Methods of assembling a neutral rail to a plug-on neutral load center

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9548548-B2
Application number	US-201213720116-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2012
Priority date	Dec 19, 2012
Publication date	Jan 17, 2017
Grant date	Jan 17, 2017

Abstract

A method of assembling a load center featuring a dielectric barrier that securely retains a plug-on neutral rail without requiring any fasteners. The dielectric barrier and the rail are installed in the same Z-axis direction, which is orthogonal to a rear wall of an enclosure into which the load center is installed. Retention features in the dielectric barrier can create a snap-fit connection between the rail and the barrier, or the barrier can feature a support feature onto which the rail snaps as the rail is installed relative to the dielectric barrier in the Z-axis direction. The snap fit connections eliminate the need for any fasteners, and together with the Z-axis assembly, the assembly process is simplified and accelerated and the possibility of assembly error is reduced or eliminated.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of assembling a plug-on neutral rail into a panel of an electrical distribution apparatus, comprising the steps of:
providing a fixed dielectric base having a major surface lying along a plane;
placing over the base a dielectric shield member such that a bottom surface of the shield member rests a distance above a top surface of the base, the shield member having a plurality of retention feature pairs, each of the retention feature pairs forming a gap therebetween;
inserting lengthwise through the gap an elongate plug-on neutral rail having an oblong cross-section along a narrow dimension of the cross-section; and
responsive to a rotation of the neutral rail by at least 90 degrees, applying a force to decrease the distance between the bottom surface of the shield member and the top surface of the base.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the applying the force causes the neutral rail to be held between a protrusion extending away from the plane along a z-axis orthogonal to the plane and corresponding bottom surfaces of the retention feature pairs.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the placing is carried out in a direction along a z-axis orthogonal to the plane followed by the inserting, wherein the inserting is carried out in the same direction along the z-axis.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the applying the force is carried out in the same direction along the z-axis.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the applying the force causes the shield member to be snap-fit to the base.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein inserting the neutral rail through the gap causes the neutral rail to automatically rotate by the at least 90 degrees, and wherein the neutral rail following the applying the force is retained securely between the shield member and the base without any fasteners to secure the neutral rail to the shield member or to the base.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of, following the applying the force, securing the major surface of the base to a rear wall of the panel such that the major surface abuts against the rear wall.

8. A method of assembling a plug-on neutral rail into a panel of an electrical distribution apparatus, comprising the steps of:
providing a dielectric shield member and a dielectric base, at least one of said shield member and said base having a major surface lying along a plane that is coincident with a rear wall of the panel;
providing a first retention feature and a second retention feature separated from the first retention feature by a gap;
inserting through the gap an elongate plug-on neutral rail in a direction along a z-axis that is orthogonal to the plane, wherein a width of the gap is smaller than an overall width of the neutral rail; and
after the neutral rail has been inserted through the gap, urging the shield member and the base toward one another to securely retain the neutral rail between the first and second retention features and the base.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein both the dielectric shield member and the dielectric base are provided, the method further comprising the step of installing the shield member in the direction along the z-axis over the dielectric base having a major surface parallel to the plane.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the shield member and the base cooperate to securely retain the neutral rail between the first and second retention features without fasteners to secure the neutral rail to the shield member or to the base such that the neutral rail remains between the gap and the base when a neutral connector of a circuit breaker plugged onto the rail is unplugged from the neutral rail.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the inserting includes spreading apart the first and second retention features as the neutral rail is inserted through the gap until the neutral rail clears the gap and the first and second retention features return to their unstressed position to create a snap fit connection between the neutral rail and the shield member.

12. A method of assembling a plug-on neutral rail, which is connectable to a neutral busbar, into a panel of an electrical distribution apparatus, comprising the steps of:
providing a dielectric shield member and a dielectric base, at least one of said shield member and said base having a major surface lying along a plane that is coincident with a rear wall of the panel;
providing a first retention feature and a second retention feature separated from the first retention feature by a gap,
wherein the first retention feature is integral with the shield member and the second retention feature is integral with the base;
following the providing the shield member, then installing an elongate plug on neutral rail against the first retention feature of the shield member; and
after installing the neutral rail against the first retention feature, then installing the base such that the second retention feature of the base forms the gap, wherein a width of the gap is smaller than an overall width of the neutral rail, and the neutral rail is secured between the first and second retention features and the base and the shield member without any fasteners to secure the neutral rail to the base or to the shield member.

13. A method of assembling a plug-on neutral rail into a panel of an electrical distribution apparatus, comprising the steps of:
providing a dielectric substrate having a major surface lying along a plane that is coincident with a rear wall of the panel, the substrate further having a dielectric support that extends from the substrate along a z-axis that is orthogonal to the plane, the support having an exposed upper portion that originates from a centerline of the support that is parallel to the z-axis and that extends outward therefrom and is wider than a lower portion of the support that also originates from the centerline of the support and extends outward therefrom; and
snap-fitting onto the upper portion of the support an elongate plug-on neutral rail in a direction along the z-axis; and
wherein the substrate includes a first retention feature and a second retention feature on opposite sides of the neutral rail when installed onto the upper portion, the method further comprising snap-fitting exposed angled features of the neutral rail to the first and second retention features by urging the neutral rail along the z-axis direction onto the upper portion, without using any fasteners to secure the neutral rail to the dielectric substrate.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
after the snap-fitting, installing a second dielectric member over the dielectric substrate such that an outwardly bent leg of the neutral rail is rotated toward the support as the second dielectric member is moved in a direction along the z-axis onto the dielectric substrate.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the neutral rail includes a first leg and a second leg that both straddle the support when the neutral rail is installed onto the support, wherein the second leg is initially bent outwardly away from the first leg when the neutral rail is installed onto the support, and wherein the dielectric substrate includes a leg retention feature, the method further comprising:
after the snap-fitting, rotating the second leg toward the first leg until the second leg is securely retained by the leg retention feature of the dielectric substrate against the support.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the upper portion of the support is cylindrical and the lower portion of the support is rectangular.

Assignees

• Schneider Electric Usa Inc

Inventors

• Potratz Jason D
• Pearson David R
• Wheeler Kim D
• Broghammer William J

Classifications

• Y10T29/49105

  Switch making · CPC title

• H01R9/2458 Primary

  Electrical interconnections between terminal blocks · CPC title

• Y10T29/49117

  Conductor or circuit manufacturing · CPC title

• H02B1/056

  Mounting on plugboards · CPC title

• H01R25/16

  Rails or bus-bars provided with a plurality of discrete connecting locations for counterparts · CPC title