The present invention relates to a low-voltage circuit breaker, i.e., for applications with operating voltages up to 1000 volts.
Low-voltage industrial electrical systems characterized by high currents and power levels normally use specific devices, commonly known in the art as automatic power circuit breakers.
These circuit breakers are designed so as to provide a series of features required to ensure the correct operation of the electrical system in which they are inserted and of the loads connected to it. For example, they ensure the nominal current required for the various users, allow correct insertion and disconnection of the loads with respect to the circuit, protect the loads against abnormal events such as overloading and short-circuits by opening the circuit automatically, and allow to disconnect the protected circuit by galvanic separation or by opening suitable contacts in order to achieve full isolation of the load with respect to the electric power source.
Currently, these circuit breakers are available according to various industrial embodiments, the most common of which entrusts the opening of the contacts to complicated kinematic mechanisms that utilize the mechanical energy stored beforehand in special opening springs and are generally triggered, in case of electrical fault, by an appropriate protection device, typically a relay.
In certain operating conditions, particularly when the presumed short-circuit current can assume significantly high values, the use of devices that utilize in a traditional manner the energy that can be accumulated in the opening springs can be scarcely efficient and uneconomical for opening the contacts; in such cases, one normally resorts to special types of automatic circuit breaker that have technical solutions aimed at increasing their breaking capacity.
Among the technical solutions that are currently most widely used, there are two that are often used in combination. In particular, a first solution forces the current to follow a given path, so that when a short circuit occurs, electrodynamic repulsion forces occur between the contacts. These repulsion forces generate a useful thrust that helps to increase the separation speed of the moving contacts with respect to the fixed contacts; in this manner, the intervention time is reduced and the presumed short-circuit current is prevented from reaching its maximum value.
The second solution doubles the fixed contacts and the moving contacts. In this case, the flow of current is interrupted in each pole of the circuit breaker in two separate regions that are arranged electrically in series to each other, so that each region is subjected to a lower mechanical and thermal stress.
A particularly critical aspect of known types of circuit breaker is the fact that the presence of electrodynamic repulsion forces, while contributing positively to the generation of the thrust useful for contact separation on the one hand, on the other hand helps the moving contact structure to reach the end of its stroke at high speed and therefore with great energy. This generally tends to cause violent impacts against the case of the circuit breaker, with the possibility of damaging it, and can therefore require the use of additional cushioning elements; moreover, bouncing of the moving contacts toward the fixed contacts and undesirable restrikes of the electric arc can occur. In the case of circuit breakers with double contacts, the likelihood of bouncing and restriking of the electric arc can be increased by the presence of additional springs, which are usually associated with the structure of each moving contact in order to facilitate an even distribution of the mechanical pressure on the two surfaces for coupling between each moving contact and the corresponding fixed contacts.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a low-voltage circuit breaker that allows to obviate the drawbacks noted above and in particular in which opening in the short-circuit condition occurs in a manner that is optimized and functionally more effective than in known solutions, at the same time eliminating or at least minimizing the impacts that the moving contact can have against the case of the circuit breaker and the consequent negative effects caused by said impacts.
This aim and other objects that will become more clear hereinafter are achieved by a low-voltage circuit breaker, comprising:
Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the description of preferred but not exclusive embodiments of the circuit breaker according to the invention, illustrated only by way of non-limitative example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:
In the following description, for the sake of greater simplicity in description, reference is made to a single pole of the circuit breaker, without thereby intending to limit in any way the scope of the invention, since the conceived solution can be applied to all the poles of a low-voltage circuit breaker having any number of poles. Moreover, in the various figures identical reference numerals designate identical or technically equivalent elements.
With reference to the cited figures, a pole of the low-voltage circuit breaker according to the invention generally comprises at least one first fixed contact 1, which is connected electrically, by means of an appropriately configured conductor 2, to a terminal for connection to an electric circuit, according to embodiments that are widely known in the art and are therefore not described in detail; the pole furthermore comprises a rotating moving contact 10 and a rotating contact supporting shaft 20, which is shown in cross-section in FIGS. 1 to 4 for the sake of greater clarity of illustration and is functionally connected to the moving contact 10 and to a circuit breaker actuation mechanism 30. As shown in detail in
As shown in detail in FIGS. 1 to 4, the rotating contact supporting shaft 20 has a seat 21 that is contoured appropriately so as to have at least one interaction surface 22, and a pivot 23 is fixed in the seat 21.
In turn, the rotating moving contact 10 has a contoured central body 11, from which at least one first arm 12 protrudes; an active surface 13, for example a contact plate or pad, is arranged at the end of said arm and can be coupled/separated electrically with respect to the fixed contact 1 following the rotation of said moving contact 10. In particular, in the illustrated embodiments, the moving contact 10 is functionally connected to the shaft 20 and is arranged so that the central part 11 is accommodated in the seat 21, so that the end of the arm 12 protrudes transversely outside it; preferably, the moving contact 10 is connected to the shaft 20 by coupling a hole 14 formed in the central body 11 to the pivot 23, according to a solution that is advantageous from the point of view of manufacture and assembly. Clearly, the functional connection between the shaft 20 and the moving contact 10 might be provided in different manners, for example by providing the pivot on the body of the moving contact and the coupling hole in the shaft, or by providing a floating coupling exclusively by means of one or more springs arranged in the seat 21 and suitably connected to the shaft and to said moving contact, or in other manners, provided that they are compatible with the application.
Advantageously, in the circuit breaker according to the invention, on the contoured central body 11 of the moving contact 10 there is at least one first abutment surface 15, which is suitable to interact functionally against the complementarily shaped surface 22 for the purposes that will become better apparent in detail hereinafter.
Preferably, in the embodiments shown in
The embodiment shown in
At least one spring is generally associated with the moving contact 10 and is suitable to ensure, when the circuit breaker is closed, an adequate contact pressure between the active surface 13 and the corresponding fixed contact 1. In particular, the circuit breaker according to the invention preferably uses at least two traction springs 8 (only one of which is visible in FIGS. 1 to 4), each anchored to the second pivot 24 and to the third pivot 25 and arranged on mutually opposite sides with respect to the arm 12 of the moving contact 10.
The operation of the circuit breaker according to the invention is now described with reference, by way of example, to the embodiment shown in
In operating conditions, when a short circuit occurs, the electrodynamic repulsion forces generated in the electrical parts crossed by the current trigger the rotation of the moving contact 10, which starting from the position shown in
Furthermore, the fact that the energy accumulated by the moving contact during its rotation is utilized to obtain the effect described above prevents all the accumulated kinetic energy from discharging directly onto the case of the circuit breaker, reducing every cause of possible bouncing of the moving contact 10 and therefore of restriking of the electric arc. This positive effect can be increased if the constructive configurations shown in
In any case, it should be noted that the innovative result of the transmission of energy from the moving contact to the rotating shaft requires only the contour of the moving contact to be provided with the abutment surface required to interact with the corresponding surface formed on the shaft and is substantially independent of the type of functional coupling between the shaft and the moving contact and of the contour of the remaining part of said moving contact; for example, in addition to the solutions described above, it would be possible to use a moving contact that is contoured without cam-like surfaces, as shown schematically in
The solutions described above for a single-contact circuit breaker can be implemented easily and just as advantageously in the case of circuit breakers with double contacts; in this case it is in fact substantially sufficient to duplicate, symmetrically with respect to the rotation axis, the shape and the functional parts of the invention.
An example in this regard is shown schematically in
Clearly, even in the case of a circuit breaker with double contacts it is possible to provide the functional connection between the shaft and the moving contact according to various constructive configurations and to adopt or not also the contour with the cam-like surfaces.
For example in the embodiment shown in
Similar modifications can be adopted in passing from a single-contact circuit breaker to a double-contact circuit breaker for the embodiments shown in
It should be noted that in the various embodiments, both with the single-arm moving contact and with the double-arm moving contact, the fixed pivots 24 or 27 or 34 can be replaced in a fully equivalent manner by other engagement means that allow the engagement of the ends of the springs 8 in a manner that is functionally similar to the action of a single fixed pivot: for example, it is possible to use two pivots that are structurally independent of each other and are fixed to the shaft, or two coupling elements coupled to the shaft, or two seats formed therein and suitable to allow the anchoring of the ends of the springs 8, or other means, so long as they are compatible with the application.
In practice it has been found that the circuit breaker according to the invention fully achieves the intended aim, providing a significant series of advantages with respect to the known art and being usable both as a standard circuit breaker and as a current limiter.
The circuit breaker thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the inventive concept; all the details may furthermore be replaced with other technically equivalent elements. In practice, the materials employed, as well as the dimensions, may be any according to the requirements and the state of the art.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
MI2001A002327 | Nov 2001 | IT | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/EP02/12167 | 10/30/2002 | WO |