71 pivotally mounted on the arm 64 of the contact lever 60, and a pawl 73 pivotable about a fixed axis 72.

When open switch 20, the two switching pieces 21, 22 are electrically isolated from each other and the drive spring 40 and the contact lever spring 66 are largely discharged. The actuating button 31 is guided against the force of the return spring 33 upwards in a defined position. The drive member 52 is supported by a force determined by the slightly biased drive spring 40 on the stationary held in the housing 10 stop 11 and is pivotally mounted against the support force in the counterclockwise direction about the axis 51.

The movable contact piece 21 and thus also the contact lever 60 are supported at open switching point 20 with a low biasing force on a fixedly arranged in the housing 10 stop 13. The contact lever 60 and thus also the switching piece 21 are mounted counter to the supporting force in a clockwise direction about the axis 61 pivotally.

The drive member 52 - and via the rotary joint gear 50 and the contact lever 60 and the movable contact piece 21 - are therefore in a defined position. The two pawls 71 and 73 are also in defined positions and are respectively counter to the force of a non-designated prestressed spring counterclockwise (pawl 71), respectively. pivoted clockwise (latch 73).

To close the switching point, the actuating button 31 and thus the slider 32 is pressed against the restoring force of the spring 33 down. In this downward movement of the slider 32, a transmission is operative, which converts the thrust of the slider 32 in a counter-clockwise pivotal movement of the drive member 52 and at the same time causes the trigger lever 34 is pivoted clockwise. The trigger head 342 is then pivoted to the left, whereas the located above the axis 321 lever arm of the trigger lever 34 is then pivoted to the right and supported on the stop 322. This pivotal movement acts on the coupling lever 53 on the pawl lever 54 and turns it on the pivot 63 in the counterclockwise direction in the Fig. 1 apparent position. In this position proposes a below the joint 63 attaching lever arm 541 of the pawl lever 54 with a non-designated nose to a projection, the at the end of a lever arm 711 of the two-armed pawl 71 is attached. Since the latch is held in a clockwise direction 71 with biasing force, thereby hooking the two arms 541 and 711 to form a positive connection V ₁ which sets the latch lever 54 on the contact lever 60th

In a now beginning first phase rotates (with further rotated counterclockwise drive member 52) of the contact lever 60 in a clockwise direction. At the end of the first phase, the movable contact 21 is brought close to the fixed contact 22 and the switch 20 is not yet closed. At the same time then the drive spring 40 and the contact lever spring 66 are much more charged than at the beginning of the first phase.

The end Fig.2 apparent end of the first phase is determined by a stationary held in the housing stop 12, to which when closing the switch 20 to the left moved arm 711 of the pawl 71 is performed. As in Fig.2 shown, the pawl 71 is then rotated counterclockwise while the positive connection V ₁ between the lever arm 711 and the lever arm 541 repealed. When picked up the mold closure V _1, the latch lever 54 A attached to its end located above the swivel joint 63 lever arm 542, not designated nose rotates counterclockwise slightly about the pivot 63. hooked with a projection (at the end of Ams 731 Fig.1 ) of the two-armed latch 73 is attached. Since the pawl 73 is held in the counterclockwise direction with biasing force, a form closure V ₂ formed by the lever arm 542 of the pawl lever 54 and the lever arm 731 of the pawl 73 fixes the pawl lever 54 on the contact lever 60 and now becomes the switching point which is not yet completely closed in a second phase 20 is definitely closed, the drive spring 40 and the contact lever spring 66 are completely charged and the tiltably mounted on the lever arm 62 of the contact lever 60, movable contact piece 21 is pivoted to form the required contact force in its final position. It will be one of those FIGS. 3 and 4 reached apparent position in which the switch 20 is closed and the two contact pieces 21 and 22 are loaded with a contact force generated by the now sufficiently biased contact spring 23. The slider 32 and thus also the actuating button 31 are from the drive member 52 uncoupled from the swivel joint and are returned by the return spring 33 back into the position assumed before the beginning of the closing operation starting position.

Due to the fact that the pawl mechanism contains two pawls 71 and 73, the manual closing of the switch 20 takes place in two successive phases. In the first phase, the pawl lever 54 initially latches into the pawl 71 pivotally mounted on the contact lever 60. The manually applied driving force is then transmitted to the contact lever 60 via the latch lever 54 fixed to the contact lever when the rotary joint 63 is fixed. Before the latch lever 54 can disengage, the pawl 71 is opened and the latch lever is disengaged. The briefly released latch lever 54 can now latch in the pivotally mounted on the stationary axis 72 pawl 73. The final closing of the switching point 20 still needed manually applied driving force is now transmitted via the no longer fixed to the contact lever 60, but latched into the stationary latch 73 latch lever 54 and the re-movable pivot joint 63 on the contact lever 60 and that until the switch 20th is finally closed, the contact spring 23 transmits a sufficient contact force on the closed switching point 20, the contact lever spring 66 is charged with sufficient for automatic opening of the switch 20 energy and the drive spring 40 has sufficient energy to the latch mechanism 70, in particular the latch lever 54, after opening the switch 20 back into the (largely off Fig.1 apparent) starting position.

Due to the inhibiting effect of the pawl 71 practically from the beginning and the pawl 73 to the end of the manual closing of the switching point, the pawl lever 54 may have a much smaller length compared to a pawl lever which is latched in the manual closing of the switch only in a single pawl. A drive mechanism 30, the rotary joint gear 50, the latch mechanism 70 and the contact lever 60 containing switching mechanism is therefore extremely compact and has small space dimensions. The properties of the low-voltage protection device therefore remain intact despite reduced geometric dimensions of the switching mechanism. When manually opening the switch 20, the operation button 31 and thus the slider 32 are pressed down. Since the drive spring 40 is still charged, now in contrast to the previously described closing operation, the slider 32 and the pivot joint 50 are not positively coupled with each other and, accordingly, the release lever 34 is not rotated clockwise. How out Figure 3 can be seen, the trigger head 342 proposes the lever arm 711 of the pawl 71. The pawl 71 is now rotated counterclockwise and strikes with its lever arm 712 on a lever arm 732 of the pawl 73. The pawl is turned clockwise.

How out Figure 3 it can be seen that the positive connection V _{2 is released} . The contact lever 60 is rotated by the relaxing contact lever spring 66 in the counterclockwise direction while the switch 20 is opened. The charged drive spring 40 then pivots the drive member 52 of the rotary joint 50 in a clockwise direction, whereby the latch lever 54 resp. the latch mechanism 70 is returned again in front of closing the switch existing starting position.

For automatically opening the switch 20 is off Figure 4 apparent power trigger 80 is provided. This current release is activated when a fault current, a short-circuit current or an overcurrent occurs. In this case, a mechanical actuator, which is typically designed as a ram 81 in the case of a fault or short-circuit current release, shifts as a result of electromagnetic or thermal forces and strikes a pivotably mounted, releasable release lever 82. This lever is rotated counterclockwise, thereby striking a lever arm 733 of the pawl 73 at. Since this lever is arranged with respect to the axis of the pawl 73 on the same side as the lever 732, also in this case, the pawl 73 is rotated clockwise and the positive connection V _{2 is released} , whereby the switching point 20 is opened.

A simplified embodiment of the low-voltage protection device is achieved when the lever arm 733 is omitted and the release lever 82 cooperates with the lever arm 732. Optionally, the release lever 82 can be omitted and the trigger 80 can act directly on the arm 733 or even the arm 732.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

10

switch housing

11, 12, 13, 14

attacks

20

coordinating point

21

movable contact piece

22

fixed contact piece

23

contact spring

30

drive

31

actuating button

32

pusher

321

axis

322

attack

33

Return spring

34

sear

341

Arm of the release lever

342

release head

40

driving spring

50

Swivel gear

51

fixed axis

52

drive member

521

depository

53

coupling member

54

Latch lever, output member

541, 542

Lever arms of the ratchet lever

60

contact lever

61

fixed axis

62

lever arm

63

swivel

64

lever arm

65

spring stop

66

Contact lever spring

70

latch mechanism

71

first latch

711, 712

Arms of the first latch

72

fixed axis

73

second latch

731, 732, 733

Arms of the second latch

80

current release

81

mechanical actuator

82

sear

V ₁ , V ₂

form conclusions

Claims (11)

Low-voltage protection device, comprising a two switching pieces (21, 22) having switching point (20) and a switching mechanism with
a manually operable drive (30) for closing and opening the switching point (20),
a non-positively coupled to the drive pivot joint gear (50),
a pivotally mounted, two - armed contact lever (60) with two lever arms (62, 64), of which the first lever arm (64) is pivotally connected to a driven member of the rotary joint gear (50) and the second lever arm (62) is a movable (21) of two contact pieces (21, 22) carries, and with
a latch mechanism (70) which inhibits the movement of the output member when the switch point (20) is closed,
characterized in that the latch mechanism (70) two pivotally mounted pawls (71, 73) and a forming the output member, the two-armed pawl lever (54) with two lever arms (541, 542), of which during the manual closing of the switching point (20) of the first lever arm (541) in the first pawl (71) is latched and the second lever arm (542) after the notching of the first lever arm (541) from the first pawl (71) in the second pawl (73) can be latched. Protective device according to Claim 1, characterized in that the first pawl (71) has two arms and is mounted on the contact lever (60), one of the first lever arm (541) of the pawl lever (54) and a first arm (711) of the first pawl ( 71) formed first latch (V ₁ ) the latch lever (54) upon manual closing of the switching point (20) on the contact lever (50) sets, and that after releasing the first positive connection (V ₁ ) of the second arm (542) of the pawl lever (54 54) and a first (731) at least two arms (731, 732, 733) of the second pawl (73) form a releasable when opening the switching point (20) second positive connection (V ₂ ). Protection device according to claim 2, characterized in that it has a with the first arm (711) of the first pawl (71) cooperating, fixed stop (12) for releasing the first positive connection (V ₁ ). Protective device according to one of claims 2 or 3, characterized in that the second arm (712) of the first pawl (71) on manual opening of the switching point (20) to the second arm (732) of the second pawl (73) is feasible. Protective device according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the rotary joint mechanism (50) comprises a pivotably mounted, by the drive (30) and a manual closing of the switching rechargeable (20) drive spring (40) with driving force acted on the drive member (52) and a coupling member (53) articulated to the drive member (52) and the pawl lever (54) hinged to the coupling member (53). Protective device according to claim 5, characterized in that the coupling member (53) of the rotary joint gear (50) is bent in the manner of a banana. Protective device according to one of claims 5 or 6, characterized in that the drive (30) for manually opening and closing the switching point (20) against the action of a return spring (33) displaceable, non-positively connected to a drive member (52) of the rotary joint gear (50 ) and that in the slide (32) a first trigger lever (34) is pivotally mounted, which is feasible on manual opening of the switching point (20) to the first lever arm (711) of the first pawl (71). Protection device according to claim 7, characterized in that the first trigger lever (34) is formed with two arms, that a first arm (341) of the first trigger lever (34) on manual opening of the switching point (20) on the first arm (711) of the first pawl (71) striking trigger head (342) carries, and in that on the slide (34) a stop (322) is arranged on the manual closing of the switching point (20), a second arm of the first trigger lever (34) can be supported. Protective device according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the movable contact piece (21) against the force of a contact spring (23) is pivotally mounted on the second lever arm (62) of the contact lever (60). Protective device according to one of claims 2 to 9, further comprising an activatable by a fault current, a short-circuit current or an overcurrent current release (80), characterized in that a mechanical actuator (81) of the current release (80) via a pivotally mounted, resettable second trigger lever (82) directly to the second arm (732) or to a third arm (733) of the second pawl (73) is feasible. Protective device according to one of claims 2 to 9, further comprising a current trigger (80) which can be activated by a fault current, a short-circuit current or an overcurrent, characterized in that a mechanical actuating member (81) of the current release (80) is applied directly to the second arm (732). or to a third arm (733) of the second pawl (73) is feasible.

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