JP2010282745A - Circuit breaker - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a circuit breaker in which an excess current trip element is set closer to a power supply without changing a volume of the excess current trip element. <P>SOLUTION: The circuit breaker includes a handle having a grip that is fixed to a handle arm to project from an enclosure, and a slide plate which includes a hole allowing the grip to penetrate therethrough and is of an arcuate shape almost identical with the shape of a collar of the handle. The slide plate includes a projected portion formed on a part that is perpendicular to the direction of rotation of the slide plate in an opening edge forming the hole, and an engaging portion in which the collar is housed is formed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a circuit breaker such as a circuit breaker for wiring or an earth leakage breaker, and more particularly to an improvement in the shape and configuration of a handle.

  The circuit breaker has the role of interrupting the electric circuit in order to prevent burnout of the electric wires and load equipment due to the overcurrent flowing, and operating the handle provided in this circuit breaker. It also functions as an open / close switch. For this reason, it is common that the handle protrudes from the housing so that the handle can be easily opened and closed, that is, the OFF operation and the ON operation. However, it is also common for the handle to be located approximately halfway between the OFF position due to the OFF operation and the ON position due to the ON operation so that it can be determined from the outside. In order to turn the circuit breaker that has tripped on again, it is necessary to move the handle to the OFF position (this is called a reset operation). Even in a circuit breaker that is used, the handle is an essential member (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  Here, in consideration of the fact that the main spring is moved by this operation, the operation stroke of the handle, that is, the handle arm is set to be large in order to ensure an operation margin. As apparent from FIG. 2), the rotation range from the OFF position to the ON position is inevitably increased. Due to the large rotation range, in Patent Document 1, the overcurrent tripping element is arranged so as not to interfere with the OFF position, that is, as shown in FIG. 2, the handle collar and the overcurrent tripping element. You can see that it is installed. In addition, another document considers the case where interference is unavoidable due to restrictions on the external shape of the circuit breaker, or a zero-phase current transformer that is indispensable for tripping at the time of electric leakage, etc. It can be seen that either the height of the element is lowered or the height of the handle arm is raised (for example, see Patent Document 2).

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 60-65956 (page 4, line 4 to line 6, FIGS. 1 to 3) WO2003 / 044818 (page 3, line 46 to line 47, FIG. 2)

  In this way, since the turning range of the handle is large, it is unavoidable to avoid interference with the buttocks, and it goes without saying that this is a stumbling block for reducing the length and height of the circuit breaker, or It has been pointed out that there are adverse effects such as expansion of the rated current and stabilization of the long-time trip characteristics due to restrictions on the volume of the overcurrent tripping element. In particular, due to recent technological breakthroughs in circuit breakers, it is common for the movable contactor and overcurrent tripping element to be connected in a so-called shuntless manner, that is, switching including this shuntless. As shown in FIG. 1 of Patent Document 1, no matter how much the size of the mechanism portion is reduced, by securing a “dead space” in anticipation of movement of the buttocks in the OFF operation, the power source side of the overcurrent tripping element ( It was difficult to move it to the right in FIG. Needless to say, if the left buttock on the paper surface is cut to eliminate the dead space, a gap is formed in the handle opening of the housing at the ON position.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and obtains a circuit breaker in which the overcurrent tripping element is moved to the power supply side without changing the volume of the overcurrent tripping element. It is intended.

  A circuit breaker according to the present invention includes a movable contact having a movable contact at at least one end, a fixed contact having a fixed contact contacting and separating from the movable contact, a holding member holding the movable contact, and the holding A lower link that drives the member, a lever that is engaged with the latch of the overcurrent trip device and rotates when the circuit breaker trips, and is pivotally supported by the lever and coupled to the lower link via a spring pin. An upper link that forms a toggle link with the lower link, a main spring coupled to the driven side of the spring pin, and a drive side of the main spring coupled to the frame fixed to the casing of the circuit breaker A substantially U-shaped handle arm that is freely pivoted, a handle that is fixed to the handle arm and protrudes from the housing, and a portion that passes through the handle. And a slide plate having substantially the same arc shape as the collar portion provided on the handle, and the slide plate includes a rotation direction of the slide plate among the opening edges forming the hole portion. A convex portion is provided on the orthogonal side, and an engaging portion for accommodating the collar portion is formed.

  As described above, the present invention can provide a circuit breaker that can contribute to miniaturization.

It is an external appearance perspective view of the circuit breaker which shows Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a disassembled perspective view of the opening-and-closing mechanism part in FIG. It is side surface sectional drawing in FIG. It is the perspective view seen from the cover back side which shows Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a perspective view of the handle | steering-wheel and slide plate which show Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is the front view and side view including the cover in FIG. It is a perspective view of the handle | steering-wheel and slide plate which show Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is the front view and side view including the cover in FIG.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
1 to 3 show a circuit breaker according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Specifically, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a trip state, in which (a) is an appearance, and (b) is ( The figure which removed the cover from a), (c) has shown the place which extracted the opening-and-closing mechanism part from (b), respectively. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing only main members from the opening / closing mechanism shown in FIG. 1 (c), and FIG. 3 is a view of this opening / closing mechanism (along line AA added to FIG. 1). It is side surface sectional drawing. In FIG. 3, this trip state is indicated by (a), and (b) and (c) below represent the ON state and the OFF state, respectively.

  In FIG. 1, the insulating casing of the circuit breaker 101 for three poles is composed of a cover 1 and a base 2, and among these, an opening / closing mechanism 51 having a handle 3 and a number of poles (in this case) 3) arc-extinguishing units 52 and an overcurrent tripping device 53 are provided. The handle 3 protrudes from the handle window hole 1a of the cover 1 so that it can be operated in the ON or OFF direction, and the positional relationship between the arc extinguishing unit 52 and the overcurrent tripping device 53 indicates that 4 is a power supply side terminal. It is well known that 5 is a load side terminal.

  FIG. 1 shows a handle 3 and a slide plate 6 which are the main parts of the present invention. Other than these, that is, an opening / closing mechanism 51 excluding the handle 3 and the slide plate 6, an arc extinguishing unit 52, An overcurrent tripping device 53 is also well known. That is, it is connected to the load-side terminal 5 via a stationary contact 8 (both see FIG. 3) extending from the power-side terminal 4 and having a stationary contact 7 at one end and an overcurrent tripping device 53, and at one end. Contact and separation are repeated with the movable contact 10 having a movable contact 9 and being held by a cross bar 11 which is a member constituting the open / close mechanism 51, for example, a resin molded product. Among them, the arc generated between the fixed contact 7 and the movable contact 9 is cut by the arc extinguishing unit 52 especially by separation. The “holding member” described in the claims refers to the crossbar 11 here.

  Next, the configuration of the opening / closing mechanism 51 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the opening / closing mechanism 51 includes a substantially U-shaped handle arm 13 rotatably supported on a frame 12 formed by a pair of opposed frame plates 12A and 12B. A so-called unit is formed by the handle 3 fixed to the arm 13. The lower portion of the frame 12 (on the paper) has a shape along the rotation range of the cross bar 11 that rotates about the U groove 2a (see FIG. 1) formed in the base 2. 2 is fixed. Here, as shown in FIG. 1, the cross bar 11 includes a movable contact 10 having a pivotal support (not shown) of the sliding contact 14 as a center of rotation, and is further provided with a contact pressure spring 15. When the movable contact 10 is clockwise (hereinafter referred to as “clockwise” or “counterclockwise”) on the paper surface of FIG. 3, the direction is based on “on the paper surface”, and the description thereof is omitted. ). For this reason, in the ON state shown in FIG. 3B, the electrical connection between the fixed contact 7 and the movable contact 9 is maintained by an appropriate contact resistance.

  As apparent from the above description, the opening / closing mechanism 51 plays a role in controlling the opening / closing of the movable contact 10 by operating the handle 3. The “mechanism” is a well-known toggle link mechanism, This is adopted here. Here, with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the torque link mechanism can freely rotate on the frame 12, both of the upper link 17 and the lower link 18 that are connected to each other by the spring pin 16. Handle arm 13, lever 19 and latch 20 provided in this manner, a trip bar 21 that prevents counterclockwise rotation of the latch 20, and a latch spring 22 that urges the trip bar 21 in the clockwise direction (see FIG. 1) The main spring 23 is stretched between the spring pin 16 and the handle arm 13 (indicated by a one-dot chain line for convenience in FIG. 3).

  The handle arm 13 has both arms, that is, end portions 13 a formed in an arc shape on the U-shaped side surface pressed against an arc-shaped concave portion 12 a provided in the frame 12 by the force of the main spring 23. As described above, the rotation trajectory is formed in a substantially U shape so that the rotation locus is substantially flush with the outer surface or the inner surface of the frame plate 12A (12B). On the other hand, the lever 19 is also formed in a substantially U-shape in order to rotate both arms between the frame plates 12A and 12B, and the rotation is substantially parallel to a portion corresponding to the bottom surface of the U-shape. The first shaft portion 19 a extending outward is supported by a shaft hole 12 b provided in the frame 12.

  The upper link 17 has a gap formed between the frame 12 and the lever 19 by pivotally attaching the first arcuate recess 17a to the second shaft portion 19b protruding from the side surface of the lever 19. Although the rotation is performed, the gap corresponds to the width of the protruding portion 12b1 obtained by the so-called burring process in the shaft hole 12b. In the ON state, the second arcuate recess 17 b is pressed against the projecting portion 12 b 1 by the force of the main spring 23. The upper link 17 also has a third arcuate recess 17c, and the third arcuate recess 17c and the first hole 18a of the lower link 18 are pivotally and pivotally attached to the spring pin 16, respectively. As described above, the upper link 17 and the lower link 18 are connected via the spring pin 16 as a skeleton of a so-called toggle link mechanism, and the second hole 18b is arranged in the cross bar 11. The lower link 18 and the crossbar 11 are connected by being pivotally attached to the provided crossbar pin 24. In this embodiment, the upper link 17 is substantially U-shaped like the handle arm 13 and the lever 19, and the lower link 18 is formed in a pair of opposing plates like the frame 12, respectively. Needless to say, it is not limited to this shape.

  Then, the shape of the handle | steering-wheel 3 and the slide board 6 used as the principal part of this invention is demonstrated. The handle 3 is the same resin molded product as the cover 1 and the base 2 having a portion 3a and a flange portion 3b, as in the prior art. Is provided with a substantially rectangular handle window hole 1a corresponding to the rotation range of the portion 3a from the ON position of the circuit breaker 101 to the OFF position (and vice versa). The inner peripheral edge of the hole 1a on the opening / closing mechanism 51 side (in other words, the ceiling of the cover 1 viewed from the opening / closing mechanism 51) 1b is the flange 3b and the center of rotation of the handle arm 13 (more specifically, the end described above) The concentric arc shape as the engagement portion between the portion 13a and the arc-shaped recess 12a is the same as in the prior art. Here, a gap is wider between the flange portion 3b and the peripheral inner wall portion 1b than in the prior art, and a slide plate 6 which is also a resin molded product having a concentric arc shape is disposed in the gap. Has been. Needless to say, the materials of these resin molded products (cover 1, base 2, handle 3, slide plate 6) need not be the same.

  As described above, since the slide plate 6 is disposed between the flange portion 3b and the peripheral inner wall portion 1b, the slide plate 6 is provided with a hole portion 6a through which the portion 3a is inserted. The engaging portion 6b for storing the collar portion 3b, which is a characteristic part of the invention, is in the load side direction (on the paper surface, on the left side), and further, among the opening edges 6a1 to 6a4 forming the hole portion 6a, this slide Convex portions 6c1 and 6c2 are provided on the sides (6a1 and 6a2) orthogonal to the rotation direction of the plate 6, respectively.

  Hereinafter, the roles of the engaging portion 6b and the convex portions 6c1 and 6c2 will be described together with a series of operations of the circuit breaker 101. When the handle 3 is rotated clockwise from the OFF state shown in FIG. 3C, the driving side 23a of the main spring 23 follows with this rotation. At this time, the action line of the main spring 23 is the upper link 17. More specifically, a line connecting the driving side 23a and the driven side 23b (spring pin 16) is a line connecting the first arcuate recess 17a and the third arcuate recess 17c (spring pin 16). At the moment of exceeding, the spring pin 16 moves to the position shown in FIG. 3 (b). As a result, the links 17 and 18 that have been positioned in the shape of "<" until now are shown in this (b). By extending in this way, the cross bar 11 rotates clockwise, and as described above, the electrical contact between the contacts 7 and 9 starts, that is, shifts to the ON state. In addition, this extension | blocking prevention is performed because the 2nd circular arc-shaped recessed part 17b collides with the protrusion part 12b1.

  When the line of action is exceeded (in the person skilled in the art, the dead point is also exceeded), the handle arm 13 is also urged clockwise around the end 13a by the spring force of the main spring 23. When the frame 13 is prevented from rotating by the urging of the frame 12 (point B in (b)), the portion 3a is stationary at a so-called ON position. Here, similarly, the lever 19 that is urged clockwise by the spring force of the main spring 23 via the spring pin 16 and the upper link 17 is counterclockwise with respect to the latch 20 by this urging. The latch 20 itself engages with the trip bar 21 and is prevented from rotating. Therefore, the lever 19 is also prevented from rotating. However, the positions of the lever 19 and the latch 20 including the trip bar 21 do not change between the ON state in (b) and the OFF state in (c).

  The position of the slide plate 6 in this ON state, in other words, the restraint state is as follows. First, the further clockwise rotation is performed by the engaging portion 6b and the load side tip 3b1 of the flange portion 3b, and conversely, the counterclockwise rotation is taken by the convex portion 6c2 and the portion 3a. Each collision will be blocked. The point to be noted here is that the circumferential length of the left and right flange portions 3b of the handle 3 with the end portion 13a as the center of the arc is larger than that in the power supply direction (on the right side of the drawing). The left side on the paper is short. For this reason, a gap C is formed between the load-side tip 3b1 and the load-side opening edge 1a1 of the handle window hole 1a. This gap C is an extended portion from the opening edge 6a1 of the slide plate 6. Since it is closed by the display surface 6d1, of course, no foreign matter or the like enters the circuit breaker 101.

  Next, the operation until the overcurrent tripping device 53 responds when an overcurrent flows in the electric path in this ON state and, as a result, shifts to the trip state will be described. The change in the position of the members constituting the opening / closing mechanism 51 relating to the transition from ON to trip is well known. In the above-described OFF to ON, the lever 19 and the latch whose movement is restrained by the trip bar 21 are latched. 20 is obtained by rotating. That is, in FIG. 3B, depending on the magnitude of the overcurrent, the trip is caused by the bending of the bimetal 53a constituting the overcurrent tripping device 53 or the clockwise rotation of the movable iron core 53b (both see FIG. 1). When the bar 21 rotates counterclockwise, the engagement with the latch 20 is released, and the latch 20 rotates counterclockwise. Then, as described above, the lever 19 that is urged clockwise is disengaged from the latch 20 that is the urging prevention factor. As shown in FIG. 3 (a), the shaft 19a is rotated about the shaft 19a as a rotation center until it collides with a frame pin 25 connecting the frame plates 12A and 12B (point D in the figure). Since the overcurrent tripping device 53 itself is not a main part of the present invention, further detailed explanation is omitted.

  When the lever 19 is rotated, it means that the second shaft portion 19b is also rotated. However, when the action line moves, the links 17 and 18 that have been extended so far are The refraction point, that is, the spring pin 16 moves to the position shown in (a), the links 17 and 18 are refracted in a “<” shape, and the cross bar 11 rotates counterclockwise. Thus, the contacts 7 and 9 are separated. At this time, the handle arm 13 is rotated counterclockwise by the spring force of the main spring 23, and the bent portion 13b of the handle arm 13 collides with the lever 19, so that the portion 3a is brought into a so-called trip position. It will be stationary.

  On the other hand, as described above, in the ON state, the movement of the slide plate 6 is restricted by the engaging portion 6b and the convex portion 6c2, but this is also the case at this trip position. That is, the first feature of the present invention is that the slide plate 6 also follows the movement of the handle 3 from the ON state to the trip state.

  Next, the transition from the trip state to the OFF state will be described. This operation is indispensable as a previous step for shifting to the ON state again as described in the background art section. When the handle 3 is rotated counterclockwise from the trip state shown in FIG. 3A, the bent portion 13b rotates the lever 19 counterclockwise, whereby the lever 19 is connected to the latch 20 and the trip bar 21. By engaging with the latch 20, the OFF state shown in FIG. 3C, more specifically, the reset operation is completed. At this time, as the lever 19 is rotated, the second shaft portion 19b is also rotated, so that the position of the spring pin 16 is on the paper surface, as is apparent from the difference between (a) and (c). However, since the movement of the lower link 18 due to the movement of the spring pin 16 is not transmitted to the crossbar 11, only the entire “<” shape moves slightly, and the crossbar 11 does not move. As a result, the position of the movable contact 10 does not change.

  When attention is paid to the movement of the handle 3 and the slide plate 6 here, the handle 3 is located at the position where the handle arm 13 collides with the frame 12 (point E (see FIG. 2)), as in the prior art. It is stopped at the OFF position indicated by the so-called (c), which is slightly turned clockwise by the spring force of the main spring 23 from the "reset position". On the other hand, the slide plate 6 also follows the rotation of the handle arm 13 by the engaging portion 6b and the convex portion 6c2 described above until halfway. At this time, the other convex portion 6c1 is opened on the load side opening. By colliding with a stepped portion 1c1 provided at a position connecting the edge 1a1 and the peripheral inner wall portion 1b, the further rotation of the slide plate 6 in the counterclockwise direction is prevented.

  At the time when the rotation of the slide plate 6 is prevented, the handle 3 has not yet reached the OFF position. However, regardless of the prevention of the rotation of the slide plate 6, the handle 3 can be turned to the OFF position. The operation continues. Then, the load side tip 3b1 pushes down the engaging portion 6b having a spring property, and reaches the OFF position shown in (c) while being housed in the engaging portion 6b. That is, the second feature of the present invention is that the slide plate 6 does not follow the movement of the handle 3 from the trip state to the OFF state from the middle, but instead shifts to the engaged state with the handle 3 by being stationary. There is.

  Up to this point, a series of operations of OFF-> ON-> trip-> OFF has been described. However, the opening operation without a trip, that is, ON-> OFF, is changed from FIG. 3B to FIG. 3C. On the way to the end, at the moment when the action line of the main spring 23 exceeds the upper link 17, contrary to the above-mentioned OFF-> ON, both the links 17, 18 that have been extended up to that point are shown in (c). As shown in the figure, this operation itself, which has a "<" shape, is well known, while the positional relationship between the handle 3 and the slide plate 6 is applied as it is except for the trip position described above. However, the second feature of the present invention described above is summarized in that the handle 3 and the slide plate 6 are engaged in the transition to the OFF state.

  During the description of the operation from OFF to ON, the slide plate 6 was not touched with respect to the clockwise rotation of the handle 3, so the movement will be described here again. First, in the OFF state, as described above, the slide plate 6 itself is in the clockwise direction or more counterclockwise as is clear from FIG. Also in the direction, the rotation is prevented by the load side tip 3b1 or the step portion 1c1, respectively. In this state, when the portion 3a is rotated clockwise, the convex portion 6c2 collides with the step portion 1c2 provided at the position connecting the power supply side opening edge 1a2 and the peripheral inner wall portion 1b.

  At the time of the collision, the portion 3a has not yet reached the ON position. From here, the handle 3 is further turned clockwise, so that the load side tip 3b1 comes out of the engaging portion 6b. Both the handle 3 and the slide plate 6 are stationary at the position shown in FIG. That is, the third feature of the present invention is that the engagement of the handle 3 and the slide plate 6 in the engaged state is released when the handle 3 and the slide plate 6 are moved to the ON position.

  As described above, as apparent from the above description, the slide plate 6 is not simply put on the portion 3a, but the hole 6a is devised, specifically, in the process of OFF and ON operations. By providing the convex portions 6c1 and 6c2 that bear a part of the opening edges 1a1 and 1a2 of the window hole 1a, a flange portion in the load side direction in the left and right direction, that is, the power source side and the load side direction, Since the circumferential length of 3b can be reduced, it is not necessary to consider the dead space (described in the background art) at the OFF position of the handle 3, as can be seen from FIG. Accordingly, the overcurrent tripping device 53 can be brought closer to the power supply side, and for this amount, for example, a leakage current detection function can be easily mounted, and the length of the circuit breaker 101 (handle 3 It is also possible to obtain a smaller circuit breaker with a reduced direction).

Embodiment 2. FIG.
FIG. 4 shows a circuit breaker according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. Specifically, FIG. 4 is a perspective view as seen from the back side of the cover, leaving the handle and the slide plate. Note that the subscripts (a), (b), and (c) indicate a trip state, an ON state, and an OFF state, respectively, in order to indicate the displacement of the handle and the slide plate.

  In the first embodiment, the slide plate engages with the handle when shifting from the ON state to the OFF state, or when shifting from the trip state to the OFF state, and the engagement is released when shifting from the OFF state to the ON state. Said. In other words, the ON state and the trip state are disengaged, and the OFF state is engaged. At this time, the transition to the trip state is performed in addition to the above-described ON state (by overcurrent detection). There is also a transition from the OFF state, which is not described in detail in 1. In general, a circuit breaker is equipped with a trip button, a device that can generate a trip state by an external operation (pushing), and in particular, a sequence check of alarm contacts built in the circuit breaker. It is used in the case of. This sequence check is also assumed to be performed in the OFF state. However, even if this OFF-> trip, the engagement is reliably released, that is, the same as maintaining the non-engagement in the ON-> trip. (To be easy to understand, whether it is ON or OFF, it is essential that the trip state is the state shown in FIG. 3A described in the first embodiment). Therefore, the fact that the engagement is surely released even at the time of OFF-> trip will be described as a second embodiment. The positions of the handle and the slide plate in each state are the same as those in the first embodiment. Further, the slide plate restraining means in the ON state and the OFF state, that is, the step portions (1c1, 1c2) and the convex portions (6c1, 6c2) is similarly provided in the second embodiment.

  As described above, FIG. 4 shows a state in which the slide plate 36 rotates along the peripheral inner wall portion 31b of the cover 31. Among these, the cover 31 has a convex stopper 31d having a triangular cross section and a handle. Except for the fact that the guide 33c is provided at 33, the second embodiment is the same as the first embodiment. That is, the slide plate 36 has a tripped portion 33a and a convex portion 36c2 (both not shown in FIG. 4), as in FIG. Further, the rotation is restricted by the load side tip 33b1 and the engaging portion 36b. In other words, the stopper 31d and the guide 33c are not involved in the rotation at this trip and ON. That is, although the stopper 31d is positioned within the rotation range of the engaging portion 36b, the engaging portion 36b does not reach the stopper 31d in the trip state shown in (a), and the handle 33 and the slide plate 36 are Still, the guide 33c does not exhibit its function when engaged.

  The stopper 31d and the guide 33c perform their functions at the time of transition to OFF and transition from OFF to be described. That is, as described above, since the stopper 31d is located in the rotation range of the engaging portion 36b, first, after the engaging portion 36b rides on the stopper 31d, the transition from (a) to (c) When the convex portion 36c1 collides with the step portion 31c1 (none of which is shown in FIG. 4), the slide plate 36 is in a predetermined position, that is, in the OFF state, and then the load side tip 33b1 is engaged with the engaging portion 36b. As shown in (c), the engaging portion 36b and the guide 33c are adjacent to each other. Therefore, the difference from the first embodiment is that the engaging portion 36b gets over the stopper 31d and the engaging portion 36b is adjacent to the guide 33c in the OFF state.

  Next, the transition from the OFF state will be described. Even if (c)-> (a) or (c)-> (b), as the handle 33 rotates, the slide plate 36 follows until the engaging portion 36b collides with the stopper 31d. After the collision, the vehicle tries to ride in the same manner as the above-described trip-> OFF (same as ON-> OFF), but at this time, the "climbing" is temporarily blocked by the adjacent guide portion 33c. . That is, the handle 33 continues to rotate, and on the other hand, the slide plate 36 is prevented from rotating. At this point, the engagement between the handle 33 and the slide plate 36 is released. This "disengagement" means that the engaging portion 36b and the guide portion 33c are not adjacent to each other. However, in the subsequent rotation of the handle 33, the convex portion 36c2 takes off and the portion 33a (both shown in FIG. 4). The engagement portion 36b gets over the stopper 31d in combination with the fact that the guide portion 33c is not adjacent to the engagement portion 36b.

  As a result of the “override”, the handle 33 and the slide plate 36 are maintained in the “non-engagement” state as shown in (a) and (c) even in the trip state as well as the ON state. As apparent from the above description, in the case of OFF-> ON, in the first embodiment, the handle 3 and the slide plate 6 are engaged, and the convex portion 6c2 collides with the step portion 1c2. Whereas the engagement is released, in the second embodiment, the stopper 31d and the guide 33c are provided so that the engagement is released immediately after the handle 33 is rotated. By doing so, as described above, even if OFF-> trip, it contributes to reliably releasing the engagement. Therefore, even if, for example, the trip button 26 (see FIG. 1) is pushed while holding the portion 33a and then the portion 33a is turned (manually) to the trip position, no matter what. Since the state shown in FIG. 3A can be realized without any problem, a more reliable circuit breaker can be provided. In the second embodiment, the engaging portion 36b is only on one side, but it may be arranged on both sides (see FIG. 2) as in the first embodiment. In this case, of course, the stopper 31d. The guide 33c is also provided to be a pair on both sides.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
5 and 6 show a circuit breaker according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. Specifically, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the handle and slide plate (corresponding to FIG. 2), and FIG. 6 is a front view with a cover added. It is a part of figure and a side view. Note that subscripts (a), (b), and (c) in FIG. 6 indicate a trip state, an ON state, and an OFF state, respectively, to indicate the displacement of the handle and the slide plate.

  As described in the background art section, it is known that the state of the circuit breaker can be known depending on the position of the handle, but as can be seen from FIG. It is difficult to grasp the position of the (taken part). Moreover, if the entire circuit breaker is housed in the panel, it is difficult to grasp from the side. Therefore, in general, the circuit breaker is configured so that the state of the circuit breaker can be clearly discriminated even from the front by attaching an ON nameplate and an OFF nameplate to the handle (saddle). In the third embodiment, the ON nameplate and the OFF nameplate, in particular, the attaching positions thereof will be described based on the handle and the slide plate described in the second embodiment.

  As can be seen from FIGS. 6B and 6C, in the ON state, the display window 36d1 of the slide plate 36 has the upper half on the paper surface and the lower half of the handle window hole 31a and in the OFF state, respectively. Covered with 36d2 (see also 6d1 in FIG. 3B and 6d2 in FIG. 3C). For this reason, as shown in FIG. 5, the red ON nameplate 27 meaning the ON state and the green OFF nameplate 28 meaning the OFF state are attached to the display surfaces 36d1 and 36d2, respectively. ) And (c), the ON name plate 27 can be visually recognized through the handle window hole 31a in the ON state and the OFF name plate 28 in the OFF state. Therefore, even if it is a circuit breaker provided with the slide board 36, it is possible to grasp | ascertain the state clearly.

Embodiment 4 FIG.
Similar to the third embodiment, another example will be described as the fourth embodiment regarding the attachment of the ON nameplate and the OFF nameplate. 7 and 8 are diagrams corresponding to FIGS. 5 and 6 in the third embodiment, respectively.

  In the third embodiment, the ON and OFF states are mainly described. Needless to say, the circuit breaker also has a trip state. In this trip state, as is clear from FIG. 6A, the portion 33a is positioned approximately in the middle of the handle window hole 31a, so that both the ON nameplate 27 and the OFF nameplate 28 are visible. become. By the way, in this “trip state”, for example, a small circuit breaker for home use that is operated by an unspecified number of people does not have a trip state, and an overcurrent trip immediately shifts to an OFF state. It is known that this is also called automatic reset. As described in the background art and the first embodiment, this is said to be a measure against the fact that resetting (shifting to the OFF state) is not so familiar when shifting from the trip state to the ON state again. Yes.

  On the other hand, in the circuit breaker having a trip state described in the present invention, a person who is engaged in an energizing action is assumed as a user in the first place. The trip state can be grasped by the point where the portion 33a is located approximately in the middle, and further, in this trip state, the ON display line 27a added to the ON nameplate 27 is hidden. However, for example, when checking the state of many circuit breakers arranged side by side, it is better to avoid the red and green nameplates being visible at the same time with one circuit breaker. preferable. Therefore, the fact that both the nameplates are not visually recognized in the trip state will be described as a fourth embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the OFF nameplate 30 is attached to the handle 33 side as compared with the third embodiment, such that the ON nameplate 29 is on the display surface 36d1, the OFF nameplate 30 is on the flange 33b, and so on. 30 and 30 are considered to be hidden by the cover 31 or the slide plate 36, and the outer dimensions thereof are reduced. By doing so, the ON nameplate 29 visually recognized in FIG. 8B is visually recognized in the peripheral inner wall portion 31b (see FIG. 4B) while shifting to the trip state, while in FIG. 8C. Since the OFF nameplate 30 is shuttered on the display surface 36d2 together with the transition to the trip state (see also FIG. 3A), both the nameplates 29 and 30 are visually recognized in the trip state shown in FIG. 8A. Never happen. Therefore, by generating a state in which neither red nor green is visually recognized, in this state, a trip, that is, an abnormality in the electric circuit in which the circuit breaker is disposed can be easily notified.

1 (31) cover, 2 base, 3 (33) handle, 3a (33a) take part,
3b (33b) collar, 6 (36) slide plate, 6a hole, 6a1 to 6a4 opening edge,
6b (36b) engaging part, 6c1 (36c1) and 6c2 (36c2) convex part,
7 fixed contact, 8 fixed contact, 9 movable contact, 10 movable contact,
11 Crossbar, 12 frame, 13 Handle arm, 16 Spring pin,
17 Upper link, 18 Lower link, 19 Lever, 20 Latch,
23 main spring, 23a driving side, 23b driven side,
27 (29) ON nameplate, 28 (30) OFF nameplate,
51 Opening / closing mechanism, 53 Overcurrent tripping device,
101 Circuit breaker.

Claims (4)

A movable contact having a movable contact at least at one end; a fixed contact having a fixed contact contacting and moving away from the movable contact; a holding member holding the movable contact; a lower link driving the holding member; A lever that engages with a latch of a current trip device and rotates when the circuit breaker trips, and is pivotally supported by the lever and coupled to the lower link via a spring pin to form a toggle link together with the lower link An upper link, a main spring coupled to the driven side of the spring pin, and a substantially U-shaped pivotally supported by a frame coupled to a drive side of the main spring and fixed to the casing of the circuit breaker A handle arm of the mold, a handle that is fixed to the handle arm and protrudes from the housing, and a hole portion through which the portion is inserted. In the flange portion and the circuit breaker and a slide plate having substantially the same arc,
The slide plate is provided with a convex portion on the side perpendicular to the rotation direction of the slide plate in the opening edge forming the hole portion, and an engagement portion for accommodating the flange portion is formed. Circuit breaker characterized by that.   2. The circuit breaker according to claim 1, wherein the hook portion is not stored in the engagement portion in the ON state and the trip state, but is stored in the OFF state.   The circuit breaker according to claim 2, wherein a display for grasping the state of the circuit breaker is provided on the slide plate.   The circuit breaker according to claim 2, wherein a display for grasping the state of the circuit breaker is provided on the handle and the slide plate.

Images