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US 10,381,182 B2Granted
Plug-on neutral circuit breakers with lockouts and related loadcenters and methods
AssigneeEaton Intelligent Power Limited
InventorJeffrey Scott Gibson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Plug-on neutral circuit breakers include a housing, a plug-on neutral clip with legs extending out from the housing and a mechanical coupler of a lockout latch assembly in the housing coupled to a latch link and the plug-on neutral clip to move the mechanical coupler in response to a change in position of the plug-on neutral clip between first and second positions associated with partially and fully installed orientations to thereby provide a lockout state when not in the second position.
Claims20
A circuit breaker comprising:
- a housing;
- a plug-on neutral clip held by the housing, wherein the plug-on neutral clip comprises a crown held in the housing and first and second legs that extend out from the housing, and wherein the plug-on neutral clip is held by the housing to be able to slidably move between a first position associated with an uninstalled, partially installed or improperly installed circuit breaker orientation and a second position associated with a properly fully installed circuit breaker orientation;
- and
- a mechanical coupler in the housing coupled to the plug-on neutral clip and configured to provide a lockout state of the circuit breaker and only allow conduction through a breaker mechanism in the housing when the plug-on neutral clip is in the second position to thereby block the breaker mechanism from conduction in the lockout state of the circuit breaker when in the first position, wherein the mechanical coupler has an L-shaped body defining first and second arms.
1 more element
A circuit breaker comprising:
- a housing;
- a plug-on neutral clip held by the housing, wherein the plug-on neutral clip comprises a crown held in the housing and first and second legs that extend out from the housing, and wherein the plug-on neutral clip is held by the housing to be able to slidably move between a first position associated with an uninstalled, partially installed or improperly installed circuit breaker orientation and a second position associated with a properly fully installed circuit breaker orientation;
- and
- a mechanical coupler in the housing coupled to the plug-on neutral clip and configured to provide a lockout state of the circuit breaker and only allow conduction through a breaker mechanism in the housing when the plug-on neutral clip is in the second position to thereby block the breaker mechanism from conduction in the lockout state of the circuit breaker when in the first position,
- wherein the mechanical coupler is pivotably attached to a circuit board, the circuit board holding a trip solenoid, and/or to the housing to define a pivot attachment, and wherein the mechanical coupler comprises spaced apart first and second arms, one on each side of the pivot attachment,
- wherein the first arm is coupled to a plunger of a trip solenoid and the second arm is coupled to the plug-on neutral clip, and
- wherein the first arm rotates at an angle β that is between 10-30 degrees to cause a plunger extension of the trip solenoid to linearly extend and retract, wherein the plunger extension is extended to engage a latch of the breaker mechanism in the first position to force a no-latch condition for the breaker mechanism in the circuit breaker and prevent conduction in an ON position, and wherein the plunger extension retracts toward the trip solenoid a distance sufficient to release the latch and allow conduction in the ON position in the second position.
4 more elements
A circuit breaker comprising:
- a housing;
- a plug-on neutral clip held by the housing, wherein the plug-on neutral clip comprises a crown held in the housing and first and second legs that extend out from the housing, and wherein the plug-on neutral clip is held by the housing to be able to slidably move between a first position associated with an uninstalled, partially installed or improperly installed circuit breaker orientation and a second position associated with a properly fully installed circuit breaker orientation;
- a mechanical coupler in the housing coupled to the plug-on neutral clip and configured to provide a lockout state of the circuit breaker and only allow conduction through a breaker mechanism in the housing when the plug-on neutral clip is in the second position to thereby block the breaker mechanism from conduction in the lockout state of the circuit breaker when in the first position;
- and
- a neutral bus in the housing with a leg that extends out of the housing between the first and second legs of the plug-on neutral clip and also engages the first or second leg of the plug-on neutral clip, and wherein the circuit breaker is a plug-on neutral type BR or CH circuit breaker or a dual purpose AFCI/GFCI.
2 more elements
A circuit breaker comprising:
- a housing;
- a plug-on neutral clip held by the housing, wherein the plug-on neutral clip comprises a crown held in the housing and first and second legs that extend out from the housing, and wherein the plug-on neutral clip is held by the housing to be able to slidably move between a first position associated with an uninstalled, partially installed or improperly installed circuit breaker orientation and a second position associated with a properly fully installed circuit breaker orientation;
- a mechanical coupler in the housing coupled to the plug-on neutral clip and configured to provide a lockout state of the circuit breaker and only allow conduction through a breaker mechanism in the housing when the plug-on neutral clip is in the second position to thereby block the breaker mechanism from conduction in the lockout state of the circuit breaker when in the first position;
- and
- a link member having first and second end portions, the first end portion coupled to the mechanical coupler,
- wherein one of the first and second legs of the plug-on neutral clip comprises a laterally extending ledge that is outside the housing and is coupled to the second end portion of the link member.
3 more elements
A method for lockout of a plug-on neutral circuit breaker, comprising:
- providing a load center with a plug-on neutral bar;
- providing a circuit breaker with a plug-on neutral clip and an onboard mechanical coupler that is coupled to the plug-on neutral clip;
- attaching the plug-on neutral clip to the neutral bar;
- moving the mechanical coupler between (i) a lock out state to force a no latch condition for a breaker mechanism of the circuit breaker preventing conduction when the circuit breaker is uninstalled or partially installed based on a first position of the plug-on neutral clip when attached to the neutral bar and (ii) an operative state allowing conduction based on a second position of the attached plug-on neutral clip associated with proper installation;
- and
- rotating a line side of the housing of the circuit breaker inward toward a line side stab or stabs after attaching the plug-on neutral clip to the neutral bar causing the movement of the mechanical coupler to allow conduction in the operative state only when the line side of the housing is properly installed.
3 more elements
A method for lockout of a plug-on neutral circuit breaker, comprising:
- providing a load center with a plug-on neutral bar;
- providing a circuit breaker with a plug-on neutral clip and an onboard mechanical coupler that is coupled to the plug-on neutral clip;
- attaching the plug-on neutral clip to the neutral bar;
- and
- moving the mechanical coupler between (i) a lock out state to force a no latch condition for a breaker mechanism of the circuit breaker preventing conduction when the circuit breaker is uninstalled or partially installed based on a first position of the plug-on neutral clip when attached to the neutral bar and (ii) an operative state allowing conduction based on a second position of the attached plug-on neutral clip associated with proper installation,
- wherein the circuit breaker further comprises a neutral bus with a leg that extends out of the housing and also engages the plug-on neutral clip, wherein the attaching step comprises forcing the leg of the neutral bus against the neutral bus bar of the load center using the plug-on neutral clip, wherein the mechanical coupler is attached to a link member that is attached to the plug-on neutral clip, and wherein the moving the mechanical coupler comprises rotating the mechanical coupler in response to movement of the link member between the first and second positions of the attached plug-on neutral clip.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.