Electric circuit breaker arc chute composition
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorFranco P. Pardini
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A current limiting circuit breaker having a pair of separable contacts closely spaced for electrodynamic repulsion upon the occurrence of a short circuit overload condition utilizes an arc chute to cool and extinguish the arc that occurs when the contacts become separated. The arc chute contains a plurality of metal arc plates supported by side plates which also assist in cooling and extinguishing the arc. The side plates are formed from a two-layer configuration wherein the first layer has excellent arc extinguishing properties while the second layer has good mechanical support strength. The side plates are oriented such that the first layers face the contacts.
Claims16
A current limiting circuit breaker comprising:
- a molded plastic case and cover;
- a pair of separable contacts arranged at the ends of a corresponding pair of contact carriers within said case;
- an operating mechanism connected with one of said contact carriers for moving one of said contacts between open and closed positions;
- and
- an arc chute facing said contacts and receiving an arc which forms when said contacts are separated while current flows through said contacts, said arc chute including a plurality of metal arc plates supported by a pair of opposing side supports, each of said side supports comprising a first layer of woven cloth fibers impregnated with a plastic resin arranged on a second layer of woven glass fibers impregnated with said plastic resin.
An arc chute comprising:
- a pair of opposing side supports attached to a perforated back support;
- a plurality of metallic arc plates extending between said side supports;
- each of said side supports comprising a first layer of woven cloth fibers impregnated with a plastic resin arranged on a second layer of woven glass fibers impregnated with said plastic resin;
- whereby said first layer on one of said side supports faces said first layer on the other of said side supports.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.