DE20107989U1 - Strain relief for an l-pin connector with a flat contact - Google Patents

Abstract

An in-line electrical connector has a two housing parts (2) within which are metal contacts (11) that engage and latch with each other. The contact sleeves are fitted to the ends of multiple core cables. The cables are protected from axial loads by elements (20) which have projecting strips (23) to engage the cable.

Description

Description: Strain relief for a 1-pin connector with

a flat contact;

Applicant: REMA Lipprandt GmbH & Co. KG,

Spichernstr. 11, 53175 Bonn

Representative: Patent Attorney Dipl.-Phys. Theodor Koch,

Reuterstr. 187, 53113 Bonn

The present innovation relates to a strain relief for the connecting cable of a 1-pin electrical connector with a main contact designed as a flat contact and a housing which has a front plug-in attachment which consists of a section with an upper longitudinal recess which is U-shaped in cross-section and open to the front and of a further plug-in attachment section which opens to this recess below it and which is set back laterally with its outer wall and is also U-shaped in cross-section to accommodate the part of the main contact which is to be plugged over, it being possible to plug the connector over with an identical second, rotated connector via the plug-in attachments designed in this way and which are to be arranged in mirror symmetry in order to establish an electrical connection.

and with an elongated rear housing part with a rectangular cross-section extending from the rear of the plug-in attachment outwards to the cable connection and surrounding a connection sleeve of the main contact in the cylindrical receptacle.

According to US-PS 3 259 870, a 1-pin electrical connector of this type is known, the main contact of which is designed as a flat contact and thus in particular in accordance with the US standard, in which such connectors are not designed with plug elements according to the pin/sleeve principle.

In contrast to multi-pin device connectors, which have a wide housing with several plug-in attachments arranged side by side, with sufficient space on the top of the housing to attach a handle suitable for pulling the plug connection of two connectors and space on the underside to attach a strain relief, which consists of two clamps for the multi-pin connection cable to be attached additionally,

The housing surface of a 1-pin connector is too narrow to mount a handle with strain relief.

This is also because, in particular, on the housing of the 1-pin connector of the type mentioned at the beginning, a locking connection is provided on the opposite outer sides, which allows several such connectors to be connected together as desired, side by side and one above the other, via a dovetail spring and groove, to form multi-pin connectors while being locked in place.

Since the housings of such connectors only have a width of 0.79 cm to 2.86 cm, depending on the size of the maximum permissible currents of 15 A to 180 A at voltages of e.g. 150 V, 160 V or 320 V, a handle that widens to form a handpiece at its outer end cannot be mounted on them.

The installation of the well-known strain relief, which is integrated into the handle, is therefore not possible with a 1-pin connector.

The task is therefore to create a strain relief for a 1-pin connector that can be attached to the housing. This is particularly important because it has been shown time and again that shear and tensile forces on the connecting cable can cause it to detach from the compression used to secure it to the connection sleeve of the main contact, as no additional fastening by means of a strain relief is provided.

To solve this problem, a strain relief with a protruding cable holder is provided, which is designed according to claim 1 and can be fixed on the top or bottom of the housing of the 1-pin electrical connector, preferably according to claim 2, can be inserted into the longitudinal guide already provided there, consisting of a dovetail groove or dovetail spring, and can be additionally secured against displacement on the outside by means of a lock.

The strain relief consists of a bracket, which consists of an elongated, flat, web-shaped first bracket part or section, which is attached to the back and above the top and bottom of the rear housing part

and secondly, a second, adjoining mounting part or section extending over the rear of the rear housing part. This second mounting part or section extends over the rear of the rear housing part with a projection that projects outwards and then radially inwards towards the central longitudinal axis of the connector, which engages behind this housing end and thus additionally fixes the holder of the strain relief on the housing.

This attachment has a bearing and a protruding cable holder on the outside or inside to guide and secure the pull cable.

It is possible to guide the first support part or section over a large part of the length and width of the outside of the rear housing part, wherein the height of the support part or section to the height of the housing of the connector is small and amounts to only a few millimeters.

When a dovetail guide is installed on the bracket, the dovetail spring of this component also engages in the dovetail groove on the top of the housing, resulting in a flat component that protrudes even less after assembly.

This also applies to the second mounting part or section, which is preferably designed as a one-piece component with the first mounting part or section and protrudes from the first mounting part or section only with its projection projecting axially and radially inward beyond the housing end.

With a housing width of 0.79 cm, the first and second mounting sections can be designed with a total length of 2.45 cm and a maximum height of 0.49 cm, whereby due to the existing dovetail guide, this component only protrudes by a maximum of 0.2 - 0.25 mm above the top or bottom of the rear housing part.

Since this bracket does not protrude laterally over the right and left side walls of the housing, the connection of several 1-pin connectors via these side walls is not hindered despite the strain relief being installed.

Since this strain relief, which is to be attached to the rear part of the housing, is very low in terms of its height and lies flat on the rear part of the housing, several connectors can also be placed on top of each other, whereby the longitudinal holes in the outer walls make it possible to screw these connectors together.

In order to fix the dovetail guide in the axial direction on the top or bottom of the housing, according to claim 3 it is provided that over the front right half of the first mounting part or section this is formed with a tapering web-shaped narrow projection which also lies flat and is guided with its front end up to the vicinity of the plug-in projection.

This section is used to lock the bracket on the top or bottom of the housing, with a locking hook provided at its end, which engages in a locking opening on the top or bottom of the housing for locking purposes.

Since the cable holder, which according to claim 4 is preferably designed only as a cable tie, is placed in the radially inwardly projecting attachment of the second holder part or section and only protrudes beyond this on its outside or inside, it is possible to place the cable holder in a compact form largely integrated in the attachment, wherein it only protrudes inwards from the attachment to the connecting cable with two tension bands or tension band sections.

This outer side is preferably provided according to claim 5 with a receptacle for storing the connection cable to be fastened, which is designed in the form of a molded-in trough-like longitudinal receptacle.

Claims 6 and 7 relate to advantageous embodiments of the cable tie with two tension bands, which each form a section of a tab to be tightened surrounding the connecting cable and can be fixed by means of an additional buckle-shaped holder.

According to claim 8 and claim 9, a 1-pin device plug device with a strain relief according to claims 1-7 is provided, wherein locking devices are provided in particular on sides lying next to one another or one above the other, which enable the connection of two 1-pin plug connectors to form a 2-pin plug connector having two strain reliefs.

According to claim 10, an arrangement of several 1-pin connectors plugged laterally and/or one above the other according to claims 8 and 9 is provided.

The innovation is explained in more detail below using an embodiment of the strain relief and a 1-pin device connector with such a strain relief. ^::

The drawings show:

Figure 1a,1b,1c: An embodiment of the one-piece,

Strain relief designed as a clip-on accessory in side view, front view and top view, without showing the additionally required tension straps of the cable tie;

Figure 2a: A perspective view of the housing of a

1-pin electrical connector with left-hand connector attachment, without attachment of a strain relief on the right-hand part of the housing;

Figure 2b: the representation of a main contact with latching and

Contact section and connection sleeve;

Figure 2c: a side view of two mated connectors

according to Figures 2a and 2b, whose plug-in projections are arranged mirror-symmetrically to one another and are located centrally;

Figure 3: a top view of the housing of a 1-pin plug

connector according to Figure 2a, wherein the housing end carrying the plug-in attachment is oriented to the right;

Figure 4: a cross section through the left side of the

Rear housing part of the connector according to Figure 3, located at the plug-in attachment, showing a tongue and groove on opposite housing walls for connecting several connectors to be arranged next to one another;

Figure 5: a cross-section of two mated connectors with

each with an inserted main contact having a connection sleeve at the outer end and a locking contact section at the inner end;

Figure 6: A side view, partly in section,

to an arrangement of the strain relief according to Figures 1a, 1b and 1c on the top of the housing of a 1-pin electrical connector, with a connecting cable connected to its connecting sleeve, which is additionally fastened by a cable tie placed on the outer end of the connector and forming a strain relief;

Figure 7: A top view of the end of the assembly

of strain relief and connector according to Figure 2 with partial simultaneous reproduction of cross-sectional views according to the section lines AA and BB of Figure 2.

Figure 8: a complete plan view of the end of the plug

connector and the laterally applied strain relief with a sectional view of the connecting cable extending into the connector, wherein two such connectors are shown laterally locked together;

Figure 9: a longitudinal section through two with their plug-in attachments

plugged-in connectors, which are provided as shown in Figure 6 and each with a strain relief.

The strain relief 1, which is to be attached as a retrofittable adapter on the top side 14 of the 1-pin electrical connector 2 and extends over its rear side 7, is shown in three views in Figures 1a, 1b and 1c, where only the actual holder of the strain relief is shown without the cable tie 22 which is additionally to be attached to this holder.

The installation of the cable tie is shown in Figure 6 to Figure 9, in which the arrangement of the 1-pin electrical connector with applied strain relief and with the connecting cable leading laterally out of the housing connector is shown, which is additionally fastened to the strain relief by two tab sections 23, 23' of the cable tie 22 designed as tension bands.

As can be seen from Figure 1a and Figure 1c, the part acting as a holder for the strain relief consists of an elongated, flat first holder section 18 which can be fixed on the upper side 14 of the rear housing part 5 of the connector 2 according to Figure 6 and which extends with its front end to the right onto the plug-in attachment 4 of the connector 2.

This mounting section 18 has a web width over the first half of its length corresponding to the width of the rear housing part 5, which has a rectangular cross-section, with the part extending over the second half of the length of this section 18 tapering in the web width in the form of a mere locking finger, at the outer end of which a locking hook 19' extends downwards to form a lock 19. This part is not only tapered in the web width, but is also designed with a lower height than the first part of the mounting section 18, so that it has good spring-elastic properties for bringing about the lock 19 of the holder of the strain relief 1 on the housing top 14 of the connector.

A second mounting section 20 is attached to the left side of the elongated, flat first mounting section 18, which has approximately half the length of the first mounting section 18, but forms a projecting collar with a radially downwardly projecting extension 21 relative to the underside of the first mounting section 18.

When the part of the strain relief 1 formed from the mounting sections 18 and 19 is attached to the top side 14 of the rear housing part 5 of the connector, this collar comes to rest as a stop on the outside against the rear side 7 of the rear housing part.

While a spring 17 extending in the longitudinal direction and designed in the form of a dovetail guide is arranged centrally on the underside of the left section of the first mounting section 18, which can be brought into engagement with a groove 16 running centrally along the top side 14 of the rear housing part 5 for fastening the strain relief 1, a trough-like longitudinal receptacle for forming a bearing 25 for the connecting cable^1 of the plug connector to be fastened there by the strain relief 1 is arranged on the underside of the second mounting part 20 projecting downwards with the projection 21.

This trough-like longitudinal holder opens towards the bottom and thus laterally encompasses the outside of the connection cable 31, which is also to be fastened there.

In order to be able to fasten a cable tie 22 extending from the underside of the second mounting section 20 with tab sections 23, 23' made of tension bands to the attachment 21, two spaced-apart vertical receiving bores 29, 30 are provided, extending from the top of the mounting section 20 across the attachment to the underside forming the trough-like longitudinal receptacle, which merge into openings 27, 28 at the top.

These openings are arranged on the surface in an inner section which is lower in height than the two outer walls of the support sections 18,20.

In this respect, on the one hand, there is a sufficiently large receiving space for guiding the tension band(s) of the cable tie 22 on the top side of the second mounting section (20), whereby the tension band is protected and does not protrude upwards. On the other hand, a significant reduction in the dimensions of the holder of the strain relief is possible, whereby a flat design of the web-shaped first mounting section 18 also results in its first half and only the construction height on the outside is increased there by the laterally projecting outer walls.

In the front view of the strain relief 1 according to Figure 1b, the trough-like longitudinal receptacle designed as a bearing 25, which is circular segment-shaped in cross section, can be seen on the underside of the second mounting section 20, wherein the recess of the middle region of this surface relative to the outer walls is shown on the upper side of the mounting section 20, so that a receptacle for guiding the tension straps of the cable tie is provided.

The receiving bores 29,30 extending vertically at a distance from one another with the openings 27,28 adjoining at the top for guiding the tension straps of the cable tie 22 are shown in each case.

The width of the bracket sections 18,20 respectively, which form a one-piece bracket for the strain relief, corresponds to the maximum width of the housings of standard 1-pin electrical connectors and is 0.79 cm according to the design for 15/30 A. The height is 0.49 cm over the area of the second bracket section 20, whereby taking into account the surface of this section which recedes towards the center, this results in a height of only 0.39 cm.

The total length of the strain relief bracket consisting of the two bracket sections 18,20 is 2.45 cm and the length of this part without the protruding outer part of the bracket section 18 is 1.66 cm.

The structure of the 1-pin electrical connector 2 used, in particular its housing 3 and the arrangement of the strain relief 1 on the rear housing part 5 of the connector, can be seen in Figures 2a, 2b, 2c, 3, 4 and 5 or Figures 6 to 9.

According to Figure 2a, the 1-pin connector 2 has a cuboid-shaped housing 3, which is divided into a plug-in attachment 4 located on its left side there and on its right side in the illustration according to Figures 6, 7, and a rear housing part 5 located laterally outside thereof.

The plug-in attachment 4 and the rear housing part 5 each have the same width and have a bottom that is at the same height. In contrast, the height of the plug-in attachment 4 is less than that of the rear housing part 5, which makes it possible to plug two plug connections that are suitably rotated relative to one another over the simply additionally divided plug-in attachments.

The plug-in attachment 4 consists of a first plug-in attachment section 4' with an upper longitudinal recess that is U-shaped in cross-section and of an upper, downward-opening, laterally recessed outer wall further plug-in attachment section 4" that is also U-shaped in cross-section for receiving the section of the main contact in the connector that is to be plugged over.

The rear housing part 5 then extends from the rear side of this plug-in attachment 4', on which the strain relief 1 according to Figures 6 - 9 with the mounting sections 18, 20 is placed.

The plug-in attachment section 4" for receiving the part of the main contact that protrudes from it to the inside of the first plug-in attachment section 4' and is to be plugged over, as indicated in Figure 2a and Figure 6, is recessed on both sides with its outer wall relative to the wall of the first plug-in attachment section. This recess 6 is designed in such a size that this second plug-in attachment section can be plugged into the first plug-in attachment section 4' that opens to the front with a larger receptacle 4a when plugged over with the plug-in attachment of a second connector.

In an appliance connector consisting of a plug and a socket of this 1-pin connector, the plug and the socket are identical.

To attach the holder of the strain relief 1 to the two holder sections 18, 20, it is only necessary to use a dovetail groove 17 that is usually already present on the top side 14 of the rear housing part 5 in order to insert the dovetail spring 16 to be placed on the underside of the first holder section 18, wherein the dovetail spring 16 is designed according to the shape and dimensions of the dovetail groove 17 and a longitudinal guide results from this on the top side 14 of the rear housing part 5.

In order to secure the holder of the strain relief or the dovetail guide formed in this respect against longitudinal displacement, the rear housing part 5 has only an additional locking opening 26 on its surface compared to the standard housing.

Figure 6 shows the engagement of the locking hook 19' of the locking mechanism 19 in this locking opening 26.

An additional fastening of the support sections 18, 20 relative to the rear housing part 5 results from the special design of the second support section 20 with a projection 21 projecting downwards to the side of the housing part 5, wherein the projection 21 has a width such that the collar resulting laterally on the right, which projects relative to the underside of the first support section 18,

with a stop surface directly against the back 7 of the rear housing part 15.

The cable tie 22 already mentioned with reference to Figures 1a - 1c is guided in the second mounting section 20 and its radially inwardly projecting projection 21 to fasten the connecting cable 31 which is guided axially from the left-hand end of the rear housing part 5. This extends through two receiving bores 29, 30 which are located one behind the other in the present side view and which merge into the openings 27, 28 located on the top of the rear housing part 5.

The cable tie 22 consists, as shown in Figure 6, only of two tension bands 23, 23', which merge into one another in one piece in the manner of a loop on the upper side of the holding section 20 and which are shown there protruding from the surface with an upper attachment.

At their lower ends, i.e. in the sections lying below the connecting cable 31, these tension bands 23, 23' each have closure parts in the form of a frame part 24 and a locking section 24', wherein the locking section has locking ribs offset parallel to one another over a suitable section of its surface in a known manner.

In addition to the dovetail groove 16 marked on the top side 14 of the rear housing part 5, a dovetail groove and a dovetail spring are provided in a known manner on the outer sides 12, 13 of this housing part 5. In this respect, it is possible to store several 1-pin electrical connectors side by side and thus form a multi-pin electrical plug device (Figure 8).

In the side view of the end of the arrangement of strain relief and connector according to Figure 7 shown on the left in Figure 6, one can see the lower and part of the lateral part of the wall of the rear housing part 5, which is located behind the section line BB in Figure 6.

Since the cross-sectional view according to the section line BB is guided through the cutting plane of the tension bands 23, 23' of the cable tie 22 and the connecting cable, the connecting cable 31 which is additionally fixed by this strain relief 1 can also be seen in the cross-section, whereby the right-hand part of the drawing shows the wall section through which the receiving bore 30 for guiding the right tension band 23 extends.

In contrast, only the lower left section of the tension band 23' is shown.

Above this part of the drawing, the cross-sectional section opens according to section line AA of Figure 6, which is guided through the first mounting section 18 formed with a dovetail groove 16 on the underside and the rear housing part 5 located underneath.

·

•♦

In this cross-sectional view, the engagement of the dovetail spring 17 with the dovetail groove 16 of the rear housing part 5 can be seen.

1.1

List of reference numbers

Strain relief 1

1 -pin electrical connector 2

Housing 3

Plug-in attachment 4

rectangular rear housing part 5

first plug-in section 4'

second plug-in section (contact receiving part) 4"

Recording 4a

Recess of the second plug-in section 6

Back of the rear housing part 7

Cable connection 8

Flat contact (steel leaf spring) 9

Latching and contact section of the flat contact 10

Connection sleeve 11 right and left outside of the

rear housing part 12,13

Top of the rear housing part 14

Bottom of the rear housing part 15

Dovetail slot 16

Dovetail spring 17

web-shaped first support part or section 18

Locking 19

Locking hook 19'

second support part or section 20

outer radially inwardly projecting projection 21

Cable ties (cable holder) 22

Cable tie tab sections (tension straps) 23.23'

Frame part of one tab section 24

Rest section of the second load section 24'

Warehouse 25

Latching opening 26

Openings for the cable tie 27,28

Mounting holes 29,30

Connection cable 31

Claims (10)

1. Strain relief for the connecting cable of a 1-pin electrical connector with a main contact designed as a flat contact and a housing which has a front plug-in attachment which consists of a section with an upper longitudinal recess which is U-shaped in cross-section and open to the front and of a further plug-in attachment section which opens to this recess below it and which is set back laterally with its outer wall and is also U-shaped in cross-section to accommodate the part of the main contact which is to be plugged over, it being possible to plug the connector over with an identical second, rotated connector via the plug-in attachments which are aligned in this way and which are to be arranged in mirror symmetry in order to establish an electrical connection,
and with an elongated, rectangular-shaped rear housing part extending from the rear of the plug attachment outwards to the cable connection and surrounding a connection sleeve of the main contact in the cylindrical receptacle,
characterized in that
a holder ( 18 , 20 , 22 ) for the strain relief ( 1 ) is provided on the rear side ( 7 ) and above the top or bottom side ( 14 , 15 ) of the rear housing part ( 5 ), which holder consists of an elongated, flat, web-shaped first holder part or section ( 18 ) that can be fixed on the top or bottom side ( 14 , 15 ),
and that this fastening section is adjoined by a second holding part or section ( 20 ) extending over the rear side ( 7 ) of the rear housing part ( 5 ),
which engages behind this end with a radially inwardly projecting projection ( 21 ) from above or below, on the outside or inside of which a bearing ( 25 ) and a cable holder ( 22 ) for the connecting cable to be attached protrude. 2. Strain relief according to claim 1, characterized in that a longitudinal groove and/or longitudinal spring extends on the upper or lower side ( 14 , 15 ) over a region of the rear housing part which is rectangular in cross section, into or on which the web-shaped mounting part or section ( 18 ) of the strain relief can be pushed and secured with a longitudinal spring and/or longitudinal groove ( 16 , 17 ) arranged as a dovetail guide on its inside. 3. Strain relief according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that in order to fix the dovetail guide ( 16 , 17 ) of the first flat, web-shaped holding part or section ( 18 ) against longitudinal displacement, a locking hook ( 19 ') is provided at its front end as a locking device ( 19 ), which can be brought into engagement with a locking opening ( 26 ) provided on the upper or lower side ( 14 , 15 ) of the housing. 4. Strain relief according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that a cable tie ( 22 ) is placed in the radially inwardly projecting projection ( 21 ) as a cable holder for the connecting cable. 5. Strain relief according to one of claims 1-4, characterized in that a trough-like longitudinal receptacle ( 25 ) for storing the connecting cable of the plug connector to be fixed there is provided on the second holding part or section ( 20 ) of the strain relief on the underside of the engaging projection ( 21 ). 6. Strain relief according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the cable tie ( 22 ) consists of two tension bands ( 23 , 23 ') which can be tightened and secured against one another and which form tab sections surrounding the connecting cable on the outside. 7. Strain relief according to claim 6, characterized in that a bow-shaped frame section is applied to one end of a tension band and at the other end of the tension band on the outside over a longitudinal section several spaced locking ribs run across the tension band and initially rise outwards at an acute angle and then fall back at an angle of at least 90° onto the outside of the web, wherein the end of the other part of the tension band can be introduced into the frame section and secured via the locking section formed by the ribs while shortening the length of the loop formed by the cable tie. 8. 1-pin device connector with strain reliefs applied to the top or bottom according to one of claims 1-7. 9. 1-pin device connector with strain relief applied to the top or bottom according to claim 8, characterized in that a dovetail groove or a dovetail spring is applied on two opposite housing sides of the rectangular rear housing part of the connector, wherein the first connector can be plugged together with a second connector laterally next to one another or one above the other to form a two-pin connector. 10. Arrangement of several plugged-together connectors with strain reliefs according to one of the preceding claims 1-9, wherein these are detachably connected to one another.