Flat Safety Relay With Radial Actuators For Compact Design
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing safety relays face challenges in achieving compact dimensions while maintaining the required contact stroke and safety features, particularly in ensuring that normally closed (NC) and normally open (NO) contacts maintain a minimum distance of 0.5 mm in case of opening failures, which is essential for safety circuits.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a coil system with a yoke and a pivotably mounted armature, featuring actuators radially extending from the armature bearing axis to actuate contact springs, allowing for a high stroke in a flat construction. This arrangement ensures that NC and NO contacts are forcibly guided, preventing simultaneous closure and maintaining the necessary distance, even in case of opening failures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the contact springs are given a relatively high level of stroke to ensure minimum contact distance of 0.5 mm in case of opening failures, then safety requirements are met, but the external dimensions of the relay increase and the design height increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the movement plane of the contact springs from a vertical orientation (parallel to the winding axis) to a horizontal orientation (transverse to the winding axis). This dimensional reorientation allows the contact springs to achieve the required 0.5 mm minimum contact distance in the horizontal direction while maintaining a compact vertical profile, thus meeting safety requirements without increasing the relay's design height.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a pivotable armature that can rotate around an armature bearing axis, dynamically changing the position of the contact springs during operation. This dynamic mechanism allows the contact springs to achieve the necessary stroke and minimum contact distance through rotational movement rather than linear extension, reducing the overall design height of the relay.
2Reliability
If the contact springs are given a relatively high level of stroke to ensure minimum contact distance of 0.5 mm in case of opening failures, then safety requirements are met, but the external dimensions of the relay increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent reorients the contact spring movement from vertical to horizontal, utilizing the transverse dimension rather than the vertical dimension to achieve the required contact separation. This allows the relay to maintain a compact external volume while still providing the 0.5 mm minimum contact distance required for safety applications.
3Length of moving object
If actuators are arranged radially outwardly from the armature bearing axis, then a high contact stroke is achieved in a flat construction, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the actuators for both contact springs with the single armature structure, which rotates around a common armature bearing axis. This merging of multiple actuation functions into a single rotating component achieves the required contact stroke for both contacts while reducing overall device complexity compared to having separate actuation mechanisms for each contact.
Solution Approach 2:
The armature serves multiple functions: it provides the magnetic coupling through pole shoes, acts as the rotating actuator for the contact springs, and provides the mechanical linkage for both NC and NO contacts. This multi-functionality reduces the number of separate components needed, achieving high contact stroke in a flat construction without proportionally increasing device complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables a compact, flat safety relay with enhanced contact stroke and reliable detection of opening failures, meeting safety requirements by ensuring a minimum contact distance of 0.5 mm between contacts, thus facilitating its use in safety circuits with reduced external dimensions.
Implementation Method 1
a coil system arranged on the main body with a coil and a yoke, which extends along a winding axis of the coil through this
Implementation Method 2
an armature, which is arranged in a pivotably mounted manner on an armature bearing axis and which comprises pole shoes for magnetically coupling with the yoke of the coil system
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to an electromagnetic relay (1), more particularly a safety relay (1). This has a main body (10) and a coil system (20, 120) located thereon, the coil system (20, 120) having a coil (24, 124) and a yoke (25, 125) which extends through the coil (24, 124) along a winding axis (WA) of the coil (24, 124). An armature (30, 130) for the relay (1) is located next to the coil (24, 124) and mounted such that it can pivot about an armature bearing axis (AA, AA′) and has pole shoes (33a, 33b, 33c, 33d, 133a, 133b) for magnetically coupling with the yoke (25, 125) of the coil system (20, 120). The relay (1) also comprises a contact system (50) having at least two contact springs (51, 53), wherein each spring movement plane (FB) of the contact springs (51, 53) extends across the winding axis (WA) of the coil (24, 124), preferably at a substantially right angle. At least two actuators (36, 37, 41, 42) are located on the armature (30, 130), which actuators (36, 37, 41,42) are allocated to the contact springs (51, 53) in order to actuate same and which actuators (36, 37, 41, 42) extend radially outwards on the armature (30, 130) with respect to the armature bearing axis (AA, AA′) in a longitudinal direction (AL) of the armature (30, 130), wherein the radially outermost ends of the two actuators (36, 37, 41, 42) are farther away from the armature bearing axis (AA, AA′) than the pole shoes (33a, 33b, 33c, 33d, 133a, 133b) of the armature (30,130).