Such arrangements of plugs and complementary mating plugs, especially of circuit breakers with trigger modules, are used with switching devices, switches and especially switches with accessories, such as adapters, among other things. The connection of a plug with a complementary mating plug, each with several pins that can be connected to electrical conductors, is generally created or detached by plugging in or removing by hand.
The use of a pivoted lever for connecting the plug with a complementary mating plug is, for instance, known from DE 94 04 295 U1 and serves to lock the connection as soon as it is created. By swivelling the lever that is arranged on the plug or on the mating plug, it engages—using a locking curve—an engagement spigot on the other part and in this manner, locks the plug and mating plug in the connected position. A disadvantage here is that plugging in the plug into the mating plug depending on the type of the plug and, for instance, the number and design of the pins to be connected requires considerable force, which needs to be provided in order to be able to create the lock. The requirement of force hereby rises during the plugging-in process, as the pins increasingly mesh, causing an increase in friction. If the requirement of force is, say, 120 newton, in the region of a few millimeters of the fully plugged-in position, there exists a considerable risk of injury when connecting and especially when removing the plug connection by hand. If, for instance, a trigger module in a structurally unfavourable position of a switching device needs to be removed overhead from a circuit breaker by a person standing on a ladder, the sudden disconnection can easily lead to a fall.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds