FI120279B - Earth fault relay - Google Patents

Description

FAULT CURRENT PROTECTION SWITCH

TECHNICAL FIELD The invention relates to a flush-mounted earth-leakage circuit breaker or actuator with a earth-leakage circuit breaker.

The RCD is a sensitive protection device that complements the protection provided by fuses in hazardous operating conditions. The circuit breaker 10 quickly trips the circuit out of voltage if an electrical failure occurs in electrical equipment or wiring causing a dangerous leakage current to a person. An ordinary fuse cannot detect and trigger such a low current fault. When the amount of fault current reaches or exceeds a dangerous limit (the trip current is in the order of a few tens of mA, typically 30 to 15 mA), the RCD shuts off the power supply very quickly (in fractions of a second). Even in such a worst case scenario, a person will receive only a small electric shock before the power is cut off. Failure currents can also be transmitted to the ground in ways other than humans or animals, such as surface discharge currents in parts of a building. There is always a risk of fire.

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The RCD works as follows: When the electrical appliance is operating normally, the current to and from it is equal. Differences between the incoming and outgoing currents occur when a fault current occurs. The RCD switch controls the amount of current entering and exiting the electrical appliance. As long as these quantities are equal, the electric current can pass unhindered. If part of the electrical current is transferred to the ground as a fault current, the RCD will then detect a difference between the incoming and outgoing currents. When the amount of fault current reaches or exceeds the hazardous limit, the power supply is interrupted. The earth-leakage circuit breaker is equipped with a magnetic release or 30 corresponding electronic relay control circuits.

Known RCDs are available in versions mounted on a circuit board, socket-mounted, socket-to-load, and built-in to an extension cord.

There are two types of RCDs, voltage dependent and voltage independent.

35 2 The voltage-independent RCD will only trip in the RCD condition, but the controllable output contact will not open, for example, in the event of a power failure and therefore does not have to be re-energized when the voltage returns.

5 The RCD can be used, for example, to protect sockets on the freezer. The device plugged into the wall outlet will operate normally when the voltage returns.

The voltage-dependent RCD also trips only in the RCD condition, but the controllable output contact opens, for example, in the event of a voltage outage 10, thus requiring the RCD to be re-armed when the voltage returns. This type of RCD cannot be used, for example to protect sockets on the freezer. The device plugged into the wall outlet does not operate normally when the voltage returns.

15 Voltage-dependent models can be made significantly smaller than voltage-independent models, but they can be used more restrictively, as discussed above.

Prior Art 20

One known voltage-independent RCD is shown in Fig. 1a and section A-A in Fig. 1b. The known device has a circular base (housing part) 201 and a cover part 202, and a tin mounting frame 203 therebetween having mounting holes for a box fastening 204. In addition, it has a metal end / tuning lever 205 fitted inside the housing. - / excitation shaft 213, test button 206, and sum current transformer coil 207, and a contact, switch, and trip element (component 8) controlled by trip relay 222, and diode packet 220 and mass resistor 221 with control and measuring circuit components disposed within the element. 208 over 30.

In known RCDs, which have a voltage-independent VDC protection function in devices such as the one in question, when the RCD is tripped, the lack of alarm information obtained therefrom is an essential defect which is eliminated by the additional module according to the invention.

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Summary of the Invention

The object of the invention is to eliminate the drawbacks of the prior art and to provide an earth leakage circuit breaker or actuator having an earth leakage circuit breaker which provides an alarm information when the earth leakage circuit breaker is tripped.

According to the invention, this object can be achieved by attaching to the base part of the RCD or actuator an additional module which receives its trip information from the RCD switching, measuring and tripping element.

In particular, the invention relates to an additional module which, according to the invention, can be easily connected to existing devices, in particular to the earth leakage circuit breakers which are already installed in the instrument box and which have undergone the necessary modifications in module function and mounting.

This provides a solution that changes the physical form of the known RCD and results in a voltage-independent RCD solution with alarm and state detector terminals.

More specifically, the RCD according to the invention is characterized in what is stated in the characterizing part of claim 1.

Preferred embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the other claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the following, the invention will be described in more detail by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1a shows a known earth leakage circuit breaker and 1b its section A-A, 35 Fig. 2 is a side cross-sectional view of the floor heating thermostat according to the invention and Fig. 3 shows a module and Fig. 4b is a side cross-sectional view of an additional earth leakage circuit breaker module according to the invention. Figures 4c to 4e illustrate applications of the module.

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DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Example 1 Floor Heating Thermostat 20

Fig. 2 shows a floor heating thermostat according to the invention, which is a floor heating thermostat with a voltage independent fault current protection integrated in the thermostat. It has a base part 1, a cover part 2 and a circuit board 4 disposed therebetween, under which is connected a floor heating thermostat relay 5a, an X capacitor 5c and an electrolytic capacitor and a potentiometer 5b. The RCD has a switch component 36 and a RCD 27 located in the base.

This floor heating thermostat is also flush mounted so that 30 parts of the device, base 1, remain inside the mounting box 32 and part of the device is visible through the center of the respective cover set 11 and the cover part 2 of the device acts as a center plate.

With respect to existing devices, the depth of the base member 1 has been increased, e.g.

35 4 mm and at the same time the pressures 10 attached to the printed circuit board have moved about 4 mm higher than their former level, thus creating a space inside the device so that all the depth above the printed circuit board and the lid 2 formed by the central board 5 the high components may have been located below the circuit board 4

The surface mounted test circuit push button 6 on the circuit board does not require an extension arm, as before, thus fitting on its body, to a space of about 5 mm between the circuit board and the auxiliary protective cover 12 under the cover remaining on the circuit board.

A thin protective cover 12, about 0.5 mm thick, has been made to protect the components on the circuit board 4 of the device, which will enable further operation of the device for more versatile use, with contact protection, making it safe for the end user to make any temperature drop or floor heat limitation . The distance between the circuit board and the additional protective cover is approx. 5 mm.

In this space of about 5 mm, the floor heating thermostat sensor quick connectors 13 and the temperature drop adjusting potentiometer 14, the combination room / floor heating thermostat selector switch 15 and the floor heating limitation po tentiometer 16 are also placed in the room modification.

In addition, the diode pack which consumes a large amount of space inside the device can be replaced by its own integrated circuit board 18.

25 The mounting collar 3 at the bottom of the device has been moved from the bottom to a lower level, leaving, for example, about 7 mm more space in the mounting box of the device.

With an installation depth of about 40 mm, an additional significant improvement of about 7 to 30 mm has been achieved, giving the unit a more versatile design with floor heating and / or room control and external drop-down capability.

35 The reduction of the external depth has also made it possible to make 19, 4 or more plastic fixing nails to the base of the device, about 12 mm long.

6 These can be used to attach a separate connector, alarm or extension module to the bottom of the device (20 in Figure 3). All of these functions in this add-on module of this solution can all be on the same device, or on each module type of their own, with the external appearance of the module being similar and attaching to the underside of the device in the same way.

This additional module can be used to remotely monitor, remotely control, or disconnect the output from a fault current, for example, illumination of the same space, pis-10 sockets or the like, or to obtain, for example, alarm information about a malfunction.

Installation and use of the extension module: 15 Attach the module to the base of the unit using the mounting nails of the base unit 1.

Within the thermostat provided with an RCD, there is a portion 21 of the switch element which is rectangular in shape and which, when operating in the 0 position, is at one end and moves to the other extreme when the device is armed, in the I position.

At the bottom of the device is made a rectangular opening 25 located below the movable part 21 of the coupling element.

This rectangular part 21, on its underside, has a wall 26 in which a slot 23, which is part of the additional module, passing through its own lid, even in the movable part 28, engages through a groove 25 in the middle of the base of the device.

The output contact of the auxiliary module is controlled via the movable part 28, whereby, for example, an alarm is triggered by the output terminals of the auxiliary module when the fault current part is triggered.

Thus, the additional module has its own separate connectors for alarm monitoring-29. ”Depending on the module type, the other connectors 30 of the auxiliary module can also be utilized in connection with the use of an intermediate fault current output or remote control.

7 These changes have provided additional space for the wall mounting box, with the overall depth of the device typically changing from the current about 53 millimeters to about 46 millimeters.

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The device has been made more versatile in terms of thermostat operations, but without having to increase the physical dimensions of the device.

On the contrary, the reduction in physical size has allowed the li-10 to further add an additional module to improve its performance.

This also enables the transmission of alarm information via an additional module when the fault current part is triggered.

15 In addition, an opportunity has been obtained to carry out an interruption after the RCD part.

In addition, the possibility of remote control of the device has been obtained.

Example 2: RCD Switch Figure 4 shows an additional module according to the invention connected to a RCD switch, the module viewed from below, open.

Figure 4b shows a section A-A of the module.

The additional module according to the invention has a body having a base part 401 and a cover part 402 and within them; alarm / office contact panel 403, output terminals 405, other optional module terminals 423, alarm / 30 office contact panel 403 controlling even a reciprocating plastic shaft 406 within the module having a slot 407 through a rectangular opening 425, 408 at the bottom of the slot, and a spring 409 retracting spring holding the shaft 406 in its normal state. The body, its bottom, and the cover have openings 410 that may be 1 or more depending on the application of the module. Through these openings 410, the earth-leakage circuit breaker 422 above the module or the bottom of the device with the earth-leakage circuit breaker can be opened or tightened.

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In addition, the body portion has recesses 411 for quick nail attachment due to the module attachment.

Figure 4c-e shows 3 examples of module applications, of which

In the exemplary case, C., an additional module according to the invention is mounted on the bottom of the earth leakage circuit breaker located in the instrument box. The designations are: fault current section 441, switch module 442 and mounting box 443.

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In the exemplary case, D. an additional module according to the invention is mounted on the bottom of a floor heating thermostat with an earth leakage protection in a socket. Designations: RCD + thermostat 444, switch module 442 and mounting box 443.

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In the example case, E. an additional module according to the invention is mounted on the bottom of a schuko socket with an earth leakage circuit breaker located in a socket. Designations: RCD-protected socket 445, switch module 442, and mounting box 443.

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It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the various embodiments of the invention are not limited to the examples set forth above, but may vary within the scope of the following claims,

Claims (7)

1. A circuit breaker or actuator with a circuit breaker 5 having a switch component (36) which specifically acts as a contact, switch and trigger element, control and measurement circuit for measuring fault current, and for controlling a switching device and precursor component, testing the fault current protection switch 10, which is independent of the voltage and provided with a fault current transformer (27), as a sum current transformer, and where there is a bottom or case part (1) and a cover part (2) in the apparatus and where the apparatus is preferably recessed. characterized in that it has a supplementary module (1) mountable with a bottom (401) and a lid (402) and an alarm and status key (403) for a fault current protection switch, or for the actuators with fault current protection switches (402) and indicating a fault current situation, where 20 as meadow contact, the alarm and status keypad (403) of the add-on module is presumably controlled to a part (21) preferably of plastic which controls the actuator element's adjuster to an open or fixed position plastic part (21), preferably with contact to one, in the shaft (406). , equipped with a fork (407), plastic extension (412), or alternatively, the alarm and local keyboard (403) of the additional module output can be controlled, where the pin (37) fixed in the bottom of the plastic part (21) attaches to the plastic shaft, in the heel ( 408) in the extension (412). 2. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the alarm / local keyboard can be a complete compact microswitch, or also the switch contact can be for a separate circuit board, or added to the device's plastic structure. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the module is for quick-release brains equipped with pits (411). 35 12 4. Apparatus according to Claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that, in the portion of the actuator part of the module actuator, plastic shaft (406), coupled with fork (407), extension (412), there is a pit (413), to which the fault current main circuit open or closed position moving plastic part (21), in the lower surface made of pin (34), can attach to it. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that in the module, inside, there is one or more complementary piece (30) used for external control or after the output current protection at the center output. 10 Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that through its lid and bottom it can be controlled / tensioned / opened, an opening (410) through the coupling pieces (422) of the fault current protection parts of the module. 15 Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, like the actuator's plastic part (406), in the module, a spring-shaped part (409) is connected, which in normal position halves the shaft in the open position in normal position.