AU2006337044A1

AU2006337044A1 - Plug-type connector

Info

Publication number: AU2006337044A1
Application number: AU2006337044A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Peter Studerus
Original assignee: Huber and Suhner AG
Current assignee: Huber and Suhner AG
Priority date: 2006-01-26
Filing date: 2006-11-27
Publication date: 2007-08-02
Also published as: WO2007085098A1; DK200801028A; CH698271B1

Description

ISLER & PEDRAZZINI AG Gofthafdstrosse53 Postfach 1772 y ~ PATENT- &MAKE4AWATE PATENT&TRADEIAARKAITORNEYS H807&rh CH - 8027 Z6rich Telefon +-41-44-283 4700 Telefax +41-44-283 47 47 mailC islerpedrazzini.ch .vwwislerpedrazzini.ch DECLARATION I, Manfred Groner, Dr. sc. nat. ETH, European Patent Attorney, working with Isler & Pedrazzini AG, do hereby solemnly and sin cerely declare: THAT I am conversant with the German and English languages; and THAT to the best of my knowledge and belief the attached document is a true and correct translation from German into English of PCT publication No. WO 2007/085098 in the name of Huber+Suhner AG. Signed this 10th day of June 2008 Dr. Manfred Groner WO 2007/085098 PCT/CH2006/000663 DESCRIPTION PLUG-TYPE CONNECTOR 5 TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to the field of electrical plug connectors, and relates in particular to a plug connector as claimed in the precharacterizing 10 clause of claim 1. PRIOR ART A multiplicity of coaxial plug connectors are known 15 from the prior art and are used for detachable connection of coaxial cables. One example of plug connectors such as these is described in the document EP-A2-0 194 968. 20 The connector inner conductors of such plug connectors have hollow-cylindrical sections in the form of slotted sockets at the cable end, into which sockets the inner conductors of the coaxial cables are inserted in order to make contact. The slot system, which is continuous 25 as far as the socket input, allows the socket to be widened permanently during insertion of the cable inner conductor, which on the one hand leads to a reduced and decreasing contact force, and on the other hand leads to undefined contact conditions and to increases in the 30 intermodulation values associated with them. DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The object of the invention is to provide a plug 35 connector which avoids the disadvantages of known plug connectors, in particular of a coaxial type, and which is distinguished by permanently high contact forces and better radio-frequency characteristics.

WO 2007/085098 PCT/CH2006/000663 -2 The object is achieved by the totality of the features of claim 1. The essence of the invention is that the hollow-cylindrical section which is provided for the 5 plug contact is equipped with slots which run in the insertion direction but do not continue to the open end of the hollow-cylindrical section, but whose length is bounded toward the open end of the hollow-cylindrical section by a closed annular section of the wall, that 10 is to say they end in the wall. This prevents the wall from spreading open on the input side. A concentrically circumferential rib is preferably formed in the area of the slots in the wall and makes a defined contact with the mating piece. The slots allow the wall to flex 15 elastically in the area of the rib, and to support the contact. When inner conductors with a profiled twist have to be inserted there is, however, no need for a rib such as this since the contact point is provided on the inner conductor twist. In this case, the slots must 20 have a length that is at least equal to the length of one pitch of the twist. According to one refinement, which is intended for insertion of a mating piece into the hollow-cylindrical 25 section, the rib is arranged on the inner face of the wall. When the intention is to push a tubular mating piece externally over the hollow-cylindrical section, the rib 30 is arranged on the outer face of the wall. The number and the arrangement of the slots in the hollow-cylindrical section may be varied within wide limits depending on the circumstances and requirements. 35 It has been found to be advantageous to provide four slots in the hollow-cylindrical section, which are each separated by an angle of 900 around the socket axis. However, it is also feasible to provide more than four WO 2007/085098 PCT/CH2006/000663 -3 slots, which are arranged such that they are distributed uniformly around the cylinder axis. In this case, the slots may run either parallel to the axis or in a spiral shape around the axis. 5 Another refinement of the invention is distinguished in that the connector inner conductor is integral and has a cylindrical solid body, and in that the hollow cylindrical section is in the form of a coaxial blind 10 hole at the end of the connector inner conductor. This considerably simplifies the production and fitting of the connector inner conductor. The connector inner conductor may, however, also be formed from two or more parts and/or may have a cylindrical hollow body, for 15 example a tube. The hollow-cylindrical section is then a section at the end of the connector inner conductor. One particularly referred refinement of the plug connector according to the invention is characterized 20 in that the connector inner conductor is part of a coaxial plug connector, and in that the connector inner conductor is insulated and held concentrically in a hollow-cylindrical housing, which is used as the outer conductor. 25 In particular, the coaxial plug connector is provided as an end connecting piece for a coaxial cable which surrounds an inner conductor and an outer conductor in a coaxial arrangement, wherein the connector inner 30 conductor has a first hollow-cylindrical section or a plug pin for plug-in connection to a mating piece of another plug connector at one end, and has a second hollow-cylindrical section for plug-in connection to the inner conductor of the coaxial cable at the other 35 end. When, in this case, the second hollow-cylindrical section is designed for insertion of the inner WO 2007/085098 PCT/CH2006/000663 -4 conductor of the coaxial cable, the rib on the second hollow-cylindrical section is arranged on the inner face of the wall or on the outer face of the inner conductor of the coaxial cable. 5 If, in contrast, the second hollow-cylindrical section is designed for insertion into the tubular inner conductor of the coaxial cable, the rib on the second hollow-cylindrical section is arranged on the outer 10 face of the wall or on the inner face of the inner conductor of the coaxial cable. The connector inner conductor may also be provided without ribs, if the inner conductor of the coaxial 15 cable has a rib or a helix. If the inner conductor of the coaxial cable is equipped with a helix, a section of the helix is used as the rib. The axial length of the slots in this case preferably corresponds at least to one pitch of the helix. 20 BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE FIGURES The invention will be explained in more detail in the following text with reference to exemplary embodiments 25 and in conjunction with the drawing, in which: Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section of a first exemplary embodiment of a coaxial plug connector according to the invention, whose 30 connector inner conductor is designed on the cable side for holding the inner conductor of a coaxial cable; Figure 2 shows the plug connector from Figure 1 in the 35 fitted state at the end of a corresponding coaxial cable; Figure 3 shows a longitudinal section of a second WO 2007/085098 PCT/CH2006/000663 -5 exemplary embodiment of a coaxial plug connector according to the invention, whose connector inner conductor is designed on the cable side for insertion into the tubular 5 inner conductor of a coaxial cable; and Figure 4 shows the plug connector from Figure 3 in the fitted state at the end of a corresponding coaxial cable. 10 APPROACHES TO IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INVENTION Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section of a first exemplary embodiment of a coaxial plug connector 15 according to the invention, whose connector inner conductor is designed on the cable side to hold the inner conductor of a coaxial cable. Figure 2 shows this plug connector at the end of a coaxial cable. The plug connector 10 in Figures 1 and 2 is in the form of a 20 coaxial plug connector for a coaxial cable 30. It comprises a metallic, hollow-cylindrical housing 11, which is aligned concentrically with respect to the plug axis 29 and is at the same time used as the outer conductor of the coaxial arrangement. The housing 11 25 surrounds an internal area 28 which is used to hold the cable end. A connector inner conductor 13 which is coaxial with respect to the housing 11 is held by means of a cylindrical insulating piece 12 in that part of the housing 11 which tapers in the forward direction. 30 The connector inner conductor 13 is in the form of a metallic solid cylinder and has a hollow-cylindrical section 14 and 18 at each of the two ends, in the form of a blind hole in the solid cylinder. 35 The first hollow-cylindrical section 14, which is located at the front (on the left in Figures 1, 2) end of the connector inner conductor 13 forms a socket and holds the plug pin of a corresponding mating piece, as WO 2007/085098 PCT/CH2006/000663 -6 is illustrated analogously in Figure 2 of the document EP-A2-0 194 968 which was cited initially. The essence of the present invention is the specific configuration of this first hollow-cylindrical section 14; four axial 5 slots 15 are accommodated, each offset through 900, in the comparatively thin wall 14' of the hollow cylindrical section 14 and, in contrast to the prior art, do not continue to the front (left-hand) end of the socket 14, but end in the wall 14', such that a 10 closed annular section 17 remains at the front end of the wall 14'. The inlet cannot widen in the form of a funnel during insertion of a plug pin of the hollow cylindrical section 14, because of the closed annular section 17, but can only bulge out in the form of a 15 barrel in the center of the section. Seen in the axial direction, a circumferential rib 16 is integrally formed in the area of the slots 15 on the inner face of the wall 14', projects radially inward 20 and makes a defined annular contact with the inserted plug pin. The rib 16 projects inwards and at the same time ensures that the wall 14' bulges elastically outward in its area as a result of the inserted plug pin, thus ensuring an appropriate contact pressure for 25 the electrical contact between the rib 16 and the plug pin. The contact, which is defined precisely by the rib 16 and is secure as a result of the contact pressure, between the inner conductor parts has considerable advantages for RF transmission, because 30 intermodulation, caused by irregularities such as distributed multiple contacts in the inner conductor area, is considerably reduced. The same contact principle (bounded slots and contact 35 rib) can advantageously also be used at the cable end of the connector inner conductor 13. As shown in the exemplary embodiment in Figures 1 and 2, a second hollow-cylindrical section 18 is provided here, and is WO 2007/085098 PCT/CH2006/000663 -7 likewise in the form of a blind hole in the solid cylinder of the connector inner conductor 13. Four corresponding slots 19 are accommodated in the wall 18' of the second hollow-cylindrical section 18 and are 5 bounded at the open end of the section 18 by a closed annular section 21 of the wall 18'. Analogously to the first hollow-cylindrical section 14, a circumferential rib 20 is also provided in this case on the inner face of the wall 18', in the area of the slots 19, and 10 results in a defined annular contact. The end of the inner conductor 31 of a coaxial cable 30 is inserted into the second hollow-cylindrical section 18, as is shown in Figure 2, but without showing the outward bulging of the wall 18' associated with this. 15 The (corrugated) outer conductor 32 of the coaxial cable 30 is inserted with a peened-over edge into an annular clamping groove 23 provided for this purpose in the housing 11, for security and contact in the plug 20 connector 10, and is pressed against the front side wall of the clamping groove 23 by means of a clamping ring 24 which tapers conically. The necessary clamping pressure for the clamping ring 24 is produced by a clamping screw 25, which can be screwed into the 25 housing 11 and presses axially on the clamping ring 24. A circumferential groove 26 is provided in the clamping screw 25 and is used to hold an O-ring 27, which acts as a seal against the outer casing of the cable. A screw-union part 22 is arranged at the front end of the 30 plug connector 10 and can be used to make a screw connection between the two plug connectors of a plug connection. A different configuration of the cable-side hollow 35 cylindrical section of a coaxial plug connector is, however, also possible within the scope of the invention. In the exemplary embodiment in Figures 3 and 4, the plug connector 40 there is designed identically WO 2007/085098 PCT/CH2006/000663 -8 to the exemplary embodiment shown in Figures 1, 2 with respect to the housing 11, the insulating piece 12, the screw-union part 22 and the clamping apparatus 23, . 27. The front hollow-cylindrical section 14, ... , 17 of 5 the connector inner conductor 13' is also identical. However, the second, cable-side hollow-cylindrical section 33 is designed differently. This admittedly also has a thin wall 33' provided with axial slots 34 which are bounded by a closed annular section 36. 10 However, in this case, the circumferential rib 35 is integrally formed externally on the wall 33'. The hollow-cylindrical section 33 designed in this way is not used to hold the inner conductor of a coaxial 15 cable but is itself held, as can be seen in Figure 4, by the tubular inner conductor 38 of a coaxial cable 37. In this case as well, the rib 35 makes a geometrically precisely defined electrical contact between the connector inner conductor 13' and the inner 20 conductor 38 of the coaxial cable 37. The associated contact pressure is produced from the constricting deformation (not shown in Figure 4) of the wall 33' in the form of a rotation hyperboloid in the area of the rib 35. The outer conductor 39 of the coaxial cable 37 25 is clamped analogously to that shown in the exemplary embodiment in Figures 1, 2. In both exemplary embodiments, hollow-cylindrical sections with the bounded slots and integrally formed 30 ribs are provided at both ends of the connector inner conductor 13 or 13'. The connector inner conductors can also, of course, be equipped with a hollow-cylindrical section such as this just at one end. In particular, it is feasible for a hollow-cylindrical section to be 35 provided at the rear end of the connector inner conductor just for connection to the inner conductor of the coaxial cable 30 or 37, while the front end of the connector inner conductor is in the form of a plug pin WO 2007/085098 PCT/CH2006/000663 -9 (analogously to Figure 2 in EP-A2-0 194 968). In a further refinement to the invention, there is no rib on the connector inner conductor, if a rib or a 5 helix (twist) is already provided on the cable inner conductor. In this case, care must be taken to ensure that the length of the slots correspond at least to one pitch of the helix (twist). 10 Seen overall, the refinement of the invention as explained here comprises a connector inner conductor in which the slot for making contact are not continued to the end. The slots are explicitly bounded by a "closed ring". A rib can be formed for effective contact, 15 depending on the contact to be made (internally or externally), and then also defines the contact location. The major advantage of this solution is that the slot 20 system, which is closed at the front, makes it possible to greatly increase the contact force (by up 20 times) and thus achieve a more reliable contact between the connector inner conductor and the inserted plug pin or cable inner conductor. This is then explicitly evident 25 in better intermodulation values. This increased contact force also makes it possible to use a better material (brass instead of bronze, bronze instead of CuBe) with a reduced spring force. 30 The closed form at the end of the inner conductor (closed annular section) likewise allows attachment (in the insulating piece) in the area of the hollow cylindrical sections of the inner conductor, since 35 there is no longer any need to allow radial movement here. This results in the connector being physically shorter, leading to a considerable cost saving.

WO 2007/085098 PCT/CH2006/000663 - 10 The described embodiment of the hollow-cylindrical sections for a plug contact is not restricted to the connector inner conductors of coaxial plug connectors but can advantageously also be used in other 5 applications.

WO 2007/085098 PCT/CH2006/000663 - 11 LIST OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS 10, 40 Plug connector (coaxial) 11 Housing (outer conductor) 5 12 Insulating piece 13, 13' Connector inner conductor 14, 18, 33 Hollow-cylindrical section (for example socket) 14', 18', 33' Wall (hollow-cylindrical section or 10 socket) 15, 19, 34 Slot 16, 20, 35 Rib (circumferential) 17, 21, 36 Annular section (closed) 22 Screw-union part 15 23 Clamping groove 24 Clamping ring 25 Clamping screw 26 Groove 27 O-ring 20 28 Internal area 29 Plug axis 30, 37 Coaxial cable 31, 38 Inner conductor 32, 39 Outer conductor (corrugated)

Claims

1. A plug connector (10, 40) having a connector inner conductor (13, 13') which has a hollow-cylindrical 5 section (14, 18, 33) for plug-in connection to a mating piece, in the wall (14', 18', 33') of which section (14, 18, 33) a plurality of slots (15, 19, 34) which run in the longitudinal direction are arranged distributed over the circumference, characterized in 10 that the slots (15, 19, 34) are bounded in length toward the open end of the hollow-cylindrical section (14, 18, 33) by a closed annular section (17, 21, 36) of the wall (14', 18', 33'). 15

2. The plug connector as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that a concentrically circumferential rib (16, 20, 35) is formed in the area of the slots (15, 19, 34) in order to make defined contact. 20

3. The plug connector as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that the rib (16, 20) is arranged on the inner face of the wall (14', 18').

4. The plug connector as claimed in claim 2, 25 characterized in that the rib (35) is arranged on the outer face of the wall (33').

5. The plug connector as claimed in one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that four slots (15, 19, 34) are 30 provided in the hollow-cylindrical section (14, 18, 33) and are each separated by an angle of 900 around the cylinder axis.

6. The plug connector as claimed in one of claims 1 35 to 5, characterized in that the connector inner conductor (13, 13') is integral and has a cylindrical solid body, and in that the hollow-cylindrical section (14, 18, 33) is in the form of a coaxial blind hole at WO 2007/085098 PCT/CH2006/000663 - 13 the end of the connector inner conductor (13, 13').

7. The plug connector as claimed in one of claims 1 to. 5, characterized in that the connector inner 5 conductor (13, 13') is integral and has a cylindrical hollow body, and in that the hollow-cylindrical section is a section at the end of the connector inner conductor (13, 13'). 10

8. The plug connector as claimed in one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the connector inner conductor (13, 13') is part of a coaxial plug connector (10, 40), and in that the connector inner conductor (13, 13') is insulated and held concentrically in a 15 hollow-cylindrical housing (11), which is used as the outer conductor.

9. The plug connector as claimed in claim 8, characterized in that the coaxial plug connector (10, 20 40) is provided as an end connecting piece for a coaxial cable (30, 37) which surrounds an inner conductor (31, 38) and an outer conductor (32, 39) in a coaxial arrangement, and in that the connector inner conductor (13, 13') has a first hollow-cylindrical 25 section (14) or a plug pin for plug-in connection to a mating piece of another plug connector at one end, and has a second hollow-cylindrical section (18, 33) for plug-in connection to the inner conductor (31, 38) of the coaxial cable (30, 37) at the other end. 30

10. The plug connector as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that the second hollow-cylindrical section (18) is designed for insertion of the inner conductor (31) of the coaxial cable (30), and in that 35 the rib (20) on the second hollow-cylindrical section (18) is arranged on the inner face of the wall (18') or on the outer face of the inner conductor (31) of the coaxial cable (30). WO 2007/085098 PCT/CH2006/000663 - 14

11. The plug connector as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that the second hollow-cylindrical section (33) is designed for insertion into the tubular 5 inner conductor (38) of the coaxial cable (37), and in that the rib (35) on the second hollow-cylindrical section (33) is arranged on the outer face of the wall (33') or on the inner face of the inner conductor (38) of the coaxial cable (37). 10

12. The plug connector as claimed in claim 10 or 11, characterized in that the inner conductor (31, 38) of the coaxial cable (30, 37) is equipped with a helix, and in that a section of the helix is used as the rib. 15

13. The plug connector as claimed in claim 12, characterized in that the axial length of the slots (19, 34) corresponds at least to one pitch of the helix.