Electrical load center including a removable rail-to-rail link assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10522980-B2
Application number	US-201715790718-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 23, 2017
Priority date	Oct 23, 2017
Publication date	Dec 31, 2019
Grant date	Dec 31, 2019

Abstract

An electrical load center includes a first mounting rail supporting a first row of circuit breakers, and a second mounting rail supporting a second row of circuit breakers. The load center also includes a first neutral bus bar spaced apart from the first mounting rail, a rail-to-rail link electrically coupled between the first mounting rail and the second mounting rail, and a first rail-to-neutral link electrically coupled between a first end of the rail-to-rail link and the first neutral bus bar.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrical load center comprising:
a first mounting rail arranged to support a first row of circuit breakers;
a second mounting rail arranged to support a second row of circuit breakers;
a first neutral bus bar spaced apart from the first mounting rail;
a rail-to-rail link comprising a first end and a second end, the first end of the rail-to-rail link mechanically and electrically coupled to the first mounting rail, and the second end of rail-to-rail link mechanically and electrically coupled to the second mounting rail; and
a first rail-to-neutral link electrically coupled to the first end of the rail-to-rail link and to the first neutral bus bar, the first rail-to-neutral link being removable from the electrical load center without disconnecting the rail-to-rail link from the first and second mounting rails.

2. The electrical load center of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second neutral bus bar spaced apart from the second mounting rail; and
a second rail-to-neutral link electrically coupled to the second end of the rail-to-rail link and to the second neutral bus bar.

3. The electrical load center of claim 1 , wherein the first rail-to-neutral link is configured to be electrically coupled to the first end of the rail-to-rail link and to the first neutral bus bar when the electrical load center is used as a main service entrance.

4. The electrical load center of claim 1 , wherein the first rail-to-neutral link is removable from the electrical load center when the electrical load center is used as a non-service entrance.

5. The electrical load center of claim 1 , wherein the rail-to-rail link is electrically coupled to an end of the first mounting rail and to an end of the second mounting rail.

6. The electrical load center of claim 1 , wherein the first mounting rail comprises a first mounting tab disposed at an end of the first mounting rail, the first mounting tab comprising a bent-over portion.

7. The electrical load center of claim 6 , wherein the second mounting rail comprises a second mounting tab disposed at an end of the second mounting rail, the second mounting tab comprising a bent-over portion.

8. The electrical load center of claim 2 , wherein the second rail-to-neutral link is one of (i) removable from said rail-to-rail link and (ii) integrally formed on said rail-to-rail link.

9. The electrical load center of claim 1 , wherein the rail-to-rail link and the first rail-to-neutral link are mounted within the electrical load center, such that the rail-to-rail link and the first rail-to-neutral link are disposed over a first wiring gutter that extends between the first mounting rail and the first neutral bus bar.

10. The electrical load center of claim 1 , wherein the first row of circuit breakers includes at least one of (i) an arc fault circuit interrupter (AFCI) circuit breaker and (ii) a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) circuit breaker, and wherein the second row of circuit breakers includes at least one of (i) an AFCI circuit breakers and (ii) a GFCI circuit breaker.

11. A removable rail-to-rail link assembly for use in an electrical load center, the removable rail-to-rail link assembly comprising:
a removable rail-to-rail link comprising a first end and a second end, the first end of the rail-to-rail link arranged to be mechanically and electrically coupled to a first mounting rail within the electrical load center, and a second end of the rail-to-rail link arranged to be mechanically and electrically coupled to a second mounting rail within the electrical load center;
a first rail-to-neutral link arranged to be electrically coupled to the first end of the removable rail-to-rail link and to a first neutral bus bar within the electrical load center; and
a second rail-to-neutral link arranged to be electrically coupled to the second end of the removable rail-to-rail link and to a second neutral bus bar within the electrical load center, wherein the first rail-to-neutral link and the second rail-to-neutral link are each removable from the electrical load center without disconnecting the rail-to-rail link from the first and second mounting rails.

12. The removable rail-to-rail link assembly of claim 11 , wherein the second rail-to-neutral link is arranged to be electrically coupled to the second end of the removable rail-to-rail link and to the second neutral bus bar when the electrical load center is used as a main service entrance.

13. The removable rail-to-rail link assembly of claim 11 , wherein the second rail-to-neutral link is arranged to be removed from the electrical load center when the electrical load center is used as a non-service entrance.

14. The removable rail-to-rail link assembly of claim 11 , wherein the removable rail-to-rail link is arranged to be mechanically coupled at the first end to a first mounting tab extending from the first mounting rail, and wherein the removable rail-to-rail link is arranged to be mechanically coupled at the second end to a second mounting tab extending from the second mounting rail.

15. The removable rail-to-rail link assembly of claim 11 , wherein the removable rail-to-rail link assembly is arranged to be mounted within the electrical load center, such that the removable rail-to-rail link assembly is disposed over a first wiring gutter that extends between the first mounting rail and the first neutral bus bar, such that the removable rail-to-rail link assembly is not disposed within the first wiring gutter.

16. The removable rail-to-rail link assembly of claim 15 , wherein the removable rail-to-rail link assembly is arranged to be mounted within the electrical load center, such that the removable rail-to-rail link assembly is also disposed over a second wiring gutter that extends between the second mounting rail and the second neutral bus bar.

17. A method of retrofitting an electrical load center to exclude a plurality of pigtail connections, the method comprising:
mechanically and electrically coupling a rail-to-rail link to a first mounting rail of the electrical load center and to a second mounting rail of the electrical load center in order to electrically connect the first and second mounting rails;
mechanically and electrically coupling a first rail-to-neutral link to the rail-to-rail link and to a first neutral bus bar of the electrical load center; and
removing the first rail-to-neutral link from the electrical load center without disconnecting the rail-to-rail link from the first and second mounting rails.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising coupling a second rail-to-neutral link between the rail-to-rail link and a second neutral bus bar of the electrical load center.

Assignees

• Abb Schweiz Ag

Inventors

• Rout Tapas Ranjan
• Mascarenhas Leonardo Dorea

Classifications

• H02B1/205

  for connecting electrical apparatus mounted side by side on a rail · CPC title

• H02B1/207 Primary

  Cross-bar layouts · CPC title

• H02B1/056 Primary

  Mounting on plugboards · CPC title