JP2001160349A - Bipolar circuit breaker - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make the number of setting nuts appropriate for mounting a bipolar circuit breaker on a board in the case of constituting the breaker by superposing two monopolar breakers. SOLUTION: In the case of constituting the bipolar circuit breaker, by superposing two monopolar breakers 1, 2 using an outer block of insulating box having structure composed of a base 3 and a cover 6, a middle cover 4 is mounted on the base 3 of a monopolar breaker 1, while a middle base 5 is mounted on the cover 6 of a monopolar breaker 2 and they are connected in a body, and at that time, two setup nuts 9, front and rear, are inserted between the middle cover 4 and the middle base 5. Because the setup screw 9 is placed at the lateral center of the bipolar circuit breaker and its number can properly be two, man-hours for screw tightening becomes less, in comparison to the case of using 4 screws in total by using two setup screws for each of two monopolar breakers.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a circuit breaker used for overload protection of a low-voltage circuit, and more particularly to a means for forming a two-pole circuit breaker using two one-pole circuit breakers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a one-pole type circuit breaker, an outer shell is formed by an insulating box body having a base and a cover, which is divided into two parts on the left and right sides. There has been known one that is fastened to each other with a mounting nut interposed therebetween (for example, see Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 50430/1985). This one-pole circuit breaker is constructed such that two pieces are overlapped with each other and fastened together with rivets or the like,
It can be used as a two-pole configuration.

[0003]

As described above, when two one-pole circuit breakers are stacked to form a two-pole configuration, conventionally, each one-pole circuit breaker has, for example, mounting nuts at two front and rear portions. However, in the case of the two-pole circuit breaker, there are four mounting nuts, and four screw tightening operations are required to mount the mounting nuts to the panel, so that there has been a problem that the number of mounting steps is increased (four locations). It is conceivable to tighten the screws only at two locations on the diagonal line among the mounting nuts, but in that case, the tightening balance is poor and the mounting must be unstable.) When two two-pole circuit breakers are stacked, a positioning member such as a pin must be inserted between the two insulating boxes in order to prevent a positional shift between the switching mechanisms. If separate parts are used, the cost of the parts and the number of man-hours will be increased. On the other hand, if they are integrally formed on the insulating box body, the two parts will be bent together when they are joined together due to the slight warpage during molding. There is a problem that excessive stress is generated and there is a risk of breakage. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above problem and reduce the number of steps for mounting and assembling a two-pole circuit breaker configured by stacking two one-pole circuit breakers.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an outer box formed of an insulating box body having a left-right divided structure comprising a base and a cover. 1 fastened to each other across the mounting nut
In a two-pole circuit breaker constituted by using two pole circuit breakers, an intermediate cover replacing the cover of one of the one-pole circuit breakers and an intermediate base replacing the base of the other one-pole circuit breaker And the intermediate cover and the intermediate base are formed so as to be overlapped with each other with a mounting nut interposed therebetween, and the two one-pole circuit breakers each having the intermediate cover and the intermediate base mounted thereon are referred to as the intermediate cover. An intermediate base is overlapped, and the mounting nut is interposed therebetween so as to be integrally fastened (claim 1). According to the first aspect of the present invention, the required minimum number of mounting nuts can be sandwiched between the intermediate cover and the intermediate base, that is, in the center of the two-pole circuit breaker.
There is no unnecessary increase in the number of steps required for mounting on the panel.

Next, according to the present invention, in the above-mentioned two-pole circuit breaker, a stepped surface recessed from an outer peripheral edge is provided on a mating surface of the intermediate cover and the intermediate case, and the intermediate cover and the inner cover are provided inside the stepped surface. A positioning recess is formed at one of the intermediate bases at a plurality of locations, and a positioning projection that fits into the recess is integrally formed at the other (claim 2). According to the second aspect of the present invention, the positioning convex portion is integrally formed on the intermediate cover or the intermediate base, while the stepped surface recessed from the outer peripheral edge is provided, so that the two one-pole circuit breakers are fastened. Since the contact of the mating surface is only at the outer peripheral edge, even if the abutting surface is warped, the mating surface is easily adapted and does not generate excessive stress.

Further, in the above-mentioned two-pole circuit breaker, if the mounting nut is formed of an elongated plate having screw holes at both ends, the two mounting nuts can be integrated, reducing the number of parts and reducing the number of parts. The number of assembly steps can be reduced (claim 3).

[0007]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a two-pole circuit breaker showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the circuit breaker of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is III-III of FIG. It is sectional drawing which follows a line. In these figures, the illustrated two-pole circuit breaker is configured by two one-pole circuit breakers 1 and 2 stacked on each other. Here, the one-pole circuit breaker 1 has an outer shell formed of an insulating box (resin molded product) having a left-right divided structure including a base 3 and an intermediate cover 4, and the one-pole circuit breaker 2 has an intermediate base 5. The outer shell is formed by a similar insulating box body composed of the base 3 and the cover 6, but the original insulating box body as a one-pole circuit breaker is formed by the base 3 and the cover 6,
In the case shown, an intermediate cover 4 and an intermediate base 5 are used for the one-pole circuit breakers 1 and 2, respectively, to constitute a two-pole circuit breaker.

Each of the one-pole circuit breakers 1 and 2 includes a one-pole current switch and an overcurrent trip device in the above-described insulating box.
An opening / closing mechanism is incorporated, and an opening / closing handle 7
And a pair of front and rear terminals 8 protrude from the opposite surface. When the one-pole circuit breakers 1 and 2 are used as a one-pole type, the semicircular mounting grooves 3a formed at two front and rear portions on the mating surface of the base 3 with the cover 6 and the base 3 of the cover 6 A mounting nut (not shown) is sandwiched between the same mounting groove 6a formed at the front and rear two places on the mating surface of the bracket, and is mounted on the panel via the mounting nut.

An intermediate cover 4 used to construct a two-pole circuit breaker replaces the cover 6 when the circuit breaker 1 is used as a one-pole type, and an intermediate base 5
The structure is the same as that of the cover 6 except for the mating surface of the cover 6. However, on the mating surface of the intermediate cover 4 with the base 3,
A semicircular projection 4a is filled so as to fill the mounting groove 3a.
Are formed. On the mating surface 4b of the intermediate cover 4 with the intermediate base 5, mounting grooves 4c for holding the mounting nut 9 are formed at two front and rear locations. The mounting nut 9 is
It consists of a cylindrical part 9a having a screw hole and a hexagonal nut-like part 9b for fixing. The mounting surface 4b of the intermediate cover 4 is provided with a step surface 4d recessed from the outer peripheral edge thereof, and circular positioning recesses 4e are provided at three places inside the step surface 4d. Reference numeral 10 denotes left and right one-pole circuit breakers 1 and 2.
Are mechanically connected to each other to penetrate an interlocking bar (not shown) for synchronizing the trip operation with each other.

On the other hand, the intermediate base 5 has a circuit breaker 2 of 1
This is an alternative to the base 3 when used as a polar system, and has the same configuration as the base 3 except for the mating surface with the intermediate cover 4. As with the intermediate cover 4, the cover 6
A semi-circular convex portion 5a is formed on the mating surface with the intermediate cover 4 so as to fill the mounting groove 6a.
At b, mounting grooves 5c of the mounting nut 9 are formed at two front and rear positions. Further, similarly to the intermediate cover 4, the mounting surface 5b of the intermediate base 5 has a stepped surface 5d recessed from the outer peripheral edge thereof.
(See FIG. 3), and cylindrical positioning projections 5e are provided at three locations inside. Although not shown in FIG. 1, a through hole for inserting an interlock bar for synchronizing the trip operation is provided on the mating surface 5 b in the same manner as the through hole 10 of the intermediate cover 4.

As shown in FIG. 3, the single-pole circuit breakers 1 and 2 are overlapped with each other so that the mating surfaces 4b and 5b are in contact with each other, and pass through the four through holes 11 shown in FIG. The rivets 12 are integrally fastened by swaging. At this time, the mounting nut 9 is sandwiched between the mounting grooves 4c and 5c, and the convex portion 5a is pressed into the concave portion 4a. On the other hand, a sleeve 13 is inserted between the opening and closing handles 7 and 7 and is held by a pin 14 penetrating therethrough. Thereby, the opening / closing handles 7, 7 are simultaneously operated. The retaining ring 15 is pressed into the end of the pin 14 to prevent it from falling off.

Such a two-pole circuit breaker is screwed and fixed to a panel via a mounting nut 9, but the mounting nut 9 is located at the left and right center of the two-pole circuit breaker, so that the mounting is stable, and Since the required minimum of two places can be used before and after, as in the case of simply stacking two one-pole circuit breakers, four mounting screws for two one-pole circuit breakers are used as they are. Less man-hours for installation (man-hours for screw tightening and panel drilling) are required. In addition, since the intermediate base 5 is positioned with respect to the intermediate cover 4 by the integrally formed convex portion 5e, a positioning pin or the like as a separate component is unnecessary, and in this case, the mating surfaces 4b, 5b are
Since only the outer peripheral edges are in contact with each other due to the presence of d and 5d, even if the contact surface is warped, the contact surface is easily adapted and there is no danger of generation of cracks due to excessive stress.

FIGS. 4 to 6 show different embodiments. This embodiment is different from FIG. 1 in that the mounting nut 16 is formed of an elongated plate having screw holes 16a at both ends. Accordingly, the shapes of the mounting grooves 4c and 5c have also changed. According to this embodiment, the two mounting nuts 9 in FIG. 1 are integrated into one component, which facilitates component management and reduces the number of assembling steps. In this embodiment, the positioning projection 4e is provided with the intermediate cover 4.
And two recesses 5e are formed on the intermediate base 5
Formed on the side. Other points are the same as those of the first embodiment, and the description is omitted.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention, even when a two-pole configuration is used by using two one-pole circuit breakers,
The number of mounting screws required is minimum (usually two), which can be distributed to the center of a two-pole circuit breaker before and after, so that the circuit breaker can be mounted on the panel in a small number of steps and in a well-balanced manner. Become. Further, even if the positioning protrusion between the two circuit breakers is formed integrally with the insulating box, there is no danger of breakage at the time of joining them, and another component such as a positioning pin becomes unnecessary. Further, when the mounting nut is formed of a slender plate, for example, two mounting nuts can be integrated into one, which facilitates handling and reduces cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a two-pole circuit breaker showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the circuit breaker of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a two-pole circuit breaker showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the circuit breaker of FIG.

6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI-VI in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 1-pole circuit breaker 2 1-pole circuit breaker 3 Base 4 Intermediate cover 4b Mating surface 4d Step surface 4e Positioning concave part / convex part 5 Intermediate base 5b Joint surface 5d Step surface 5e Positioning convex part / recess 6 Cover 7 Opening handle 8 Terminal 9 Mounting nut 12 Rivet 13 Sleeve 16 Mounting nut 16a Screw hole

Claims (3)

[Claims] An outer box is formed by an insulating box body having a left and right split structure comprising a base and a cover, and the base and the cover are connected to each other with a one-pole circuit breaker fastened to each other with a mounting nut interposed therebetween. In a two-pole circuit breaker configured using a single-pole circuit breaker, an intermediate cover replacing the cover of one of the one-pole circuit breakers and an intermediate base replacing the base of the other one-pole circuit breaker are provided, The intermediate cover and the intermediate base are formed so as to be overlapped with each other with the mounting nut interposed therebetween, and the two single-pole circuit breakers each having the intermediate cover and the intermediate base mounted thereon are overlapped with the intermediate cover and the intermediate case, A two-pole circuit breaker characterized by being integrally fastened with the mounting nut interposed therebetween. 2. A stepped surface depressed from an outer peripheral edge is provided on a mating surface between the intermediate cover and the intermediate case, and positioning recesses are formed at a plurality of positions inside one of the intermediate cover and the intermediate base inside the stepped surface. 2. The two-pole circuit breaker according to claim 1, wherein a positioning protrusion fitted into the recess is formed integrally with the other. 3. The two-pole circuit breaker according to claim 1, wherein said mounting nut is formed of an elongated plate having screw holes at both ends.