Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
  • H01H71/00—Details of the protective switches or relays covered by groups H01H73/00 - H01H83/00
  • H01H71/04—Means for indicating condition of the switching device
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
  • H01H71/00—Details of the protective switches or relays covered by groups H01H73/00 - H01H83/00
  • H01H71/04—Means for indicating condition of the switching device
  • H01H2071/042—Means for indicating condition of the switching device with different indications for different conditions, e.g. contact position, overload, short circuit or earth leakage
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
  • H02H—EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS
  • H02H3/00—Emergency protective circuit arrangements for automatic disconnection directly responsive to an undesired change from normal electric working condition with or without subsequent reconnection ; integrated protection
  • H02H3/02—Details
  • H02H3/04—Details with warning or supervision in addition to disconnection, e.g. for indicating that protective apparatus has functioned

Definitions

• the present invention generally relates to electrical circuit breakers, and more particularly, to electrical circuit breakers that provide a positive and reliable indication when the circuit breaker has been tripped.
• Circuit breakers are known in the art. Circuit breakers are electrical switches designed to protect an electrical circuit and its branches (wiring) from damage caused by overloads or short circuits. Its basic function is to detect an overload or electrical short condition and interrupt current flow. Unlike a fuse, which operates once and must be replaced, a circuit breaker can be reset to resume normal operation one the problem has been identified and corrected. Circuit breakers are now an industry standard and commonplace in most homes and commercial spaces worldwide.
• a circuit breaker includes a switch coupled to a moving contact, an operating or trip mechanism, and a stationary contact.
• the switch When the switch is in the OFF position, the moving contact is separated from the stationary contact and the circuit is open whereby current cannot flow through the circuit.
• the switch When the switch is in the ON position, the moving contact is in contact with the stationary contact and the circuit is closed whereby current flows through the circuit. If there is a short in the circuit or too much current flows through the circuit, an electromagnetic short circuit sensing element or a thermal overcurrent sensing element releases the trip mechanism to open the contacts and disrupt current flow through the circuit.
• the deflection triggers the spring loaded trip mechanism which includes a trip lever to move the conductive blade away from a stationary portion of the bimetal contact, thus breaking the circuit.
• die trip assembly activates and opens the circuit by tripping to the fault state.
• breakers have been proposed that include an indicator lamp that is illuminated when the breaker is in the ON position. While positively identifying the ON breakers, the indicator lamps are constantly burning, wasting energy, and when they burn out, provide a false circuit fault indication. These breakers must be replaced if the indicator lamp bums out, which is costly. Further, if an indicator lamp is burned out, it may create a dangerous situation for an electrician or person working on the circuit, believing that the circuit breaker is off when power is still applied to the affected circuit.
• Still other breakers have been proposed that include an indicator lamp that illuminates when the breaker is in the tripped position.
• the indicator lamp is connected to the line voltage and the common terminal only when in the breaker is in the tripped position, When in the ON or OFF position, the indicator lamp is not illuminated.
• a problem with these breakers is when the breaker is tripped, the circuit through the indicator lamp is still closed. Thus current is still present in the circuit creating a dangerous situation for an electrician or person working on the circuit, believing that the circuit breaker is off when power is still applied to the affected circuit.
• the present invention relates to a circuit breaker indicator device and particularly to a circuit breaker with an LED fault indicator lamp integrated within the circuit breaker.
• the improved design instantly identifies a tripped breaker by energizing an indicator lamp when the breaker has tripped, and de-energizing the affected circuit.
• the present invention a circuit breaker, comprised of a plastic housing containing the circuit breaker components including an indicator lamp.
• the indicator lamp only activates when the circuit has become overloaded and has tripped.
• the breaker in the tripped position is readily identified and aids in the identification of the electrical circuit to determine what caused the circuit fault.
• Fig. I is an illustration of an electrical circuit breaker of the present invention in the ON position.
• FIG. 2 is an illustration of the electrical circuit breaker of Fig. 1 in the tripped position.
• FIG. 3 is a simplified illustration cf the electrical circuit breaker of the present invention in the ON position.
• Fig. 4 is a simplified illustration cf the electrical circuit breaker of Fig. 3 in the tripped position.
• FIG. I an illustration of an electrical circuit breaker of the present invention is generally indicated by reference numeral 10.
• Electrical circuit breaker 10 may also be referred to as circuit breaker 10 or breaker 10.
• circuit breaker 10 may also be referred to as circuit breaker 10 or breaker 10.
• circuit breaker 10 may also be referred to as circuit breaker 10 or breaker 10.
• breaker 10 may also be referred to as circuit breaker 10 or breaker 10.
• the components described herein are mounted within a housing, which is not shown so as to view the breaker 10 components.
• Breaker 10 includes a switch 12 coupled to a latch assembly 14 coupled to an operating mechanism 16 and a moving contact 18.
• the latch assembly 14 includes a latch spring 20 coupled to the switch 12.
• Breaker 10 includes an upper trip arm 22, a lower trip arm 23 with a catch 24. which is designed to engage a notch 25 in one end of the upper trip arm 22.
• the catch 24 selectively couples the upper trip arm 22 to the lower trip arm 23. which in rum selectively couples the upper trip arm 22 to the operating mechanism 16 to hold the moving contact 18 in the closed or ON position.
• the lower trip arm 23 is releasably coupled to a tripper bar 26, which is coupled to a bi-mctal controller/strip or thermal overcurrent sensing element 28 and an electromagnetic short circuit sensing element 30.
• the breaker 10 also includes a stationary contact 32 electrically coupled to the hot input 33 from the AC power source 34, and a load terminal 36. Within the breaker panel (not shown) is also a neutral bus bar 37, which is coupled to the neutral line 39 from the AC power source 34.
• a non-metallic/non-conductive indicator arm 38 includes a moveable indicator contact 40 electrically coupled to an indicator light 42, which is electrically coupled to ground 44.
• a stationary indicator contact 46 is electrically coupled to the power source 34.
• a load 48 coupled to the load terminal 36 and the neutral bus bar 37 completes the circuit SO.
• bi-metal controller 28 or electromagnetic short circuit sensing element 30 engages tripper bar 26, which engages lower trip arm 23 and causes lower trip arm 23 to pivot.
• the catch 24 moves out of an engaged position with the notch 25 in the end of upper trip arm 23, causing the upper trip arm 23 to pivot.
• the operating mechanism 16 is pivoted away from the upper trip arm 23 by latch spring 20, which causes moving contact 18 pivot and disengage stationary contact 32, thus opening the circuit SO and disrupting power to the bad 48.
• a tail end 56 of moving contact 18 engages the indicator arm 38 causing the indicator arm 38 to pivot movable indicator contact 40 into contact with stationary indicator contact 46.
• the movable indicator contact 40 is in physical contact with the stationary indicator contact 46, power is supplied to indicator lamp 42 and the lamp 42 is illuminated.
• the circuit SO is open and current from AC source 34 is not delivered to the load 48.
• FIG. 3 a simplified illustration of an electrical circuit breaker of the present invention is generally indicated by reference numeral 100.
• the neutral side of AC power source 102 is connected to a neutral bus bar 104 mounted in a circuit breaker panel (not shown), and the hot side of AC power source is connected to a stationary contact 106 of breaker 100.
• a movable contact 108 is in contact with the stationary contact 106, thus supplying power to a load 1 10.
• the movable contact 108 pivots away from the stationary contact 106, opening the circuit, and contacts a moveable indicator block 1 12.
• the fixed indicator contact 1 16 is electrically connected to the hot side of the AC power source 102.
• the movable indicator contact 1 14 is in contact with the fixed indicator contact 1 16
• power is delivered to an indicator lamp 1 18, which is connected to ground 120 to complete the circuit and illuminate the lamp 1 18.
• the lighted lamp 1 18 readily identifies the circuit breaker 100 that has tripped without continuing to supply current to the load no.
• the indicator lamp is an LED lamp, which only activates upon an overload/tripped breaker thus immediately identifying the breaker that bas failed.
• the LED may be protected by resistor and/or coupled to an integrated circuit.
• An additional contact point has been added to the line terminal of the breaker and a secondary contact point has been added to the housing of the breaker and attached to the positive lead of the LED lamp.
• the negative lead from the LED lamp attaches to the grounding bar of the panel box.
• a non-metallic wedge has been added to the pivot contact allowing power from the LINE SIDE to connect with the contact attached to the breaker housing thus supplying power to the positive lead of the LED lamp in the fault/ tripped condition. As with any common circuit breaker, power will not flow to the load side in a fault/tripped state.

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Family Applications (1)

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Cited By (1)

Citations (6)

• 2016
  • 2016-05-09 CA CA3021488A patent/CA3021488C/en active Active
  • 2016-05-09 MX MX2018012308A patent/MX2018012308A/es unknown
  • 2016-05-09 WO PCT/US2016/031418 patent/WO2017196292A1/en active Application Filing

Patent Citations (6)

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