DE3940652A1 - Electrical plug contact - comprises two interlocking plugs each having contact pin and isolation coated socket - Google Patents

Abstract

The electrical plug contact comprises two identical plug members (1), each of which have a contact pin (3) incorporated in an isolating body (2), and a contact socket (4), also incorporated therein, which are provided for connection to an electrical conductor at their back ends. Their free front ends project over the base (5) of the isolating body. The contact socket is provided with an isolating coating (6) which extends past the free end of the socket. Due to the arrangement of the contact pin next to the coated socket, a relatively long air gap (10) and ledge (11) are achieved between the adjacent contacts (3,4). USE/ADVANTAGE - Especially used in underground work, mining. Simple to handle. Guarantees secure and reliable contact.

Description

The invention relates to an electrical connector, especially for use in underground mining operations, according to the note specified in the preamble of claim 1 to paint.

Plug connections of this type are available in numerous versions gene known. Such a connector is the Machaczek Elektrotechnik GmbH & Co. KG under the Be drawing "Connector System ME" offered. This plug connection, especially for underground use is conceived, on the one hand, consists of a plug part, which is usually fixed to the end of an electrical Line is connected, and on the other hand from a socket part that usually be on the device to be connected is consolidated. The plug part consists essentially of an insulating body made of neoprene pins are integrated, each with a Crimp connection or a solder connection with a conductor are connected to an electrical line and forward protrude from the body of the insulator. The whole  Plug part is protected by a stable metal housing. The socket part, on the other hand, also consists of one Neoprene existing insulating body, in the flush to the Pin arrangement of the connector part of the sockets are in relation to the front of the insulator are arranged slightly recessed and the back through a crimp or solder connection with the corresponding device-side conductors are connected. Also the socket part is embedded in a stable metal housing, which the elek hermetic plug-in connection when connected seals and protects from the outside.

Both the pins of the plug part and the sockets of the Socket parts are each seen in cross section in the same Spaced from each other. This distance is determined by the permissible creepage distance prescribed depending on the application or air gap between bare conductive parts adj determined contacts. The air gap becomes regular due to the clear distance between adjacent pin contacts Determined connector part. This often leads to the creepage distance extended that the contact sockets inside the sockets sometimes not flush with the face of the insulator complete, but are set back and the contact pins of the plug part not directly from the basic body by the insulating body to the front, but a truncated cone surrounding the respective contact pin have, which is part of the insulating body and the protrudes the main body.

Especially in underground mining exist because of Firedamp hazard strict safety regulations that specify that if with a connector z. B. different intrinsically safe circuits are connected, the clearances and creepage distances made of safety green about twice the value of the otherwise required distance need to have. This means that especially with Steckver  bindings that have multiple different intrinsically safe electricity Connect circles, from the assembled connector and Socket parts regularly have some contact pins and contact sockets removed and replaced by insulating blind elements must be maintained in order to maintain the required distances. In contrast, the distance between the contact pins or the contact sockets with regard to these safety-related increases Distances dimensioned, so are the plug connections immensely large and difficult to handle in practice.

Proceeding from this, the object of the invention is a generic electrical connector so out form that the creepage distances at the same contact distance are enlarged so that the aforementioned disadvantages ver be avoided. In a further development of the invention then also the air gaps with the same contact distance ver be extended.

This task is done with a generic electrical Plug connection with those in the characterizing part of the To solved 1 specified features.

Characterized in that at least one contact in each insulating body pin and at least one contact socket are integrated, which seen in the direction of insertion over the base of the Project insulating body and in that the socket in the area protruding over the base body with an isolie renden coat is provided, the creepage distance between the contact pin and the contact socket with the same contact distance compared to the creepage distance with two next to each other other arranged contact pins (prior art) around the Length of the insulating jacket, i.e. at least the length the contact socket extended.  

For the sake of completeness it should be mentioned that instead of the immediate insulation jacket of the free socket end also an insulating one, however arranged at a distance Sheathing the free end of the pin is conceivable. In practice However, such an embodiment has the disadvantage that because of of the limited space, the material thickness of the jacket tion must be made relatively small, which is significant disadvantages in terms of stability and robustness of such a plug-in part. Furthermore have Experiments have shown that the annular space between the contact pin and the casing relatively easily clogged, which makes this plug part unusable, so that the plug connection is no longer mergable. These disadvantages are in the insulating jacket of the free end of the Avoided socket, the insulating jacket is also by the Supported socket itself.

In an advantageous development of the invention, according to Claim 2 the insulating jacket of the contact socket is not only up to the free end of this socket, but over this pulled out so that not only the creepage distance, but also the air gap between the neighboring contacts (here contact pin and contact socket) significantly enlarged becomes. The contact socket advantageously projects above the base body the insulator not quite as far as the contact pin, so that the insulating jacket is quite a bit over that free end of the contact socket can protrude to in the to end in the same transverse plane as the contact pin ends. By extending the insulating jacket the air gap can be practically enlarged at the front be, the creepage distance is automatically ver enlarged.  

A particularly advantageous and especially in the manufacture The economical plug connection is due to the in An saying 3 marked arrangement given in which the Contact socket and the contact pin with respect to those in plug direction lying longitudinal median plane of the insulating body in the same distance are arranged opposite. A such an arrangement has the great advantage that the previous one Differentiation between plug part and socket part completely omitted and the same plug-in part on both sides of the Plug connection can be used. Every plug-in part is both a plug part and a socket part. The economy The advantages of such training are enormous only one plug-in part has to be manufactured and stored. So instead of the previously used to manufacture the insulation body only required two injection molds an injection mold is required.

The plug connection according to the invention is not only for plug connections for connecting two electrical conductors suitable, but can be achieved by using multiple contacts sockets and contact pins in an insulating body for prak any number of conductor connections can be laid out on the table. The prerequisite here is that each con clock pin next to a socket is so that the front grant partial extension of the air and creepage distances is achieved. With such an arrangement of several Kon clock pins and contact sockets within an insulating body is due to the casing of the bushings according to the invention the shortest air and creepage distance usually through determines the clear distance between the contact pins. This air and creepage distances can be advantageous development the invention can be extended in that the Isolierman tel arranged next to two adjacent contact pins Contact socket is designed so that the free air gap  between the two contact pins by this isolator tel is interrupted. This can be done from the outer circumference of the Insulating partition walls come off or what For reasons of stability, the insulation is usually cheaper the outer cross-section of the jacket is approximately triangular be trained.

Claim 5 characterizes an advantageous development of Invention, which is particularly useful when with an electrical connector without changing the ver wiring only by plugging different electrical Connections are to be made. With the described Point-symmetrical arrangement of the contact pairs can do this by turning one part of the plug-in accordingly bond with each other before plugging together respectively.

Claim 6 describes an optimized arrangement of the contact sockets and contacts on a circular cross-section the insulating body. Such an arrangement ensures predetermined creepage and / or clearance distance a maximum Number of contacts on a given circular cross cutting surface. A maximum occupancy is then reached albeit the center of this circular cross-sectional area occupied by a contact pin or a contact socket then, however, are the two parts of the connector trained differently. However, the focus remains of the circular cross-sectional area, the two can Parts of the line connection are identical, such as this is described with reference to claim 3.

A corresponding optimization in the arrangement of the contact sockets and contact pins with a right in cross section angular insulating body describes claim 7. Here lie the contact sockets and the contact pins in the cross section of the  Insulating body seen alternately on the corner point ten or cross points of a network formed by squares.

Especially in the symmetrical versions, where Socket part and plug part are identical, can a coding system is provided in the middle of the connector be a unique assignment of two to each other belonging plug-in parts guaranteed. Furthermore, this can cannot be used for contacting in the case of a symmetrical arrangement Middle of the connector for the passage of light waves ladders or the like are used.

The invention is based on in the figures illustrated embodiments explained in more detail. It demonstrate:

Figure 1 is a greatly simplified representation of a longitudinal section through an electrical connector according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a plan view of a plug part in the direction of arrow II of the connector shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 shows an example of occupancy of an insulating body with a circular cross section and

Fig. 4 is an example of occupancy of an insulating body with a rectangular cross section.

The connector shown in FIGS . 1 and 2 consists of two identical plug-in parts 1 , each having an insulating body 2 and incorporated therein a contact pin 3 and a contact socket 4 . The contact pin 3 and the contact socket 4 are provided in a manner known per se on the back for connection to an electrical conductor (not shown). The conductors are electrically connected to the contact pin 3 or the contact socket 4 by a solder or crimp connection.

Both the contact pin 3 and the contact socket 4 protrude in the plug-in direction II (towards the opposite plug part 1 ) seen from the base body 5 of the insulating body 2 in front, the contact socket 4 comprising an insulating jacket 6 on the circumference, which has the free End of the contact socket 4 protrudes. The insulating jacket 6 and the contact pin 3 end in the same transverse plane.

The contact pin 3 is surrounded in the lower region by a truncated cone-shaped insulation 7 , which connects seamlessly to the front end of the base body 5 and is formed in one piece with the insulating body 2 . The insulating jacket 6 also connects seamlessly to the insulating body 2 and is formed in one piece with the latter. The front part of the insulating jacket 6, the bush protrudes beyond 4 toward the front free end of the contact is designed so that the female contact 4 is engaged over the end face of the insulating jacket. 6 Otherwise, the insulating jacket 6 is formed in this area for receiving the frustoconical, the contact pin 3 near the base 5 surrounding insulation 7 .

The base body 5 , which is only partially shown in FIG. 1, is approximately cuboid in the embodiment shown in FIGS . 1 and 2 and, depending on the requirement, is possibly protected by a metal housing or the like, as is the case with known plug connections of this kind is common.

The plug-in part 1 , which is shown with reference to FIGS . 1 and 2, has two contacts 3 , 4 . The contact pin 3 is seen in cross section ( Fig. 2) with respect to the Längenmit telebene 8 at the same distance and opposite to the contact socket 4 , which ensures that the connector can be built from two identical plug parts 1 on. Depending on the number of lines to be connected with such a plug connection, virtually any number of such contact pairs, each consisting of a contact pin 3 and a contact socket 4 , which are arranged at the same distance and opposite to the longitudinal center plane 8 , can be provided. The symmetrical structure in pairs with respect to the longitudinal median plane guarantees identical plug-in parts 1 .

In order to obtain a different electrical connection with a plug connection without changing the wiring by simply repositioning the plug-in parts 1 , the paired contact arrangement is not formed symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal median plane 8 , but point-symmetrically with respect to that shown in FIG. 2 Cross-sectional center 9 of the insulating body. Then the two plug parts of a plug connection can be connected to each other in different angular positions.

Based on the illustrated in Fig. 1, right male part 1, the air path 10 and the creeping distance are Darge 11 illustrates that, as can be seen from the drawing, considerably longer than for comparable prior art connectors.

With reference to FIG. 3 an occupancy of a circular in cross section male part 1 a is shown in its Isolierkör by a 2 in the manner described three contact pins 3, and three coat insulated contact sockets 4 are incorporated. As shown in FIG. 3, the assignment is not only symmetrical with respect to the longitudinal center plane 8 a, but also point symmetrical with respect to the cross-sectional center 9 a. In order to further extend the air gap 10 a between two adjacent contact pins 3 , the insulating jackets 6 a of the contact sockets 4 are approximately three-cornered in cross section, so that the part of the insulating jacket 6 a directed toward the cross-sectional center point 9 a between two adjacent contact pins 3 protrudes and thereby extends the air gap 10 a between these two contacts 3 .

In the plug-in part 1 a, which is circular in cross section with the aid of FIG. 3, the contacts 3 , 4 lie on the corner points of an equilateral hexagon. This arrangement ensures the tightest possible contact arrangement for plug-in parts with a circular cross section. In the way of FIG. Allocation example shown in Figure 3 is cross-sectional center point 9 a no contact arranged to the symmetry of the plug to ensure part 1 a. It is understood that in order to exploit the highest possible contact density, a contact must also be provided in the cross-section center point 9 a, which, however, then requires a mother and a male plug part due to the lack of pairwise symmetry.

In Fig. 4 an embodiment is shown in which the plug-in part 1 b has a rectangular cross-section insulating body 2 b, but in contrast to that of FIGS. 1 and 2 has several contact pairs, which are arranged symmetrically in pairs to the longitudinal center plane 8 b are, so that two identical plug-in parts 1 b can also be used in this arrangement for a plug connection.

List of reference symbols

1 plug-in part
1 a plug-in part Fig. 3
1 b plug-in part Fig. 4
2 insulating bodies
2 a Fig. 3
2 b Fig. 4
3 contact pin
4 contact socket
5 basic bodies
6 insulating jacket
6 a insulating jacket Fig. 3
7 insulation (truncated cone)
8 longitudinal median plane
8 a longitudinal median plane Fig. 3
8 b longitudinal median plane Fig. 4
9 cross-sectional center point Fig. 3
9 a cross-sectional center point Fig. 3
10 air gap
10 a air gap Fig. 3
11 creepage distance

Claims (7)

1. Electrical connector, in particular for use in underground mining operations, consisting of an insulating body ( 2 ) with at least one contact pin incorporated therein ( 3 ) and an insulating body ( 2 ) with at least one contact socket ( 4 ) incorporated therein, the contact pin ( 3 ) and the contact socket ( 4 ) are each provided for connection to an electrical conductor and the contact pin ( 3 ) for electrical connection in the contact socket ( 4 ) can be inserted, characterized in that in each insulating body ( 2 ) at least one contact pin (3) and at least one female contact (4) are incorporated, said pin (3) and bush (4) direction in the plug (II) projecting the insulating body (2) on the base body (5) and the contact sleeve in the over the base body ( 5 ) projecting area is provided with an insulating jacket ( 6 ). 2. A plug connection according to claim 1, characterized in that the insulating jacket (6) projects, the contact bush (4) over the free end of the sleeve (4) addition. 3. Plug connection according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the contact socket ( 4 ) and the contact pin ( 3 ) with respect to the longitudinal median plane ( 8 ) of the insulating body ( 2 ) in the same direction Distance and opposite are arranged. 4. Plug connection according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that a plurality of con tact pins ( 3 ) and contact sockets ( 4 ) are incorporated in the insulating body ( 2 ), such that each pin ( 3 ) next to a socket ( 4 ) and vice versa. 5. Plug connection according to claim 4, characterized in that each contact pin ( 3 ) is assigned a contact socket ( 4 ) within the same insulating body ( 2 ), and these contact pairs (pin, socket) are arranged point-symmetrically with respect to the cross-sectional center ( 9 ) . 6. Plug connection according to one of claims 1 to 5, with circular in cross-section insulating bodies, characterized in that the contact sockets ( 4 ) and the contact pins ( 3 ) in cross section of the insulating body ( 2 a) each seen on the corner points or cross points of a through equilateral hexagons formed network ( Fig. 3). 7. Plug connection according to one of claims 1 to 5, with a rectangular cross section insulating body, characterized in that the contact sockets ( 4 ) and the contact pins ( 3 ) in cross section of the insulating body ( 2 b) seen on the corner points or cross points of a by squares formed network lie ( Fig. 4).