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US 10,373,743 B1Granted
Modular bus bar insulator
OwnerTravis James Cronkriteinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An insulator for a bus bar of a breaker panel may be modularly sacrificed for the installation of a breaker. The ability to modularly sacrifice insulating portions enables protection of the electrical service worker while installing a new breaker panel or modifying an existing breaker panel.
Claims17
An insulator apparatus, comprising:
- a plurality of insulator modules formed of an insulator material, each insulator module:
- corresponding to a respective portion of a bus bar apparatus in a breaker panel;
- formed to receive its respective portion of the bus bar apparatus and to provide insulation protection from the respective portion of the bus bar apparatus when receiving the bus bar apparatus;
- and
- defined by a periphery that corresponds to a periphery of one or more circuit breakers that can attach to the respective portion of the bus bar apparatus;
- separation regions defining the peripheries of the insulator modules, each separation region having a shear strength less than a shear strength of the portion of the insulator material within the peripheries of the insulator modules such that, when the bus bar apparatus is received by the insulator apparatus, each insulator module may be individually separated from the insulator apparatus to expose the respective portion of the bus bar apparatus to which it corresponds so that the respective portion of the bus bar so exposed may receive one or more circuit breakers.
3 more elements
A circuit breaker panel, comprising:
- a breaker box;
- and
- a bus bar apparatus within the main breaker box, the bus bar apparatus including a pair of opposed hot bus bars, each of the hot bus bars including a plurality of respective portions that can electrically couple to a circuit breaker when the circuit breaker is received in the breaker box;
- and
- an insulator apparatus, comprising a plurality of insulator modules formed of an insulator material, each insulator module:
- corresponding to a respective portion of the opposed hot bus bars;
- formed to receive its respective portion of the bus bar apparatus and to provide insulation protection from the respective portion of the bus bar apparatus when receiving the bus bar apparatus;
- and
- defined by a periphery that corresponds to a periphery of one or more circuit breakers that can attach to the respective portion of the hot bus bars;
- separations regions defining the peripheries of the insulator modules, each separation region having a shear strength less than a shear strength the portion of the insulator material within the peripheries of the insulator modules such that, when the bus bar apparatus is received by the insulator apparatus, each insulator module may be individually separated from the insulator apparatus to expose the respective portion of the hot bus bars to which it corresponds so that the respective portion of the hot bus bars so exposed may receive one or more circuit breakers.
7 more elements
An insulator system, comprising:
- one or more insulator modules formed of an insulator material, each insulator module:
- corresponding to a respective portion of a bus bar apparatus in a breaker panel;
- formed to receive the bus bar apparatus in the breaker panel to cover its respective portion of the bus bar apparatus and to provide insulation protection from the respective portion of the bus bar apparatus when receiving the respective portion of the bus bar apparatus;
- and
- defined by a periphery that corresponds to a periphery of one or more circuit breakers that can attach to the respective portion of the bus bar apparatus.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.