Pyrotechnic circuit breaker
AssigneeAutoliv Development AB
InventorsFabien Lamy, Maxime Grandiau
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A pyrotechnic circuit breaker comprising: a housing, an electrical conductor passing through the housing, at least one blade, able to move so as to cut at least one portion of the electrical conductor, the breaking of the electrical conductor defining a cut area separating a first cut end of the electrical conductor from a second cut end of the electrical conductor, a pyrotechnic actuator, the circuit breaker having a first arc path allowing a first electric arc to be established directly from the first cut end to the second cut end, characterized in that the circuit breaker comprises conductive cooling features so as to have a secondary arc path passing through a first conductive cooling feature and through a secondary conductive cooling feature or a last conductive cooling feature.
Claims15
A pyrotechnic circuit breaker comprising:
- a housing, defining a cut-off chamber,
- an electrical conductor to be broken, arranged to form part of an electrical circuit, and at least partially arranged in the housing so as to pass through the cut-off chamber,
- at least one blade, able to move between a rest position and a final position, and arranged to break at least one portion of the electrical conductor located in the cut-off chamber, when the blade passes from the rest position to the final position, the break of the at least one portion of the electrical conductor defining a cut area separating a first cut end of the electrical conductor from a second cut end of the electrical conductor,
- a pyrotechnic actuator, arranged to move the blade from the rest position to the final position when it is actuated,
- at least one cooling device arranged in the cut-off chamber for cooling gases present in the cut-off chamber after actuating the pyrotechnic actuator,
- the circuit breaker having a first arc path allowing a first electric arc to be established directly from the first cut end to the second cut end,
- characterized in that the cooling device comprises a plurality of conductive cooling features so that the circuit breaker has a secondary arc path allowing secondary electric arcs to be established:
- from the first cut end to a first conductive cooling feature,
- from the first conductive cooling feature to one of a second conductive cooling feature and a third conductive cooling feature, and
- from one of the second conductive cooling feature and the third conductive cooling feature to the second cut end.
A pyrotechnic circuit breaker comprising:
- a housing, defining a cut-off chamber,
- an electrical conductor to be broken, arranged to form part of an electrical circuit, and at least partially arranged in the housing so as to pass through the cut-off chamber,
- at least one blade, able to move between a rest position and a final position, and arranged to break at least one portion of the electrical conductor located in the cut-off chamber, when the blade passes from the rest position to the final position, the break of the at least one portion of the electrical conductor defining a cut area separating a first cut end of the electrical conductor from a second cut end of the electrical conductor,
- a pyrotechnic actuator, arranged to move the blade from the rest position to the final position when it is actuated,
- at least one cooling device arranged in the cut-off chamber for cooling gases present in the cut-off chamber after actuating the pyrotechnic actuator,
- the circuit breaker having a first arc path allowing a first electric arc to be established directly from the first cut end to the second cut end,
- characterized in that the cooling device comprises a plurality of conductive cooling features so that the circuit breaker has a secondary arc path allowing secondary electric arcs to be established:
- from the first cut end to a first conductive cooling feature,
- from the first conductive cooling feature to one of a second conductive cooling feature and a third conductive cooling feature,
- from one of the second conductive cooling feature and the third conductive cooling feature to the second cut end and further comprising two connection terminals, wherein the conductive cooling features are arranged to limit, upon electrical breaking of the electrical circuit comprising the electrical conductor to be broken, a maximum voltage across the circuit breaker terminals to 250% of a voltage across the circuit breaker terminals after breaking.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.