SI9210001A - Testing of electic lines and cables for short-circuit, discontinuities, leakage or incorrect line connection - Google Patents

Abstract

The test appts. locks plug connectors (E', E") at each end of the cable (D). A battery-resistor series circuit is provided between connections (1, 2) at one end of the cable. Adjacent pairs of uneven numbered connections (3 and 5) and adjacent pairs of even numbered connections (4 and 6) are connected at the respective plugs. A light emitting diode is provided at one edge at one end of the cable. USE/ADVANTAGE - For checking short circuits between individual wires, wire breaks, screen/cable shorts, and connection faults of the plug. Simple operation and simple circuit.

Description

Electronics and Microcomputers d.o.o.

TAPE AND OTHER CABLE CONNECTIONS TEST

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to the field of testing of electrical conductors for short circuit, interruption, throughput or incorrect connection, and more specifically relates to the circuit of the tester of connection with tape and other cables.

According to IPC, the invention belongs to class G 01R 31/02.

TECHNICAL PROBLEM

A technical problem is the ability to easily and quickly test the connection of tape and other cable to connectors, thereby identifying short circuits between individual veins, breaking the veins, as well as the correct connection of the connector to the cable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A known ribbon cable tester is also suitable for testing other types of connections, e.g. Centronics and other parallel cables. A feature of such a well-known connection tester is the use of a mechanical switch having as many positions as the tested cable of the veins that are connected to the individual contacts of the switch. At the other end of the cable, one LED is connected to each individual conductor.

Such a tester is distinguished by a very simple circuit which makes it possible to test the permeability of each vein individually, which is then visible by the illumination of always one, the veins of the associated LED; if the diode does not illuminate, this is an indication that the vein is broken, while the illumination of several diodes at the same time would indicate that the selected vein is in contact with adjacent veins. It is also possible, of course, to note that the veins are not properly connected to the connector, which would be evident from the fact that the associated diode does not illuminate the corresponding vein, but from another.

A major drawback of such a tester is the slowness of operation and a great chance that any cable defect is overlooked.

The mechanical version of the known tester described above can also be performed electronically as well as microcomputer. The performance of these implementations is much faster and also reliable, but their disadvantage is that they are electronic circuits, especially with a large number of contacts or. cable veins very large and relatively expensive.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TECHNICAL PROBLEM SOLUTION

The technical problem was solved with the connection tester according to the invention, which is characterized by the fact that it can detect short circuits between individual veins, interruptions of the veins as well as the correct connection of the cable to the cable, but its circuit is extremely simple and does not contain any complex electronic parts, and no mechanical operation is required to perform the test itself, except connecting the cable to the tester itself.

In the basic embodiment of the tester according to the invention, it is possible to test the ribbon cables in terms of permeability, joints between the vessels, as well as the displacement of the connector terminals on the cable itself; in the variant design intended for Centronics and other parallel cables, it is possible to detect wire breaks, short circuits between adjacent connector pins, and interruptions of the braid and short circuits of any vein with a braided or empty contact of the connector.

Embodiments of the subject matter of the invention will be described in more detail below and shown in the drawings showing:

FIG. 1 shows a ribbon cable tester circuit according to the invention when testing an intact six-core cable; 2 is a circuit of FIG. 1 with a broken-wire cable; 3 is a circuit of FIG. 1 with a cable in which two veins are short circuited; FIG. 4 is a circuit of FIG. 1 with a cable in which the connector on the cable is moved by one or more contacts; FIG. 5 is a circuit of FIG. 1 with a cable in which the connector is misaligned, FIG. 6 is a schematic representation of a circuit for testing Centronics and other parallel cables according to the invention; FIG. 7 is a complete circuit for testing Centronics and other parallel cables according to the invention; FIG. 8 is a general diagram of a circuit for testing ribbon cables with (4n-2) veins, FIG. 9 is a general diagram of a circuit for testing ribbon cables with (4n) cores; FIG. 10 is a general diagram of a circuit for testing ribbon cables with (4n-l) cores, FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a circuit for testing ribbon cables with (4n + 1) cores and the like; 12 circuit diagram for testing 34-core ribbon cables with some of the wires in the cable facing.

The ribbon cable tester circuit of the invention has emerged from the realization that short circuits can only occur between adjacent contacts of connectors E ', E' or. of the cable of the cable D. With the proper connection of the individual veins as shown in fig. 1, it is possible, on the one hand, to connect all the vessels in series, while dividing these vessels by their position in the cable into barrels and odds. Testing the intactness of cable D is performed by a light-emitting diode A, which is powered by a DC source B, with which the resistor C is connected in series.

From FIG. 1 shows that all evil vessels 1, 3 and 5 and all barrel vessels 2, 4 and 6 of cable D. are interconnected in series. If no cable is broken in cable D and there is no short circuit between the vessels, neither are they connected properly of connector E ', E', illuminates with the correct polarity of diode A or. source B diode A, which indicates that the connector cable is free of damage.

Obviously, in the event of one of the veins being interrupted, the power circuit for LED A is interrupted so that this LED does not light; this example shows FIG. 2, where the vessel is broken 4.

In the case of a short circuit between the veins, this can only occur between the barrel and the vein of the cable D, e.g. as shown in FIG. 3, between core 4 and core 5. In this case, diode A is bridged so that it also does not illuminate.

In case the connector E ”on cable D is moved, as shown in FIG. 4, however, the power supply of LED A is also interrupted and so that this LED A does not illuminate, it is reported that the cable is not intact.

In case the connector E ”is wrongly compressed as shown in FIG. 5, that is, when the first contact of connector E 'arrives at the last vein of cable D, it is also possible to detect an error, because this time the LED A is polarized incorrectly.

The above examples show that it is possible to fully determine whether the cable is intact and usable, or not, immediately after connecting them to the tester with the tape cable tester of the invention.

A major problem in testing the usefulness of cable is the Centronics and other parallel cables, which may cause short circuits between any of the veins in the cable. Experience shows, however, that the most likely contacts are between adjacent contacts in the connector or between a single strand and a braid, or. housing.

Testing the usability of the cable is carried out here according to the same principles as the tester described earlier, in that all the veins of the cable are connected in series to detect short circuits between adjacent contacts of the connectors by separating the vessels into barrels and odds, and additionally, interruption of the braid and short circuit between any vein and braid, or with an empty connector terminal.

Also in this circuit according to the invention, an indication of the usefulness of the cable D ', D' is made by LED A ', and the power supply' B 'is used to supply the circuit' DC 'to which the resistor C' is connected in series. Schematically, the circuit of the invention shown in FIG. 6, assembled such that one resistor terminal C 'is connected to one pole of origin B' of direct voltage and the other terminal of resistance C 'to one Zener diode G terminal, the other terminal of which is bound by braid F at one end of the cable, while the braid F at the other end of the cable is connected to the junction point of one terminal of the other Zener diode J and resistor H, and the other terminal of the Zener diode J is connected to the second pole of the DC source B 'of the transistor I whose base is connected to the other resistor terminal H, and the collector to the start of the connection of odd veins D 'whose end of the connection is connected to one connector of the light-emitting diode A' and its other connector to one start of the connection of even vessels of D ', while the other connector of connections of even vessels of D' is connected to the junction point of Zener diode G and the other resistor terminal C '.

The operation of the circuit of the invention of FIG. 6 fully enables the testing of the cables to which it is intended. In this way, the Zener diodes J and G are connected in series F to the existence of a base current for transistor I; if F is interrupted, then the base current will not flow, transistor I will not become conductive and LED A 'will not illuminate. Transistor I also allows the regulation of current through LED A ', because if the collector current of transistor I was increased, said LED A' would reduce the voltage on Zener diode G, resulting in a drop in the base current of transistor I to such value, to make transistor I non-conductive, which also extinguishes LED A '.

Diode A 'does not light even if vessel vessels D' or. odd veins D ”, but of course not if the barrels D’ and the odd veins D ”of the cable are in contact with each other. The LED 'A' also does not illuminate if there is contact between the even vessels D 'or. the veins D 'of the test cable and its braid F, since then it assumes that the source B' of the DC supply voltage has a voltage of 3V, the voltage on the LED A 'is below 1.6V, which is too low a voltage for the diode A' lit up.

In FIG. 7 is an example of a complete tester circuit of the invention for Centronics cables, in which the markings of the individual components of the circuit are the same as those of the circuit of FIG. 6. On the left side of FIG. 7 shows the terminals for the L-labeled D sub-connector on the right-hand side of FIG. 7 shows the connectors for the Centronics connector marked K.

With such a tester, it is possible to detect all interruptions and short circuits between adjacent contacts on the connectors, as well as short circuits with cable braid or empty contacts. Parallel cable errors are also the most common; With such a simple circuit, it is not possible to detect all the short circuits between the veins in the cable that are less common, nor is such a tester able to identify all possible alternations between the veins.

For other types of parallel cables, the same electronic circuit as that shown in FIG. 6, however, the division into barrels and even vessels, as well as the connection between them, is otherwise effected. It has already been mentioned at the outset that they are necessary for testing parallel cables with different number of veins of variant design, the common feature of which is that they consist in principle the same approach to solving a technical problem, i.e. an easy way to determine the intactness of a tested cable.

From the basic idea shown in FIG. 1, according to which all the drums or drums are sequentially tied in the connection tester. all the evil veins of the cable being tested were then developed for connecting cable testers with different numbers of veins.

Thus, FIG. 8 such a circuit of testers of the invention according to the invention for cables with (2n2) veins, i.e. for 2, 6, 10, ... vascular cables. In this tester circuit according to the invention, it is important that the power supply, ie the sequential connection of the DC source B and the resistance C, is connected to the tester terminals 1 and 2 on the connector E 'on one side of the cable connectors while the LED A is connected to the terminals (4n-3) and (4η-2) on those cable connectors lying opposite the power connectors, ie at connector E ”. For the sake of clarity, the connectors described in FIG. 8 framed; the same is shown in the important connections in FIG. 9 to 11.

The connection tester circuit of the invention for cables with (4n), i.e. 4, 8, 12, ... veins, is shown in FIG. 9. In this circuit, its supply, that is, the sequential connection of the DC source B and the resistance C, is connected to terminals 1 and (4n), and to the terminals (4n2) and (4n-l), LED A is connected, with all of these terminals on connector E 'on one side of the terminals of the cable being tested - in Figs. 9 are drawn on the left side of the figure while a signal diode M is connected to this port opposite the terminals 1 and 3 on the connector E ', while a connection with the terminal (4n) is connected between them 2; and all these connectors are, as you can see, on the right side of the picture, that is, on connector E ”. The method of connecting the remaining veins of the cable can also be seen from Figure 9, but again it shows the rule of sequential connection of barrels or barrels. the odd veins of the tested cable.

The connection tester circuit of the invention for cables with (4n-l), i.e. 3, 7,11, ... veins, is shown in Figure 10. Its power supply is identical to that shown in FIG. 8, thus for a circuit for a cable with (4n-2) veins, and the signal diode connector M is identical to the circuit of FIG. 9, while one LED terminal A is connected to terminal (4n1) at connector E 'on the same side as the power supply, while its other terminal is connected to terminal (4n-2) at connector E' on the opposite side, wherein is additionally to the same, that is, to the right of Fig. 10, the recessed connector (4n-l) is connected to the connector (4n-3) lying in the figure above it. The circuit of Figure 10 also shows the method of connecting the remaining cable cores with an indication of which terminals should be connected.

The following will describe another variant of the connection tester of the invention according to the cables with (4n + l), ie 5,9,13, ... wires, which is shown in Figure 11. The power supply is connected in the same way as shown in FIG. 10, that is, on terminals 1 and 2 on connector E 'on one side, on the figure on the left side of the test cable connection, with connectors (4n-l) and (4n + l) interconnected on the same side and on between them is a terminal (4n) connected to one terminal of LED A. The other terminal of this diode is connected to terminal (4n + l) opposite the connector E ”, which is on the right side, with the same side between Signal diode M connected to terminals 2 and 4 of connector E ”. Even with this circuit, the barrels or barrels are connected in series. odd cable veins, the connection mode shown in Figure 11.

It is obvious to one of skill in the art that the polarity of both the DC source B and the LEDs A and the signal diodes M must be connected so that diode A can illuminate in the intact cable.

In some cases, some veins are turned in the ribbon cable; such cables are used in some floppy and disk conditions. A tester circuit for determining whether a thirty-four-core cable with six or four cores is crossed thirteen or four. twenty-seven or parallel to them, a malfunction is shown in FIG. 12.

Similar circuit variants, which are only mentioned here, can also be implemented for Centronics and other parallel cables, where different vein-binding sequences are used in these variants.

Given the large number of possible tester variants for other types of parallel cables, the rule of thumb is that the construction of such testers must ensure a proper division into barrels and even vessels. In the case of cables with particularly unfavorable interconnections, an electronic circuit is required to test the cable, in which the veins in the cable are not only divided into barrels and odds, but also into groups of any number. Thus, in such a tester, we actually test by selecting the number of groups that provides the highest possible reliability of the test, in particular the identification of short circuits between adjacent contacts or the replacement of veins.

From all the above, it can be seen that the various circuits of the tester according to the invention in a large number of cases allow the actual complete testing of the cable and its connectors with respect to their intactness and usability. It should also be mentioned that the tester according to the invention does not require special switching, since its source of supply voltage is only loaded when the cable is connected to it.

BM Electronics and Microcomputers Ltd.:

Pilent PiSARfeA

i. II l «l .IAKIA *

LJUBLJANA

Claims (3)

PATENT APPLICATIONS 1. Tester for connecting to ribbons and other cables, having the ribbon cable D (4n-2) of the veins tested and n> 2, characterized in that it is attached to the connector (1) of the first, one edge of the ribbon cable (D) veins and to the connector (2) in addition to the first vein of the second cable of the cable (D), wherein these connectors (1; 2) are connected in the connector (E ') at the first end of the cable (D), in series connection of the source (B) supply voltages and resistors (C) to be further connected to each other by two odd terminals [3-5; 7-9; ... (4n-5) - (4n-3)] and every two barrels of connection [4-6; 8-10; ... (4n-4) - (4n-2) j on the connector (E ') at the first end of the cable (D) and are also connected to each other by two odd ports [1-3; 5-7; ... (4n-7) - (4n-5)] and every two barrels of connector [24; 6-8; ... (4n-6) - (4n-4) j on the connector (E ”) at the other end of the cable (D) while on the connector [(4n-3); (4n-2) j of cable (D) on connector (E ”) along its second edge and LED (A) connected at its other end. 2. Tester for connection to tape and other cables, wherein I have a test strip of cable D (4n) of veins and n> 2, characterized in that it is on the connector (1) of the first, on one edge of the tape cable (D) and the connector (4n) rear, second, second edge of the same cable (D) of the supporting vessel, with these terminals (1; 4n) on the connector (E ') at the first end of the cable (D) connected in series to the source (B) of the DC power supply and resistor (C) being connected to each other by two odd terminals [3-5; 7-9; ... (4n-5) - (4n-3)] and every two barrels of connection [2-4; 6-8; ... (4n-6) - (4n-4) j on the connector (E ') at the first end of the cable (D) and on the connector [(4n-2); (4n-l)] LED (A) is connected and a signal diode (M) is connected to the terminals (1; 3) at the other end of the cable (D), that the terminal (2) is connected to the terminal (4n) on the connector (E ”) at the same other end of the cable, and are further interconnected by each of the two remaining odd terminals [5-7; ... (4n-3) - (4n1)] and every two barrels of connection [4-6; ... (4n-4) - (4n-2)] on the connector (E ”). 3. Tester for connecting to ribbon and other cables, wherein I have a ribbon cable D (4n-l) with veins and n> 2, characterized in that it is on the connector (1) of the first one edge of the ribbon cable (D). the cores and to the connector (2) in addition to the first core of the second cable of the cable (D), wherein the terminals (1; 2) at the first end of the cable (D) on the connector (E ') are connected in series by a single source connection (B) supply voltages and resistors (C) to be further connected to each other by two odd bits [3-5; 79; ... (4n-5) - (4n-3)] and by two bits of terminal each [4- 6; 8-10; ... (4n-4) - (4n-2)] at the first end of the cable (D) at the connector (E ') and to the connector (4n-l) at the second edge of the cable (D) ) a light-emitting diode (A) is connected to its first end at the connector (E ') and to the connector (4n-2) at its other end at the connector (E'), to the terminals (1; 3) at the other end of the cable (D) at the connector (E ”) there is a signal diode (M) and that they are connected to each other two odd connectors [5-7; 9-ll; ... (4n-3) - (4n-l) j and every two barrels of connectors [24; 6-8; ... (4n-6) - ( 4n-4)] at the other end of the cable (D) on the connector (E ”). 4. Tester for connecting to ribbon and other cables, the test having a ribbon cable D (4n + l) of veins and n> l, characterized in that it is on the connector (1) of the first, on one edge of the ribbon cable (D) the supporting veins and to the connector (2) in addition to the first vein of the second cable of the cable (D), wherein the connectors (1; 2) at the connector (E ') at the first end of the cable (D) are connected in series by a single source connection (B) supply voltages and resistors (C) to be further connected to each other by two bits of connector [3-5; 7-9; ... (4n-l) - (4n + l)] and by each two bits of terminal [4 -6; 8-10; ... (4n-4) - (4n-2) j on the connector (E ') at the first end of the cable (D) and on the connector (4n) on the connector (E') at the first end of the cable (D) and the connector (4n + l) at the connector (E ”) at the second end of the cable (D) is connected by a light-emitting diode (A) to the connector (2; 4) at the connector (E”) at a signal diode (M) is connected to the other end of the cable (D) and that there is a connector at the other end of the cable (D) (E ”) interconnected by each two odd connections [l-3; 5-7; ... (4n-3) - (4n-l)] and by each two remaining connection receptacles [6-8; ... (4n-2) - (4n) j. 5. A tester for connection with ribbon and other cables, wherein the tested ribbon cable (D) has thirty-four wires, of which six or four wires may be crossed about thirteen or four. twenty-seven veins, or passing straight thereon, characterized in that they are interconnected by two odd joints (l-3; 5-7; ... 29-31) and by every two barrels of connection (24; 6-8 ; ... 30-32) at the connector (E ') at the first end of the cable (D) and an LED is connected to the connector (33) and the connector (34) at the connector (E') at the first end of the cable (D) (A) that there is a series connection of the source (B) of the DC power supply and the resistor (C) to the connector (1) and the connector (2) at the connector (E ”) at the other end of the cable (D) so that they are on the same connector (E ”) at the other end of the cable (D) interconnected at each other by two odd plugs (3-5; 7-9; ll-l5; 13-17; 19-21; 23-27; 25-29; 31-33 ) and every two barrels of connectors (4-6; 8-10; ... 32-34) on the connector (E ”) of the cable (D). 6. Band and other cable tester, the first end of the Centronics cable D ', D' being connected to the D-sub connector L with twenty-five connections and the other end of the same cable to the Centronics connector K with thirty-six connections, characterized in that the light-emitting diode (A) is connected to the terminals (1; 14) of the connector (L) so that its junction point (2) is connected to one terminal of the Zener diode (G) and one resistor terminal (C ') to which the other terminal one source pole (B) of DC power is connected, the other pole of which is connected to the junction point of the transistor (I) and one Zener diode (J) terminal to which the other resistor (H) is connected, the other the connector is then connected to the base of the transistor (I), and the terminals (15,16, 17,18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28), and the braid connector (F) on the cable connector (K) (D ', D ”) And that the transistor collector (I) is connected to the connector (36) of the same connector (K) and the second Zener diode connector (G) is connected to the braid connector (F) at the connector (L) and that the interconnected terminals (13-25; 12-24; ll-23; 10 -22; 9-21; 8-20; 7-19; 618; 5-17; 4-16; 3-15;) on connector (L) and connectors (33-31; 14-12; 32-13; 30ll; 29-10; 9-5; 27-7; 8-6; 25-4; 23-3; 21-2; l-19) on connector (K). 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