Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present disclosure relates to the field of auto operation of circuit breaker. More particularly the present disclosure relates to a fool proof mounting feature for motor operated mechanism of circuit breaker.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Electrical operating mechanism (also referred as “EOM”) is used to drive molded case circuit breaker (MCCB) from a remote location through electrical input. EOM can be of two main types, direct drive operator and stored energy operator. In case of direct drive operator, motor energy is used in both ways of closing and opening the MCCB. In case of stored energy operator, the motor energy is used in the direction of ON-OFF movement, which means opening of MCCB, in which the spring assembled in the system is charged and allowed to store energy through various mechanical means. The stored energy is discharged, during the OFF-ON motion, which means closing of MCCB contacts. Stored energy operator has two modes of operation that are manual and auto. Manual mode consists of a charging unit and the handle attached to it, so that cranking system provided onto the handle allows customer to drive the MCCB from ON-OFF and a manual ON button allowing the unit to discharge the energized spring through various linkages mechanically connected. Auto mode consists of motor charging the spring and driving the unit from ON-OFF and input from remote location discharges the energized spring through mechanical linkages connected below. MCCB being the governing element, with preset boundary conditions and constraints, SE-EOM must perform primary, secondary, and tertiary functions in a determined manner.

Reference is made to patent docment US9859068B2. The invention described in the referred patent document pertains to a bucket assembly, comprising: a rotary handle attached to an inwardly oriented shaft; a drive gear in communication with the shaft so that rotation of the rotary handle rotates the drive gear; a pinion gear in communication with the drive gear; a rack gear in communication with the pinion gear; an operator slider in communication with the rack gear; a stationary operator base in communication with the operator slider and attached to a circuit breaker; a breaker lever in communication with the operator slider; and a trip assist spring in communication with the rack gear and slider, wherein the trip assist spring applies a force to bias the operator slider to reside at a location that is at a medial position of its sliding travel path to thereby provide a trip assist force to move the rotating handle to a consistent OFF position when the circuit breaker trips. The assembly further comprises a stationary mounting member that has a primary planar surface and an end portion that extends inwardly therefrom, residing in front of the operator base, closer to the rotary handle than the operator base; and a guide rod holding the trip assist spring, the guide rod having an end portion attached to the end portion of the mounting member. However, this patent tends to keep the rotary handle in Trip condition to avoid wrong mounting, however mounting may be possible in undesired condition as well. However, this patetnt tends to keep the rotary handle in Trip condition to avoid wrong mounting,however mounting may be possible in undesired condition as well

Further reference is made to US10892113B2. Ths patent document relates generally to rotary handle devices, and more particularly to rotating handle devices useful in operating a molded case circuit breaker, a motor circuit breaker, and a switch-disconnector, among others, mounted on the door of an electric protection cabinet.

Yet another reference is made to KR100597973B1. This patent document relates to a safety device for a circuit breaker, and more particularly, to prevent a safety accident that may occur in a live state during installation and removal of a plug-in type circuit breaker. It relates to a safety device that can restrain the mechanism of the circuit breaker as a safety device.

Hence, there remain a need for a mounting safty feature for motor operated mechanism of a circuit breaker that prevents mounting even if the user tries to forcefully mount in undesired conditions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The following disclosure presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the present invention. It is not intended to identify the key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concept of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description of the invention presented later.

The main object of present invention is to address and remove all the above limitations.

Another object of present invention is to provide a mounting safty feature for motor operated mechanism of a circuit breaker.

One aspect of the present invention relates to a motor operated mechanism for circuit breaker including a side plate, comprising:
a motor arranged on the side plate in the circuit breaker,
an epicyclic gear assembly operatively coupled with a motor shaft of the motor such that the rotation of the motor shaft facilitates rotation of the epicyclic gear assembly which in turn facilitates the rotation of a drive shaft;
the drive shaft operatively coupled with a rack assembly adapted to move linearly corresponding to the rotation of the drive shaft;
a MCCB knob;
a mid-plate comprising a mounting part;
a mounting spring connected to the mounting part and to the mid-plate;
wherein the mounting of said motor operated mechanism is only possible when the motor operated mechanism is in discharged state and said circuit breaker is in TRIP condition

Therefore, in the present invention mounting is prevented even if the user tries to forcefully mount in undesired conditions.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure will be more apparent in the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates the assembly of mounting part on the mid-plate according to one of the embodiments of present invention.

Figure 2 illustrates discharged state of MO (position 1) according to one of the embodiments of present invention.

Figure 3 illustrates charged state of MO (position 2) according to one of the embodiments of present invention.

Figure 4 illustrates the sectional view of mounting part (2) with the rack assembly (5) when MCCB State is ON and MO is dischared according to one of the embodiments of present invention.

Figure 5 illustrates position of the mounting part (2) with the rack assembly (5) when MCCB is in OFF state and MO is in discharged state according to one of the embodiments of present invention.

Figure 6 illustrates the desired condition of mounting where the MCCB state is TRIP and MO state is discharged according to one of the embodiments of present invention.

Figure 7 illustrates position of the mounting part (2) with the rack assembly (5) when MCCB state is ON and MO state is charged according to one of the embodiments of present invention.

Figure 8 illustrates position of the mounting part (2) with the rack assembly (5) when MCCB state is OFF and MO state is charged according to one of the embodiments of present invention.

Figure 9 illustrates position of the mounting part (2) with the rack assembly (5) when MCCB state is TRIP and MO state is charged according to one of the embodiments of present invention.

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may not have been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figure may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features, and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of various embodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding, but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the various embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of various embodiments of the present disclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, a reference to “a component surface” includes a reference to one or more of such surfaces.

All terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which various embodiments belong. Further, the meaning of terms or words used in the specification and the claims should not be limited to the literal or commonly employed sense but should be construed in accordance with the spirit of the disclosure to most properly describe the present disclosure.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular various embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of various embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising” used herein specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, members, components, and/or groups thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, members, components, and/or groups thereof. Also, Expressions such as “at least one of,” when preceding a list of elements, modify the entire list of elements and do not modify the individual elements of the list.

The present disclosure will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which various embodiments of the present disclosure are shown. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the various embodiments set forth herein, rather, these various embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the present disclosure. Furthermore, a detailed description of other parts will not be provided not to make the present disclosure unclear. Like reference numerals in the drawings refer to like elements throughout.

The present invention relates to a safety feature for fool proof mounting of motor operated mechanism on circuit breaker.

One embodiment of present invention pertains to a motor operated mechanism for circuit breaker including a side plate, comprising:
a motor arranged on the side plate in the circuit breaker,
an epicyclic gear assembly operatively coupled with a motor shaft of the motor such that the rotation of the motor shaft facilitates rotation of the epicyclic gear assembly which in turn facilitates the rotation of a drive shaft;
the drive shaft operatively coupled with a rack assembly adapted to move linearly corresponding to the rotation of the drive shaft;
a MCCB knob;
a mid-plate comprising a mounting part;
a mounting spring connected to the mounting part and to the mid-plate;
wherein the mounting of said motor operated mechanism is only possible when the motor operated mechanism is in discharged state and said circuit breaker is in TRIP condition.

In another embodiment, when the motor operated mechanism is in discharged state and said circuit breaker is in TRIP condition, the MCCB knob is inserted through a rack slot without any obstruction thereby falicitating the mounting of the motor operated mechanism.

In a further embodiemt, said mounting spring is connected to the mounting part and to the mid-plate by means of spring pins.

In yet another embodiment, the rack assembly adapted to move linearly corresponding to the rotation of the drive shaft to stretch one or more springs of the circuit breaker for facilitating the charging operation.

In a specific embodiemt, said motor operated mechanism further comprises a rack reset pin and a rack reset spring.

Fig 1 shows the assembly of mounting part on the mid-plate. Fig 2 shows discharged state of MO and fig 3 shows charged state of MO. The feature mentioned in this disclosure ensures that Motor operator mounts on circuit breaker only when the MCCB state is TRIP and MO state is discharged. It prevents mounting in all other possibilities as shown in the table below.

S.No. MCCB State MO State Desired condition
1 ON Discharged x
2 OFF Discharged x
3 TRIP Discharged ?
4 ON Charged x
5 OFF Charged x
6 TRIP Charged x

Fig 4 shows the sectional view of mounting part (2) with the rack assembly (5). The mounting part is fixed on the mid-plate (6) along with the spring (4) which brings back the mounting part to its original state. When the MO is discharged and MCCB state is ON, the front part of the rack assembly does not allow the MCCB knob to enter the slot (11) thus preventing mounting of MO on MCCB.

As shown in fig 5, the slot through which the MCCB knob is inserted is blocked by the mounting part. This prevents mounting of MO on circuit breaker when MCCB is in OFF state and MO is in discharged state.

Fig 6 shows the desired condition of mounting where the MCCB state is TRIP and MO state is discharged. The MCCB knob can be inserted through the rack slot without any obstruction.

As shown in fig 7, when MCCB state is ON and MO state is charged, insertion of MCCB knob is blocked by the back portion of rack assembly thus preventing mounting of MO on MCCB.

As shown in fig 8, when MCCB state is OFF and MO state is charged, MCCB knob is blocked by the rack reset pin which prevents mounting of MO on breaker.

When MCCB state is TRIP and MO state is charged (fig 9), mounting of breaker on MO is blocked by the rack reset spring which ensures that MO does not mount on breaker.

List of reference numerals:
S.No. Component Name
1 MCCB knob
2 Mounting part
3a Spring pin 1
3b Spring pin 2
4 Mounting Spring
5 Rack assembly
6 Mid plate
7 Rack reset spring
8 Rack reset pin
9 Motor Operator (MO)

, Claims:1. A motor operated mechanism for circuit breaker including a side plate, comprising:
a motor arranged on the side plate in the circuit breaker,
an epicyclic gear assembly operatively coupled with a motor shaft of the motor such that the rotation of the motor shaft facilitates rotation of the epicyclic gear assembly which in turn facilitates the rotation of a drive shaft;
the drive shaft operatively coupled with a rack assembly adapted to move linearly corresponding to the rotation of the drive shaft;
a MCCB knob;
a mid-plate comprising a mounting part;
a mounting spring connected to the mounting part and to the mid-plate;
wherein the mounting of said motor operated mechanism is only possible when the motor operated mechanism is in discharged state and said circuit breaker is in TRIP condition.

2. The mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein when the motor operated mechanism is in discharged state and said circuit breaker is in TRIP condition, the MCCB knob is inserted through a rack slot without any obstruction thereby falicitating the mounting of the motor operated mechanism.

3. The mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein said mounting spring is connected to the mounting part and to the mid-plate by means of spring pins.

4. The mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rack assembly adapted to move linearly corresponding to the rotation of the drive shaft to stretch one or more springs of the circuit breaker for facilitating the charging operation.

5. The mechanism as claimed in claim 1, comprising a rack reset pin and a rack reset spring adapted to ensure that the motor operated mechanism does not mount on the breaker undesirably.