The invention relates to bus bars. In particular, the invention relates to supports for bus bars.

There are various types of bus bar support design on the market today. Many bus bar supports incorporate, as well as supporting members, various insulating members, spacers etc. , and this often leads to an unwieldy form of design.

It is an aim of embodiments of the present invention to provide a simplified bus bar support design.

In accordance with a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a bus bar support comprising at least first and second insulating members, each of said insulating members having at least one aperture defined therein, the or each aperture of said first insulating member being arranged to oppose the or each aperture of said second insulating member and to carry a bus bar.

Preferably, a plurality of such opposing apertures are provided.

Preferably, the insulating members comprise sheets of transparent material. The insulating members may be of polycarbonate material.

The insulating members may be spaced apart by at least one channel member, the or each channel member preferably being adapted to be secured to a mounting element.

Preferably, a plurality of such channel members are provided, and in a preferred embodiment, two such channel members are provided.

Preferably, the or each channel member is of a U- shaped cross-section and the insulating members are attached thereto.

Preferably, the channel members and insulating members form a box-like construction, a first of said insulating members forming a front face, a second forming a rear face, and first and second channel members forming top and bottom faces.

Spacing members may be provided between said channel members.

The spacing members are preferably insulating.

The spacing members may be utilised, in conjunction with the channel members to attach the bus bar support to a supporting surface.

Preferably, each spacer comprises a tube of material which, in use, is aligned with holes in the channel members.

In preferred embodiments, the insulating members are shaped in a complementary fashion, the first insulating member and second insulating member co-operating with one another such that the opposing apertures are spaced apart by a predetermined amount.

The insulating members may be generally U-shaped, in cross-section.

The insulating members may comprise sheets of material which are then formed to take on a general U- shaped cross-section. Forming of said sheets may comprise folding. The folding may be done when the material is hot or cold. The apertures may be made before said forming step.

In an alternative, the insulating members may be manufactured by an extrusion method and the apertures may be made subsequently.

At least part of said first insulating member may be arranged to overlap at least part of said second insulating member so as to facilitate securing together of the insulating members and to bring about the opposed arrangement of said apertures.

One or more of said insulating members may be provided with locating means for locating the insulating members in spaced relation.

One of said insulating members may be provided with a tongue and the other may be provided with a complementary shaped groove for providing said location.

The locating means may comprise fixing means such as a nylon screw for securing the first and second insulating members together.

Preferably, at least one of said insulating members may be provided with one or more extensions, said extensions being arranged to maintain respective apertures of the first and second insulating members in opposing spaced apart relation.

Preferably, said extensions form part of said insulating members, so that the insulating members are of a channel-type construction.

The first and second insulating members may be adapted to interlock with one another. This interlock may be provided by the locating means.

Joining together of the two insulating members may form a box-like cross-sectional construction. The box¬ like cross-sectional construction may be brought about by the opposing insulating members and their overlapping extensions.

One or more spacing members may be provided to provide reinforcement to the support and/or to provide means for attachment of the bus bar support to a supporting surface.

The or each spacing member may comprise a tube of material which, in use, is aligned with holes in the insulating members.

For a better understanding of the invention, and to show how embodiments of the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a front perspective view of a bus bar support according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a view from arrow A of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view from arrow B of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a view from arrow C of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a front view of an insulating member of a bus bar support in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention, showing the insulating member in a state prior to being folded;

Figure 6 is a side view of the insulating member of Figure 5 in a folded configuration;

Figure 7A is a pre-folding front view and Figure 7B is a folded side view of a second insulating member for use with the second embodiment;

Figures 8, 9 and 10 are respectively side views, front views and top plan views of an assembled bus bar support in accordance with the second embodiment; and

Figure 11 is a side view of an alternative embodiment of bus bar support showing how a tongue and groove arrangement may be provided for locating insulating members of the support.

Referring to Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4, the bus bar support of the first embodiment shown comprises first and second spaced apart insulating members which, in this embodiment, comprise sheets of polycarbonate material 1,

2.

The insulating members 1, 2 may be spaced apart by means of channel members 3 , 4 to which they may be fixed, for instance, by riveting.

Further, extra rigidity may be provided to the bus bar support by providing cylindrical spacer members 5, 6.

The insulating members 1, 2 each define a number of apertures 10 to 13 and 20 to 23. Aperture 10 is arranged to be in opposition to aperture 20 etc. and to allow the insertion of a bus bar therethrough. In this manner, the insulating members 1, 2 not only provide the function of insulating bus bars from one another (up to four bus bars being arranged to be mounted in the support shown) but also to provide the bus bar supporting function itself. Furthermore, the sheets of polycarbonate material making up the insulating members 1, 2 are transparent, and allow for easy inspection of the arrangement.

Referring now to the channel members 3, 4, these are provided with mounting holes 31, 32, 41, 42 which communicate with the hollow cylindrical members 5, 6. By passing a suitable mounting means through, for instance, hole 31, tube 5 and hole 41, the bus bar support may be mounted or suspended wherever reguired.

It will be appreciated that, in some instances, the hollow cylinders 5, 6 need not be provided and mounting of the arrangement may be carried out by simply fixing one or both of the channel members to a mounting surface.

Whilst the support shown is for up to four bus bars, it will be appreciated that supports may be provided for any number of bus bars.

A second embodiment of the bus bar support will now be described with reference to Figures 5 to 10. Where like elements are shown in relation to the second embodiment, like reference numerals will be utilised.

Referring to Figures 5 and 6, a first insulating member 1 is shown. The insulating member 1, is shown in

- 1 -

Figure 5 in a flat sheet form. This sheet of preferably polycarbonate material is then brought into a generally U- shaped channel type formation (comprising a front face 1A, and top and bottom extensions forming ledge regions IB, 1C) by folding the sheet along lines D-D' and E-E' .

As with the first embodiment, the insulating member 1 includes openings or apertures to allow the insertion of bus bars therethrough. In the example shown in Figures 5 and 6, four pairs of apertures are provided, 10A, 10B - 13A, 13B. Further holes: 31, 32; 41, 42; and 51, 52 are provided to give, respectively, top locating holes for cylinders 5, 6; bottom locating holes for cylinders 5, 6, and means for fixing the first insulating member to a second insulating member respectively.

Figures 7A and 7B shows the second insulating member and this is of identical general structure to the first insulating member (except for the folding positions - as will be described hereinafter) shown in Figures 5 and 6 and, for instance, comprises a front face 2A and longitudinally extending bottom and top ledges 2B, 2C.

Comparing the side views of the insulating member 1 of Figure 6 and that of the insulating member 2 of Figure 7, it should be noted that the spacing between the ledges IB and 1C (X,) and the spacing between upper and lower ledges 2B, 2C of the second insulating member 2(X ₂ ) (which spacings are determined by the fold lines D-D' - G-G') are not identical and it is arranged that X, is greater than X ₂ (or of course vice versa in alternative arrangements) . The reason for this becomes clear when the assembled second embodiment of Figures 8 to 10 is considered.

Regarding initially Figure 8, which is a side view of the assembled bus bar support of the second embodiment, it can be seen that the insulating members 1, 2 are arranged such that the two members may be brought together and upper ledges IB, 1C arrange to overlap upper and lower ledges 2B, 2C of the insulating member 2.

By arranging the two insulating members in this fashion, and somehow securing the two members together, a bus bar support with a relatively rigid structure is obtained, without the need for separate channel members.

Figures 8 and 9 show cylindrical members 5, 6 of similar type to that utilised with the first embodiment. As with the first embodiment, those hollow cylindrical members 5, 6 may be utilised to add extra rigidity to the bus bar support and/or provide possibilities for mounting or suspending the bus bar support where reguired. As with the previously described embodiment, the members 5, 6 communicate with upper, 31, 32, and lower, 31', 32', holes formed in top and bottom faces of the bus bar support.

An additional/alternative means for securing the first and second members 1, 2 of the bus bar support together is to utilise a fixing means such as a nylon bolt, descending through an upper aperture 51 of the upper ledge IB of insulating member 1 and mating with a nut insert 51' formed with or attached to the upper ledge 2B of insulating member 2. Similar attachment means 52, 52' may be provided for the bottom ledges 1C, 2C of the insulating members.

As with the first embodiment, it will be appreciated that numerous modifications may be made to the apparatus without departing from the scope of the present invention.

For instance, the insulating hollow tubes 5, 6 may be dispensed with. The nut and bolt fixing 50, 51 could be replaced by some alternative form of fixing. For instance, there could be some interlocking tongue and groove fixture provided between the insulating members 1 and 2 so that they positively lock with one another. For instance, referring to Figure 11 a longitudinally running tongue could be formed in extreme ends of upper and lower ledges 2B, 2C of insulating member 2 for cooperation with a longitudinally running internal groove 52 formed along or adjacent to the inner corners of insulating member 1 where upper and lower ledges IB, IC meet with the front portion 1A of the insulating member 1. Such a tongue and groove arrangement would allow the insulating member 2 to be mated with insulating member 1 by longitudinal sliding engagement.

It will be appreciated that many different configurations of support may be envisaged and still be within the general scope of this invention. For instance, in possible variations the tongue and groove principle of linking the insulating members may be employed by providing tongues at some other point on the ledges 2B, 2C to interact with correspondingly positioned grooves on ledges IB, IC. In another configuration, insulating members 1, 2 could be modified so that one ledge e.g. IB could be arranged to overlie corresponding ledge 2B to be on the outside of the box-like constructions whilst lower ledge IC could overlie corresponding ledge 2C to be on the inside of the box-like construction.

The materials of the insulating members and (where provided) the hollow tubes 5, 6 may be of any suitable types such as polycarbonate material.

The apparatus of the second embodiment is particularly advantageous in that the insulating members may be either extruded or cold or hot formed providing ease of manufacture, low number of components and low cost.

The reader's attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with or previous to this specification in connection with this application and which are open to public inspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are incorporated herein by reference.

All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) , and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive.

Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) , may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, eguivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment(s) . The invention extends to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) , or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.