FORM2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
The Patents Rules, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See section 10; rule 13)
1. Title of the invention: FLEXIBLE CLICK FIT ASSEMBLY FOR SHROUDING OF CONDUCTIVE PARTS IN SWITCHBOARD
2. Applicant(s):

(a) NAME : LARSEN & TOUBRO LIMITED
(b) NATIONALITY : An Indian Company
(c) ADDRESS : L & T House, Ballard Estate, Mumbai 400 001,
State of Maharashtra, India
3. PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed:

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to designing of shrouds for shrouding of conductive parts in switchboard applications. Particularly, the invention relates to a click fit assembly for shrouding of conductive parts/conductors in switchboards. More particularly, the invention is concerned about an assembly which can be directly connected in switchboards using a click fit mechanism without the help of any hardware. The assembly consists of fabricated non-metallic components used for shrouding of busbars and links inside switchboards. It can be easily fixed on the links even when there is little accessibility as it occupies very less space. It can be mounted in all directions from top, bottom or sides and also on slanted type of link arrangements.
BACKGROUND AND THE PRIOR ART
At present moulded shrouds are used. The number of varieties available is less as it required mould and die for each variety and it adds to the cost of manufacturing. This has been eliminated in this new design. Also the storage space required is very less as we can stack one above another. No hardware is required and only plugs are used. It reduces the assembly time. The present invention provides an economical shrouding for links in switchboards. As the assembly consists of mainly FR sheet, it is cheaper. It can be used for any variety of links because of availability of joint shroud and support in different dimensions.
Further a prior art study has revealed US Patent No. 4179174 which discloses a spring clip arrangement connecting cylindrical bus bars in tandem comprising a U-shaped spring snap fitted into an insulator recess and a pair of separate metal clips seated therein and interlocked against movement relative the insulator support and the bus bars. Insertion of a bus bar clamps the clips between the spring and the bus bar.

US Patent No. 4768982 discloses a shroud which cooperates with the stab insulator to further insulate the bus bar stabs. The shroud includes an insulative member which has first and second side members connected by a central member which has first and second openings of a size sufficient for receiving stabs of a bus bar stab.
However, the assemblies and mechanism as discussed in the prior art are complex in design and could not be fixed and dismantled easily without use of hardware. Another disadvantage is that the complexity of design with the use of bulk number of components/parts has added to the cost of the assembly/mechanism. Thus there is still a scope for improving the existing shroud designs to provide a simple and economical shrouding for busbars/links in switchboards. A further need is to eliminate the use of hardware for fixing the shroud assembly on a switchboard which reduces assembly time. With new design it would further be possible to assemble the components directly over the conductors sequentially done at final stage of switchboard assembly.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
A primary object of the present invention is to overcome the disadvantages/drawbacks of the known art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a click fit assembly for shrouding of conductive parts/conductors in switchboards.
Another object of the present invention is to eliminate the use of hardware for fixing and dismantling the shroud assembly from the switchboard.
Another object of the present invention is to reduce the number of components making it cost effective.

These and other advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description read in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The following 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.
There is provided a click fit assembly for shrouding of conductive parts/conductors in switchboards.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a click fit assembly for shrouding of conductive parts/conductors in switchboards, said assembly comprising:
a base portion having plurality of predetermined substantially circular holes, said base portion being adapted to fix other components/parts of the assembly;
a pair of shrouding means fixed on both sides of said base portion;
plurality of fixing elements joining the shrouding means to said base portion; and
holding means having projections at its top side so as to engage with said base portion wherein said holding means having an opening width of which is less than the busbar such that said holding means always remain in pressure on the busbar.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
So that those having ordinary skill in the art will more readily understand how to construct a click fit assembly for shrouding of conductive parts/conductors in switchboards in accordance with the present disclosure, exemplary embodiments are described in details herein below with reference the accompanying drawings wherein:
Fig 1 illustrates the click fit assembly for shrouding of the present invention.
Fig 2 illustrates the base portion of the shrouding assembly..
Fig 3 illustrates the shroud means.
Fig 4 illustrates the holding means for holding the busbar.
Fig 5 illustrates the plug means for fixing the shroud means and the base portion together.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The following drawings are illustrative of particular examples for enabling methods of the present invention, are descriptive of some of the methods, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The drawings are not to scale (unless so stated) and are intended for use in conjunction with the explanations in the following detailed description.
The flexible click fit assembly for shrouding of conductive parts consists of four components as shown in Fig 1. The assembly can be made directly on conductors in

case of poor accessibility or assembled outside the board and then can be mounted over the conductors. First holding means (4) (herein after also referred as "snappers") are inserted over the base portion (1) (also referred as "support") by click fit. Then joint shrouds (3) are connected to support on either side with the help of fixing elements (2) (also referred as "plugs" herein after). This assembly can be push mounted on the conductive parts to provide shrouding. The base portion (1) comprises plurality of holes (10) which allow engagement of other components/parts of the assembly on the base.
Support (1) for joint shroud (3) is a polycarbonate 2mm thick sheet made out of fabrication. It is the base on which other components are fixed. Three varieties of supports are available for different ratings of busbar. Joint shroud (3) is also made of polycarbonate 2mm thick sheet made out of fabrication. It provides shrouding to the conductors and seven varieties of joint shroud are available depending on size of the conductors. The colour of the joint shroud is transparent and it helps to see whether the joints are intact. It is to be noted that though the support (1) and joint shroud (3) in the present invention are made of polycarbonate material, other material can be used without departing from the scope of the invention.
Snapper (4) is made of polyamide 6 (FR Nylon6) Grade-AKULON K22SKS of DSM. Because of its material properties and shape of the component, it helps in holding on the bus bar. The opening of the snapper is 7.8mm, but width of busbar used is 10mm. So, the snapper will always remain in pressure on the bar due to the presence of extra rib on the sides. This is a kind of interference fit. The projections (5) on topside helps to click fit on the support (1). The snapper has broader top portion (6) which consists of the projections (5) which engage with the base portion (1) of the assembly, the snapper become narrow at its open end (7) such that the width of the open end is less than the width of the busbar. Plug (2) is made of Nylon 6 material. It is used for fixing support (1) and joint shroud (3) by click fit. The

chamfer (8) or taper at the bottom helps in smooth entry to fix the assembly. The slit (9) will help to attain the original position after inserting inside the holes on the support and joint shroud.
Although the embodiments herein are described with various specific embodiments, it will be obvious for a person skilled, in the art to practice the embodiments herein with modifications. However, all such modifications are deemed to be within the scope of the claims.
It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the embodiments described herein and all the statements of the scope of the embodiments which as a matter of language might be said to fall there between.

WE CLAIM
1. A click fit assembly for shrouding of conductive parts/conductors in
switchboards, said assembly comprising:
a base portion having plurality of predetermined substantially circular holes, said base portion being adapted to fix other components/parts of the assembly;
a pair of shrouding means fixed on both sides of said base portion;
plurality of fixing elements joining the shrouding means to said base portion; and
holding means having projections at its top side so as to engage with said base portion wherein said holding means having an opening width of which is less than the busbar such that said holding means always remain in pressure on the busbar.
2. Assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said base portion is made of polycarbonate material.
3. Assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said shrouding means is made of polycarbonate material.
4. Assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said holding means is made of polyamide 6 (FR Nylon6).
5. Assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said fixing elements comprising chamfered or tapered bottom ends.
6. Assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said fixing element further comprising a slit providing ease of insertion into the holes in the base portion.

7. Assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said fixing element is made of Nylon 6 material.
8. Assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said holding means comprising open end having width of about 7.8 mm.
9. Assmembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said holding means furhter comprising ribs.
10. A click fit assembly for shrouding of conductive parts/conductors in switchboards as herein described and illustrated with reference to accompanying drawings.