Metal-enclosed switchgear with vertically disposed conductors

Claim 2

Metal-enclosed switchgear comprising a generally rectangular upstanding cell structure having a breaker compartment at the front and a bus compartment at the rear of the breaker compartment, said breaker compartment being divided into a plurality of subcompartments of the same width and depth horizontally, multipole circuit breaker units removably mounted in the subcompartments at different elevations, each breaker unit having at least two vertically spaced primary disconnect members per pole, each disconnect member comprising a plurality of pairs of vertically spaced contact fingers, at least two vertically spaced generally rectangular in cross section conductors per pole supported by said cell structure, and said conductors extending from the bus compartment into the breaker compartment with opposite sides of said conductors disposed vertically for engagement by said contact fingers, whereby the horizontal distance between poles remains substantially constant irrespective of the current rating of the breaker units and only the vertical dimension of each conductor is changed for different current ratings of the breaker units.

Claim 3

The switchgear defined in claim 1, wherein the number of pairs of contact fingers in the disconnect members is changed for different current ratings of the breaker units.

Claim 4

The switchgear defined in claim 1, wherein the height of the breaker units and corresponding subcompartments is changed for certain current ratings of the breaker units.

Claim 5

The switchgear defined in claim 1, wherein the contact fingers of each pair of contact fingers are spaced horizontally.

Claim 6

The switchgear defined in claim 1, wherein each breaker unit includes at least two vertically spaced generally rectangular conducting members per pole upon which the disconnect members are removably mounted, only the vertical dimension of said conducting members being changed for different current ratings of the breaker units.

Claim 7

A metal-enclosed switchgear unit comprising a plurality of generally rectangular cell structures disposed side-by-side, each cell structure having a breaker compartment at the front and a cable compartment a the rear and a bus compartment between the breaker compartment and the cable compartment, said breaker compartments being divided into a plurality of subcompartments of the same width and depth horizontally, multipole circuit breaker units removably mounted in the subcompartments at different elevations, each pole of each breaker unit having vertically spaced incoming and outgoing primary disconnect members, each disconnect member comprising a plurality of pairs of vertically spaced contact fingers, at least three main phase bus bars mounted in the bus compartment and extending horizontally across the switchgear unit, at least three vertical risers for each cell structure, said risers being mounted in the bus compartment, at least two vertically spaced generally rectangular in cross section conductors for each pole of each breaker unit, one of said conductors for each pole being connected to one of said risers and having opposite sides disposed vertically for engagement by the incoming disconnect member for that pole, the other Of said conductors for each pole having opposite sides disposed vertically for engagement by the outgoing disconnect member for that pole and extending through the bus compartment into the cable compartment, and vertically disposed bus connectors connecting each one of the main phase bus bars to a corresponding phase riser in each cell structure, whereby the horizontal distance between poles of the breaker units is substantially constant and the length of the main phase bus bars for a switchgear unit varies in accordance with the number of cell structures in the unit.

Claim 8

A metal-enclosed switchgear unit comprising a plurality of generally rectangular cell structures disposed side-by-side, each cell structure having a breaker compartment at the front and a cable compartment a the rear and a bus compartment between the breaker compartment and the cable compartment, said breaker compartments being divided into a plurality of subcompartments of the same width and depth horizontally, multipole circuit breaker units removably mounted in the subcompartments at different elevations, each pole of each breaker unit having vertically spaced incoming and outgoing primary disconnect members, each disconnect member comprising a plurality of pairs of vertically spaced contact fingers, at least three main phase bus bars mounted in the bus compartment and extending horizontally across the switchgear unit, at least three vertical risers for each cell structure, said risers being mounted in the bus compartment, at least two vertically spaced generally rectangular in cross section conductors for each pole of each breaker unit, one of said conductors for each pole being connected to one of said risers and having opposite sides disposed vertically for engagement by the incoming disconnect member for that pole, the other Of said conductors for each pole having opposite sides disposed vertically for engagement by the outgoing disconnect member for that pole and extending through the bus compartment into the cable compartment, and vertically disposed bus connectors connecting each one of the main phase bus bars to a corresponding phase riser in each cell structure, whereby the horizontal distance between poles of the breaker units is substantially constant and the length of the main phase bus bars for a switchgear unit varies in accordance with the number of cell structures in the unit.

Claim 9

The switchgear unit defined in claim 6, wherein the height of the breaker units and corresponding subcompartments in a cell structure is changed for certain current ratings of the breaker units.

Claim 10

The switchgear unit defined in claim 6, wherein only the vertical dimension of each rectangular conductor for each pole of each breaker unit is changed for different current ratings of the breaker unit.

Claim 11

The switchgear unit defined in claim 6, wherein the horizontal width and depth of each cell structure are the same for all the cell structures in the switchgear unit.