Patent Description:
A circuit breaker is a switch apparatus that is capable of turning on, carrying and turning off a current under normal circuit conditions, and capable of turning on, carrying and turning off a current under abnormal circuit conditions within a specified time. Circuit breakers are generally classed as high-voltage circuit breakers and low-voltage circuit breakers, according to their range of use. Circuit breakers can be used to distribute electrical energy, activate asynchronous motors infrequently, and protect power supply lines and motors, etc. When a fault such as a serious overload or short circuit and undervoltage occurs, a circuit breaker can automatically break the circuit; the function thereof is equivalent to a combination of a fuse-type switch and an over/underheating relay, etc..

A circuit breaker accessory cooperating with the circuit breaker can detect the state of the circuit breaker. However, an existing circuit breaker accessory can only provide simple information such as circuit breaker off, circuit breaker on and circuit breaker tripped; it is unable to determine the type of circuit breaker tripping.

Moreover, when the circuit breaker suffers a fault, the existing circuit breaker accessory cannot realize a pre-alarm.

<CIT> discloses a device having an insulating casing with a main face for controlling an interruption device equipped with an operating lever, wherein indication units are arranged for indicating states and defects of the interruption device.

<CIT> discloses An apparatus for translating diagnostic information provided by a circuit protective device to a graphic display format, wherein the apparatus monitors through a sensor a trip sequence implemented by the circuit protective device as a function of time during a read out operation to indicate a type of fault condition from a plurality of fault conditions for a prior occurrence of a trip event or diagnostic information.

The embodiments of the present invention propose a circuit breaker accessory and a circuit breaker assembly.

The technical solution of the embodiments of the present invention is as follows:
A circuit breaker accessory as defined in the appended claims.

Thus, in embodiments of the present invention, by detecting the movement track of the trip arm of the circuit breaker, it is possible to determine the circuit breaker tripping type, thereby making it easy for a user to determine the cause of the fault quickly.

Clearly, in embodiments of the present invention, it is also possible to determine a state of the circuit breaker jointly on the basis of whether the trip arm detection module has detected the movement track of the trip arm, and the handle position detected by the handle detection module.

Thus, the circuit breaker accessory in an embodiment of the present invention can detect a temperature rise close to the circuit breaker thermal system, in order to alert the user in advance to adjust the circuit breaker load.

Thus, the circuit breaker accessory in an embodiment of the present invention can detect a temperature rise at a point close to the circuit breaker contact, in order to alert the user in advance with regard to the contact reliability of the circuit breaker contact.

In one embodiment, the trip arm detection module comprises:.

Clearly, the embodiments of the present invention also propose a specific structure of the trip arm detection module, to facilitate implementation.

In one embodiment, the handle detection module comprises:.

Clearly, the embodiments of the present invention also propose a specific structure of the handle detection module, to facilitate implementation.

A circuit breaker assembly as defined in the appended claims.

Thus, by detecting the movement track of the trip arm of the circuit breaker, the circuit breaker assembly in embodiments of the present invention can determine the circuit breaker tripping type, thereby making it easy for a user to determine the cause of the fault quickly.

In one embodiment, the circuit breaker accessory further comprises:.

Clearly, the circuit breaker assembly in embodiments of the present invention can also determine a state of the circuit breaker jointly on the basis of whether the trip arm detection module has detected the movement track of the trip arm, and the handle position detected by the handle detection module.

Clearly, in embodiments of the present invention, a temperature rise close to a circuit breaker thermal system can be detected, so as to alert the user in advance to adjust a load of the circuit breaker; a temperature rise at a point close to a circuit breaker contact can also be detected, so as to alert the user in advance regarding the contact reliability of the circuit breaker contact.

In one embodiment, the trip arm detection module comprises: a trip arm connection component, configured to be connected to the trip arm of the circuit breaker; a first magnet, arranged in the trip arm connection component; and a first Hall sensor, arranged at a periphery of a movement track of the trip arm connection component; the handle detection module comprises: a handle connection component, configured to be connected to the handle of the circuit breaker; a second magnet, arranged in the handle connection component; a second Hall sensor, arranged at a first position at a periphery of a movement track of the handle connection component, wherein the first position corresponds to the handle being in the ON state; and a third Hall sensor, arranged at a second position at a periphery of the movement track of the handle connection component, wherein the second position corresponds to the handle being in the OFF state.

Clearly, the embodiments of the present invention also propose specific structures of the trip arm detection module and handle detection module, to facilitate implementation.

The present invention is explained in further detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments, to clarify the technical solution and advantages thereof. It should be understood that the particular embodiments described here are merely intended to explain the present invention elaboratively, not to define the scope of protection thereof.

The solution of the present invention is expounded below by describing a number of representative embodiments, in order to make the description concise and intuitive. The large number of details in the embodiments are merely intended to assist with understanding of the solution of the present invention. However, obviously, the technical solution of the present invention need not be limited to these details when implemented. To avoid making the solution of the present invention confused unnecessarily, some embodiments are not described meticulously, but merely outlined. Hereinbelow, "comprises" means "including but not limited to", while "according to. " means "at least according to. , but not limited to only according to. In line with the linguistic customs of Chinese, in cases where the quantity of a component is not specified hereinbelow, this means that there may be one or more of the component; this may also be interpreted as meaning at least one.

The applicant has discovered that: a circuit breaker accessory cooperating with a circuit breaker in the prior art is essentially a purely mechanical device using a micro switch, and therefore can only provide simple information such as circuit breaker off, circuit breaker on and circuit breaker tripped; it is unable to determine the type of circuit breaker tripping. For example, when the circuit breaker is tripped, the circuit breaker accessory in the prior art cannot determine the specific cause of tripping, e.g. cannot determine whether the tripping is caused by residual current or by an overcurrent fault, etc..

Furthermore, the applicant has also discovered that: when the circuit breaker suffers a fault, the circuit breaker accessory in the prior art cannot realize a pre-alarm.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a circuit breaker accessory capable of determining the type of circuit breaker tripping on the basis of a movement track of a trip arm of the circuit breaker is proposed, so as to make it easy for a user to deal with the tripping fault quickly. For example, tripping types include tripping caused by residual current faults, tripping caused by overcurrent faults, etc. Furthermore, the circuit breaker accessory in an embodiment of the present invention can also detect a closed state, an open state and a freely tripped state of the circuit breaker, e.g. manually opened, freely tripped when a handle is blocked, etc..

In addition, the circuit breaker accessory in an embodiment of the present invention also has a pre-alarm function. For example: a temperature rise close to a circuit breaker thermal system can be detected, so as to alert the user in advance to adjust a load of the circuit breaker; a temperature rise at a point close to a circuit breaker contact can also be detected, so as to alert the user in advance to pay attention to the contact reliability of the circuit breaker contact, etc..

<FIG> is a module diagram of the circuit breaker accessory of the present invention.

As shown in <FIG>, the circuit breaker accessory <NUM> comprises:.

Here, one or more tripping type tracks corresponding to one or more tripping types respectively are pre-stored in the control module <NUM>. Once the trip arm detection module <NUM> has detected the movement track of the trip arm, the control module <NUM> matches the movement track detected by the trip arm detection module <NUM> to a pre-stored tripping type track, and determines the tripping type of the circuit breaker on the basis of the matching result.

For example, a tripping type track corresponding to overcurrent fault tripping is a single-line path; a tripping type track corresponding to residual current fault tripping is a back-and-forth alternating path. An overcurrent fault tripping type track manifested as a single-line path, and a residual current fault tripping type track manifested as a back-and-forth alternating path, are stored in the control module <NUM>. When the trip arm detection module <NUM> detects that the movement track of the trip arm is a single-line path of movement from a point A to a point B (i.e. not alternating back-and-forth), the control module determines, via a path matching operation, that the circuit breaker tripping type is tripping caused by an overcurrent fault. When the trip arm detection module <NUM> detects that the movement track of the trip arm is a back-and-forth changing path of movement from point A to point B and then change from point B to point A, the control module determines, via path matching, that the circuit breaker tripping type is tripping caused by a residual current fault.

Clearly, in embodiments of the present invention, by detecting the movement track of the trip arm of the circuit breaker, it is possible to determine the circuit breaker tripping type, thereby making it easy for the user to determine the cause of the fault quickly.

In one embodiment, the circuit breaker accessory <NUM> further comprises a handle detection module <NUM>. The handle detection module <NUM> is connected to a handle of the circuit breaker, and configured to detect a position of the handle; wherein the control module <NUM> is further configured to determine a state of the circuit breaker jointly on the basis of whether the trip arm detection module <NUM> has detected a movement track of the trip arm, and the handle position detected by the handle detection module <NUM>, for example, a freely tripped state when the handle is blocked, a normally tripped state and a manually opened state, etc..

A typical practical example of the state of the circuit breaker being determined jointly on the basis of whether the trip arm detection module <NUM> has detected a movement track of the trip arm, and the handle position detected by the handle detection module <NUM>, has been described demonstratively above, but those skilled in the art will realize that such a description is purely demonstrative, and not intended to limit the scope of protection of embodiments of the present invention.

Specifically, the control module <NUM> may be implemented as comprising one or more central processors or one or more field-programmable gate arrays, wherein the field-programmable gate array integrates one or more central processor cores. Specifically, the central processor or central processor core may be implemented as a CPU, MCU or digital signal processor (DSP), etc..

In one embodiment, the circuit breaker accessory <NUM> further comprises: a first temperature detection module <NUM>, arranged in a peripheral environment of a thermal system of the circuit breaker, and configured to detect a first temperature value; wherein the control module <NUM> is further configured to generate a first alarm prompt for prompting adjustment of a circuit breaker load when the first temperature value is greater than a first predetermined threshold.

Preferably, the thermal system of the circuit breaker may contain a bimetallic strip. Moreover, the first predetermined threshold is preferably an adjustable empirical value.

In one embodiment, the circuit breaker accessory <NUM> further comprises: a second temperature detection module <NUM>, arranged in a peripheral environment of a contact of the circuit breaker, and configured to detect a second temperature value; wherein the control module <NUM> is further configured to generate a second alarm prompt for prompting contact reliability when the second temperature value is greater than a second predetermined threshold. Moreover, the second predetermined threshold is preferably an adjustable empirical value.

In one embodiment, the trip arm detection module <NUM> comprises: a trip arm connection component, configured to be connected to the trip arm of the circuit breaker; a first magnet, arranged in the trip arm connection component; and a first Hall sensor, arranged at a periphery of a movement track of the trip arm connection component. Here, the trip arm connection component is connected to the trip arm at the circuit breaker, and the trip arm connection component can move as the trip arm moves. Different tripping faults will cause the trip arm to have different movement tracks, such that the trip arm connection component has correspondingly different movement tracks. The first magnet is inserted into the trip arm connection component. When the trip arm connection component moves with the trip arm, the first Hall sensor will detect a change in the magnetic field of the first magnet, and indirectly detect the movement track of the trip arm on the basis of the change in magnetic field.

In one embodiment, the handle detection module <NUM> comprises: a handle connection component, configured to be connected to the handle of the circuit breaker; a second magnet, arranged in the handle connection component; a second Hall sensor, arranged at a first position at a periphery of a movement track of the handle connection component, wherein the first position corresponds to the handle being in the ON state; and a third Hall sensor, arranged at a second position at a periphery of the movement track of the handle connection component, wherein the second position corresponds to the handle being in the OFF state. Here, the handle connection component is connected to the handle at the circuit breaker, and the handle connection component can move as the handle moves. The second magnet is inserted into the handle connection component.

When the handle moves to the ON state, the handle connection component moves to the first position with the handle, and the second Hall sensor detects that the handle connection component moves to the first position with the handle on the basis of detecting a change in the magnetic field of the second magnet. When the handle moves to the OFF state, the handle connection component moves to the second position with the handle, and the third Hall sensor detects that the handle connection component moves to the second position with the handle on the basis of detecting a change in the magnetic field of the second magnet.

Typical practical examples of the trip arm detection module and handle detection module have been described demonstratively above. Those skilled in the art will realize that such a description is purely demonstrative, and not intended to limit the scope of protection of embodiments of the present invention.

In one embodiment, the circuit breaker accessory <NUM> further comprises a communication module <NUM>; the communication module <NUM> sends data to a data collector by means of a wireless interface or wired interface.

Preferably, the data sent by the communication module <NUM> may comprise: handle position, tripping type, circuit breaker state and temperature rise data, etc. For example, the wired interface comprises at least one of the following: a universal serial bus interface, controller local area network interface or serial port, etc.; the wireless interface comprises at least one of the following: an infrared interface, near field communication interface, Bluetooth interface, Zigbee interface, wireless broadband interface, etc. Preferably, the communication module <NUM> may be implemented as a communication chip.

The circuit breaker accessory <NUM> may further comprise a human-machine interface (HMI) module <NUM>. The HMI module <NUM> is configured to display to the user the first alarm prompt, second alarm prompt, handle position, tripping type, circuit breaker state and temperature rise data, etc. For example, the HMI module <NUM> may be implemented as a light emitting diode (LED) or LED array. A button for resetting the circuit breaker accessory may also be provided on the HMI module <NUM>.

Typical practical examples of the communication module have been described demonstratively above. Those skilled in the art will realize that such a description is purely demonstrative, and not intended to define the scope of protection of embodiments of the present invention.

Based on the description above, an embodiment of the present invention also proposes a circuit breaker assembly.

<FIG> is a structural diagram of the circuit breaker assembly of the present invention.

As shown in <FIG>, the circuit breaker assembly <NUM> comprises:.

The circuit breaker accessory <NUM> further comprises: a handle detection module <NUM>, connected to the handle <NUM> of the circuit breaker and configured to detect a position of the handle <NUM>; wherein the control module <NUM> is further configured to:.

The circuit breaker accessory <NUM> further comprises: a first temperature detection module <NUM>, arranged in a peripheral environment of a thermal system <NUM> of the circuit breaker <NUM>, and configured to detect a first temperature value; wherein the control module <NUM> is further configured to generate a first alarm prompt for prompting adjustment of a circuit breaker load when the first temperature value is greater than a first predetermined threshold.

The circuit breaker accessory <NUM> further comprises: a second temperature detection module <NUM>, arranged in a peripheral environment of a contact <NUM> of the circuit breaker <NUM>, and configured to detect a second temperature value; wherein the control module <NUM> is further configured to generate a second alarm prompt for prompting contact reliability when the second temperature value is greater than a second predetermined threshold.

A typical practical example of the circuit breaker accessory <NUM> is described in detail below with specific electronic components.

<FIG> is a demonstrative structural diagram of the circuit breaker accessory of the present invention.

In <FIG>, a circuit breaker accessory as shown in <FIG> is arranged in a printed circuit board <NUM>.

The trip arm detection module of the circuit breaker accessory comprises: a trip arm connection component <NUM> made of plastic, a first magnet <NUM> and a first Hall sensor <NUM>. The trip arm connection component <NUM> is joined to the trip arm at the circuit breaker. The first magnet <NUM> is inserted into the trip arm connection component <NUM>; the first Hall sensor <NUM> is arranged on the printed circuit board <NUM> at a peripheral position of a movement track of the trip arm connection component <NUM>, e.g. arranged at a lower region of the first magnet <NUM>. Different tripping faults will cause the trip arm connection component <NUM> to have different movement tracks. When the trip arm connection component <NUM> moves with the trip arm, the first Hall sensor <NUM> will detect a change in the magnetic field of the first magnet <NUM>, and thereby detect the movement track of the trip arm.

The handle detection module of the circuit breaker accessory comprises: a handle connection component <NUM> made of plastic, a second magnet <NUM>, a second Hall sensor <NUM> and a third Hall sensor <NUM>. The handle connection component <NUM> is joined to the handle of the circuit breaker. The second magnet <NUM> is inserted into the handle connection component <NUM>. The second Hall sensor <NUM> is arranged on the printed circuit board <NUM> at a position corresponding to the handle being in the ON state; the third Hall sensor <NUM> is arranged on the printed circuit board <NUM> at a position corresponding to the handle being in the OFF state. If the circuit breaker handle moves, the handle connection component <NUM> will also move correspondingly. The second Hall sensor <NUM> and third Hall sensor <NUM> can detect the handle in the ON state or OFF state respectively.

The control module of the circuit breaker accessory is implemented as an MCU <NUM>. The MCU <NUM> can determine a tripping type of the circuit breaker on the basis of a movement track detection result of the trip arm detection module, and can also determine a state of the circuit breaker jointly on the basis of whether the trip arm detection module has detected a movement track of the trip arm, and the handle position detected by the handle detection module. For example, when the MCU <NUM> discovers that the trip arm detection module has detected a movement track (i.e. discovers tripping), and determines that the handle is in the ON state on the basis of the handle position detected by the handle detection module, the MCU <NUM> identifies free tripping when the handle is blocked.

An NTC temperature sensor <NUM> is arranged close to a bimetallic strip of the circuit breaker, in order to acquire a relative temperature of the bimetallic strip. When the NTC temperature sensor <NUM> detects that the temperature of the bimetallic strip is too high, the MCU <NUM> issues an alarm prompt by means of an LED connected to the printed circuit board <NUM> via a first connector140 and a second connector <NUM>.

The MCU <NUM> can also send handle position, tripping type, circuit breaker state and temperature rise data, etc. to a data collector by means of a communication chip <NUM>. The communication chip <NUM> may be implemented as a Zigbee chip, Bluetooth chip, etc. The MCU <NUM> can also acquire configuration data from the data collector.

A typical practical example of the circuit breaker accessory has been described demonstratively above with specific electronic components, but those skilled in the art will realize that the abovementioned electronic components may be subjected to various changes or substitutions; no restrictions are imposed in this regard in embodiments of the present invention. For example, through adjustment of the trip arm connection component <NUM> made of plastic, a micro switch can replace the first magnet <NUM> and first Hall sensor <NUM>. Through adjustment of the handle connection component <NUM> made of plastic, a micro switch can replace the second magnet <NUM>, second Hall sensor <NUM> and third Hall sensor <NUM>. Furthermore, the NTC temperature sensor <NUM> may also be replaced by a semiconductor temperature sensor, etc..

It must be explained that not all of the steps and modules in the flows and structural diagrams above are necessary; certain steps or modules may be omitted according to actual requirements. The order in which steps are executed is not fixed, but may be adjusted as required. The partitioning of the modules is merely functional partitioning, employed for the purpose of facilitating description; during actual implementation, one module may be realized by multiple modules, and the functions of multiple modules may be realized by the same module; these modules may be located in the same device, or in different devices.

Claim 1:
A circuit breaker accessory (<NUM>), comprising:
a trip arm detection module (<NUM>), connected to a trip arm (<NUM>) of a circuit breaker (<NUM>) and configured to detect a movement track of the trip arm (<NUM>); characterized in that the circuit breaker accessory (<NUM>) comprises:
a control module (<NUM>) configured to:
pre-store a plurality of tripping type tracks corresponding to a plurality of tripping types, the plurality of tripping type tracks comprising a single-line path representing an overcurrent fault tripping and a back-and-forth alternating path representing a residual current fault tripping,
match the movement track to the pre-stored tripping type tracks, and
determine a tripping type of the circuit breaker on the basis of a matching result.