DE102007055040B4 - Contact element and method for producing a contact element - Google Patents

Abstract

Electric contact element (1) comprising a cylindrical socket contact (2) with a cylindrical tube jacket (21) and a contact holder (3) with a ring element (30), the contact holder (3) with its ring element (30) on the tube shell (21) force - Is positively connected and wherein the ring member (30) is formed as circumferentially closed, cylindrical ring member (30) and was thermally shrunk onto the tube shell (21), such that a formed on the inner surface of the ring member (30) profiling in the Pipe jacket (21) has impressed.

Description

The invention relates to an electrical contact element, comprising a socket contact and a contact holder, according to the preamble of claim 1. Connectors, in particular connector sockets of the type mentioned, are also referred to as RADSOK connectors and are characterized in particular in that their contact area is cage-like, that is, that a cylindrical or semi-cylindrical hollow body is designed, which preferably has contact blades in the longitudinal direction or contact spring arms for contacting with a plug pin. For cost reasons socket contacts of the type mentioned are usually produced as stamped / bent parts of a metal sheet.

In the prior art, various cylindrical socket contact elements are known, which are also stamped from a metal sheet, wherein the cylindrical bushing body is generated by rolling or bending and rolling of the punching plate.

Such a connector is for example from the DE 197 34 524 C2 known. Here, a cylindrical socket contact, consisting of a contact part and a connection part, shown, wherein the contact part has a cylinder jacket and the cylinder jacket is formed from at least one stamped from the jacket contact spring tongue, which dive into the receiving area of the cylinder, so that a pin with this Contact spring elements can contact as soon as it is plugged into the cylindrical socket contact.

Furthermore, from the WO 98/43321 a likewise substantially cylindrical contact is shown, which shows as a female connector, with a plurality of contact areas hyperbolically arranged in a contact section of the socket for electrically contacting a plug part which can be coupled to the socket.

The socket is here formed in one piece and in particular made of a one-piece stamped part, which is bent into the shape of the socket, with simultaneous punching a suitable for the contact terminal portion which is formed here as a crimp terminal with a plurality of Crimplappen. An electrical cable of different cable diameters can be attached to this connection area. However, the receiving area of the smallest male conductor cross-section and the largest male conductor cross-section to be accommodated is limited by the specific geometry of the crimp terminal.

From the DE 10 2006 012 434 A1 is already known under the name RADSOK connector electrical contact element comprising a cylindrical socket contact and a contact holder, which is positively and positively connected to the socket contact known.

However, the contact holder is hereby designed as a cylindrical contact holder around the socket contact and does not concretely have suitable current transfer capabilities between the current-carrying cylindrical socket contact and the contact holder, which in any way must additionally be connected to a live part, such as a conductor ,

This results in a disadvantageous contact resistance, which must be avoided.

Also the DE 37 02 012 C2 as well as the DE 10 2005 062 709 A1 show similar electrical contact elements comprising a cylindrical socket contact and a contact holder surrounded this, which is at least partially non-positively and positively connected to the socket contact.

The DE 196 00 417 A1 discloses a contact element for producing a re-releasable electrical connection to a battery terminal with a contact piece, which carries Einschneidelemente that bury in the assembly of the contact piece and the battery terminal under a contact pressure in the surface of the battery pole.

The DE 94 05 680 U1 discloses a forged terminal, also for releasably securing a power cable to a battery post, wherein a semi-open terminal is provided which can be screwed together by means of a screw to engage around the terminal of the battery post.

The DE 81 16 772 U1 shows a car battery terminal, in which a block is provided of an elastic material in which two contact elements are embedded and which have a toothing, so that when connecting the elastic terminal block with the battery terminal, these bear against the terminal contacting.

Again, the aforementioned disadvantages arise because it is unclear how to connect a line element to be connected in a suitable manner with the socket contact.

In principle, however, the question always arises as to how the actual contact can be connected to a connected electrical line under suitable conditions.

On the one hand, the geometry of the connection region plays a role relative to the contact arrangement, so that simple rectilinear contact connection regions can be formed, but on the other hand it is also desirable through installation positions to produce a different connection geometry. Another requirement for a good contact system is the requirement for a high current carrying capacity with a secure contact holding force of the contact on a corresponding pin or counterpart. That is, it is desirable to provide a contact geometry as possible so that it is solid and stable, but on the other hand is inexpensive to manufacture. At the same time there is the requirement in space to create a contact system such that different outlet angles of the connection areas can be realized without having to stockpile a large number of different contact elements. For reasons of warehousing and cost efficiency, it is therefore desirable, if possible with a contact element to be able to image a variety of installation situations, in which the connection geometry can be adapted to the installation situation.

If one uses insofar an additional contact holder that meets these characteristics and connects it to the contact element in an application desired arrangement, so you get the variety of the desired installation options, but with the accompanying disadvantage that an additional electrical transition point between the contact holder and the actual contact occurs, which should be avoided.

In the prior art, for example, discloses WO00 / 70713 Such a contact system consisting of a contact element, which as. hyperbolic rotated contact element is formed, which in turn is pressed in a substantially cylindrical or cylindrical contact holder.

This contact holder can, as in this document in 9 and 10 shown to be rectilinear and depending on the requirements in different lengths.

Alternatively, such as in 11 , Also, a 90 ° angled connection area, that is, a connection geometry, be formed perpendicular to the insertion direction of the contact element. Generic connector systems is therefore common that they have a contact transition region between the contact element and contact holder, ie connection area, which is typically regarded as a weak point of the overall system.

On the one hand, this transition region limits the service life of the contact system and, on the other hand, limits the electrical transmission properties. With regard to the service life, failures can occur at the transitional area due to thermal, mechanical or corrosive stresses which render the contact inoperable, or the contact holder with its connection area separates from the contact element. With regard to the electrical properties, this simultaneously leads to the fact that the current carrying capacity decreases and the electrical resistance increases steadily, so that the system is constantly under thermal stress due to thermal overheating. These effects are considered to be undesirable effects of such generic connector systems and it is. Therefore, object of the present invention to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages and to connect a contact element with a contact holder safely, permanently and inexpensively.

Another object of the present invention is to make the connection of the contact element with the contact holder so that one and the same contact element with a variety of similar but with manufacturing tolerances affected contact holder can be brought into a secure and high-strength connection.

An additional object of the present invention is to be able to equip known contact systems with the contact holders according to the invention, without having to change the previous manufacturing processes for such contact systems; speak to eliminate the production-related shape and position tolerances of existing systems by the contact holder.

Based on the cited prior art, the object thus arises, due to the tolerances of the known in the prior art contact holder to change the contact holder such that on the one hand the problems of tolerances are overcome and at the same time a high current carrying capacity is achieved.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for connecting a contact holder according to the invention with a contact element according to the invention and thereby overcome the tolerance problem.

The aforementioned objects are achieved by the features of claim 1 and claim 10.

According to the invention, a contact element consisting of a socket contact and a contact holder is provided, which is designed as Aufschrumpfkontakthalter.

The contact holder according to the invention is formed with a ring element which can be shrink-welded by means of profiling on the inner diameter.

The socket contact itself consists of a cylindrical socket contact cage, also referred to as a so-called RADSOK cage, and a cylindrical bushing sleeve, in which the cylindrical socket contact cage is formed.

The contact cage and the female contact sleeve form the female contact, which is suitably connected to the shrink-on contact holder.

According to the invention, the cylindrical socket contact with a thermally shrinkable contact holder, also referred to as Aufschrumpfkontakthalter, thus connected by thermal shrinking.

In this case, the contact holder is provided with a substantially cylindrical opening which is made smaller in its inner diameter, such as the outer diameter of the corresponding cylindrical socket contact.

By heating the contact holder, a widening of the hole diameter in the contact holder can be achieved, so that the mounting of the contact holder is made possible at the socket contact in the short term.

This expansion allows insertion of the socket contact into the contact holder. By deliberately cooling or quenching the compound, the thermally expanded contact holder contracts, whereby the inner diameter is reduced and is shrunk on cooling to the cylindrical tube jacket of the socket contact. Due to the specific geometric design of the inner diameter of the contact holder can be set defined on the cylindrical tube jacket with a suitable choice of the temperature during heating and cooling the normal force. This gives a very tight interference fit between the contact holder and the socket contact, which is permanently stable and has a high current carrying capacity. In further embodiments of the invention, the inner surface of the contact holder, which serves as a contact surface to the cylindrical tube shell, also geometrically structure in which, for example, a variety of finest grooves along the inner surface are mounted, which then impress on cooling in the tubular jacket, and to an enlarged contact surface and thus lead to improved current carrying capacity.

In the following the invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the description of an embodiment with reference to the drawings. Therefore show:

1 a side view of a socket contact according to the invention with connected Aufschrumpkontakthalter,

2 a view from below of the contact element according to the invention according to 1 ;

3 represents a section through the contact element according to 1 group;

4 shows a perspective view of a contact element with contact holder.

In 1 is a contact element 1 shown. This consists of a substantially cylindrical socket contact 2 and a contact holder attached thereto 3 , The contact holder 3 is fixed with a cable 4 connected. The socket contact 2 is formed as a substantially cylindrical socket contact with a cylindrical tube jacket 21 , In the cylindrical tube jacket 21 is a contact cage 20 fitted, as in 3 shown.

The contact holder 3 is designed here as Aufschrumpfkontakthalter and is essentially as an annular element 30 and a connection section 31 educated. The connection section 31 connects the ring element 30 with the cable 4 ,

In the in 1 shown representation is the contact holder 3 designed so that a cable 4 in the 90 ° departure, that is perpendicular to the insertion direction S of the contact element 1 is arranged. The outer diameter of the pipe jacket 21 is defined as diameter D1. The inner diameter of the ring element 30 is provided with a diameter D2, wherein the diameter D2 of the ring element 30 is formed smaller, such as the diameter D1 of the tube shell 21 , Preferably, the inner diameter D2 is formed only slightly smaller than the outer diameter D1 of the tube shell 21 , To increase the normal forces of the contact holder 3 to the socket contact 2 the diameter D2 can also be formed significantly reduced compared to the outer diameter D1, so that in the process of applying the contact holder 3 on the socket contact 2 a high temperature is necessary to the ring element 30 correspondingly widened from diameter D2 to a diameter greater than D1.

In the 2 is a bottom view of the contact element according to the invention 1 , according to 1 , shown. In the inner area is the middle contact cage section 23 shown, with the diameter D3, which can be widened when plugging with a corresponding mating connector.

At the upper edge there are retaining slats 25 around another cylindrical tube section, namely the cylindrical tube sleeve 22 bent back backwards and thus are firmly connected to the tube sleeve. The outer sections of the retaining slats 24 support themselves with their outer surface 26 on the inner wall surface 27 of the cylindrical tubular jacket 21 from. Between the contact blades 24 and the retaining slats 25 are essentially annular sections 28 , which as ring bridges 28 are formed. These ring bridges 28 are located at the top and bottom of the socket contact 2 , In this respect, the socket contact, both from the one, as well as from the other direction can be because it is on both sides of an opening 29 features. The opening 29 tapers to the middle contact cage section 23 increasingly by torsion of the contact cage 20 , as in 3 clearly visible. This is caused by a relative movement, thus a rotation of the upper ring land 28 opposite the lower ring land 28 to a defined angle.

This torsion becomes the middle contact cage section 23 formed, which can be formed with increased torsion either with a smaller diameter or weaker torsion with a larger diameter. The cylindrical tube sleeve 22 is in the cylindrical tube jacket 21 fitted and using the retaining slats 25 squeezed with this.

In 4 is the perspective view of a contact element according to the invention can be seen, in which the contact holder as a 90 ° outlet with a cable 4 connected is. Alternatively, of course, any other geometric connection angle or shape can be chosen. It is also possible to use a ring element 30 formed with stepped inner diameter D2, so that when expanding to a diameter, larger D1, at the same time a plurality of preferably parallel circumferential ring sections arise, with different inner diameter and upon cooling, the contact holder 3 in accordance with the outer diameter D1 optimally by means of the formed ring sections on the pipe material 21 can shrink and connect with a press fit.

Claims (8)

Electrical contact element ( 1 ) comprising a cylindrical socket contact ( 2 ) with a cylindrical tube jacket ( 21 ) and a contact holder ( 3 ) with a ring element ( 30 ), wherein the contact holder ( 3 ) with its ring element ( 30 ) on the pipe jacket ( 21 ) is positively and positively connected and wherein the ring element ( 30 ) as circumferentially closed, cylindrical ring element ( 30 ) is formed and on the pipe jacket ( 21 ) was shrunk thermally, such that a on the inner surface of the ring element ( 30 ) formed profiling in the pipe jacket ( 21 ) has impressed. Electrical contact element ( 1 ) according to claim 1, characterized in that the socket contact ( 2 ) via a contact cage ( 20 ) and has a cylindrical tube jacket ( 21 ), in which the contact cage ( 20 ) is introduced. Electrical contact element ( 1 ) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the inner wall section of the ring element ( 30 ) has a plurality of ring sections with different diameters, of which at least two smaller than the outer diameter D1 of the cylindrical tubular jacket ( 21 ) are formed. Electrical contact element ( 1 ) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the contact cage ( 20 ) is formed as a cylindrical hyperbolic contact cage, comprising a plurality of contact blades ( 24 ). Electrical contact element ( 1 ) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the socket contact ( 2 ) via two diametrically opposite insertion openings ( 29 ), by means of which the contact element ( 1 ) with a corresponding contact pin optionally with one of the two openings ( 29 ) can be associated. Electrical contact element ( 1 ) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the contact holder ( 3 ) via a connection section ( 31 ), which positively with the ring element ( 30 ) connected is. Electrical contact element ( 1 ) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cylindrical tube jacket ( 21 ) by means of retaining slats ( 24 ) with the contact cage ( 20 ) and a cylindrical tube sleeve surrounding the contact cage ( 22 ) connected is. Method for producing an electrical contact element ( 1 ) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by the following steps: a) forming a cylindrical socket contact ( 2 ) with a surrounding cylindrical tube jacket ( 21 ) with an outer diameter D1; b) choosing a contact holder ( 3 ) with a circumferentially closed ring element ( 30 ), which over has an inner diameter D2, which is smaller than the outer diameter D1 and on the inner shell profiling is provided; c) heating the contact holder ( 3 ) and thermal expansion of the ring element ( 30 ) until the ring element ( 30 ) over the pipe jacket ( 21 ) can be pushed; d) applying the thermally enlarged contact holder ( 3 ) on the cylindrical tube shell ( 21 ) in a suitable position; e) cooling the contact holder ( 3 ) for shrinking onto the pipe jacket ( 21 ), such that the profiling in the pipe jacket ( 21 ).

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