Patent Publication Number: US-2022224084-A1

Title: Circuit breaker with plug-on connector and mounting protrusion

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     The present inventions relate generally to circuit breakers, and more particularly, to a connection between the circuit breaker and an electrical panel. 
     Circuit breakers are used to open an electrical circuit when an electrical anomaly has occurred in the circuit, such as a high current draw caused by a short in the circuit. Low voltage circuit breakers, such as circuit breakers rated at 120 or 240 volts, are typically connected to an electrical panel with a plurality of different circuit breakers to provide protection for a plurality of respective electrical circuits in a building, such as a home or commercial building. 
     In normal use, a circuit breaker remains connected and fixed within the electrical panel. The circuit breaker typically has a switch lever that can be manually operated to open the electrical circuit and to reset the circuit breaker. However, it is common to add circuit breakers to an electrical panel both during new installations and replacements thereafter. For example, as electrical circuits are added to a building, new circuit breakers must be added to the electrical panel. Also, faulty circuit breakers are commonly replaced by removing the faulty circuit breaker and connecting a replacement circuit breaker onto the electrical panel. Since connecting circuit breakers to electrical panels is common, the inventors believe it would be desirable to provide circuit breakers with an easy and reliable connection to the electrical panel. 
     SUMMARY 
     A circuit breaker and an electrical panel are described. The circuit breaker may be an electronic circuit breaker (e.g., a ground fault circuit breaker or an arc-fault circuit breaker) with a first electrical clip and a second electrical clip. The first electrical clip may plug onto a neutral bar in the electrical panel. The second electrical clip may plug onto a power supply bus in the electrical panel. The first electrical clip may have a curved inner surface that contacts a curved outer surface of the neutral bar. The engagement between the first electrical clip and the neutral bar makes it easier to install the circuit breaker onto the electrical panel compared to screw type connections. A protrusion may also be provided to prevent the circuit breaker from being installed in electrical panels without a neutral bar. The invention may also include any other aspect described below in the written description or in the attached drawings and any combinations thereof. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The invention may be more fully understood by reading the following description in conjunction with the drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a side view of a circuit breaker; 
         FIG. 2  is a side view of the circuit breaker plugged onto an electrical panel; 
         FIG. 3  is an enlarged view of a first electrical clip of the circuit breaker plugged onto an electrical connector of the panel; 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the electrical panel; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of a second electrical clip of the circuit breaker; 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a plurality of circuit breakers plugged onto the electrical panel; 
         FIG. 7  is a side view of the circuit breaker in the process of being mounted onto the electrical panel; 
         FIG. 8  is a side view of the circuit breaker of  FIG. 7  after the circuit breaker has been plugged onto the electrical panel; 
         FIG. 9  is a perspective view of another embodiment of the circuit breaker; 
         FIG. 10A  is a perspective view of a mounting rail for the circuit breaker of  FIG. 9 ; 
         FIG. 10B  is an enlarged perspective view of the mounting rail of  FIG. 10A , 
         FIG. 11  is a perspective view of a non-matching mounting rail that the circuit breaker of  FIG. 9  is not installable on; 
         FIG. 12  is a partial perspective view of an electrical panel, showing the mounting rail of  FIG. 10A  with a plurality of circuit breakers mounted thereon; 
         FIG. 13  is a perspective view of a mounting recess of the circuit breaker; 
         FIG. 14  is a cross-sectional perspective view of a mounting protrusion on the mounting rail and the mounting recess of the circuit breaker engaged therewith; 
         FIG. 15  is an exploded perspective view of a housing for the circuit breaker of  FIG. 9 ; and 
         FIG. 16  is a side view of the circuit breaker of  FIG. 9  after the circuit breaker has been plugged onto the electrical panel with mating slots. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring now to the figures, and particularly  FIG. 1 , a circuit breaker  10  is shown. As shown, the circuit breaker  10  has a switch lever  12  that may be manually actuated to engage and disengage an electrical switch  14 . A housing  16  typically encloses the electrical switch  14 . The electrical switch  14  is shown schematically in  FIG. 1  without extra details since the operation of circuit breaker switches  14  are well known and not the subject of the present inventions. In general, the electrical switch  14  is set in an engaged mode by the switch lever  12 . When an electrical anomaly, such as an overcurrent condition caused by a fault, occurs in the electrical circuit, the electrical switch  14  trips to open the switch  14  and disconnect the electrical circuit from the electrical supply. The switch lever  12  may also be used to manually open the electrical switch  14  to switch it to the disengaged mode if desired. 
     The circuit breaker  10  also includes a first electrical clip  18  to make electrical contact with an electrical connector  20  of an electrical panel  22 . The electrical clip  18  is electrically connected with the electrical switch  14 , e.g., with a wire  40 , to transmit an electrical property to the electrical switch  14  that may be used to detect an electrical anomaly in the electrical circuit. It is understood that it is possible for the circuit breaker  10  to have a single first electrical clip  18  connected to the supply bus  26  if desired. Although it is possible for the electrical property to be the main electrical current supplied to the electrical circuit and the electrical anomaly to be an overcurrent condition, it is preferred that the electrical property is a current leakage in the electrical circuit between the electrical power supplied to the circuit and neutral or another anomaly that is detectable through the neutral side of the circuit. In this case, the electrical clip  18  may be connected to a neutral bus connector  20  in the electrical panel  22 . The electrical switch  14  may also include a circuit board within the circuit breaker housing  16  to detect current leakage. It is understood that the circuit breaker  10  may have various types of intermediate circuitry between the electrical clip  18  and the electrical switch  14  to detect electrical anomalies. In one example, the electrical clip  18  connected to the electrical switch  14  and connected to neutral  20  makes the circuit breaker  10  a ground fault circuit breaker  10 , an arc-fault circuit breaker  10  or a combined ground fault/arc-fault circuit breaker  10 , which are types of circuit breakers commonly known in the art. Preferably, the circuit breaker  10  is a low voltage circuit breaker  10  rated at 120 or 240 volts. As shown in  FIG. 1 , it is preferable for the electrical clip  18  to extend out the bottom of the circuit breaker  10  opposite from the switch lever  12 , which extends out the bottom of the circuit breaker  10 . It is also preferable for the switch lever  12  and the electrical clip  18  to be on opposite lateral sides of the circuit breaker  10 . For example, if a centerline were drawn vertically through the circuit breaker  10  of  FIG. 1 , the switch lever  12  would be on the left side of the centerline and the electrical clip  18  would be on the right side of the centerline. As shown in  FIG. 5 , the circuit breaker  10  may also have a second electrical clip  24  that connects to the electrical panel  22 . The second electrical clip  24  is preferably on the bottom of the circuit breaker  10  on the opposite lateral side (e.g., left side in  FIG. 1 ) from the first electrical clip  18 . Preferably, the second electrical clip  24  is connected to a main electrical supply bus  26  in the electrical panel  22  as shown in  FIG. 6 . As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the circuit breaker  10  may also be provided with a connecting lug  28  that a wire or cable may be connected to. The electrical connecting lug  28  is preferably on the same lateral side as the first electrical clip  18  (i.e., the right side in  FIG. 1 ) and preferably faces out from the side. The wire or cable may be secured to the connecting lug  28  with a screw  30 . The second electrical clip  24  and the electrical connecting lug  28  are typically both connected to the electrical switch  14  so that the switch  14  can be opened and closed between the clip  24  and the lug  28  so that the switch  14  can break the supply of electrical current from the second clip  24  to the connecting lug  28  by opening the switch  14 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the first electrical clip  18  may have a first elastic arm  32  and a second elastic arm  34 . As shown in  FIGS. 2-3 , the first and second elastic arms  32 ,  34  may each form first and second curved inner surfaces  36 ,  38 , respectively. The curved inner surfaces  36 ,  38  of the elastic arms  32 ,  34  each contact corresponding first and second outer curved surfaces of the electrical connector  20  of the panel  22 . As shown, the first and second curved inner surfaces  36 ,  38  may face each other so that they contact opposite sides of the electrical connector  20  on the panel  22 . Thus, in the preferred embodiment, the curved inner surfaces  36 ,  38  wrap around a portion of the electrical connector  20 . At least one of the elastic arms  32 ,  34 , and preferably both of the elastic arms  32 ,  34 , is electrically connected to the electrical switch  14  with a wire  40  or other electrical connector  40  to allow the switch  14  to detect an electrical anomaly through the electrical connector  20  of the panel  22 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 3-4 , the electrical connector  20  is preferably a round bar  20  with a circular cross-section that extends along a length of the panel  22  that is longer than the width of the circuit breaker  10 . That is, the round bar  20  may extend transversely to the circuit breakers  10  so that a plurality of the circuit breakers  10  may be connected to the round bar  20  at the same time (see  FIG. 6 ). As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 4 , where the connector bar  20  is a neutral bar  20 , it is preferable for the neutral bar  20  to be electrically connected to a spaced apart neutral rail  62 . The neutral rail  62  is common in electrical panels  22  and has a plurality of ports  68  to connect the neutral wires of the electrical circuits. The neutral wire ports  68  in the neutral rails  62  are on the outer sides of the rail  62  and can be seen in  FIG. 6 . As shown, the neutral ports  68  are aligned with the screw holes  64  on the top which are used to clamp the neutral wires to the neutral rail  62 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , the connector  66  between the neutral bar  20  and the neutral rail  62  may be a bent portion  66  integral with the neutral bar  20 , although another type of connector may be used. 
     Preferably, the curved inner surfaces  36 ,  38  of the elastic arms  32 ,  34  are oriented transversely with respect to the circuit breaker  10  when the respective electrical connector  20  of the panel  22  extends transversely to the circuit breakers  10 . As shown in  FIG. 3 , the ends of the two elastic arms  32 ,  34  may be separated from each other to form an opening  42  therebetween to insert the electrical connector  20  therethrough to plug the first electrical clip  18  onto the connector  20 . Thus, the opening  42  between the first and second curved inner surfaces  36 ,  38  is preferably large enough to allow the panel connector  20  to pass therethrough. If the opening  42  is smaller than the width of the panel connector  20 , it is understood that the elastic arms  32 ,  34  may be flexed outward if desired to press the first electrical clip  18  onto the panel connector  20 . Although the elastic arms  32 ,  34  may be shaped and sized as desired, it is believed that it may be desirable for the first curved inner surface  36  to wrap around a range  44  of between 40° and 95° where the first surface  36  contacts the panel connector  20 . The second curved inner surface  38  also wraps around a range  46  of between 30° and 90° where the second surface  38  contacts the panel connector  20 . Preferably, the total contact between the first and second curved inner surfaces  36 ,  38  and the panel connector is at least 180° (i.e., range  44 +range  46 ). The opening  42  may also be oriented at an angle  48  of between 60° and 90° with respect to a vertical axis  50  through the circuit breaker  10 . The size  52  of the opening  42  may also be between 70° and 185°. Preferably, the first and second elastic arms  32 ,  34  are made of copper and may be connected together with a bend  54  between the arms  32 ,  34 . It is also preferable for a spring  56  to be provided, for example of spring steel, to press the elastic arms  32 ,  34  toward each other and towards the electrical connector  20  of the panel  22 . 
     The circuit breaker  10  can be plugged onto the electrical panel  22  as shown in  FIGS. 7-8 . As shown in  FIG. 7 , the circuit breaker  10  is initially lowered onto the panel  22  at an angle. As shown, it may be desirable to provide the electrical panel  22  with a mounting rail  58  that may also extend transversely across the width of a plurality of circuit breakers  10  (see  FIG. 4 ). The circuit breaker  10  may also be provided with a recess  60  or other structure that engages with the mounting rail  58  as the circuit breaker  10  is lowered onto the panel  22  at an angle. Once the circuit breaker  10  engages the mounting rail  58 , the circuit breaker  10  is rotated downward around the mounting rail  58  to plug the first and second electrical clips  18 ,  24  onto the neutral bar  20  and the power supply bus  26 , respectively. It is understood that the mounting rail  58  may not be needed in all embodiments and that the electrical clips  18 ,  24  may plug onto the panel  22  in different ways if desired. One advantage of the first electrical clip  18  is that the circuit breaker  10  may be more easily connected to the electrical panel  22  since the electrical clip  18  can engage with the neutral bar  20  within a wide range of angles. That is, the angle of attack that the user chooses to use when mounting the circuit breaker  10  is not particularly critical since successful engagement between the clip  18  and the bar  20  is possible within a wide range of attack angles. The connection between the clip  18  and the bar  20  is also rotatable which allows the clip  18  and the bar  20  to be connected or remain connected as the circuit breaker  10  is rotated downward to plug the second electrical clip  24  onto the power supply bus  26 . It is understood that the aforementioned steps may be reversed to remove the circuit breaker  10  from the panel  22 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 9 , another embodiment of the circuit breaker  10  is shown with a protrusion  70  extending outward from the housing  16 , preferably from the bottom, opposite from the switch lever  12 . The protrusion  70  may be used to prevent the circuit breaker  10  from being installed in electrical panels  22 B that are not designed for the circuit breaker  10 . The protrusion  70  may also be useful in protecting the first electrical clip  18  (also extending downward from the bottom of the circuit breaker  10 ) from damage during handling. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 10A-B , the mounting rail  58 A of the electrical panel  22 A may be provided with mounting slots  72  that the corresponding circuit breaker protrusion  70  is inserted into when the circuit breaker  10  is plugged into the panel  22 A. By contrast, a non-matching mounting rail  58 B is shown in  FIG. 11  which has no mating slots  72  matching the mating slots  72  of  FIGS. 10A-B . It is understood that the mounting rails  58 A,  58 B of  FIGS. 10A-B  and  11  may be used in electrical panels  22  like the mounting rail  58  in  FIG. 4 . In use, the mounting rail  58 A of  FIGS. 10A-B  may be used in first electrical panels  22 A that have the neutral bus  20  and electrical supply bus  26  engageable with the first and second electrical clips  18 ,  24 , respectively (ref.  FIG. 4 ). Thus, when the circuit breaker  10  is installed into such a panel  22 A, the first electrical clip  18  engages the neutral bar  20 , the second electrical clip  24  engages the electrical supply bus  26 , and the protrusion  70  engages one of the mating slots  72  by being inserted therein. 
     On the other hand, second electrical panels  22 B may be provided with the mounting rail  58 B of  FIG. 11 . In this case, the panel  22 B may not have the neutral bus  20  to engage the first electrical clip  18 , but may have a matching electrical supply bus  26  that may engage the second electrical clip  24 . This means that if the circuit breaker  10  were installed in such a panel  22 B, the circuit breaker  10  would not provide the additional protection features that are possible when the first clip  18  engages a neutral bus  20 . Therefore, it may be desirable to prevent the circuit breaker  10  from being installed in the second electrical panels  22 B that do not have a neutral bus  20 . This may be accomplished by providing the protrusion  70  on the housing  16  of the circuit breaker  10 , which will interfere with the bottom portion  74  of the mounting rail  58 B in the second electrical panel  22 B that does not have mating slots  72  for the protrusion  70 . On the other hand, the first electrical panel  22 A which has a mounting rail  58 A with mating slots  72  permits the circuit breaker  10  to be installed therein since the protrusion  70  can be inserted through a corresponding mating slot  72  without interference. 
     As illustrated in  FIGS. 4, 6 and 12 , the electrical panel  22  preferably has a plurality of defined mounting sites  76  for mounting a plurality of circuit breakers  10 , such that one circuit breaker  10  may be installed in each mounting site  76 . As shown in  FIGS. 4 and 12 , the mounting rail  58  may extend across the plurality of mounting sites  76  so that the circuit breakers  10  engage the same mounting rail  58  (e.g., on one side of the panel  22 ). Each mounting site  76  may have one mating slot  72  for the protrusion  70  of the circuit breaker  10 , and in the most preferred embodiment, every mounting site  76  along the mounting rail  58  has a mating slot  72 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 7-8 , and described above, the circuit breaker  10  may be installed in the panel  22  by engaging the rear of the circuit breaker  10  with the mounting rail  58  at an angle. The circuit breaker  10  may then be rotated downward around the engagement with the mounting rail  58  to engage the first clip  18  with the neutral bus  20  and the second clip  24  with the electrical supply bus  26 . In addition, as shown in  FIG. 12 , the protrusion  70  on the circuit breaker  10  is inserted into the corresponding mating slot  72  of the mounting rail  58 A as the circuit breaker  10  is rotated downward. 
     In order to aid installation of the circuit breaker  10 , the mounting rail  58  may be provided with a plurality of mounting protrusions  78  which are each received by a respective mounting recess  60  at the rear of the circuit breaker  10 . As shown in  FIG. 14 , the mounting recess  60  is bordered by webs  80  that surround the mounting protrusion  78  when the circuit breaker  10  engages the mounting rail  58 . It is noted that the non-matching mounting rail  58 B of  FIG. 11  may also have matching mounting protrusions  78  which allows engagement with the mounting recess  60  of the circuit breaker  10 . Thus, the mounting protrusions  78  do not prevent installation of the circuit breaker  10  in the second panel  22 B. Instead, as described above, the absence of the mating slots  72  in the non-matching mounting rail  58 B may serve this purpose. 
     Because each mounting protrusion  78  on the mounting rail  58  may engage with a respective mounting recess  60  of a circuit breaker  10 , the mounting protrusions  78  may define the mounting sites  76  in the panel  22  for installing the circuit breakers  10 . In addition, as shown in  FIGS. 4 and 6 , the panel  22  may also be provided with dividers  82  between the circuit breakers  10  to define the mounting sites  76 . 
     The protrusion  70  on the housing  16  of the circuit breaker  10  may also be useful in preventing damage to the first clip  18 , for example, during handling. Since the first clip  18  extends outward from the bottom of the housing  16 , the first clip  18  may be subject to being damaged, for example, when a user inadvertently drops the circuit breaker  10 . In order to protect the first clip  18  from damage, it may be desirable to provide a protection protrusion  84  that extends out from the housing  16  adjacent the front side of the first electrical clip  18 . Although the protection protrusion  84  may provide some protection from damage by itself, the protrusion  70  may provide further protection, especially where the circuit breaker  10  is dropped with a rearward angled orientation. As shown in  FIG. 9 , the first electrical clip  18  may be located between the protection protrusion  84  and the protrusion  70 , with the opening  42  of the first clip  18  facing away from the protection protrusion  84  and facing toward the protrusion  70 . Since the protection protrusion  84 , first clip  18  and protrusion  70  all extend outward in the same direction, with the clip  18  being between the protrusions  70 ,  84 , the first clip  18  is provided with improved damage protection. 
     Preferably, the protrusion  70  is a plastic portion that is integrally molded as part of the plastic housing  16  of the circuit breaker  10 . The protection protrusion  84  may also be an integrally molded plastic portion of the plastic housing  16 . As shown in  FIG. 15 , it may be desirable to form the housing  16  from multiple plastic molded sections. For example, the housing  16  may have two outer plastic molded sides  86  and a plastic molded middle section  88  between the sides  86 . The sides  86  and middle  88  may be fastened together with rivets  90 . As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the housing  16  encloses the electrical switch  14  and associated components within the circuit breaker  10 . As shown in  FIG. 15 , it may be desirable to mold the protrusion  70  and the protection protrusion  84  onto the middle plastic section  88 . The middle plastic section  88  may also be provided with an opening  92  through which the first clip  18  extends. 
     For illustration,  FIG. 16  shows the circuit breaker  10  of  FIG. 9  plugged onto an electrical panel  22 A having the mounting rail  58 A of  FIG. 10A-B . As shown, when the circuit breaker  10  is installed onto the electrical panel  22 A, the protrusion  70  is inserted into the mating slot  72  of the mounting rail  58 A. Thus, the circuit breaker  10  of  FIG. 9  would not be able to be installed in an electrical panel  22 B with a non-matching mounting rail  58 B like  FIG. 11  that does not have the mating slots  72  because the protrusion  70  would interfere with the non-matching mounting rail  58 B. 
     While preferred embodiments of the inventions have been described, it should be understood that the inventions are not so limited, and modifications may be made without departing from the inventions herein. While each embodiment described herein may refer only to certain features and may not specifically refer to every feature described with respect to other embodiments, it should be recognized that the features described herein are interchangeable unless described otherwise, even where no reference is made to a specific feature. It should also be understood that the advantages described above are not necessarily the only advantages of the inventions, and it is not necessarily expected that all of the described advantages will be achieved with every embodiment of the inventions. The scope of the inventions is defined by the appended claims, and all devices and methods that come within the meaning of the claims, either literally or by equivalence, are intended to be embraced therein.