Contact monitoring device for vacuum circuit breaker and vacuum circuit breaker having same

A vacuum circuit breaker comprising:

• a vacuum interrupter having:
• a fixed electrode fixed in an insulating container and having a fixed contact at one end thereof;
• and
• a movable electrode installed in the insulating container so as to be able to move up and down, wherein the movable electrode has a movable contact at one end thereof,
• wherein the movable contact comes into contact with or is separated from the fixed contact as the movable contact moves up and down;
• a main circuit having a housing accommodating therein the vacuum interrupter;
• a push rod assembly coupled to the other end of the movable electrode to move up and down the movable electrode;
• and
• a discriminative member formed on an outer circumferential face of a cylindrical rod housing of the push rod assembly, the discriminative member being stepped relative to the outer circumferential face of the rod housing;
• and
• a sensor assembly installed adjacent to the discriminative member, wherein the sensor assembly is configured to determine absence or presence of the step, based on whether a difference between a distance value from the sensor assembly to an outer side face of the discriminative member and a distance value from the sensor assembly to the outer circumferential face of the rod housing is equal to or greater than a predefined amount.

A contact monitoring device for a vacuum circuit breaker, wherein the vacuum circuit breaker includes:

• a vacuum interrupter having:
• a fixed electrode fixed in an insulating container and having a fixed contact at one end thereof;
• and
• a movable electrode installed in the insulating container so as to be able to move up and down, wherein the movable electrode has a movable contact at one end thereof,
• wherein the movable contact comes into contact with or is separated from the fixed contact as the movable contact moves up and down;
• and
• a push rod assembly coupled to the other end of the movable electrode to move up and down the movable electrode,
• wherein the contact monitoring device includes:
• a discriminative member formed on an outer circumferential face of a rod housing of the push rod assembly, wherein the discriminative member has an outer inclined side face inclined at an inclination angle in a direction from a top to a bottom of the rod housing;
• and
• a sensor assembly installed adjacent to the discriminative member and measuring a distance value from the sensor assembly to the outer inclined side face.

A vacuum circuit breaker comprising:

• a vacuum interrupter having:
• a fixed electrode fixed in an insulating container and having a fixed contact at one end thereof;
• and
• a movable electrode installed in the insulating container so as to be able to move up and down, wherein the movable electrode has a movable contact at one end thereof,
• wherein the movable contact comes into contact with or is separated from the fixed contact as the movable contact moves up and down;
• a main circuit having a housing accommodating therein the vacuum interrupter;
• a push rod assembly coupled to the other end of the movable electrode to move up and down the movable electrode;
• a discriminative member formed on an outer circumferential face of a rod housing of the push rod assembly, wherein the discriminative member has an outer inclined side face inclined at an inclination angle in a direction from a top to a bottom of the rod housing;
• and
• a sensor assembly installed adjacent to the discriminative member and including a photosensor module for determining whether a distance value from the photosensor module to the outer inclined side face is out of a preset reference distance value.