US 5,159,222 AGranted

Brush holder assembly having snap-in replaceable commutator brush holder cartridges for electric machines

AssigneeCarbone-Lorraine of North America

InventorOtway A. Southall

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Abstract

A brush holder plate assembly comprising a brush holder plate fabricated from electrically insulating thermoplastic material and having a plurality of sets of spaced-apart, parallel, raised guiding and support rails integrally formed on one surface of the plate. The plate further has a centrally formed aperture of sufficient cross sectional dimension to be slipped over the commutator of an electric machine after complete assembly of all the parts of the machine. The sets of spaced-apart, parallel, raised guiding and support rails project radially outward away from the centrally formed aperture like the spokes of a wheel. A plurality of snap-in-place, brush holder cartridges are removably secured by slide catches to the respective sets of spaced-apart parallel raised guiding and support rails for physically supporting commutating brushes in an array surrounding the commutator of the electric machine with one exposed end of each brush in physical and electrical contact with the commutator. For this purpose, the brush holder cartridges each further include biasing springs for spring tensioning brushes into physical and electrical engagement with the commutator of an electric machine to supply or conduct electric current between the commutator and the brush and the electric current supply.

Claims23

Dependent claims

A brush holder plate assembly having a plurality snap-in place, readily replaceable brush holder cartridges for mounting commutating brushes for electric machine such as motor and generator, comprising a generally flat two-sided brush holder plate of electrically insulating material having a plurality of sets of spaced-apart, parallel, commutating brush holder cartridge guiding and support channels integrally formed on a first flat surface thereof;

said guiding and support channels projecting radially outwardly away from a central aperture formed in the brush holder plate for accommodating an electric machine commutator;
a plurality of replaceable, commutating brushes supported on the brush holder plate;
said brush holder plate having a plurality of elongated, electrical power supply conductor strips formed on a second flat surface of the plate opposite from the brush holder cartridge guiding and support channels for supply of electric power to and from the plurality of replaceable commutating brushes;
said plurality of snap-in place, readily replaceable, brush holder cartridges for holding the replaceable commutating brushes, said readily replaceable brush holder cartridges having slide catches thereon for slidably securing and readily releasing said readily replaceable brush holder cartridges to or from the brush holder plate within said guiding and support channels to thereby physically support the replaceable commutating brushes within their brush holder cartridges in an array around said electric machine commutator;
and each readily replaceable brush holder cartridge further including at least one slide together switch contact for slide-together connection to to at least one of said power supply conductor strips on the plate, and a connector between the slide-together switch contact and an end of a commutating brush held away from a central aperture with remaining end of the said commutating brush being exposed and designed to physically and electrically contact said electric machine commutator on which the brush holder plate assembly is to be mounted.

2 more elements

In a brush holder plate assembly for mounting a plurality of commutating brushes around an electric machine commutator;

the improvement comprising a relatively flat, two-sided brush holder plate fabricated from electrically insulating thermoplastic material;
said brush holder plate having a plurality of sets of spaced-apart, parallel, guiding and support channels integrally formed on one flat surface thereof and having a centrally formed aperture therein of sufficient cross sectional dimension to accommodate an electric machine commutator;
said sets of spaced-apart, parallel, guiding and support channels projecting radially outward away from the centrally formed aperture like spokes of a wheel;
a plurality of readily replaceable snap-in-place brush holder cartridges having slide catches and slide together switch contacts formed thereon slidably secured by said slide catches and said slide together switch contacts to respective sets of the spaced-apart, parallel, guiding and support channels on said brush holder plate for physically supporting the commutating brushes within said brush holder cartridges in an array surrounding the said electric machine commutator;
a set of elongated power supply conductor strips formed on a flat second surface of the brush holder plate electrically connected to the commutating brushes secured within said readily replaceable snap-in-place brush holder cartridges and electrically supplied from said power supply conductor strips by means of said slide together switch contacts;
and each of said readily replaceable snap-in-place brush holder cartridges further including a coiled biasing spring for spring tensioning an exposed end of each commutating brush contained therein into physical and electrical engagement with said electric machine commutator.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.