DE102013201862A1 - Electric appliance e.g. difference current circuit breaker has marker attached at functional device so that functional device is identified in unique way, and housing recess arranged and designed so that marker is viewable from outside - Google Patents

Abstract

The electric appliance has a housing, a functional device (130) arranged in the housing. A marker (140) is attached at the functional device, such that the functional device is identified in an unique way. The housing is provided with a recess (116) which is arranged and designed such that the marker is viewable from the outside. The recess is formed in a side wall of the housing. The marker is received in the recess, so that a portion of the side wall of the assigned outer surface of the housing is formed by the marker. The recess is completely closed by the marker.

Description

The present invention relates to electrical appliances which have a housing, a functional component arranged in the housing and a marking element, which is attached to the functional component and which identifies the functional component in an unambiguous manner.

In electrical engineering, there are electrical devices which, arranged in a housing, have a functional component or a plurality of functional components. Such electrical devices are, for example, switching devices such as residual current circuit breaker (FI), residual current device (DI) or circuit breaker (LS). Such switching devices, which are used regularly in modern electrical installations, have various functional components.

In German standardization, the terms FI are used for mains-voltage independent devices and DI for mains voltage dependent devices. Such a distinction in mains voltage-independent and mains voltage-dependent switching devices is no longer made in English-speaking standards and in today's standard IEC and EN standards. In these recent regulations for electrical installations, FI and DI are uniformly managed under the umbrella term "RCD" (Residual Current Protective Device). The terms "differential current" and "residual current" are therefore used synonymously in this document.

In protective switching devices, a so-called summation current transformer is used to detect a differential or fault current, with the help of which flows flowing to a consumer and the currents flowing back from the consumer of a circuit vectorial, i. directional or signed, to be added. Flows at any point within the circuit current to earth from, so the sum of the current flowing back and forth flowing in the summation current transformer is not equal to zero. The resulting current difference leads to the triggering of the protective switching device and as a result to the shutdown of the corresponding circuit.

The actual tripping of the protective switching device by means of a trigger relay, which is another important functional component of a protective switching device and which is often referred to as a holding magnet. When the tripping relay triggers, the relevant line is switched off in all poles via the so-called switch lock.

In order to increase the production reliability of electrical devices, it is known to provide individual functional components with individual markings. In the event of a failure of a functional component provided with an individual marking, it is then possible to read out this individual marking and to find out the manufacturer, the construction type, the production batch etc. of the relevant functional component based on the corresponding information read out. This is also referred to as traceability or traceability. In the context of traceability, in particular information about the production batch can contribute to avoid errors in the production of the functional component in the future and / or to arrange for appropriate retrieval actions of electrical devices in which appropriate functional components were installed.

For recognizing or reading an individual marking or coding of a functional component which is installed inside a housing, however, the housing must be opened. This is often not easy, in particular when housing parts inserted into one another by latching mechanisms.

In this context, it is also known to remove in the production of an electrical device individual codes that are applied to be installed within a housing functional components, and to install on an outer side of the housing. This type of re-labeling is very tedious. The same applies to a new generation of a code which is derived from the codes of the installed functional components. This is not only cumbersome but also prone to errors that would make traceability very uncertain or inaccurate.

The invention has for its object to provide an electronic device in which built in a housing functional components can be traced in a simple and reliable manner.

This object is solved by the subject matters of the independent claims. Advantageous embodiments, further features and details of the present invention will become apparent from the dependent claims, the description and the drawings.

According to a first aspect of the invention, an electrical device is described. The electrical device comprises (a) a housing, (b) a functional component disposed in the housing, and (c) a marker attached to the functional component that uniquely identifies the functional component. According to the invention, the housing has a recess which is arranged and designed such that the marking element is visible from the outside.

The described electrical device is based on the finding that a marking element which uniquely identifies the functional component remains visible even after assembly of the electrical device when the housing is provided with a corresponding recess or opening. Thus, even after the assembly of the electrical device and without a necessary disassembly of the electrical device in a simple and effective way a clear assignment of appropriately marked functional components possible.

In the described electrical device eliminates the need to transfer the mark of the functional component to a mark of the entire electrical device or, in particular, when a plurality of functional components, each with a corresponding mark are arranged in the housing to link these markers to a single device mark. Thus, errors that can always occur when transferring a mark or a combination of multiple markings to a single device mark can be excluded in a simple and advantageous manner.

The marking element can identify the functional component individually or with regard to its type of construction. An individual marking, in which different functional components of the same construction type are marked with different marking elements, has the advantage that a traceability of the individual functional components used without disassembly of the housing is possible. For example, errors in the production of a plurality of electrical devices can be more easily revealed on the basis of the individual identification of the functional elements. Such traceability to the individual functional components, such as built-in modules, is also referred to as "traceability".

The marker may be, for example, a bar code or a dot code (matrix code) attached to the physical structure of the marker. Illustratively, according to the invention, the corresponding coding on the entire electrical device is visible, so that a simple and rapid detection in the assembled state is made possible. For this it is only necessary to capture the externally visible coding with a suitable reader.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the recess is formed in a side wall of the housing. Furthermore, the marking element is received in the recess, so that a part of the side wall associated with the outer surface of the housing is formed by the marking element. This has the advantage that in the assembled state of the electrical device, the marking is particularly visible from the outside.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the recess is completely closed by the marking element. As a result, the interior of the electrical device against environmental influences, such as dust and dirt, are protected safely.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the marking element has an Anformung, which is attached to the functional component. Furthermore, the housing has a receiving contour, in which the Anformung is added. This has the advantage that the marking element or the Anformung not only allows a clear identification of the functional component but can additionally contribute to a stable support of the functional component in the housing.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the molding has a T-shaped cross-section. This has the advantage that the Anformung can be easily formed and fixed at a suitable receiving contour of the housing in a reliable manner to the housing.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the recess has a rectangular or triangular shape. Rectangle and triangle represent easy to manufacture forms for a recess in the housing and allow a secure fixation or adjustment of the functional component in the housing of the electrical device. In principle, regular polygons such as pentagon or hexagon and irregular polygons as a shape for the recess in question.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the housing has a first housing part and a second housing part. Further, the recess is located at the boundary between the first housing part and the second housing part. This has the advantage that an assembly or assembly of the electrical device can be particularly easily realized. The functional component and possibly other components of the electrical device can or can be inserted first in the first housing part. Thereafter, the second housing part can then be attached to the first housing part, wherein only care must be taken that the marking element is in the correct position and is not jammed between the two housing parts in a misalignment.

According to a further exemplary embodiment of the invention, the electrical system further comprises (a) a further functional component which is arranged in the housing, and (b) a further marking element, which is attached to the further functional component and which uniquely identifies the further functional component. Furthermore, the housing has a further recess, through which the further marking element is visible from the outside. This has the advantage that the markings of several functional components remain visible even after the assembly of the electrical device from the outside. A potentially erroneous linkage of the markings to an externally mounted on the housing device marking is therefore not required.

The further marking element and / or the further recess can be designed exactly as described above for the marking element and for the recess.

It should be noted that there is no principal upper limit with regard to the number of functional elements and / or recesses. The number of functional elements, which are subject to a unique identification, rather depends on the type of electrical device. So it is for example in electrical circuit breakers, such as residual current circuit breaker (FI), differential circuit breaker (DI) and circuit breaker (LS) is advantageous if at least the functional components summation current transformer and trip relay or holding magnet are provided with a corresponding marker, which also after assembly of the relevant Switching device can be seen from the outside.

Furthermore, it is also possible for two or more marking elements to remain visible from the outside through a single correspondingly larger recess.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the electrical device further comprises an inner housing, which is arranged in the housing. In this case, the functional component is arranged in the inner housing. Further, the inner housing has an inner recess, which is arranged and formed such that the recess and the inner recess have an at least partial overlap, so that the marking element is visible through the recess and through the inner recess from the outside.

To put it simply, this means that the functional component is located in the inner housing and that the inner housing is located together with the functional part in the (outer) housing. So that the marking element remains recognizable from the outside, not only the housing but also the inner housing must have a recess or an inner recess which overlap in the assembled state of the electrical device such that the marking element or an attached to the marking element coding are recognized from the outside can.

In electrical circuit breakers, for example, designed as a holding magnet or tripping relay functional component, which is so important for the function of the circuit breaker that quality variations of the holding magnet or the tripping relay affect the functioning of the circuit breaker, be arranged in an inner housing or inner housing of the electrical device , The marking element associated with the holding magnet or the release relay can then be recognized from outside as a result of the two overlapping recesses (the recess and the inner recess). In this case, the marking element may be formed so that it protrudes through the inner recess and a coding on an end face of the marking element is at least approximately flush with an outer surface of the (outer) housing. It is not necessary to look into the (outer) housing in order to be able to recognize the coding of the marking element.

Furthermore, in the case of electrical protection switching devices, a summation current transformer can be arranged exclusively in the (outer) housing. The corresponding marking element is then preferably designed such that, as already described above, it can be recognized from the outside as a result of a recess in the (outer) housing. Thus, with the summation current transformer and the holding magnet or the tripping relay two particularly important functional components of an electrical circuit breaker can be clearly identified from the outside by their coding. If faulty devices can then be easily and without opening the housing possibly defective functional components are identified individually. This individual identification can then be used to investigate the production of the respective functional component more precisely, for example, based on a production batch of the respective functional component assigned to the individual coding, in order to prevent errors in the production of the functional component in the future and / or by suitable return actions of defective electrical circuit breakers cause.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the electrical device is designed as a residual current circuit breaker or as a residual current circuit breaker.

Residual current circuit breaker and residual current circuit breaker have in addition to a detection unit for detecting a differential current, to which the summation current transformer counts, nor a switching mechanism and at least one contact point for the phase conductor. When a differential current occurs, a trigger pulse is generated, which causes an interruption of the phase conductor via the switching mechanism. In so-called 1 + N switches usually two contact points are present, so that the triggering pulse of the detection unit due to a differential current through the switching mechanism and the neutral conductor is interrupted. Furthermore, three-phase devices with four contact points are possible, so that when a differential current occurs, both the three phase conductors and the neutral conductor are interrupted.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the electrical device is designed as a residual current release or as a residual current release.

Residual current releases and residual current releases in this context represent pure tripping units which do not have their own contact points for interrupting the phase conductor and / or the neutral conductor. They are used only for detecting a differential current and for generating a trigger pulse, which is transferable via a suitable coupling to a switching device, for example to a circuit breaker.

Further advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following exemplary description of presently preferred embodiments.

1 shows in a perspective section a lower housing part of a protective switching device, wherein designed as a summation current transformer functional component of the protective switching device is attached to a support structure of the lower housing part.

2 shows a perspective view of the protective switching device, which has two housing parts and a marking element, which is located between the two housing parts in a recess in the lower housing part.

3 shows the marking element, which is attached to the formed as a summation current transformer functional component.

4 shows in a perspective view how (a) designed as a trigger relay further functional component is introduced into an inner housing and how (b) then the inner housing is attached to a support structure of the lower housing part.

5 shows a further perspective view of the protective switching device, in which a mounted on the trigger relay further marking element can be seen in a further recess, which is formed in the upper housing part.

It should be noted that in the drawing features or components of different figures, which are the same or at least functionally identical with the corresponding features or components in other figures, provided with the same reference numerals. In order to avoid unnecessary repetitions, features or components already explained on the basis of a previously described figure will not be explained in detail later.

It should also be noted that the figures described below represent only a limited selection of possible embodiments of the invention. In particular, it is possible to suitably combine the features of individual figures with one another, so that a multiplicity of different embodiments are to be regarded as obviously disclosed to the person skilled in the art with the figures explicitly illustrated here.

1 shows in a perspective cutout a lower housing part 112 one in 2 completely illustrated protective switching device. Above the lower housing part 112 is a functional component designed as a summation current transformer 130 to recognize. The summation current transformer 130 becomes due to a shift down, as indicated by the dashed arrow, on a support structure 114 of the lower housing part 112 appropriate.

Like from the 1 and 3 can be seen, is located on the summation current transformer 130 a shape or expression 140 , At the front of the molding 140 is a coding 342 attached, which may be, for example, a dot matrix or a barcode. The shape or expression 140 is therefore referred to in this document as a marking element.

The shape or the expression 140 can be integral to the summation current transformer 130 be educated. However, it is also possible that the shape or the expression 140 and the summation current transformer 130 consist of two different components which are connected together in a suitable manner, for example by means of a bond.

How out 1 can be seen, the lower housing part at its top a recess 116 on. When the summation current transformer 130 down (along the dashed arrow) is brought into its final position, then there is the marking element 140 in the recess 116 , In this case, the front end face of the marking element is used 140 as attachment of the summation current transformer 130 in the support structure 114 of the lower housing part 112 , In the lower housing part is a corresponding mating contour as a receptacle for the expression 140 ,

2 shows a perspective view of the trained as a protective device electrical device 200 , The lower housing part 112 forms together with an upper housing part 222 a housing 210 of the protective switching device 200 , When assembled, the two housing parts 112 and 222 by means of several locking connections 220 connected with each other. On the upper side of the upper housing part is a receptacle 224 for a control element of the protective switching device 200 educated. On the lower side of the lower housing part 112 is a recording recess 218 formed, by means of which the protective switching device 200 can be releasably attached in a known manner to a mounting rail, not shown.

How out 2 it can be seen that remains on the front side of the marking element 140 located coding even after the assembly of the two housing parts 112 and 222 as a result of the recess 116 visible from the outside.

3 shows the formed from molding or marking marking element 140 which is connected to the summation current transformer 130 is attached and which on its end face the above-mentioned coding 342 having.

According to the embodiment shown here, the marking element has 140 a T-shaped geometry. Due to this simple shape, the marking element 140 be formed in a simple manner. In addition, in this form, the marking element 140 in a reliable manner on the lower housing part 112 be fixed.

4 shows in a perspective view, as designed as a trigger relay further functional component 450 in an inner housing 470 is introduced. This is done by the trip relay 450 is moved along a direction in 4 is determined by the obliquely directed to the top right dashed arrow. The inner case 470 provides a support structure for the trip relay 450 in which the trip relay 450 is arranged securely.

According to the embodiment shown here is located on the trigger relay 450 another marking element 460 , which has a unique for the holding magnet or for the trigger relay and individual coding. This coding can also be a matrix code or a barcode.

When the trip relay 450 correctly in the inner housing 470 has been introduced, then there is the further marking element 460 or the coding attached thereto exactly in an inner recess or a viewing window 472 , which was created by a recess. This recess is on the inner housing 470 educated.

4 further shows how, after the insertion of the trigger relay 450 in the inner housing 470 , the inner casing 470 down (along the dashed, vertically downwardly oriented arrow) on the lower housing part 112 is attached. When the inner case 470 is in its correct position, then the upper housing part on the lower housing part 112 appropriate. This is done by means of in 4 not shown locking connections.

5 shows a further perspective view of the protective switching device 200 when compared to 4 the upper housing part 222 has been set up. It can be seen that the further marking element 460 or the attached coding remains visible from the outside, because at the appropriate location in the upper housing part 222 another recess 518 is trained. The coding of the further marking element 460 is therefore due to the additional recess 518 and through the inner recess or the viewing window 472 in the inner housing 470 visible from the outside.

For the sake of completeness it is mentioned that in 5 the control lever already described above 590 It can be seen on the front of the circuit breaker 200 located.

In summary, it remains to be stated: In the case of the protective switching device described here 200 is in different housing parts 112 . 222 . 470 each formed an opening so that codes, which are located in the entire housing functional components 130 . 450 are attached, remain visible from the outside. The coding 342 connected to the functional component designed as a summation current transformer 130 attached is due to the recess 116 visible from the outside. The coding which is formed on the further functional component designed as a holding magnet or as a trigger relay 450 is attached, is due to the inner recess or the viewing window 472 in the inner housing 470 and due to the further recess 518 in the upper housing part 222 visible, noticeable. According to the embodiment shown here, the respective marking elements are used 140 . 460 at the same time as mechanical fastening structures, so that the respective functional component 130 . 450 securely on the relevant housing part (the lower housing part 112 or the inner housing 470 ) is attached. Both the holding magnet and the trigger relay 450 as well as the summation current transformer 130 So can in the ready-mounted protection device 200 be clearly identified without dismantling the protective device 200 must be done.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

112

lower housing part

114

support structures

116

recess

130

Functional component / summation current transformer

140

Marking element / shape / expression

200

electrical device / protective device

210

casing

218

Receiving cutout (for carrier rail)

220

locking connection

222

Upper housing part

224

Recording for control element

342

encoding

450

further functional component / release relay / holding magnet

460

further marking element

470

Inner housing / support structure for release relay

472

Interior recess / viewing window

518

further recess

590

operating lever

Claims (11)

Electric device ( 200 ), comprising a housing ( 210 ), a functional component ( 130 ), which in the housing ( 210 ), and a marking element ( 140 ), which on the functional component ( 130 ) and which the functional component ( 130 ) are uniquely identified, the housing ( 210 ) a recess ( 116 ), which is arranged and designed such that the marking element ( 140 ) is visible from the outside. Electric device ( 200 ) according to the preceding claim, wherein the recess ( 116 ) in a side wall of the housing ( 210 ) and wherein the marking element ( 140 ) in the recess ( 116 ) is received, so that a part of the side wall associated with the outer surface of the housing ( 210 ) of the marking element ( 140 ) is formed. Electric device ( 200 ) according to the preceding claim, wherein the recess ( 116 ) by the marking element ( 140 ) is completely closed. Electric device ( 200 ) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the marking element ( 140 ) has an Anformung which on the functional component ( 130 ), and wherein the housing ( 210 ) has a receiving contour, in which the Anformung is added. Electric device ( 200 ) according to the preceding claim, wherein the molding has a T-shaped cross-section. Electric device ( 200 ) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the recess ( 116 ) has a rectangular or triangular shape. Electric device ( 200 ) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the housing ( 210 ) a first housing part ( 112 ) and a second housing part ( 222 ) and wherein the recess ( 116 ) at the boundary between the first housing part ( 112 ) and the second housing part ( 222 ) is located. Electric device ( 200 ) according to one of the preceding claims, further comprising a further functional component ( 450 ), which in the housing ( 210 ) and another marking element ( 460 ), which on the further functional component ( 450 ) and which the further functional component ( 450 ) are uniquely identified, the housing ( 210 ) another recess ( 518 ), through which the further marking element ( 460 ) is visible from the outside. Electric device ( 200 ) according to one of the preceding claims, further comprising an inner housing ( 470 ), which in the housing ( 210 ), wherein the functional component is arranged in the inner housing, wherein the inner housing ( 470 ) an interior recess ( 472 ) which is arranged and formed such that the recess ( 518 ) and the inner recess ( 472 ) have an at least partial overlap, so that the marking element ( 460 ) through the recess ( 518 ) and through the Inner recess ( 472 ) is visible from the outside. Electric device ( 200 ) according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 9, wherein the electrical device is designed as a residual current circuit breaker or as a differential current circuit breaker. Electric device ( 200 ) according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 9, wherein the electrical device is designed as a residual current release or as a residual current release.

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