Building Automation Control Housing With Plug-In Surge Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing building automation systems require complex and often improperly installed surge protection for electrical components located outside the building envelope, leading to increased installation effort and risk of damage from indirect lightning strikes.
Innovation Solution
A control device with integrated plug-in locations for overvoltage protection devices, allowing direct routing of external electrical component lines through the building envelope, eliminating the need for additional cable processing and ensuring only suitable surge protection devices are used.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If surge protection devices are installed separately in their own housing, then lightning protection is provided, but installation and wiring effort increases and specialized expertise is required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the surge protection device directly into the control device housing, combining two previously separate components (control device and surge protection device) into a single integrated unit. This eliminates the need for separate housing and reduces installation complexity while maintaining lightning protection functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The control device is designed to serve multiple functions: it acts as both the control device for building automation and as a housing for the surge protection device. The control device thus becomes a multi-functional unit that provides both control operations and lightning protection without requiring additional specialized components.
2Reliability
If surge protection devices are installed separately, then protection is provided, but installation requires specialized expertise and may be performed improperly or not at all
Solution Approach 1:
By integrating the surge protection device into the control device, the patent eliminates the need for separate installation steps and specialized wiring. The surge protection becomes a built-in feature that is installed automatically when the control device is installed, making the process straightforward and ensuring proper installation without requiring specialized expertise.
3Reliability
If conventional surge protection devices are used, then protection against voltage peaks is provided, but cable routing requires cutting, stripping and clamping to additional components
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the surge protection device into the control device housing with direct access to the connection terminals. This allows cables to be routed directly through the building envelope and connected to the control device terminals without requiring cutting, stripping, and clamping to separate surge protection components. The cable installation process remains the same as without surge protection.
4Ease of operation
If surge protection devices are integrated into control device, then installation is simplified, but the control device structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the surge protection device into the existing control device housing, utilizing the same housing and connection terminals. This approach adds surge protection functionality without requiring a completely new device structure, thereby simplifying installation while minimizing increases in overall device complexity.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
A control device (6) is intended for building automation and has at least two connection poles (3, 4; 26, 27) for connection to an electrical component (1). In order to simplify, in particular, subsequent fitting of lightning protection, the control device (6) has an earthing connection (15) and at least one plug-in location (24, 25; 28, 29) with plug-in connections (18, 20) connected in parallel to the connection poles (3, 4; 26, 27), and into which an overvoltage protection device (21, 22) for protecting the at least two connection poles (3, 4; 26, 27) can be plugged to the earthing connection (15).