Claims:1. An indicator device for short circuit fault indication in circuit breakers, said device comprising an indicating assembly, said assembly comprising:
a flag means;
one or more holding means originating from the said flag means in a diverging manner;
wherein said assembly being operatively fixed in the arc gas escaping zone of the circuit breaker so as to cause obstruction to the escaping gas from the arc chute;
characterized in that said holding means being adapted to absorb the kinetic energy of the gases and pops out indicating that the circuit breaker has cleared a short circuit fault.

2. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the holding means comprising a pair of cantilever arms.

3. The device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the arms adapted to provide spring action in cooperation with the pressure exerted on the arms by the escaping gases.

4. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the indicator device is placed outside the circuit breaker.
, Description:TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present subject matter described herein, in general, relates to circuit breaker and more specifically to an indicator device for short circuit fault indication in miniature circuit breakers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Miniature circuit breaker is expected to trip when a fault condition occurs. This fault can be either an overload fault or a short-circuit fault. Whenever the breaker clears the fault, the operating knob of the breaker returns to the OFF position. Thus looking at the position of the knob, one can tell whether the breaker has cleared a fault or not. However, a limitation of this indication is that it cannot distinguish between an overload fault and a short circuit fault.

Various indication mechanisms like LED indicators or alarms are used in practice to indicate short circuit conditions. However these require additional connections and circuits from the Miniature circuit breaker (MCB). Further, some integrated indications are also present.

In prior art documents, EP1703533 application discloses that a short-circuit condition is indicated by an indication mechanism visible on the circuit breaker. The said indication mechanism is indicated by a flag that is visible to a user. The flag is mounted on a rotating drum. A solenoid of the circuit breaker acts on the rotating drum. The rotating drum is also connected to a handle of the circuit breaker. However, an erroneous situation may arise if the rotating drum gets blocked. In such situation, the circuit breaker might malfunction and an indication of the short-circuit condition might be erroneous.

In prior art documents, WO2013114395 application discloses a circuit breaker device having a short-circuit indicator mechanism adapted for indicating a normal operating condition, a short-circuit condition and an OFF condition of the circuit breaker. The short-circuit indicator mechanism comprises a slider, a solenoid, and a rotating arm. The rotating arm is having an indication flag that indicates the plurality of operating conditions of the circuit breaker. The solenoid is capable of reacting to a change in an operating condition of the circuit breaker that advantageously assists in the linear movement of the slider as per the operating condition of the circuit breaker.

In prior art documents, US5353014 A patent discloses use of indicators which indicate, when the breaker has been blown (tripped) by an overload or short circuit and the short circuit remains in the load; when the breaker has not blown and the load circuit is receiving the input power through the breaker; and when the breaker is physically in the off position. In addition the indicators which shows the blown condition and the condition of the load circuit, do not rely on any contacts within the breaker.

In prior art documents, CN104201065 application discloses a MCB fault tripping indication, comprising a latch, a jump pin, a bracket and an indication piece arranged in the shell to display the event of a fault.

In prior art documents, US8243411 patent discloses a method for identifying the type of fault condition in a circuit breaker. It includes monitoring a branch circuit for a fault condition. In response to detecting the fault condition, interrupting current flows through the branch circuit. The type of fault condition is then stored in a memory device from which it is retrieved in response to receiving a control signal. The circuit breaker further includes a push-to-test (PTT) button that signals an electronic module to perform a self-test and, subsequently, to trip the circuit breaker if the electronic module passes the test. To determine the type of fault condition, a user depresses the push-to-test (PTT) button while substantially simultaneously moving the handle to the ON position. In response, a signal is sent to the electronic module to feed back the cause of the trip. The electronic module retrieves the fault condition from the memory device and indicates the fault condition utilizing the position of the handle as a function of time.

However, all the available devices and methods require an additional circuitry or is dependent on the magnetic actuation mechanism of the breaker.

Thus, there is a need to provide a short-circuit indicator mechanism for a circuit breaker that is a simple, low cost, independent of the magnetic tripping mechanism, easy to maintain and assemble in a circuit breaker which indicates the state of the breaker.

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.

Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of prior art.

It is another object of the present invention is to provide a means to indicate the state of a circuit breaker without a costly and complex mechanical design.

It is another object of the present invention is to provide an indicator means for the state of the breaker, whether tripped on short circuit fault or not.

It is still another object of the present invention is to provide an indication device with screw-less fitment.

According to the present invention, the foregoing and other objects and advantages are attained by providing an indicator device for short circuit fault indication in circuit breakers, said device comprising an indicating assembly, said assembly comprising:
a flag means;
one or more holding means originating from the said flag means in a diverging manner;
wherein said assembly being operatively fixed in the arc gas escaping zone of the circuit breaker so as to cause obstruction to the escaping gas from the arc chute;
characterized in that said holding means being adapted to absorb the kinetic energy of the gases and pops out indicating that the circuit breaker has cleared a short circuit fault.

Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 illustrates the Front, Side and Isometric view of the Miniature Circuit Breaker.

Figure 2 illustrates the Front and isometric view of indication device, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

Figure 3 illustrates the MCB with assembled indication device, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

Figure 4 illustrates the MCB with popped out indication device, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may have not 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 exemplary embodiments of the invention 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 embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are 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 invention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention 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.

By the term “substantially” it is meant that the recited characteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations or variations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intended to provide.

Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of the features of the other embodiments.

It should be emphasized that the term “comprises/comprising” when used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof.

The present invention relates to an indication means for short circuit fault indication in circuit breakers. It provides an indication device comprising of a Flag and cantilever arms, which absorbs the kinetic energy of the arc gases.

In the present invention, a Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB) clears a short circuit fault by disrupting the excessive current flowing through the circuit for electromagnetic actuation. The disruption of short circuit current results into creation of arc. This generates excessive heat and gaseous products. The excessive current flowing through the fault creates a huge amount of heat. This heat results into expansion of gases present in the arc chamber. These gases then escape through the specially created pathways in the Miniature Circuit Breaker. This whole process happens inside an enclosed body and is not visible from outside. Thus the present invention provides a visual indication by the indicator device outside the body visible to the user. It utilizes the pressure of these gases to indicate that the breaker has cleared a short circuit fault.

In one embodiment, the indicator device for short circuit fault indication in circuit breakers, said device comprising an indicating assembly is disclosed. The said assembly comprising: a flag means; one or more holding means originating from the said flag means in a diverging manner; wherein said assembly being operatively fixed in the arc gas escaping zone of the circuit breaker so as to cause obstruction to the escaping gas from the arc chute; characterized in that said holding means being adapted to absorb the kinetic energy of the gases and pops out indicating that the circuit breaker has cleared a short circuit fault.

Referring now to figure 1, which provides the view of Miniature Circuit Breaker (101). The operating knob (102) is used to switch ON and switch OFF the MCB. The position of this operating knob in OFF position cannot clearly distinguish between thermal tripping and short circuit tripping.

Referring now to Figure 2, which illustrates the front and isometric view of the indication device (201), in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The indication device consists of a Flag (202) and cantilever arms (203). These cantilever arms help in holding the indication device in reset condition.

Referring now to Figure 3, which illustrates a front view of an open MCB assembled with the indication device, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The arc is initiated inside the arcing chamber (301), from here the two arc runners (302 & 303) pull them towards the arc chutes (304). After the arc is lengthened and quenched inside the arc chutes, the hot gases escape from escape zone (305).

Referring now to Figure 4, which illustrates the MCB with popped out indication device, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Indication device (201) is fixed in such a way that it causes obstruction to the escaping gases. Thus the indication devices absorbs the kinetic energy of the gases and pops out slightly. The cantilever arms provide spring action to the indication device. Thus the indication device remains in locked pop out position indicating that the device has cleared a short circuit fault. The indication device may be reset by pressing from the outside. This way the indication device returns to its reset position and is ready for another operation.

In an embodiment, the cantilever arms of the indication device are designed in such a way that it pops out only when a fault current of the level of short circuit is interrupted.

Lower level faults such as over load etc. will not cause the indication device to pop out. The pressure generated during interruption of such low level faults will not be sufficient enough to pop out the indication device against the spring force exerted by the cantilever arms. Thus a clear indication of short circuit fault cleared by MCB is obtained through this invention.

Apart from the advantages and benefits mentioned above, other advantages and benefits of the device of the present invention are mentioned below:
• Easy to assemble for mass production;
• Screw-less fitment;
• Provides an integrated less complicated indication;
• Independent of magnetic tripping mechanism;
• Provides highly reliable results.

The illustrations of arrangements described herein are intended to provide a general understanding of the structure of various embodiments, and they are not intended to serve as a complete description of all the elements and features of apparatus and systems that might make use of the structures described herein. Many other arrangements will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. Other arrangements may be utilized and derived therefrom, such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Figures are also merely representational and may not be drawn to scale. Certain proportions thereof may be exaggerated, while others may be minimized. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

Thus, although specific arrangements have been illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that any arrangement calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific arrangement shown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments and arrangements of the invention. Combinations of the above arrangements, and other arrangements not specifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description.