Patent Application
20190296528
The inventive subject matter relates to electrical apparatus and, more particularly, to switchgear.
In typical gas-insulated switchgear (GIS), certain components that are prone to arc generation are placed in closed structures filled with an insulating high-dielectric gas, such as sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). The insulation properties of the gas allow reduced spacing between components and thus enable relatively compact arrangement of the switchgear components. While high-voltage (e.g., 50 kV and above) switchgear is commonly gas-insulated, medium-voltage circuit breakers and other medium-voltage devices may also utilize gas insulated switching components to provide compact form factors for particular industrial and other applications.
A conventional GIS unit may include a housing having one or more gas containment compartments therein filled with insulating gas (e.g., SF6). Circuit interrupters, buses and other components may be housed in the one or more gas containment compartments, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,717,742 to Kim. Lower voltage control circuitry and mechanisms for operating the circuit interrupters may be housed in one or more control compartments, which may not be filled with insulating gas.
Some embodiments of the inventive subject matter provide an apparatus including a housing having a gas-insulated compartment and a non-gas-insulated receptacle therein. The non-gas-insulated receptacle is disposed adjacent to the gas-insulated compartment and configured for removable insertion of a circuit interrupter assembly therein. A bus is disposed in the gas-insulated compartment, and a contact is disposed in the non-gas-insulated receptacle, electrically coupled to the bus in the gas-insulated compartment and configured to mate with a terminal of the circuit interrupter assembly when the circuit interrupter assembly is installed in the non-gas-insulated receptacle.
In some embodiments, the non-gas-insulated receptacle may be configured for insertion of a circuit interrupter pole unit therein and the apparatus may further include at least one flexible insulation member attached to a side wall of the non-gas-insulated receptacle. The at least one flexible insulation member may be configured to engage a sidewall of the pole unit to form an environmental seal when the pole unit is inserted in the non-gas-insulated receptacle. The at least one flexible insulation member may include a plurality of flexible insulating members spaced apart along the side wall of the non-gas-insulated receptacle.
According to some embodiments, the contact may include a first contact configured to mate with the terminal when the circuit interrupter assembly is inserted in the non-gas-insulated receptacle at a first position and the apparatus may further include a second contact configured to mate with the terminal when the circuit interrupter assembly is inserted in the non-gas-insulated receptacle in a second position. The first position may be a fully inserted position and the second position may be a partially inserted position. The second contact may include a grounding contact external to the non-gas-insulated receptacle.
In some embodiments, the housing may include a switchgear enclosure having a bay configured to receive a truck supporting the circuit interrupter assembly. In further embodiments, the non-gas-insulated receptacle may be positioned over the bay and configured to receive a circuit interrupter assembly inserted vertically into the non-gas-insulated receptacle from the truck.
Further embodiments provide an apparatus including a housing having a gas-insulated compartment and a receptacle adjacent to the gas-insulated compartment and configured for removable insertion of an insulation-encapsulated circuit interrupter pole unit therein. A bus is disposed in the gas-insulated compartment and a contact is disposed in the receptacle, electrically coupled to the bus in the gas-insulated compartment and configured to mate with a terminal of the pole unit when the pole unit is installed in the receptacle. At least one flexible insulation member may be attached to the sidewall of the receptacle. The contact may include a first contact configured to mate with the terminal when the pole unit is in a first position and the apparatus may further include a second contact configured to mate with the terminal when the pole unit is in second position.
Specific exemplary embodiments of the inventive subject matter now will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. This inventive subject matter may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the inventive subject matter to those skilled in the art. In the drawings, like numbers refer to like items. It will be understood that when an item is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another item, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other item or intervening items may be present. As used herein the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the inventive subject matter. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless expressly stated otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes,” “comprises,” “including” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, items, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, items, components, and/or groups thereof.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this inventive subject matter belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the specification and the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
Disposed adjacent to the gas-insulated compartment 120, the non-gas-insulated receptacle 130 is configured to removably receive a circuit interrupter assembly. As shown, the circuit interrupter assembly may be an insulation-encapsulated pole unit 110 comprising a circuit interrupter unit 113 (e.g., a vacuum circuit interrupter unit) encapsulated in an insulating material (e.g., epoxy resin) and having externally-accessible first and second terminals 111, 112 located at side (at an intermediate position with respect to the ends) and an end, respectively, of the pole unit 110. First and second contacts 132, 134 are disposed at a sidewall 135 and an end wall 137, respectively, within the receptacle 130. The first and second contacts 132, 134 are configured to mate with the first and second terminals 111, 112 of the pole unit 110 when the pole unit 110 is fully inserted into the receptacle 130, as shown in
The first contact 132 is electrically coupled to bus 122 in the gas-containment compartment 120, here by a conductor 124 that passes through the sidewall 135 and into the gas-insulated compartment 120. The second contact 134 may be configured to be coupled to an external conductor, such as a connector 140 for a cable. Although a single bus 122 is shown, it will be understood that multiple such buses may be disposed in the gas-insulated compartment 120, e.g., three buses configured to be coupled to respective pole units in respective receptacles like the receptacle 130.
The receptacle 130 may also be equipped with additional features to enhance performance. For example, a gasket 133 may be provided adjacent to the opening of receptacle 130 such that when the pole unit 110 is fully inserted into the receptacle 130, a seal is formed between the assembly 100 and an operating mechanism housing 115 to which the pole unit 110 is attached, thus reducing the likelihood of contamination of the structures in the receptacle 130 from the ambient environment. As shown, one or more flexible insulating members 136 (e.g., elastomeric skirts) may be affixed to sidewalls of the receptacle 130. The flexible members 136 may increase the dielectric withstand capability of the arrangement, may guide insertion of the pole unit 110 into the receptacle 130 and may engage the inserted pole unit 110 such that an environmental seal is formed that further reduces the likelihood contaminants entering the receptacle 130 when the pole unit 110 is inserted therein. In some embodiments, a pole unit along the lines of pole unit 110 may be fitted with flexible sealing members that perform a similar function by engaging sidewalls of a receptacle along the lines of the receptacle 120 when the pole unit is inserted, similar to the flexible disks/skirts described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,178,801 to Yanniello et al., the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. As further shown, a moveable shutter 138 may be provided in the receptacle 130 to provide additional protection.
A variety of different types of contact arrangements may be used. For example, selected ones of the first and second terminals 111, 112 of the pole unit 110 and the first and second contacts 132, 134 may be respective spring bearing type contacts, such as the contacts manufactured by Bal Seal Engineering, Inc. An example of such a contact is shown in
In some embodiments, different conductor arrangements may be used. For example,
As shown in
It will be appreciated that further embodiments may use other arrangements. For example,
In the drawings and specification, there have been disclosed exemplary embodiments of the inventive subject matter. Although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the inventive subject matter being defined by the following claims.
