EP0399628B1 - Terminal block with surcharge protection - Google Patents

Abstract

A connector bank with two rows of insulation displacement contacts for connecting insulated conductors, in particular of cables for telecommunication and data systems, comprising a surge arrester magazine to be inserted into the connector bank. In order to provide a connector bank having a voltage surge protection and allowing connecting and disconnecting as well as testing the attached cable conductors at the insulation displacement contacts even with inserted voltage surge protection, the two rows of insulation displacement contacts are arranged on different sides of the connector bank. An insulation displacement contact of the first row is connected over a connecting element with an insulation displacement contact of the second row. The surge arrester magazine is arranged laterally approximately centrally between the two rows of insulation displacement contacts.

Description

The invention relates to a terminal block with two rows of insulation displacement contacts for connecting insulated cable cores according to the preamble of claim 1.

From DE-B-2201 504 a terminal block with two rows of connection elements is known. Both rows are located on the top of the terminal block. A surge arrester magazine is arranged between the rows. It is disadvantageous that this construction takes up a considerable amount of space when the connection strips are arranged close together, since the connection strip is very wide overall.

From FR-A-2529 393 a terminal block with two rows of insulation displacement contacts is known, the insulation displacement contacts being accessible only from one side. The surge arrester magazine is plugged on the opposite side and significantly increases the overall height of this arrangement.

Another terminal block of this type is previously known from DE-C-2811 812. In this terminal block, two parallel rows of insulation displacement contacts are provided, which are used to connect insulated cable wires. To protect against overvoltages of these cable cores, an overvoltage arrester magazine can be inserted into this terminal block from above. Contact tongues arranged on the surge arrester magazine are connected to the insulation displacement contacts. The contact tongues are with those in the housing of the surge arrester magazine arranged surge arresters connected. A disadvantage of this terminal block is that the insulation displacement contacts are completely covered by the surge arrester magazine and are therefore no longer accessible. Removing the connected cable wires or connecting free contact elements is only possible after pulling out the surge arrester magazine. In addition, functional tests of the connected cable cores using test plugs can only be carried out after pulling out the surge arrester magazine. Another disadvantage is that such an arrangement, due to its structural height, requires a correspondingly large housing for the installation of terminal strips equipped with surge arresters.

From DE-A-35 09 523 a further terminal strip with two rows of insulation displacement contacts and a surge arrester magazine which can be connected to the terminal strip is known. Here, too, a number of insulation displacement contacts are completely covered by the magazine, so that the cable wires connected there are not accessible.

The invention is therefore based on the object to provide a terminal block with overvoltage protection, which allows switching on and off and checking and testing the connected cable wires on the insulation displacement contacts even when overvoltage protection is used, the structural dimensions of the terminal block should be designed so that the terminal block can also be used in flat housing bodies.

The solution to this problem results from the characterizing features of claim 1. The terminal block is designed such that the two rows of insulation displacement contacts are arranged on different sides of the terminal block and that the surge arrester magazine laterally approximately in the middle between the two rows of cutting -Klemm contacts is arranged. This results in an advantageous, very space-saving arrangement. The insulation displacement contacts of both rows are freely accessible even after the surge arrester magazine has been plugged in, so that the cable wires connected there can be switched on and off. It is also possible to test and test the line connection using test equipment.

Further advantageous embodiments of the invention result from the subclaims. Here in particular referred to the advantageous arrangement of the chamber according to claim 11, by which a casting of the cable wires connected to the lower row of insulation displacement contacts is possible.

From DE-A-29 43 578 a terminal block with opposite rows of contacts is known, but no surge protection is provided here.

The invention is explained in more detail below using three exemplary embodiments of terminal strips.

Fig. 1

einen Querschnitt der Anschlußleiste in einem ersten Ausführungsbeispiel,

Fig. 2

einen Querschnitt der Anschlußleiste mit einem Trennkontakt in einem zweiten Ausführungsbeispiel,

Fig. 3

einen Querschnitt der Anschlußleiste in einem dritten Ausführungsbeispiel,

Fig. 4

die Draufsicht auf die Anschlußleiste,

Fig. 5

einen Querschnitt gemäß der Linie V-V in Fig. 4,

Fig. 6

einen Schnitt gemäß der Linie VI-VI in Fig. 4 mit einem Schwenkhaken,

Fig. 7

einen Schnitt gemäß der Linie VI-VI mit gedrehtem Schwenkhaken.

Show it:

Fig. 1

2 shows a cross section of the terminal block in a first exemplary embodiment,

Fig. 2

3 shows a cross section of the terminal block with an isolating contact in a second exemplary embodiment,

Fig. 3

3 shows a cross section of the terminal block in a third exemplary embodiment,

Fig. 4

the top view of the terminal block,

Fig. 5

3 shows a cross section along the line VV in FIG. 4,

Fig. 6

3 shows a section along the line VI-VI in FIG. 4 with a swivel hook,

Fig. 7

a section along the line VI-VI with rotated swivel hook.

The terminal block 1 shown in the figures consists of a strip body made of plastic, an upper part 28 and a lower part 29. A surge arrester magazine 10 which can be inserted from above is arranged on the side of the terminal block 1. In the terminal block 1 insulation displacement contacts 4 are mounted, which are provided for connecting insulated cable wires, not shown, or paper-insulated cable wires. The insulation displacement contacts 4 consist in a known manner of a metallic material and are provided with a contact slot 30, into which an insulated cable core is pressed by means of a tool, not shown. When the cable core is pressed into the contact slot 30, the insulation of the cable core is cut through and a contact connection is established between the conductive core of the cable core and the insulation displacement contact. Several insulation displacement contacts 4 are arranged one behind the other in a first row 12. The side-by-side insulation displacement contacts 4 are separated from one another by clamping webs 31, as shown in FIG. 4. For this first row 12 of insulation displacement contacts 4, a second row 13 of insulation displacement contacts 4 is arranged on the opposite side. As shown in FIG. 1, the first row 12 of insulation displacement contacts 4 is arranged on the upper side 14 and the second row 13 of insulation displacement contacts 4 on the underside 15 of the terminal strip 1.

Each insulation displacement contact 4 of the first row 12 is connected to an insulation displacement contact 4 of the second row 13 via a connecting element 3, whereby the cable wires connected to these insulation displacement contacts 4 are also connected to one another.

In the second embodiment, which is shown in Fig. 2, the connecting element 3 is formed in two parts. The connecting element 3 here has two abutting contact springs 6, 7, which form a separation point 8. The terminal block 1 is thus designed as a separating strip 2. The contact spring 7 of the connecting element 3 is connected to the insulation displacement contact 4 of the second row, the contact end 32 of the contact spring 7 being inserted into a slot 9 in the terminal strip 1 and thus being held immovably. The contact spring 6 is formed with the insulation displacement contact 4 of the first row 12 as a one-piece U-shaped isolating contact 45, the contact spring 6 resiliently abutting the contact spring 7 and forming a disconnection point 8. Aligned with this separation point 8, an opening 33 is formed in the terminal strip 1, through which an unillustrated plug can be inserted between the contact springs 6, 7 for testing or disconnection.

In the third embodiment, the insulation displacement contact 4 of the second row 13 is bent to the front 16 of the terminal block 1 by 90 °, so that the wiring of the cable wires from the front 16 is possible. Such a connector 1 is used in particular where the connector 1 is attached to a flat surface or where the underside 15 of the connector 1 is not accessible.

In the connection strips 1 of all three exemplary embodiments, a receiving chamber 35 for the surge arrester magazine 10 is formed on the side of a housing side 34. This receiving chamber 35 is provided with a receiving groove 27, which runs parallel to the first row 12 of insulation displacement contacts 4 and into which the surge arrester magazine 10 is inserted.

For this purpose, the surge arrester magazine 10 has two lugs 36 which protrude from the front ends. The lower side 37 of the surge arrester magazine 10 lies on the housing bottom 38 of the receiving chambers 35.

The surge arrester magazine 10 contains a plurality of surge arresters 20, which are arranged in two parallel rows. Each surge arrester 20 is assigned to a pair of insulation displacement contacts 4 on the top and bottom sides 14, 15. The electrical connection to the insulation displacement contacts 4 takes place via contact tongues 11, which are mounted in the surge arrester magazine 10 and are S-shaped. One end 22 of the S-shaped contact tongue 11 serves as a contact surface 19 for one pole side 24 of the surge arrester 20. The other end of the S-shaped contact tongue 11 protrudes from the housing 18 of the surge arrester magazine 10 and is between a clamping contact 5 and the connecting element 3 inserted. The clamping contact 5 is hook-shaped and formed with the connecting element 3 as a one-piece element. Between the contact surface 19 of the contact tongue 11 and the first pole side 24 of the surge arrester 20, a clamping spring 23 is arranged, which presses the surge arrester 20 with the second pole side 25 against an earth plate 26, 26a. The earth plate 26, 26a is designed as a U-shaped metal bracket and, as is particularly shown in FIG. 4, consists of two partial plates which are pushed onto the surge arrester magazine 10 from the front side. On the end faces of the earth plate 26, 26a sheet flaps 39 are bent, which are connected to an earth connection, not shown. The side walls 44 of the earth plate 26, 26a are bent, whereby the earth plate 26, 26a is held on the housing 18 of the surge arrester magazine 10. In the event of an overvoltage the overvoltage, which flows through the contact tongue 11 through the surge arrester 20, is derived via the earth plate 26, 26a and the earth connection.

To pull out the surge arrester magazine 10 from the terminal block 1, there are laterally receiving slots 40 into which a lever 41, which is shown in particular in FIGS. 6 and 7, is received. This lever 41 has a hook 43 which is inserted under the surge arrester magazine 10. By rotating the lever 41 about a pivot point 42, the surge arrester magazine 10 can thus be released upward. The contact connection between the clamping contacts 5 and the contact tongues 11 is thereby released.

The terminal block 1 can be installed in particular in a terminal block (not shown) or in an end closure. The terminal block 1 is fastened to a frame or on a mounting plate by screws which are received in the lateral slots 47 of the terminal block 1. Up to twenty connection strips 1 can be arranged within a terminal block.

Claims (11)

1. A terminal block comprising two lines of insulation displacement contacts for the termination of insulated cable wires, in particular of cables for the telecommunication and data technique, comprising a surge arrester magazine to be inserted into the terminal block and a connection element between two insulation displacement contact of two lines, characterised by that the two lines (12, 13) of insulation displacement contacts (4) on the bottom and top sides (14, 15) or on the top and front sides (14, 16) are located on different sides of the terminal block (1) and that the surge arrester magazine (10) is located laterally approximately centrally between the two lines (12, 13) of insulation displacement contacts (4).
2. A terminal block according to claim 1, characterised by that each connection element (3) is provided with a clamping contact (5) and that contact tongues (11) of the surge arrester magazine (10) can be inserted into the clamping contacts (5), the surge arrester magazine being held laterally at the terminal block (1).
3. A terminal block according to claim 1, characterised by that the connection element (3) is adapted as a two-piece element with abutting contact springs (6, 7) forming a disconnect position (8).
4. A terminal block according to claim 1, characterised by that the insulation displacement contacts (4) of the first line (12) are located at the top side (14) and the insulation displacement contacts (4) of the second line (13) are located at the bottom side (15) of the terminal block (1).
5. A terminal block according to claim 1, characterised by that the insulation displacement contacts (4) of the first line (12) are located at the top side (14) and the insulation displacement contacts (4) of the second line (13) are located at the front side (16) of the terminal block (1).
6. A terminal block according to claim 1, characterised by that the one end (21) of each contact tongue (11) projects from the housing (18) of the surge arrester magazine (10) for contacting the terminal block (1) and the other end is adapted as a contact face (19) for contacting a surge arrester (20).
7. A terminal block according to claim 1, characterised by that between the contact face (19) of each contact tongue (11) and the first pole side (24) of the surge arrester (20) is disposed a clamping spring (23).
8. A terminal block according to claims 1 and 7, characterised by that at the second pole side (25) of each contact tongue (11) is disposed an earth plate (26) being secured by bent-off side walls (40).
9. A terminal block according to claim 1, characterised by that at the connection element (3) is disposed a spring contact (17) as a tapping portion.
10. A terminal block according to claim 1, characterised by that in the terminal block (1), in parallel to the two lines (12, 13) of insulation displacement contacts (4), is provided a reception groove (27) for holding the surge arrester magazine (10).
11. A terminal block according to claim 1, characterised by that at the bottom side (15) of the terminal block (1) is provided a chamber (46) for potting the cable wires terminated at the second line (13) of insulation displacement contacts (4).

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