HK1035966B - Multi-panel switching station with a busbar unit - Google Patents

Description

Multi-panel switchgear with a busbar arrangement

The invention relates to a multi-panel low-voltage switching device having the following features:

each panel of the switchgear presents a housing body for defining a functional compartment;

the bus bar arrangement extends along all panels of the switchgear;

the busbar arrangement is located in a busbar chamber on the rear side of the housing body facing the switchgear panel;

the bus bar compartment is defined by a bracket connected to the housing body and at least one rear blocking mechanism;

the support device of the busbar arrangement is connected to the housing body by means of a fixing element.

In order to understand the concepts used above, it is necessary to point out that the conductor bars formed in such a number and arrangement can be referred to in a related manner as bus bar arrangements, as are necessary for the transmission of electrical energy in single-phase or multi-phase networks. Each phase presents a single or multiple current-carrying conductors depending on the magnitude of the current present. In addition, the combination of structural members may act as a support means that mechanically secures each wire and overcomes the forces generated by the weight of the current carrying wire itself and the current flowing in the wire. Any desired spatial support structure can be used as a housing, for example a frame-like housing or a solid-walled housing of electrically conductive or non-conductive material for accommodating switching and control devices and electronic or data-technical devices for any desired operating mode in the field of electrical engineering. The functional compartment is a space enclosed by the housing body for accommodating the above-mentioned instruments and devices. This space can be divided by mounting rails, professional floors and/or plug-in frames in order to suitably implement a fixed or detachable mounting arrangement of the instrument. The locking mechanism as the rear side can be a special plate, such as a flat plate or a bent-over sheet at the edge, but also other housing bodies, which have two operating surfaces for forming the switchgear.

A switching device of the above-described type is known, for example, from DE 4005069 a 1. In the exemplary embodiment described there, the busbar compartment is formed by a rear-surface necking pattern (Profileinziehung) of the side parts of the adjacent panel housing body. The above-mentioned holder is thus an integral part of the frame body. A conventional closure mechanism, which is not shown separately in the above document, closes the busbar space from behind.

In another switchgear known from siemens, under the subscription number E22V/1877, under the reference number 122079 Ps 9735, under the company journal "low-voltage switchgear 8 PG", the rear busbar compartment, which is connected to the functional compartment rack at the same height as the rack, is formed by a separate busbar rack, which has smaller structural components than the functional compartment rack for its purpose of use and is suitable for selectively accommodating one or two busbar devices. Furthermore, if a switchgear having two operating surfaces arranged opposite one another and two functional compartments is provided in a loose-fitting arrangement (see the above-mentioned siemens document, page 6, below), the busbar housing is suitable for connection to a further housing body.

In connection therewith, there is a main bus bar at a lower part of the bus bar extending along the entire multi-panel switching device. The panel or the distribution bus bar, which is connected to the main bus bar and is used for distributing power in each operation panel, is different from the main bus bar. Such an arrangement is described, for example, in DE 19511349C 1. The distribution bus together with a housing forms a vertical bus duct, which is designed to be safe against electric shock and has an insertion opening for an insertable contact of a switching device or a device insert.

The switchgear disclosed in the above-mentioned german patent DE 19511349C 1 is of the bus bar top-mounted type, wherein the bus bar compartment is separated from a rack compartment of the switchgear by a partition. A switchgear of this type of construction therefore differs from the above-mentioned switchgear with a busbar arrangement on the rear side, both in terms of the position and configuration of the busbar arrangement, as is mentioned in german patent application DE 4005069 a1 and the company document "low-voltage switchgear 8 PG".

In order to ensure the operational safety of low-voltage switchgear, the distances between all adjacent voltage-carrying components and between these components and the grounded structural component are determined in accordance with mandatory regulations. However, statistical errors still occur, which can lead to a consequent faulty arc of the conductive connection of the above-mentioned components. The reasons for these events are manifold: for example, electrically conductive foreign bodies can enter the switchgear, which do not cause damage in the quiescent state, but can cause damage, for example, if they fall down due to vibrations and are mistakenly introduced into the bus bar. Furthermore, the structural components may heat up due to overloading and their insulating capacity is completely or partially lost. Since it has proven impossible to completely rule out the occurrence of fault arcs in low-voltage switchgear assemblies even when great care is taken in the production and subsequent operation of the switchgear assemblies, efforts are made to limit the consequences of fault arcs to the greatest possible extent. For this purpose, measures can be taken to improve the passive or active safety, such as arc shielding measures according to EP 0714564 or protection systems according to WO 95/22167. In any case, however, it is necessary to carefully inspect the switchgear after a fault and to bring it back into a safe operating state by cleaning, replacing damaged parts and other measures of pertinence.

Although the above-described operation is basically possible with switchgear of the type which is currently of conventional construction, the time requirements for this are always very great. This is associated with the bus bar arrangement being difficult to access on the back of the functional compartment. Even removing all the instruments from a damaged operating panel of a switchgear device is often not sufficient to achieve sufficient access for servicing the bus bars. This proves that the switchgear must be completely disassembled in order to expose the busbars and to repair or replace them. The significant costs of such disassembly need not be described in detail herein.

The object of the present invention is therefore to design a low-voltage switchgear of the type described above such that the bus bar arrangement is very easily accessible and therefore the working time for maintenance or repair is correspondingly reduced.

The object of the invention is achieved by the following features:

the fixing element on the support device for the busbar arrangement extends from the function chamber to the busbar chamber and has an operating element within the function chamber;

the support belonging to the bus bar compartment is formed by a separate part which is connected to the housing body of the functional compartment by means of a fastening element;

the fastening part of the holder likewise extends from the functional compartment to the bus compartment and has an actuating part accessible in the functional compartment.

As already mentioned, with low-voltage switchgear assemblies of the type of construction which is common at present, either a separate carrier part is provided for fixing the busbar arrangement or the housing body which accommodates the functional compartments has a special design in order to be able to mount the busbar arrangement on the rear side of the housing body as easily as possible. In contrast, the fastening elements of the busbar mounting in the functional compartment are accessible according to the invention. The connection between the housing body and the bus bar device can thus be released at the respective operating panels. The connection between the frame body and the bracket for mounting the busbar chamber guard can also be released. If this is done, the frame body of the control panel concerned can be disconnected from the adjacent control panel or from adjacent control panels and thereby the bus bar arrangement is exposed for maintenance work to be carried out at will.

The switching device according to the invention can be formed by a further series of advantageous measures.

The invention proposes that the bracket be designed with an angular shape to form parallel legs that are supported on the frame body and the locking mechanism.

A further development is achieved if an upper and a lower support are provided for each operating panel of the switchgear and have support surfaces on the rear and above or below which the locking mechanism or the protective plate is supported. The angled bracket may be combined with at least one rear locking mechanism to form a modular assembly that is coupled and retained even after the fasteners for the bracket are released. If the rear locking mechanism is formed by the housing body of the other operating panel of the switching device, as is the case with switching devices having two operating surfaces, this also forms a modular unit. Thus, when the maintenance work on the bus bar device is completed, the rack is always left in the correct position for reconnection with the slave housing body.

In order to simplify the switchgear, the upper and lower angular supports can be identical in construction and can be assembled by rotating 180 °.

In order to avoid supporting the bus bar compartment or the balancing member in particular, the upper and lower angled brackets are also expediently arranged flush with the housing body of the functional compartment. This ensures the simplest possible correct positioning of the housing body in relation to the bus bar compartment or the angled support when reconnecting.

As a further advantageous feature of the inventive construction, the angled support has a safety face for an accessory, for example an earth safety lead.

If the blocking mechanism is formed by a sheet of equal height to the frame body and the resistance to deformation about the horizontal axis is enhanced by a bend at the edge, it is a convenient arrangement in connection with the above-mentioned modular assembly of angled bracket and blocking mechanism. In this way, even when the frame of the switchgear is high, the modular unit is given a certain stability, i.e. the fixing elements can be smoothly aligned with their corresponding fixing holes when the angular bracket is detached from the frame body and reattached.

The present invention is described in detail below by way of illustrative examples.

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of the low-voltage switchgear assembly shown in fig. 2, taken along the section line I-I, wherein the embodiment with a back plate is shown in the upper left side of a busbar arrangement, and the embodiment with a further functional compartment is shown in the lower left side.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the switchgear assembly of three operating panels shown in fig. 1, with the bracket body of the middle operating panel removed to allow access to the busbars.

Fig. 3 is a rear perspective view of a panel of the switchgear of fig. 1 and 2, showing a housing, an upper and lower angled bracket and a bus bar assembly.

The low-voltage switchgear assembly 1 shown in fig. 1 and 2 can have one operating surface or two operating surfaces. Both embodiments have a busbar space 2, which is connected to the right in fig. 1 to a functional space 3 for accommodating any type of switching and control devices. The functional compartment 3 is formed in a known manner by a housing body 4. The bus bar compartment 2 is delimited upwards by an upper angled bracket 5 and downwards by a lower angled bracket 6. The brackets 5 and 6 have parallel legs 7 supported on the frame body 4 and different locking mechanisms to be described below. In the embodiment with an operating surface, the rear side of the bus bar compartment 2 is delimited by a closure 8 formed by a back plate, as shown in the upper left part of fig. 1. In the embodiment with two control surfaces, a further functional chamber 9, which is formed by a further housing body, is connected to the busbar chamber 2 to the left in fig. 1. This additional housing body is represented in the lower left part of fig. 1 by a locking mechanism 10.

In the embodiment of the switchgear 1 with two control surfaces, two bus devices 11 and 12 are arranged in the bus chamber 2, of which bus device 11 is located at the top and is associated with the functional chamber 3, while the other bus device 12 supplies power to the instruments in the functional chamber 9 and is located at the bottom of the bus chamber 2. As is known, the busbar arrangements 11 and 12 are supported by support means 13 and 14, which comprise insulating supports 15 and abutments 16. The busbar chamber 2 is furthermore equipped with a grounding busbar or a plurality of grounding busbars 17, which in the exemplary embodiment shown are fastened to the lower angled support 6 by means of fastening devices 18.

The multi-panel design of the low-voltage switchgear 1 can be seen in detail in fig. 2. Three control panels are shown next to one another, with the associated housing body removed in the middle panel and the bus bar arrangements 11 and 12 located behind and extending along the entire width of the switchgear 1 being visible. The left and right control panels are shown in a closed state in order to show, by way of example, the worktop 20 or 22 from the front, which is equipped with different instruments. The operating face 21 of the intermediate panel is only outlined in fig. 1. For a switchgear 1 with an additional housing body (locking mechanism 10), a further operating surface 23 is present, as shown in fig. 1.

It is important to the invention that the bus bar arrangements 11 and 12 can be accessed with less effort when maintenance or repair is to be performed. This is achieved in that the support devices 13 and 14 of the busbar arrangements 11 and 12 are fixed by fixing elements which are accessible in the functional compartments of the respective operating panel of the switchgear 1 and can be released or inserted therefrom. For explanation please carefully observe the bus bar arrangement 11 in fig. 1 and 2. The already mentioned support 16 is connected to the housing body 4 by means of a fastening element 24, which extends into the functional compartment 3 and has an operating element 25 there. Suitable as fastening elements 24 are, for example, bolts or special rotation-fastening pins, wherein the operating element 25 can be formed by a bolt head or a handle. In a similar manner, the angled supports 5 and 6 are connected to the housing body 4 by means of a fastening element 26, which has an operating element 27 accessible inside the functional compartment 3.

The fastening elements 24 and the fastening elements 26 can be removed, and the connection of the housing body 4 to other panels of the switchgear 1 can thereby be removed, as indicated by the arrow 28 in fig. 1. This can be seen by means of a further arrow 30. Fig. 2 shows an engagement opening 31 for supporting the fastening element 24 or the fastening element 26 on the support 16 or the brackets 5 and 6.

Since the busbar arrangement 11 extends along the entire width of the switchgear 1, sufficient support is ensured even after removal of the fixing element 24. The brackets 5 and 6 likewise remain in the position shown, i.e. the lower bracket 6 is supported on the floor and the two brackets 5 and 6 are connected by the rear locking mechanism 8 or 10 (back plate or other housing body) respectively by the fastening 26. The locking mechanism 8 forming the back plate is formed flush with the housing body and is reinforced by a bend 32 at the edge, so that no interfering deformations of the device occur after the housing body 4 has been removed and the fastening element 24 and the fastening element 26 are successfully aligned with the engagement opening 31 during the reassembly process when they are inserted in the direction opposite to the arrow 28 in fig. 1. If the locking mechanism 10 (or other housing body) is present, it may be provided with stiffness characteristics that resist undesired deformation without special measures.

The features of the angular supports 5 and 6 can be taken from fig. 3 in more detail. Each support 5 and 6 is composed, as is known, of two U-shaped end pieces 33 and 34 and a cross member 35 connecting the end pieces, which cross member forms a common support surface 36 and 37. The support surface 36 serves for mounting a closing plate or a ventilation grate of the bus bar compartment 2, while the support surface 37 serves for supporting on the housing body 4 or on the closure element 8 or 10 (back plate or other housing body; fig. 1). The supports 5 and 6 are of symmetrical construction and can be selectively used as upper or lower support by rotation through 180. The brackets 5 and 6 are likewise suitable for mounting the already mentioned fixing means 18 of the ground strap 17 or similar fitting.

The foregoing illustrates the removal of the housing body 4 to reveal the bus bar arrangement 11. The working method is the same in the sense that another bus bar arrangement 12 is to be exposed. In this case, the fastening elements 24 of the support 16 are removed from the functional compartment 9, and the fastening elements 26 of the holders 5 and 6 are likewise removed.

The structure of the bus bar arrangements 11 and 12 is not important to the principle of the present invention. It is therefore immaterial whether single-phase or multi-phase bus devices are involved or whether these bus devices carry one wire or a plurality of wires per phase. Also the application of the invention does not depend on how many panels the switchgear comprises and whether there are end panels. It will also be understood by the skilled person that for the sake of clarity of the illustration, only one fixing element 24 is shown for each support 16 of the support devices 13 and 14 and only one fixing element 26 is shown for each leg 7 of the supports 5 and 6, but more may be selected as required.

Claims (7)

1. A multi-panel low-voltage switching device (1) having the following features:

-each panel of the switchgear (1) presents a housing body (4; 10) for defining a functional compartment (3; 9);

-one bus bar arrangement (11, 12) extends along all panels of the switchgear (1);

-the busbar arrangement (11, 12) is located in a busbar compartment (2) on the rear side of the housing body (4; 10) opposite the operating face (20, 21, 22, 23) of the switchgear (1);

-the bus bar compartment (2) is defined by a bracket (5, 6) connected to the housing body (4; 10) and at least one rear blocking mechanism (8; 10);

-one support device (13, 14) of the busbar arrangement (11, 12) is connected to the housing body (4; 10) by means of a fixing element (24);

it is characterized in that the preparation method is characterized in that,

-a fixing element (24) for the support means (13, 14) of the busbar means (11, 12) extends from the function compartment (3; 9) to the busbar compartment (2) and has an operating element (25) within the function compartment (3; 9);

the support (5, 6) belonging to the bus bar compartment (2) is formed by a separate part which is connected to the housing body (4; 10) of the functional compartment (3; 9) by means of a fastening element (26);

the fastening element (26) of the holder (5, 6) likewise extends from the functional chamber (3; 9) to the busbar chamber (2) and has an accessible actuating element (27) in the functional chamber (3; 9).

2. Switching device according to claim 1, characterised in that the brackets (5, 6) are angle-shaped and have parallel legs (7) supported on the frame body (4) and the locking mechanism (8; 10).

3. A switchgear device according to claim 2, characterized in that each panel of the switchgear device (1) is provided with an upper angled bracket (5) and a lower angled bracket (6), and that the brackets (5, 6) have support surfaces (36, 37) on the back and above and below which are supported on the locking mechanism (8; 10) or the cover plate.

4. A switching device according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the upper and lower carrier (5, 6) are of the same construction and can be assembled by rotation through 180 °.

5. The switchgear device according to claim 4, characterized in that the upper and lower angular supports (5, 6) are arranged flush with the frame body (4; 10) of the functional compartment (3; 9).

6. A switching device according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the angular holder (5, 6) is provided with a fixing means (18) for the fitting.

7. Switchgear according to any of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the rear locking mechanism (8) is formed by a back plate that is flush with the frame body and reinforced against deformation around a horizontal axis by means of bends (32) at the edges.