Electrical connector having a piston-contact element
OwnerJohn A. Krause, Tiebin Zhaoinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electrical connector, such as a bushing insert, includes a housing with an inner bore, opposite ends. One end has an opening providing access to the inner bore. A piston-contact element is movable between first and second axially spaced positions within the inner bore. During fault closure or short circuit conditions, the piston-contact element accelerates connection with a male contact of an electrical connector, such as a cable connector, thereby inhibiting the formation of flashover or electrical arc.
Claims6
A method of operating first and second electrical connectors under a load when an arc is created during a fault, comprising the steps of:
- inserting a second contact element of the second connector in an inner bore of a housing of the first electrical connector toward a first piston-contact element thereof;
- generating gas from the arc developed between the separated contact elements;
- directing the gas to apply a force to move the first piston-contact element in a direction toward the second contact element;
- expanding a resilient member located in both a bore retaining groove in the inner bore and a element retaining groove located in the piston-contact element, thereby spacing the resilient member from the element retaining groove and permitting movement of the piston-contact element from a retracted position within the inner bore by the application of the force of gas;
- and
- moving the piston-contact element to an advanced position for engaging the second contact element to provide an electrical connection between the first and second contacts to quench the arc.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.