EP0419766B1 - Electrical plug connector - Google Patents

Abstract

With an electrical plug connector for coupling an electrical cable (2, 2b) consisting of several wires (3), in particular a telephone cord, having a first housing part (4.24,42), which has electrical contacts (5) and makes contact with the individual wires (3) lying side-by-side, and having a further housing part (6, 29), which holds the connecting lead such that it is protected against tension, it is intended to facilitate simple assembly, in particular separation of the cable wires by simple means, while maintaining adequate tension protection and at the same time matching to different installation situations. This is achieved in that the plug connector (1) is fitted in the region of the latching element (7, 7a) with a cable wire separating element (16 and 26, 26b). <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to an electrical connector of the type specified in the preamble of claim 1.

There is an abundance of electrical connectors, especially for telephone cables. Such connectors are adapted to the prevailing or planned conditions in the networks. So there is a development towards using electrical connectors as described in DE-C-24 32 122.

An electrical plug-in connection also introduced in the Federal Republic of Germany is shown in DE-A-37 06 604, which shows a plug which is known in the technical field as a TAE plug, namely as a telecommunication connection unit.

In particular, the connector according to DE-C-24 32 122 not only has handling disadvantages because it is very small, it is in particular also not adequately secured against tension. There is a provision that such connectors must withstand a 30N pull. Also, such a plug cannot always be arranged in the necessary installation situations. He can, once with one Provide cables, also not be adapted at any time with another system.

Electrical connectors or plugs are also known in further embodiments. For example from DE-U-85 165 542, DE-A-38 33 120 and DE-A-38 39 728, the connector according to the last-mentioned literature reference also consisting of two elements which can be connected to one another via locking cams with locking and unlocking locking elements.

A common problem of all known solutions is that a large number of very fine cable cores are often present in different numbers on site, i.e. must be equipped at the construction site with an appropriate connector, which is sometimes very difficult with the known solutions, and in addition the connection must be such that it also meets the mechanical stresses that occur on site.

The object of the invention is therefore to provide a solution with which simple maintenance, in particular cable core separation, is possible with simple means while maintaining adequate train protection, with simultaneous adaptation to different installation situations.

This object is achieved according to the invention in that in the electrical connector of the type specified in the preamble of claim 1, this connector is equipped with a cable separating element according to the designation of the same claim.

Advantageous developments of the subject matter of claim 1 can be found in the subclaims.

Among other things, the invention provides that the separating rail is assigned a deflection contact surface for deflecting the cable cores by 90 ° with a free space in the region of the deflection surface for forming cable loops greater than 90 °.

This measure further takes into account the primary aim of the invention, to compensate for a train possibly being exerted on the connection. A cable core lying against the deflection surface is braked there. The free space for the formation of cable loops greater than 90 ° is particularly expedient in order to be able to take account of any tension that may be exerted by a certain extension possibility of the cable cores within this stretch connection.

The invention also provides that a receiving element for holding an anti-kink sleeve on the cable is arranged in the further housing part. This receiving element in turn serves to relieve the strain or to initiate a pull exerted on the cable into the further housing part.

It has proven to be particularly expedient if the receiving element has a cable core separating rail. The assembly of the plug-in elements, in particular the cable cores, can thus be simplified.

Finally, the invention also provides that a socket, in particular for receiving TAE plugs, is provided in the further housing part of the cable entry, that is to say plugs which are standardized as a telecommunication connection input.

At this point it should be noted that there are modular plugs for the transition from one system to the other with the aim of inserting other plugs into existing TAE sockets.

Fig. 1

eine räumliche Darstellung des elektrischen Steckverbinders mit einer Übergangsanschlußeinheit,

Fig. 1a

einen etwas abgewandelten Steckverbinder, mit einer TAE-Steckdose,

Fig. 2

eine räumliche Darstellung eines Detailbereiches des Kabeleinganges im Steckverbinder,

Fig. 3

einen Schnitt durch den Steckverbinder, eingeklingt in einer Steckdose,

Fig. 4 und 5

je eine perspektivische Darstellung zweier abgewandelter Ausführungsbeispiele des erfindungsgemäßen Steckverbinders,

Fig. 6 und 6a

wiederum abgewandelte Ausführungsbeispiele in perspektivischer, vereinfachter Darstellung,

Fig. 7

eine im Extrusionsverfahren hergestellte Profilleiste aus Kunststoff mit Hälften eines Elementes des Steckverbinders,

Fig. 8

in vereinfachter Darstellung ein Schneidund Schweißwerkzeug zur Montage eines solchen Elementes sowie in

Fig. 9

eine Aufsicht auf das komplettierte Element aus dem Werkzeug nach Fig. 8.

The invention is explained below with reference to an embodiment and a drawing. This shows in

Fig. 1

a spatial representation of the electrical connector with a transition connection unit,

Fig. 1a

a slightly modified connector, with a TAE socket,

Fig. 2

a spatial representation of a detailed area of the cable entry in the connector,

Fig. 3

a section through the connector, snapped into a socket,

4 and 5

a perspective view of two modified embodiments of the connector according to the invention,

6 and 6a

again modified exemplary embodiments in a perspective, simplified representation,

Fig. 7

a plastic profile strip produced in the extrusion process with halves of an element of the connector,

Fig. 8

in a simplified representation a cutting and welding tool for mounting such an element and in

Fig. 9

a top view of the completed element from the tool according to FIG. 8.

The connector generally designated 1 according to Fig. 1 is used for coupling an electrical cable, e.g. a telephone cord 2 with a plurality of adjacent wires 3 (Fig. 2) which are electrically contacted in a first housing part designated 4. The electrical contacts are designated 5 in FIG. 3.

In Fig. 1 the electrical connector 1 is shown in a 90 ° deflection, but the invention is not limited to this, in the same way a coaxial connector / cable routing could also be provided.

Essential for the invention is the further housing part 6 in which the first housing part 4 is integrated or fixed there, as can be seen from the sectional drawing (FIG. 3).

The further housing part 6 is equipped with a locking bracket 7 for locking in a socket 8 (FIG. 3) or a further coupling element 9 (FIG. 1).

The locking bracket 7 is, as shown in Fig. 3, locked via a clamping tab 10 in the housing part 6, this clamping tab 10 can be pressed upwards by inserting a tool laterally in order to be able to remove the locking bracket 7 from a mounting slot 11 in the housing part 6 .

At its free end, the latching bracket 7 has a hook bar 12 which can be locked in the socket 8 with a correspondingly opposite bar 13 or with a cam element 13a on the coupling 9.

As shown in FIG. 2 on an enlarged scale, a receiving element 14 for holding an angled grommet 15 on the cable 2 is provided in the housing part 6. In the example shown, the receiving element 14 has a cable core separating rail 16, which is assigned a deflection surface 17 in order to enable the cable cores 3 to be deflected by 90 °.

As can be seen in particular from FIG. 3, the deflection surface 17 is assigned a free space 18 such that the cable wires 3 can be inserted here to form loops, designated 19, these loops being greater than 90 °.

The invention is shown in a modified embodiment in FIG. 1a, here the connector 1a shows in its further housing part 6a a socket 20 for receiving so-called TAE plugs. Here, the plug connection 1a is designed as a transition module, it should be noted that the coupling 9 in FIG. 1 also represents a transition module, since the coupling 9 is equipped with a TAE plug 21 on the end facing away from your connector 1.

Finally, for end coupling, the locking bracket 7 has a pressure cam 22 on its undersides, which cooperates with a locking tab 23 on the first housing part 4. If the latching bracket 7 is pressed downward in FIG. 3, the cam 22 drives the latching bracket 23 out of engagement, the plug connection can thus be released.

To simplify the description, the numbering in the following figures is at least partially continued, so that even with identical parts according to the exemplary embodiments of the preceding description, there may be different reference numbers.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment variant in which a kink grommet 15b is provided on a cable denoted by 2b and bears a housing part generally denoted by 24. This housing part 24 is equipped with a cable separating element 25, which by a Plastic plate is formed with drawn and designated 26 grooves for the individual cable cores. A separating comb 27 is provided at the free end via a predetermined breaking point 28. The first housing part is designated 29 here, its essential structure corresponds to the design according to FIG. 3 and the housing part 4 there, it has an insertion opening 30, a latching bracket 31 and an inwardly projecting locking cam 32.

As can be seen from FIG. 4, the housing part 24 carries a hinge lock and a locking and locking cover 34 which can engage in the small locking cams 33 shown there. In addition, a locking groove 35 is embossed in the cover 34, which in the coupling position interacts with the locking cam 32 on the first housing part 29 and provides strain relief for the cable cores or the plug connections.

The mode of action is as follows:

The cable 2b is inserted, the cable cores separated over the comb 27 and shortened in front of the comb, which is not shown in detail. The lid 34 is closed and locked and the comb element 27 is bent over the predetermined breaking point 28, so that the cable cores protrude forward over this corresponding area. Now the further housing element 24 with its front part in the Opening 30 of the housing part 29 are inserted so that the contacts can be made inside. The inwardly projecting locking cam 32 snaps into the locking recess 35 and the connection is completed.

A modified example is shown in FIG. The main difference here is that the further housing part, here designated 24a, has a slightly different type of receptacle for the kink grommet 15c, otherwise the elements are essentially the same, so they also have the same reference number added to in "a" the embodiment of FIG. 4th

Here, the supervision of a socket or coupling socket 36 is also shown in a simplified manner, where it is indicated that the receiving outline contour 37 of the engagement opening 30a can be profiled in such a different way in order to accommodate only a specific plug size, which, depending on the number of individual cable wires, may occur for example four, six or eight cable cores. For this purpose, engagement cams 38 can be provided, for example, on the outer region of the housing part 24a, which engage in corresponding, outwardly projecting recesses 39 on the engagement opening 30a, the width or strength of which is predetermined and only allow the entry of a correspondingly identical element, ie will be there four-wire cable is required, the corresponding assignment at the engagement opening 30a with the recesses 39a so that only the corresponding cams 38a can engage there.

To identify different cable cores, the locking element 7b designed as a locking bracket according to the embodiments of FIGS. 6 and 6a can also be used. Here, for example, the width of the front engagement area, which is denoted here by 40, can be adapted to an additional engagement opening 41, again depending on the number of cable wires concerned. The difference between the embodiments of FIGS. 6 and 6a lies in the feeding of the cable 2c with the respective kink grommet 15.

7 to 9 in turn show a modified embodiment of the housing part which is equipped with a single cable core element.

In the example shown there, the first housing part, generally designated 42 (FIG. 9), is formed by two essentially identical housing halves. These housing halves are produced as a plastic profile using the extrusion process. Such a profile bar is shown in Fig. 7. The individual halves are designated 42a there. The separating grooves are designated 26b here, they essentially correspond to the type and arrangement those separating grooves 26 and 26a according to the explanations according to FIGS. 4 and 5.

A mounting element is shown in simplified form in FIG. 8. An element half 42a is inserted into a corresponding recess 44 in a lower tool support 43. The tool part 43 carries a separating comb 45 on its front side. After the individual cable cores 3e have been exposed by a certain amount, the cable 15e is placed on the tool base plate 43 with the cable cores 3e being separated via the comb 45. Now the upper element 42a is identical in construction to the lower element 42a, placed from above and a tool 47 designed as a heating jaw with front cutting blade 46 is lowered from above. The heating tool 47 has a receptacle 48 for the upper plastic element 42a on the inside, a projection 49 also being provided in the receptacle 48. If the heating jaw 47 with the cutting blade 46 is now lowered from above, the free ends of the cable wires 3e projecting forward are first cut off and then the two elements 42a are welded to one another with the cable wires 3e being interposed.

By means of the stamping 49, an stamping, here designated 35a, is automatically molded in during the welding process. This indentation 35a corresponds to the locking groove 35, for example in the exemplary embodiments according to FIGS. 4 and 5. That now Finished element 42 is then inserted into corresponding further housing parts, for example into a housing part 29 according to FIG. 4 or a housing part 4 according to FIG. 1.

In Fig. 3 it is also shown that the spout 15 can be designed to be shrinkable, in particular for a construction site assembly, this is shown in dashed lines and designated 15a. In addition, a gel seal 50 can be provided in the coupling area, for example, in order to provide a moisture seal.

Of course, the described exemplary embodiments of the invention can be modified in many ways without leaving the scope of the claims. For example, identification cams can be embossed onto the last-described housing part 42 during the welding process; if necessary, an angled grommet (not shown there) can also be formed.

Claims (9)

1. An electronic plug connector (1) for coupling an electrical cable (2) comprising a plurality of wires (3), in particular a telephone cord, having a first housing portion (4, 24, 42) which has the electrical contacts and which contacts the individual wires in juxtaposed relationship, with a cable wire separating element (16; 26; 42) and a further housing portion (6) which accommodates the wires or the cable in such a way that they are secured against a pulling force, wherein the further housing portion (6, 29) is provided with a retaining element (7) for retention in a plug socket (8) or in another coupling element, characterised in that the cable wire separating element (16; 26, 42) is formed from plastics plates (42a) which are fixed to each other in the position of use, wherein the mutually facing plate surfaces are respectively formed with receiving grooves (26, 26a, 26b) for the individual cable wires.
2. A plug connector according to claim 1 characterised in that associated with the cable wire separating bar (16) is a deflection contact surface (17) for deflection of the cable wires (3) through 90°, with a free space (18) in the region of the deflection surface (17) for forming cable loops (19) of greater than 90°.
3. A plug connector according to claim 1 or claim 2 characterised in that arranged in the further housing portion (6) is a receiving element for holding a possibly heat-shrinkable kink-resistant sleeve (15) on the cable (2), wherein in particular the receiving element (14) has a cable wire separating bar (16).
4. A plug connector according to claim 1, claim 2 or claim 3 characterised in that the plastics plates (42a) which face towards each other are glued to each other.
5. A plug connector according to claim 1 or one of the following claims characterised in that provided on the cable wire separating element (25) is a marking/cutting element and/or a coding element (38, 40) and/or a wire separating comb (27).
6. A plug connector according to claim 5 characterised in that the coding element is provided on the retaining element (7b) or as an engagement projection (38) on the further housing portion (24a).
7. A plug connector according to one of the preceding claims characterised in that the cutting elements and/or the separating comb (27) are formed integrally on the housing portion (24, 24a) by way of desired-rupture locations (28).
8. A plug connector according to one of the preceding claims characterised in that provided in the further housing portion (6a) is a plug socket (20), in particular for receiving telecommunication connection unit plugs (21).
9. A plug connector according to claim 1 or one of the following claims characterised in that the plastics plates (42a) are in the form of a hot melt adhesive extrudate.

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