Opening and closing mechanism and leakage protection device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12401178-B2
Application number	US-202217865583-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 15, 2022
Priority date	Jul 16, 2021
Publication date	Aug 26, 2025
Grant date	Aug 26, 2025

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an opening and closing mechanism and a leakage protection device. The opening and closing mechanism comprises: a stationary contact and a movable contact, which contacts the stationary contact at ON-position and separates from the stationary contact at OFF-position; a first magnetic assembly; and a second magnetic assembly that is integrally rotatable about an axis, the second magnetic assembly comprising: an electric conductor onto which the movable contact is mounted; and a magnetic body comprising at least one magnetic portion configured to rotate about the axis under a magnetic force from the first magnetic assembly, to correspondingly drive the movable contact to rotate between the ON-position and the OFF-position, wherein a distance from each of the at least one magnetic portion to the axis is smaller than a distance from the movable contact to the axis. In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the transmission efficiency within the opening and closing mechanism may be boosted, and the movable and stationary contacts are separated faster and by a longer distance, so as to improve the performance of the opening and closing mechanism.

First claim

We claim:

1. An opening and closing mechanism, comprising:
a stationary contact and a movable contact, which contacts the stationary contact at ON-position and separates from the stationary contact at OFF-position;
a first magnetic assembly; and
a second magnetic assembly that is integrally rotatable about an axis, the second magnetic assembly comprising:
an electric conductor onto which the movable contact is mounted; and
a magnetic body comprising at least one magnetic portion configured to rotate about the axis under a magnetic force from the first magnetic assembly, to correspondingly drive the movable contact to rotate between the ON-position and the OFF-position, wherein a distance from each of the at least one magnetic portion to the axis is smaller than a distance from the movable contact to the axis.

2. The opening and closing mechanism of claim 1 , wherein the electric conductor and the magnetic body of the second magnetic assembly are formed into an integral component by injection molding.

3. The opening and closing mechanism of claim 1 , wherein the at least one magnetic portion comprises a first magnetic portion and a second magnetic portion both having a first polarity, and a third magnetic portion and a fourth magnetic portion both having a second polarity opposite to the first polarity, and
wherein when the movable contact is at the ON-position, the first magnetic portion and the third magnetic portion form a closed magnetic circuit with the first magnetic assembly, and when the movable contact is at the OFF-position, the second magnetic portion and the fourth magnetic portion form a closed magnetic circuit with the first magnetic assembly.

4. The opening and closing mechanism of claim 3 , wherein the first magnetic assembly comprises a magnetizer and an electromagnetic coil wound around the magnetizer, the electromagnetic coil being configured to introduce two currents in different directions, and
wherein the first magnetic portion and the fourth magnetic portion are arranged adjacent to a first pole of the magnetizer, and the second magnetic portion and the third magnetic portion are arranged adjacent to a second pole of the magnetizer, the first pole and the second pole having opposite polarity.

5. The opening and closing mechanism of claim 4 , wherein the second magnetic assembly comprises a first support and a rotation shaft disposed along the axis, wherein the electric conductor and the magnetic body are fixed to the first support, and the first support is connected to the rotation shaft to rotate around the axis.

6. The opening and closing mechanism of claim 5 , wherein the first magnetic assembly comprises a second support, wherein the second support is fixed to the magnetizer and the rotation shaft is rotatably connected to the second support.

7. The opening and closing mechanism of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic body comprises a permanent magnet magnetically coupled to the at least one magnetic portion made of magnetically conductive materials.

8. The opening and closing mechanism of claim 1 , wherein the electric conductor comprises an elastic copper sheet.

9. The opening and closing mechanism of claim 8 , wherein a U-shaped protrusion or a slot is formed on the elastic copper sheet.

10. The opening and closing mechanism of claim 3 , further comprising:
an elastic piece disposed adjacent to the first magnetic portion, the elastic piece being configured to press the first magnetic portion towards the ON-position when the movable contact is at the OFF-position, and to separate from the first magnetic portion when the movable contact is at the ON-position.

11. A leakage protection device, comprising:
the opening and closing mechanism according to claim 1 .

12. The leakage protection device of claim 11 , further comprising:
a control unit coupled to the first magnetic assembly and configured to switch on and off the opening and closing mechanism by controlling the first magnetic assembly, and
a communication unit coupled to the control unit, the communication unit being configured to communicate with an external device.

13. An electrical apparatus, comprising the opening and closing mechanism according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Schneider Electric Australia Pty Ltd

Inventors

• Zhang Dahai
• Wang Yonggang
• Du Qilian
• Fan Xin
• Wang Bo

Classifications

• H02G3/121

  in plain walls · CPC title

• G01R31/52

  Testing for short-circuits, leakage current or ground faults · CPC title

• H01H83/02

  operated by earth fault currents (H01H83/14 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02H3/26

  responsive to difference between voltages or between currents; responsive to phase angle between voltages or between currents · CPC title

• H01H83/14

  operated by imbalance of two or more currents or voltages, e.g. for differential protection · CPC title