US1274660A - Relay. - Google Patents

Description

C. E. ALLEN. RELAY".

APPLICATION FILED AUG-6. I915.

1,274,660. Patented Aug. 6, 191&

WITNESSES v INVENTOR I C/axfon E. Allen.

TTORNEY UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE.

CLAXTON E. ALLEN, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

RELAY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 6, 1918.

Application filed August 6, 1915. Serial No. 44,017.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLAXTON E. ALLEN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and. State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Relays, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to electrical protective devices and particularly to relay mechanisms that are employed for tripping circuit interrupters or for operating other deces, upon the occurrence of predetermined conditions.

The object of-my invention i to provide a" simple and economical relay mechanism 01 the character indicated that may be operated by the current derived from the circuit in connection with which the interrupter or other device is employed, thereby obviating the necessity of employing a separate source of power for supplying the energy and also obviating the use of contact members which are subjected to injurious arcing and the possibility of welding or sticking together.

Considerable diificulty has heretofore been experienced with relay mechanisms or circuit interrupters or similar devices that are employed in connection with alternating current circuits when it has been attempted to derive currents from the said circuits for tripping or operating the interrupters. This difiiculty has been due to the fact that the current for operating the relay. mech anism and tripping circuit interrupter has usually been derived from the main circuit by means of a series transformer, the secondary circuit of which included the operating coil of the relay, the tripping coil of the circuit interrupter, and relay contact members which normally short-circuit the latter c'oil but are separated to permit its energization upon the occurrence of an over load or other predetermined circuit condition. There is usually ,a sutficient amount of current in the secondary circuit to cause arcing at the relay contact members, and, at times, it may be sufiicient to causethem to weld or stick together, the difiiculty being most serious when there is a slow separation of the contact members by reason of the employment of a dash pot or other retarding device for introducing a time interval between the occurrence of the overload and the opening of the circuit interrupter. Furthermore, arcing between the contact members may so burn and injure them as to prevent them from making good electrical contact when brought into engagement.

I provide a tripping device that is supplied with energy from the main circuit but that does not require the interruption of a circuit, thereby overcoming the hereinbefore mentioned difiiculties.

The single figure of the accompanying drawing is a diagrammatic view of a part of an electrical system embodying my invention.

A typical system, in connection with which my invention may be employed, comprises an alternating-current circuit 1 that is adapted to be interrupted by means of an interrupter 2, and in series relation with one conductor of which is connected a primary winding 3 of a current transformer 4,

struction, such as, either an instantaneous inverse or a definite time-limit relay. As here illustrated, the relay 7 comprises a movable core member 10, a spring llfor restraining said core member normally in its upward position and a bellows 12 for controlling its time of operation. The movable core member 10 is operativelyconnected to one part 13 of the two-part magnetiz'able core member 14 of the relay 9, the other part 15 ofwhich is adapted to remain stationary. The winding 8 is suitably disposed to magnetize the core member 1a, and may either be stationary or movable, as desired. A second winding 16 for the core member 14 of the relay 9 is inductively related to the winding 8 and is connected in circuit with a trip coil 17 that is adapted to trip the circuit interrupter 2 under predetermined conditions.

Current normally traverses the windings 5, 6 and 8, but since the two parts 13 and v 15 of the core member 14 are normally sepawardly, and, after a time-interval, the two portions 13 and 15 will be suiiiciently close together to cause a reduction in the reluctance of the circuit of the magnetizable core member 14 and thus permit suliicient current to be induced in the winding 16 to trip other purposes, if desired, without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as setforth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. Ina-n electrical circuit, the combination with a circuit interrupter and a tripping magnet therefor, of a time-element relay, and .means adapted to be actuated by the time-element relay for causing the tripping magnet to be inductively supplied with current from th e circuit.

2. In an electrical circuit, the combination with a. circuit interrupter and a tripping magnet therefor, of a time-element relay, and means adapted to be actuated by the time-element relay. for causing the tripping magnet to be .inductivelysupplied with current from th'efcircuit in accordance with the current traversing the said time-element relay. I

3. In an electrical circuit, the combination with va'circuit interrupter and a tripping magnet therefor, of a relay comprising a magnetizable' core member-normally having air gaps therein, a primary winding operatively connected to the circuit, a secondary winding connected in closed-circuit relation to the tripping magnet, and time-retarded means for-decreasing the air gaps when .a predetermined -current traverses the, circuit to thereby energize the tripping magnet.

4. In an electrical circuit, the combination with a circuit interrupter and a tripping magnet therefor, offa relay comprising a magnetizable core member normally having air gaps therein, a primary winding operatively connected to the circuit, a secondary winding connected in closed-circuit relation to the'trippin'g magnet, and-time retarded means connected in circuit with the primary winding for decreasing the air gaps when a predetermined current traverses the circuit to thereby energize the tripping magnet.

'5. In an electrical circuit, the-combination with a circuit interrupter and a trip coil therefor, of a time-element relay, an electromagnetic device having a main winding con nected in series with the winding of the relay and a secondary winding operatively connected to the trip coil, and means whereby the electromagnetic device is actuated by the relay to cause currents to be 7 and a secondary winding connected in closedcircuit relation to the trip coil, and means whereby the relay is. adapted to so actuate the two-part magnetizable core member that sufiicient current is induced in the secondary winding from the circuit to trip "the interrupter under predetermined conditions.

7. In an electrical circuit, the combination with a circuit interrupter and a trip" coil therefor, of a time-element relay, a two-part magnetizable core member, a main winding on the two-part core member connected in series with the relay and supplied with current from the circuit, a secondary winding on the said two-partcore member connected in closed-circuit relation to the trip coil,-and means whereby the relay is adapted to cause suflicient current to be induced in. the secondary winding to trip the interrupter. V 8. In an electrical circuit, the combination with a circuit interrupter, a tripping magnet therefor, and a time-element relay, of a second relay comprisinga two-part magnetizable core member, a primary winding operatively connected to'the circuit and a secondary winding operatively connected in circuit with the tripping electromagnet, said time-element relay being adaptedto move the parts of the magnetizable core member relatively to each othera time interval after afpredetermined' current traverses the .circuit.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 22nd day of July, 1915. 'GLAXTON E. ALLEN.

' Witnessesi 'C. WESLEY POMEROY, WM. CAPEL, 7

Copies of thispatent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissionerot Patents,

' Washington, D. 0. g i r

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