Electricity: circuit makers and breakers – Periodic – Multiple contacts
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-10
2004-06-29
Enad, Elvin (Department: 2832)
Electricity: circuit makers and breakers
Periodic
Multiple contacts
C200S0110TC
Reexamination Certificate
active
06756549
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a power control apparatus provided on a power supply line so as to effect the interruption of power supply and so on.
FIGS. 16
to
18
show one conventional power control apparatus of the type described (serving as a power interrupting apparatus) disclosed in JP-A-11-219631. As shown in
FIGS. 16
to
18
, the power interrupting apparatus
100
comprises a casing
101
, made of a synthetic resin, a motor
102
, fixedly mounted on this casing
101
, a worn gear
103
, fixedly mounted on a rotation shaft
102
a
of the motor
102
, a worn wheel portion
104
disposed in mesh with this worm gear
103
, a pivotal (swinging) terminal
105
(serving as a moving terminal), pivotally mounted at one side portion thereof on the casing
101
, a pair of opposed fixed terminals
106
and
107
, disposed near respectively to upper and lower sides of a path of pivotal movement of the pivotal terminal
105
, and resilient contact elements
108
and
109
mounted respectively on inner surfaces of the fixed terminals
106
and
107
.
The pivotal terminal
105
has a conducting portion
110
and an insulating portion
111
juxtaposed to each other in a direction of pivotal movement of this pivotal terminal. One of the two fixed terminals
106
and
107
is electrically connected to a power source while the other is electrically connected to a load.
In the above construction, the motor
102
is driven to pivotally move the pivotal terminal
105
, and when the conducting portion
110
of the pivotal terminal
105
is brought into a swinging position where this conducting portion
110
is inserted between the pair of fixed terminals
106
and
107
as shown in
FIG. 16
, the pair of fixed terminals
106
and
107
are electrically connected together through the pivotal terminal
105
, thus achieving an electrically-conducting condition.
When the insulating portion
111
of the pivotal terminal
105
is brought into the swinging position where this insulating portion
111
is inserted between the pair of fixed terminals
106
and
107
as shown in
FIG. 17
, the pair of fixed terminals
106
and
107
are electrically disconnected from each other through the pivotal terminal
105
, thus achieving an interrupting condition.
In the above conventional power interrupting apparatus
100
, however, the pivotal terminal
105
is provided as the moving terminal, and the upper and lower surfaces of this pivotal terminal
105
, disposed in the same direction as the direction of rotation of this pivotal terminal, serve as contact surfaces for the pair of fixed terminals
106
and
107
. Therefore, there was encountered a problem that a space, larger than a space for mounting the pivotal terminal
105
, need to be secured as a space for moving the pivotal terminal
105
, and this was one of the causes for the increased size of the apparatus.
In the above conventional power interrupting apparatus
100
, however, the conducting portion
110
of the pivotal terminal
105
is slidingly inserted between the resilient contact elements
108
and
109
(fixedly secured at their opposite ends to the pair of fixed terminals
106
and
107
, respectively), and therefore is contacted with these resilient contact elements. Therefore, if the gap between the pair of fixed terminals
106
and
107
varies to decrease even slightly, the sliding insertion of the pivotal terminal
105
would become extremely difficult, and if the gap between the pair of fixed terminals
106
and
107
varies to increase even slightly, the pressure of contact between the resilient contact elements
108
and
109
and the conducting portion
110
, as well as the area of contact therebetween, would extremely decrease. Therefore, this construction is not suited for the type of power interrupting apparatus to be provided on a power supply line for flowing a large current therethrough.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, this invention has been made in order to solve the above problem, and an object of the invention is to provide a power control apparatus in which a space for moving a moving terminal is available merely by securing a space for mounting this moving terminal, and the overall size of the apparatus can be reduced. Further, an object of the invention is to provide a power control apparatus which can be suitably used for a power supply line of a large current.
In order to solve the aforesaid object, the invention is characterized by having the following arrangement.
(1) A power control apparatus comprising:
a rotating terminal including a circumferential outer peripheral surface, and having electrically conductive areas and non-electrically conductive areas alternately arranged on the outer peripheral surface in a circumferential direction thereof; and
a pair of fixed terminals fixed and disposed outwardly of a path of rotation of the outer peripheral surface,
wherein the pair of fixed terminals is switched between an electrically conducting condition in which the pair of fixed terminals are electrically connected together through the rotating terminal, and an interrupting condition in which the electrical connection between the pair of fixed terminals through the rotating terminal is interrupted in accordance with a rotating position of the rotating terminal.
(2) The power control apparatus according to (1), wherein the rotating terminal is rotated by a driving force of a motor.
(3) The power control apparatus according to (2) further comprising a controller for controlling the driving of the motor so as to control the electrical connection between the pair of fixed terminals and the interruption of the electrical connection.
(4) The power control apparatus according to (3) further comprising a manual switch for feeding a power interrupting instruction to the controller.
(5) The power control apparatus according to (1) further comprising a current sensor for detecting a current level of a power supply line which can be made conductive and can be interrupted by the rotation of the rotating terminal.
(6) The power control apparatus according to (1), wherein the pair of electrically conductive areas are symmetric with respect to an axis of rotation of the rotating terminal, and the pair of non-electrically conductive areas are symmetric with respect to the axis thereof.
(7) The power control apparatus according to (1), wherein a multi-contact spring member is provided at the electrically conductive areas for electrically connecting the pair of fixed terminals.
(8) The power control apparatus according to (7), wherein the multi-contact spring member includes a rail member extending between the electrically conductive areas, and a plurality of resilient contact springs projecting outwardly from the rail member at the electrically conductive areas, which is brought into contact with the pair of fixed terminal in the electrically conducting condition.
(9) The power control apparatus according to (8), wherein the plurality of contact spring project in an inclined manner so as to extend toward a direction opposite to a rotating direction of the rotating terminal.
(10) The power control apparatus according to (1), wherein
an electrically-conductive contact spring is provided at the outer peripheral surface of the rotating terminal, and the contact spring is fixed at one end thereof to the outer peripheral surface while the other end thereof serving as a free end projects from the outer peripheral surface, and
each of the pair of fixed terminal includes a contact surface in which the contact spring can be brought into contact with the contact surface in a resiliently-deformed condition.
(11) The power control apparatus according to (10), wherein insulating frames are disposed adjacent to the outer peripheral surface of the rotating terminal, and are provided respectively at other regions than the regions where the pair of fixed terminals are provided, and the insulating frames have respective contact surfaces, and the contact surfaces of the insulating frames and the contact surfaces of the pair
Endo Takayoshi
Kondo Hironori
Nakamura Goro
Ohashi Norihiro
Satoh Takahiro
Enad Elvin
Klaus Lisa
Sughrue & Mion, PLLC
Yazaki -Corporation
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