EP0247360A1 - Slotted connection arrangement for an electrical wire and relative connection-tool tip - Google Patents

Abstract

A stripping and retaining rectilinear slot connection arrangement, and a tool tip (6) for connecting the wires (2) to such arrangements. The stripping and retaining slot is logitudinal. - ment formed along a profiled portion (31, 32, 33) of a conductive part (3) having a cross section corresponding to a U, the free ends of which are folded towards each other and form between them a space corresponding to the slot width, this profiled part is intended to serve as a guide for a connection tool tip (6). The end piece comprises a core (60) the shape of which is complementary to the cavity of the profiled part in which it slides. The end piece slides parallel to and on either side of each of the folds (31) which border the slot in the profiled part, it enters the housing through a hole (51), having a profile complementary to its own, which serves to guide it.

Description

The present invention relates to a connection arrangement with stripping and wire retention slot for one or more electric wires and a tool tip intended to ensure the connection of the wires in such arrangements.

This slotted connection arrangement is designed to allow the connection of electrical wires to electrical equipment by means of fixed or portable devices giving greater regularity of connection than manual tools, of the thin rod or screwdriver blade type, provided up to 'here for this purpose, while retaining the possibility of using a simple manual tool for any troubleshooting on installed equipment.

The proposed connection arrangement comprises a conductive connection piece with a straight stripping and holding slot for the cores of the wires, this conductive piece is immobilized in a housing of an insulating housing, the latter having an opening, which extends opposite the stripping and retaining slot, to allow the insertion of the wires above the stripping mouth which the slot comprises and the immobilization of the insulating sheaths of the wires whose core is retained in said slot.

According to a characteristic of the invention, the slot is longitudinally formed along a profiled part of the conductive part which has, at this level, a hollow polygonal cross section allowing guiding in translation along the slot of a nozzle. of an external tool which is designed to slide both on either side and between the edges of the slot, so as to drive the wires into this slot, in a transverse position relative to it, and which comes to bear by a guide core in the internal cavity of the profiled part, said endpiece being guided in translation, towards the cavity and from outside the housing, by the edges of a hole made in said insulating housing for this purpose.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the tip of a mechanical or manual tool, necessary for the connection of a wire in the connection arrangement according to the invention, comprises a core straight guide profile transversely profiled to slide simultaneously through the conductive connection slot at the level of grooves which it comprises and in the internal cavity of this part where it is guided.

• La figure 1 présente un exemple d'équipement électrique doté de deux agencements de connexion selon l'invention et associé à deux outils de connexion selon l'invention pour le raccordement de fils électriques montrés l'un avant insertion l'autre en cours de connexion.
• La figure 2 présente un exemple de pièce conductrice de connexion pour agencement, selon l'invention.
• La figure 3 présente une coupe transversale selon III-III d'un embout d'outil de connexion.
• La figure 4 présente une vue de côté de l'équipement présenté figure 1.
• La figure 5 présente une demi-vue en coupe selon V~V de l'équipement présenté figure 4.
• Les figures 6 et 7 présentent une vue de dessus et une coupe selon VII-VII de la partie d'équipement présentée figure 5.
• La figure 8 présente une variante de la partie d'équipement présentée figure 4.
• Les figures 9 à 12 présentent des vues analogues à celles des figures 3, 5, 6 et 7 pour une variante de réalisation de l'embout d'outil de connexion et de l'équipement correspondant.

The invention, its characteristics and its advantages are explained in the following description, in conjunction with the figures listed below.

• FIG. 1 shows an example of electrical equipment provided with two connection arrangements according to the invention and associated with two connection tools according to the invention for the connection of electric wires shown one before insertion the other during connection .
• FIG. 2 shows an example of a conductive connection piece for an arrangement, according to the invention.
• Figure 3 shows a cross section along III-III of a connection tool tip.
• Figure 4 shows a side view of the equipment shown in Figure 1.
• FIG. 5 presents a half-view in section along V ~ V of the equipment presented in FIG. 4.
• Figures 6 and 7 show a top view and a section along VII-VII of the part of equipment presented in Figure 5.
• FIG. 8 presents a variant of the part of equipment presented in FIG. 4.
• Figures 9 to 12 show views similar to those of Figures 3, 5, 6 and 7 for an alternative embodiment of the connection tool tip and the corresponding equipment.

The slot connection arrangement according to the invention is intended to be integrated into electrical equipment 1 to ensure the connection of one or more electrical wires 2 in parallel to this equipment, which, in the nonlimiting example presented in FIG. 1, is provided with two slot connection arrangements, the essential internal elements of which are mainly drawn in dotted lines.

Each connection arrangement comprises a conductive connection piece 3 capable of receiving at least one and preferably several electrical wires 2 in parallel.

In the example proposed, the two conductive parts 3 of the equipment 1 are capable of being electrically connected via a contactor member 4, conventional which will not be described further since it does not has only an optional and indirect relationship with the invention.

The conductive parts 3 are conventionally immobilized in housings provided for this purpose in the insulating housing 5 of the equipment 1, which is for example constituted by assembling two complementary half-shells made integral by ultrasonic welding after introduction of the internal organs that they must contain.

This assembly of half-shells is carried out for example with the median longitudinal plane of the housing 5 as a joint plane, the trace of which also shares the views of FIGS. 4, 6, 7 and 8.

Each conductive piece 3 - Figure 2 - has a slot 30 for stripping and retaining the cores of wire, which is here rectilinear as seen in Figures 2 and 4. This slot is longitudinally formed along a shaped part profile of the part 3, which is here obtained, for example from a flat blank, by stamping resulting in its cutting, its folding and possibly localized thinning.

The profiled part of the part 3 preferably has a hollow polygonal cross section which here corresponds to a U whose free ends have been obliquely and also folded towards one another, as seen in FIGS. 2 and 7.

The profiled part thus obtained comprises two end folds 31 corresponding to the obliquely free and also folded ends mentioned above, these two folds border the slot 30 which they delimit, they are optionally gradually thinned towards this slot 30.

The two parallel walls 32 of the profiled part of the conductive part 3, which each carry a fold 31, ensure the immobilization of this part 3 in its housing, together with the bottom wall 33 from which they originate and with which they are perpendicular; this immobilization is carried out by the known means already mentioned briefly above.

The stripped mouth 34 of the conductive part is formed at one end of the slot 30; it is also conceivable to provide profiled parts whose stripping slot would be provided with a stripping mouth at each end to form a connection arrangement with two inputs.

In the example proposed, the only stripped mouth provided is obtained by symmetrical oblique cutting of the pleats 31 at one of their ends, which is the upper end of the profiled part in FIGS. 1, 4, 5 and 8. This oblique cutting provides a flared mouth; the subsequent folding of the folds 31, with respect to the walls 32 which carry them respectively, creates an upper edge 35 sufficient to start the sheath of the wires 2 pushed into this mouth.

The parallel walls 32, the bottom wall 33 and the folds 31 delimit a cavity 36 which is arranged to open out through a hole 51 formed in the housing 5, here at the top of the latter - Figures 5 and 6 -.

The hole 51 here has a cross section, or profile, in T, the part of the hole 51 'corresponding to the vertical bar of the T - which is horizontal in Figure 6 - having the same width as the cavity 36 in the extension of which it is placed.

The hole 51, which is slightly flared at its upper edge here giving access to the outside, is designed to allow the introduction of an external connection tool tip 6, independent, intended to ensure the insertion of electric wires in the slot 30 of the connection arrangement 3 and of any identical or compatible connection arrangement.

The tool endpiece 6 has for this purpose a guide core 60 - (Figures 1, 2 and 3) - rectilinear whose cross section has a shape complementary to that of the cavity 36 in which it is intended to come to cycle after have been guided towards it by the part of the hole 51 located in the extension of this cavity.

The guide core 60 is bordered laterally by a longitudinal bulge 61 to which it is connected by a rigid web 62. The web 62 has a thickness slightly less than the width of the slot 30 through which it has just inserted, when the end piece is inserted into the housing 3, the guide core 60 then ensuring correct positioning of the web 62 relative to the slot 30.

The bulge 61 slides along and outside the folds 31, as shown in FIG. 3 where the conductive part 3 has been shown in dotted lines.

The core 60, the bulge 61 and the veil 62 terminate the tool tip 6 at the same level so as to form a support zone intended to be applied to the sheath of the electrical wires to be connected.

In the embodiment chosen, the cross section of the endpiece in the shape of a T made up of two adjoining rectangular elements whose longitudinal axes are perpendicular, the core 60 corresponding to one of these two elements while the bulge 61 corresponds to the other, the veil being obtained by symmetrical oblique grooving on either side of the core and in the bulge. Each groove 63 bordering the veil, runs longitudinally along the end piece from the support zone and allows the introduction of this end piece so that the veil 62 is inserted into the slot 30 and that the folds 31 are inserted in the grooves 63.

In the embodiment chosen, the hole 51 has a cross section in T which corresponds precisely to that of the end piece so as to guide the latter, both towards the part 3 and in its sliding along this part 3.

Of course, the tool tip 6, here mounted at the end of a cylindrical rod, is capable of being adapted to different fixed or portable mechanical devices for mounting in the factory or on site, it can also be provided on a hand tool, you just have to mount it at the end of a handle.

Of course in the case of a mechanical tool, the rod is moved mechanically, hydraulically or pneumatically in a tool body which preferably is made temporarily secured to the equipment 1 comprising the connection arrangement concerned, if not of this arrangement itself, by any known means.

The introduction of an electrical wire to be connected is effected via an opening which opens opposite the slot 30 in an external wall 50 of the housing 5, this opening is intended to allow the introduction of '' an electric wire 2 above the mouthpiece stripping 34 (FIG. 4) and it has a cylindrical orifice 52, through which it is possible to axially insert a wire until it comes into abutment on the bottom wall 33 of the conducting part 3.

The orifice 52 is slit at its lower part so as to open at the top of a rectilinear lumen 53, from the abovementioned opening, which extends in line with the slot 30.

This rectilinear light 53 is intended to ensure the retention of the sheaths of the connected wires, it therefore has a width slightly less than the diameter of the smallest of the sheaths provided, just as the slot 30 has a width slightly less than the diameter of the smallest souls planned for the sons.

In the embodiment presented, two auxiliary lights 54 laterally border the rectilinear light 53, so as to allow the deformation of the zones of the housing, which ensure the jamming of the wire sheaths, when these sheaths are inserted, without this causing the external shapes of the housing 5 are modified, which is particularly important in the case of contiguous housings.

In an alternative embodiment presented in FIG. 8, in which the elements identical or similar to those presented in FIG. 4 bear the same numerical references assigned a prime sign, the auxiliary lights 54 'are separated from the rectilinear light 53' by walls 55 'thinner, from the opening 52' of wire insertion to below the level of the stripping mouth 34 ', than for the parts which continue, from this level towards the bottom of the lights, so as to reduce the effort of displacement of the sheath of a wire in the rectilinear lumen 53 'during the cutting of this sheath by the stripped mouth 34'.

The connection of an electric wire 2 is carried out according to a process according to which an end of this wire, not stripped, is threaded axially through the orifice 52 provided for this purpose in the housing 5 (FIG. 5). When the wire 2 abuts against the bottom wall 33 of the conductive part 3, the tip of a tool 6 is introduced into the hole 51 which guides it.

The tip end bears on the wire 2 which is transversely pushed towards the stripped mouth of the conductive part 3; this mouthpiece drives the sheath 20 of the wire 2, the core 21 of which is inserted into the slot between the edges of the folds 31.

The length of the tool tip 6 allows the insertion of a first wire 2 at the bottom of the slot, such as the wire referenced 2A presented in dotted lines in FIG. 5.

When driving a wire 2 transversely to the slot under the action of the end piece, the sheath 20 of this wire is entrained in the rectilinear lumen 53 (or 53 ′) and the wire is held at the end of depression by the light 53 at its sheath, and by the slot 30, at its soul.

It is also planned, in a variant not shown, to endow the tool endpiece 6 with a pushing element coming at the level of the bearing end of this endpiece outside the housing 5, to simultaneously press on inside and outside the housing on the sheath of a wire during connection.

After immobilizing a wire, the tool endpiece has emerged from the housing 5, entirely in the event of connection of a single wire, or possibly partially at the hole inlet 51 if one wants to connect one or more other wires. in the same conductive part slot 3.

FIGS. 8 to 11 propose an alternative embodiment intended to allow the use of a tool whose tip 6 "has a symmetrical transverse profile, as can be seen in FIG. 12, in order to avoid having to turn the tool 180 ° when successively connecting wires to conductive parts mounted back to back as shown in Figure 1 for conductive parts 3.

The guide core 60 "of the tool tip 6", shown in FIGS. 9 and 12, is symmetrically grooved as was the core 60 so that it can slide between the folds 31 "delimiting the slot d 'a connecting piece such as 3 ".

The guide of the tool tip 6 "for the insertion of a wire 2" in a connection piece such as 3 "-figure 9- is ensured by one or the other of two half-cores 60 "symmetrical intended alternately one to penetrate into the hollow polygonal cross section of the conductive part 3 along its stripping and wire holding slot, the other to slide outside of this slot, in the housing insulator 5 "which contains said conductive part 3".

In the exemplary embodiment, the tool tip is constituted by a body of rectangular parallelepiped shape looking centered on the median longitudinal axis of the tip 6 "in the thickness and on either side of which the 63 "grooves.

The equipment 1 "which is for example a terminal block, comprises at least one pair of conductive parts 3" with a slot of which only one is shown; these parts are mounted back to back and connected together, here for a common 4 "bar, the assembly is housed in an insulating box 5" allowing on the one hand the introduction of electrical wires to be connected, on the other hand l introduction of a 6 "tool tip.

The connection pieces 3 "and the insulating housing 5" differ essentially from those presented above by the smaller size of said connection pieces and by the shape of the tool introduction opening. The latter is here in the form of a hole of rectangular section intended to lead the tool endpiece to a precise position, predetermined with respect to the connection piece 3 'that this hole overhangs.

The connection of a wire is carried out according to the same process as that already mentioned above.

Claims (8)

1 / Slot connection arrangement, for at least one electric wire (2), comprising a conductive connection piece (3), with a straight stripping and retaining slot (30) for the cores (20) of the wires, which is immobilized in a housing of an insulating housing (5) itself provided with an opening (52, 53) which extends opposite the stripping and retaining slot to allow the introduction of the wires transversely above of the stripped mouth (34) that this slot comprises and the immobilization of the insulating sheaths of the wires whose core is retained in said slot, said arrangement being characterized in that the slot (30) is longitudinally formed along a profile-shaped part (31, 32, 33) of the conductive part which has, at this level, a hollow polygonal cross section allowing guiding in translation along the slot of an external tool tip (6) provided to slide both on both sides and between the folds (31) delimiting the edges of the f ente, so as to push the wires (2) into this slot in a transverse position relative to it, while being guided in the internal cavity (36) of the profiled part, said tool end being guided in translation from the outside of the insulating housing towards said cavity by the edges of a hole (51) formed in said insulating housing for this purpose. 2 / connection arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that the profiled part (31, 32, 33) of the conductive part where the tool tip (6) penetrates has a cross section corresponding to a U whose ends free were obliquely and also folded towards each other so as to provide between them a space corresponding to the width of the slot (30) and to precisely position a guide core (60) of complementary shape, the end piece (6) when driving a wire. 3 / connection arrangement according to claim 2, characterized in that the hole (51) formed in the insulating housing (5) for guiding the end piece has a cross section in T, the part of the hole corresponding to the vertical bar of the T positioned in the extension of the cavity (36) of which it has the width, so as to guide the core (60) of the end piece during its penetration, the part of the hole corresponding to the horizontal bar of the T freeing access to the external walls of the two folds (31) of the profiled part which border the slot (30), in favor of said end piece. 4 / connection arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the opening (52 ', 53') for introducing the wires and retaining the insulating sheaths (20), which is formed in the insulating housing f5 ') and which comprises a rectilinear lumen (53) for retaining the sheath, in line with the stripping and retaining slot (30 '), surmounted by an orifice (52') for introducing a wire (2) at the level of the stripping mouth (34 ') of said slot, is provided with two auxiliary lights (54') bordering the rectilinear light on either side to allow the deformation of the zones of the housing between lights without deformation of this housing, at connection, characterized in that the wall (55 ') located between an auxiliary lumen and the rectilinear lumen, is thinner in its current part from the wire insertion orifice to the underside of the mouth, than in the part which continues towards the bottom of the lights, so as to reduce the effort of moving the sheath of a wire in the recessed light during the cutting of this sheath by the stripped mouth of the slot. 5 / End piece of connection tool, mechanical or manual, for connecting electrical wires to connection arrangements according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a profiled rectilinear guide core (60) transversely to come - slide simultaneously through the slot (30) of a conductive connecting piece (3) at the level of grooves (63) that this core has and in the internal cavity (36) of the piece (3) where it is guided. 6 / end piece of connection tool according to claim 5 characterized in that the rectilinear guide core (60), having a cross-dirty section whose shape is complementary to that of an internal cavity (36) of profiled part (31, 32, 33) of connection arrangement, is bordered laterally by a longitudinal bulge (61) to which it is connected by a rigid web (62) whose thickness is less than the width of the slot (30) of so as to allow the insertion of the end piece (6) into the conductive part (3) by sliding the core in the cavity and the bulge outside the slit through which the veil slides, the free end of said end piece, that is to say of the bulge, the veil and the core, pressing on the wire to be connected. 7 / A connection tool tip according to claim 6, characterized in that the rectilinear guide core comprises two rectilinear guide parts (60 ") arranged symmetrically on either side of the plane defined by the grooves (63") . 8 / end piece of connection tool according to claim 6 characterized in that it is constituted by a profiled element with T cross section whose part corresponding to the vertical bar of the T constitutes the guide core (60), along and on either side of which two longitudinal grooves (63) are provided to delimit the web (62) at the level corresponding to the junction of the horizontal bar and the vertical bar of the T.

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