This application is based upon and claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202021090754.8, filed on Jun. 12, 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a centrifugal switch, and more particularly, to a centrifugal switch for a motor of a clothes dryer.
A centrifugal switch is typically used to control the startup winding of a single-phase motor. In this case, the centrifugal switch is mounted to the rotor of the motor, and is electrically connected in series to a startup circuit. The switch is switched on when the rotor is stationary, and is switched off once the rotor approaches a certain rotational speed. In the prior art, there are some centrifugal switches used in clothes dryers or washing machines. For example, Chinese patent No. 201610546662.8, published on Oct. 12, 2016, discloses a power-off safety protection mechanism for a door lock switch of a washing machine. The patented mechanism includes a mounting housing and a door hook entrance arranged on the back of the mounting housing. A lock hook located at the inner end of the door hook entrance is provided in the mounting housing. Three parallel conductive sheets are provided on one side of the mounting housing. A power-off protection switch capable of being switched on and off is provided between the mounting housing and any one of the conductive sheets. A drive protection structure is further provided in the mounting housing and the drive protection structure is capable of driving the power-off protection switch to be switched on or off when the movable block extends into the door hook entrance or exits from the door hook entrance. This mechanism and other similar mechanisms are difficult to apply to the motor shaft of a clothes dryer because they cannot instantaneously achieve power-off protection, and they are inconvenient to manufacture and assemble.
In order to overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings in the prior art, an objective of the present invention is to provide a centrifugal switch for a motor of a clothes dryer. The centrifugal switch solves the following technical problems: (1) current centrifugal switches cannot quickly open and close the contacts when used in the motor of a clothes dryer, which may cause serious damage to the motor; and (2) the internal components are poorly designed in structure and thus the arrangement of the contacts therein needs to be further improved. The objective of the present invention is achieved through the following technical solutions.
A centrifugal switch for a motor of a clothes dryer is provided. The outer side of the housing of the centrifugal switch is provided with a mounting hole. A fixed contact piece, a starting spring piece bracket, a starting spring piece, a starting lower piece, a starting upper piece and a bracket are fixedly buckled inside the housing. One end of the fixed contact piece, one end of the starting spring piece bracket, one end of the starting spring piece, one end of the starting lower piece, one end of the starting upper piece and one end of the bracket simultaneously extend outside a terminal on one side of the housing. The other end of the starting spring piece bracket inside the housing is fixedly connected to one end of the starting spring piece. The other end of the starting spring piece is aligned with the other end of the starting lower piece, and is provided with a raised contact. The other end of the starting upper piece is located above the contact of the starting spring piece, and is also provided with a raised contact. A rocking lever extending outside the housing is aligned with a movable sleeve of a centrifuge. The terminal of the housing is further provided with a retainer terminal lug. The retainer terminal lug is connected to a motor protector on the opposite side of a housing cover of the housing. The key point of the above structural design is that the other end of the bracket is aligned with the other end of the fixed contact piece. The other end of the bracket and the other end of the fixed contact piece are separately provided with a raised contact. An upper limit piece slot is provided above the contact of the bracket inside the housing. The aligned ends of the bracket and the fixed contact piece are located above the aligned ends of the starting spring piece, the starting lower piece and the starting upper piece. A rib partition column is provided between the aligned ends of the bracket and the fixed contact piece and the aligned ends of the starting spring piece, the starting lower piece and the starting upper piece. Both sides of the starting spring piece are separately provided with a raised contact. One side of the starting lower piece and one side of the starting upper piece are separately provided with a raised contact, wherein the contact of the starting lower piece is aligned with the contact of the starting upper piece. A lower limit piece slot is provided under the starting lower piece inside the housing. The portion of the rocking lever inside the housing is V-shaped. A pressing head at one end of the rocking lever is located above one side of the fixed contact piece aligned with the bracket. The end of the rocking lever is provided with an L-shaped end bent toward the fixed contact piece. The bend of the rocking lever is hinged to a rocking column of the housing. The other end of the rocking lever extends outside the housing. The fixed contact piece, the starting spring piece, the starting lower piece, the starting upper piece and the bracket are all L-shaped. The contacts are silver contacts. In this way, when the centrifuge is not rotating, the movable sleeve of the centrifuge slides into the rocking lever, and the centrifugal switch is triggered by the rocking lever.
The end of the fixed contact piece and the end of the bracket are separately provided with a double-contact parallel contact end, wherein the contact provided at the end of the fixed contact piece is aligned with the contact provided at the end of the bracket. Specifically, one end of a spring piece of the fixed contact piece is provided with symmetrically spaced double contacts, and correspondingly, one end of the bracket is also provided with symmetrically spaced double contacts. The end of the fixed contact piece aligned with the bracket is provided with the arched spring piece.
Similarly, the end of the starting spring piece, the end of the starting lower piece and the end of the starting upper piece are separately provided with a double-contact parallel contact end, wherein the contact provided at the end of the starting spring piece, the contact provided at the end of the starting lower piece and the contact provided at the end of the starting upper piece are aligned with each other. Specifically, one end of the starting spring piece is provided with symmetrically spaced double contacts, and correspondingly, one end of the starting lower piece and one end of the starting upper piece are separately provided with symmetrically spaced double contacts. In this way, a group of single-contact contacts in the centrifugal switch are replaced with double-contact parallel contacts, so that the centrifugal switch is safer and more stable.
A metal magnetic strip is arranged in a vertical gap between the double contacts of the bracket, and one end of the metal magnetic strip is fixed in the housing by a fixing screw.
The hinge joint between the rocking lever in the housing and the housing is provided with a protruding spring column extending into the housing. The spring column abuts against a spring in a spring groove, and the spring groove is arranged in the housing. Alternatively, a torsion spring is arranged at the hinge joint between the rocking lever and the housing. In this way, it is convenient to reset the rocking lever through the spring or the torsion spring.
A vertical rib is provided below the L-shaped end of the rocking lever. The fixed contact piece is located between the vertical rib and the L-shaped end. The vertical rib is integrated with the rocking lever through a side plate at the bottom of the housing. Through this arrangement, the linkage effect between the rocking lever and the fixed contact piece is further improved by means of clamping.
An external ground lug is arranged on the periphery of the housing cover to which one end of the fixed contact piece is fixed. One end of the external ground lug is provided with a through hole located in the mounting hole of the housing. The other end of the external ground lug is obliquely arranged at the terminal extending to a place between the fixed contact piece and the starting spring piece bracket. The external ground lug is configured to facilitate the mounting and assembly of the external ground lug.
The end of the starting spring piece, the end of the starting lower piece and the end of the starting upper piece are separately provided with a double-contact parallel contact end, wherein the contact provided at the end of the starting spring piece, the contact provided at the end of the starting lower piece and the contact provided at the end of the starting upper piece are aligned with each other. Specifically, one end of the starting spring piece is provided with symmetrically spaced double contacts, and correspondingly, one end of the starting lower piece and one end of the starting upper piece are separately provided with symmetrically spaced double contacts.
The present invention aims to solve the following technical problems: the existing centrifugal switch cannot quickly open and close the contacts when used in the motor of a clothes dryer and thus it is likely to cause serious damage to the motor; and the parts in the existing centrifugal switch are poorly designed and thus the arrangement of the contacts therein needs to be further improved. The key point of the present invention is as follows. One end of the bracket of the centrifugal switch is aligned with the other end of the fixed contact piece and is provided with a raised contact. Both sides of one end of the starting spring are separately provided with a raised contact. One side of the starting lower piece and one side of the starting upper piece are separately provided with a raised contact, wherein the contact of the starting lower piece is aligned with the contact of the starting upper piece. The end of the rocking lever is provided with an L-shaped end bent toward the fixed contact piece. The contacts are silver contacts. The end of the fixed contact piece and the end of the bracket are separately provided with a double-contact parallel contact end, wherein the contact provided at the end of the fixed contact piece is aligned with the contact provided at the end of the bracket. The end of the fixed contact piece aligned with the bracket is provided with an arched spring piece. A vertical rib is provided below the L-shaped end of the rocking lever. The fixed contact piece is located between the vertical rib and the L-shaped end. The vertical rib is integrated with the rocking lever through a side plate at the bottom of the housing. The centrifugal switch has a reasonable structural design, and thus is convenient to manufacture, assemble, use and mount, and further enhances stability and safety. The centrifugal switch of the present invention is suitable for a motor of a clothes dryer, and has an improved structure compared with the existing centrifugal switches.
In the figures: 1, housing; 101, rib partition column; 2, rocking lever; 201, vertical rib; 3, external ground lug; 4, fixed contact piece; 401, spring piece; 5, starting spring piece bracket; 6, starting spring piece; 7, starting lower piece; 8, starting upper piece; 9, bracket; 10, spring; 11, housing cover; 12, metal magnetic strip; and 13, fixing screw.
The structure and usability of the present invention will be further described below in combination with the drawings. As shown in
The fixed contact piece, the starting spring piece, the starting lower piece, the starting upper piece and the bracket are all L-shaped. The contacts are silver contacts. The hinge joint between the rocking lever in the housing and the housing is provided with a protruding spring column extending into the housing. The spring column abuts against the spring 10 in a spring groove, and the spring groove is arranged in the housing. In addition, the end of the fixed contact piece and the end of the bracket are separately provided with a double-contact parallel contact end, wherein the contact provided at the end of the fixed contact piece is aligned with the contact provided at the end of the bracket. Specifically, one end of the spring piece 401 of the fixed contact piece is provided with symmetrically spaced double contacts, and correspondingly, one end of the bracket is also provided with symmetrically spaced double contacts. The end of the fixed contact piece aligned with the bracket is provided with the arched spring piece. The external ground lug 3 is arranged on the periphery of the housing cover to which one end of the fixed contact piece is fixed. One end of the external ground lug is provided with a through hole located in the mounting hole of the housing. The other end of the external ground lug is obliquely arranged at the terminal extending to a place between the fixed contact piece and the starting spring piece bracket. Similarly, the end of the starting spring piece 6, the end of the starting lower piece 7 and the end of the starting upper piece 8 are separately provided with a double-contact parallel contact end, wherein the contact provided at the end of the starting spring piece 6, the contact provided at the end of the starting lower piece 7 and the contact provided at the end of the starting upper piece 8 are aligned with each other. Specifically, one end of the starting spring piece 6 is provided with symmetrically spaced double contacts, and correspondingly, one end of the starting lower piece 7 and one end of the starting upper piece 8 are separately provided with symmetrically spaced double contacts.
The centrifugal switch is mounted under a rotor shaft of the centrifuge. When the centrifuge is not rotating, the rotor shaft of the centrifuge slides into the rocking lever, and the centrifugal switch is triggered by the rocking lever. When the centrifuge rotates, the rotor shaft of the centrifuge is separated from the rocking lever, and the centrifugal switch is not triggered. Based on the above structural features, as shown in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202021090754.8 | Jun 2020 | CN | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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6184484 | Wade, III | Feb 2001 | B1 |
6737599 | Lewis | May 2004 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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106012427 | Oct 2016 | CN |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20210391130 A1 | Dec 2021 | US |