At least one embodiment of the invention generally relates to an arrangement. In at least one particular example embodiment, it relates to an arrangement for actuating a transport pawl with a movable actuating device, which is held on a supporting framework and, in a first actuation phase, can be moved over out of a rest position into an end position counter to the force of a restoring spring and, in a second actuation phase, can be moved over out of the end position back into the rest position under the force of the restoring spring.
At least one embodiment of the invention furthermore generally relates to a tensioning apparatus for a spring-energy store of an electrical switch with such an arrangement.
An arrangement is known, for example, from the document EP 0 756 749 B1. In this known arrangement for a circuit breaker, a tension lever is provided as the actuating device, on which tension lever a transport pawl is articulated. The transport pawl is used for stepwise rotation of a ratchet wheel arranged fixedly on a tensioning shaft. An additional cutout is provided in one of the teeth of the ratchet wheel. This additional cutout ensures that, given a predetermined tensioning excursion of the tension lever, the tensioning shaft cannot be rotated back by an angle corresponding to the full pitch of the teeth of the ratchet wheel if the tensioning excursion is not completely performed by the manual lever. As a result, the tensioning shaft is held in a position in which a switching mechanism already effectively latches a tensioned spring-energy store of the circuit breaker.
It is known from the document DE 101 20 783 C1 that a display element can be coupled to such a switching mechanism for a spring-energy store. This coupling can take place in such a way that, as early as shortly before the effective latching of the tensioned spring-energy store, it is indicated that the spring-energy store is completely tensioned. In this case, there is the risk that, in the case of an incompletely performed tensioning excursion, the display element indicates a completely tensioned spring-energy store and therefore switch-on readiness, but the circuit breaker cannot yet be switched on.
At least one embodiment of the invention includes an arrangement configured in such a way that the operator of the actuating device is made aware of incomplete actuation of the actuating device.
In accordance with at least one embodiment of the invention, an inhibiting mechanism, blocks the actuating device in the direction of its rest position during the first actuation phase when a first intermediate position is reached and releases it again when a second intermediate position is reached.
An example configuration of at least one embodiment of the invention provides that a guide face of the actuating device and a pawl lever are used as the inhibiting mechanism,
In a further example embodiment configuration it is provided that the actuating device is a tension lever, which is capable of pivoting about a stationary pivot bearing.
The novel arrangement of at least one embodiment can be used in particular in tensioning apparatuses for spring-energy stores of electrical switches which have a tensioning shaft and a manual drive for rotating the tensioning shaft and in which the manual drive has a ratchet wheel, which is arranged fixedly on the tensioning shaft, and a transport pawl, which is prestressed in resilient fashion against the ratchet wheel for the purpose of rotating the ratchet wheel.
Example embodiments of the present invention will now be explained in more detail with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
The low-voltage circuit breaker 1 shown in
The supporting framework 5, which comprises a plurality of supporting plates 7, 8 and is likewise fastened on the front half shell 2 of the housing, has a tensioning shaft 9 and a plurality of supporting and spacer bolts passing through it. The supporting bolts 10, 11 are in this case used for fastening a holder 12 (shown in more detail in
As shown in
As shown in
The way in which the switching mechanism for latching the spring-energy store functions has already been described in detail in the document DE 101 20 783 C1, with the result that no more detail is given at this juncture. However, it is noted that the tensioning apparatus 14 is coupled to the spring-energy store 13 during a tensioning phase of the spring-energy store 13 via a lever system 29 and is decoupled from the lever system 29 during a latching phase of the spring-energy store 13.
A part of the tensioning apparatus is the tensioning shaft 9, which can be rotated by way of a manual drive 31 (illustrated in more detail in
As shown in
The supporting plates 32 of the manual drive are held fixed in position on the supporting framework by way of the tensioning shaft 9 and the supporting bolt 10. The ratchet wheel 33 is arranged fixedly on the tensioning shaft 9. The detent pawl 35 is held pivotably on the supporting plates 32 of the manual drive 31 by way of a first spacer bolt 37 and is prestressed in resilient fashion against the ratchet wheel 33 by way of a first contact-pressure spring 38.
The arrangement 36 for actuating the transport pawl 33 comprises an actuating device 39 in the form of a tension lever and a coupling train 40 for coupling the tension lever to the transport pawl. The stationary pivot bearing for the tension lever is in this case formed by the supporting bolt 10.
The coupling train 40 in this case has a first lever 41, which is articulated on the tension lever by way of a slot/bolt joint 30, and two second levers 42 (only one is shown in the figures), which are capable of pivoting about the rotary spindle of the ratchet wheel, the transport pawl 34 being held pivotably on the second levers 42 by way of a second spacer bolt 43 and being prestressed likewise in resilient fashion against the ratchet wheel 33 by way of a second contact-pressure spring 44.
A supporting lever 45 is fastened on the supporting plates 32 of the manual drive 31, and a pawl lever 46 is articulated on the supporting lever 45 in a manner in which it is capable of pivoting about a stationary pivot spindle 47 in the form of a pin and is prestressed, by way of a dead-center spring 48, in resilient fashion against a guide face 49 of the tension lever. The dead-center spring is in this case supported on a first arm 50 of the pawl lever 46 in such a way that the spring force of the dead-center spring 48 first acts on the pawl lever in the counterclockwise direction.
The pawl lever 46 and the guide face 49 together form an inhibiting mechanism 51 for the tension lever.
The guide face 49 has a cutout 52, whose inner sides form a recessed first section 53 and a projecting second section 54.
The pawl lever 46, which is capable of pivoting about the stationary pivot spindle 47 and is supported on the dead-center spring 48, has a second arm 55, which interacts with the guide face.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
In a second intermediate position of the actuating device 39, the pawl lever then assumes a position in which the dead-center point of the dead-center spring 48 is exceeded and therefore the spring force of the dead-center spring acts on the pawl lever in the opposite direction. The pawl lever, as shown in
When the end position of the actuating device 39 shown in
In the second actuation phase shown in
By way of the interaction with the second stop 61, the pawl lever 46 again pivots beyond the dead-center point of the dead-center spring and again comes to bear against the curved section 58 of the guide face 49.
At the same time as this, as shown in
Eight completely performed tensioning excursions are required for the complete tensioning and latching of the spring-energy store 13.
In order to ensure that the transport pawl and therefore the tensioning shaft 9 is not rotated still further by further tensioning excursions, at the end of the eighth tensioning excursion the engagement of the transport pawl in the next (in the clockwise direction) cutout is prevented. For this purpose, as shown in
As shown in
In order to prevent the eighth tensioning excursion from being interrupted before the end by the operator owing to the display of the display element, the first intermediate position of the actuating device 39 in the form of the tension lever is selected in such a way that it is reached on the eighth tensioning excursion before the display element 65 signals that the spring-energy store 13 is completely tensioned.
If the operator of the tension lever interrupts the tensioning excursion once the first intermediate position has been reached, the tension lever is blocked against rotating back into its rest position. In this case, the tension lever staying in position indicates to the operator that it has not completely performed the tensioning excursion.
The second intermediate position is selected in such a way that the tension lever is only released again when the roller lever 68 is decoupled from the peripheral edge of the cam disk 69 and therefore the tensioned spring-energy store 13 is actually latched.
It is furthermore known from the document DE 101 20 783 C1 that the roller lever 68 is coupled to the cam disk 69 again once the switching mechanism 27 has been released and that the cam disk 69 completes its full rotation through 360° with this coupling and reaches its initial position (illustrated in
Blocking of the actuating device 39 in the form of the tension lever advantageously takes place not only on the eighth (last) tensioning excursion, but also on every other tensioning excursion, with the result that the operator of the actuating device 39 is prevented from performing the tensioning excursions incompletely.
Example embodiments being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the present invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.
1 Low-voltage circuit breaker
2, 3 Half shells of the housing of the low-voltage circuit breaker
4 Arc-quenching chambers
5 Supporting framework
6 Drive mechanism
7, 8 Supporting plates of the supporting framework
9 Tensioning shaft
10, 11 Supporting bolts
12 Holder of a spring-energy store
13 Spring-energy store
14 Tensioning apparatus for the spring-energy store 13
15 Movable contact
16 Pivotable contact carrier
17 Contact lever
18 Hinged bolt
19 Contact-force springs
20 Flexible conductors
21 Lower terminal bar
22 Stationary contact
23 Upper terminal bar
24 First coupling rod assembly of the drive mechanism
25 Second coupling rod assembly of the drive mechanism
26 Switching shaft
27 Switching mechanism for latching the spring-energy store 13 in its tensioned state
28 Switching mechanism of latching the drive train when the contacts 15, 22 are closed
29 Lever system
30 Slot/bolt joint
31 Manual drive for the tensioning shaft
32 Supporting plates
33 Ratchet wheel
34 Transport pawl
35 Detent pawl
36 Arrangement for actuating the transport pawl
37 First spacer bolt
38 First contact-pressure spring
39 Actuating device
40 Coupling train
41 First lever of the coupling train
42 Second lever of the coupling train
43 Second spacer bolt
44 Second contact-pressure spring
45 Supporting lever
46 Pawl lever
47 Stationary pivot spindle
48 Dead-center spring
49 Guide face
50 First arm of the pawl lever
51 Inhibiting mechanism
52 Cutout
53 Recessed first section of the cutout
54 Projecting second section of the cutout
55 Second arm of the pawl lever
56 Restoring spring
57 Bore of the actuating device
58 Curved section of the guide face
59 Projecting edge of the pawl lever
60 First stop for the pawl lever
61 Second stop for the pawl lever
62 Cam of the ratchet wheel
63 Journal of the transport pawl
64 Main pawl
65 Display element
66 Stop
67 Scanning roller
68 Roller lever
69 Cam disk
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
10 2006 006 907.2 | Feb 2006 | DE | national |
This application is the national phase under 35 U.S.C. §371 of PCT International Application No. PCT/EP2007/050793 which has an International filing date of Jan. 26, 2007, which designated the United States of America and which claims priority on German application No. 10 2006 006 907.2 filed Feb. 9, 2006, the entire contents of each of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/EP2007/050793 | 1/26/2007 | WO | 00 | 8/8/2008 |