Adapter for coupling a circuit breaker with an additional module

Abstract

Adapter (40, 80) by means of which a circuit breaker (10) can be at least electrically coupled to an additional module (16) for the circuit breaker (10) and which has an adapter piece (20, 96, 102) for electrically connecting an electrical interface (28) of an electronic component (18) of the circuit breaker (10) to an electrical interface (26) of the additional module (16) and a handle (42, 82) detachably connected to the adapter piece (20, 96, 102).

Description

The invention relates to a circuit breaker and an adapter, by means of which a circuit breaker can be electrically coupled to an additional module for the circuit breaker.Such a circuit breaker is offered, for example, by the company Siemens AG under the product name SENTRON 3VL. An additional module is known, for example, from EP 2 040 280 A2. By means of such an additional module, a circuit breaker can be made communicable, for example, by connecting a data line to the circuit breaker via the additional module or establishing a radio connection between the circuit breaker and a trunk room. It is thus possible for an electronic trip unit (ETU) to exchange data with software in the toll control room.However, a communication module is not required in every application in a circuit breaker. Therefore, it is generally provided to offer such a communication module as a retrofittable additional module that can be retrofitted independently on site in the circuit breaker by a user of the circuit breaker. The high modularity achieved by means of the additional modules and thus the most diverse types of circuit breakers possible make it possible for a customer to choose the configuration which is most suitable per se. In addition, it is possible to provide the actual circuit breaker with lower production costs and to allow the increased costs for a communication capability to arise only in the case of circuit breakers in which communication is actually also desired as functionality.Another common designation for an additional module is "Accessory". Another type of accessory is an additional supply module, by means of which the ETU of a circuit breaker can be operated even if the ETU cannot itself supply itself with electrical energy, for example via a leakage field of the monitored electrical lines, because for example the switch of the circuit breaker is just open and a current flow through the lines is thereby blocked.As already mentioned, the intention is to keep the production costs for a circuit breaker as low as possible. One possibility for achieving this aim is to use so-called identical parts in different types of circuit breakers. This means that as many uniform components as possible are nevertheless used for the provision of different types of circuit breakers, that is to say for example always the same model of an IC (integrated circuit) for the ETU. Likewise, the additional modules are designed, if possible, in such a way that they can be used in as many different types of circuit breakers as possible. It is thus possible to produce or buy the identical parts in large numbers and thereby keep their production costs or reference price low.When designing circuit breakers, there is a desire to miniaturize them ever further, so that they occupy the smallest possible installation space in the switch cabinets of the installations of an operator. However, as the circuit breakers become miniaturized, it becomes increasingly difficult to use identical parts, since with an ever narrowing arrangement of the components of a circuit breaker, spatial degrees of freedom are eliminated, which could otherwise be used, for example, to arrange identical parts having a predefined shape more flexibly in a circuit breaker.U.S. Pat. No. 6,406,328 B1 discloses a remote control LCD adapter and a method for electronic circuit breakers. To enable access to a control / display module in an electronic circuit breaker, an adapter and a harness are provided to remotely position the control / display module at a more accessible location, e.g., at the remote control with remote control. An adapter plug and an adapter plate are installed on the circuit breaker instead of the control / display module. The adapter plug provides connections for a cable harness which can be extended to a mounting plate which can be mounted on the remote control. The control / display module removed from the circuit breaker is installed in the mounting plate.Furthermore, German laid-open specification DE 10 2008 031 335 A1 discloses an electrical circuit breaker with control electronics, in particular motor starters of an electric motor, contactor or the like, wherein the control electronics can be crosslinked via a communication module 140 to a bus system 146 and the communication module 140 can be plugged in and can be electrically contacted to a control module 120 by means of contacts 147. The invention consists in the fact that the first mechanical guide elements 106 on the switching device base module and the associated mechanical elements 144 on the communication module 140 are designed such that electrical contact between communication module 140 and control module 120 only takes place if, in the order of plugging, first communication module 140 is mechanically connected to switching device base module 100 and, thereafter, control module 120 is plugged onto switching device base module 100 and communication module 140. The pluggable communication module 140 is designed as an interface between the control electronics and an electronic bus system 146.Furthermore, European patent application EP 2 040 280 A2 discloses a communication module plug-in device (110) for an electronic trip unit (105), which contains both wired and wireless conventional communication methods. The device comprises a housing, the housing structurally configured for releasable connection to an electronic trip unit (105), the housing facilitating electronic communication between the communication connector (110) and the electronic trip unit (105). The apparatus also includes a communication controller (130) located within the housing, a transceiver located within the housing, the transceiver (135) in communication with the communication controller (130), and a storage device (140) disposed within the housing, the storage device (140) in communication with the communication controller (130) and the transceiver (135).Furthermore, German patent specification DE 101 52 347 C1 discloses a switching device with an adapted polyphase busbar system, in which the electrical connection between the busbar system (2) and connections (4) of the switching device (1) is to take place in a quick and simple manner and without tools and in a contact-proof manner. For this purpose, an adapter plug is arranged between a connecting wall (7) of the switching device (1) and the busbar housing (3) surrounding the busbar system (2). For this electrical connection, a spring contact (10) of the adapter plug (8) is first connected to the switching device (1) and this unit is pushed onto a base (17) in the mounting direction (20). During this movement process, a lyra contact (9) of the adapter plug (8) is simultaneously plugged onto a tongue-shaped contact piece (13) and is thus contacted.Furthermore, European patent application EP 1 848 020 A2 discloses a manually operated circuit breaker for motor protection and / or line protection. Such circuit breakers can be extended in modular fashion by plugging on replaceable additional modules (10, 20). It is an object of the present invention to provide a device which permits modular assembly of the circuit breaker only when the circuit breaker is in the OFF position. For this purpose, it is provided that the insertion of an additional module (10, 20) into and / or the extraction of an additional module (10, 20) from an insertion shaft (120) can be locked by a locking device (48), which is formed on the actuating shaft (44) and can be activated by rotation of the actuating shaft (44).An object of the present invention is to reduce the manufacturing cost of a modular circuit breaker.The object is achieved by an adapter according to claim 1. Advantageous further developments of the invention are given by the dependent claims.In the circuit breaker according to the invention, its frame or housing has a shaft into which an additional module is inserted. Within the housing is an electronic trip unit, i.e., an ETU. The ETU and an additional module located in the shaft are electrically connected to one another in the circuit breaker according to the invention via an adapter piece which is inserted into a wall of the shaft, for example into the bottom or a side wall thereof. In the circuit breaker according to the invention, it is thereby advantageously made possible to use identical parts in each case both for providing the ETU and the additional module, i.e. components which do not have to be adapted in a particular manner to the housing of the specific type of circuit breaker in order for the additional module to be able to be connected to the ETU. Rather, an adapter that can be produced in a favorable manner makes it possible to compensate for differences in the housing shape of the different types of circuit breakers, with the result that electrical coupling of the additional module to the ETU is always possible. By means of adapter pieces of corresponding design, which can be optionally inserted into a wall of the shaft, it is even possible to operate additional modules with different electrical interfaces in the circuit breaker. It is thus possible, for example, also to operate a communication module and / or a supply module of a third party provider in the circuit breaker.The invention also provides an adapter by means of which a circuit breaker can be electrically coupled to an additional module for this circuit breaker. The adapter comprises an adapter piece as described above, which serves for electrically connecting the electrical interfaces of the circuit breaker and the additional module. This adapter piece is accordingly provided for insertion into a recess in a wall of the shaft of a circuit breaker according to the invention. It can be problematic here that, with the present dimensions, the housing for a circuit breaker can the shaft for an additional module possibly only be between 20 mm and 40 mm wide. Accordingly, a suitable adapter piece can have dimensions in the order of magnitude of a finger tip, i.e. for example less than 18 mm in the direction of the greatest extent. Therefore, it may be difficult to handle such an adapter piece when it is inserted into the shaft and to fasten it in the wall of the shaft. The adapter according to the invention therefore has a grip piece which is detachably connected to the adapter piece. This results in the advantage that the adapter piece can also be introduced into a shaft which is narrower than a finger. The adapter piece can be held easily on the handle piece. Thus, miniaturization of the adapter piece is possible without restricting its handling.Expediently, the grip piece is arranged on the adapter piece as an extension of an intended insertion direction of the adapter piece, so that the adapter piece can be inserted into a shaft and can be aligned therein on its wall.In order to be able to release the grip piece from the adapter piece after the adapter piece has been inserted and thus to release the shaft for an additional module, it is expediently provided that the grip piece is detachable from the adapter piece by a tilting movement. This means that for releasing a movement is to be carried out which points transversely to the sliding movement, by means of which the adapter piece is inserted into the recess in the wall of the shaft. This advantageously prevents the adapter piece from accidentally already loosening during the insertion.The adapter piece can have a row of contacts on each of two opposite sides, one row of which contacts is electrically coupled to the electrical interface of the circuit breaker and the other row of which contacts is electrically coupled to the electrical interface of the additional module. When the adapter piece is inserted into a shaft and in particular when the handle piece is released from the adapter piece, there is the risk that the contacts are bent by a tilting movement of the handle piece. In an expedient embodiment of the adapter, a nose is formed on the handle piece or on the adapter piece in this connection, which nose blocks a tilting movement with respect to the respective other piece, that is to say the handle piece or the adapter piece. This then advantageously ensures that the grip piece can only be tilted in one direction, i.e. preferably away from the contacts.The grip piece can be designed as a reusable grip piece. The grip piece must then be connected to the adapter piece in a reversibly and non-destructively detachable manner. However, the adapter according to the invention can be produced particularly favorably if the handle and a base body of the adapter are formed in one piece and a break-off or break-off edge is provided at which the handle can be released from the base body of the adapter with a predetermined force and / or movement. Such an adapter can be produced, for example, by injection molding in a mass production process.The adapter piece preferably has a cuboidal main body which is connected to the grip piece on opposite end sides. This advantageously makes it possible for the connecting region between the grip piece and the adapter piece to have a very small cross section, which simplifies the breaking off. Nevertheless, the force which must be exerted via the grip piece when the adapter piece is inserted can be distributed uniformly over the two connection regions on the end sides onto the adapter piece, so that the adapter piece does not tilt during insertion.The grip piece is preferably configured to be flatter or thinner than the adapter piece. The freedom of movement required for releasing the grip piece then also results in a narrow shaft.The aforementioned contacts of the adapter piece are preferably realized by spring loaded contacts (SLC). In the case of such contact pins, it is not necessary to electrically connect the electrical interface of the additional module or of the circuit breaker by being plugged onto the contact pins. It is sufficient to press electrically conductive elements (e.g. pins or touch contacts) of the interfaces against the spring contact pins. In this case, by pressing the movable contact parts of each spring contact pin against the electrically conductive elements of the interface by means of a spring, corrosion at the contact points is nevertheless reliably prevented, so that the electrical connection is reliably established. In addition, manufacturing tolerances can be compensated. Of course, instead of the spring contact pins, provision can also be made for resilient contacts to be provided on those components which are to be contacted with the adapter piece.The contacts of the adapter piece are expediently gold-plated. The gold layer is preferably more than 0.7 μm (micrometers) thick. As a result, the contacts are then gas-tight, so that aggressive gases released when the circuit breaker is triggered cannot make the contacts electrically conductive due to corrosion.In order that the adapter piece does not slide too deeply into the recess of the wall of the shaft, a corresponding stop element can be provided on the adapter piece, on which the adapter piece rests when it has reached its desired position with respect to the wall of the shaft. Expediently, this stop element is designed as a web on the base body of the adapter piece, wherein a recess is then expediently provided in the web. This recess then represents an engagement for a tool, for example for a screwdriver, in order to be able to lift the adapter piece out of the wall of the shaft again, even after the handle has been released from the adapter piece.The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to exemplary embodiments. This shows: FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of a sectional view of an embodiment of the circuit breaker according to the invention, FIG. 2 shows a schematic illustration of a front view of an embodiment of the adapter according to the invention, FIG. 3 shows a schematic illustration of a side view of the adapter from FIG. 2, FIG. 4 shows a schematic illustration of a front view of a further embodiment of the adapter according to the invention, FIG. 5 shows a schematic illustration of a side view of the adapter from FIG. 4, FIG. 6 shows a schematic illustration of a plan view of an adapter piece of a further embodiment of the adapter according to the invention, and FIG. 7 shows a schematic illustration of a front view of an adapter piece of a further embodiment of the adapter according to the invention.The examples illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention.FIG. 1 shows a circuit breaker 10 in the frame or housing 12 of which there is a slot 14 into which an additional module 16 for the circuit breaker 10 is inserted. The circuit breaker 10 may be a model by which the same functionalities as the aforementioned model SENTRON 3VL are provided. The additional module 16 can be, for example, a communication module (COM). In this case, it is made possible by the additional module 16 to transmit values of operating parameters of an ETU 18 or of another electronic component of the circuit breaker 10 to an external device (not shown). In this case, a protocol conversion is carried out by the communication module, i.e. an internal protocol via which the ETU 18 and other components exchange values with one another is translated into a protocol such as is required, for example, for the Modbus, the CAN bus (control area network), the Ethernet or the Profinet. The ETU 18 can be configured in a manner known per se.The additional module 16 and the ETU 18 are identical parts, i.e. components of the same construction are also used in other circuit breakers which are of a different type than the circuit breaker 10. Accordingly, for each of the circuit breakers, a different relative position of the additional module with respect to the ETU results. Nevertheless, in all circuit breakers it is ensured that the identical parts, i.e. the additional module 16 and the ETU 18, are always reliably electrically contacted with one another. Retrofitting an additional module is also possible by a user of the circuit breaker 10 after the circuit breaker 10 has been installed in a switchgear cabinet. The removal of an additional module 16 from the circuit breaker 10 and the insertion of another additional module, for example a communication module with a different range of functions or else a supply module, can also be carried out by a user of the circuit breaker 10 without any particular expert, without there being a particularly high risk that, for example, contact pins are bent.The reliable and simple contacting of the additional module 16 with the ETU 18 is made possible in the circuit breaker 10 by an adapter piece 20 which is inserted into a recess 22 in a wall of the shaft, for example in the base 24 of the shaft 14. The adapter piece 20 can also have been retrofitted by the user of the circuit breaker 10, so that no additional costs have been incurred for the adapter piece 20 when the circuit breaker 10 itself is purchased. By means of the adapter piece 20, touch contacts (not shown) of an electrical interface 26 of the additional module 16 can be electrically connected to corresponding touch contacts of an electrical interface 28 of the ETU 18. For this purpose, the adapter piece 20 can have on opposite sides a respective row 30, 32 of spring contact pins or spring contacts, for example. With spring contacts, it is not necessary that the adapter piece 20 must be plugged onto contacts of the electrical interface 28 of the ETU 18 when it is inserted into the recess 22. The adapter piece 20 has a web 36 which rests on an edge 38 of the recess 22 of the wall. This prevents the adapter piece 20 from slipping through the recess 22 in the direction of the ETU 18. The additional module 16 also does not have to be plugged onto contacts of the adapter piece 20. This overall reduces the risk that contacts are bent when the adapter piece 20 is inserted and the additional module 16 is inserted, if one of the components is pressed obliquely open. Moreover, spring contacts also compensate for inaccuracies in dimensions during the production of the housing 12 and the remaining components, as can result from tolerances during the production of the circuit breaker 10 and the additional module 16.The adapter piece 20 allows a processor unit 34 of the ETU 18 to exchange data with the additional module 16 in the same manner as may be made possible in the prior art, for example, by a cable connection. Therefore, neither the signal-processing components of the circuit breaker 10 nor those of the additional module 16 have to be reconfigured.Due to the small installation space, in the circuit breaker 10 the distance between the ETU 18 and the additional module 16 is so small that only a very small adapter piece 20 can be used. However, the small size of this adapter piece 20 also results in safety-relevant problems in addition to problematic awkwardness in the switchgear cabinet, since the circuit breaker 10 can have further openings (not shown) in the shaft 14, through which the very small adapter piece 20 can fall into the housing 12 and cause a short circuit there. Moreover, also because of the very small size of the adapter piece 20 itself, a loss of this part is generally very likely when it slides out of the fingers in an attempt to install it.In the case of the adapter piece 20, however, despite the small installation space (the shaft 14 is so narrow in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing of FIG. 1 that no finger can be inserted into the shaft 14), it was very simple and reliable for the user of the circuit breaker 10 to insert the adapter piece 20 into the recess 22.The process of inserting the adapter piece 20 into the shaft 14 and the recess 22 is explained in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. The adapter piece 20 was part of an SLC adapter or adapter 40 for short before being installed in the circuit breaker 10. The adapter 40 has, in its original state, in addition to the adapter piece 20, a tab or grip piece 42 on which the adapter piece 20 can be held while it is being inserted into the shaft 14. The grip piece 42 has a cuboidal main body, on which two clamps, extensions or limbs 44, 46 are formed, the ends of which are connected integrally to opposite sides 48, 50 of a main body 52 of the adapter piece 20. At the ends of the legs 44, 46, these have a reduced cross section, i.e. notches, so that break-off edges or break-off edges 50, 56 result at the transition of the legs 44, 46 to the base body 52.The adapter 40 is extended along the insertion direction 58 by the grip piece 42 in such a way that an upper end of the grip piece 42 still protrudes from the shaft 14 even after the adapter piece 20 has been inserted into the recess 22. The size of the adapter 40 also makes it impossible for the adapter 40 to fall into one of the aforementioned openings in the shaft 14 when the adapter 40 slides out of the hand for the user.On a field 60 on the handle piece 42 instructions are printed for installing the adapter piece 20 in the circuit breaker 10. For installation, the user has held the adapter 40 on the grip piece 42 and inserted the adapter piece 20 in the insertion direction 58 into the shaft 14 and at its bottom 24 into the recess 22 until the web 36 has come to rest on the edge 38 of the recess 22. In this position, spring contacts 62, 64, 66, 68 of the row 32 are firmly pressed against the electrical interface 28 of the ETU 18.Subsequently, the user has broken off the grip piece 42 from the adapter piece 20 transversely to the insertion direction 58 by a tilting movement along a tilting direction 70 at the predetermined breaking edges 54, 56 and removed it from the shaft 14. Subsequently, the additional module 16 could be inserted into the shaft 14 until (not shown) latching elements of the additional module 16 were latched to corresponding interventions in the shaft 14. In this position, the contacts of the electrical interface 26 of the add-on module 16 then press firmly on spring contacts 72, 74, 76, 78 of the row 30.The spring contacts 62 to 68 and 72 to 78 may be gold plated. The gold layer can be 0.7 μm thick or thicker, as a result of which it is then gas-tight and thus the electrical conductivity is not impaired by aggressive gases, as can be released when a strong current is interrupted in the circuit breaker 10.In FIGS. 4 and 5, two views of an adapter 80 are shown, which has a particularly thin grip piece 82. The adapter 80 is only partially shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, which is indicated by corresponding break lines. For better orientation, in FIGS. 4 and 5, elements that have the same function as corresponding elements that are illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 are provided with the same reference numerals as in FIGS. 2 and 3, respectively.In the case of the adapter 80, a thickness 84 of the grip piece 82 is smaller, in particular at most half as large, than a corresponding thickness 86 of an adapter piece 20.A length of a required material, for example plastic, for producing the grip piece 82 is thereby reduced in comparison with the grip piece 42. Furthermore, the small thickness 84 allows the handle 82 to freely reciprocate in a well without the handle 82 abutting against the walls of the well.In the case of the grip piece 82, a protective wall 88 is furthermore formed on, which protects spring contacts 72 to 78 of the adapter piece 20. In FIG. 5, the contour of the protective wall 88 is drawn in dashed lines, since it is not visible from the perspective shown in FIG. 5. In order to prevent the grip piece 82 from breaking off the adapter piece 20, since the protective wall 88 is pressed against the contacts 72 to 78 and these are thereby bent, a respective nose 90, 92 or a similar wedge-shaped extension is formed on the grip piece 82 at legs 44, 46. The noses 90, 92 act as stop elements and block a tilting of the grip piece 82 in a tilting direction 94 by the noses 90, 92 pushing against the adapter piece 20 in the corresponding attempt. The grip piece 82 can thus be broken off from the adapter piece 20 most easily by tilting in a tilting direction 70.The features explained in connection with FIGS. 4 and 5, i.e. the reduced thickness 84 on the one hand and the protective wall 88 together with the noses 90, 92 on the other hand, represent features which are independent of one another and which can also be realized separately individually in an adapter.In FIG. 6, an adapter piece 96 is shown in a plan view. Elements of the adapter piece 96 which have the same function as corresponding elements of the adapter piece 20 (FIGS. 2, 3 ) are provided with the same reference numerals as the elements of the adapter piece 20 for the sake of better clarity.In the adapter piece 96, a web 36 has a recess 98. If the adapter piece 96 is inserted into a wall of a shaft and the associated handle piece has already been broken off, it is possible in the adapter piece 96 to insert, for example, a tip of a screwdriver between the web 36 and a shaft wall 100 into the indentation 98 and thus lever the adapter piece 96 out of the recess in the shaft wall and thus remove it from the shaft.FIG. 7 shows an adapter piece 102 in a size comparison with a 1-eurocent piece 104. The adapter pieces of the adapters 40, 80 and the adapter piece 96 can also have a comparable size. In FIG. 7, elements of the adapter piece 102 that correspond to elements of the adapter piece 20 in terms of their function are provided with the same reference numerals as in FIGS. 2 and 3.The adapter piece 102 has an arcuate extension 106 on a base body 52, at the end of which a step or a hook 108 is formed. The extension 106 is elastic and can be deflected towards the base body 52 when the adapter piece 102 is inserted into a recess of a shaft wall. An undercut can be formed in the shaft wall, behind which the hook 108 snaps when the adapter piece 102 has reached its intended end position in the wall of the shaft. The hook 108 then forms with the undercut a snap connection, by means of which the adapter piece 102 is held in the recess. In order to be able to remove the adapter piece 102 again, a lever 110 can be pressed by which the extension 106 can be deflected again in the direction of the base body 52, as a result of which the hook 108 is moved away from the undercut and the adapter piece 102 is thus released.The examples shown illustrate how the following advantages can be realized:a significantly better handling of a very small adapter piece by providing a larger area for the haptics by a handle piece,a secure contacting of various additional modules within a circuit breaker with a high integration density,safe handling also within a switch cabinet in which the circuit breaker can be installed and in which only poor visibility conditions prevail, andAn increased safety since the adapter piece can no longer fall into openings within the shaft of the circuit breaker even if lost during the insertion process due to its size (handle piece plus adapter piece) and shape.

Claims

Adapter (40, 80), by means of which a circuit breaker (10) can be coupled at least electrically to an additional module (16) for the circuit breaker (10), and which has an adapter piece (20, 96, 102) for electrically connecting an electrical interface (28) of an electronic component (18) of the circuit breaker (10) to an electrical interface (26) of the additional module (16), and a handle piece (42, 82) detachably connected to the adapter piece (20, 96, 102).Adapter (40, 80) according to claim 1, wherein the grip piece (42, 82) is arranged on the adapter piece (20, 96, 102) as an extension of an intended insertion direction (58) thereof.The adapter (40, 80) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the handle piece (42, 82) is detachable from the adapter piece (20, 96, 102) by tilting (70) the handle piece (42, 82) relative to the adapter piece.Adapter (80) according to one of Claims 1 to 3, wherein a nose (90, 92) is formed on the grip piece (82) or on the adapter piece (20), which nose blocks a tilting movement (94) with respect to the respective other piece.Adapter (40, 80) according to one of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the grip piece (42, 82) and a base body (52) of the adapter piece (20, 96, 102) are formed in one piece and in this case a predetermined breaking edge (54, 56) is provided at which the grip piece (42, 82) can be released from the base body (52) with a predetermined force and / or movement (70).Adapter (40, 80) according to one of Claims 1 to 5, wherein the adapter piece (20, 96, 102) has a cuboidal main body (52) which is connected to the grip piece 42, 82) on opposite end sides (48, 50).The adapter (80) of any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the handle (82) is flatter than the adapter (20).The adapter (40, 80) of any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the adapter piece (20, 96, 102) includes spring contact pins (62 to 68, 72 to 78).The adapter (40, 80) of any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the adapter piece (20, 96, 102) includes gold plated contacts (62 to 68, 72 to 78).Adapter according to one of Claims 1 to 9, wherein a web (36) with a cutout is integrally formed on a base body of the adapter piece (96).

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