The present invention relates to the field of relays, in particular to a high-voltage large-current relay.
Relay is an electronic control device generally applied in an automatic control circuit for controlling a large current by a small current. When an electric arc is generated, electrical contacts may be melted, carbonized, deformed, or damaged, and the relay may be burned.
To prevent the situation of damaging the relay by the electric arc, related manufacturers generally provide an arc extinction structure installed in the relay to minimize the electric arc.
Therefore, it is a primary objective of the present invention to provide a high-voltage large-current relay capable of stably striking and extinguishing the electric arc generated during the operation of the relay to prevent a load circuit connected to the relay from being burned, damaged or even exploded and also to extend the service life of the relay effectively.
To achieve the aforementioned and other objectives, the present invention provides a high-voltage large-current relay comprising an electromagnet, at least one fixed transmission contact, at least one movable transmission contact, at least one fixed arc-striking contact, and at least one movable arc-striking contact, and the fixed transmission contact and the movable transmission contact being configured to be corresponsive to each other, and the fixed arc-striking contact and the movable arc-striking contact being configured to be corresponsive to each other, characterized in that the relay further comprises at least one arc-striking spring plate and at least one transmission spring plate, and the movable transmission contact is disposed on the transmission spring plate, and the movable arc-striking contact is disposed on the arc-striking spring plate; wherein the movable arc-striking contact is smaller than the movable transmission contact, and the arc-striking spring plate and the transmission spring plate are operated together, and the movable arc-striking contact and the fixed arc-striking contact are in a mutually contacted state before the movable transmission contact and the fixed transmission contact are driven into an open or closed state by the electromagnetic effect of the electromagnet.
With the design of the movable arc-striking contact being smaller than the movable transmission contact, a gap used for arc extinction is provided as much as possible in the existing space of the relay in order to extinguish the electric arc generated during the operation of the relay. Meanwhile, the volume of the relay is reduced to lower the production cost.
To make it easier for our examiner to understand the objective, technical characteristics, structure, innovative features, and performance of the invention, we use preferred embodiments together with the attached drawings for the detailed description of the invention.
With reference to
The relay 1 further comprises at least one arc-striking spring plate 15 and a transmission spring plate 16, and the movable transmission contact 12 is disposed on the transmission spring plate 16, and the movable arc-striking contact 14 is disposed on the arc-striking spring plate 15. Wherein, the movable arc-striking contact 14 is smaller than the movable transmission contact 12, and the arc-striking spring plate 15 and the transmission spring plate 16 are operated together. Before the movable transmission contact 12 and the fixed transmission contact 11 are driven into an open or closed state by the electromagnetic effect of the electromagnet, the movable arc-striking contact 14 and the fixed arc-striking contact 13 are in a mutually contacted state. By the size limitation of the movable arc-striking contact 14 being smaller than the movable transmission contact 12, and before the movable transmission contact 12 and the fixed transmission contact are driven into the open or closed state, the movable arc-striking contact 14 and the fixed arc-striking contact 13 are in the mutually contacted state, the arc extinction performance can be improved, so that the relay can withstand and extinguish the extremely high power electric arc during an operation of large current and high voltage, so as to prevent the electric arc from damaging the relay 1 during the operation of the relay 1 and extend the service life of the relay 1 effectively.
Compared with the prior art, the relay 1 of the present invention limits the movable arc-striking contact 14 to be smaller than the movable transmission contact 12 and provides a structure with as much space as possible in the limited space for the arc extinction and with a better and more stable arc extinction effect. Since the electric arc mainly occurs between the movable arc-striking contact 14 and the fixed arc-striking contact 13, and the space sufficient for extinguishing the electric arc depends on the spacing between the movable arc-striking contact 14 and the movable transmission contact 12. To prevent the continual existence of the electric arc generated during an operation or affecting the adjacent contacts to result in a low electric arc extinction performance, conventional relays intuitively adopt the design of increasing the spacing between the movable arc-striking contact 14 and the movable transmission contact 12 to improve the electric arc extinction performance. In other words, the distance between the movable arc-striking contact 14 and the movable transmission contact 12 is increased. However, such arrangement requires a larger space of the relay and thus increases the volume of the relay. Particularly, a very large space must be reserved for the installation of the aforementioned arc extinction structure if the relay needs to control a plurality of load circuits. Therefore, the volume of the relay must be increased further. These are the drawbacks of the past and present relays installed with the arc extinction structure failing to overcome, and the relay cannot have a high arc extinction performance and the volume of the relay cannot be reduced effectively. The relay 1 of the present invention is characterized in that the movable arc-striking contact 14 is smaller than the movable transmission contact 12, so that it is not necessary to occupy too much space or increase the distance between the movable arc-striking contact 14 and the movable transmission contact 12 to provide a better and more stable arc extinction performance in the limited space of relay 1, so as to cope with the compact requirement of the relay 1. The present invention reduces the volume of the relay 1 effectively and lowers the cost significantly.
Further, the relay 1 has a base 17 and an armature assembly 18, and the base 17 is provided for installing the armature assembly 18 and the aforementioned components, and the electromagnet 10 comes with a coil structure and produces a magnetic force by an electromagnetic effect after the electrical conduction, and the arc-striking spring plate 15 and the transmission spring plate 16 are driven by the armature assembly 18 to move respect to the fixed arc-striking contact 13 and the fixed transmission contact 11. To extend the service life of the movable arc-striking contact 14 and the fixed arc-striking contact 13, these contacts may be made of a material such as silver or tungsten with a high melting point and a better energy withstanding strength. To provide a better electrically conductive effect of the movable transmission contact 12 and the fixed transmission contact 11, these contacts may be made of a material such as silver and tungsten.
In this embodiment, the arc-striking spring plate 15 has a width smaller than the transmission spring plate 16 and provides a better arc-striking effect. The extinction of the electric arc is achieved by designing the movable arc-striking contact 14 to be smaller than the movable transmission contact 12, and the movable arc-striking contact 14 and the fixed arc-striking contact 13 are contacted with each other to define the open or closed state of the movable transmission contact 12 and the fixed transmission contact 11, so as to protect the relay 1 from accidents such as explosions. The design of the arc-striking spring plate 15 having a width smaller than the transmission spring plate 16 further increases the distance between the arc-striking spring plate 15 and the transmission spring plate 16 (in other words, the arc gap for the arc extinction is increased). After the electric arc is generated, the design of the arc-striking spring plate 15 having a width smaller than the transmission spring plate 16 and providing a gap for the arc extinction to minimize damages caused by the electric arc further prevents the electric arc from staying too long or extending to the transmission spring plate 16. In addition, the present invention can save the installation space.
In addition, the arc-striking spring plate 15 and the transmission spring plate 16 are configured to be adjacent and transversely parallel to each other such as the arrangement of piano keys, and the tops and bottoms of the fixed arc-striking contact 13 and the fixed transmission contact 11 are contacted closely, so that several arc-striking spring plates 15 and transmission spring plates 16 can be added along a single direction to save the installation space effectively. In this embodiment, the arc-striking spring plate 15 has an inclined portion 151, and the movable arc-striking contact 14 is disposed in the inclined portion 151, and the inclined portion 151 is tilted in a direction towards the fixed arc-striking contact 13 to facilitate the movable arc-striking contact 14 and the fixed arc-striking contact 13 to contact with each other before the movable transmission contact 12 and the fixed transmission contact 11 are set to the open or closed state. In addition, the movable arc-striking contact 14 may be designed with a thickness greater than the movable transmission contact 12 to achieve the aforementioned effects.
With reference to
With reference to
Further, the structure of this arrangement may install a magnetic device (such as a permanent magnet (not shown in the figure) in the relay 1 and at a position corresponsive to the movable arc-striking contacts 14 and the fixed arc-striking contacts 13. The magnet force of the magnetic device affects the electric arc generated by the movable arc-striking contacts 14 and the fixed arc-striking contacts 13 to quickly strike the electric arc until the electric arc is extinguished. Particularly, in an application of high voltage, the additional installation of the magnetic device can definitely extinguish the electric arc.
Preferably, the transmission spring plates 16 clamped between two the arc-striking spring plate 15 are of the same conductive loop to form a switch set A in order to meet different requirements. In the relay 1, several switch sets A, each comprising the arc-striking spring plate 15 and the transmission spring plate 16 may be installed along a single direction as needed to achieve an excellent arc extinction performance. When the relay 1 has the switch set A comprising the arc-striking spring plate 15 and the transmission spring plate 16, the relay 1 further has at least one spacer 19 installed between any two adjacent switch sets A for resisting the interference when the arc-striking spring plate 15 and the transmission spring plate 16 of two different switch sets are electrically conducted. Preferably, the spacer 19 is integrally formed in the base 17. In this embodiment, the relay 1 has two switch sets A and one spacer 19.
In addition, the spacing between the transmission spring plates 16 clamped between two arc-striking spring plates 15 is greater than the spacing between the adjacent arc-striking spring plate 15 and transmission spring plate 16, so as to further increase the spacing between two transmission spring plates 16 and prevent the interference produced by the transmission spring plates 16 used for current transmission during the electrical conduction. Since the movable arc-striking contact 14 is smaller than the movable transmission contact 12, and the arc-striking spring plate 15 has a width smaller than the transmission spring plate 16, the volume of the relay 1 will not be increased even if the aforementioned spacing between the transmission spring plates 16 is increased. Therefore, the relay 1 of this invention can meet the market requirement for miniaturization.
With reference to
With reference to
In addition, when the arc-striking spring plate 15 and/or the transmission spring plate 16 come with a plural quantity, the transmission spring plates 16 and the arc-striking spring plates 15 are staggered, and the arc-striking spring plates and the transmission spring plates are configured to be parallel to one another. In other words, the arc-striking spring plate 15 may come with a plural quantity, and the transmission spring plate 16 may come with a singular quantity, so that the transmission spring plate 16 clamped between the arc-striking spring plates 15 is in a staggered state; or the transmission spring plate 16 comes with a plural quantity and the arc-striking spring plate 15 comes with a singular quantity, so that the arc-striking spring plate 15 clamped between the transmission spring plates 16 is in a staggered state; or both of the arc-striking spring plate 15 and the transmission spring plate 16 come with a plural quantity, and arranged in a staggered state. Therefore, the relay 1 can extinguish the electric arc or spark effectively during its operation.
With reference to
In summation of the description above, the high-voltage large-current relay 1 of the present invention provides a structure of the movable arc-striking contact 14 which is smaller than the movable transmission contact 12, so that a sufficient arc extinction effect can be provided in the limited space of the relay 1 and the stability of extinguishing the electric arc can be improved to provide a better arc extinction effect and reduce the volume of the relay. Particularly, the energy of the electric arc generated in an application of high voltage and large current is much greater than the general situation, the movable arc-striking contact 14 with the aforementioned technical characteristic cab stably extinguish the electric arc and overcome the drawbacks of damaging the relay by electric arc or causing accidents such as explosions. The invention can extend the service life of the relay 1 effectively and also improve performance and safety of use of the relay to meet different requirements. As disclosed in the aforementioned embodiments and implantation modes, the configuration of the relay 1 may be changed to provide a better arc-striking effect.