DE29904984U1 - Junction box, in particular for installation in cable ducts for networking data processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

PATENT AND LAWYERS MEINtfE'oÄBRÄ&HÄUS UND PARTNER GbR ADMISSIONED BY THE EUROPEAN PATENT AND TRADEMARK ATTORNEYS* PATENT ATTORNEYS·

JULIUS MEINKE, dipl.-ing. WALTER DABRINGHAUS, dipl.-ing. 04 984.1 JOCHEN MELNKE, dipl-ing.

LAWYER

THOMAS MEINKE

WESTENHELLWEG 44137 DORTMUND

TELEPHONE (0231) 14 50 TELEPHONE (0231)14 76

PO BOX 10 46 45

44046 DORTMUND, 13 Oct. 1999

DRESDNER BANK AG DTMD, Account No. 1 148 047 (bank code 440 800 50) POSTBANK DORTMUND, Account No. 542 02-463 (bank code 440 100 46)

. 23/14823 D/Dr

Applicant: Dr.-Ing. Wolf-Dieter OeIs
Waldhausweg 3, 44229 Dortmund

'Connection box especially for installation in cable ducts for networking data processing equipment'

"Connection box especially for installation in cable ducts for networking data processing equipment"

The invention relates to a junction box, in particular for installation in cable ducts or in underfloor or skirting board ducts for flush-mounted installation for connecting consumers or generators of optical and/or electrical signals, in particular for networking data processing devices.

There are a multitude of applications in which connections must be provided in order to connect data processing devices such as computers, servers, printers or the like. As an example, reference is made to the applicant's utility model 296 18 489, DE-39 07 236-Al or DE-43 37 924-Al. DE-296 08 029-Ul, DE-195 29 380-Cl or EP-0 677 757-Al provide suggestions for connecting telecommunications elements, as does DE-295 17 794-Ul. Connections, in particular for optical fibers, are shown in Japanese abstract 072 312 96-A or DE-195 03 935-Al. A BUS connection is described in DE-42 25 324-C2, an underfloor distributor is shown in DE-GM 90 13 867.

Efforts are being made to make such connections as versatile as possible and to provide their spatial configuration in such a way that

assume that they can perform different functions within the same housing.

The object of the invention is therefore to create an intelligent junction box with simple assembly and the possibility of very extensive use.

With a junction box of the type described above, this task is solved by a mechanical interface in an installation box, an interface for the power supply after inserting a power supply board into the installation box, an interface for connecting further consumer-specific elements after positioning a junction board and one or more interfaces for the user after mounting a user board.

The invention makes it possible to construct a junction box in a modular manner depending on the desired functions.

Depending on the intended use, different interfaces would simply have to be used to provide a suitable connection box for the respective application. It is also possible to change the options of such a box later without any problems, as only the individual interfaces have to be removed and replaced with the ones required.

In an embodiment, the invention provides a substantially rectangular housing for use in a flush-mounted installation box, a cable duct or the like with at least one removable front wall, inner slide-in strips for receiving at least one populated circuit board and/or a shielding plate, upper edge receiving beads for receiving a further populated circuit board with outward-facing screw cylinders for fixing a plastic outer cover.

As already stated above, an essential feature of the invention is that slide-in strips and/or plug connections are provided for connecting the individual elements, so that the assembly effort is extremely simplified and soldering work at the place of use is completely unnecessary.

According to the invention, it is also provided that the housing of the installation box and the housing enclosing the connection board are designed as die-cast metal elements, wherein in one embodiment it is provided that the housing enclosing the user board is equipped with slide-in strips for fixing the user board.

To further simplify the assembly, it can be provided that for centering the screw cylinder on the attachment

circuit board the housing enclosing the user board is equipped with locking or guide bars.

It is obvious that such junction boxes make it possible to set up a network easily, as the boxes can be used to perform a variety of network functions without the need for complex distributors. The modular design of the installation box makes it possible to provide an Ethernet installation hub, regardless of whether the information is transmitted via copper cable or fiber optic cable. The power supply board can provide 5 or 3.3 volts, to name just one example, and much more.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the drawing, which shows in

Fig. 1 with the

Fig. la to Id the simplified sectional drawing

the junction box according to the invention in different assembly phases,

^Fi 9l· 2 the metal cover housing of the users

circuit board,

the user module with four RJ45 connectors

• *

— D —

connectors without metal cover housing and in the

Fig. 4 to 11 Installation examples using

the junction box according to the invention.

The connection box shown in Fig. 1 in section in several assembly states, generally designated 1, is formed from bottom to top according to Fig. 1a to 1d by an installation box 2, into which, shown in Fig. 1b, a power supply board 3 and a further shielding plate 4 serving to ensure contact safety are inserted and a connection board 5 additionally shown in Fig. 1c and, finally shown in Fig. 1d, a plugged-on user board 6 which is surrounded by a metal housing 7.

The installation box 2 forms the mechanical interface between the system components and the installation environment. Its shape is designed so that it can be installed in both floor boxes and cable duct cups.

This installation box is made of die-cast aluminum material and combines the properties of mechanical stability with those of shielding and protective earthing.

• ii , *j * · ·* i

To accommodate, for example, the circuit board 3 with power supply and the protective board 4, the inner walls are equipped with slide-in strips 8, the front side is closed with a lid, the screw boxes are marked 9. The installation box 2 has a support ring 10 or similar with a hole and slot position of the common installation standards.

The power supply on the power supply board 3 represents the universal supply module for the active components of the system and supplies, for example, a voltage of 5 volts with a load capacity of 1 A, whereby in the example shown in Fig. 1b a four-pin connector 11 is provided in order to be able to reach into the connection board 5 accordingly.

The shielding board 4 serves to ensure contact safety and additional shielding, i.e. its outward-facing surface is metallized and conductively connected to the potential of the box, for example directly via the sliding strips 8.

The four-pin connector 11 can, for example, provide two 5 or 3.3 volt potentials and two 0 volt potentials; they are routed in such a way that incorrect plugging in of the connection board is not possible, i.e. in the insertion direction

On the board, the same potentials are always arranged one after the other, so the four-pin pin strip of the power supply is the initial interface with the module component.

The connection board 5 (Fig. Ic) forms the signal interface between system components and the installation environment. It includes, among other things, the media connection of a surrounding network. Different designs are possible, e.g. twisted pair connection in the form of LSA+ strips for pure copper environments, AUI connection in the form of LSA+ strips for connecting external transceivers, fiber optic connection in the form of various receptacles for fiber optic environments, COAX connections in the form of screw/clamp connections for 10Base2 environments.

The connection board 5 can be attached using plug connections, for example, or it can be anchored mechanically in the screw blocks 9 using screws. This connection board has four socket strips pointing upwards for plugging in the application attachments. These socket strips contain both the data interfaces and the 0 or 5 or 3.3 volt power supply interfaces for the application attachments. The data interfaces can have different meanings, depending on which connection board 7 is used in this modular concept.

With 10Mbps Ethernet, you choose an AUI interface or a four-pin twisted pair interface 10Base-T or a combination of both. The application attachment 6 is equipped in such a way that it automatically recognizes whether an AUI interface or a twisted pair interface is being used. The use of jumpers is not necessary, since the jumper setting is already carried out by plugging the application interface.

It is clear that several other variants in the system interface are conceivable, such as a standard interface for 10/100 Mbit applications, the MII interface for a Fast Ethernet application or as an application-independent interface e.g. for Ethernet, Token Ring or ISDN, as well as the power supply for the PE connection of the attachment.

The application attachment, i.e. the user board 6, with the shielding housing 7 made of die-cast aluminum, forms the user interface for connecting the PCs to be networked and, for example in the active variants, also the visual information interface, which can provide information about the system status in the form of light-emitting diodes 13 (Fig. 3).

The application attachments 6,7 are compatible with the respective application interfaces and contain, for example, the radio

- &iacgr;&ogr; -

functions of a hub, a switch, a repeater, a
USB hubs, a mini gateway or other network devices,
Telecommunications technology, security technology or building management technology.

A special form of an application essay is that of a
passive connection box, e.g. with four RJ45 outputs, which are mounted on a passive connection board. There is no power supply in the installation box 2.

In Fig. 2 it is shown in dashed lines that the
metallic shielding housing 7 has insertion strips 8a into which the circuit board 6 is inserted and inner semi-circular locking or guide webs 14 for centering the writing cylinders not shown in detail in Fig. 2 and 3. It is clear that the present system with the connection box according to the invention has a number of advantages:

The system is 4-way modular, ie when changing
From a hub to a switch, it is no longer necessary to buy and install a completely new device, but simply replace a module, in this case the application attachment, to obtain a new product. The replacement is also carried out without the help of an installer by simply plugging in a module. In this sense, you can migrate from a passive connection box to an active application

V-V

&ngr;&ogr;&eegr; lOMbps transfer speed to lOOMpbs, from copper cable connection to fiber optic connection or from an Ethernet application to a Token Ring application. This saves resources, saves money and also results in a certain standardization of the installation processes.

The modules can be replaced by simply swapping them around. All modules are connected to each other using plug-in mechanisms only, no soldering or crimping mechanisms or other non-detachable methods.

An installation box with a built-in power supply is a universal box for all active applications and is innovative in this form. The state of the art until now was the use of plug-in 5 volt transformers that had to be plugged into a nearby socket.

There are no known network devices that allow changes in use, such as from a hub to a switch or from copper to glass, to be made by simply swapping modules. There are modular "19" devices with slots for different applications, but there are no installation network devices with such modular properties that can be installed in cable ducts or underfloor boxes.

The dimensions of the cans are chosen so that the maximum

Volume for mounting on a 70*70 mm support ring is realized, with the simultaneous conveying after a
Installation depth of 32 mm, which complies with German installation standards
universal installations. It is also the first installation device that enables the installation of active network devices in skirting board ducts,
which only provide limited space.

Further advantages are the following:

- The arrangement of the power supply at the bottom of the can, which also serves as a cold trap;

- the special features of the four-way power plug;

- the property of the application interface that it
has a jumper function, ie when plugged in the interface the meaning of the interface is determined;

- the first passive junction box for copper cables with four RJ45 connectors on a single support ring;

- the specific geometric arrangements of the insertable circuit boards and the application board which is flush with the surface of the box;

- the universality of the different interfaces between the modules for different applications.

A special embodiment of the system consists of the

•&mgr;*. In. &ogr;&ogr;

Installation box with power supply and attached connection board for twisted pair cables, onto which an 8-port hub application attachment is then placed.

This attachment has four RJ45 connector sockets for connecting four devices and can be fitted with cables via the LSA plus connector strips on the connection board, which can be used to route the four other ports to remote rooms. This makes it possible to create small networks that are fully integrated into the cable ducts or skirting board ducts or flush-mounted boxes and do not require any 19" technology or patch technology. All network devices are also permanently installed, nothing is left lying around loose.

Such networks typically have a size of up to 20 or 30 PCs and in the past were often implemented as coaxial buses. These networks can now also be implemented as star-shaped twisted pair networks and be fully integrated into the installation environments. This is particularly the case because the system presented has extremely compact dimensions and therefore fits into most installation environments.

The outsourcing of the ports to remote rooms is the prerequisite for cost-saving solutions. Of course, installation hubs can also be connected to one another using the same technology.

connected or cascaded, as shown in Fig. 4 to 11.

Fig. 4 to 11 show installation examples with the standard combination (4+4+2 port hubs in a pure copper environment). Fig. 4 shows a single 8-port hub with, for example, four PCs in one room.

Fig. 5 shows a workgroup hub connected to a remote central switch with four RJ45 ports for four PCs in one room, while Fig. 6 shows a 4-port hub and four remote ports, i.e. eight PCs in two rooms.

Fig. 7 shows a 4-port hub + 2x2 external ports (8 PCs / 3 rooms), Fig. 8 a 4-port hub + two external ports in one room and one external port in another room (7 PCs / 3 rooms), whereas Fig. 9 shows two 4-port hubs in two rooms with eight PCs in two rooms, whereby this configuration can be further expanded.

Finally, Fig. 10 shows cascading 4-port hubs with two outsourced ports each, e.g. twelve PCs in four rooms, while Fig. 11 shows multiple cascaded 4-port hubs with two outsourced ports each, e.g. eighteen PCs in six rooms.

Of course, the described embodiments of the invention can be modified in many ways without departing from the basic idea.

Claims (6)

1. Connection box ( 1 ), in particular for installation in cable ducts or in underfloor or skirting board ducts for connecting consumers or generators of optical and/or electrical signals, in particular for networking data processing devices, characterized by a mechanical interface in an installation box ( 2 ), a power supply interface after inserting a power supply board ( 3 ) into the installation box ( 2 ), an interface for connecting further consumer-specific elements after positioning a connection board ( 5 ) and one or more interfaces for the user after mounting a user board ( 6 ). 2. Junction box according to claim 1, characterized by a substantially rectangular housing ( 2 ) with at least one removable end wall, inner insertion strips ( 8 ) for receiving at least one populated circuit board ( 3 ) and/or a shielding plate ( 4 ), upper edge receiving beads for receiving a further populated circuit board ( 5 ) with outwardly facing screw cylinders for fixing a plastic outer cover. 3. Connection box according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that slide-in strips ( 8 , 8a ) and/or plug connections are provided for connecting the individual elements. 4. Connection box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the housing of the installation box ( 2 ) and the housing ( 7 ) enclosing the user board ( 6 ) are designed as die-cast metal elements. 5. Connection box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the housing ( 7 ) enclosing the user board ( 6 ) is equipped with slide-in strips for fixing the user board ( 6 ). 6. Connection box according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that for centering the screw cylinders on the connection board ( 4 ), the housing ( 7 ) enclosing the user board ( 6 ) is equipped with locking or guide webs ( 17 ).