EP0493547B1 - Multipolar electric coupling device - Google Patents

Abstract

A multipolar electric coupling device has a multipoint plug and a socket board arranged each in a housing. The housing of the socket board and the housing of the multipoint plug are mutually linked at one end by a detachable hinge and can be pressed against each other by means of pins of the socket board housing guided in connecting grooves of the multipoint plug housing in order to put the multipoint plug in contact with the socket board. In order to ensure a reliable connection, the socket board housing (4) is pivotally held on the multipoint plug housing (1) by a hinge formed by a pin (5) that penetrates into groove-like recesses (7) of the multipoint plug housing (1). A slider (10) guided in the longitudinal direction is arranged on the socket board housing (4) and carries on both sides sliding blocks (14) at its end opposite to the hinge (5, 7). In both longitudinal walls (1') of the multipoint plug housing (1) are arranged connecting grooves (15) into or out of which the sliding blocks (14) can be pushed or pulled by means of the slider (10) in order to press or to release the socket board housing (4).

Description

The invention relates to a multi-pole electrical coupling device with a male connector and female connector accommodated in a housing, in which the female connector housing and the male connector housing are connected to one another by a releasable joint in the region of one end and for contacting male and female connectors by means of pins guided in the slots of the male connector housing Female connector housing are pressed together.

It is already known in a plug-in device (DE 34 07 725 A1) for electrical switching devices to hang the plug by means of a hook on a receiving part of the switching device and to press it against one another to form coupling processes by means of a bracket which is articulated on the plug and can be pivoted into slots in the receiving part. The bracket acting in the manner of a toggle lever places disruptive forces in the area of its attachment to the plug and requires a large swivel range for its handling, which often gives rise to installation difficulties. In a further known plug-in device (US Pat. No. 3,668,605), the plug, which is articulated on the receiving part at one end, can be pressed onto the receiving part by a double lever which is pivotably attached to the plug. With this plug-in device, the lever also leads to mechanical loads on the plug and, due to its necessary swiveling range, leads to space-consuming handling.

It is an object of the invention to provide measures for a coupling device of the above type, in which the pluggable socket strip housing remains free of stress-intensive lever joints and safe couplings are possible with a small amount of space.

According to the invention, this object is achieved in that the female connector housing is pivotally held on the female connector housing by means of a pin which engages in groove-shaped receptacles of the male connector housing, in that a slide is guided in a longitudinally movable manner on the female connector housing and is fixed on both sides of sliding blocks at the end facing away from the joint carries and that are arranged in the two longitudinal walls of the male connector housing guide grooves into or out of which the sliding blocks can be inserted or pushed out by the slide for pressing or releasing movements of the female connector housing. In the coupling device formed in this way, when the socket strip housing is articulated, only simple, space-saving, longitudinal movements of the slide to make contact with the knife and socket strips are required. Due to the interaction of sliding blocks and sliding slots, the female connector housing is applied to the male connector housing with slight forces in one direction of movement of the slide and pressed and lifted from the male connector in the other direction of movement. At the same time, there is no need to pivot levers and swivel areas for them.

In an embodiment of the coupling device, it is provided that the link grooves near the ends facing away from the insertion ends for the link blocks serve as latching recesses for the link blocks have and that the sliding blocks in the widenings are elastically fixable in the locking recesses by the bias of a sealing body arranged in the plane of separation of socket strips and male connector housings. Unintentional decoupling can thus be prevented.

According to a preferred embodiment, the slide is hood-shaped with a substantially U-shaped cross section transverse to the direction of displacement thereof. In addition, the slide has guide strips on the inside of the legs, which engage in the longitudinal grooves of the socket strip housing in a displaceable manner. In an expedient embodiment, the slide can be pushed onto the socket strip housing from one side as well as from the other side, which is advantageous for the optional removal of the electrical conductors connected to the sockets to one side or the other.

According to a further embodiment of the coupling device, the slide and the socket strip housing are fixed so that they can be released from one another by means of catch elements. The slide is advantageously locked in the position in which the sliding blocks face the insertion openings of the sliding slots.

Finally, it is also provided that the male connector housing or the like extends between the male connector longitudinal walls. with a number of coding slots formed side by side and that the female connector housing is provided with coding lugs corresponding to the coding slots. In this case, the web having the coding slots can be on the end of the male connector housing facing the link grooves be arranged. The proposed coding or arrangement of the slots has the additional advantage that, if the coding is unsuitable, movements of the slider on the socket strip housing are impossible and the user is thus shown beforehand that couplings of the socket strip and male connector cannot be carried out.

It is understood that the housings for the socket strip and the male header are each made of any suitable material, e.g. a plastic or metallic material can be formed.

Fig. 1

eine Kupplungsvorrichtung in Seitenansicht,

Fig. 2

eine Kupplungsvorrichtung in Draufsicht,

Fig. 3

eine Kupplungsvorrichtung in Seitenansicht,

Fig. 4

ein Messerleistengehäuse in Seitenansicht,

Fig. 5

ein Messerleistengehäuse gemäß Fig. 4, in Draufsicht,

Fig. 6

ein Messerleistengehäuse gemäß Fig. 4, im Schnitt,

Fig. 7

ein Messerleistengehäuse gemäß Fig. 4, in Seitenansicht,

Fig. 8

eine weitere Seitenansicht des Messerleistengehäuses, gemäß Fig. 4,

Fig. 9

einen Schnitt nach der Linie IX-IX der Fig. 5,

Fig. 10

ein Schnitt nach der Linie X-X der Fig. 5,

Fig. 11

ein Buchsenleistengehäuse in Seitenansicht,

Fig. 12

ein Buchsenleistengehäuse in Draufsicht,

Fig. 13

einen Schieber in Seitenansicht,

Fig. 14

einen Schieber in Draufsicht,

Fig. 15

einen Schieber in Seitenansicht, teilweise im Schnitt,

Fig. 16

eine Längsschnitt eines Schiebers gemäß Fig. 13,

Fig. 17

eine Seitenansicht eines Schiebers,

Fig. 18

eine Unteransicht eines Schiebers gemäß Fig. 13, teilweise im Schnitt,

Fig. 19

ein Buchsenleistengehäuse im Schnitt,

Fig. 20

einen Schnitt eines Buchsenleistengehäuses nach Linie XX-XX der Fig. 12 und

Fig. 21

ein Buchsenleistengehäuse mit einem in ver schiedene Stellungen befindlichen Schieber, in Seitenansicht.

The invention is illustrated using an exemplary embodiment in the drawing. Show it:

Fig. 1

a coupling device in side view,

Fig. 2

a coupling device in plan view,

Fig. 3

a coupling device in side view,

Fig. 4

a male connector housing in side view,

Fig. 5

4, in top view,

Fig. 6

4, in section,

Fig. 7

4, in a side view,

Fig. 8

another side view of the male connector housing, according to FIG. 4,

Fig. 9

5 shows a section along the line IX-IX of FIG. 5,

Fig. 10

a section along the line XX of Fig. 5,

Fig. 11

a female connector housing in side view,

Fig. 12

a female header housing in top view,

Fig. 13

a slide in side view,

Fig. 14

a slide in top view,

Fig. 15

a slide in side view, partly in section,

Fig. 16

13 shows a longitudinal section of a slide according to FIG. 13,

Fig. 17

a side view of a slide,

Fig. 18

13 shows a bottom view of a slide according to FIG. 13, partly in section,

Fig. 19

a female connector housing in section,

Fig. 20

a section of a female connector housing according to line XX-XX of Fig. 12 and

Fig. 21

a female connector housing with a slider in different positions, in side view.

In the figures, 1 denotes a male connector housing which, as can be seen in FIGS. 5, 6 and 9, receives a number of male contacts 2. A number, for example 37 socket contacts 3 (FIGS. 12, 19, 20) can be coupled to the knife contacts 2 and are accommodated in a socket strip housing 4 (FIG. 11). The male connector housing 1 and the female connector housing 4 are preferably formed by molded parts made of a plastic. The socket strip housing 4 has, in the region of an end on the longitudinal sides, pins 5 with pressure strips 6 which engage in recesses 7 in the male connector housing 1 to form a common joint 8. The socket strip housing 4 is held in a pivotable manner on the male connector housing 1 by the joint 8, the pressure strips 6 supporting the insertion and retention of the pins 5 in the recesses 7. The socket strip housing 4 also has longitudinal grooves 9, in which engages a slide 10 which can be moved longitudinally on the socket strip housing 4 and has strip-shaped projections 11. The slide 10 can be locked by means of locking grooves 12 (FIG. 16) on locking projections 13 (FIG. 11) of the socket strip housing 4.

In the exemplary embodiment, the slide 10 (FIGS. 15, 17) is formed by a molded part with an essentially U-shaped cross section and provided with gripping surfaces 18 on the outside. On the slider 10, pins 14 are arranged as sliding blocks, which can be brought into effect with sliding grooves 15 in the side walls 1 'of the male connector housing 1. Furthermore, the male connector housing 1 has a web 20 or a wall section between the side walls 1 ′, which is provided with a number of coding slots 16. With the coding slots 16 approaches 17 arranged on the socket strip housing 4 come into effect for coding purposes.

The longitudinal mobility of the slider 10 on the socket strip housing 4 allows various adjusting movements of the same on the socket strip housing 4 (FIG. 21), which has an advantageous effect on the contacting of the socket contacts with electrical conductors (not shown). The electrical conductors can equally be led away over one or the other end face of the socket strip housing 4.

To understand the function of the coupling device, it can be assumed that after the electrical conductors (not shown) have been attached to the socket contacts 3, the slide 10 can be pushed onto the socket strip housing 4 from one end face (FIG. 21). Then the socket strip housing 4 together with the slide 10 by inserting the pins 5 into the recesses 7 (FIG. 1) in an articulated manner with the male connector housing 1 and, as further shown in FIG. 1, can be pivoted in the direction of the coupling position of the female contacts 3 and male contacts 2.

The female connector housing 4 initially takes the upper position shown in dashed lines in FIG. 1, in order subsequently by pressing on the male connector housing 1 and immersing the sliding blocks 14 in the sliding grooves 15 by longitudinally moving the slide 10 on the female connector housing 4 and supporting the pin 5 on the surfaces 15 'to take up the contacting position (inner end position of the socket strip housing). The sliding blocks 14 are located in the region of widenings 18, in which the sliding blocks 14 are resiliently held under the effect of the pretensioning of a sealing ring (not shown) inserted between the socket strip and the male connector housing.

The sliding blocks 14 can be brought out of the sliding grooves 15 by the longitudinal movement of the slide 10 in opposite directions, whereby the sliding contacts 14 automatically lift out of the socket contacts 3 by the knife contacts 2 by the sliding of the sliding blocks 14 onto the lower boundary surface 15 '' of the sliding grooves 15. Subsequently, the female connector housing 4 can be removed from the male connector housing 1 by leading the pins 5 out of the recesses 7.

Claims (6)

1. Multi-pin electrical coupling device, including a terminal strip and a socket strip each accommodated in its respective housing, wherein the socket strip housing and the terminal strip housing are interconnected in the region of one end by means of a detachable pivot joint and can be pressed against each other, for establishing contact between the terminal strip and socket strip, by means of pins of the socket strip housing, which pins extend in slide grooves in the terminal strip housing, characterised in that the socket strip housing (4) is pivotably retained on the terminal strip housing (1) by means of a pivotal location, which is formed by means of pins (5) engaging in groove-like receiving means (7) in the terminal strip housing (1), in that a slider (10) is guided in a longitudinally displaceable manner on the socket strip housing (4) and securedly supports sliding blocks (14) on each side of the end remote from the pivotal location (5, 7), and in that slide grooves (15) are disposed in the two longitudinal walls (1') of the terminal strip housing (1), and the sliding blocks (14) are slidable into or out of said grooves by means of the slider (10) to produce pressing or releasing movements respectively for the socket strip housing (4).
2. Coupling device according to claim 1, characterised in that the slide grooves (15) have widened portions (18) close to the end remote from the insert end for the sliding blocks (14), said widened portions serving as locking recesses for the sliding blocks (14), and in that the sliding blocks (14) in the widened portions (18) are resiliently securable in the locking recesses (18) by the initial tension of a sealing body, which is disposed in the parting plane between the socket strip housing (4) and the terminal strip housing (1).
3. Coupling device according to claims 1 and 2, characterised in that the slider (10) has a dome-like configuration with a substantially U-shaped cross-section transversely relative to the sliding direction of said slider, and in that guide bars (11) are disposed on the inside surfaces of the legs of said slider and engage in longitudinal grooves (9) in the socket strip housing (4) so as to be freely slidable therein.
4. Coupling device according to claims 1 and 2, characterised in that the slider (10) and the socket strip housing (4) are releasably locatable on each other by means of locking members (12, 13).
5. Coupling device according to claim 1, characterised in that the terminal strip housing (1) has a cross-piece member (20), which extends between the longitudinal walls (1') of the terminal strip housing and is provided with a number of adjacent coded slots (16), and in that the socket strip housing (4) has coded extension members (17) corresponding to the coded slots (16).
6. Coupling device according to claim 5, characterised in that the cross-piece member (20), which is provided with the coded slots (16), is disposed on the end of the terminal strip housing (1) facing the slide grooves (15).

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