Patent Application
20230368988
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to a circuit breaker with an integrated safety Lock-Off mechanism in which a Lock-Off feature prevents a handle from being turned on with the use of a common padlock.
Circuit breakers, after installation inside load centers, sometimes require electrical technicians to work on various issues that may arise over their product lifetime. When electrical technicians open a load center to work on any electrical issues in circuits connected and powered through circuit breakers inside the load center, they must ensure any electrical connections that may be potentially dangerous are turned off. This is to guarantee no ground fault occurs. Ground fault is when electrical current finds an alternative path to the ground, possibly through the user or technician, resulting in potentially serious injuries or even death.
The circuit breakers on circuits that the technician works on often needs to have an additional safety guarantee other than switching the handle OFF. This is because the handle can be mistakenly turned ON if any unintended force is applied to the handle during the technician's operation around the circuit breaker.
There has not been any “integrated” Lock-Off feature. However, there are “add-on” accessories. These add-on accessories require the technicians to use an additional part along with a padlock to ensure the lock-off functionality. However, this solution requires a purchase of an additional accessory part along with the circuit breaker and requires more steps and complexity in installation. Therefore, this method is not only entirely different solution to achieve the Lock-Off function, but it also may be inferior.
Therefore, there is a need for a better safety Lock-Off mechanism for a circuit breaker.
Briefly described, aspects of the present invention relate to an integrated safety Lock-Off mechanism for a circuit breaker in which a Lock-Off feature prevents a handle from being turned on with the use of a common padlock. An additional accessory part-based solution may be inferior when compared to an “integrated-lock-off-feature” invention in that the accessory is significantly more costly and adds complexity to the technician. The integrated circuit breaker safety Lock-Off mechanism addresses this problem (i.e., the handle can be mistakenly turned on if any unintended force is applied to the handle during the technician's operation around the breaker) by designing a built-in Lock-Off feature near the handle. The Lock-Off feature prevents the handle from being turned on with the use of a common padlock. After a technician turns OFF a circuit breaker, he or she then installs the padlock to guarantee that the breaker is always turned off, ensuring electrical safety when working on the circuits.
In accordance with one illustrative embodiment of the present invention, a circuit breaker is configured to ensure electrical safety when working on its circuits. The circuit breaker comprises a housing with an exterior boundary. The housing includes an “integrated” or “pre-installed” Lock-Off feature extending away from the exterior boundary. The Lock-Off feature has a hole that is configured to receive a shackle or a shank of a padlock. The circuit breaker further comprises a built-in Lock-Off mechanism including a handle integrated with the housing using a pivot such that the handle is configured to pivot relative to the hole in the Lock-Off feature. The built-in Lock-Off mechanism in combination with the Lock-Off feature is configured to prevent the handle from being turned ON with the use of the padlock. The padlock prevents the handle from rotating on its pivot such that the padlock disables the circuit breaker from turning ON by impeding the handle from rotating to an ON-position.
In accordance with one illustrative embodiment of the present invention, a method of ensuring electrical safety when working on circuits of a circuit breaker is provided. The method comprises providing a housing with an exterior boundary. The housing includes an “integrated” or “pre-installed” Lock-Off feature extending away from the exterior boundary. The Lock-Off feature has a hole that is configured to receive a shackle or a shank of a padlock. The method further comprises providing a built-in Lock-Off mechanism including a handle integrated with the housing using a pivot such that the handle is configured to pivot relative to the hole in the Lock-Off feature. The built-in Lock-Off mechanism in combination with the Lock-Off feature is configured to prevent the handle from being turned ON with the use of the padlock. The padlock prevents the handle from rotating on its pivot such that the padlock disables the circuit breaker from turning ON by impeding the handle from rotating to an ON-position.
The above described features and advantages, as well as others, will become more readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings. While it would be desirable to provide one or more of these or other advantageous features, the teachings disclosed herein extend to those embodiments which fall within the scope of the appended claims, regardless of whether they accomplish one or more of the above-mentioned advantages.
For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like numbers designate like objects.
Various technologies that pertain to systems and methods that facilitate an integrated circuit breaker safety Lock-Off mechanism for a circuit breaker will now be described with reference to the drawings, where like reference numerals represent like elements throughout. The drawings discussed below, and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present disclosure in this patent document are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the disclosure. Those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged apparatus. It is to be understood that functionality that is described as being carried out by certain system elements may be performed by multiple elements. Similarly, for instance, an element may be configured to perform functionality that is described as being carried out by multiple elements. The numerous innovative teachings of the present application will be described with reference to exemplary non-limiting embodiments.
To facilitate an understanding of embodiments, principles, and features of the present invention, they are explained hereinafter with reference to implementation in illustrative embodiments. In particular, they are described in the context of an integrated circuit breaker safety Lock-Off mechanism for a circuit breaker. Embodiments of the present invention, however, are not limited to use in the described devices or methods.
The components and materials described hereinafter as making up the various embodiments are intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. Many suitable components and materials that would perform the same or a similar function as the materials described herein are intended to be embraced within the scope of embodiments of the present invention.
These and other embodiments of the integrated circuit breaker safety Lock-Off mechanism for a circuit breaker according to the present disclosure are described below with reference to
Consistent with one embodiment of the present invention,
The “pre-installed” Lock-Off feature 107 is integrated to a housing plastic 120 of the circuit breaker 100. This “pre-installed” Lock-Off feature 107 does not interfere with a normal operation of turning the circuit breaker 100 ON and OFF as shown in
Utilizing an integrated feature on a plastic base 125 of the circuit breaker 100 saves any added costs that may arise with any other complex features or “add-on” accessories. This simple integrated circuit breaker safety Lock-Off mechanism 105 provides electrical safety to technicians working on circuit breaker products. The mechanism 105 also allows the technicians to have easier time working, since the mechanism 105 is simple and only takes a small amount of space, providing the technician with more room to work with around the circuit breaker 100.
The circuit breaker 100 is configured to ensure electrical safety when a technician is working on its circuits. The circuit breaker 100 comprises a housing 130 with an exterior boundary 132. The housing 130 includes the “pre-installed” Lock-Off feature 107 extending away from the exterior boundary 132. The “pre-installed” Lock-Off feature 107 has a hole 135 that is configured to receive a shackle or a shank 140 of the padlock 115.
The circuit breaker 100 further comprises the built-in Lock-Off mechanism 105 including the handle 110 being integrated with the housing 130 using a pivot (not seen) such that the handle 110 is configured to pivot relative to the hole 135 in the “pre-installed” Lock-Off feature 107. The built-in Lock-Off mechanism 105 is configured to prevent the handle 110 from being turned ON with the use of the padlock 115. The padlock 115 prevents the handle 110 from rotating on its pivot such that the padlock 115 disables the circuit breaker 100 from turning ON by impeding the handle 110 from rotating to an ON-position.
Referring to
Turning now to
As seen in
As shown in
In one embodiment, the “integrated” Lock-Off feature 605 is a feature that is “built-in” onto the existing plastic housing 507 of the circuit breaker 500. In other words, it is not necessary to have an externally added accessory or other complex part that one needs to purchase separately and then be assembled onto a circuit breaker by a user. So, the circuit breaker 500 will have the “integrated” Lock-Off feature 605 more or less “pre-installed” into the circuit breaker 500 in a simple and efficient method without needing another product.
The circuit breaker's 500 on circuits that the technician works on often needs to have an additional safety guarantee other than switching the handle 505 OFF. This is provided here by instant solution because the handle 505 cannot be mistakenly turned ON if any unintended force is applied to the handle 505 during the technician's operation around the circuit breaker 500. A commercial metal padlock would provide a strong lock that cannot be overcome by a user, unless removed with a use of key.
In
With regard to
Referring back to
The method 1200 comprises a step 1205 of providing a housing with an exterior boundary such that the housing including a Lock-Off feature extending away from the exterior boundary. The Lock-Off feature has a hole that is configured to receive a shackle or a shank of a padlock. The method 1200 further comprises a step 1210 of providing a built-in Lock-Off mechanism including a handle integrated with the housing using a pivot such that the handle is configured to pivot relative to the hole in the Lock-Off feature. The built-in Lock-Off mechanism is configured to prevent the handle from being turned ON with the use of the padlock. The padlock prevents the handle from rotating on its pivot such that the padlock disables the circuit breaker from turning ON by impeding the handle from rotating to an ON-position.
While a design of a common padlock is described here a range of one or more other padlocks are also contemplated by the present invention in case the handle is not adjacent to the housing. For example, other padlocks with a square-shaped shackle or a square-shaped shank for more lateral reach to block the handle instead of a long-neck padlocks may be implemented based on one or more features presented above without deviating from the spirit of the present invention.
The techniques described herein can be particularly useful for a Lock-Off feature built in a main base of the housing. While particular embodiments are described in terms of the Lock-Off feature built in the main base of the housing, the techniques described herein are not limited to such designs but can also be used with the modular base in which the Lock-Off feature is built in the modular base of the housing.
While embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed in exemplary forms, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many modifications, additions, and deletions can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and its equivalents, as set forth in the following claims.
Embodiments and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-known starting materials, processing techniques, components and equipment are omitted so as not to unnecessarily obscure embodiments in detail. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and the specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments, are given by way of illustration only and not by way of limitation. Various substitutions, modifications, additions and/or rearrangements within the spirit and/or scope of the underlying inventive concept will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.
As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, article, or apparatus.
Additionally, any examples or illustrations given herein are not to be regarded in any way as restrictions on, limits to, or express definitions of, any term or terms with which they are utilized. Instead, these examples or illustrations are to be regarded as being described with respect to one particular embodiment and as illustrative only. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that any term or terms with which these examples or illustrations are utilized will encompass other embodiments which may or may not be given therewith or elsewhere in the specification and all such embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of that term or terms.
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of invention.
Although the invention has been described with respect to specific embodiments thereof, these embodiments are merely illustrative, and not restrictive of the invention. The description herein of illustrated embodiments of the invention is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed herein (and in particular, the inclusion of any particular embodiment, feature or function is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to such embodiment, feature or function). Rather, the description is intended to describe illustrative embodiments, features and functions in order to provide a person of ordinary skill in the art context to understand the invention without limiting the invention to any particularly described embodiment, feature or function. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, the invention are described herein for illustrative purposes only, various equivalent modifications are possible within the spirit and scope of the invention, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize and appreciate. As indicated, these modifications may be made to the invention in light of the foregoing description of illustrated embodiments of the invention and are to be included within the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, while the invention has been described herein with reference to particular embodiments thereof, a latitude of modification, various changes and substitutions are intended in the foregoing disclosures, and it will be appreciated that in some instances some features of embodiments of the invention will be employed without a corresponding use of other features without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as set forth. Therefore, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the essential scope and spirit of the invention.
Respective appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” or “in a specific embodiment” or similar terminology in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics of any particular embodiment may be combined in any suitable manner with one or more other embodiments. It is to be understood that other variations and modifications of the embodiments described and illustrated herein are possible in light of the teachings herein and are to be considered as part of the spirit and scope of the invention.
In the description herein, numerous specific details are provided, such as examples of components and/or methods, to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that an embodiment may be able to be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other apparatus, systems, assemblies, methods, components, materials, parts, and/or the like. In other instances, well-known structures, components, systems, materials, or operations are not specifically shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of embodiments of the invention. While the invention may be illustrated by using a particular embodiment, this is not and does not limit the invention to any particular embodiment and a person of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that additional embodiments are readily understandable and are a part of this invention.
It will also be appreciated that one or more of the elements depicted in the drawings/figures can also be implemented in a more separated or integrated manner, or even removed or rendered as inoperable in certain cases, as is useful in accordance with a particular application.
Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have been described above with regard to specific embodiments. However, the benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any component(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential feature or component.
The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/663,263 filed 13 May 2022 in the US Patent and Trademark Office, the content of which is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 17663263 | May 2022 | US |
| Child | 18319936 | US |
