FR2614467A1 - PROTECTIVE SWITCHING APPARATUS WITH SIMPLIFIED TRIGGERING MECHANISM - Google Patents

Abstract

A low-voltage switching device comprises means of protection against overcurrents due to short circuits and/or overload. A tripping piece (21) is engaged by means of a catch (27) on a contacting lever (14) and presents a supporting face (25) for the mobile element (38) of a magnetic and/or thermal tripping device. The tripping piece (21) is articulated directly to the hand lever (19) and its respective trajectories when released due to a defect and when released by the hand lever are at least partly distinct.

Description

PROTECTIVE SWITCHING APPARATUS WITH TRIGGER MECHANISM
EASILY SIMPLIFIED.

The present invention relates to a low-voltage switch device comprising means for protection against short-circuit overcurrents and / c overload.

A protective switch device of this kind is described in patent EP-0 026 416 and comprises in a housing: - separable contacts, one of these contacts being available
dried on a movable contact lever, capable of pivoting
around an axis fixed relative to the shoemaker and from dega
manage this axis in the closed position, - a magnetic and / or thermal release and a lever
cooperating with a trigger mechanism to open
and close the contacts, - the trigger mechanism presenting a spoiler for
hook or release a lug on the contact lever and
minus a bearing surface against which is applicable
a movable member of the magnetic and / or thermic trigger
that, - a spring urging the contact lever in an area
located between the post and the fixed pivot axis of the
the sink.

In this device, the trigger piece pivots about a fixed axis and cooperates with a hooking piece of the contact lever. The attachment part is articulated to the lever, while the trigger part has an arm capable of striking a finger of the attachment part to rotate the latter, which then releases the contact lever.

The production of this known device can be simplified.

In addition, it has the drawback of not allowing simple discrimination between automatic trips occurring on a fault and voluntary openings controlled using the joystick. In fact, the trigger piece pivots the same way in all cases. However, it would be desirable to be able to collect via a mechanical link the information "tripping carried out on fault" on an additive signaling device adjacent to the protective switch device.

The object of the invention is in particular to simplify the design and mounting of a protective switch device of the type described above. Another purpose is to distinguish a trip on fault from a manual trip in such a protective switch device whose architecture is simplified and made extremely space-saving.

According to the invention, the triggering mechanism comprises a triggering part having the spoiler for hooking the contact lever and the bearing surface for the movable member of the trigger; the triggering part is directly articulated to the lever, the respective trajectories described by said part when triggering on a fault and when triggering caused by the lever being at least partly distinct.

The device is simplified since the functions for hooking the contact lever and for direct reception of the respective forces and movements of the magnetic trip device, the thermal trip device and the lever are all provided by the trip piece, while simple means, such as a notch of appropriate shape and orientation, formed in the triggering part and a cooperating post provided on an adjacent signaling additive, make it possible to signal via this additive the only trips on fault excluding the voluntary trips produced by the joystick.

In a preferred embodiment, a spring is associated with the lever to urge the latter towards its "off" position; this spring has one end applied to a fixed support of the housing and another applicable end, either in the running state on a hinge pin of the triggering piece with the lever, or in the stopped state on a boss of the trigger piece offset from the axis of the journal. The spring in question is preferably a torsion spring; in more bulky embodiments, it could be constituted by a pin or helical spring. I1 follows that, in the initial phase of a trip on fault, the trip piece remains relieved of the force of the opening spring associated with the lever.

The description of a nonlimiting embodiment which follows with reference to the appended drawings will make it possible to clearly understand the characteristics and advantages of the invention.

Figure 1 shows in side view and in section a
protective switch device conforming to
the invention;
Figures 2 to 5 show on a larger scale the
lever, trigger mechanism and contacts
of the apparatus of FIG. 1, respectively in the state
closure (Figure 2), in an initial phase
opening on fault (Figure 3), in one phase
intermediate opening on fault or manual
(figure 4), and in the final opening state (figure 5)
Figure 6 represents the part in isolation
intermediate release between the joystick and the
contact lever
Figures 7 and 8 show the same part in the
respective positions of figures 3 and 4
Figure 9 shows in perspective the part of the figures
6 to 8;
Figure 10 shows a front view of the add-on piece
chage of figure 6 coupled to a complementary part
re;
Figure 11 is a perspective of an addict
chage designed to allow interpo coupling
laire;
Figure 12 shows a front view of the add-on piece
Figure 11.

The protective switch device 10 shown in FIG. 1 comprises, in an insulating housing 11, a fixed contact 12 and a movable contact 13, the movable contact being disposed on a contact lever 14. A current path is established in the case between a terminal 15 and a terminal 16 of the device when the movable contact is applied to the fixed contact; this path is interrupted when the movable contact is separated from the fixed contact, either under the effect of a magnetic trip device 17 or a thermal trip device 18 with bimetallic strip 18a, or under the effect of a lever 19 for manual control or voluntary. Triggers 17 and 18 are implemented respectively in the event of a short circuit and in the event of an overload to produce a free trigger.

The lever acts independently of the triggers to open and close the contacts, passing from an on position "visible in FIG. 1 to a" stop "position visible in FIG. 5 and vice versa. It goes without saying that an opening and for closing the contacts remotely can be associated with the lever, on the other hand, a breaking chamber 20 provided with usual arc blowing elements is provided under the magnetic trip device 17 and the contacts 12, 13.

According to the invention, a single triggering piece 21 is used for hooking the contact lever 14 and is articulated directly by means of an ear 21c on a pin 22 linked to the lever 19. The triggering piece 21 is a piece in molded insulating material which comprises a body 23 provided with an arm 24 itself provided at its free end with a bearing surface 25 forming a cam with a clearance 26 on the side of the lever; the part 21 further comprises a hooking spoiler 27 capable of retaining a lug 28 provided at the upper part 29 of the contact lever 14, as well as a bearing surface 30 for this part 29 and a pin or a boss 31 whose role will be explained later. The cam 25 is arranged to allow tripping as soon as the contacts 12, 13 are in mutual support.

The contact lever 14 comprises in its central region 32 an oblong recess 33 into which a fixed pivot 34 is introduced; between the zone 32 and the tenon 28, the lever 14 is biased to the left by a spring 35 also applied against the housing.

With the handle 19 is associated an opening assistance spring 36 in the form of a torsion spring wound on a cylindrical surface of the handle The spring has an end branch applied at a fixed point 37 of the housing
(see Figure 2) and another end branch applied to the pin 22 of the lever or on the boss 31 of the trigger piece according to the operating positions.

The magnetic trigger 17 comprises a movable core 38 displaceable along an axis X-X parallel to the bottom 11a of the housing of the device. The core 38 is extended beyond the carcass 39 of the trigger 17 by a rod or a frame having a bearing surface 40 applicable on the bearing surface 25 of the arm 24 of the lever, a bearing surface 41 of percussion of the contact lever 14 and a range 42 capable of being pushed to the right by the bimetallic strip 18 in the event of overload.

 I1 should be noted that, in the closed position of the contacts, the axis 01 of the lever 19, the axis 02 of the pin 22 and the pin 28, are substantially aligned, the axis 02 being however slightly above of the line joining the axis 01 to the tenon 28.

Figures 2 to 5 and 6 to 8 will be used to explain the operation of the device described.

FIGS. 6 to 10 also represent an embodiment of the triggering part 21 making it possible to mechanically transmit the electrical fault information to an adjacent additive signaling device. The part 21 comprises for this purpose a notch 43 of suitable shape and orientation, for example bent, curved or in the form of a butt for accommodating a projection 44 of an operating part housed in the case 45 of an additive signaling device 46 (Figure 10), and to move this projection 44 in the event of a fault trip (Figure 8), without moving the projection 44 in the event of manual opening (Figure 9). The projection 44 passes through an opening 47 made in the case 45 and an opening 48 made in the case 11 and visible in dashes in FIGS. 2-4 and 6-8.

The triggering and hooking part 21a illustrated by FIGS. 11 and 12 comprises, on one side, a notch 50 and, on the other side, an axis 51; the axis 51 of a part 21a of a pole cooperates with the notch 50 of a triggering and hooking part 21b of a neighboring pole to allow a pole-to-pole triggering (FIG. 12).

The same trigger and attachment piece can of course have a notch 43 and / or a notch 50 or a pin 51 and / or a notch capable of cooperating with a differential triggering device.

The protective switch device shown in the figures operates as follows.

In the position of Figures 1 and 2, the lever 19 is in the on position, the triggers 17, 18 are at rest and the contacts 12, 13 are closed. Indeed, the pin 28 of the contact lever 14 is held as a fixed point for the lever by the spoiler 27 of the triggering piece 21 and the spring 35 biases the lever 14 clockwise relative to the pin 28 so as to ensure the contact pressure required, while the oblong shape of the hole 34 allows the lever to move relative to the fixed pivot 33.

The core 38 of the magnetic trip unit occupies its rest position on the left and the bimetallic strip 18a of the thermal trip unit 18 is in its rest position on the left.

The spring 36 of the lever biases the pin 22 clockwise; the pin remains in position, however, due to the attachment of the spoiler 27 to the lug 28. It is noted that the spring 36 does not hamper the pivoting of the triggering piece 21 relative to the axis 02 of the pin as is the case. will see further.

In the event that a short-circuit overcurrent crosses the device, the core 38 of the magnetic trip device moves rapidly to the right and its range 40 applied to the cam 25 repels the arm 24.

In a first phase, the attachment piece 21 therefore pivots counterclockwise around the axis 02. The spoiler 27 rises and releases the lug 28 so that the spring 36 begins by pushing the contact lever 14 to the left until 'at the stop of the right edge of the oblong hole 33 against the pivot 34, then pivot the lever 14 counterclockwise around the pivot 34 (see Figure 3). It should be noted that the pivoting of the lever 14 is accelerated by the percussion of the bearing surface 41 of the core 38 against the lever.

Then the upper part 29 of the contact lever comes to bear against the bearing surface 30 of the part 21 to confirm to the latter that the contacts are open and allow the part 21 to act on neighboring poles or additives .

Assuming that the part 21 has the notch 43 and that the device is coupled to a signaling additive 45
(see Figures 7 and 10), the movable projection 44 of the additive remains housed in the bottom of the notch and is driven upwards of the windows 47, 48 to produce the desired signaling action. The movement of the part 21 is illustrated in FIG. 7 where its initial state and its state at the end of the first phase are shown respectively in dashes and in solid lines.

In a second phase of trip on fault, the core 38 of the magnetic trip unit no longer provides any engine force and the spring 36 of the lever rotates the pin 22 clockwise around the axis 01, so that the part 21 goes back down. The core 38 of the magnetic trip device is pushed to the left by the cam 25 of the arm 24.

This second phase is successively illustrated by FIGS. 3, 4 and 5. The spoiler 27 hooks onto the lug 28 of the contact lever in order to reset the mechanism, while the branch of the spring 36 hitherto applied against the pin 22 applies to the boss 31 of the part 21 (see Figure 4).

In this way, the spring 36 confirms the opening of the movable contact 13 by urging the part 21 to the low position indicated in FIG. 5; the clearance 26 of the arm 24 then comes to bear against the core 38 to push it against a stop not shown. The lever 19 then occupies its "stop" position (FIG. 5).

An opening of the contacts in the event of overload would be effected substantially according to the same process under the effect of the thrust of the bearing surface 42 of the core 38 by the bimetallic strip 18a.

In the case of manual opening, the lever 19 is brought by the operator from the position of FIG. 1 to the position of FIG. 5 passing through the position of FIG. 4, while the triggers 17, 18 remain at rest. Consequently, if the release piece 21 has a notch 43 (see FIG. 8), it can escape without causing the projection 44 of the signaling additive; the initial position of the part 21 is indicated in dashes in FIG. 8 and its intermediate position - corresponding to that of FIG. 4- is indicated in solid lines.

It can be seen that discrimination between the trips on a fault and the manual openings thus operates automatically by the shape and the kinematics of the trip piece 21 and its notch 43.

The device is reset by rotating the handle 19 counterclockwise to return it and the entire mechanism to the position in FIG. 2.

Claims (6)

Claims  1. Protection switch device comprising in a housing (11) - separable contacts (12, 13), one (13) of these  contacts being disposed on a contact lever (14)  mobile, capable of pivoting about a fixed axis (34)  relative to the housing and to disengage from this axis in  closed position, - a magnetic (17) and / or thermal (18) release and a  lever (19) cooperating with a trigger mechanism  to open and close the contacts, - the trigger mechanism having a spoiler (27)  for hooking or releasing a lug (28) from the lever  contact and at least one bearing surface (25) against  which is applicable a movable member of the trigger  magnetic and / or thermal, - a spring (35) urging the contact lever in a  area between the post and the fixed pivot axis of the  lever, characterized in that the trigger mechanism comprises a trigger piece (21) which has the spoiler (27) for hooking the contact lever and the bearing surface (25) for the movable member of the trigger and which is directly articulated to the lever (19), the respective trajectories of said part when a fault is triggered and when a trigger caused by the lever being at least partly distinct.  2. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that: - a spring (36) is associated with the lever (19) for stressed  quote this one towards its J'arrêt "position, - the spring has one end applied to a support  fixed (37) of the housing (11) and another end applied  ble, or in the running state on an articulated pin (22)  lation of the trigger piece (21) to the lever,  either in the stopped state on a boss (31) of the workpiece  trigger offset from the axis (02) of the barrel  lon.  3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the triggering part (21) comprises a notch (43) of suitable shape suitable for cooperating via a window (48) of the housing (11) with a tenon  (44) belonging to an adjacent additive signaling device, for transmitting thereto fault trip information.  4. Apparatus according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the triggering part (21) has a notch (50) designed to cooperate with an axis  (51) of the triggering part of a neighboring pole.  5. Apparatus according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the trigger part (21) has a bearing surface (30) against which is applied the contact lever (14) during opening .  6. Apparatus according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the trigger piece (21) has an arm (24) provided at its free end with the bearing surface (25), this surface forming a cam arranged to allow tripping as soon as the contacts (12, 13) are in mutual support.