Add-on trip module for multi-pole circuit breaker
OwnerChad R. Mittelstadt, Cameron Woodsoninventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An add-on module adapted to be attached to the basic mechanical structure of a multi-pole circuit breaker includes multiple extended terminal plates each of which is adapted to replace one of the input and output terminals for one of the poles, multiple electromechanical transducers each of which is coupled to one of the extended terminal plates for producing a mechanical movement in response to a predetermined magnitude of electrical current in the extended terminal plate to which that transducer is coupled, and a mechanical actuator coupled to the electromechanical transducers and to the breaker contacts for operating a trip mechanism in response to a predetermined mechanical movement of any of the transducers.
Claims17
A multiple-pole circuit breaker comprising a basic mechanical structure that includes, for each pole,
- a power input terminal and a power output terminal,
- a pair of contacts each of which is connected to a different one of said terminals and at least one of which is movable,
- a trip mechanism coupled to said movable contact for opening said contacts by disengaging said movable contact from the other contact in said pair,
- an electronic trip system that includes a plurality of current sensors producing signals related to the electrical current flow between said power input and output terminals, and a control circuit receiving said signals, detecting the occurrence of a fault condition, and producing an electrical trip signal when a fault condition is detected,
- a solenoid receiving said trip signal and coupled to said trip mechanism for moving said trip mechanism to open said contacts in response to said trip signal, and
- a manually operable actuator coupled to said movable contact for operating and resetting said trip mechanism, and
- an add-on module adapted to be attached to said basic mechanical structure and including
- multiple extended terminal plates each of which is adapted to replace one of said terminals for one of said poles,
- multiple electromechanical transducers each of which is coupled to one of said extended terminal plates for producing a mechanical movement in response to a predetermined magnitude of electrical current in the extended terminal plate to which that transducer is coupled, and
- a mechanical actuator coupled to said electromechanical transducers and to said movable contacts for operating said trip mechanism in response to a predetermined movement of any of said transducers.
An add-on module for activating a trip mechanism of a circuit breaker for a multi-phase electrical power distribution system, said circuit breaker having multiple terminal plates each of which is adapted to be electrically connected to one of the multiple phase lines, a pair of fixed and movable contacts for each of the multiple phases, a trip mechanism for moving said movable contacts to open and close the phase lines, an electronic trip system that includes a plurality of current sensors producing signals related to the electrical current flow in said phase lines, a control circuit receiving said signals, detecting the occurrence of a fault condition, and producing an electrical trip signal when a fault condition is detected, and a solenoid receiving said trip signal and coupled to said trip mechanism for moving said trip mechanism to open said contacts in response to said trip signal, said module comprising:
- multiple extended terminal plates each of which is adapted to replace one of said terminals for one of said phase lines,
- multiple electromechanical transducers each of which is coupled to one of said extended terminal plates for producing a mechanical movement in response to a predetermined magnitude of electrical current in the extended terminal plate to which that transducer is coupled, and
- a mechanical actuator coupled to said electromechanical transducers and to said movable contacts for operating said trip mechanism in response to a predetermined movement of any of said transducers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.