HK1004785B - Connector assembly - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a power line clamping unit as defined in claim 1.

In the medium voltage area with medium currents, about 220/240 V and 16 A, such as in the household, in industry, electrical wires are connected to terminal devices such as sockets, switches or electrical accessories by screw press or by clamping contacts. These commonly known and used connection or connection techniques involve a relatively large effort due to the need to insulate the wires. The connections are unreliable because screws often loosen in case of shocks or the clamping connections do not accurately capture or fix the wires with sufficient force.

In telecommunications, the use of the so-called cut-clamp connection technique for connecting wires to terminal equipment or distribution lines has been known for a long time, see e.g. FR-A-2 661 049.

The use of the insulation-free cut-clamp connection technique is partially known in the energy sector, e.g. in the automotive industry. US-4-040.709 proposes the connection of a headlamp unit to the wires via a cut-clamp connection. DE 39-12-210 Al provides slots for the pressing of wires with insulation. GB-2-161.034 A shows a solution for connecting lamps in series, which also provides for cut-clamp connecting elements. The use of cut-clamp connecting elements is also known from US-4,245,880 and US-4-508,399.

DE 39 38 365 Cl describes a connector consisting of two identical halves of a housing, which are interchangeable. The halves of the housing contain conducting channels and cut-clamp contact elements arranged in them. However, the connector is not universal and can only be used to connect telecommunications cables.

The disadvantage of all known solutions for clamping units, especially with cut-clamp technology, is that they cannot be applied universally in the medium voltage range; solutions are always proposed for a very specific application case which cannot be modified or difficult to modify and which cannot be adapted to the user's requirements.

The purpose of the invention is therefore to develop a type-specific clamping unit capable of providing a wide variety of connections reliably and quickly in the medium voltage range with medium currents.

The solution to this problem is to be found in the characteristics of claim 1.

The design of the terminal ensures the quick, simple and reliable connection of 1- or 3-phase main lines to terminal devices and of household connections to terminal devices such as sockets and switches. The resulting connections are mechanically stable, have low transient resistance, are functional for a long time. The connections are contact-proof. A variety of continuous connections and/or electrical branches can be easily made by placing terminal units back and forth as needed.

The subclaims provide further advantages of the invention.

The invention is further explained by an example of a clutch assembly shown in the drawings below, showing: Fig. 1the perspective view of the clamping unit,Fig. 1the perspective view of the clamping unit according to Fig.1 with indicated location of the contacts,Fig. 2the perspective view of a contact,Fig. 3the perspective view of the housing cap of the clamping unit according to Fig. 1,Fig. 4the perspective view of a block of clamping units according to Fig. 1 andFig. 5the perspective view of the clamping units according to Fig. 1 in the application to a power outlet.

The clamp unit shown in perspective in Fig. 1 consists of a housing 1 which has two insertion openings 2, resting points 6, a reception 23 in its column-shaped part 20 in the upper area and a recess 5 with a restraint 9 in the lower area. At angle 22 of housing 1 restraint devices 14.15 are arranged. A part 21 of housing 1 extending from angle 22 has an opening 4 and a restraint device 10. The insertion openings 2 serve to receive the electrical conductors to be connected, not shown. The insertion openings 2 are accessible for the connections of contacts 3 intended for electrical conductors.

As shown in Figure 2, the contacts 3 consist of two cut-clamp contact elements 11 which are arranged parallel to each other and connected by a dock 12 to rest snap devices 18,19; the rest snap devices 18,19 are accessed from the outside by opening 4 of housing 1 and are used to provide the electrically conductive connection between several clamping units.

On the other open side of part 21 of housing 1 a cover element 8 is applied to the resting snap device 19 for protection against contact (Fig. 1). The resting snap devices 18,19 are placed at an angle of 90° to dock 12. The cutting clamping contact elements 11 are angled at an angle of 45° to dock 12. The position of contact 3 in housing 1 can be seen from Fig. la. The cutting clamping contact elements 11 are placed in the columnar shape of part 20 of housing 1 so that the insertion openings 2 in housing 1 slide in parallel with the insertion of 13 of the cutting clamping contact elements 11 in the housing. However, each insertion of the cutting clamping element 13 is not at an angle of 45° to the insertion opening 11 but at an angle of 11°.

A housing cap 7 shown in Figure 3 is used to cover the insertion openings 2 with the cut-clamp contacts 3 and thus provides a secure contact protection. The housing cap 7 is placed with its resting flasks 16 in which gaps 17 are inserted on the resting points 6 of housing 1 and grated there. Housing caps 7 allow the marking of the conductive connections, e.g. the marking of the phase, the zero conductor, etc., by appropriate colourings.

Figure 4 shows in perspective a row and a rear row of eight clamping units with housing lids 7 and cover elements 8. The row of clamping units is made by means of the restraint devices 14 and 15 and by the restraint snap device 18 in the openings 4, while the row is made by means of the restraint devices 9 and 10 (Fig.1). The row of clamping units can be branched to provide additional connections.

The clutch units allow the quick and easy connection of household connections to commercial terminal connections, such as sockets, switches, etc. The clutch units are plugged into the terminal devices (e.g. sockets) as required. An application of this type is shown in Figure 5. The colour coding of the housing caps 7 allows the line connections to be made visible to the outside and thus avoid confusion.

Figure 5 shows the bottom view of a socket 24 to which the clamping units consisting of housing 1 and housing cap 7 are connected by contact strips 26 to the contacts 25.

Claims (6)

1. Terminal connecting unit for electrical cables in a power area, having connecting contacts (3,11) and a housing (1), characterized in that the housing (1) has insertion openings (2) to at least two contact elements (11) (which are electrically connected to one another) for the electrical conductors, an opening (4) for electrical connection of terminal connecting units via latch and snap devices (18, 19), and latching apparatuses (14, 15) for arranging housings (1) in a row, and a cutout (5) for arranging housings (1) one behind the other.
2. Terminal connecting unit according to Claim 1, characterized in that the housings (1) are arranged mechanically one behind the other via latching devices (9, 10).
3. Terminal connecting unit according to Claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the terminal connecting unit comprises two contact elements (11) which are composed of two mutually opposite insulation-piercing terminal elements (11), are connected to one another via a web (12) and are connected to the latch and snap devices (18, 19), the insulation-piercing terminal elements (11) being designed bent out to form the web (12).
4. Terminal connecting unit according to Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the housing (1) is provided with a separate housing cap (7) which has two latching tabs (16) with cutouts (17) and extends beyond the insertion openings (2).
5. Terminal connecting unit according to Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the housing cap (7) is colour-coded.
6. Terminal connecting unit according to Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the latch and snap device (18) can be plugged via the opening (4) onto contacts of terminals, and the latch and snap device (19) is connected to a cover element (8).