Compact dual feeders for circuit breakers and related buckets and motor control centers (MCCs)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9337629-B2
Application number	US-201414535447-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 7, 2014
Priority date	Mar 6, 2014
Publication date	May 10, 2016
Grant date	May 10, 2016

Abstract

Dual starters and/or feeders are positioned in a unit housing to be offset from one another in a front to back direction to provide a compact configuration for a MCC cabinet. The dual starters or feeders can communicate with a respective external handle attached to an inwardly oriented shaft. The handles can be rotary handles that connect to a respective gear assembly that transforms rotational input to linear input.

First claim

That which is claimed is:

1. A bucket assembly, comprising:
a unit housing having a front;
a first external handle facing the front of the housing and attached to a first inwardly extending shaft;
a second external handle facing the front of the housing and attached to a second inwardly extending shaft and being laterally spaced apart from the first external handle;
a first starter or feeder held in the unit housing in communication with the first handle; and
a second starter or feeder held in the unit housing in communication with the second handle, wherein the first starter or feeder is held in the unit housing adjacent to but offset from the second starter or feeder, in a front to back direction, to reside closer to the front of the unit housing than the second starter or feeder.

2. The bucket assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first and second starters or feeders are right and left side starters or feeders that have primary bodies that reside laterally spaced apart a distance of between about 1-3 inches, measured from adjacent inwardly facing sides extending in the front to back direction.

3. The bucket assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first and second starters or feeders have primary bodies that reside spaced apart in the front to back direction so that a rear surface of one is a distance of between about 1-3 inches from a front surface of the other.

4. The bucket assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first starter or feeder is a right side starter or feeder and the second starter or feeder is a left side starter or feeder, each with load side terminals on a right side thereof, and wherein the unit housing has a right sidewall that has an open portion allowing an exit access path for conductors from the first and second starters or feeders to a right side vertical wireway.

5. The bucket assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first starter or feeder is a right side feeder and the second starter or feeder is a left side starter or feeder, and wherein the left side starter or feeder resides closer to the front of the unit housing than the right side starter or feeder, and wherein an inwardly extending first shaft of the right side starter or feeder has a length that is between about 1.5 times to about 5 times greater than the second shaft of the left side starter or feeder.

6. The bucket assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first starter or feeder is a right side feeder and the second starter or feeder is a left side starter or feeder, and wherein the right side starter or feeder resides closer to the front of the unit housing than the left side starter or feeder, and wherein the shaft of the left side starter or feeder has a length that is between about 1.5 times to about 5 times greater than the shaft of the right side starter or feeder.

7. The bucket assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first and second starters or feeders have respective primary bodies of substantially the same size, and wherein the primary bodies are laterally offset from each other a distance of between 0.5-3 inches and offset in the front to back direction between about 0.5-5 inches, and wherein the first and second feeders or starters are held by a respective bracket attached to a rear wall of the unit housing, one of the brackets defining a wireway space extending laterally behind one of the primary bodies to define a straight conductor passage to a vertical wireway.

8. The bucket assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first and second starters or feeders have load side terminals facing a vertical wireway, wherein the first starter or feeder is held in the unit housing by a first bracket attached to a rear surface of a primary body of the first starter or feeder, and wherein the first bracket is configured to define an open laterally extending space behind the first starter or feeder that defines an internal laterally extending wireway for conductors attached to the second starter or feeder to a vertical wireway.

9. The bucket assembly of claim 1 , wherein the handles are external rotary handles having a defined ON position and OFF position associated with conduction and non-conduction, and wherein an inner portion of the first and second shafts cooperably engage a respective first and second operator mechanism that then engage a respective lever or switch of the first and second starters or feeders, and wherein the first and second operator mechanisms comprise a rotatable drive gear attached to the shaft that engages a rack gear that linearly moves an operator slider to move the lever or switch.

10. The bucket assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first and second starters or feeders comprise molded case circuit breakers.

11. The bucket assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first shaft and the second shaft have different lengths and one is between about 1.5 to about 5 times greater than the other.

12. The bucket assembly of claim 1 , wherein the unit housing has a centerline that extends in the front to back direction, aligned with a center power stab extending out a back of the unit housing, wherein the first and second starters or feeders have primary bodies, one that resides in a right side and one that resides in a left side of the unit housing, and wherein an inward facing wall of the right side primary body resides closer to the center power stab than an inward facing wall of the left side primary body.

13. The bucket assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first starter or feeder is a left side starter or feeder and the second starter or feeder is a right side starter or feeder and each has respective primary bodies, wherein the first and second handles are rotatable handles, wherein the second shaft is longer than the first shaft and the left side feeder resides further away from the front of the unit housing than the right side feeder, wherein the bucket assembly further comprises a first bracket attached to a back of the unit housing and the primary body of the first starter or feeder and a second bracket attached to the back of the unit housing and the primary body of the second starter or feeder, and wherein the second bracket defines a laterally extending wireway space in the unit housing extending behind the second starter or feeder for conductors attached to the primary body of the first starter or feeder to a right side vertical wireway, and wherein the second bracket has a greater depth dimension in the front to back direction than the first bracket.

14. A compact bucket assembly comprising:
a unit housing;
right and left side molded case circuit breakers;
right and left side rotary external handles held by the unit housing that rotate based on conduction and non-conduction status of a respective circuit breaker in the unit housing, and
first and second inwardly extending shafts, the first shaft attached to the right side rotary handle and the second shaft attached to the left side rotary handle, wherein one shaft is longer than the other shaft by between about 1.5 times (1.5×) to about five times (5×).

15. The assembly of claim 14 , wherein the molded case circuit breakers have substantially the same size and shape, and wherein the right side circuit breaker resides closer to the front of the unit housing than the left side circuit breaker, residing on a bracket that is attached to a rear panel of the unit housing.

16. The assembly of claim 15 , wherein the circuit breakers have primary bodies that reside spaced apart in the front to back direction so that a rear surface of one is a distance of between about 1-3 inches from a front surface of the other, and wherein conductors from the left side circuit breaker travel straight across the unit ho

Assignees

• Eaton Corp

Inventors

• Oneufer Stephen William
• Morris Robert Allan
• Kroushl Daniel Boyd

Classifications

• H02B1/32 Primary

  Mounting of devices therein · CPC title

• H02B1/48 Primary

  Mounting of devices therein · CPC title

• H02B1/36 Primary

  with withdrawable units · CPC title