EP0813269A2 - Electrical connector - Google Patents

Abstract

The electric connector (1) provides a releasable connection of an electrically conductive multiple fibre flat band cable (6) to a pre-manufactured plug (5). The latter is to be inserted into the connector (1). The insulated housing (19) receives the electric contacts. The housing (19) has at least one contact element group (11) for the leads of the electric connection. The electric connector (1) is arranged as an adaptor between the flat cable terminal and the individual lead terminal in a screw clamp, insulation displacement clamp or spring clamp arrangement. The insulating housing (19) has no circuit board. The connector (1) preferably has lead pieces (11) made from a lead frame. Several separation points are provided between the lead pieces for connection pieces.

Description

The invention relates to an electrical connector for connecting an electrically conductive, multi-core ribbon cable, the insulating housing receiving the electrical contacts having at least one contact element group for conducting the electrical connection.

The use of ribbon cables for the electrical connection between devices offers numerous advantages. On the one hand, the constant position of the conductors in the plastic sheathing of the ribbon cables is the basis for a large number of known cutting or penetration contacts which establish an electrical connection between the conductor and a further contact piece, a plug. On the other hand, ribbon cables with a connector assembled directly at the manufacturer offer security against unintentional swapping of connections, with the individual contact points of the double-row or multi-row connector being assigned a single conductor of the ribbon cable. Because of this connection security, ribbon cables are increasingly being manufactured with plugs and there is a need for electrical connectors adapted for this purpose.

One of these versions, which is adapted to the requirements, is an adapter plug or adapter that establishes a connection between a flat cable plug and terminal housings for further single conductors. Adapters based on a printed circuit board are often used for this. On the input side, they are equipped with a soldered pin header connector, which serves to accommodate the flat cable connector. Continuous conductor tracks are connected to the pin contacts of this pin header, which branch to a soldered DSUB connector and branch to the angled solder contacts for the DSUB connector in two or three rows as required. This arrangement with a printed circuit board is then usually enclosed in an insulating housing and is very complex to manufacture and voluminous in its dimensions.

In a further embodiment of an electrical connector, housing arrangements with pin headers, printed circuit board terminal connections for individual conductors and industrial connectors are often found, which are mounted on a printed circuit board. These arrangements with a carrier housing additionally offer the possibility of mounting rail mounting and, however, when used as an adapter, they are no less expensive to manufacture and also very voluminous.

The invention is therefore based on the object of designing and developing the known electrical connectors in such a way that their manufacture is significantly simplified and the costs associated with the manufacture are significantly reduced.

The invention has also set itself the goal of proposing a cost-effective, compact connector that can be produced with a minimum of material, in particular for the input-side flat cable connector connection and the output-side single-conductor connection, in which a pin strip is provided for adapting a flat cable connector, but a circuit board is not required. Furthermore, it is provided to equip the connector with standardized electrical end pieces on the input side as well as on the output side, so that type-related connection techniques, e.g. can be made available in screw, insulation displacement or spring force technology in a connection pitch specified for the respective connection cross section of the continuing single conductor.

According to the invention, the previously derived and demonstrated object is achieved in that the electrical connector is designed as an adapter between at least one ribbon cable connection and at least one single or multi-conductor connection - preferably - in screw-type, insulation displacement or spring-cage technology - and the insulating housing has no printed circuit board. The invention thus relates to an electrical connector, in particular an adapter plug, for connecting multi-core electrical cables, in particular pre-assembled with a connector, in particular ribbon cable, to a multi-pole clamp connector or to a multi-pole connector, with a connection from a small pitch of a ribbon cable connector to a larger one Division of a multi-pin terminal connection or a multi-pin industrial connector is to be produced and the electrically conductive contact elements of the intermediate connector are punched out of a strip-shaped sheet as a group in a lead frame and can be assembled into a compact connector by means of an inventive geometric design of the lead frame.

The problem of compensating for the conductor track routing between the contact pitch of the flat cable plug connection and a further connection pitch for a multipole plug or screw connection in a desired pitch is solved in a simple manner by stamping technology. This is achieved in that the connecting pieces between the contacts of the ribbon cable connections use a geometrically optimally designed stamped and bent part in further single conductors or other plug connections according to claim 1, 3 and 4. For this purpose, the electrically conductive contact elements of the intermediate connector are punched out of a strip-shaped sheet metal as a group in a lead frame, ie a lead or lead frame, or a system carrier and inserted into a compact connector in an insulating housing by means of an inventive geometric design of the lead frame . It should be taken into account here that the contacts to the connector side of the ribbon cable are positioned at the same distance from one another in such a position that the respective row of pins with the conductor pieces integrally extending thereon are aligned in one plane with the socket contacts of the ribbon cable connector. The contact conductors extending in the direction of the individual conductor connections branch immediately after the required contact pin length to a division predetermined by the individual conductor connections, the division of the individual conductor connection contacts of a first contact row being arranged such that the individual conductor connection contacts of the second contact row are provided in the spaces provided between the individual conductors -Contact connections of the first row of contacts can be positioned. On the one hand, it is important to maintain the electrically necessary insulation distance between the first and the second level. On the other hand, it is necessary to bend the conductor pieces running in one plane to the contact pins on the flat cable connector side into a common plane to one another in such a way that the conductor end pieces of the single-conductor contact connections on one level and a second level are aligned to a common plane according to claim 4 are so that single-conductor contact connections building up on these end pieces of the conductor pieces can build up to a terminal block with the same single-conductor receptacle, same single-conductor insertion direction and clamping.

This joining of the contact planes is achieved in a simple manner by folding over a section of the lead frame. For this purpose, the leadframe in its longitudinal extension on the guide frame has cutouts that are exactly in their position between the group of contacts on a first level and the group of contacts on a second level, with a spacer remaining in the frame width remaining between these cutouts, the task of which is claimed 5 it is to create a distance between the contact pins of the leadframe levels after the transfer of the first leadframe section to the contact group of the second leadframe section, which is just as large that the end pieces of the single-conductor connection contacts are in one plane and both groups of conductor pieces also have the same distance from one another. These cut-outs are provided so that the bending process of the leadframe is facilitated by these predetermined predetermined bending points via the remaining connecting pieces, and the spacers, which are partially connected therewith, can be easily separated or removed after the bending process.

The insertion of the first leadframe section with the folded-over second leadframe section into an insulating housing additionally requires the removal of the frame section and the connecting pieces between the contacts. The spacer between the individual contact planes is likewise removed in one cycle, the preferably small connecting pieces between the connecting pieces and the frame pieces making removal easier.

It is particularly advantageous to arrange the actuating elements in electrical connectors of this compact design on one side of the connector. For the execution of single-wire clamping points with a front actuation, e.g. B. spring-loaded terminals, the actuators are directed directly to the conductor entry.

In further versions of the construction according to claims 6 and following, an adapter for a large number of industrial and electronic plug connections is proposed, in which the creation and arrangement of the lead frame preferably corresponds essentially to the design according to claims 1 to 5.

Electrical connectors of this type are preferably attached to a housing or to a mounting rail for easier handling when connecting individual conductors. For this purpose, fastening holes are arranged on the side of the insulating part or in the surface of the insulating part, through which suitable fastening means can be inserted and thus fix the electrical connector.

There is also a desire to attach the ribbon cable connectors to a connector. For this purpose, according to claim 10, a receiving frame with a lateral fastening option, preferably a recess, has been provided, into which resilient latching hooks can be locked and thus protects the ribbon cable connector from being pulled off on one side. The mounting frame also offers protection against bending of the pin contacts of the electrical connector. In order to prevent unintentional twisted insertion of the ribbon cable connector, the receiving frame has a coding that corresponds to an insertable counterpart of the ribbon cable connector.

In individual cases, a version with a ribbon cable attached directly to the electrical connector is also provided, the ribbon cable conductors being contacted by conventional connection techniques, such as penetration or cutting techniques.

In a special embodiment, the insulating housing of the electrical connector and its electrical contacts, in addition to the ribbon cable connection, have been provided with the structural design of industrial plug connections. This has the advantage that individual conductors, which often have to be electrically isolated, can be provided with a plug / socket piece or a plug / socket arrangement combined into a block and can be inserted into the electrical connector by means of this. For this purpose, a coding has been provided for the industrial plug connections of the electrical connector, which prevents important connections from being mixed up.

In connection with an industrial plug connection design, the variant of a through connector is also proposed, the insulating housing having lateral fastening means which are inserted into a frame piece of a through a device wall Recording frame can be snapped into place. This is provided in coordination of the overall length so that the connector for individual conductors is flush with the front of the mounting frame on the device wall.

In a special embodiment for mounting the electrical connector on a standard mounting rail, individual universal foot pieces can be plugged into dovetail guides on the bottom side of the insulating part housing and can be fastened in a designated plug-in position by means of resilient fixing elements. These fixing elements are designed as flexible structural parts and can optionally be detached from the electrical connector. The universal foot is designed in such a way that it is possible at any time to detach the electrical connector from the mounting rail by actuating resilient holding elements.

Fig. 1

ein elektrischer Verbinder (1 ) in dreidimensionaler Darstellung mit einem Endstück (4) eines mit dem Steckerteil (5) konfektionierten Flachbandkabels (6) in einer Ausführungsvariante zu Einzelleiter-Klemmstellen (7), die als Klemmblock (8) ausgeführt sind.

Fig. 2

ein elektrisch leitendes in zwei Ebenen angeordnetes Metallteil (2, 3) des elektrischen Verbinders (1) mit einer Teilbestückung einzelner Zugkäfigklemmen-Metallteilen (9).

Fig. 3

ein Leadframe-Teilstück (10) mit einer Anordnung von Kontakten (11, 12),

Fig. 4

einer Rückansicht des elektrischen Verbinders (1) in einer Ausführungsvariante ohne Flachbandstecker-Aufnahmerahmen (13),

Fig. 5

einer Rückansicht des elektrischen Verbinders (1) in einer Ausführungsvariante ohne Flachbandstecker, das Flachband ist hierbei direkt am elektrischen Verbinder mittels bekannten Kontaktierungsverfahren befestigt,

Fig. 6

eine Ausführungsvariante eines über Befestigungsbohrungen (14) anschraubbaren elektrischen Verbinders (1) mit einer Anschlußmöglichkeit für Industriesteckverbinder (15),

Fig. 7

eine Ausführungsvariante eines über einen Befestigungsrahmen (16) an einer Gehäusewand befestigbaren elektrischen Verbinders (1) mit einer Anschlußmöglichkeit für Industriesteckverbinder (15),

Fig. 8

eine Ausführungsvariante einer elektrischen Verbinderanordnung mit festangespritzten oder nachträglich montierbaren Fußelementen (37) zur Montage auf Tragschienen (38).

Further features, advantages and possible uses of the present invention result from the claims subordinate to claims 1 and 12 and the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the drawing and the drawing itself, which are explained in more detail in connection with the figures. All of the described and / or illustrated features, alone or in any combination, form the subject of the present invention, regardless of their summary in the claims or their relationship. It shows

Fig. 1

An electrical connector (1) in a three-dimensional representation with an end piece (4) of a ribbon cable (6) assembled with the plug part (5) in an embodiment variant for single-conductor clamping points (7) which are designed as a terminal block (8).

Fig. 2

an electrically conductive metal part (2, 3) of the electrical connector (1) arranged in two planes with a partial assembly of individual pull cage clamp metal parts (9).

Fig. 3

a leadframe section (10) with an arrangement of contacts (11, 12),

Fig. 4

a rear view of the electrical connector (1) in an embodiment variant without ribbon connector receptacle frame (13),

Fig. 5

a rear view of the electrical connector (1) in an embodiment variant without a ribbon connector, the ribbon is attached directly to the electrical connector by means of known contacting methods,

Fig. 6

one embodiment variant of an electrical connector (1) which can be screwed on via fastening bores (14) and has a connection option for industrial connectors (15),

Fig. 7

An embodiment variant of an electrical connector (1) which can be fastened to a housing wall by means of a fastening frame (16) with a connection option for industrial plug connectors (15),

Fig. 8

an embodiment variant of an electrical connector arrangement with molded-on or subsequently mountable foot elements (37) for mounting on mounting rails (38).

In Fig. 1 is an electrical connection element 1 in an embodiment variant with individual connection terminal connectors 7, which are combined to form a terminal block 8 and are shown with a screw terminal connection 7 provided for a single conductor 17, the actuating elements 18 of which are accessible on a flat side of the electrical connector 1. The insulating housing 19 has lateral openings 20 for fastening on a device plate, into which latching or fastening elements 21 of a receiving part for fastening the electrical connector 1 on a device plate can be inserted. The end piece 4 of a ribbon cable 6, which is assembled with a plug 5, is inserted into a receiving frame 13 for connection to the contact pins 11 of the electrical connector 1, said receiving frame being provided as a guide frame for protecting the contact pins 11 against bending. The openings 22 of the receiving frame 13 enable the ribbon cable connector 5 to be fastened by means of the holding elements provided on the ribbon cable connector 5.

The opening 23 is a coding opening for the right-sided insertion of the ribbon cable plug 5 into the receiving frame 13.

At the same time, the mark 24 of the ribbon cable plug 5 should coincide with the mark 24 'of the receptacle housing 13 for contact point assignment. Furthermore, the ribbon cable connector 5 has a removal aid 25 provided on both sides of the connector housing, by means of which the ribbon cable connector 5 can be removed from the contact pins 11 of the electrical connector 1.

The contact elements 11, 12 inserted in the electrical connector 1 and their connecting pieces 26 are shown in FIG. 2 without an enveloping insulating housing 19. The conductor pieces 27, 27 'are also shown here with the lateral leadframe connecting webs 28 provided between the individual line pieces, which are removed in the insulating housing 19 during the insertion process of the conductor piece levels 27 and 27'. In this illustration, clamp connectors 9 in the form of a tension sleeve with screws 18 as actuating elements are attached to the end pieces 12 of the conductor pieces 27, 27 '. So that these clamp connectors 9 are aligned in one plane within the insulating housing 19, the end pieces 12 of the conductor pieces 27 inserted into these pull sleeves are from the respective contact plane of the conductor pieces 27, 27 ', which are made in one plane with the contact pins 11 of the flat cable plug connection , to a new clamp connector level by bending and an existing mutually provided bending edge 35, 35 '.

The metal parts 27, 27 'of the electrical connector are produced from a sheet metal strip using leadframe stamping technology, the electrical contact elements 11, 12, 27 being held together as a single line element in a leadframe section 10, 10' by means of connecting webs 26 arranged therebetween as a group. FIG. 3 shows a leadframe sheet metal strip 39 with a leadframe section 10 for mechanical assembly in a simple metal part variant with few contact points 11, 12 in order to be able to present the special features of the invention in a simplified manner. This leadframe section 10 consists of lateral guide strips 30, which are interrupted at regular intervals per contact group by spacers 31 which, after a section 10 'of the leadframe has been folded over onto a leadframe section 10 lying in front of it in the longitudinal direction, is positioned at a vertical distance from the leadframe plane of the leadframe section 10'. The length of the spacer 31 is dimensioned such that the vertical leadframe distance is equal to the vertical distance between the contact rows 29 of the ribbon cable connector. This distance is of considerable advantage in the mechanical assembly of the contact elements, since the contact pins 11 of the respective contact element group are inserted into the insulating housing 19 via this distance and are kept at an insulation distance in the insulating part 19 by means of holding elements. In the automated assembly process, the connecting webs 26, 28 and the spacers 31, 31 'are removed so that there is no electrical short circuit.

FIG. 4 shows a rear view of an embodiment variant of the electrical connector 1, which can be screwed to a device surface by means of fastening bores 14 and screws provided in the insulating housing 19. In this embodiment, in contrast to the embodiment according to FIG. 1, a receiving and guide frame 13 is dispensed with.

Like FIG. 4, FIG. 5 also shows a rear view of an embodiment variant of the electrical connector 1, in which a plug 5 of the flat cable end piece 4 is dispensed with and the end piece of the flat cable 6 directly on the electrical connector 1 via known contacting techniques with the inserted ones Line pieces 27 of the electrical connector 1 is connected.

Another variant of the electrical connector 1 is shown in FIG. 6. Here, the further individual contacts are designed for industrial connectors 32, which, like the connection technology for a single-conductor terminal connection according to FIG. 1, is designed, but whose contact elements 12 are provided instead of in a flat design for a terminal connector as a pin version for industrial connectors 32, the individual terminal points being provided by means of a Coding 33 individual contacts or a single-row connector can be secured against interchanging or incorrect connection. This variant of the electrical connector 1 can also be fastened to a device via bores 14 in the insulating housing 19, so that the actuating forces are absorbed by the insulating housing 19 when a connector is connected.

Fig. 7 also shows a variant of the electrical connector 1 in an embodiment with a codable industrial connector 32 on the outlet side with single-row pin contacts and an additional device front attachment via a holding frame 16 which can be plugged through a rectangular opening at the front of a device wall and by means of screws through lateral holes 40 in the holding frame Device front can be attached. This holding frame 16 has, on the plug side, projecting frame pieces 34 with a lateral opening 36 'into which latching pieces 36 of the insulating housing 19 of the electrical connector, which protrude laterally on both sides, can snap, so that the insulating housing 19 and holding frame 16 are fastened to one another. The industrial plug connection 32 protrudes after fastening in a device front opening through this into an opening 41 provided to match the outer contour of the insulating part 19 and is flush with the device front and the mounting frame 16 in one plane.

In a special embodiment, the electrical connector 1 with universal foot elements 37 is proposed for use on the mounting rail 38 according to FIG. 8. For this purpose, 19 dovetail guides are provided on the underside of the insulating housing in the length of the insulating housing 19, inserted into the guide parts 42 of the universal foot 37 and can be fastened to the universal foot 37 by means of resilient fixing elements 44. The complete electrical connector can then be fastened to a standard mounting rail by means of resilient fastening elements 43 of the universal foot 37 and the ribbon cable plug 5 plugged in and the individual conductors 17 connected. This version is also provided with mounting rail mounting feet connected in one piece to the insulating housing. This eliminates dovetail guide grooves and resilient fixing elements.

Claims (18)

Electrical connector (1) for connecting an electrically conductive, multi-core ribbon cable (6), the insulating housing (19) which receives the electrical contacts has at least one contact element group (11, 12, 27) for conducting the electrical connection, characterized in that the electrical connector (1) is designed as an adapter between at least one ribbon cable connection and at least one single or multi-conductor connection - preferably - in screw-type, insulation displacement or spring-cage technology and the insulating housing (19) has no printed circuit board. Electrical connector (1) according to Claim 1, characterized in that the electrical connector (1) has line pieces (11, 12, 27, 32) which are produced from a lead frame according to FIG. 3 and therefore between the individual conductor pieces (27) have several separation points for connecting pieces (26, 28). Electrical connector (1) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the contact pieces (12, 12 ') as end pieces of the line pieces (27, 27') are bent towards one another in a common plane, so that clamping elements (9) fastened thereon Screwing, cutting or spring force technology can also be arranged in a row next to one another to form a terminal block (8) or can be used in a common terminal block insulating part (8) with one alignment. Electrical connector (1) according to one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the contact pieces (12, 12 '), as end pieces of the line pieces (27), are placed in one plane to one another in such a way that an end piece (12) of the upper contact group ( 11, 27, 12) is placed in a gap between the end pieces (12 ') of the lower contact group (11', 27 ', 12') and these form a common lateral alignment plane. Electrical connector (1) according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the lead frame according to Fig. 3 has partially punched-out spacers (31) in both frame pieces (30) in the stamped lead frame in order to produce a predetermined contact group or plane spacing from one another one mechanical assembly of the contact groups in the folding process specifies a predetermined distance based on the predetermined kinks and the corresponding length of the spacer (31). Electrical connector (1) according to one of Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the individual conductor connections (7) are designed in a terminal block (8) with actuating parts (18) arranged on one side for clamping the conductor. Electrical connector (1) according to one of Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the individual conductor connections (7) are designed in a terminal block (8 ') with actuating parts for conductor clamping arranged for the insertion opening (7) of the conductor. Electrical connector (1) according to one of Claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the insulating housing (19) has fastening openings (20) through which holding or fastening means (21) can be inserted and thus the entire electrical connector (1) can be attached to a device wall or device plate. Electrical connector (1) according to one of Claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the insulating housing (19) has fastening bores (14) through which holding or fastening means, preferably screws, can be inserted, and thus the entire electrical connector (1) can be attached to a device wall or device plate. Electrical connector (1) according to one of Claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the insulating housing (19) has a receiving frame (13) which leads to the detachable connection of the pre-assembled flat cable plug (5) provided on the electrically conductive, multi-core flat cable (6) . Electrical connector (1) according to one of Claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the insulating housing (19) has a direct connection according to FIG. 5 prepared for a ribbon cable (6) with penetration contacts for ribbon cable (6). Electrical connector (1) for connecting an electrically conductive multi-core ribbon cable (6), the insulating housing (19) which receives the electrical contacts has at least one contact element group (11, 12, 27) for conducting the electrical connection, characterized in that the electrical connector ( 1) is designed as an adapter between at least one ribbon cable connection and at least one industrial connector that the insulating housing (19) has connections (15) for industrial connectors in a terminal block (8) and that the insulating housing (19) has no printed circuit board. Electrical connector (1) according to claim 12, characterized in that the industrial connectors (15) have coding elements (33). Electrical connector (1) according to Claim 12 or 13, characterized in that the insulating housing (19) can be inserted into a receiving frame (16) which can be fastened to a device front. Electrical connector (1) according to Claim 14, characterized in that the receiving frame (16) has projecting pieces (34) projecting laterally through the front opening of a device front for fastening the electrical connector (1). Electrical connector (1) according to claim 15, characterized in that the insulating housing (19) of the electrical connector (1) has lateral counterparts (36) for attachment to the projecting pieces (34) of the receiving frame (16) and by means of these in the opening (41) of the receiving frame (16) is positioned and fixed. Electrical connector (1) according to one of Claims 1 to 13, characterized in that holding elements (37) for fastening to the mounting rail are fastened in one piece to the insulating housing (19) on the insulating housing (19). Electrical connector (1) according to one of Claims 1 to 13, characterized in that holding elements (37) for a mounting rail attachment can subsequently be connected to the insulating housing (19), in particular releasably, preferably via grooves, wedge guides or snap attachments, on the insulating housing (19).

Images