JPH0313959Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] This invention relates to a circuit breaker, particularly a circuit breaker equipped with a manual opening/closing mechanism.

2. Description of the Related Art As a thermal circuit breaker using a bimetal having the function of a power switch, a structure shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 has been proposed.
(Utility Model Registration Application No. 50-86121) In Figure 1, 1 is a case made of insulating material. Terminals 2a and 2b are attached to one end of the case 1 so as to protrude from the case 1. Inside the case 1, this terminal 2b is extended and a fixed contact 3b is attached to the tip thereof.A bimetal 4 is attached to the terminal 2a. , a movable contact 3a is attached to its tip.
When no external force is applied to the bimetal 4 and the bimetal 4 is not heated, the movable contact 3a and the fixed contact 3b may be held close to each other so as to be in contact with each other or not.

On the other hand, a lever 5 is provided approximately on the extension line of the bimetal 4 and extends in the direction of this extension line. This lever 5 is attached to the other end of the case 1 by a shaft 6 so as to be freely pivotable within a certain range.
One end of the lever 5 is led out to the outside of the case 1 and used as an operator, and the other end of the lever 5 is slightly protruded inside the case 1, and one end of the spring 7 is engaged and held in this protrusion. The other end of the spring 7 is engaged with and held by the free end of the bimetal 4, and the spring 7 applies a biasing force to the lever 5 and the bimetal 4 in the direction of pushing them apart.

With this configuration, when the lever 5 is changed and the tip of the bimetal 4 is moved via the spring 7, if the tip of the bimetal 4 comes even slightly closer to the fixed contact 3b side than on the line of the shaft 6, the spring 7 The movable contact 3a is pressed toward the fixed contact 3b by the biasing force, and an appropriate contact pressure can be applied. Also, if you tilt the lever 5 to the opposite side, the movable contact 3a will change to the fixed contact 3.
It is biased to the opposite side from b and collides with the stopper 8, for example. Therefore, by switching the lever 5, the fixed contact 3b and the movable contact 3a can be turned on and off, and can be used as a power switch.

On the other hand, if an overcurrent flows through the bimetal 4 while the movable contact 3a is in contact with the fixed contact 3b, the bimetal 4 will warp in the direction of separating the movable contact 3a from the fixed contact 3b due to self-heating of the bimetal 4. When the biasing force of the bimetal 4 overcomes the biasing force of the spring 7, the movable contact 3a moves away from the fixed contact 3b and abuts against the stopper 8, and this state is maintained by the biasing force of the spring 7.

In this way, it is possible to provide a circuit breaker with a manual opening/closing mechanism that can be used both as a manual switch and as a circuit breaker that detects overcurrent and automatically cuts the circuit breaker.

In addition, in such a circuit breaker with a manual opening/closing mechanism, as shown in FIG.
It has also been proposed to form a kerf 11 and engage the free end of the bimetal 4 with this kerf 11. In this way, when the free end of the bimetal 4 is directly engaged with the cut groove 11 of the lever 5, even if the warpage of the bimetal 4 is small, it is reliably reversed, and variations in the shutoff operation time due to the deflection of the spring 7 can be eliminated. I can do it. Therefore, by engaging the lever 5 with the bimetal 4 as shown in FIG. 3, it is possible to shorten the time required for the shutoff operation and to provide a product with uniform characteristics.

In this conventionally proposed circuit breaker, when manually driving the lever 5, for example, the fixed contact 3b
Since the hand is removed from the lever 5 after the lever 5 is set in a state where the movable contact 3a is in contact with Rotating, fixed contact 3
b and the movable contact 3a are separated.

On the other hand, it may be desirable to use this circuit breaker and to drive this lever 5 by a rotary type or slide type automatic drive mechanism. In this case, for example, the fixed contact 3b and the movable contact 3a
The driver 13 of the automatic drive mechanism moves in the direction of arrow X so that these contacts come into contact from the state shown in FIG.
is driven in the direction of By driving the driver 13, the lever 5 is changed from the state shown in FIG. 2 to the state shown in FIG. 1 in which the fixed contact 3b and the movable contact 3a are in contact with each other. However, in this state, regardless of the rotational position of the lever 5, the driver 13 is always located on the opposite side of the lever 5 from the stopper 8, so an overcurrent flows through the circuit, causing the bimetal 4 to warp. Even if an attempt is made to separate the fixed contact 3b and the movable contact 3a, rotation of the lever 5 is prevented by the driver 13 of the automatic drive mechanism. Alternatively, even if the automatic drive mechanism drives the driver 13 in the opposite direction, the lever 5 cannot be rotated depending on the driver 13.

This invention solves the above-mentioned difficulties when operating a conventional circuit breaker using an automatic drive mechanism, and allows the automatic drive mechanism to always smoothly switch the rotation of the lever 5, regardless of the rotation position of the lever 5. To provide a circuit breaker that also functions as a switch.

According to this invention, a fixed contact is provided, a bimetal whose one end faces the fixed contact and whose other end is fixed, and a movable contact attached to the bimetal and arranged to face the fixed contact. provided. Furthermore, a conversion lever is pivotally supported almost on an extension of the bimetal, and a spring is engaged between the conversion lever and the free end of the bimetal, which presses against the movable contact and the fixed contact, and engages with the conversion lever to cause its reciprocating rotation. After reciprocating in substantially the same direction as the direction of rotation and rotating the conversion lever in one direction so that the movable contact is in contact with or separated from the fixed contact, the switch rotates more than the conversion lever in the rotation direction. , a driver is provided with spring means which engages the switching lever when pivoted in the opposite direction.

Hereinafter, this invention will be explained in detail based on examples thereof and with reference to the drawings. 4A and 4B are diagrams showing the structure of the first embodiment of the circuit breaker of this invention, and the same parts as in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 are given the same reference numerals. .

The internal structure of case 1 is bimetal 4 and lever 5.
The engagement structure shown in FIG. 3 is adopted for engagement, and the structure of the other parts is the same as that shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, so a redundant explanation thereof will be omitted.

In this invention, a driving body 14 is provided near the lever 5 of the case 1, and a driving element 13 that engages with the lever 5 is attached to the driving body 14. The drive body 14 is configured to be rotatable around the rotation shaft 15, and by switching the switch 16 to one side, the drive body 14 starts rotating around the rotation shaft 15, for example, in a clockwise direction. Further, by switching the switch 16 to the other side, the driving body 14 starts rotating counterclockwise around the rotating shaft 15.

Initial position, for example, movable contact 3a and fixed contact 3
b is in contact with the lever 5, the driver 13 is in contact with the lever 5.
It is located on the stopper 8 side. From this state, when the switch 16 is operated to rotate the driver 14 clockwise, the driver 13 rotates the other end of the lever 5, that is, the end inside the case 1, toward the fixed contact 3a, and the bimetal 4 is reversed. Then, the movable contact 3a takes a position separated from the fixed contact 3b. The structure is such that even if the lever 5 is rotated and the bimetal 4 is reversed, the drive body 14 continues to rotate a little further in the same direction, that is, clockwise. A spring 17 is attached to this driver element 13, and when an external force is applied to the driver element 13 in the direction of pushing the driver element into the driver element 14,
The driver 13 resists the biasing force of the spring 17 to
It has a structure in which it can be moved so as to be pushed into the inside of the drive body 14 within a groove 20 provided in the drive body 14 .

Therefore, the driver 14 rotates clockwise, the lever 5 rotates, and when the driver 13 comes into contact with the rotated lever 5, the driver 1 is moved by the lever 5.
3 is pushed into the drive body 14 and is positioned on the opposite side of the lever 5 from the stopper 8 so as to overcome the lever 5, and in this state, the rotation of the drive body 14 is stopped. Therefore, when the switch 16 is next operated to rotate the driver 14 counterclockwise, the lever 5 is rotated in the opposite direction by the driver 13, and the fixed contact 3b is returned to the inverted position of the bimetal 4.
It is possible to bring the movable contact 3a into contact with the movable contact 3a. Similarly, when the fixed contact 3b and the movable contact 3a are in contact with each other due to the counterclockwise rotation of the driver 14, the driver 13 is pushed into the driver 14 by the rotated lever 5, and the lever 5 is pushed into the driver 14. The drive element 13 is always located on the stopper 8 side of the lever 5. Therefore, when the bimetal 4 warps and interrupts the circuit due to an overcurrent in this state, the lever 5 is not prevented from rotating by the driver 13.

In FIGS. 5A and 5B, the same parts as in FIGS. 4A and B are denoted by the same reference numerals.
It is composed of a leaf spring 18 that can be rotated around. In this second embodiment, when the drive body is rotated, the leaf spring 18 comes into contact with the lever 5.
is elastically deformed at the abutting position, climbs over the lever 5, and is located on the other side of the lever 5.

In a third embodiment of this invention, in which the same parts as in the other embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals in FIG. The structure is such that it is driven back and forth. In this case as well, since the spring 17 is attached to the driver 13, the driver 13 is pushed into the driver 14 by the lever 5 at the switching rotation position of the lever 5, and the driver 13 is pushed over the lever 5 to a position. The driving body 14 stops at this point. Also, in a fourth embodiment of this invention similarly shown in FIG. 7, a leaf spring 1 is used instead of the spring 17 and driver 13 in the embodiment of FIG.
8 was used.

As explained in detail above, according to the circuit breaker of this invention, when the driver is used to automatically operate the lever of the circuit breaker, the driver of the driver rotates the lever and then takes a position where it can be rotated in the opposite direction. Therefore, it is possible to always smoothly rotate the lever in the opposite direction from any rotational position of the lever, and the circuit breaking operation for overcurrent detection by the bimetal can also be performed smoothly at all times.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1, 2, and 3 are diagrams showing the configuration and main parts of a conventionally proposed circuit breaker, respectively, and FIG. 4A is a diagram showing the configuration of the first embodiment of this invention. FIG. 4B is a top view showing the structure of the first embodiment of this invention, and FIG. 5A is a partially cutaway front view showing the structure of the second embodiment of this invention. Figure B is a top view showing the configuration of the second embodiment of the invention, and Figures 6 and 7 are partially cutaway front views showing the configurations of the third and fourth embodiments of the circuit breaker of this invention, respectively. It is a diagram. 3a: Fixed contact, 3b: Movable contact, 4: Bimetal, 5: Conversion lever, 7, 17: Spring, 13:
Drive element, 14: Drive body, 18: Leaf spring.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] A fixed contact, a bimetal whose one end faces the fixed contact and whose other end is fixed, and a movable contact attached to the bimetal and arranged to face the fixed contact. , a switching lever pivotally supported substantially on an extension of the bimetal; a spring that engages with the switching lever and the free end of the bimetal to press the movable contact against the fixed contact; and a spring that engages with the switching lever. The movable contact is capable of reciprocating in substantially the same direction as the reciprocating rotation direction, and is slidably engaged with one side of the end of the switching lever and rotated in one direction, so that the movable contact comes into contact with the fixed contact. a driving body equipped with a spring means that rotates more than the switching lever in the rotation direction after being brought into the closed state or the disengaged state, and is positioned outside the other side of the end of the switching lever; circuit breaker with.