Electricity: electrical systems and devices – Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical... – For electrical power distribution systems and devices
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-22
2002-04-02
Tolin, Gerald (Department: 2835)
Electricity: electrical systems and devices
Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...
For electrical power distribution systems and devices
C200S050210
Reexamination Certificate
active
06366448
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention concerns an electrical high-voltage supply device with a high-voltage supply part and a low-voltage supply part, whereby a low-voltage at the low-voltage supply part is upwardly transformable into a high-voltage at the high-voltage supply part, and whereby the high-voltage- supply part and the low-voltage supply part can be at least partially covered from the outside or enclosed by a housing part.
BACKGROUND OF THE ART
High voltage power supplies have very stringent requirements for operating safely, especially in regard to high-voltage (HV). One must at least ensure that both the user operating such an HV system and the service professional working on it (usually an HV electrician or an HV electrotechnician) cannot contact any HV components. In regard to the voltage sources considered here, the basic voltage range assignable to HV starts at the dangerous-to-contact voltage of approximately 60 V (defined as falling within the range of HV in the following), and basically any voltage above that. The value of 60 V represents a voltage that can be enough to overcome average human skin resistance and therefore permit current surges that are deadly to humans.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,655,926, for example, discloses a prior-art switchgear cabinet for an HV supply having a safety mechanism that inactivates the HV as soon as an access door to the switchgear cabinet is opened. Correspondingly, the HV is released as soon as the door is closed. In addition, the HV source can be manually changed to live even though the door is open, for example to service the HV source. This exception is automatically terminated when the door is reclosed.
In addition, there are prior-art HV supplies where the low-voltage (LV) and high-voltage part (HV part) are in the same housing, and the LV part and the HV part are freely accessible after opening the housing. If the LV part of the device needs to be serviced, there is always the danger that the HV parts will be contacted manually or otherwise.
The present invention is hence based on the problem of creating a HV supply device of the cited kind that avoids the cited disadvantages of prior-art devices and allows easy and safe access to low-voltage electrical equipment or electronics without however having to shut off the high-voltage while simultaneously minimising the danger of contact. In addition, it is desirable for the entire power supply to be as modular as possible so that, for example, the individual components or even all the electrical equipment or electronics can be placed in a housing containing other components.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In particular, the cited problems are solved by an HV supply device or a housing arrangement of the initially-described kind suitable for such a supply device by providing a second housing part forming two sides. The high-voltage supply part is on the first side, and the low-voltage supply part on the second side spatially and/or physically separate from the high-voltage supply part. The second and the first housing parts can be joined in such a manner that the high-voltage supply part is in an area enclosed on all sides by one of the two housing parts after they are joined. The suggested spatial separation of the LV and HV substantially increases and improves operational safety when working with such an HV supply device. In addition, it allows easy and safe access to the low-voltage electrical equipment or electronics without having to turn off the high-voltage, and hence minimizes the danger of contacting the high voltage.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the first side of the second housing part has a first mounting rack to receive electrical or electronic low-voltage and high-voltage components, and the second side has a second mounting rack to receive electrical or electronic low-voltage components in the HV supply device according to the invention. The two mounting racks are connected by an electrical connecting line that penetrates or bridges the housing part. Arranging the LV and HV on spatially separate mounting racks (e.g., essentially flat mounting plates) and electrically connecting them with only a single line strictly separates the LV and HV and enhances desired operational safety. It can also be advantageous for the second housing part to have an electrical penetration through which the connecting line is guided between the mounting racks. An electrical bridge between the two mounting racks can also be created by a ribbon cable, a plug connection, a flexible printed circuit board, or a wireless transmission path.
To also offer maximum safety on the high-voltage side of the second housing part (especially against sparkover or creepage current), the electrical or electronic components on the first side of the second housing part can proceed from the electrical penetration along the voltage gradient from low-voltage to high-voltage. This measure minimizes the danger of HV sparkover and simultaneously ensures a highly compact construction due to the relatively small dimensions of the HV mounting rack and hence of the entire device. In a particularly advantageous embodiment, the electrical penetration can be essentially in the centre in reference to the mounting rack, and the electrical or electronic modules on the side of the high-voltage supply part proceed outward from the penetration in an essentially radial manner corresponding to a voltage gradient of low-voltage to high-voltage.
To further increase safety against contacting HV parts, the first and the second housing parts can be joined in a positive fit so that the high-voltage area is inaccessible after both housing parts are brought together.
To make it particularly easy and simple to exchange the individual components or even the entire power supply (to the extent that it is a part of a larger housing that includes other components), the second housing part can be designed as a withdrawable module with the high-voltage and low-voltage supply part.
To make it easier to access the LV despite the cited safety requirements for the HV, the withdrawable module can be open on least one side, and the first housing part can have a wall element that essentially formes a positive fit with the housing of the withdrawable module. Another advantage of the embodiment of the withdrawable module is that the HV is also very easily accessible from the outside after the withdrawable module has been removed from the housing part, and this makes the HV easy to service.
To further increase operational safety, a switch can be provided that interrupts the high-voltage when the withdrawable module is removed from the first housing part. Such a switch offers the greatest possible safety in dealing with the HV since the interaction of the switch with the housing arrangement completely prevents a person from coming into contact with active or live HV components.
Other tasks, advantages and features of the device according to the invention are found in the following description of an exemplary embodiment.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3655926 (1972-04-01), Meermans
patent: 4249227 (1981-02-01), Kato et al.
patent: 4677524 (1987-06-01), Shiraishi et al.
patent: 4742428 (1988-05-01), Conrad
patent: 4785376 (1988-11-01), Dively
patent: 5424911 (1995-06-01), Joyner et al.
patent: 5757260 (1998-05-01), Smith et al.
patent: 3914928 (1989-11-01), None
patent: 9211617.5 (1992-12-01), None
patent: 0310589 (1988-06-01), None
patent: 0844813 (1997-11-01), None
Berndt Manfred
Brombacher Volker
Agilent Technologie,s Inc.
Tolin Gerald
LandOfFree
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