US 12,225,680 B2
Functional unit for electrical connection enclosure, and electrical connection enclosure comprising such a functional unit
Louis Linares, La Terrasse (FR); Olivier Wasner, Eybens (FR); and Charles Gailla, Meylan (FR)
Assigned to Schneider Electric Industries SAS, Rueil-Malmaison (FR)
Filed by Schneider Electric Industries SAS, Rueil-Malmaison (FR)
Filed on Mar. 21, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/699,575.
Claims priority of application No. 2103083 (FR), filed on Mar. 26, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2022/0312632 A1, Sep. 29, 2022
Int. Cl. H05K 7/20 (2006.01); H02B 1/56 (2006.01); H05K 5/02 (2006.01)
CPC H05K 7/20145 (2013.01) [H02B 1/565 (2013.01); H05K 5/0213 (2013.01); H05K 7/20154 (2013.01)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A functional module for an electrical connection enclosure, the functional module comprising:
a support structure,
a protection unit, attached to the support structure and configured to be supplied electricity by an electricity source,
at least one monitoring-and-control drawer,
at least one external connection module, each of the at least one external connection module being attached to the support structure and being associated with one of the at least one monitoring-and-control drawer,
at least one pair of rails, each of the at least one pair of rails being associated with one of the at least one monitoring-and-control drawer to allow said at least one monitoring-and-control drawer to be inserted into and removed from the functional module and the electrical connection enclosure by sliding relative to the support structure,
wherein:
each of the at least one monitoring-and-control drawer comprises a frontal portion, a back portion and functional elements, the functional elements generating heat,
the frontal portion of each of the at least one monitoring-and-control drawer comprises at least one ventilation grille;
each of the at least one monitoring-and-control drawer comprises a back ventilation region formed at a level of the back portion;
the heat generated by the functional elements of each of the at least one monitoring-and-control drawer is removed by an air flow flowing through said at least one monitoring-and-control drawer;
the air flow enters into each of the at least one monitoring-and-control drawer via each of the at least one ventilation grille in the frontal portion of said at least one monitoring-and-control drawer and exits from said at least one monitoring-and-control drawer via the back ventilation region of said at least one monitoring-and-control drawer;
each of the at least one monitoring-and-control drawer comprises a horizontal base on which the functional elements of said at least one monitoring-and-control drawer are attached, and a cover,
the back portion of each of the at least one monitoring-and-control drawer is part of the horizontal base of said at least one monitoring-and-control drawer and comprises a group of upstream connectors, a group of downstream connectors and a ventilation orifice which is part of the back ventilation region of said at least one monitoring-and-control drawer,
the upstream connectors of each of the at least one monitoring-and-control drawer are connected to the protection unit when said at least one monitoring-and-control drawer is in an operating position, so that said at least one monitoring-and-control drawer is configured to be supplied with first electrical power via the protection unit while being electrically protected by the protection unit,
the downstream connectors of each of the at least one monitoring-and-control drawer are connected to a respective one of the at least one external connection module associated with said at least one monitoring-and-control drawer when said at least one monitoring-and-control drawer is in the operating position, so that said at least one monitoring-and-control drawer is configured to supply second electrical power to an electrical load via the respective one of said at least one external connection module,
the functional elements of each of the at least one monitoring-and-control drawer are configured to control the electrical load electrically powered by said at least one monitoring-and-control drawer via the respective one of the at least one external connection module associated with said at least one monitoring-and-control drawer, and
the ventilation orifice of each of the at least one monitoring-and-control drawer is located between the group of upstream connectors and the group of downstream connectors of said at least one monitoring-and-control drawer.