CN106098476B - Coupling adapter - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a coupling adapter, in particular to a coupling adapter (9) for connecting a coupling line (17) to a fixed contact rod (3) protruding at an input side (2) of a switching device (1), wherein the coupling adapter (9) has a clamping device (18) with an entry side (20) for introducing the contact rod (3), an exit side (21) for introducing the coupling line (17), and a contact region (19) for electrically connecting the contact rod (3) to the coupling line (17). At the contact region (19) there is a device (22) for increasing the transition resistance between the contact rod (3) and the connection conductor (17).

Description

coupling adapter

technical field

The invention relates to a coupling adapter for connecting coupling conductors with fixed contact bars protruding on the input side of switching devices (Schaltgerät, sometimes referred to as switching devices), wherein the coupling adapter has a clamping device There is an entry side for the introduction of the contact bars, an exit side for the introduction of the connecting conductors and a contact area for the electrical connection of the contact bars to the connecting conductors.

Background technique

Such a coupling adapter is in particular a carrier for a single mount (Einzelaufstellung, sometimes called a single mount) thermal overload relay, also briefly referred to as a single mount (Einzelaufstellung, sometimes called a single mount).

Thermal overload relays are usually used together with contactors (Schütz) and are connected directly to the contactors. Thermal overload relays have, on their exit side, connecting points for connecting connecting conductors, usually implemented as screw clamps (Schraubklemme, sometimes referred to as screw terminals/terminals). A contact bar protrudes at the contactor on the entry side. In order to connect the thermal overload relay to the contactor, the contact bar is introduced into a coupling holder (Anschlussklemme, sometimes called a terminal block) present on the exit side on the contactor and connected. The current path(s) within the thermal overload relay extend from the entry side to the exit side, wherein the current paths are respectively guided through the thermal overload relay between the contact bars on the entry side and the connection points on the exit side. The thermal overload relay is usually implemented as a three-pole device with corresponding three current paths conducted in parallel.

The function of thermal overload relays is based on current-dependent heating.

The contactor influences the heat balance in the thermal overload relay when it is usually used together with the contactor. The contactor prevents heat from flowing out of the thermal overload relay at the attachment side of the contactor. The waste heat of the contactor can also partly cause additional heating of the relay. This is taken into account when designing and laying out a hot flip-flop when adjusting (sometimes called calibrating) the flip-flop, including the heating element.

In exceptional cases, for example when the space at the installation site (eg switching cabinet (sometimes called switch cabinet)) is not sufficient for the relay/contactor combination, the thermal overload relay is fixed on a so-called single carrier. This single carrier is an adapter which enables, in addition to the holding function, to connect the connecting conductors directly to the contact bars on the entry side of the relay. For this purpose, the single carrier has connection holders (Verbindungsklemme, sometimes called terminals/terminals) into which the contact bars of the relay on the entry side and the connecting conductors on the exit side can be introduced and can be connected in a clamping manner .

With regard to thermal balance, however, a contactor is missing when using thermal overload relays with a single carrier. Heat can flow out of the relay by means of the clamping device and the connecting conductors in a single carrier. Also missing is the waste heat of the contactor. The single carrier parts of the known type of construction generate almost no waste heat, since the connection holder has a low transition resistance, at which almost no waste heat is generated.

However, since the thermal trigger of the thermal overload relay is already adjusted for operating conditions with additional heat from the contactor, this leads to misadjustment when used with a single carrier. This is dealt with in the prior art in that two different adjustment scales are applied to the thermal overload relay, one for operation with directly coupled contactors and one for operation with a single contactor. The operation in the case of the piggyback and the user must take care to use the scale corresponding to the respective application case. This makes usage error-prone on the user's side. Alternatively two different kinds of thermal overload relays are provided, which are adjusted for the respective use case. This increases the variety of varieties the manufacturer has to offer and is disadvantageous for the manufacturer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is therefore to create a single carrier in such a way that the thermal overload relay does not have to be thermally readjusted when used together with the single carrier.

This task is solved according to the invention in that, in connection adapters of this type for connecting connection conductors to fixed contact bars protruding on the input side of the switching device, there is at the contact area a means for A device for increasing the transition impedance between the contact bar and the connecting conductor.

The advantage of the solution according to the invention is that waste heat is additionally generated there due to the increased transition resistance at the clamping device of the coupling adapter, and thus also prevents or at least reduces the passage of heat from the relay through the clamping device. outflow of the device. On the basis of the thermal balance, the device according to the invention for increasing the transition impedance simulates an attached contactor thermally to a certain extent, ie no contactor is attached, but the relay is fixed on a single carrier place. It is therefore no longer necessary to adjust the thermal trigger differently in a way that depends on the type of use of the relay (ie with attached contactor or in a single mount). The use of thermal overload relays becomes simpler on the user's side, eliminating possible sources of misregulation. The number of device variants that should be offered on the manufacturer's side has been reduced.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the clamping device is a screw clamp with a displaceably mounted clamping frame and a clamping screw, wherein the clamping The inner area of the frame is divided by the fixed-contact conducting rails into an incoming-side coupling space and an outgoing-side coupling space, and wherein the clamping threaded fasteners co-operate with the clamping frame to introduce contacts on the incoming side The rods and the connecting conductors introduced on the exit side are clamped firmly on both sides of the fixed-contact conducting track at this fixed-contact conducting track.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the means for increasing the transition impedance is the above-mentioned fixed contact conducting track, which is non-positively connected to the contact rod at the first contact point and in the opposite The second contact point of the contact point is non-positively connected to the connecting conductor, wherein the current path in the fixed contact conducting track extending from the first contact point to the second contact point has an increased electrical impedance. The clamping arrangement with fixed contact conducting rails in the inner space of the clamping frame (in order to divide this inner space into a first coupling space and a second coupling space) is known in principle. A person skilled in the art strives when designing the clamping coupling to design it with the lowest possible transition resistance. In the known clamping couplings, the fixed contact conducting tracks are therefore machined from a well-conducting material. An inventive result of the solution to the problem of the invention consists in creating a clamping point with a targeted increase in the transition resistance. This contradicts everything a person skilled in the art has learned to take into account when designing a gripping site. However, it is precisely the case that, due to the thermal balance, to a certain extent at the clamping points of the individual carriers, a thermal simulation of the connected contactors is facilitated.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the fixed contact conducting track is a metal strip, wherein the length of the current path in the metal strip between the first contact point and the second contact point is longer than that between the first contact point and the second contact point. The shortest distance between the two contact sites is large. An increase in the length of the current path contributes to an increase in the transition impedance.

In order not to make the space requirement at the clamping device too great despite the lengthening of the metal strip, according to an advantageous embodiment of the invention the metal strip is folded at least once between the first contact point and the second contact point, by The metal strip has a first leg and a second leg spaced apart from the first leg and a connecting bend between the two legs.

In order in use that the two legs are not pushed against each other and thus not to cause a short circuit between the two which again reduces the transition impedance, according to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, between the first leg and the In the intermediate space between the second legs there is an electrical insulating spacer. The spacer can be a plate made of an insulating material, for example of plastic or ceramic.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the increase in the transition resistance at the clamping point can also be achieved in that the fixed contact conducting track is a metal strip, wherein the metal strip is located between the first contact point and the second contact point. The effective conductor cross-section in the current path between the two contact points is reduced in order to increase the electrical impedance. The reduction in the effective cross section contributes to an increase in the electrical impedance of the metal strip.

Another possibility for promoting an increase in the transition impedance at the clamping point is according to an advantageous embodiment of the invention that the fixed contact conducting track is made of a material with an increased specific electrical impedance. This can be a very poorly conducting steel or a metal alloy with an increased electrical impedance due to doping.

Description of drawings

The invention and further advantageous configurations and refinements of the invention are to be further explained and described with the aid of the drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown.

in:

Figures 1a and b show the thermal overload relay and a single carrier individually (Figure 1a) and joined together (Figure 1b),

FIG. 2 shows a clamping device designed according to the invention with a contact area designed according to the invention of an adapter according to the invention,

Figure 3 shows a detailed view of a contact area in cross section in an embodiment according to the invention.

List of reference symbols

1 Thermal overload relay

2 Input side

3 contact bars

3' contact bar

3'' contact bar

4 latch bridge

5 Locking tabs

6 away side

7 Positive side

8 Adjustment switch

9 single mounts

10 Substrates

11 Connection block

12 Entry side

13 Leave side

14 Introducing the window

14' lead-in window

14'' lead-in window

15 Front side

16 Enter the opening

16' entry opening

16'' access opening

17 Connecting conductors

18 Clamping device

19 Contact area

20 Entry side of the clamping device

21 Exit side of clamping device

22 Devices for increasing impedance; fixed contact conducting tracks; current tracks

23 The first contact point

24 Second contact point

25 first leg

26 Second leg

27 Connect bends; bend edges

28 Spacers for insulation

29 Clamping frame

30 Clamping threaded fasteners

31 Connection space on the entry side

32 Connection space on the outgoing side

33 Locking tabs

34 Snap tabs.

Detailed ways

FIG. 1 a shows a three-pole thermal overload relay 1 . The thermal overload relay has an approximately square housing of insulating material. At the input side 2 of the insulating material housing three contact bars 3 , 3 ′, 3 ″ project, each of which belongs to one of the three pole paths through the relay. Below the contact bar, on the input side of the housing, a detent bridge 4 also protrudes with detent projections 5 at the end. The latching bridge 4 and the latching projection 5 serve to releasably lock the housing of the thermal overload relay 1 with the housing of the contactor when it is attached to the contactor.

The exit side 6 of the thermal overload relay is located opposite the input side 2 at which (not visible in the figure) there is a coupling clamp for coupling the outgoing conductor.

On the positive side 7 connecting the input side 2 and the exit side 6 there are various operating and adjusting elements, which are known in principle. By way of example only the control switch 8 should be mentioned here, with which the control of the thermal trigger can be adapted to different nominal current levels.

To the right of the thermal overload relay 1 , FIG. 1 shows a carrier for a single carrying thermal overload relay, also referred to briefly as a single carrier 9 . The single mount 9 has a substantially L-shaped profile. The base plate 10 is used to hold and guide the thermal overload relay 1 . A coupling block 11 is present in a manner arranged perpendicular to the base plate 10 and adjacent to one free end of the base plate 10 . The coupling block has an entry side 12 facing the contact bars 3 , 3 ′, 3 ″ and an exit side 13 which is opposite the entry side 12 . Between the entry side 12 and the exit side 13 a clamping device is arranged in the interior of the coupling block 11 for each pole path, see FIGS. 2 and 3 . In FIG. 1 a three exit-side introduction windows 14 , 14 ′, 14 ″ can be seen in the housing wall of the individual carrier 9 . By means of each of the introduction windows 14 , 14 ′, 14 ″ the exit conductor can be led from the outside to the exit side of the clamping device in the interior of the coupling block 11 , see FIGS. 2 and 3 . At the entry side 12 opposite the exit side 13 there are correspondingly arranged entry openings (not visible in the figure), the contact bars 3 , 3 ′, 3 ″ are joined together with the single carrier 9 at the thermal overload relay 1 . It acts through these entry openings and can be introduced into the clamping device on the entry side, see FIGS. 2 and 3 .

At the front side 15 of the coupling block 11 there are three access openings 16 , 16 ′, 16 ″ for guiding a handling tool such as a screwdriver to the clamping threads of the three clamping devices in the interior of the coupling block 11 fastener.

There are two latching projections 33 , 34 on the upper side of the base plate 10 .

FIG. 1 b shows the layout when the thermal overload relay 1 is placed at a single carrier 9 . The contact rods 3 , 3 ′, 3 ″ are introduced into the entry-side guide openings. The housing of the overload relay 1 is locked by means of latching projections 33 , 34 on its lower side, which is seated on the upper side of the base plate 10 .

Observe Figures 2 and 3 at this point. They show a clamping device 18 as used in the coupling adapter 9 according to the invention (Fig. 2 in an oblique view, Fig. 3 in a cross-sectional view).

The clamping device 18 has an approximately rectangular clamping frame 29 . At the upper narrow side of the clamping frame the clamping frame has a threaded opening into which the clamping threaded fastener 30 is inserted. The space between the upper narrow side and the lower narrow side of the clamp frame 29 forms a clamp accommodating space. The stationary contact conducting rail 22 divides the holder accommodating space into an upper, entry-side coupling space 31 and a lower, exit-side coupling space 32 . From the gripper entry side 20 , in FIGS. 2 and 3 , the contact bar 3 of the thermal overload relay is introduced into the entry-side connection space 31 from the left side. From the gripper exit side 21 , in FIGS. 2 and 3 , the connecting conductor 17 is introduced into the exit-side connecting space 32 from the right side. When the clamping threaded fastener 30 is screwed in downwards, it hits the contact bar 3 and is supported there, thereby pulling the clamping frame 29 upwards as the clamping threaded fastener continues to be screwed in, Until the clamping frame hits the connecting conductor 17 and the lower narrow side of the clamping frame is used to push the connecting conductor against the current track (Stromschiene, sometimes called Stromschiene) when the threaded fastener 30 is screwed in further. busbar) 22 and pushes the current track 22 against the contact bar 3 . The current track 22 is then located in the contact area 19 between the connecting conductor 17 and the contact bar 3 . With the clamping screw 30 screwed in, the fixed contact conducting rail 22 is connected to the contact bar 3 in a non-positive manner at the first contact point 23 and at the second contact point 24 opposite the first contact point 23 . The fixed contact conducting track is connected to the connecting conductor 17 in a non-positive manner. In the clamping device 18 the current flows from the connecting conductor 17 to the contact bar 3 via the current track 22 .

The fixed contact conducting track 22 is constructed in the shape of a metal strip which is folded once between the first contact point 23 and the second contact point 24 . In the contact area 19 the fixed contact conducting track 22 has a first leg 25 and a second leg 26 parallel to the first leg, and the two are connected by a fold 27 (also referred to as a curved fold or curved edge) connection. The fixed contact conducting track is bent at the curved edge 27 in terms of manufacturing technology. The first leg 25 and the second leg 26 are spaced from each other. An insulating spacer 28 is inserted in the space between the two legs 25 , 26 . The spacer can be, for example, a small insulating plate made of ceramic or of insulating plastic. The insulating spacer 28 prevents the two legs 25 , 26 from being pushed against each other by the clamping threaded fastener and thus a short circuit between the two legs 25 , 26 when the clamp is tightened.

The current path extends in the contact region from the first contact point 23 to the second contact point 24 via the first leg 25 , the connecting bend 26 and the second leg 26 . This extension of the current path is forced to be longer than the shortest path from the first contact point 23 directly down to the second contact point 24 .

The folding of the current track 22 in the contact region and the insertion of the insulating spacers 28 thus result in an extension of the current path in the contact region. This means an increase in the transition resistance between the first contact point 23 and the second contact point 24 . This lengthening of the current path is achieved due to the folds together with the insulating spacers therebetween, while the dimensions of the outer part of the coupling holder are comparable to the "normal" embodiment without such lengthening of the current path. The ratio has not changed.

That is to say, according to the invention, the fixed contact conductor track 22 is modified in such a way that it additionally fulfills the function of increasing the transition impedance between the contact bar 3 and the connecting conductor 17 at the contact region 19 . The fixed contact conducting track is therefore also referred to as means for increasing the transition impedance.

The fixed contact conductor track 22 is made of copper-plated steel in this example. Due to the lengthening of the current path according to the invention, the transition resistance in the contact region 19 is increased, thereby additionally generating heat and preventing it from flowing out of the thermal overload relay via the contact bar 3 and the connecting conductor 17 .

In a further exemplary embodiment (which is not shown in the figure here), the increase of the transition resistance in the contact region can also be effected in that the metal strip is located between the first contact point 23 and the The effective conductor cross-section in the current path between the second contact points 24 is reduced in order to increase the electrical impedance, since the effective conductor cross-section is narrowed to increase the impedance.

In a further exemplary embodiment (which is not shown here in the figures), the increase of the transition resistance in the contact region can also be effected in that the fixed contact conducting track 22 is formed with an increased ratio Made of electrical impedance material.

Claims (7)

1. A coupling adapter (9) for connecting a coupling conductor (17) with a fixed contact bar (3) protruding at the input side (2) of a switching device (1), wherein the coupling adapter (9) ) has a clamping device (18) with an entry side (20) for introducing the contact bar (3), an exit side (21) for introducing the connecting conductor (17), and a A contact area (19) for electrically connecting the contact bar (3) to the connecting conductor (17), characterized in that there is a contact area (19) at the contact area (19) for improving the ) and the means of transition impedance between the connecting conductor (17), wherein the means for increasing the transition impedance is a fixed contact conducting track (22) at the first contact location (23) is connected in a force-fitted manner to the contact bar (3) and to the connecting conductor (17) at a second, opposite contact point (24), wherein in the stationary contact conducting track (22) The current path extending from the first contact site (23) to the second contact site (24) has an increased electrical impedance. 2. Coupling adapter (9) according to claim 1, characterized in that the fixed contact conductive track (22) is a metal strip, wherein in the metal strip at the first contact point (23) The length of the current path with the second contact point (24) is greater than the shortest distance between the first contact point (23) and the second contact point (24). 3. Coupling adapter (9) according to claim 2, characterized in that the metal strip is folded at least once between the first contact point (23) and the second contact point (24), by The metal strip has a first leg (25) and a second leg (26) spaced apart from the first leg (25) and a connecting bend (26) between the two legs (25, 26). 27). 4. The coupling adapter (9) according to claim 3, characterized in that in the intermediate space between the first leg (25) and the second leg (26) there is an electrical insulating effect spacer (28). 5. The coupling adapter (9) according to claim 1, characterized in that the fixed contact conductive track (22) is a metal strip, wherein the metal strip is located at the first contact position (23) and the The effective conductor cross-section in the current path between the second contact points (24) is reduced in order to increase the electrical impedance. 6. Coupling adapter (9) according to claim 1, characterized in that the fixed contact conducting track is made of a material with an increased specific electrical impedance. 7. Coupling adapter (9) according to claim 1, characterized in that the clamping device (18) is a screw clamp with a displaceably supported clamping frame ( 29) and clamping threaded fasteners (30), wherein the inner area of the clamping frame (29) is divided by the fixed contact conductive track into an entry-side coupling space (31) and an exit-side coupling space (32) ), and wherein said clamping threaded fastener (30), in cooperation with said clamping frame (29), incorporates a contact bar (3) introduced on the entry side and a coupling conductor (17) introduced on the exit side ) is fastened and clamped at the fixed contact conductive track on both sides of the fixed contact conductive track.

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