1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to contact devices, and in particular, to a contact device that can be applied to a power load electromagnetic switch and the like.
2. Related Art
A conventionally known contact device includes a sealing contact device (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-100189) in which a spool wound with a coil is disposed between a first yoke having a substantially U-shape and a second yoke bridged over both ends of the first yoke, a movable iron core is slidably inserted to a center hole of the spool, and a contact mechanism unit formed above the second yoke is driven with a drive shaft having the lower end fixed to the movable iron core that reciprocates based on excitation and demagnetization of the coil and the upper end projecting out from the upper surface of the second yoke. In such a sealing contact device, an auxiliary yoke 15 is arranged in the center hole of the spool 14 configuring the electromagnet section to improve the magnetic efficiency, as shown in
However, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-100189, if the thickness of the auxiliary yoke 15 is reduced, the magnetic resistance becomes large, magnetic saturation easily occurs, the magnetic efficiency lowers, and the power consumption cannot be reduced.
If the thickness of the auxiliary yoke 15 is increased to reduce the magnetic resistance, the floor area increases and the device enlarges. If the thickness of the auxiliary yoke 15 is increased without increasing the floor area, the winding space cannot be ensured, and the desired drive force cannot be obtained.
The present invention has been devised to solve the problems described above, and an object thereof is to provide a contact device having a small floor area and capable of reducing the power consumption.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the object, there is provided a contact device in which a spool wound with a coil is disposed between a first yoke having a substantially U-shape and a second yoke bridged over both ends of the first yoke, a movable iron core is inserted to a center hole of the spool in a reciprocating manner, and a contact mechanism unit formed above the second yoke is driven with a drive shaft having a lower end fixed to the movable iron core, which reciprocates based on excitation and demagnetization of the coil, and an upper end projecting out from an upper surface of the second yoke; wherein an insertion hole communicating to the center hole of the spool and through which the movable iron core reciprocates is formed in the first yoke, and an annular auxiliary yoke including an insertion hole communicating to the insertion hole of the first yoke and through which the movable iron core reciprocates is provided at a lower surface of the first yoke.
According to the present invention, the outer circumferential surface of the movable iron core that reciprocates faces the inner circumferential surface of the insertion hole of the first yoke and the inner circumferential surface of the insertion hole of the annular auxiliary yoke, and thus the magnetic resistance reduces, the magnetic efficiency improves, and the power consumption can be saved.
According to the present invention, since the annular auxiliary yoke can be assembled to the lower surface of the first yoke, wider winding space of the coil can be ensured compared to the related art in which the auxiliary yoke is arranged in the center hole of the spool, whereby a contact device having a small floor area can be obtained while ensuring a predetermined attractive force.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the movable iron core is accommodated, in a reciprocating manner, in a bottomed tubular body inserted to the center hole of the spool, and the insertion hole of the annular auxiliary yoke may be fitted to a lower end of the bottomed tubular body projecting out from the lower surface of the first yoke.
According to the present embodiment, since the annular auxiliary yoke is fitted to and assembled to the lower end of the bottomed tubular body, the assembly task is facilitated, and a contact device of high productivity can be obtained.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the annular auxiliary yoke fitted to the lower end of the bottomed tubular body may be prevented from coming out with an O-ring.
According to the present embodiment, the vibration generated by the impact of the movable iron core can be suppressed and the working sound can be reduced by attaching the O-ring, especially if the O-ring is made of elastic material.
Hereinafter, a power load electromagnetic relay serving as an embodiment applied with a contact device of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
According to the present embodiment, the opposing area of an outer circumferential surface of a movable iron core 42, to be hereinafter described, and the first yoke 21 and the annular auxiliary yoke 35 increases and the magnetic resistance reduces, and thus the magnetic efficiency improves and the power consumption reduces.
A shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The sealed container 51 has a pair of fixed contact terminals 52, 53 having a substantially T-shaped cross section brazed to the roof surface thereof, and a connection annular skirt portion 54 brazed to the lower opening edge. Screw holes 52a, 53a are formed at the upper surface of the fixed contact terminals 52, 53, respectively. The annular skirt portion 54 is positioned on the upper surface of the second yoke 22, and then welded and integrated by laser to thereby form the sealed space.
The shield member 55 is integrated by fitting a metal shield ring 57 to a box-shaped resin molded article 56 having a shallow bottom with a pass-through hole 56a at the middle, and caulking a caulking projection 56b arranged in a projecting manner at the bottom surface of the box-shaped resin molded article 56. The metal shield ring 57 draws the arc generated in time of contact opening/closing, and prevents the brazed part of the sealed container 51 from melting.
As shown in
The plate spring 66 has a pair of position regulating lock nails 66a, 66a, which lock with both side edges of the movable contact 63, respectively, formed at both ends. Thus, the position regulating lock nails 66a of the plate spring 66 lock to and accurately push both side edges of the movable contact 63, whereby an electromagnetic relay in which the variation of the operation characteristics is small is obtained.
A repulsive force arises between the fixed contact terminals 52, 53 and the movable contact 63 by the large current that flows when both ends of the movable contact 63 contact the fixed contact terminals 52, 53. However, the first and second electromagnetic iron pieces 62, 64 of the movable contact block 60 generate magnetic force for attracting each other based on the large current described above to thereby regulate the operation the movable contact 63 moves away from the fixed contact terminals 52, 53, and to prevent the contact welding due to generation of the arc.
The first and second electromagnetic iron pieces 62, 64 of the movable contact block 60 according to the first embodiment have structures such that both ends of the first electromagnetic iron piece 62 contact the upper surface of both ends of the second electromagnetic iron piece 64, as shown in
The first and second electromagnetic iron pieces 62, 64 are not limited to the above embodiment, and may be configured as described in the embodiment shown in
For example, as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The contact-pressure coil spring 65 and the plate spring 66 both provide a contact pressure to the movable contact 63. In the present embodiment, the adjustment of the attractive force characteristics is facilitated and the degree of freedom in design is extended by combining the contact-pressure coil spring 65 and the plate spring 66.
As shown in
As shown in
The cover 70 has steps 80, 80 arranged projecting towards the side at the side surfaces on both sides of the long side, and an elastic arm 81 for preventing a connector 100, to be hereinafter described, from coming out arranged in a projecting manner at the side surface on one side. The step 80 positioned on the lower side of the elastic arm 81 has a guide wall 82 arranged in a projecting manner at the outer side edge, and a pair of position regulating nails 83, 83 arranged in a projecting manner at the end of the upper surface.
As shown in
As shown in
A method of assembling the seal contact device according to the present embodiment will now be described.
First, the electromagnet block 30 in which the coil 32 is wound around the spool 31 is placed and positioned at the first yoke 21. The shield member 55 is positioned at the middle of the upper surface of the second yoke 22 caulked and fixed with the fixed iron core 40 in advance, and the drive shaft 61 of the movable contact block 60 is inserted to the pass-through hole 56a of the shield member 55 and the shaft hole of the fixed iron core 40. The inner peripheral edge of the sealed container 51 brazed with the fixed contact terminals 52, 53 and the annular skirt portion 54 is fitted to the shield ring 57 of the shield member 55. The annular skirt portion 54 is laser welded and integrated to the upper surface of the second yoke 22 while pushing the box-shaped molded article 56 with the lower end face of the opening edge of the sealed container 51.
The drive shaft 61 projecting out from the lower surface of the fixed iron core 40 is then inserted to the returning coil spring 41 and the shaft hole of the movable iron core 42. The movable iron core 42 is pushed in against the spring force of the returning coil spring 41 until contacting the fixed iron core 40. Furthermore, the drive shaft 61 is pushed in until obtaining a predetermined contact pressure, a state in which the movable contact 63 contacts the fixed contact terminals 52, 53 with a predetermined contact pressure is maintained, and the lower end of the drive shaft 61 is welded and integrated to the movable iron core 42. Thereafter, the shock eliminating circular plate 48 made of rubber is attached to the recessed portion formed at the bottom surface of the movable iron core 42. Then, the bottomed tubular body 34 accommodating the adhesion prevention metal sheet 49 is placed over the movable iron core 42 and the shock eliminating circular plate 48 made of rubber, and the opening edge thereof is welded and integrated through laser welding to the lower surface of the second yoke 22. After releasing the air in the sealed space from the gas sealing pipe 23, inactive gas is injected, and the gas sealing pipe 23 is caulked and sealed.
Furthermore, the bottomed tubular body 34 is inserted to the center hole 31c of the spool 31, and both ends of the second yoke 22 are fitted to and fixed to the cutouts 21b of the first yoke 22. The annular auxiliary yoke 35 is fitted to the lower end of the bottomed tubular body 34 projecting out from the insertion hole 21a of the first yoke 21, and prevented from coming out with the O-ring 36.
The drive mechanism unit 20 and the contact mechanism unit 50 integrated one above the other are then inserted into the base 10, the lower end of the projecting bottomed tubular body 34 is fitted to and positioned in the recessed portion 11 of the base 10, and the lead wire 33a is pulled out from the cutout 16 (
As shown in
The operation of the contact device according to the present embodiment will now be described.
As shown in
When voltage is applied to the coil 32, the fixed iron core 40 attracts the movable iron core 42, and the movable iron core 42 moves towards the fixed iron core 40 against the spring force of the returning coil spring 41 (first stage S1), as shown in
The movable iron core 42 is attracted towards the fixed iron core 40, the movable iron core 42 moves against the spring force of the returning coil spring 41 and the contact-pressure coil spring 65, and the contact pressure increases (second stage S2). The movable contact 63 then contacts the lower ends of the fixed contact terminals 52, 53 with a predetermined pressure against the spring force of the returning coil spring 41, the contact-pressure coil spring 65, and the contact-pressure plate spring 66 (third stage S3), and thereafter, the movable iron core 42 is attracted to the fixed iron core 40, and such a state is maintained.
When application of voltage on the coil 32 is stopped, the magnetic force disappears, and the movable iron core 42 separates from the fixed iron core 40 by the spring force of the returning coil spring 41. Then, the movable iron core 42 returns to the original position after the movable contact 63 separates from the fixed contact terminals 52, 53. In returning, the shock eliminating circular plate 48 attached to the recessed portion at the bottom surface of the movable iron core 42 impacts the adhesion prevention metal sheet 49, but the shock eliminating circular plate 48 absorbs and alleviates the impact force.
According to the present embodiment, two types of contact-pressure coil spring 65 and plate spring 66 are combined. Thus, the spring load changes in multi-stages and can more easily comply with the attractive force characteristics curve, as shown in
In the present embodiment, a case where the auxiliary yoke 35 is circular in plane has been described, but may be square in plane.
A case where the annular auxiliary yoke 35 is prevented from coming out with the O-ring 36 has been described, but is not necessarily limited thereto, and may be fixed to the bottomed tubular body 34 through spot welding.
The present embodiment has been described for the case applied to the power load electromagnetic relay, but the present embodiment is not limited thereto, and may obviously be applied to other electric devices.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2008-170511 | Jun 2008 | JP | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2575060 | Matthias | Nov 1951 | A |
4203084 | Yamaguchi et al. | May 1980 | A |
4513270 | Belbel et al. | Apr 1985 | A |
4737750 | Prouty | Apr 1988 | A |
4755781 | Bogner | Jul 1988 | A |
4782315 | Bataille et al. | Nov 1988 | A |
5394128 | Perreira et al. | Feb 1995 | A |
5546061 | Okabayashi et al. | Aug 1996 | A |
5892194 | Uotome et al. | Apr 1999 | A |
6911884 | Uotome et al. | Jun 2005 | B2 |
7852178 | Bush et al. | Dec 2010 | B2 |
7859373 | Yamamoto et al. | Dec 2010 | B2 |
7868720 | Bush et al. | Jan 2011 | B2 |
20020158727 | Namen | Oct 2002 | A1 |
20040080389 | Nishida et al. | Apr 2004 | A1 |
20050011707 | Carriot | Jan 2005 | A1 |
20060050466 | Enomoto et al. | Mar 2006 | A1 |
20090096559 | Yano et al. | Apr 2009 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
0798752 | Oct 1997 | EP |
1353348 | Oct 2003 | EP |
2003-100189 | Apr 2003 | JP |
2006185816 | Jul 2006 | JP |
854381 | Sep 2008 | KR |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20090322455 A1 | Dec 2009 | US |