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US 6,545,584 B2Granted
Circuit breaker with inertia device to prevent shockout
AssigneeEaton Corporation
InventorDavid Curtis Turner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pair of spring mounted masses have sufficient inertia to remain stationary in response to a shock force applied to the housing of a trip assembly in a circuit breaker to block movement of the trip bar and thereby prevent a nuisance trip.
Claims6
A circuit breaker comprising:
- a casing;
- separable contacts;
- an operating mechanism incorporating a latch, the operating mechanism opening the separable contacts when the latch is unlatched;
- a trip assembly comprising:
- a trip bar unlatching the latch when moved to a trip position;
- a trip unit moving the trip bar to the trip position in response to selected conditions of current flowing through the separable contacts;
- an inertia device preventing movement of the trip bar to the trip position in response to a mechanical shock;
- wherein the trip bar comprises an elongated member mounted for rotation about a longitudinal axis, and the inertia device comprises at least one mass, and a compliant mount mounting the at least one mass adjacent the elongated member to engage the elongated member in response to mechanical shock and prevent unlatching of the latch;
- wherein the compliant mount comprises a spring mount;
- wherein the spring mount comprises a mount support, a mounting rod carrying the at least one mass and slideable relative to the mount support, and a spring coupling the at least one mass to the mount support;
- and
- wherein the spring comprises a helical compression spring mounted coaxially with the mounting rod.
9 more elements
A circuit breaker comprising:
- a casing;
- separable contacts;
- an operating mechanism incorporating a latch, the operating mechanism opening the separable contacts when the latch is unlatched;
- a trip assembly comprising:
- a trip bar unlatching the latch when moved to a trip position;
- a trip unit moving the trip bar to the trip position in response to selected conditions of current flowing through the separable contacts;
- an inertia device preventing movement of the trip bar to the trip position in response to a mechanical shock;
- wherein the trip bar comprises an elongated member mounted for rotation about a longitudinal axis, and the inertia device comprises at least one mass, and a compliant mount mounting the at least one mass adjacent the elongated member to engage the elongated member in response to mechanical shock and prevent unlatching of the latch;
- wherein the compliant mount comprises a spring mount;
- wherein the spring mount comprises a mount support, a mounting rod carrying the at least one mass and slideable relative to the mount support, and a spring coupling the at least one mass to the mount support;
- and
- wherein the trip assembly includes a housing in which the elongated member is rotatable mounted and to which the mount support is mounted.
9 more elements
A circuit breaker comprising:
- a casing;
- separable contacts;
- an operating mechanism incorporating a latch, the operating mechanism opening the separable contacts when the latch is unlatched;
- a trip assembly comprising:
- a trip bar unlatching the latch when moved to a trip position;
- a trip unit moving the trip bar to the trip position in response to selected conditions of current flowing through the separable contacts;
- an inertia device preventing movement of the trip bar to the trip position in response to a mechanical shock;
- wherein the trip bar comprises an elongated member mounted for rotation about a longitudinal axis, and the inertia device comprises at least one mass, and a compliant mount mounting the at least one mass adjacent the elongated member to engage the elongated member in response to mechanical shock and prevent unlatching of the latch;
- and
- wherein the at least one mass comprises a pair of masses and the compliant mount comprises a pair of compliant mounts mounting the pair of masses on opposite sides of the elongated member to counteract shock loading in opposite directions.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.