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EP1388158B1 - Mecanisme disjoncteur destine a un systeme de contact rotatif - Google Patents

Mecanisme disjoncteur destine a un systeme de contact rotatif Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1388158B1
EP1388158B1 EP01952099A EP01952099A EP1388158B1 EP 1388158 B1 EP1388158 B1 EP 1388158B1 EP 01952099 A EP01952099 A EP 01952099A EP 01952099 A EP01952099 A EP 01952099A EP 1388158 B1 EP1388158 B1 EP 1388158B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
crank
rotary contact
circuit breaker
contact assembly
shaft
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP01952099A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP1388158A1 (fr
Inventor
Roger Neil Castonguay
Randall Lee Greenberg
Dave Scot Christensen
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
General Electric Co
Original Assignee
General Electric Co
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by General Electric Co filed Critical General Electric Co
Publication of EP1388158A1 publication Critical patent/EP1388158A1/fr
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP1388158B1 publication Critical patent/EP1388158B1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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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
    • H01H71/10—Operating or release mechanisms
    • H01H71/50—Manual reset mechanisms which may be also used for manual release
    • H01H71/52—Manual reset mechanisms which may be also used for manual release actuated by lever
    • H01H71/522—Manual reset mechanisms which may be also used for manual release actuated by lever comprising a cradle-mechanism
    • H01H71/525—Manual reset mechanisms which may be also used for manual release actuated by lever comprising a cradle-mechanism comprising a toggle between cradle and contact arm and mechanism spring acting between handle and toggle knee
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H1/00—Contacts
    • H01H1/12—Contacts characterised by the manner in which co-operating contacts engage
    • H01H1/14—Contacts characterised by the manner in which co-operating contacts engage by abutting
    • H01H1/20—Bridging contacts
    • H01H1/2041—Rotating bridge
    • 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
    • H01H71/10—Operating or release mechanisms
    • H01H71/1009—Interconnected mechanisms
    • H01H2071/1036—Interconnected mechanisms having provisions for four or more poles
    • 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
    • H01H71/10—Operating or release mechanisms
    • H01H71/1009—Interconnected mechanisms

Definitions

  • the present invention is directed to mechanism for a molded case circuit breaker capable of switching a rotary contact structure between on, off and tripped positions.
  • the present invention is directed to a molded case circuit breaker having a mechanism for switching a rotary contact system between on, off and tripped positions.
  • United States Patent 5,281,776 ('776) describes a molded case circuit breaker having a toggle type mechanism for switching a rotary contact system.
  • This mechanism utilizes a lower linkage that directly attaches to a drive shaft which extends through and rotates the contact system, as is shown in Figure 1 .
  • a crank attached to the same drive pin is used to drive another pin that also extends through the contact system. Since the drive shaft passes through the contact system, optimum positioning of this shaft may not be possible which may cause geometric constraints on how much force can be transferred from the switching mechanism to the rotor. This often limits the performance level that a circuit breaker which uses the '776 switching mechanism is able to achieve.
  • EP-A-0 555 158 discloses a bell-crank operating mechanism of a moulded case circuit breaker which includes a crank connected to two bars.
  • a mechanism for a multi-pole circuit breaker comprises at least one side frame, a crank member being attached for rotation to the side frame and having a first and second end and a first rotary contact assembly mounted for rotation adjacent to the crank.
  • a first shaft is connected to the crank first end and the first rotary contact assembly.
  • a second shaft is positioned apart from the crank second end and connected to the rotary contact assembly.
  • a multipole circuit breaker comprises a base, a first side frame mounted to the base, a crank member being attached for rotation to the side frame and having a first and second end and a first rotary contact assembly mounted for rotation within the base adjacent to the crank.
  • a first shaft is connected to the crank first end and the first rotary contact assembly.
  • a second shaft is positioned apart from the crank second end and connected to the first rotary contact assembly.
  • a circuit breaker mechanism comprises a side frame having a cradle attached thereto.
  • a toggle linkage consisting an upper link having a first and second end attaches to the cradle and a lower link attached to the upper link second end by a spring spindle.
  • a crank member attached to the side frame attaches to the lower link. The crank provides the output torque generated by the mechanism.
  • a first and second shaft extend through a rotor assembly.
  • the first shaft connects with the crank to drive the rotor assembly between a closed and open position in response to a change in state of the circuit breaker mechanism.
  • the circuit breaker 10 in accordance with the present invention is comprised of a base 22 and a cover 24. Enclosed within the base 22 and cover 24 are four poles 14C, 14L, 14R, 14N each corresponding to a respective phase in an electrical circuit. Each pole 14C, 14L, 14R, 14N contains a rotary contact assembly 16C, 16L, 16R and 16N respectively, capable of carrying and interrupting electrical current. A drive shaft 18 connects the four poles 14C, 14L, 14R, 16N.
  • center pole 14C is straddled by a mechanism assembly 12.
  • the mechanism 12 connects to the poles 14C, 14L, 14R by the drive shaft 18.
  • the poles 14C, 14L, 14R are operable to move between three positions open, closed, or tripped in response to operation of the mechanism 12.
  • each pole 14 is made up of a rotor 60 housing a contact arm 26, and a pair of movable contacts are 28, 28'.
  • the movable contacts 28,28' mate with the pair of stationary contacts 30, 30' when the mechanism is in the CLOSED position shown.
  • the stationary contacts 30, 30' are brazed or welded to a load strap 32 and line strap 34 respectively.
  • the rotor 60 pivots on a pin 59 which is either supported by an internal wall (not shown), or a modular cassette (not shown) within the base 22.
  • the crank 62 connects the mechanism 12 to the rotor assembly 16C.
  • the crank 62 pivots about the pin 61 which is assembled on the side frames 13.
  • rotor assemblies 16R, 16L, 16N may be identical to rotor assembly 16C.
  • the operation of the rotor assembly 16C operates substantially the same as that described in co-pending United States Patent Application SN 09/087,038 filed May 29, 1998 which is incorporated herein by reference.
  • Mechanism 12 consists of a lower link 38 connected to the crank 62 by connector pin 39.
  • the opposite end of the lower link 38 from the crank is connected to an upper link 40 by a spring spindle 48.
  • the upper link 40 in turn is connected to cradle 42 by pin 56, to which is attached to a latch mechanism (not shown).
  • the mechanism spring 50 is connected between the spring spindle 48 and a pin 52 in handle 46. The mechanism 12 is prevented from further counter-clockwise rotation when the pin 58 attached to the upper link 40 comes into contact with the cradle 42.
  • the amount of torque that can be generated by the mechanism 12 is determined by the amount force F transferred from mechanism spring 50 through the lower link 38 and the moment arm.
  • the moment arm is shown in Figure 3 as the perpendicular distance d.
  • the perpendicular distance d is the length of a perpendicular line from the crank pivot 61 to the line of action of the force F. Since torque is the product of the force F times the distance d, it should be apparent that for a given mechanism, the greater the distance d the more torque is generated. This distance d and thus the torque will be maximized when the distance d is coincident with the connecting pin 39.
  • the pin 39 only connects the lower link 38 to the crank 62. It should be noted that in prior art mechanisms, the pin 39 was also the drive pin that extended through and connected all the rotors.
  • the components of the rotor assembly 16C often do not allow the drive pin to be placed in this optimal position.
  • the lower link 38 needs to be decoupled from the drive shaft and the rotor assembly 16C.
  • the present invention accomplishes this by attaching the lower link 38 to a crank 62 which in turn transmits the force to the drive shaft 18.
  • the drive shaft 18 can then be positioned anywhere on the rotor without effecting the amount of torque the mechanism can create.
  • the crank 62 either the rotor assembly 16C, or the mechanism assembly 12 may be optimized without compromising the performance of the other, thus allowing for the maximum amount of flexibility in the design of the circuit breaker while still maintaining optimized subassemblies.
  • the handle 46 under normal switching operation, the handle 46, is rotated counter-clockwise to switch the circuit breaker 10 from ON to OFF. As the handle 46 is rotated, the line-of-action of the spring 50 will move from the right side to the left side of the pivot 56. This movement "over-centers" the mechanism 12 and the force stored in the spring causes the mechanism 12 to open the rotor assemblies 16C, 16R, 16L, 16N. This opening movement separates the movable contacts 28, 28' from the stationary contacts 30, 30' thereby preventing any flow of current through the circuit breaker 10.
  • the latching mechanism (not shown) is released allowing the cradle 42 to rotate in a clockwise direction.
  • the latch and trip unit are similar to United States Patent 4,789,848 which is incorporated herein by reference.
  • the resulting movement of the cradle 42 causes the rotor assembly 16C via the upper link 40 and the lower link 38 to rotate separating the movable contacts 28,28' from the stationary contacts 30,30'. The separation of the contacts stops the flow of current through the circuit breaker 10.
  • shaft 19 is similar to drive shaft 18 in that it extends through and rotationally connects rotor assemblies 16C, 16L, 16R, and 16N.
  • shaft 19 is not connected to the crank 62 which allows it to be connected to the rotor assemblies 16C, 16L, 16R, 16N in any convenient location without effecting the optimal crank loading described herein above.
  • the shaft 19 is not attached to the crank 62, significantly greater contact depression has been observed. For example, when the contact depression was measured on a 480V, 600A industrial circuit breaker, the contact depression with the shaft 19 added was as much as 75% greater in the extreme outer pole 14N than that with only the drive shaft 18.

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  • Breakers (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un disjoncteur à circuit de contact rotatif utilisant un levier pour coupler un mécanisme de commutation à la structure pôle de contact rotatif. L'utilisation du levier permet d'optimiser individuellement le mécanisme et la structure pôle sans qu'ils n'influencent mutuellement leurs performances respectives. On peut notamment utiliser le levier pour un mécanisme pouvant accomplir un couple maximum et le céder à la structure pôle.

Claims (4)

  1. Mécanisme pour un disjoncteur multipolaire comprenant :
    au moins un châssis latéral (13) ;
    un élément de manivelle (62) étant fixé de manière à effectuer une rotation audit châssis latéral (13) et présentant une première et une deuxième extrémité ;
    un premier ensemble de contact rotatif (16C) monté pour effectuer une rotation à côté de ladite manivelle (62) ;
    un premier arbre (18) relié à ladite première extrémité de la manivelle (62) et audit premier ensemble de contact rotatif (16C) ;
    caractérisé par :
    un deuxième arbre (19) relié audit premier ensemble de contact rotatif (16C) et relié à un deuxième ensemble de contact rotatif (16L) à côté dudit premier ensemble de contact rotatif (16C) et relié auxdits premier (18) et deuxième (19) arbres, le deuxième arbre (19) n'étant pas relié à la manivelle (62) de sorte que la manivelle (62) puisse être reliée aux ensembles rotatifs à n'importe quel emplacement approprié sans affecter le chargement optimal de la manivelle.
  2. Mécanisme selon la revendication 1 comprenant en outre :
    un troisième ensemble de contact rotatif (16R) à côté dudit premier ensemble de contact rotatif (16C) et relié auxdits premier (18) et deuxième (19) arbres.
  3. Mécanisme selon la revendication 2 comprenant en outre :
    un quatrième ensemble de contact rotatif (16N) à côté dudit troisième ensemble de contact rotatif (16R) et relié auxdits premier (18) et deuxième (19) arbres.
  4. Disjoncteur multipolaire comprenant :
    une base (22) ; et
    un mécanisme pour un disjoncteur multipolaire selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes.
EP01952099A 2001-04-09 2001-04-09 Mecanisme disjoncteur destine a un systeme de contact rotatif Expired - Lifetime EP1388158B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
PCT/US2001/007271 WO2002082487A1 (fr) 2001-04-09 2001-04-09 Mecanisme disjoncteur destine a un systeme de contact rotatif

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1388158A1 EP1388158A1 (fr) 2004-02-11
EP1388158B1 true EP1388158B1 (fr) 2008-09-10

Family

ID=21742381

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP01952099A Expired - Lifetime EP1388158B1 (fr) 2001-04-09 2001-04-09 Mecanisme disjoncteur destine a un systeme de contact rotatif

Country Status (4)

Country Link
EP (1) EP1388158B1 (fr)
CN (1) CN1199215C (fr)
MX (1) MXPA01011428A (fr)
WO (1) WO2002082487A1 (fr)

Families Citing this family (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP4395022B2 (ja) * 2004-07-13 2010-01-06 三菱電機株式会社 回路遮断器
KR100662752B1 (ko) * 2005-10-04 2007-01-02 엘에스산전 주식회사 다극 배선용 차단기
KR100689324B1 (ko) * 2005-10-05 2007-03-08 엘에스산전 주식회사 다극 배선용 차단기
US7800007B2 (en) * 2007-06-26 2010-09-21 General Electric Company Circuit breaker subassembly apparatus

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4789848A (en) * 1987-09-03 1988-12-06 General Electric Company Molded case circuit breaker latch and operating mechanism assembly
FR2682531B1 (fr) * 1991-10-15 1993-11-26 Merlin Gerin Disjoncteur multipolaire a blocs unipolaires.
FR2687249B1 (fr) * 1992-02-07 1994-04-01 Merlin Gerin Mecanisme de commande d'un disjoncteur a boitier moule.
US6114641A (en) * 1998-05-29 2000-09-05 General Electric Company Rotary contact assembly for high ampere-rated circuit breakers

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP1388158A1 (fr) 2004-02-11
CN1404614A (zh) 2003-03-19
CN1199215C (zh) 2005-04-27
MXPA01011428A (es) 2003-08-20
WO2002082487A1 (fr) 2002-10-17

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