One-Piece Hood Housing for Thermal Overload Trip Assembly
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing thermal and magnetic overload releases for multi-pole electrical switching devices are complex, time-consuming, and costly to assemble and dismantle, with functional parts often loosely stored in multi-part housings that require extensive installation and testing before functional testing or transport can occur.
Innovation Solution
A compact, pre-testable, and transport-safe overload release design featuring a one-piece hood-shaped housing with all essential functional parts, including adjustable elements, that can be easily assembled and disassembled, with a detachable cover and rotatable setting elements for manual adjustment of thermal and magnetic limit values, utilizing bimetallic elements and pivotable armatures within a form-fitting housing structure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the housing is constructed in several parts to accommodate functional elements, then the functional parts can be separately assembled and maintained, but the assembly and dismantling process becomes time-consuming and costly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple housing parts into a single integrated housing structure that accommodates all functional elements (busbars, thermal release units, magnetic release units, and release shaft) in one piece. This eliminates the need for separate assembly of multiple housing components, thereby reducing assembly time and cost while maintaining ease of manufacture through modular functional integration.
2Ease of repair
If functional parts are arranged in a multi-part housing, then individual components can be accessed and replaced, but the overall structure becomes complex and transport unsafe
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the housing into a main body and a detachable cover portion. The cover can be removed to provide access to functional elements for maintenance and repair, while the main housing remains as a single integrated structure. This segmentation enables component accessibility without increasing overall structural complexity or compromising transport safety.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the release shaft is fixed in position after housing walls are connected, then structural stability is improved, but exchange of faulty release shaft becomes extremely time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs the release shaft with a dynamic mounting system that allows it to be fixed in position for structural stability during operation, yet enables easy removal and replacement when faulty. The detachable cover provides access to the release shaft, and the mounting structure allows for tool-free or minimal-tool extraction and installation, combining stability with ease of repair.
4Reliability
If all functional parts are integrated in a single housing, then pre-testing and transport safety are enabled, but assembly complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal housing structure that serves multiple functions: it accommodates all functional elements (busbars, thermal releases, magnetic releases, release shaft), provides structural protection for transport safety, and enables pre-testing before final assembly. The standardized design with detachable cover and organized internal arrangement reduces integration complexity while maintaining all essential functions in one unit.
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
Facilitates rapid and cost-effective assembly and disassembly, enables pre-testing, and ensures secure transport by integrating all functional parts within a single, easily manageable unit, reducing assembly and disassembly time while allowing precise setting of thermal and magnetic limit values.
Implementation Method 1
a strip-shaped bimetallic element which reacts to temperature changes is assigned to each busbar in the hood-shaped housing part
Implementation Method 2
an armature which, in the event of an overload, can be moved against the restoring force of a spring in the direction of a second arm of the release shaft
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
The invention relates to a thermal and/or magnetic overload trip (1) for a multi-pole electrical switching device with a housing (2) made from an electrically insulating material. In order to obtain an overload trip (1) mounted as compactly as possible as a pre-testable and safely transportable assembled unit, which can be easily assembled and if necessary also easily disassembled, the invention proposes that the housing (2) of the overload trip (1) has a bonnet-shaped housing part (3) made from a single part, which holds all the essential functional parts, including the adjustable elements, and which on its front side can be at least partially sealed by means of a removable cover part (9).