Circuit breaker lockout apparatus

Abstract

A circuit breaker lockout apparatus includes a base body having a first section, a second section, and a recess formed between the first and second sections to receive a switch lever of a circuit breaker; a fixing element installed at the first section of the base body and having an actuation section to fix the base body to a switch lever of a circuit breaker received in the recess; and a cover adjustably fastened between a release position and a lockout position at the base body, the actuation section of the fixing element is accessible in the release position and is covered in an inaccessible manner by the cover in the lockout position, and the cover is configured to be fixed to the base body in the lockout position to block an adjustment of the cover from the lockout position into the release position.

Claims

1. A circuit breaker lockout apparatus, comprising a base body having a first section, a second section, and a recess formed between the first and second sections for receiving a switch lever of a circuit breaker; a fixing element installed at the first section of the base body and having an actuation section to fix the base body to the switch lever of the circuit breaker received in the recess; and a cover adjustably fastened between a release position and a lockout position at the base body, wherein the actuation section of the fixing element is accessible in the release position and is covered in an inaccessible manner by the cover in the lockout position; and wherein the cover is configured to be fixed to the base body in the lockout position by a locking element to block an adjustment of the cover from the lockout position into the release position, wherein the base body includes a projection at a side disposed opposite the recess, the projection of the base body engaging through a cutout formed in the cover from an inner cover side to an outer cover side in the lockout position, with the projection being provided at the outer cover side with at least one passage through which the locking element may be led.

2. The circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein the fixing element is a locking screw.

3. The circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein the locking element is a hoop of a padlock.

4. The circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein the at least one passage is oriented at least one of horizontally and vertically in a position of use of the circuit breaker lockout apparatus in which the first section of the base body is upwardly oriented.

5. The circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein the at least one passage comprises a first passage and a second passage.

6. The circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with claim 5, wherein the first passage and the second passage intersect.

7. The circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with claim 5, wherein a diameter of the first passage is smaller than a diameter of the second passage.

8. The circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with claim 4, wherein an edge of the projection formed at an end oriented upwardly in the position of use of the circuit breaker lockout apparatus and at a side remote from the recess has a chamfer that extends up to and into the vertically oriented passage such that, in a region of the chamfer, a section of an opening margin of the vertically oriented passage is formed that defines a plane that is inclined with respect to the horizontal.

9. The circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein the first section of the base body has a blockade section that shields the actuation section of the fixing element against access from a recess side of the base body.

10. The circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein the cover comprises at least one rear wall associated with the side of the base body disposed opposite the recess, an end face wall associated with the first section of the base body, and two mutually oppositely disposed side walls to cover the actuation section of the fixing element in an inaccessible manner in the lockout position.

11. The circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with claim 10, wherein the cutout is provided in the rear wall of the cover.

12. The circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein the cover is adjustable fastened to the base body by the cover being pivotably fastened via a pivot device to the base body between the release position and the lockout position.

13. The circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with claim 12, wherein the cover is pivotably fastened via a pivot device to the second section of the base body.

14. The circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with claim 12, wherein the pivot device comprises the cover having a respective opening in two mutually oppositely disposed side walls and the second section of the base body having a respective pin at two mutually oppositely disposed sides that engages into a respective one of the two openings.

15. The circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with claim 14, wherein the respective pin is latched into the respective one of the two openings.

16. The circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with claim 14, wherein the respective side wall of the cover has at its inner side a groove-like depression whose one end opens into the respective opening and whose other end extends up to a margin of the respective side wall to enable a pushing of the cover onto the base body on an assembly of the circuit breaker lockout apparatus.

17. The circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with claim 16, wherein the other end of the groove-like depression enables a pushing in of the respective pin up to the respective opening.

18. The circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with claim 14, wherein the two pins each have a run-on slope for the side walls of the cover to facilitate a pushing of the cover onto the base body.

19. The circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with claim 14, wherein at least the two side walls of the cover are formed as spring elastic to enable a pressing apart of the two side walls on the pushing of the cover onto the base body.

20. The circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein at least one of the base body and the cover is formed as at least one of an injection molded part and in one piece.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Further advantageous embodiments of the present disclosure are described in the dependent claims, in the description of the Figures, and in the drawing.

(2) The present disclosure will be described in the following by way of example with reference to the drawing. There are shown

(3) FIG. 1 a power circuit breaker lockout device in accordance with the present disclosure having a base body with a projection and a cover in a release position;

(4) FIG. 2 the power circuit breaker lockout apparatus of FIG. 1, with the cover being in a lockout position;

(5) FIG. 3 a power circuit breaker with the power circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with FIG. 2 and with a padlock hung in the first passage;

(6) FIG. 4 a power circuit breaker with the power circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with FIG. 2 and with a padlock hung in a second passage;

(7) FIG. 5 the power circuit breaker lockout apparatus in accordance with FIG. 2 in a perspective view;

(8) FIG. 6 the base body of FIG. 1 in a perspective single representation;

(9) FIG. 7 the cover of FIG. 1 in a perspective single representation;

(10) FIG. 8 the cover of FIG. 1 in a further perspective single representation; and

(11) FIG. 9 an alternative embodiment of the projection of the base body of FIG. 1 in a perspective representation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(12) The power circuit breaker lockout apparatus 9 shown in the Figures can be fastened to a toggle switch lever 23 of a power circuit breaker 25 to prevent an actuation of the toggle switch lever 23 (cf. FIGS. 3 and 4). This is in particular necessary when work is carried out at an electric circuit by a person and the electric circuit is switched off for this purpose by an associated power circuit breaker and an accidental switching on of the power circuit breaker 25 by a third person should be prevented.

(13) The power circuit breaker lockout apparatus 9 shown comprises a base body 11, a locking screw 13, and an at least substantially box-shaped cover 15 (cf. FIG. 1). The base body 11 has a first section 17, a second section 19, and a recess 21 formed between the first section 17 and the second section 19 (cf. FIG. 6). The base body 11 and the cover 15 are each formed in one piece and are manufactured by an in injection molding process. The power circuit breaker lockout apparatus 9 is shown in the Figures in a position of use in which the first section 17 of the base body 11 is upwardly oriented.

(14) The power circuit breaker lockout apparatus 9 is fastenable to the toggle switch lever 23 of the power circuit breaker 25 via the recess 21 and by the locking screw 13 (cf. FIGS. 3 and 4). For this purpose, the toggle switch lever 23 is first received in the recess 21 of the base body 11 that in particular extends obliquely to the horizontal. The base body 11 is subsequently fixed to the toggle switch lever 23 by the locking screw 13 that is installed at the first section 17 of the base body 11. The locking screw 13 for this purpose has an actuation switch arranged above the first section 17 in the form of a manually actuable rotary button 27 and a threaded shaft 29 that is fixedly connected thereto and whose free end extends through the first section 17 into the recess 21. The locking screw 13 can be screwed in a direction further into the recess 21 by a corresponding rotation of the rotary button 27 to fix the power circuit breaker lockout apparatus 9 to the power circuit breaker 25. To remove the power circuit breaker lockout apparatus 9 from the power circuit breaker 25 again later, the locking screw 13 can again be unscrewed in the direction out of the recess 21 by an opposite rotation of the rotary button 27, whereby the fixing of the power circuit breaker lockout apparatus 9 is released again.

(15) The cover 15 is pivotably fastened to the first section 17 of the base body 11 via a pivot device 31. The cover 15 is here adjustable between a release position shown in FIG. 1 and a lockout position shown in FIG. 2. In the release position, the rotary button 27 of the locking screw 13 is accessible to a user. In the lockout position, in contrast, the rotary button 27 is covered by the cover 15 and access to the rotary button 27 is blocked for the user. The cover 15 can be fixed to the base body 11 in the lockout position by the padlocks 35, 37 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, as will be explained in more detail below. It can hereby be prevented that the cover 15 is adjusted from the lockout position in accordance with FIG. 2 into the release position in accordance with FIG. 1 The rotary button 27 of the locking screw 13 is thus not accessible for an actuation, i.e. the power circuit breaker lockout apparatus 9 can no longer be removed from the power circuit breaker 25 so that the toggle switch lever 23 can also not be actuated and can in particular not be switched into its position switching on the electric circuit to be monitored.

(16) The cover 15 has a rear wall 39 that covers the side of the base body 11 disposed opposite the recess 21 in the lockout position, an end-face wall 41 that covers the first section 17 of the base body 11 in the lockout position, and two mutually oppositely disposed side walls 43 (cf. FIG. 7). The cover 15 furthermore also has a further end-face wall 61 disposed opposite the end-face wall 41. The blocking of access to the rotary button 27 by the cover 15 is supported in that the first section 17 has a blockade section 33 in the direction of the side of the recess 21 that counters an accessibility of the rotary button 27 from this direction.

(17) A cutout, in particular a window-like cutout 45, (cf. FIGS. 7 and 8) is provided in the rear wall 39 of the cover 15 and a projection 47 (cf. FIGS. 5 and 6) that is formed at the side of the base body 11 disposed opposite the recess 21 extends through the cutout 45 in the lockout position of the cover 15 (cf. FIG. 5). At the outer cover side, a horizontal passage 49 having a first diameter and a vertical passage 51 having a second diameter that is comparatively larger than it are formed in the projection 47, the horizontal and vertical passages 49, 51 intersecting approximately at the center of the projection 47 and a respective hoop of the padlock 35 and 37 respectively being able to be led through them such that the cover 15 can be fixed to the base body 11 in its lockout position, i.e. is blockable against an adjustment into the release position.

(18) The projection 47 in accordance with FIG. 9 differs from the projection 47 described in connection with FIGS. 1 to 8 in that it has a chamfer 65 at its edge 63 that is configured at its upwardly directed end and at the side remote from the recess 21. The chamfer 65 is configured such that it extends up to and into the vertical passage 51 so that the plane formed by the opening margin 67 of the vertical passage 51 formed in this region is set obliquely toward the horizontal. The opening margin 67 therefore forms a rounded receiver in this region and has a vertical component into which a hoop of a padlock typically formed as a round hoop can be hung vertically in a defined position.

(19) It generally applies that the projection 47 can be configured, in particular as shown in the Figures, as an eyelet or in the manner of an eyelet, in particular as a double eyelet, and/or in cylindrical form.

(20) The pivot device 31 for the cover 15 to adjust the latter between the release position and the lockout position is formed in that a respective opening 53 is formed in the two side walls 43 of the cover 15 into which openings 53 two pins 55 engage that are formed at two mutually oppositely disposed lateral sides of the base body 11.

(21) For the assembly of the base body 11 and the cover 15, the two side walls 43 are each provided at the inner side with a groove-like depression 57 that respectively extends between the respective opening 53 and a respective margin of the side wall 43 so that the respective pin 55 of the base body 11 can be pushed into the respective opening 53 of the respective side wall 43 to latch there. This is in particular also made possible in that the two side walls 43 of the cover 15 are formed as spring elastic so that they are pressed apart on the pushing of the cover 15 onto the base body 11. To facilitate the pressing apart, the two pins 55 each have a run-on slope 59 oriented in the direction of the respective groove-like depression 57.

REFERENCE NUMERAL LIST

(22) 9 circuit breaker lockout apparatus 11 base body 13 locking screw 15 cover 17 first section 17 second section 21 recess 23 toggle switch lever 25 power circuit breaker 27 rotary knob 29 threaded shaft 31 pivot device 33 blockade section 35 padlock 37 padlock 39 rear wall 41 end-face wall 43 side wall 45 cutout 47 projection 49 passage 51 passage 53 opening 55 pin 57 depression 59 run-up slope 61 end-face wall 63 edge 65 chamfer 67 opening margin