Circuit breakers incorporating reset lockout mechanisms
AssigneeLeviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.
InventorsMichael Kamor, Stephen Aaron
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A reset lockout mechanism for a circuit breaker includes a linkage, a rocker, an armature, a solenoid, and a plunger. The linkage is positioned to move between an open position and a closed position. The rocker is selectively engageable with the linkage. The armature is selectively engageable with the rocker. The plunger is supported by the solenoid and operatively coupled to the armature. The plunger is movable between a first position and a second position.
Claims20
A reset lockout mechanism for a circuit breaker, the reset lockout mechanism comprising:
- a conductive path between line and load phase terminals, the conductive path having an open configuration and a closed configuration, and the reset lockout mechanism is configured to prevent the conductive path from moving to the closed configuration when a predefined condition exists;
- a linkage positioned to move between an open position and a closed position;
- a rocker selectively engageable with the linkage, wherein the rocker has an ON position corresponding to an ON state of the circuit breaker and an OFF position corresponding to an OFF state of the circuit breaker;
- an armature selectively engageable with the rocker;
- and
- a solenoid including a plunger, the plunger being operatively coupled to the armature;
- wherein the plunger is movable between a first position and a second position.
A method to prevent a conductive path between a line phase terminal and a load phase terminal from moving to a closed configuration when a predefined condition exists, the method comprising the steps of:
- determining the predefined condition exists when a rocker of a reset lockout mechanism is moved from an OFF position corresponding to an OFF state of a circuit breaker to an ON position corresponding to an ON state of the circuit breaker;
- de-energizing a solenoid;
- wherein in response to de-energizing the solenoid, a plunger is moved;
- wherein in response to the movement of the plunger, an armature is moved to a first position of the armature;
- wherein upon movement of the armature to the first position of the armature, the armature locks a rocker in an OFF position of the rocker;
- and
- wherein the first position of the armature prevents closing of the conductive path.
A method to move a conductive path between a line phase terminal and a load phase terminal to a closed configuration when a predefined condition does not exist, the method comprising the steps of:
- determining the predefined condition is not detected when a rocker of a reset lockout mechanism is moved from an OFF position corresponding to an OFF state of a circuit breaker to an ON position corresponding to an ON state of the circuit breaker;
- energizing a solenoid of the reset lockout mechanism;
- wherein in response to energizing the solenoid a plunger is moved;
- wherein in response to the movement of the plunger, an armature is moved to a second position of the armature;
- wherein upon movement of the armature to the second position of the armature, the armature locks a rocker in the ON position of the rocker.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.