Electrical switching device comprising electrical clamping connections

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10355377-B2
Application number	US-201615560492-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2016
Priority date	Mar 23, 2015
Publication date	Jul 16, 2019
Grant date	Jul 16, 2019

Abstract

A clamping arrangement includes: two spring-force terminals, the two spring-force terminals each including a clamping cage and a spring, each of the two clamping cages being able to receive an electrical conductor pushed in an insertion direction and to clamp the conductor between the cage and the spring, a first insertion direction of a first of the two spring-force terminals and a second insertion direction of a second of the two spring-force terminals being arranged at an angle larger than 0° to one another. The two spring-force terminals are arranged one behind the other in one of the insertion directions of the electrical conductor. The first insertion direction of the first of the two spring-force terminals and the second insertion direction of the second of the two spring-force terminals are arranged at a right angle to one another or counter to one another.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A clamping arrangement comprising:
two spring-force terminals, the two spring-force terminals each comprising a clamping cage and a spring, each of the two clamping cages being configured to receive an electrical conductor pushed in an insertion direction and to clamp the conductor between the cage and the spring, a first insertion direction of a first of the two spring-force terminals and a second insertion direction of a second of the two spring-force terminals being arranged at an angle larger than 0° to one another,
wherein the two spring-force terminals are arranged one behind the other in one of the insertion directions of the electrical conductor,
wherein the first insertion direction of the first of the two spring-force terminals and the second insertion direction of the second of the two spring-force terminals are arranged at a right angle to one another or counter to one another, and
wherein each spring-force terminal comprises an operating element slidable along the insertion direction associated with the spring-force terminal to open the spring, each of the operating elements being actuatable in the insertion direction associated with the spring-force terminal thereof, and at least one of the operating elements being actuatable at an angle to the insertion direction associated with the spring-force terminal thereof.

2. The clamping arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the two spring-force terminals are arranged so as to overlap one another at least in part or one above the other in one insertion direction.

3. The clamping arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the first clamping cage of the first spring-force terminal and the second clamping cage of the second spring-force terminal are arranged on opposite sides of a busbar.

4. The clamping arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the spring-force terminals are arranged on opposite sides of a busbar.

5. The clamping arrangement according claim 1 , wherein the spring-force terminals are arranged at the right angle to one another or so as to be rotated through 180° with respect to one another.

6. The clamping arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the first clamping cage and the second clamping cage are electrically connected to a busbar or are made in one piece with the busbar.

7. The clamping arrangement according to claim 6 , wherein the first clamping cage and the second clamping cage are electrically connected to the busbar in an integrally bonded manner.

8. The clamping arrangement according to claim 1 , further comprising a connection housing in which an insertion opening for inserting an electrical conductor and an actuation opening for actuating the operating element are provided for each of the two spring-force terminals, the insertion opening and the actuation opening of the same spring-force terminal being, in each case, arranged in parallel with one another and at an angle to the insertion opening and the actuation opening of the other spring-force terminal.

9. The clamping arrangement according to claim 8 , wherein the connection housing comprises, for at least one of the two spring-force terminals, a second actuation opening that extends at the angle to the insertion opening associated with the spring-force terminal thereof.

10. A spring-force terminal for the clamping arrangement according to claim 1 , the terminal comprising:
a clamping cage;
a spring;
an operating element configured to open the spring, the clamping cage being configured to receive an electrical conductor pushed in an insertion direction and to removably clamp the conductor between the clamping cage and the spring;
a first actuation opening configured for actuating the operating element, which extends in parallel with the insertion direction; and
a second actuation opening configured for actuating the operating element and which extends at a right angle to the first actuation opening such that the operating element is configured to be actuated both in the insertion direction and at a right angle to the insertion direction,
wherein the operating element is displaceable in and against the insertion direction by the first and second actuation openings.

11. The spring-force terminal according to claim 10 , wherein the operating element comprises a first actuator in order to be actuated in the insertion direction, and a second actuator in order to be actuated at the angle to the insertion direction.

12. A switchgear comprising at least one clamping arrangement according to claim 1 .

13. The switchgear according to claim 12 , further comprising two clamping arrangements that are arranged in mirror symmetry with respect to a mirror plane.

14. The switchgear according to claim 13 , further comprising an electrical assembly configured to protect an electrical load, the switchgear being connectable to an electrical network,
wherein one clamping arrangement comprises an incoming electrical connection for at least one electrical network line in the network, and the other clamping arrangement comprises an outgoing electrical connection for the network line in the network.

15. The switchgear according to claim 14 , further comprising an upper housing part and a lower housing part, the clamping arrangement or the clamping arrangements being arranged in the upper housing part, and the electrical assembly being arranged in the lower housing part.

Assignees

• Eaton Electrical Ip Gmbh & Co
• Eaton Intelligent Power Ltd

Inventors

• Gerving Karsten
• Thar Ralf
• Eck Sergei

Classifications

• H01R9/2458 Primary

  Electrical interconnections between terminal blocks · CPC title

• H01R13/514

  composed as a modular blocks or assembly, i.e. composed of co-operating parts provided with contact members or holding contact members between them · CPC title

• H01R11/09

  the connecting locations being identical · CPC title

• H01R11/07

  the connecting locations being of the same type but different sizes · CPC title

• H01R9/2675

  Electrical interconnections between two blocks, e.g. by means of busbars · CPC title