Abstract:
An electric switch assembly including a multipolar quick-assembly appliance and a quick-connect appliance, wherein the body of an appliance, or its power terminal strip, is directly fixed and interlocked with to the body of an adjacent appliance. The interconnection between the various appliances is rapidly performed by multipolar blocks capable of being pressed on the front surfaces of appliances and being elastically plugged into their terminals.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to an electric switch assembly comprising two multipolar appliances, each of which comprises an external body provided with a front face, upper and lower transverse faces, side faces and a rear face notably for fixing to a support, wherein at least one of the appliances has breaker properties; the appliances have polar power links including internal power conductors housed in the body and upstream and/or downstream power connection terminals having apertures which open onto the front face for connecting external conductors to the power conductors. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
     Such a unite may notably be a so-called motor starter. The switching unit may be a contactor, a breaker, a disconnector or any another similar switch appliance which may be used in low voltage electricity distribution or control. 
     Such an appliance is described in document EP-0 869 594. Facilitating its mechanical assembly is desirable and it is further desirable that the operator may assemble and wire up a motor starter appliance, or more generally a set of electric switch appliances, manually, i.e. without having to resort to a tool. 
     SUMMARY THE INVENTION 
     The object of the present invention is to simplify the setting-up of an assembly of electric switch appliances, notably of a motor starter assembly, and to provide easy assembly and quick wiring up and as far as possible without having to resort to a tool. 
     According to the invention, in an assembly of the described type, coupling means are provided for maintaining both appliances mechanically coupled, a multipolar interconnection block is applied on at least one of the front faces of the coupled appliances, and it includes plugged pins in the power terminals facing the matching poles of the appliances in order to provide the respective polar links between the appliances, and the pins of the block and the power connection terminals facing each other cooperate by means of a resilient effect. 
     The coupling means may be a common base or a fastening part, but they are preferably provided on the bodies of the appliances in order to ensure direct coupling of the bodies. The connection terminals are preferably laid out so as to enable cables to be connected with a tool and pins to be connected without a tool; they may also be of the tulip-shaped type with radial clamping. In this way, the electric power link between the appliances takes place, after their coupling without any intermediate part (preferably by fastening them together) by engaging a interconnection multipolar block with pins, and this without requiring any tool. 
     It is advantageous when the coupling means comprise fitting means with protrusions or slots provided on an upper or lower face of a specific power terminal strip forming the upper or lower face of the body of an appliance either partly or entirely. The relevant appliance may thus be manufactured in a standard version with screw terminals, easily adaptable to the described coupling by simply adding a power terminal strip with resilient or tulip-shaped terminals. Interlocking means also enable the casing of the contactor to be directly and securely fixed to the casing of the breaker. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The description of a non-limiting embodiment of the invention will be made hereafter with reference to the appended drawings. 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a side view of a motor starter assembly according to the invention. 
     FIG. 2 shows the motor starter assembly with its different components in an exploded view, with a power supply alternative. 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the contactor. 
     FIG. 4 shows a resilient terminal used in the components of the motor starter assembly. 
     FIG. 5 shows an alternative of the assembly according to the invention. 
     FIG. 6 illustrates a detail of the power connection for the assembly of FIG.  5 . 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The motor starter assembly  10  illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, comprises a mechanically coupled breaker  20 , and contactor  30 . The assembly is fixed to a rear support  11  such as a rail or another support via usual fixing means  12 , notably interlocking means, provided at the rear of the breaker, whereas the contactor  30  is directly fixed to the breaker  20  below the latter. The terms front, rear, upper and lower are assigned to components of the assembly according, to the normal mounting of this assembly and to its servicing by an operator, who would be located on the right of FIGS. 1 and 2. 
     The breaker  20  has a front face  20   a  located in a plane P 1 , a rear face  20   b , upper and lower faces  20   c ,  20   d  and side faces  20   e  and similarly the contactor has a front face  30   a , for example also located in plane P 1 , as well as a rear face  30   b , upper and lower faces  30   c ,  30   d  and side faces  30   e . In this embodiment, the breaker has power terminals with resilient clamping, hereafter designated as “resilient terminals”, i.e. upstream terminals  21  and downstream terminals  23  located near its front face. When the external body  20   f  of the breaker is formed by its actual casing  20   g  (FIG.  1 ), terminals  21 ,  23  are housed in this casing; when the external body  20   f  of the breaker is partly formed by the casing and partly by the respective upstream  22  and downstream  24  terminal strips fixed on the upper and lower portions of the casing (FIG.  2 ), terminals  21 ,  23  are then housed in the terminal strips. Usual on/off buttons  20   h  or other dialog components are positioned on a portion  20   a ′ of the front face  20   a  if the breaker, protruding forwards with respect to the remainder of face  20   a , in order to act on a mechanism which interrupts the internal current links connected to the aforementioned terminals. An aperture  20   i  is provided in face  20   a  above the upstream terminals  21  in order to house a signalling addition not shown. 
     Each terminal  21 ,  23  of the breaker comprises a resilient cage  13  of a known type (see FIG. 4) having a clamping lead  14  provided with an aperture  15  for clamping a cable by jamming it, a lead  16  applied on a conducting support  18  and a loop with a convex back portion  17  connecting leads  14 ,  16 . A cable may be introduced into the aperture  15  after loosening the cage by exerting pressure with a tool on loop  17 ; a pin, in the present case an interconnection pin, between both appliances may be put into contact, without any tool, with a conducting part  19  by direct pressure on loop  17 ; this part  19  is positioned in parallel to lead  16  opposite the cage. 
     Each terminal  21 ,  23  of the breaker is thus laid out so that a cable may be connected with a tool and an interconnection pin may be connected without a tool. The terminal housing opens onto the front face  20   a  through a passage  21   a ,  23   a  for introducing a cable to be jammed in the aperture  15  and through a passage  21   b ,  23   b  for introducing either a tool capable of loosening the terminal by pressure on the loop, or an interconnection pin, as described later. Power supply of the terminals  21  is provided by a set  40  of power conductors, notably bars, placed and fixed on the upper face  20   c  of the breaker. The set of bars  40  comprises distribution bars  41  and terminals, each of which is connected to one of the bars. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the set of bars  40  includes protrusions  43 , for example studs or projections with a suitable profile, for cooperating with the fitting slots or button holes  25  provided as the case may be, in the upper face  20   c  of the casing  20   g  or of the upstream terminal strip  22  for anchoring the set of bars  40  to the breaker  20 . Alternatively, the upstream appliance fitted on the breaker may be a disconnector or limiter. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the set of bars  40  includes the rear support  11  of the breaker and does not need to be fitted onto the face  20   c  of the breaker. 
     A power interconnection multipolar block  50  is provided for ensuring the power supply of the breaker. It includes an insulating body  51  and upstream  52  and downstream  53  pins to be plugged into the respective resilient terminals  42 ,  21  of the set of bars and of the breaker. A retaining unit  54  ensures blocking of the block against the breaker or the set of bars in order to prevent any untimely unfastening. 
     The casing  20   g  of the breaker or its downstream terminal strip  24  has slots  26 , certain of which assuming the shape of button holes, provided on the lower face  20   d , for cooperating as it will be seen with complementary shapes of the contactor in order to ensure direct fixing of the latter to the breaker. 
     The contactor  30  provides a structure such that its external body  30   f  is substantially formed by an arc casing  31  which houses fixed and mobile contacts and by a power terminal strip  32  fixed to the arc casing. Power terminal strip  32  houses upstream resilient terminals  33  and downstream resilient terminals  34  provided with cages  13  similar to those of the breaker. 
     The resilient terminals  33 ,  34  of the contactor are similar to those  21 ,  23  of the breaker. They open onto the upper face  30   a  of the body  30   f  through passages  33   a ,  34   a  for engaging an interconnection pin and through a passage  33   b ,  34   b  for engaging a cable to be connected in the jamming aperture  15  of the resilient cage. When an interconnection pin is used, passage  33   b ,  34   b  is not used. When a cable is used, passage  33   a ,  34   a  is used for introducing a tool which forces the loosening of the cage. 
     Of course, instead of a monoblock terminal strip, it is possible to design two upstream and downstream distinct terminal strips as inserts on the arc casing  31 . A monitoring and control terminal strip  35  which houses resilient terminals for connection with the coil and with the signalling units, is fixed on the front side of the power terminal strip in order to let fixing and maneuvering projections  36  through from an optional added block. The terminal strip forms the main part of the contactor&#39;s upper face  30   c  and lower face  30   d , and comprises at least on the upper face, protrusions  37  for cooperating with the lower fitting slots  26  of the breaker  20 . It should be noted that the face  20   a ′ of the body of the breaker and the front face  30   a ′ of the terminal strip  35  of the contactor are in a same parallel plane P 2 , and jutting out with respect to P 1 . 
     The movement for engaging the contactor is performed by a first move Z 1  for example parallel to the front faces  20   a ,  30   a  of both appliances, and then by a second move Z 2  perpendicularly to these faces. A retaining component  38 , notably an interlocking component, provided on the upper or rear face of the contactor, ensures its blocking against any pulling out forward movement when it is fastened to the breaker. Resilient loosening means preferably by manual maneuvering, are associated with component  38  for clearing it, in order to release the contactor from the breaker. 
     Each terminal  33 ,  34  opens onto the front face  30   a  of the contactor through a passage  33   a ,  34   a  for a cable to be connected in the aperture  15  of the jamming lead of the resilient cage and a passage  33   b ,  34   b  for a loosening tool, or for an interconnection pin with the breaker. 
     A power interconnection multipolar block  60 , preferably identical to block  50 , includes an insulating body  61 , upstream  62  and downstream  63  pins and a retaining component  64 . The pins are for plugging into the breaker&#39;s downstream resilient terminals  23  without any tool and the contactor&#39;s upstream resilient terminals  33  and the retaining component  64  prevents any untimely pulling out of the block. Another block may be provided for connecting the contactor to the load. 
     The mounting of the motor starter assembly  10  will be described with reference to FIG.  2 . The breaker is fixed on its support  11  forming part of the set of bars  40 , and then the contactor is fitted in under the breaker, in order for it to be coupled with the latter in a well determined position, and the pins of the interconnection blocks  60  are plugged into the power resilient terminals  23 ,  33  while being maintained in the plugged position by their retaining component  64 . Supplying power to the whole is achieved by inserting pins of the interconnection blocks  50  into the terminals  21  of the breaker and  42  of the set of bars. It should be noted that the mounting and the dismounting of the assembly are performed without requiring any tool. 
     Of course, several assemblies  10  may be juxtaposed by affixing the side faces  20   e ,  30   e  of their different contactor-breaker pairs. The contactor, here of the electromechanical type, may be of the static type. Further, the contactor may be provided on its lower face  30   d  with fitting protrusions or slots for bearing an additional or communications module or more generally, an auxiliary appliance to be quickly assembled and connected. It is a matter of fact that the fitting protrusions and slots provided on both of these appliances may be reversed. 
     In the embodiment of FIG. 5, the multipolar blocks  50 ,  60  have pins  52 ,  53 ,  62 ,  63 , the ends of which  71  have a resilient configuration, in particular in the radial direction as indicated in FIG.  6 . The matching terminals  42 ,  21 ,  23 ,  33  of the appliances have stiff sockets  72  formed by the portions of conducting parts such as  19  or by auxiliary parts fixed onto these conducting parts. Placing of the blocks  50 ,  60  is again performed by a perpendicular movement to the front faces  20   a ,  30   a  of the appliances. Alternatively, the sockets may be resilient tulips cooperating with rigid stiff pins. 
     It should be noted that the upstream multipolar interconnection block  50  has a height such that the aperture  20   i  dedicated to the introduction of an addition into the body  20   f  of the breaker is left clear, and that the multipolar interconnection blocks  50 ,  60  are quasi embedded, with a depth such that their front face is substantially aligned with plane P 2  of the dialog and monitoring faces of the appliances.