SE538771C2 - Power Supply Bar - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT Described is, among other things, a power supply bar for feeding power to electricalequipment in an electrical cabinet. The power supply is made of an insulating n1aterial andhas conductive bars inserted therein. The power supply bar further has a conductive layer printed along the side of the power supply bar. (Pig. 1)

Description

Power Supply Bar TECHNICAL FIELDThe present disclosure relates to a power supply bar and devices associated therewith. Inparticular the present disclosure relates to a power supply bar for feeding power to equipment in a cabinet for telecommunications equipment.

BACKGROUND In electrical cabinets containing devices for telecommunications there are typically providedracks and other electrical subassemblies. The devices located in a cabinet needs to besupplied with power. The power can be supplied in various ways. One way is to use a powerbar that distributes power to different sections of the cabinet. In the alternative a powerdistribution center can be provided inside the cabinet which supplies power to each power consuming electrical subassembly in the cabinet.

A solution requiring a power distribution center is often less preferred in that it requiresspace inside the cabinet that can be better used for housing equipment. Hence a powersupply bar is often preferred. A conventional power supply bar is described in e.g.

US20l2/0l08084.

There is a constant desire to improve the power supply to telecommunications equipment.

Hence, there is a need for an improved power supply bar.

SUMMARY It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved power supply bar.

This object and/or others are obtained by the power supply bar as set out in the appended claims. Other devices to improve the perforrnance of a power supply bar are also disclosed.

In accordance with one embodiment a power supply bar for feeding power to electricalequipment in an electrical cabinet is provided. The power supply bar is made of aninsulating material and has conductive bars inserted therein. The power supply bar has a conductive layer printed alone the side of the power supply bar.

Hereby it is possible to achieve an improved alarm handling of alarrns generated in anelectrical cabinet. The printed conductive layer will require virtually no additional space,and there is no need for any additional wires in the electrical cabinet for handling alarrns.For example when a circuit breaker or fuse is switched, a signal to indicate this can beoutput on the common printed conductive layer provided along the power supply bar. Thealarm signal can then be received at the end of the power supply bar, be processed andappropriate action can be taken by a service technician. The power distributors attached tothe power supply bar can be provided with circuit breakers that are adapted to be electricallyconnected to the printed conductive layer. This can be achieved by a plate on the powerdistributor that connects to the conductive layer when the power distributor is placed in the power supply bar.

Hence, in accordance with one embodiment, the power supply bar can comprise a powerdistributor having a circuit breaker, the circuit breaker being adapted to output a signal onto the conductive layer when the circuit breaker is switched.

The invention also extends to power j oiners, power connectors and power distributors adapted to be placed in the power supply bar.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe present invention will now be described in more detail by way of non-limiting examples and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: - Figs. l - 3 depicts a power supply bar, - Fig. 4 is a view of a power joiner for use in a power supply bar, - Fig. 5 is a view of a power distributor for use in a power supply bar, - Fig. 6 is a View of a power connector for use in a power supply bar, and - Fig. 7 is a view of an electrical cabinet.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In Fig. l a view of a section of power supply bar 50 is shown from the side. The powersupply bar can have any desired length and is typically l - 2 meters long or in someembodiments 0.2 - l meters long. The length of the power supply bar is typicallydeterrnined by the size of the electrical cabinet in which it is to be installed. The powersupply bar is made of an insulating material such as a glass fiber material. Further the powersupply bar has a conductive layer 51 applied along essentially the entire length of the powersupply bar. The conductive layer 51 can for example be a print of an electrically conductivematerial such as a silver ink print. The conductive layer can be used as a signal path for an alarm signal from a circuit breaker / fuse provided in the power supply bar 50.

In Fig. 2 the power supply bar 50 is shown in a sectional view.

In Fig.3 an exploded view of a power supply bar 50 is shown. As is shown in Fig. 3, anumber of electrically conductive bars 52, 53 can be inserted in the power supply bar. Theelectrically conductive bars 52, 53 can for example be made of copper. In accordance withone embodiment two conductive bars are provided in parallel to supply different voltages.For example one conductive bar 52 can be connected to a 0 V supply voltage and another conductive bar 53 can be connected to a - 48 V supply voltage. The conductive bars 52, 53 can also be divided into subsections such that a number such as 4 - 6 pairs of conductivebars 52, 53 make up the total length of the power supply bar. Each subsection of conductivebars is then typically iso lated from the other subsections (unless joined together by a powerjoiner as described below). Each subsection can be connected to a high power supply such as 150 A can be supplied to each subsection of the conductive bars.

In Fig. 4 an exploded view of a power joiner 60 is depicted. The power joiner 60 is used toconnect two subsections of conductive bars 52, 53 in the power supply bar 50. The powerjoiner 60 comprises a plastic housing 6l, 62. The plastic housing can be divided into twoparts. The power j oiner 60 further comprises contact at least one contact plate 63, 64 forelectrically joining two subsections of the conductive bars 52, 53. In this example twocontact plates are used to connect one OV conductive bar and one -48 V conductive bar, respectively. The two contact plates 63, 64 are separated by an isolation plate 65.

The power joiner 60 further comprises two interacting locking plates 66, 67. The lockingplates 66, 67 are preferably made of metal for providing a secure locking of the power j oiner60 to the power supply bar. The joiner 60 is secured to the power supply bar by a clampingforce exercised by the cooperating locking plates 66, 67. The clamping force can beadjusted by adjustment screws in the locking plate 67. In particular any device attached to the power supply bar can be secured by cooperating locking plates as set out herein.

In Fig. 5 a power distributor 70 for distributing power from the power supply bar toindividual electrical equipment in an electrical cabinet is depicted. The power distributor 70comprises a plastic housing 7l, 72. The plastic housing can be made of two parts joinedtogether. The power distributor 70 further comprises two contact plates 73, 74 forelectrically connecting to the conductive bars 52, 53, respectively. In this example there isone 0V conductive bar and one -48 V conductive bar, respectively. Further there is provideda contact plate 75 for an alarm function in the power distributor. The alarm contact plate 75 is adapted to be connected to the conductive layer 51 on the power supply bar 50. Hence, when an alarm signal is generated by the power distributor, typically by a circuit breaker inthe power distributor such an alarrn signal is signaled on the conductive layer and can becollected at the end of the conductive layer for further processing for example by an alarrnprocessing module in the electrical cabinet. The power distributor 70 further comprisescable connectors 76 for providing an output Voltage to an electrical equipment in theelectrical cabinet. The power distributor 70 can be secured to the power supply bar 50 in thesame way as the power joiner 60. Thus, two interacting locking plates 77, 78 can beprovided. The locking plates 77, 78 are made of metal for providing a secure locking of thepower distributor 70 to the power supply bar. The power distributor 70 is secured to thepower supply bar by a clamping force exercised by the cooperating locking plates 77, 78.

The clamping force can be adjusted by adjustment screws in the locking plate 78.

In Fig. 6 a power connector 80 is depicted. The power connector 80 is used to connectpower to the power supply bar 50 or to feed power to a load. The power connector 80comprises a plastic housing 81, 82. The plastic housing can be made of two parts joinedtogether. The power connector 80 further comprises two contact plates 83, 84 for feedingpower to the conductive bars 52, 53, respectively. In this example there is one 0Vconductive bar and one -48 V conductive bar, respectively. The power supplied to eachconductive bar can be high. In some exemplary embodiments up to 150 A can be supplies toa single conductive bar. There can be for example 4 - 6 pairs of conductive bars in a singlepower supply bar. The two contact plates 83, 84 can be separated by an isolation plate 85.The power connector 80 is secured to the power supply bar by a clamping force exercisedby the cooperating locking plates 86, 87. The clamping force can be adjusted by adjustment screws in the locking plate 87.

In Fig. 7 an electrical cabinet 90, such as a cabinet housing telecommunications equipment,is depicted. The cabinet comprises a frame 91 typically made of metal. Along a side of theelectrical cabinet 90 a power supply bar 50 is located. In one exemplary embodiment the power supply bar is located along a comer of the electrical cabinet 90. In accordance with one embodiment the electrical Cabinet 90 can comprise a power terminal 20 located at thetop section (or bottom section) of the electrical cabinet. In particular the power terrninal canbe located above (or under) the space for electrical equipment inside the electrical cabinet90. The power terrninal can receive power supply cables from outside the electrical cabinet.Power supply wires can be provided from the power terrninal 20 for feeding power to thepower supply bar 50. Further a connector for connection to the conductive layer in the power supply bar can be located in the power terrninal 20.

Using the power supply bar as described herein will provide an improved alarm handling ofalarrns generated in an electrical cabinet. For example when a circuit breaker is switched, asignal to indicate this can be output on the common printed conductive layer provided alongthe power supply bar. The alarm signal can then be processed and appropriate action can betaken by a service technician. The power distributors attached to the power supply bar canbe provided with circuit breakers that are adapted to be electrically connected to the printedconductive layer. This can be achieved by a plate on the power distributor that connects tothe conductive layer when the power distributor is placed in the power supply bar. Further,the use of cooperating locking plates for securing different devices in the power supply barwill provide a better locking of the devices in the power supply bar reducing the risk that thedevices will disconnect from the power supply bar. This is, at least partly due to that the clamping force can be adjusted by adjustment screws in a locking plate.

Claims (7)

1. l. A power supply bar (5 0) for feeding power to electrical equipment in an electrical cabinet(90), the power supply bar being made of an insulating material and having conductive bars(52, 53) inserted therein, the power supply bar being characterized in that it has a conductivelayer (5 l) printed along the side of the power supply bar.

2. The power supply bar according to claini l, further con1prising a power distributor (70)having a circuit breaker or fuse , the circuit breaker or fuse being adapted to output a signal onto the conductive layer when the circuit breaker or fuse is switched.

3. The power supply bar according to clain1 2, wherein the power distributor (70) has a plate (75) electrically connecting the power distributor to the conductive layer.

4. The power supply bar according to any of clain1s l - 3, wherein the conductive layer is a silver ink print.

5. An electrical cabinet (90) con1prising a power supply bar (50) for feeding power toelectrical equipment in the electrical cabinet (90), the power supply bar being n1ade of aninsulating n1aterial and having conductive bars (52, 53) inserted therein, the power supply bar having a conductive layer (5 l) printed along the side of the power supply bar.

6. The electrical cabinet (90) according to claini 5, further con1prising a power distributor (70)n1ounted on the power supply bar, the power distributor having a circuit breaker or fuse, andthe circuit breaker or fuse being adapted to output a signal onto the conductive layer when the circuit breaker or fiase is switched.

7. The electrical cabinet (90) according to claini 5 or 6, further con1prising a power terrninal(20), the power terrninal con1prising a connector connected to the conductive layer in the power supply bar.