Electrical connectors – With coupling separator – Including retainer or joiner
Reexamination Certificate
2002-09-20
2003-09-16
Reichard, Dean A. (Department: 2831)
Electrical connectors
With coupling separator
Including retainer or joiner
C439S188000, C439S180000, C439S488000, C439S489000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06619970
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lever fitting-type manual disconnector capable of fitting or detaching one connector housing into or out of the other connector housing by operating a lever with small control force using a cam mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electric car contains an electric power source, i.e. a battery, which has a larger capacity as compared to a battery in a usual gasoline-engine car or the like. Accordingly, in the event of maintenance of electric systems or the like, a power circuit is set open with a circuit breaker in order to secure operation safety. As illustrated in
FIG. 1
to
FIG. 4
, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9(1997)-265874 discloses such a related power circuit breaker.
As shown in
FIG. 1
to
FIG. 4
, this circuit breaker
100
includes a body
101
and a detachable plug
102
disposed detachably on the body
101
. The body
101
is provided with a pair of male terminals
103
. One of the pair of male terminals
103
is electrically connected to a load, and the other male terminal
103
is electrically connected to a power unit via a fuse
104
. A pair of perpendicular guide walls
106
each including a guide groove
105
are severally provided on outer positions of the pair of male terminals
103
of the body
101
.
Moreover, as shown in
FIG. 4
, the body
101
is provided with a lead switch
107
a
. A closed state or an open state of the power circuit is detected by an on-state or an off-state of the lead switch
107
a
. Further, as shown in FIG.
1
and
FIG. 4
, the body
101
is provided with bolt fitting holes
108
in appropriate places. The body
101
is fixed to a fitting plane (not shown) with bolts (not shown) inserted into the bolt fitting holes
108
.
The detachable plug
102
includes a control lever
110
provided with a pair of protrusions
109
on right and left side faces thereof, a plug body
112
fitted rotatably on the control lever
110
via shafts
111
, and a pair of female terminals
114
fixed to the plug body
112
and electrically connected to each other with a bus bar
113
. Moreover, magnets
107
b
are buried severally in right-and-left symmetric positions on the control lever
110
.
When an operator grasps the control lever
110
of the detachable plug
102
and thereby inserts the pair of protrusions
109
into the pair of guide grooves
105
on the body
101
from the position illustrated with solid lines to the position illustrated with imaginary lines in
FIG. 3
, the male terminals
103
are inserted into the female terminals
114
owing to such an insertion stroke of the detachable plug
102
. Due to this operation, as shown in
FIG. 2
, the pair of male terminals
103
are electrically connected to each other via the pair of female terminals
114
and the bus bar
113
. Accordingly, the power circuit is set to a closed state. After the detachable plug
102
is inserted into the body
101
, the control lever
110
is rotated with respect to the plug body
112
from the position illustrated with imaginary lines to the position illustrated with solid lines in
FIG. 3
, and the control lever
110
is thereby laid sideways on the body
101
as shown in FIG.
4
. The magnet
107
b
closely faces the lead switch
107
a
immediately before laying the control lever
110
sideways, whereby the lead switch
107
a
is turned on. In this way, a closed state of the power circuit is detected electrically.
Meanwhile, in order to set this circuit to an open state, the control lever
110
laid sideways is rotated to an upright position, and the detachable plug
102
fitted to the body
101
is pulled upward from the body
101
. In other words, an action reverse to the foregoing fitting action should be carried out. Then, the pair of female terminals
114
come out of the pair of male terminals
103
owing to a pulling stroke of the detachable plug
102
, whereby the pair of male terminals
103
are disconnected from each other and the power circuit is set to the open state.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
However, according to the related power circuit breaker
100
, the power circuit is set to the closed state at the time of inserting the control lever
110
into the body
101
(in the state shown in FIG.
2
). That is, although a fitting operation is completed only after the control lever
110
is laid sideways with respect to the body
101
as shown in
FIG. 4
, the power circuit is set to the closed state in the midst of the operation. Moreover, the lead switch
107
a
detects the closed state for the first time when the operation of the control lever
110
is completed. Therefore, there is a risk of misunderstanding that the power circuit still remains at the open state at the time of inserting the control lever
110
into the body
101
, because the operation is not completed yet. Accordingly, it is preferable that the power circuit is set to the closed state for the first time after the operation of the control lever
110
is completed. Moreover, the power circuit is set to the open state at the time when the detachable plug
102
is pulled out of the body
101
and the pair of female terminals
114
are thereby disconnected from the pair of male terminals
103
. Therefore, if the detachable plug
102
is pulled out in the state that a high voltage is applied to a load side, there is a risk of causing arc discharge.
Moreover, the above-described power circuit breaker
100
is designed such that the body
101
can be detached from the fitting plane by unfastening the bolts in the bolt inserting holes
108
of the body
101
even in the state where the control lever
110
is inserted into the body
101
and the male terminals
103
and the female terminals
114
are thereby connected to one another. Therefore, there is a problem that safety for an operator cannot be secured in the case of detaching the body
101
for the purpose of repairing or the like.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the foregoing problems. An object of the present invention is to provide a lever fitting-type manual disconnector capable of preventing a closed state of a power circuit prior to completion of an operation of a lever, and capable of surely preventing occurrence of arc discharge. In addition, another object of the present invention is to provide a lever fitting-type manual disconnector, in which fixing means thereof is detachable only in an open state upon detaching the other connector housing from a fitting plane for the purpose of repairing or the like, and thereby capable of surely securing safety for an operator.
A first aspect of the present invention is a lever fitting-type manual disconnector including a first connector housing having a first terminal, a second connector housing having a second terminal for being combined with the first connector housing, a lever provided on the first connector housing, a cam groove provided on the lever, a cam pin provided on the second connector housing for being engaged with the cam groove, and a fitting-state detective switch for detecting a fitting-state of the connector housings. Here, the lever is rotated while the cam pin is engaged with the cam groove to establish a rotation completive position, in which the terminals on the both connector housings contact to each other. Then, the lever is moved linearly from the foregoing position to establish a fitting completive position, in which the fitting-state detective switch is turned on. Further, the lever is moved linearly from the fitting completive position reverse to the foregoing linear direction to establish the rotation completive position, in which the fitting-state detective switch is turned off. Then, the lever is rotated from the rotation completive position reverse to the foregoing rotational direction to establish an unconnected state of the terminals by detaching the both connector housings. Moreover, a circuit to be turned on and off by the fitting-state detective switch, and a power switch composed of the respective termin
Fukao Yasuyoshi
Fukushima Hirotaka
Hashizawa Shigemi
Kuboshima Hidehiko
Masuda Yutaka
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Ha Nguyen
Reichard Dean A.
Yazaki -Corporation
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