Heated electrical distribution system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10819089-B2
Application number	US-201716345308-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 21, 2017
Priority date	Oct 26, 2016
Publication date	Oct 27, 2020
Grant date	Oct 27, 2020

Abstract

The invention relates to an electrical distribution system (1), having a housing (3), in which fastening rails (13) are provided, which provide fastening points (15), which are arranged in lines, for the fastening of electrical components (17). Additionally, one or more, in particular explosion-protected, line-shaped heating elements (19) are provided in the housing (3), which heating elements each comprise a radiator body (23). The one or more heating elements (19) are each arranged below an associated group of fastening points (15), where electric current can be applied to the heating elements in order to heat electrical components (17) fastened at the associated fastening points (15).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electrical distribution system comprising: a housing; a fastening rail in the housing and including fastening points, arranged in a row for fastening electrical components; and one or more explosion-proof, linear heating elements in the housing, each heating element having a radiator body, wherein the one or more heating elements are arranged below the fastening points, wherein electric current can be applied to the heating elements in order to heat electrical components fastened at the fastening points on the fastening rail; wherein the fastening rail to which the electrical components are fastened is free of heating elements.

2. The electrical distribution system according to claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of units, each unit comprising one or more explosion-proof linear heating elements and a group of fastening points mounted above the heating elements, the units being arranged one below the other in the housing and/or horizontally next to one another in the housing.

3. The electrical distribution system according to claim 1 , wherein a first explosion-proof, linear heating element is arranged above a second explosion-proof, linear heating element and below the fastening points.

4. The electrical distribution system according to claim 2 , wherein the plurality of units are arranged one above the other in a vertical direction.

5. The electrical distribution system according to claim 1 , wherein at least two heating elements are arranged one after the other along their extension direction extending horizontally in the housing.

6. The electrical distribution system according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more heating elements are provided on projections of a rear wall of the housing.

7. The electrical distribution system according to claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of heating elements selectively configurable for connection in series in a first operating mode and in parallel in a second operating mode.

8. The electrical distribution system according to claim 1 , further comprising a busbar system having busbars for supplying the electrical components with electric current.

9. The electrical distribution system according to claim 8 , wherein a region, which comprises the busbar system, of the housing is thermally decoupled from a region, which comprises the fastening rails, of the housing, by a brush grommet.

10. The electrical distribution system according to claim 8 , wherein the busbar system is provided in the housing below the fastening rails.

11. The electrical distribution system according to claim 8 , further comprising terminals for connecting the distribution system to an external power supply for the electrical components, wherein said terminals are one of provided in the housing above the fastening rails and above the busbar system, and arranged in a plane which extends on a region to region basis between a rear wall of the housing and the busbars and is parallel to the rear wall of the housing, or arranged between the rear wall of the housing and the busbars.

12. The electrical distribution system according to claim 8 , further comprising a main switch housing next to the busbar system, the main switch housing including a main switch.

13. The electrical distribution system according to claim 1 , further comprising a temperature-measuring device instead of a corresponding electrical component at a fastening point at a location where the lowest temperature is expected during operation of the electrical distribution system.

14. The electrical distribution system according to claim 8 , further comprising a switching device configured to automatically interrupt a power supply of the electrical components and/or of the busbar system when a temperature prevailing in the interior space, which comprises the fastening points, of the housing, is less than a predetermined operating temperature and/or is configured to prevent activation of the power supply of the electrical components and/or of the busbar system before the predetermined operating temperature is reached.

15. The electrical distribution system according to claim 8 , further comprising a power supply for providing power to the one or more heating elements that is separate from a power supply for the electrical components, wherein electric current can be applied to the heating elements from the power supply providing power to the one or more heating elements, while the electrical components and/or the busbars are not supplied with electric current from the power supply for the electrical components.

16. The electrical distribution system according to claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the heating elements comprises a separating element for physically separating a cable from the heating element, which preferably extends along an extension direction of the heating element and is stood off from the radiator body to thermally decouple the separating element from the radiator body.

17. The electrical distribution system according to claim 16 , wherein at least some of the separation elements are configured as cable ducts for accommodating one or more cables for connecting the electrical components.

18. The electrical distribution system according to claim 1 , further comprising the electrical components, wherein the electrical components are fastened to the fastening points such that a distance of at least 0.3 cm, at least 0.5 cm, at least 0.7 cm, at least 1.0 cm, at least 1.5 cm or at least 2.0 cm is present between two adjacent electrical components at least on a region to region basis.

19. The electrical distribution system according to claim 1 , further comprising the electrical components, each of which is configured to attach to a fastening rail at a connection point on the electrical component and extends along a projection direction of the fastening rail toward a front opening of the housing, wherein a front end of the heating elements with respect to the projection direction is behind the connection points of the electrical components for electrically connecting the electrical components with respect to the projection direction.

Assignees

• Eaton Intelligent Power Ltd

Inventors

• Naumann Reiner
• Knab Marco
• Ott Toni Christian
• Muhlfeld Patrick

Classifications

• H02B1/052

  Mounting on rails · CPC title

• H02B1/56 Primary

  Cooling; Ventilation · CPC title

• H02B1/205

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

• H05B3/0019

  Circuit arrangements · CPC title