Intelligent circuit breaker

Abstract

The intelligent circuit breaker comprises a base, a middle cover and an upper cover, a lower cavity is defined by the base and the middle cover, and a PCBA control panel, a motor and a gear transmission mechanism are arranged; an upper cavity is defined by the middle cover and the upper cover and provided with an operating mechanism, an electric heating release, an electromagnetic release and an arc extinguishing system, and strong and weak current isolation is achieved. And an output gear of the gear transmission mechanism is provided with a cam, and a lock catch of the operating mechanism can be directly pushed to realize tripping during electric opening. Through cavity distribution and gear-cam direct tripping design, the circuit breaker is compact in structure, the width of the circuit breaker with 125A shell frame current is reduced to 27mm, and the circuit breaker is compatible with a traditional installation size; the device has a manual and electric remote and electronic overload, electromagnetic instantaneous and thermomagnetic triple opening protection mechanism, is high in safety, sensitive in response and good in reliability, and is suitable for smart power grids, smart home and other scenes.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The application belongs to the technical field of low-voltage electrical apparatus, and particularly relates to an intelligent circuit breaker. BACKGROUND

[0002] With the rapid development of Internet of Things, 5G communication, smart grid and smart home technology, low-voltage power distribution systems are evolving towards intelligentization, digitization and networking. The traditional circuit breaker which relies entirely on manual operation has been difficult to meet the needs of modern application scenarios for remote monitoring, remote control operation, energy consumption management and fault diagnosis. Therefore, the intelligent circuit breaker with remote control and state monitoring functions has emerged as the inevitable trend of the industry.

[0003] At present, the small intelligent circuit breaker on the market is usually based on the traditional circuit breaker body, and an independent electric operating mechanism module is externally hung or assembled. This splicing type design of "body + externally hung mechanism" has obvious shortcomings: it greatly increases the overall volume of the product, especially the width size. However, in many actual application scenarios, such as power distribution transformation of urban old community, installation of ordinary household power distribution box, etc., the installation space (such as the slot number of power distribution rail) is strictly limited, and the width size of the circuit breaker has a stringent requirement of keeping consistent with or even smaller than the traditional circuit breaker. The excessive width of the existing splicing type intelligent circuit breaker makes it difficult to directly replace and popularize in these space-limited scenarios.

[0004] In addition, the existing intelligent circuit breaker often fails to fully isolate the strong and weak electricity in the structure layout. When the main circuit of the circuit breaker is short-circuited, strong arc will be generated between the contacts. If the control circuit (weak part) is too close to the strong part, the high temperature and electromagnetic interference generated by the arc are easy to damage the precise electronic components (such as PCBA control board), resulting in failure of intelligent control function, even causing safety accidents, and reducing the reliability and service life of the product. SUMMARY

[0005] To solve the above problems, the purpose of the present application is to provide an intelligent circuit breaker with small width size, compact structure, compatible with the installation size of traditional circuit breakers, reasonable internal structure layout, effective isolation of strong and weak electricity, and high reliability.

[0006] The purpose of the present application is achieved by the following technical solutions: An intelligent circuit breaker comprises a base, a middle cover and an upper cover; the base and the middle cover enclose a lower cavity, the middle cover and the upper cover enclose an upper cavity, and strict strong and weak electricity isolation is realized through the middle cover.

[0007] The weak current control unit is arranged in the lower cavity, and includes a PCBA control board, a motor and a gear transmission mechanism driven by the motor.

[0008] The output gear of the gear transmission mechanism is provided with a cam (integrally). The cam is configured to directly push an extension structure on a lock catch of the operating mechanism when receiving an electric braking instruction, so that the operating mechanism is tripped, and remote electric braking is realized.

[0009] Further, the intelligent circuit breaker further includes a handle and a connecting rod, manual closing and opening are realized through the handle and the connecting rod, the connecting rod is connected with the operating mechanism by penetrating an arc slot provided on a contact support of the operating mechanism, and the arc slot provides an accurate space for the connecting rod to move, so that the intelligent circuit breaker realizes a free tripping function through the above arrangement.

[0010] Further, the intelligent circuit breaker has a triple braking protection mechanism. Electronic overload tripping: the main circuit current is collected in real time through a shunt, and the PCBA control board analyzes and judges, and controls the motor to drive the gear-cam mechanism to execute braking when overload occurs.

[0011] Electromagnetic instantaneous tripping: a snap-type electromagnetic tripping device is used, an armature and an iron core form an acute angle (preferably 12°), and the armature is quickly attracted and hits the lock catch to realize braking when short circuit occurs.

[0012] Thermal magnetic tripping: the electric heating tripping device is connected with the lock catch through a pull rod, and the lock catch is tripped by the thermal bending of a bimetallic strip when overload occurs.

[0013] Further, the PCBA control board is integrated with a communication module, and can receive remote instructions from a mobile phone APP, a PC terminal or a cloud platform to realize remote closing, remote opening and state monitoring.

[0014] Compared with the prior art, the intelligent circuit breaker has the following remarkable beneficial effects: (1) compact structure and reasonable layout: through the layout isolation of the strong and weak electric cavities and the direct tripping design of the gear-cam integration, the internal space utilization is greatly optimized, the width of the shell frame current 125A intelligent circuit breaker is successfully reduced to 27mm, which is comparable to the size of the traditional non-intelligent circuit breaker, and perfectly adapts to the scenes such as urban renovation, household distribution box and other scenes with strict installation space limitations.

[0015] (2) good safety and high reliability: the strong electric part (main circuit, electric arc) and the weak electric part (control board) are physically isolated through the middle cover, the impact and damage of the high-energy electric arc generated by the main circuit short circuit on the weak electric element are effectively prevented, and the electrical safety and long-term operation reliability of the product are greatly improved.

[0016] (3) The response is sensitive and the protection is comprehensive: the electronic overload tripping protection is introduced in the overload protection, the response speed of the electronic overload tripping is much faster than that of the traditional electrothermal tripper, the circuit can be rapidly cut off when the current overload but not reaching the short circuit threshold, the risk of damaging the line and equipment due to long time overload is avoided, and higher precision protection is provided. Meanwhile, the traditional thermal magnetic tripping is combined, and a multiple and hierarchical protection system covering overload, short circuit and various fault conditions is formed.

[0017] (4) The action is reliable and the energy consumption is low: the cam structure on the gear directly acts on the lock catch, the transmission chain is short, the action is decisive and reliable, and the energy consumption is low. Meanwhile, the perfect fusion of manual operation, remote electric operation and various automatic protection tripping is realized, the user experience is good, and the applicability is wide. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0018] The structure of the application will be further described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0019] Figure 1 is the assembly section view of the intelligent circuit breaker described in the application.

[0020] Figure 2 is the assembly view of the lower cavity described in the application.

[0021] Figure 3 is the assembly view of the upper cavity described in the application.

[0022] Figure 4 is the structure view of the main circuit component of the intelligent circuit breaker described in the application (front view).

[0023] Figure 5 is the relative position view of the gear and the operating mechanism described in the application.

[0024] Figure 6 is the structure view of the lock catch described in the application Figure 1 .

[0025] Figure 7 is the structure view of the lock catch described in the application Figure 2 .

[0026] Figure 8 is the structure view of the output gear described in the application.

[0027] Figure 9 is the structure view of the electromagnetic tripper described in the application.

[0028] Figure 10 is the structure view of the operating mechanism described in the application.

[0029] Figure 11is a structural schematic diagram of the contact support of the present application.

[0030] Figure 12 is a structural schematic diagram of the handle of the present application.

[0031] In the figure: 1 - base, 2 - motor, 3 - gear transmission mechanism, 4 - handle, 5 - PCBA control board, 6 - connecting rod, 7 - operating mechanism, 8 - electrothermal release, 9 - shunt, 10 - arc extinguishing system, 11 - electromagnetic release, 12 - pull rod, 13 - middle cover, 14 - upper cover, 15 - upper cavity, 16 - lower cavity, 301 - output gear, 3011 - cam, 302 - second sector gear, 401 - handle hole, 402 - first sector gear, 701 - lock catch, 7011 - protrusion, 7012 - extension structure, 703 - contact support, 7031 - circular arc groove, 1101 - armature, 1102 - iron core, 1103 - static contact, 1104 - spring, 1105 - shaft. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] The embodiments of the present application will be described in detail by specific embodiments, and those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present application from the content disclosed in the specification. The described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, not all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative labor fall within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0033] It should be understood that the structure, proportion, size, etc. shown in the drawings of the specification are only used to cooperate with the content disclosed in the specification for those skilled in the art to understand and read, and are not used to limit the conditions that can be implemented by the present application, so they do not have technical significance. Any modification of the structure, change of the proportion relationship or adjustment of the size, without affecting the effects that can be produced by the present application and the purposes that can be achieved, should still fall within the scope of the technical content disclosed by the present application. At the same time, the terms such as "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "middle" and the like used in the specification are only for clear description, not to limit the scope of the present application that can be implemented, the change or adjustment of the relative relationship, without substantially changing the technical content, is also considered as the scope of the present application that can be implemented.

[0034] In the description of this invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise expressly specified and limited, the terms "connected" or "linked" should be interpreted broadly. For example, it can refer to a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can refer to a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can refer to a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in this invention based on the specific circumstances. It should be noted that the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Example

[0035] like Figures 1 to 3 As shown in the figure, this embodiment provides an intelligent circuit breaker, which mainly includes a base 1, a middle cover 13, and an upper cover 14.

[0036] The base 1 and the middle cover 13 are connected by snaps or screws to form a lower cavity 16. The middle cover 13 and the upper cover 14 are also connected by snaps or screws to form an upper cavity 15. This compartmentalized structure achieves strong and weak current isolation.

[0037] The low-voltage control section is centrally located within the lower cavity 16. This section mainly includes the PCBA control board 5, the motor 2, and the gear transmission mechanism 3 driven by the motor 2. The PCBA control board 5 integrates a microprocessor, drive circuitry, and communication modules (such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NB-IoT, etc.) to receive remote commands, process sensor signals, and control the movement of the motor 2.

[0038] The main power circuit is centrally located within the upper cavity 15. This main power circuit includes an operating mechanism 7, a thermal trip unit 8, an electromagnetic trip unit 11, an arc-extinguishing system 10, and a shunt 9. The operating mechanism 7, used to open and close the contacts, is a standard component of the circuit breaker. The main operating mechanism 7 comprises a contact support 703 rotatably mounted within the upper cavity 15, a latch 701 rotatably mounted on the contact support 703, a trip latch rotatably mounted on the contact support 703 and engaging with the latch 701, and a return spring. The latch 701 of the operating mechanism 7 has an extension structure 7012, which rotatably passes through a pre-drilled hole in the middle cover 13 and extends into the lower cavity 16, corresponding to the position of the cam 3011 on the output gear 301 of the gear transmission mechanism 3. Furthermore, the contact support 703 has an arc-shaped groove 7031 for the clearance of the connecting rod 6. The electric thermal trip unit 8 and the electromagnetic trip unit 11 provide overload and short circuit protection, respectively, and the arc extinguishing system 10 is used to extinguish the electric arc generated when the contacts break.

[0039] As shown in Figures 5 to 8 , the gear transmission mechanism 3 is composed of several mutually meshing (tower type) gears, the output gear 301 of which is rotatably installed in the lower cavity 16, and the input gear is meshed with the gear on the output shaft of the motor, the output gear 301 (outer periphery) of the gear transmission mechanism 3 is provided with an integrally formed cam 3011, the top of the cam 3011 is higher than the tooth top of the gear on the output gear 301 (outer periphery). When the motor 2 drives the gear transmission mechanism 3 during electrically opening, the cam 3011 on the output gear 301 directly pushes the extension structure 7012 on the lock catch 701 of the operating mechanism 7, forcing the lock catch 701 to rotate, thereby achieving the tripping opening of the operating mechanism 7. This design has a short transmission chain and reliable action.

[0040] As shown in Figure 3 , Figure 10 , Figure 11 and Figure 12 , the intelligent circuit breaker is also provided with a handle 4 and a connecting rod 6, the handle 4 is rotatably installed in the intelligent circuit breaker through a handle shaft (the handle part extends out of the intelligent circuit breaker, and the rotating part is located in the intelligent circuit breaker), the handle 4 is connected with one end of the connecting rod 6 through a pre-set handle hole 401 on the rotating part, and the other end of the connecting rod 6 passes through a pre-set circular arc groove 7031 on the contact support 703 of the operating mechanism 7. When the handle 4 is manually operated, the connecting rod 6 slides in the circular arc groove 7031 and drives the contact support 703 to move, thereby achieving closing or opening (when the handle 4 is manually operated in the opening direction, the connecting rod 6 slides to one end of the circular arc groove 7031 under the driving of the handle 4 and pulls the contact support 703 to rotate in the opening direction, so that the operating mechanism 7 is opened; when the handle 4 is manually operated in the closing direction, the connecting rod 6 pushes the contact support 703 to rotate in the closing direction under the driving of the handle 4, so that the operating mechanism 7 is closed). The circular arc groove 7031 provides accurate accommodation and guidance for the movement of the connecting rod 6, and cooperates with the connecting rod 6 to convert the rotary motion of the handle 4 into power for driving the linear motion of the contact support 703.

[0041] In order to realize electric closing, as shown in Figure 8 and Figure 12 , a sector gear one 402 is integrally fixed on the outer periphery of the rotating part of the handle 4, and the center of the sector gear one 402 coincides with the center of the rotating path (rotating part) of the handle 4; a sector gear two 302 is coaxially and overlappedly arranged on the output gear 301. When the motor 2 receives a closing instruction for positive rotation, the output gear 301 is driven to rotate by the gear transmission mechanism 3, so that the sector gear two 302 is meshed with the sector gear one 402 on the handle 4, thereby driving the handle 4 to rotate in the closing direction, and finally realizing closing through the connecting rod 6 and the operating mechanism 7.

[0042] The present application has three kinds of opening mechanisms: (1) Electronic overload tripping: shunt 9 is connected in series in the main circuit (one side of the electric heat tripping device 8 is connected with the shunt 9, which is used for detecting the current of the main circuit), and the current signal is collected in real time and transmitted to the PCBA control panel 5. When the PCBA control panel 5 judges that the current exceeds the set overload threshold, the motor 2 is immediately controlled to drive the gear transmission mechanism 3, and the cam 3011 pushes the lock catch 701 to realize electric tripping. This way has fast response speed and high precision.

[0043] (2) Electromagnetic instantaneous tripping: as shown in Figure 9 The electromagnetic tripping device 11 is a snap structure, which includes an iron core 1102, an armature 1101, a static contact 1103, a spring 1104 and a shaft 1105; the iron core 1102 is in a grooved body structure; the static contact 1103 passes through the iron core 1102; the armature 1101 is rotatably arranged on one side of the iron core 1102 through the shaft 1105, the other end of the armature 1101 faces the lock catch 701, and an acute angle (preferably 12°) is formed between the armature 1101 and the iron core 1102; the spring 1104 provides a torque to the armature 1101 away from the iron core 1102 (reset torque), and the spring 1104 is sleeved on the shaft 1105, both ends of the shaft 1105 are rotatably installed on the middle cover 13 and the upper cover 14 (the spring 1104 is a torsion spring, one torsion arm of the spring 1104 is fixedly arranged in a pre-set hole of a plate body between the middle cover 13 and the upper cover 14 (fixedly arranged), and the other torsion arm is clamped on the face of the armature 1101 facing the iron core 1102 (acting on the armature 1101); at the same time, a protrusion 7011 corresponding to the position of the other end of the armature 1101 is arranged on the lock catch 701 of the operating mechanism 7. When the short-circuit current flows through the static contact 1103, the electromagnetic force generated under the enhancement of the iron core 1102 attracts the armature 1101, the armature 1101 rotates clockwise around the rotating shaft 1105 against the torque of the spring 1104, collides with the protrusion 7011 on the lock catch 701, and pushes the lock catch 701 to act, so that the operating mechanism 7 is tripped, and the tripping is completed.

[0044] (3) Electric heat tripping: the electric heat tripping device 8 is connected with the lock catch 701 of the operating mechanism 7 through the pull rod 12. When the line is overloaded, the bimetallic strip pre-set in the electric heat tripping device 8 and connected with the pull rod 12 is bent due to heating, and then pulls the pull rod 12 to move, and the pull rod 12 pulls the lock catch 701 to trip, so as to realize tripping.

[0045] In addition, the intelligent circuit breaker also has a remote control function, and the remote control function is realized by the PCBA control board 5. A user can send a closing or opening command through a mobile phone APP, a PC terminal or a cloud platform, the command is transmitted to the PCBA control board 5 through a communication module, the PCBA control board 5 analyzes the command and controls the motor 2 to rotate forward or reverse, and performs a closing or opening operation respectively; when closing, the motor 2 rotates and transmits torque to the sector gear one 401 of the handle 4 through the sector gear two 302 of the gear transmission mechanism 3, so that the handle 4 rotates clockwise to realize closing, after closing successfully, the moving contact (702) contacts the static contact (1103), the main circuit is conducted, and the line is powered on; when opening, the motor 2 rotates and drives the extension structure 7012 through the cam 3011 on the output gear 301 of the gear transmission mechanism 3, so that the lock catch 701 rotates, thereby realizing the tripping opening of the operating mechanism 7. At the same time, the PCBA control board 5 can also upload the state information (such as closing and opening state, current value, fault information, etc.) of the circuit breaker to the cloud or the user terminal to realize state monitoring.

[0046] Other details of the present application are well known to those skilled in the art.

[0047] It should be noted that the terms "comprising", "including", or any other variant thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions, so that the process, method, article or equipment including a series of elements not only includes those elements, but also includes other elements not explicitly listed, or includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or equipment.

[0048] The protection scope of the present application is not limited to the technical solutions disclosed in the specific embodiments, and any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made according to the technical essence of the present application to the above embodiments all fall within the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. An intelligent circuit breaker, characterized in that: It includes a base (1), a middle cover (13) disposed on the base (1), and an upper cover (14) covering the middle cover (13). The base (1) and the middle cover (13) enclose to form a lower cavity (16), and the middle cover (13) and the upper cover (14) enclose to form an upper cavity (15), thereby achieving strong and weak electrical isolation; The lower cavity (16) is provided with a PCBA control board (5), a motor (2) and a gear transmission mechanism (3) driven by the motor (2). The upper cavity (15) is provided with an operating mechanism (7), an electric heating trip unit (8), an electromagnetic trip unit (11), and an arc extinguishing system (10). The output gear (301) of the gear transmission mechanism (3) is provided with a cam (3011), which is configured to directly push the extension structure (7012) on the latch (701) of the operating mechanism (7) during electric tripping, so that the operating mechanism (7) is disengaged.

2. The intelligent circuit breaker according to claim 1, characterized in that: The top of the cam (3011) is higher than the tooth tip of the output gear (301).

3. The intelligent circuit breaker according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a rotatable handle (4) and a connecting rod (6); the handle (4) is connected to one end of the connecting rod (6) through a handle hole (401), and the other end of the connecting rod (6) is connected to the operating mechanism (7) through an arc groove (7031) provided on the contact support (703) of the operating mechanism (7); the handle (4) is configured to be able to rotate by manual operation or by the drive of the motor (2) and the gear transmission mechanism (3) to drive the operating mechanism (7) to complete the closing and opening actions.

4. The intelligent circuit breaker according to claim 3, characterized in that: A sector gear one (402) is integrally fixed on the outer periphery of the handle (4), and the center of the sector gear one (402) coincides with the center of the rotation path of the handle (4); correspondingly, a sector gear two (302) is coaxially overlapped on the gear (301); when the motor (2) receives the closing command and rotates forward, it drives the output gear (301) to rotate through the gear transmission mechanism (3), so that the sector gear two (302) meshes with the sector gear one (402) on the handle (4), thereby driving the handle (4) to rotate in the closing direction, and finally realizes the closing through the connecting rod (6) and the operating mechanism (7).

5. The intelligent circuit breaker according to claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes a shunt (9), which is connected in series in the main circuit and electrically connected to the PCBA control board (5); the PCBA control board (5) is configured to receive the current signal collected by the shunt (9) and control the motor (2) and the gear transmission mechanism (3) to perform electric tripping when the current is judged to be overloaded, so as to realize electronic overload tripping.

6. The intelligent circuit breaker according to claim 1, characterized in that, The electromagnetic trip unit (11) is a snap-action electromagnetic trip unit, including an iron core (1102), an armature (1101), a spring (1104), and a stationary contact (1103); the stationary contact (1103) passes through the iron core (1102); the armature (1101) is rotatably disposed on one side of the iron core (1102), and forms an acute angle with the iron core (1102); the spring (1104) provides a torque to the armature (1101) to move it away from the iron core (1102); when a short-circuit current flows through the stationary contact (1103), the armature (1101) is attracted and rotates against the torque of the spring (1104), striking the latch (701) of the operating mechanism (7) to release it.

7. The intelligent circuit breaker according to claim 6, characterized in that: The included angle between the armature (1101) and the iron core (1102) is 12°.

8. The intelligent circuit breaker according to claim 1, characterized in that: The electric heating trip unit (8) is connected to the latch (701) of the operating mechanism (7) via a pull rod (12). When the electric heating trip unit (8) is activated due to overload current, the latch (701) is released by pulling the pull rod (12).

9. The intelligent circuit breaker according to claim 1, characterized in that, The frame current of the intelligent circuit breaker is 125A.

10. The intelligent circuit breaker according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: The PCBA control board (5) is configured to receive closing or opening commands from a remote control terminal and accordingly control the motor (2) to perform electric closing or electric opening operations.

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