RELAYS

Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a protection relay box designed in various configurations for common use in protection and control relays heavily utilized in industrial applications.

The invention more particularly relates to a protection and control relay box with a limited number of parts, minimized manufacturing and labour time, many additional functionalities and a new approach to user interaction.

Prior Art

Protection and control relays are industrial devices mounted on DIN rails to perform controls and measurements according to the purpose. These relays are divided into various sub - categories, namely surge protection relays, phase protection relays and time control relays.

Time relay is a device designed for activating / deactivating a machine, a circuit or a system according to specified time and programs for use mainly in control boards of power circuits. Given the intended use, it has various applications.

Surge protection and phase protection relays are used for disconnecting power circuits and loads from the network in a controlled manner in undesirable conditions.

Commonly used protection and control relay boxes are mostly composed of 6 different parts, namely main body, bottom assembly cover, moving tab, front cover with adjustment buttons and LED holes, LED sticks and adjustment buttons. 6 different moulds are manufactured due to the six - part configuration of the box. Labour and manufacturing costs increase substantially due to the labour costs involved in raw material, manufacturing and assembly processes.

According to the prior art, the cover which is subsequently adapted to the main body is manufactured in a different mould, which necessitates additional workmanship for assembly. Moreover, as different cover models are manufactured depending on the number of LEDs required, various cover moulds and cover stocks need to be produced.

In the prior art, LED sticks need to be manufactured and included in the system in order to adapt LED indicators to the main body and front cover. Since these LED sticks are very small, they bring additional costs to manufacturing and assembly work.

Summary of the Invention

The objective of the invention is to provide a new box configuration with different technical features than existing protection and control relay boxes by bringing a new approach to the technical field.

One objective of the invention is to provide a single - piece body structure integrated to the cover by eliminating the need to manufacture a front cover, which requires a separate mould and is subsequently adapted to the body. This makes it possible to produce a single - piece cover surface with sufficient number of holes without the need to manufacture different cover versions depending on the number of LEDs.

Another objective of the invention is to reduce raw material and labour costs by completely eliminating the use of LED sticks which are required for LED indicators. Indicator slots are designed to contain lenses of side LEDs with thinned surfaces less thick than the body wall thickness are placed on the upper surface of the body. Thanks to these surfaces, users can easily see the LED indicators.

One other objective of the invention is to provide an integrated structure by eliminating the need to assemble the moving tab to the bottom assembly cover. Therefore, the body can be mounted on the DIN rail in a single move and can be easily removed in two steps without an auxiliary hand tool (screwdriver) thanks to the angled surfaces defined on the bottom base piece.

Another objective of the invention is to provide a low - cost box configuration by minimizing assembly, manufacturing and labour times through the new body configuration.

Another objective of the invention is to disallow reverse mounting of the bottom assembly cover with tab pairs asymmetrical to X and Z axes. This helps increase efficiency by preventing faulty reverse mounting by the personnel and labour loss. One other objective of the invention is to orthogonally integrate two separate PCBs with electronic circuit components according to the selective soldering method without an additional assembly component. Not only is the product quality improved, but also additional raw material and labour costs are reduced thanks to this method. Another objective of the invention is to adjust the set and mode values of the protection and control device via adjustment buttons to ensure user interaction. During adjustment, the user is notified by a fast flashing blue LED indicator. Once the adjustment is complete, the fast flashing LED goes off completely. This is ensured by the integrated software installed on the electronic circuit which effectively utilizes LED indicators.

One other objective of the invention is to notify the user of adjusted values by turning on green LED in odd numbers, while turning off the LED in even numbers for correct adjustment of the values on the indicator via the user adjustment button. This is ensured by the integrated software installed on the electronic circuit which effectively utilizes LED indicators.

Another objective of the invention is to ensure selection of different operation modes of some protection and control devices by way of adjustment buttons. The user needs to make sure that selection is securely done without remaining in the neutral location. In order to solve this undesirable issue, the blue LED constantly flashes when adjustment buttons are in a neutral location. This method ensures accurate selection of the operation mode. Once the adjustment is correctly done, LED goes off. This is ensured by the integrated software installed on the electronic circuit which effectively utilizes LED indicators.

In order to achieve the objectives specified above, the invention relates to a protection and control relay box, comprising a main body and circuit components located in the assembly space of the main body, further characterized by: an upper surface integrated to said main body; thinned LED slots which reflect the source light of the LED indicators at the inner surface of the main body without the need for LED sticks; a single - piece bottom assembly component which covers the main body opening and is directly fastened to the DIN rail by way of its flexible tab. Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 shows an overall perspective view of the body configuration according to the invention applied to a protection and control relay.

Figure 2 shows an individual perspective view of the one - piece body according to the invention.

Figure 3 shows a disassembled perspective view of the bottom assembly component of the one - piece body according to the invention along with LEDs and the circuit element board.

Figure 4 shows an individual perspective view of the bottom assembly component integrated to the body.

Figure 5 shows a complete disassembled perspective view of the protection and control relay according to the invention from another angle.

List of Reference Numerals

100 - Protection and control relay

101 - Circuit components

200 - Main body

201 - Holes

202 - LED slots with thinned surfaces

203 - Upper surface

204 - Inner surface

205 - Adjusting bars

206 - Adjusting bar brackets

207 - Asymmetric tab housings

300 - Bottom assembly component

301 - Asymmetrical tabs

302 - Fastening area

303 - Flexible tab 304 - Tabs

305 - Rounded surface

306 - Compression stage

307 - Fixed tab 308 - Hold - down protrusion

Detailed Description of the Invention

Figure 1 shows an overall perspective view of the body configuration (200) according to the invention applied to a protection and control relay (100). The protection and control relay (100) comprises circuit components (101) placed at the assembly space of said main body (200), an upper surface (203) integrated to said main body (200) and LED slots (202) with thinned surfaces which reflect LED source light at the inner surface (204) of the main body (200) without the need for LED sticks. Said LED slots (202) with thinned surfaces are thin and have the properties to reflect the light coming from the LED light source outwards. This makes it possible to reflect the light source in a way visible from the outside by eliminating the need for LED sticks which lead to additional manufacturing and assembly costs.

Figure 4 shows a single - piece bottom assembly component (300) which covers the main body (200) opening and is directly fastened to the DIN rail by way of its flexible tab (303). Said bottom assembly component (300) has a fastening area (302) where said DIN rail is mounted onto. Flexible tab (300) flexes in a single movement to the DIN rail and then the general structure is completely fastened and fitted to the DIN rail together with main body (200) through forced movement. Said bottom assembly component (300) comprises an asymmetrical tab (301) in the horizontal Z axis and 4 asymmetrical tabs (304) in the vertical X axis which block reverse mounting. Asymmetrical tabs help ensure the personnel do not reverse mount the bottom assembly component (300) to the main body (200) opening. Moreover, there are rounded surfaces (305) facilitating said flexible tab (303) to easily fit into the DIN rail. Rail metal surface sliding from the rounded surface (305) to lock into the compression stage (306) ensures fastening at desired rigidity and resistance levels. Figure 5 shows a complete disassembled perspective view of the protection and control relay (100) according to the invention from another angle. Holes (201 ) on the upper surface (203) of said main body (200) comprises adjusting bars (205) mounted from the outside and trimpot adjusting bar brackets (206) where these adjusting bars (205) are fitted into. Adjusting bars (205) can be easily angled with the help of an external screwdriver with tabs further ensuring ease of installation.