Circuit breaker with latch and toggle mechanism operating in perpendicular planes
US6225883A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 15, 2000 |
| Grant date | May 1, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 15, 2020 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01H2083/201
- WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The toggle mechanism of a circuit breaker is connected at one end to the pivoted contact arm and at the other end to a pivoted latch lever which is engaged to latch the toggle mechanism by a latch member pivoted for movement in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the toggle mechanism. The latch member serves as an armature for a trip motor energized by a trip circuit responsive to an arc fault and/or a ground fault to unlatch the toggle mechanism and trip the circuit breaker open. The latch member is also tripped by a helical bimetal responsive to persistent overcurrents and coupled to the latch member through an ambient compensator bimetal cantilevered from the latch member. A flexible shunt connected between the helical bimetal and contact arm passes through an extension of the magnetic circuit of the trip motor to generate a magnetic field of sufficient strength to trip the latch member instantaneously in response to a short circuit.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.