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US 5,889,453 AGranted
Relay with overload protection
AssigneeSiemens Aktiengesellschaft
InventorsRichard Siepmann, Gregor Ploeger
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A relay for overcurrent or short-circuit protection is provided wherein the relay has a thermistor in the form of a film of polymer material. The thermistor is arranged over a large surface in the interior of the relay between a connection segment of a terminal element and a terminal plate coupled parallel thereto. By such design, the thermistor is serially connected into the load circuit of the relay. Upon the appearance of either an overcurrent or a short circuit, the thermistor makes an immediate shift to a high resistance value, thereby interrupting the load circuit.
Claims10
A relay, comprising:
- a housing;
- a winding in said housing for connection in an excitation circuit;
- a core in said winding;
- an armature in said housing movably mounted for actuation by electromagnetic forces of said winding upon application of an excitation signal from said excitation circuit;
- at least one fixed contact element in said housing;
- a movable contact element in said housing affixed to said armature for movement alternately into contact with said fixed contact element and out of contact with said contact element;
- terminal elements extending from said housing and connected to said fixed and movable contact elements to connect said fixed and movable contact elements in a load circuit, at least one of said terminal elements having a flat connection segment;
- a terminal plate having a portion parallel with said flat connection segment, said terminal plate being electrically connected to one of said fixed and movable contact elements;
- and
- a layer-shaped thermistor positioned between said flat connection segment and said terminal plate, said layer-shaped thermistor being electrically connected between said flat connection segment and said terminal plate to electrically connect said layer-shaped thermistor in said load circuit.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.