Switching device with a modular auxiliary switching unit

Abstract

A switching device includes a base module equipped with an electromagnetic drive that has a yoke, a coil and an armature arranged movably relative to the yoke, and that has a switching contact that includes a stationary switching piece and a movable switching piece arranged opposite the stationary switching piece, wherein the switching contact is switchable between an “open” position and a “closed” position via movement of the armature, where the switching device also includes a modular auxiliary switching unit equipped with a contact system that consists of a stationary switching piece and a movable switching piece arranged opposite the stationary switching piece such that the coupling between the base module and the modular auxiliary switching unit is configured such that different distances in the contact system of the auxiliary switching unit are transferrable during a trigger event via an elastic element regardless of the auxiliary switching unit in use.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.