JPH05250976A - Circuit breaker - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To utilize a mold container for both a wiring breaker and an earth leakage breaker. CONSTITUTION:A spare clearance 14 for separating an overcurrent tripping device 4 from a terminal 11 on a load side is formed inside a mold container constituted of a case 1 and a cover 2. In the case where the mold container is used as a wiring breaker, the overcurrent tripping device 4 is connected to the terminal 11 on a load side only via a connecting conductor 10. If the mold container is used as an earth leakage breaker, an earth detector is housed inside the preliminary clearance 14. Furthermore, also in the case where the mold container is used as the wiring breaker, the spare clearance 14 is utilizable for a container for various additional parts.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a circuit breaker such as a breaker for wiring or an earth leakage breaker.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A circuit breaker for wiring generally has a structure in which an opening / closing mechanism and an overcurrent trip device are integrally incorporated in a container consisting of a case and a cover made of molded resin. Moreover, in the earth leakage circuit breaker that also has the function of the circuit breaker for wiring,
Further, a ground fault detection device and its trip device are incorporated in the container.

[0003]

In such circuit breakers and earth leakage circuit breakers, the mold resin containers have conventionally been made in different sizes. It is considered that the earth leakage circuit breaker is naturally larger than the wiring circuit breaker even if the frame size is the same because the earth leakage circuit breaker has a leakage detection part in addition to the components of the circuit breaker for wiring. Because it was. However, in the conventional circuit breaker in which the size of the container is different between the breaker for wiring and the earth leakage breaker, it is not possible to flexibly respond to the change in specifications between the two, and the molding of the container is separate. Mold cost was also high. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a circuit breaker in which the containers for the wiring breaker and the earth leakage breaker can be unified and various advantages can be obtained.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention forms a preliminary space for separating an overcurrent trip device and a load side terminal in a mold resin container.

[0005]

[Function] When a spare space is formed in the container and this container is used as a circuit breaker for wiring, a conductor connecting the overcurrent trip device and the load side terminal is simply passed to the spare space and used as an earth leakage breaker. When doing so, a ground fault detection device is arranged in the preliminary space. This makes it possible to unify the container with the wiring breaker and the earth leakage breaker. Further, even when it is used as a circuit breaker for wiring, it is possible to accommodate various additional function parts by using this spare space as a utility space.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a circuit breaker for wiring, and FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof. In these figures, an opening / closing mechanism 3 is provided in a container formed of a case 1 and a cover 2 made of mold resin.
And an overcurrent trip device 4 are integrally incorporated.
The electric current is supplied from the power source side terminal 5 to the fixed contact 6 which is integrated with the terminal 5,
Via the movable contactor 7 which comes in contact with and separates from this, the fixed conductor 8 which makes sliding contact therewith, the heater conductor 9 of the overcurrent trip device 4 which is connected to this with a screw, and the connection conductor 10 which is brazed to this, It flows to the load side terminal 11 integrated with this.

When the current flowing through the heater conductor 9 of the overcurrent trip device 4 becomes overloaded, the heat generated by the heater conductor 9 causes the bimetal 12 to curve to the left in FIG. 2 and the adjustment screw portion 12a at the tip end. The trip portion 3a of the opening / closing mechanism 3 is pushed to unlock the locking mechanism of the opening / closing mechanism 3 to open the movable contactor 7. When a large current such as a short-circuit current flows through the heater conductor 9, the armature 13 of the overcurrent trip device 4 is instantly attracted in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 1, and the tip portion 13a strikes the trip portion 3a. The movable contact 7 is opened.

Here, between the overcurrent trip device 4 in the container and the load-side terminal 11, a spare space 14 for separating them is provided.
Are formed across each phase. The portion 10a of the connecting conductor 10 made of a rectangular conductor bent in the same shape for each phase and crossing the preliminary space 14 is the back surface (mounting surface) of the case 1.
It is formed in parallel with. The case 1 and the phase interval walls 1a and 2a of the cover 2 for partitioning the interior of the container are removed at the portions intersecting with the preliminary space 14, and instead, a strip-shaped shield plate 15 is inserted using a groove (not shown). It is detachably attached.

Although FIGS. 1 and 2 show the structure as a circuit breaker for wiring, FIGS. 3 and 4 show the structure when a leakage breaker is formed by using the same case 1 and cover 2. Here, FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the ground fault detection device. In FIG. 3, in addition to the components of the circuit breaker for wiring shown in FIG. 2, the spare space 14 in which the shield plate 15 is removed is shown.
A ground fault detection device 16 is installed inside.

As shown in FIG. 4, the ground fault detection device 16 includes a zero-phase current transformer (ZCT) 17 having a connecting conductor 10 connecting the overcurrent trip device 4 and the load-side terminal 11 as a primary conductor.
It is composed of an electronic circuit unit 18 integrated in the outer case, and the connecting conductor 10 has the left and right phases (R, T phases) bent toward the central phase (S phase) in order to penetrate the ZCT 17. The shape shown is used. Although the structure is not described, the leakage trip unit 1 that operates by the output of the electronic circuit unit 18 is provided on the side of the opening / closing mechanism 3.
9 are installed.

The function and operation of the earth leakage breaker of FIG. 3 as a wiring breaker are the same as those in FIG. 1, but a ground fault is further generated and the current of each phase passing through the connecting conductor 10 is unbalanced. When this occurs, the ZCT 17 detects this and a trip signal is output from the electronic circuit unit 18, and the above-mentioned leakage trip unit 19 acts on the trip portion 3a of the opening / closing mechanism 3 to open the movable contact 7.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show an embodiment in which a terminal temperature display device is provided on the load side of the wiring breaker shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 using the spare space 14, and FIG. Figure, Figure 6
Is a plan view thereof. As shown in FIG. 5, a bimetal 20 is connected to a vertical portion of the connecting conductor 10 of each phase by a rivet 21, and a graduation plate 22 having a temperature scale at its tip is close to the ceiling wall of the cover 2. Is attached to. On the other hand, a window hole 23 is formed in a portion of the cover 2 facing the scale plate 22, and a pointer 24a is closed by a transparent cover 24 on which the pointer is displayed.

In such a structure, when the tightening portion between the terminal 11 and the external conductor (not shown) generates heat due to improper tightening or the like, the heat causes the bimetal 20 to bend to the right in FIG. Therefore, the scale of the scale plate 22 is set to the pointer 24a.
If you read with, you can check the heat generation state for each phase and prevent the circuit breaker from burning due to overheating.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show an embodiment in which a trip frequency display device for counting the number of times of operation of the overcurrent trip device 4 is provided in the circuit breaker for wiring shown in FIGS. FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view and FIG. 8 is a plan view thereof. In FIG. 7, a double counter 25 is attached to the cover 2 for each phase and its push buttons 25a and 25
The adjusting screw portion 12a of the bimetal 12 and the tip portion 13a of the armature 13 are pushed in b.

In such a structure, when an overload current or a short-circuit current occurs, the bimetal 12 bends as described above, or the armature 13 is attracted and the movable contact 7 separates. As a result, When the electric current is cut off and the bimetal 12 or the armature 13 returns to the state shown in the figure, the push button 25 is activated by the trip operation.
The adjusting screw portion 12a or the tip portion 13a separated from a or 25b pushes the push button 25a or 25b again to raise the corresponding counter scale. This makes it possible to clearly grasp the accident history for each overload and short circuit, and to easily manage the degree of contact wear.

As described above, in the illustrated embodiment, by providing the spare space 14 in the mold container, the same container can be used as both the circuit breaker and the earth leakage breaker, and the connection conductor 10 can be replaced and grounded. By adding or deleting the fault detection device 16 and the earth leakage trip unit 19, it is possible to easily change the specifications between them. Further, the spare space 14 can accommodate various functional components such as a terminal temperature detection device and a trip frequency display device.

[0016]

According to the present invention, by forming a spare space for separating the overcurrent trip device and the load side terminal in the container, the cases of the circuit breaker and the earth leakage breaker can be unified. .. As a result, it becomes possible to freely deal with specification changes such as addition of a leakage detection function to the circuit breaker for wiring and conversely deletion thereof, and the number of types of covers and cases can be reduced to reduce molding cost. Also, by utilizing the spare space as a utility space for accommodating various parts, it becomes easy to add an additional function to the circuit breaker for wiring.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a wiring breaker showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part of an earth leakage circuit breaker showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the ground fault detection device in FIG.

5 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a main part of an embodiment in which a terminal temperature detecting device is added to the wiring breaker of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of FIG.

7 is a longitudinal sectional view of an essential part of an embodiment in which a trip frequency display device is added to the wiring breaker of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Case 2 Cover 3 Opening / closing mechanism 4 Overcurrent trip device 10 Connection conductor 14 Spare space 16 Ground fault detection device 17 ZCT 18 Electronic circuit unit 19 Earth leakage trip unit

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Hiroaki Tosaka 1-1 Tanabe Shinden, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Koji Nomura 1 Nitta Tanabe, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa No. 1 inside Fuji Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A circuit breaker in which an opening / closing mechanism and an overcurrent trip device are integrally incorporated in a container consisting of a case and a cover made of molded resin, wherein an overcurrent trip device and a load-side terminal are provided in the container. A circuit breaker characterized by forming a spare space that separates it.