Electricity: circuit makers and breakers – Interlocking – Between plural switches
Patent
1997-08-14
1999-04-20
Scott, J. R.
Electricity: circuit makers and breakers
Interlocking
Between plural switches
218154, H01H 926, H01H 326
Patent
active
058958983
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a device for mutually locking the actuation of at least two power switches, with the position of a switching shaft of each power switch being supplied, via a mechanical transmission, to a mechanical evaluation apparatus, which releases or locks the actuation of the power switch.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A locking device of this type has been disclosed by German Patent 44 09 172 A1. The transmission means described therein are wire triggers or sheathed-wire Bowden controls, which may be of considerable length in some switching systems. Depending on the arrangement of the power switches to be mutually locked, it may also be necessary to arrange the flexible transmission means with a plurality of bends with different curvatures. It has been found that actuating the flexible transmission means consumes a surprisingly high amount of energy, although tests performed on the Bowden controls or wire triggers have found little friction.
It is also known that a system of tie rods can be used for mutually locking power stitches (German Patents 38 41 315 A1 and 44 09 172 A1). Also in these devices, it was found that actuation required considerable amounts of energy.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is therefore to reduce the energy consumption of a locking device and thus to improve and facilitate the construction of mutual locking arrangements for a plurality of power switches.
This object is achieved according to the invention by providing each power switch with an energy accumulator for actuating the mechanical transmission, which is loaded by the rotation of the switching shaft in the ON direction. There is arranged, between the energy accumulator and the switching shaft, a dead travel coupling that works during the rotation of the switching shaft from the ON position to the OFF position. The attached evaluating apparatus has a restoring spring that acts upon the transmission.
In the arrangement according to the present invention, the energy accumulator has the property of decoupling the switching shaft of the power switch from the mechanical transmission. Thus the motion of the transmission is not rigidly dependent on the rotation of the switching shaft as in the previously customary direct coupling. This prevents the transmission from being subjected to jerks by the sudden rotation of the switching shaft of the power switch, which result in high stresses at the connecting point between the transmission and the switching shaft. If flexible transmission with a curvature are used, a strong increase in friction between the transmission and its sheathing is avoided through the increase in the motion time due to the energy accumulator. Therefore, it has been found that even power switches located several meters away can be locked.
The same advantageous decoupling of the switching shaft rotation from the actuation of a transmission is achieved when the power switch is switched OFF by the aforementioned dead travel coupling. The restoring spring provides smooth motion during return to the original position.
A helical compression spring having one end that can be attached to a lever connected to the switching shaft and another end that is connected to the mechanical transmission is particularly well suited as an energy accumulator. By selecting a suitable spring, both the desired decoupling as described above and sufficient actuating force can be achieved.
If the evaluating apparatuses are to be affected by two power switches, position reports from one power switch should be transmitted to the other two power switches. An embodiment of the arrangement according to the present invention having two simultaneously loading energy accumulators for actuating mechanical transmissions means is well suited for this purpose.
The switching shaft of power switches runs across the operating front in the conventional design of the power switches and can be accessed on the side walls. It is advantageous in this cas
REFERENCES:
patent: 4400599 (1983-08-01), Rickmann
patent: 4703137 (1987-10-01), Bohnen et al.
patent: 4788453 (1988-11-01), Bohnen et al.
patent: 4968861 (1990-11-01), Kuhn
Scott J. R.
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
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