Electricity: electrical systems and devices – Electrostatic capacitors – Fixed capacitor
Patent
1986-05-05
1987-11-03
Tolin, G. P.
Electricity: electrical systems and devices
Electrostatic capacitors
Fixed capacitor
361396, 220 4C, 220306, 200307, H02B 108
Patent
active
047046597
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to modular housings for containing small electrical apparatuses distributed between the aligned and superposed modules which constitute the housings.
It is conventional to house small electrical apparatuses in housings made up from superposed modules which are fixed relative to one another and in which the electrical members are distributed. One example is given by the rotary electrical switches having superposed contact wafers as described, for example, in the Applicants' French patent No. 2517114 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,481,492.
In known manner, the modules of such housings are exactly positioned relative to one another by parts thereon penetrating into corresponding recesses of the modules with which they are to be coupled. These parts are conventionally constituted by pegs, lugs, or wall portions and they often provide a keying function or a locking function in addition to positioning per se.
Two superposed modules of a housing used conventionally to be rigidly assembled by bolting using a screw passing through the modules parallel to their stacking axis, and it is presently considered more advantageous to fix modules to one another by hooking flexible lugs or hooks on one module over fixed catches or rims on the other.
The lugs or hooks are flexible by virtue of their shapes, their sizes, and the nature of the materials from which they are made.
In known embodiments, it is sometimes possible after the apparatus has been assembled, or even after it has been installed, to displace the lugs or hooks unintentionally from the catches or rims with which they are engaged, in particular when said lugs or hooks are on the outside of a modular housing. This can be a drawback both during assembly and after the equipment has been installed, in which case there are additional safety-related risks.
However, this possibility of separating the fastening members also makes it possible to disassemble the modules constituting a housing, in particular during assembly, and thereby enables modifications to be performed on defective housings, in particular if discovered during assembly.
The present invention thus proposes a modular housing whose assembly enables the above-mentioned drawback to be avoided while still retaining the above-mentioned possibility of modifications.
The modular housing in accordance with the invention is provided for electrical apparatus which is distributed between the aligned and superposed modules of the housing, which modules are assembled to one another along an alignment axis by means of fixed transverse catches and flexible longitudinal lugs provided with catch-hooking windows, the lug windows of each module being threaded over the catches on the next module in the alignment when the housing is assembled.
According to a characteristic of the invention, each catch includes: an inlet slope facilitating lug-sliding thereover when the modules are stacked; a snap-fitting chamfer for providing reversible hooking between modules by resilient thrust between a rim of the window on said chamfer due to the window-containing lug being bent by the corresponding catch; and a contiguous retaining ramp enabling the modules to be rigidly locked together by positively thrusting the window rim against the retaining ramp after plastically deforming the lug including said window by pressing said lug against the catch by means of strong external transverse pressure, the stacking tolerances between modules being such that the rims of the windows bear against the snap-fixing chamfers without being able to come into contact with the retaining ramps of their own accord.
The following description of the invention, its characteristics and its advantages is made with reference to the figures listed below.
FIG. 1 is a front view of an embodiment of complementary modules intended to form a modular housing in accordance with the invention.
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the module shown in isolation in the middle of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a staggered section on a line III--III through the modul
REFERENCES:
patent: 2695723 (1954-11-01), Waterman
patent: 2744650 (1956-05-01), Woessner
patent: 4029929 (1977-06-01), Frank
patent: 4295181 (1981-10-01), Chang
patent: 4481492 (1984-11-01), Borne
Briguet Etienne
Heng Jean-Paul
Marmonier Andre
CGEE Alsthom
Tolin G. P.
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