1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-pole circuit breaker, and more particularly, to a multi-pole circuit breaker, which can ensure the equilibrium of contact forces between contactors in a single pole breaking unit relatively far from a switching mechanism and the reliability of a switching operation between the contactors.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
In general, a circuit breaker is an electrical device that protects a load and a line by manually or automatically breaking the line in the event of an abnormal condition such as an overload and short-circuiting of the line.
As illustrated in FIGS, 1 to 4, the conventional multi-pole circuit breaker 1 includes four single pole breaking units 10a, 10b, 10c, and 10d, that is, a single pole breaking unit 10a of R phase, a single pole breaking unit 10b of S phase, a single pole breaking unit 10c of T phase, and a single pole breaking unit 10d of N phase.
Each of the single pole breaking units includes a case 20 having a space, a plurality of contactors 40 including fixed contactors 41 installed in the case 20 with a predetermined distance and a movable contactor 42 rotatably disposed between the fixed contactors 41 by shafts 53, a trip mechanism (not shown) for tripping the circuit breaker by detecting a large current flowing through the circuit, a switching mechanism 50 automatically operated by the trip mechanism or manually operated by operating a handle 51, for separating the movable contactor 42 from the fixed contactors 41 thereby cutting off a circuit, and an arc extinguishing mechanism 60 for extinguishing arc gas of a high temperature and a high pressure generated between movable contactor 42 and the fixed contacts 41 at the time of switching a circuit.
The switching mechanism 50 includes a handle 51, an upper link (not shown) coupled to the trip mechanism, a lower link (not shown) coupled in conjunction with the lower part of the upper link, and driving shafts 52 for commonly connecting the lower link and the shaft 53 of each single pole breaking unit so that the shaft 53 of each single pole breaking unit can rotate in conjunction with the lower link.
In the thus-constructed conventional multi-pole circuit breaker, when a normal current flows on a circuit, the movable contactor 42 is in contact with fixed contactors 41 thereby to maintain a closed circuit state.
On the other hand, when a large current flows on the circuit abnormally while a circuit is in an ON state, the circuit breaker is tripped, At this time, the upper link and the lower link are rotated. As the lower link is rotated, the shaft 53 coupled thereto through the driving shaft 52 rotates in a clockwise direction. At this time, the movable contactor 42 is separated from the fixed contactors 41 to thereby maintain an opened circuit state.
However, in the conventional multi-pole circuit breaker, the switching mechanism 50 is not installed at the middle of the circuit breaker but installed biased to one side, that is to say, at the single pole breaking unit 10b of S phase corresponding to the second right one, as illustrated in
Subsequently, there occurs a problem that, as shown in
Therefore, the present invention has been made in an effort to solve the above-described problems, and has for its object to provide a multi-pole circuit breaker, which can ensure the equilibrium of contact forces between contactors in a single pole breaking unit relatively far from a switching mechanism and the reliability of a switching operation between the contactors.
Accordingly, there is provided a multi pole circuit breaker in accordance with the present invention, which includes: a plurality of single pole breaking units having a pair of fixed contactors, a movable contactor rotatable to a contacted position to fixed contactors or a separated position from the fixed contactors, and shafts for rotatably supporting the movable contactor; a switching mechanism disposed on one of the plurality of single pole breaking units in order to provide a rotation force to the shafts; and a pair of driving shafts commonly connected to the shafts in order to simultaneously transmit a rotation force from the switching mechanism to the shafts of the plurality of single pole breaking units, including: a substrate disposed between the single pole breaking unit, spaced relatively far from the switching mechanism as compared to the other single pole breaking units among the plurality of single breaking units, and the adjacent single pole breaking unit; a link mechanism rotatably supported on the substrate, for providing a compensating rotation moment to the driving shafts so that a contact force between the contactors in the single pole breaking unit relatively far from the switching mechanism may not be smaller than a contact force between the contactors in the other single pole breaking units; and springs having one ends supported by the substrate and the other ends supported by the link mechanism, for providing an elastic force to the link mechanism for the provision of the compensating rotation moment.
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.
In the drawings:
A multi-pole circuit breaker in accordance with preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As illustrated therein, the multi-pole circuit breaker 100 in accordance with the present invention is a circuit breaker for four poles (so-called four phases), and includes a circuit breaker body 110 consisting of four phase-based single pole breaking units 110a to 110d of R phase (so-called R pole), S phase (so-called S pole), T phase (so-called T pole), and N phase (so-called N pole), i.e., a R-phase single pole circuit breaking unit 110a, a S-phase single pole breaking unit 110b, a T-phase single pole breaking unit 110c, and an N-phase single pole breaking unit 110d from top down.
A switching mechanism 150 is disposed on the S-phase single pole breaking unit 110b. A handle 151 for manually switching the position of the switching mechanism, i.e., from an ON position to OFF position or from the OFF position to the ON position, is disposed on the top portion of the switching mechanism 150, being connected to the switching mechanism 150.
A pair of driving shafts 152 is connected to shafts (53 of
Between the T-phase single pole breaking unit 110c and the N-phase single pole breaking unit 110d, according to the present invention, an auxiliary mechanism 170 is disposed, which is disposed between the N-phase single pole breaking unit 110d, relatively far from the switching mechanism 150, and the adjacent T-phase single pole breaking unit 110c, and provides a compensating rotation moment to the driving shafts 152.
Unexplained reference numeral 120 is a case made of an electrical insulating material of each of the single pole breaking units 110a to 110d.
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
A pair of opening 171a is prepared at the left and right sides, respectively, of the substrate 171 in order to permit the passage and rotation of the pair of driving shafts 152 and the rotation of a link mechanism 172, 173, 175, 176a, 176b, and 176c (refer to
The link mechanism 172, 173, 175, 176a, 176b, 171cand 176c to be included in the auxiliary mechanism 170 is rotatably supported on the substrate 171, and provides a compensating rotation moment to the driving shafts (152 of
Springs 174 to be included in the auxiliary mechanism 170 have one ends supported by the substrate 171 and the other ends supported by a supporting link 173, which is to be described hereinafter in more detail, among the link mechanism 172, 173, 175, 176a, 176b, and 176c, for providing an elastic force for the provision of the compensating rotation moment.
The link mechanism in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention includes: coupling links 172 provided with guide slots 172a for relatively movably receiving the driving shafts 152, and relatively rotatably coupled to the substrate 171 so as to have an axial line along the thickness direction thereof, for providing a compensating rotation moment to the driving shafts 152; and a supporting link 173 having one ends relatively rotatably coupled to the coupling links 172 and the other ends relatively rotatably supported by the substrate, for providing an elastic force from the springs 174 for rotation to the coupling links 172.
The link mechanism further includes supporting members 175 for supporting the other end of the supporting link 173 so as to be rotatable relative to the substrate 171 while supporting the other ends of the springs 174.
The coupling links 172 are prepared in two sets of upper and lower coupling links corresponding to the pair of driving shafts 152. Each set of the coupling links 172 consists of a pair of coupling links 172. The coupling links 172 have central axis holes, respectively, at a longitudinal center portion, the guide slots 172a are prepared at one ends around the central axis holes, and connecting axial holes for connecting to the supporting links 173 are prepared at opposite ends thereof. Therefore, one set of the pair of connection links 172 is supported so as to be only rotatable by the hinge pins 176a inserted through the central axis holes with the substrate 171 disposed therebetween.
The supporting links are arrow-shaped members, whose head portions having a larger width than the other portions are provided with connection holes for connecting to the coupling links 172 and connected to the coupling links 172 by connection axes 176b, whose body portions have the springs 174 disposed thereon, and whose leg portions are inserted into supporting holes prepared at the front side of the supporting members 175 and supported by the supporting members 175 so as to be movable back and forth along the longitudinal direction.
One ends of the springs 174 are supported by the supporting members 175, and the other ends thereof are supported by the head portions.
The supporting members 175 are U-shaped members, and from a longitudinal standpoint, have the supporting holes at the front side and rotation axis holes for inserting hinge axes 176c therein, so the hinge axes 176c supported on the corners of the left and right openings 171a of the substrate 171 are inserted into the rotation axis holes and made rotatable around the hinge axes 176c. The other ends of the springs 174 provide an elastic bias force to the head portion of the supporting links 173 so that the supporting links 173 may move forward along the longitudinal direction. The head portions of the supporting links 173 are connected to the connection links 172 by the connection axes 176b, and the coupling links 172 are supported by the hinge axes 176c so as to be only rotatable relative to the substrate 171, thus a linear force by which the supporting links 175 are to move forward along the longitudinal direction by the springs 174 acts as a rotation driving force of the coupling links 172, thereby rotating the coupling links 172. As a result, an elastic bias force of the springs 174 acts as a compensating rotation moment of the driving shafts 152 held in a manner to pass through the guide slots 172a of the coupling links 172.
In the meantime, the N-phase single pole breaking unit 110d is a single pole breaking unit that serves to switch a grounding system. If the N-phase single pole breaking unit 110d is switched to an ON state according to the international standards for electrical safety, contacts of the movable contactors and fixed contactors therein have to be contacted with each other prior to those in the other three-phase (R phase, S phase, and T phase) single pole breaking units 110a, 10b, 10c, and 110d. On the contrary, if the N-phase single pole breaking unit 110d is switched to a trip (or OFF) state, the movable contactor and fixed contactors therein need to be separated from each other later than those in the other three-phase (R phase, S phase, and T phase) single pole breaking units 110a, 110b, 110c, and 110d.
In a case where the switching mechanism 150 of the circuit breaker is switched from the ON state to the trip or OFF state, a critical rotation point of the coupling links 172 is set in such a manner that the intervals rotated by the elastic bias force of the springs 174 of the auxiliary mechanism 170 for providing a compensating rotation moment to the driving shafts 152 are relatively longer than the intervals rotated by a pressure received from the driving shafts 152 as the driving shafts 152 are moved by the rotation driving of the switching mechanism 150.
That is, when switching between the contacts of the movable contactor and fixed contactors in the N-phase single pole breaking unit 110d is carried cut, the time point of switching the driving force from the switching mechanism 150 to the auxiliary mechanism 170 can be adjusted by the critical rotation points of the coupling links 172. Thus, the critical rotation points of the coupling links 172 can be adjusted by changing the shape of the coupling links 172 and the position of the rotation central axes, i.e., the hinge axes 176a, or the shape of the guide slots 172a and the position of the point of inflection of the guide slots 172a.
The operation of the thus-constructed multi-pole circuit breaker kin accordance with one embodiment of the present invention will be described below.
When the circuit breaker enters into the trip (or OFF) state as shown in
As each of the coupling links 172 is rotated each of the springs 174 of the auxiliary mechanism 170 applies an elastic force to the coupling links 172 in the counterclockwise direction for maintaining the ON state. Then, after each of the coupling links 172 is rotated to a predetermined position corresponding to the critical rotation points, the direction of the elastic force applied to the coupling links 172 by the springs 174 are reversed to the clockwise direction, thereby implementing the rotation of the coupling links 172 subsequent to the critical rotation points by the elastic force from the springs 174.
The regions of the driving shafts 152 to which the coupling links 172 are connected are rotated by the compensating rotation moment from the coupling links 172 elastically rotated by the springs 174, and make it possible to correct the unbalance of the rotation driving force of the driving shafts 152 caused by the switching mechanism 150 of the four pole circuit breaker being biased from the center of the circuit breaker body 110. At this point, the shafts (refer to 52 of
Meanwhile, when the circuit breaker is manipulated from the trip (or OFF) state as shown in FIG, 11 to the ON state as shown in
As each of the coupling links 172 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction, each of the springs 174 of the auxiliary mechanism 170 applies an elastic force to the coupling links 172 in the clockwise direction for maintaining the OFF or trip state. Then, after each of the coupling links 172 is rotated to a predetermined position corresponding to the critical rotation points, the direction of the elastic force applied to the coupling links 172 by the springs 174 are reversed to the counterclockwise direction, thereby implementing the rotation of the coupling links 172 subsequent to the critical rotation points by the elastic force from the springs 174.
The regions of the driving shafts 152 to which the coupling links 172 are connected are rotated by the compensating rotation moment from the coupling links 172 elastically rotated by the springs 174, and make it possible to correct the unbalance of the rotation driving force of the driving shafts 152 caused by the switching mechanism 150 of the four pole circuit breaker being biased from the center of the circuit breaker body 110. At this point, the shafts (refer to 52 of
As above, in the multi-pole circuit breaker in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, by compensating for the rotation driving force, applied to the single pole breaking units 110a, 110b, 110c, and 110cd from the switching mechanism 150, in terms of balance by means of the auxiliary mechanism 170, the regions of the driving shafts 142 corresponding to the N-phase single pole breaking unit 110d relatively farthest away from the switching mechanism 150 can be prevented from deformation, and the amount of rotation of the shafts (52 of
Moreover, the critical rotation points of the coupling links 172 at which the rotation driving force of the coupling links 172 is switched from the switching mechanism 150 to the auxiliary mechanism 170 are set in such a manner that if the N-phase single pole breaking unit 110d serving as a grounding system is switched to the ON state, the contacts thereof are coupled prior to those of the other three-phase (R, S, and T phases) single pole breaking units 110a, 110b, and 110c, and in contrast, if the N-phase single pole breaking unit 110d serving as a grounding system is switched to the trip (or OFF state), the contacts thereof are separated from each other later than those of the other three phase (R, S, and T phases) single pole breaking units 110a, 110b, and 110c. By this construction, the ground is connected (input) first at the time of power input, and the ground is disconnected (cut off) last at the time of tripping, thereby improving safety and reliability.
Referring to
The multi-pole circuit breaker in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention includes an auxiliary mechanism 270 that is operated in conjunction with the operation the above-described switching mechanism 150, and provides a compensating rotation moment to the driving shafts 152.
The auxiliary mechanism 270 includes a pair of substrates 271 fixedly disposed between the N-phase single pole breaking unit 110d and the T-phase single pole breaking unit 110c, and spaced apart a predetermined gap along the thickness direction by having through portions 271a penetrated along the thickness direction into a predetermined shape so as to pass the driving shafts 152 through, coupling links 272 relatively rotatably coupled to the substrates 271 so as to have an axial line along the thickness direction by having guide slots 272a for relatively rotating the driving shafts 152 and slidably receiving them, and springs 274 disposed between the coupling links 272 and the substrates 271 for providing an elastic force to the coupling links 272.
At this time, the substrates 271 and the coupling links 272 are relatively rotatably coupled to each other via typical hinge pins 276a.
Spring receiving portions 271b for receiving and supporting one ends of the springs 274 are formed at the substrates 271, respectively. Spring supporting portions 273 are protruded from the coupling links 272 so as to connect and support the other ends of the springs 274. The spring receiving portions 271b may be comprised of depressed portions formed at a width almost equal to the diameter of the springs 274, or spring seats additionally having projections protruded from the depressed portions in order to prevent the springs 274 from falling out.
Further, if the circuit breaker is switched from the ON state to the OFF state, the critical rotation points of the coupling links 272 are set in such a manner that the intervals rotated by the elastic force of the springs 274 are relatively longer than the intervals pressurized and rotated by the driving shafts 172.
By the above construction, the rotation driving force applied from the switching mechanism 150 to the single pole breaking units 110a, 110b, 110c, and 110d by the auxiliary mechanism 150 in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention can he applied in balance, and the single pole breaking unit for a neutral electrode serving as a ground system is input first at the time of power input, and the single pole breaking unit for a neutral electrode serving as a ground system is disconnected (cut off) last at the time of tripping.
As seen from above, according to the multi-pole circuit breaker in accordance with the present invention, it is possible to ensure the reliability of the switching operation between the contactors in the single pole breaking unit relatively far from the switching mechanism in the multi-pole circuit breaker, and the contact force between the contactors in the single pole breaking unit for each phase when applying current is balanced, thereby overcoming the problem of heat generation caused by incomplete contact between the contactors.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2005-0093135 | Oct 2005 | KR | national |
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