Patent Application
20090257173
Aspects of the present disclosure are directed to fixed type circuit breakers and, more particularly, to fixed type circuit breakers having a secondary circuit terminal block.
Circuit breakers are capable of interrupting high ampere current in various industrial, commercial or personal electrical applications and may be categorized generally as draw-out types of circuit breakers and fixed types of circuit breakers. In that capacity, both types of circuit breakers may be attached to circuitry and, in particular, to a switchboard with limited spatial capacity. As such, it is desirable to construct both types of circuit breakers with increasingly smaller and smaller components without sacrificing accessibility.
In conventional fixed types of circuit breakers, compact size has been accomplished through the use of secondary control circuits. In secondary control circuits, a terminal block is provided and includes terminals to which corresponding terminals of accessory plugs are indirectly connected. These terminals are, however, not front-side accessible. As such, given the above-noted spatial limitations, it may be difficult or impossible for an operator to conduct wiring processes of the terminals in a completed installation.
In accordance with an aspect of the invention, a circuit breaker apparatus is provided and includes a circuit breaker, having a housing surface perpendicular to a plane of a front side of the circuit breaker and internal components, a terminal block structurally coupled to the housing surface, first terminal housings arrayed on the terminal block to each support first components and to be receptive of second terminal housings each of which supports second components, at least some of which are electrically coupled to the internal components, to be electrically coupled to at least some of the first components, and an access block disposed on the terminal block and having apertures defined therein to provide for front-side access to the first terminal housings.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a circuit breaker apparatus is provided and includes a circuit breaker, having a housing surface perpendicular to a plane of a front side of the circuit breaker and internal components, a terminal block structurally coupled to the housing surface, first terminal housings arrayed on the terminal block to each support first components, second terminal housings, each of which supports second components at least some of which are electrically coupled to the internal components, received within the first terminal housings such that the second components are electrically coupled to at least some of the first components, and an access block disposed on the terminal block and having apertures defined therein to provide for front-side access to the first terminal housings.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a circuit breaker apparatus is provided and includes a circuit breaker, having a housing surface perpendicular to a plane of a front side of the circuit breaker and internal components, a terminal block structurally coupled to the housing surface, female terminal housings arrayed on the terminal block to each support a female terminal, male terminal housings, each of which supports a male terminal at least some of which are electrically coupled to the internal components, received within the female terminal housings such that the male terminals are electrically coupled to at least some of the female terminals, and an access block disposed on the terminal block and having apertures defined therein to provide for front-side access to the female terminal housings.
Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniques of the present invention. Other embodiments and aspects of the invention are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed invention. For a better understanding of the invention with advantages and features, refer to the description and to the drawings.
The subject matter regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other aspects, features, and advantages of the invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
With reference to
Here, it is noted that,
Female terminal housings 40 are arrayed on the terminal block 30 to each support a female terminal 41 therein. Male terminal housings 50, each of which may support a male terminal 51 therein are received within at least some of the female terminal housings 40 such that the male terminals 51 are electrically coupled to the female terminals 41. Further, at least some of the male terminals 51 are also electrically coupled to the internal components 20 via male terminal wiring 52. In this way, electrical connections may be formed between the internal components 20 and the female terminals 41. An access block 60 is disposed on the terminal block 30 and has apertures 61 defined therein to provide for front-side access to female terminal wiring 42 of the female terminal housings 40. Here, it is noted that, in an embodiment of the invention, the female terminals 41 and the female terminal wiring 42 may be one single component made of a copper alloy.
With particular reference to
With reference to
With this construction, the terminal block 30 may be provided as a single block 30a, as shown in
In either case, each terminal block 30 may include several rows of female terminal housings 40 in several columns thereof and, according to an embodiment of the invention, each terminal block 30 may include three rows of the female terminal housings 40 in thirteen columns thereof, however, these values are for illustration purposes only and are not limiting to the scope of the invention disclosed herein. The female terminal housings 40 are arrayed in the row-column format on the terminal block 30 within the first portion 31 thereof. In this arrangement, the female terminal housings 40 are further arrayed in an increasingly forward step-wise formation. That is, as shown in
Given the step-wise formation of the array of the female terminals 40, male terminal wiring 52 coupled to a forward end of each of the male terminal housings 50 when the male terminal housings 50 are inserted into the female terminal housings 40 is threaded toward the internal components 20 of the circuit breaker 2 in rows corresponding to the increasingly step-wise formation of the female terminal housings 40. That is, where first and second male terminal housings 50 are respectively received within female terminal housing row 40a and female terminal housing row 40c, the male terminal wiring 52 for the first male terminal housing 50 will be threaded at a rear of the male terminal wiring 52 for the second male terminal housing 50.
With reference to
Here, since a plane of the apertures 61 is inclined, while each of the apertures 61 provides for the above-described front-side access, the lateral extension D of the terminal block 30 is limited. Moreover, since the angle θ of the inclination of each aperture 61 is only slightly angled (by, for example, 30°) from the plane of the front side of the circuit breaker 2, the operator may access each of the terminal screws at a normal angle or, at worst, at an angle corresponding to the angle θ of the inclination of the apertures 61.
With further reference to
With reference to
With reference to
In accordance with various aspects of the present invention, a number of female and male terminals 41 and 51 that could be used by a fixed type of circuit breaker may be increased beyond what is presently possible given current spatial limitations. That is, as shown in
Although the embodiments described above are partly characterized by the female terminal housings 40 being arrayed on the terminal block 30, it is understood that this arrangement could be partly or entirely reversed. Where it is partly reversed, terminal block 30 could support both female and male terminal housings 40 and 50 in various combinations and patterns.
While the disclosure has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the disclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the disclosure without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the disclosure not be limited to the particular exemplary embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this disclosure, but that the disclosure will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.
