EP1128494B1 - Adapter and connector for communications- and control technique - Google Patents

Abstract

An adapter for a standardised socket, in particular for a RJ45 or RJ11 socket, comprising a housing with an opening as well as guide means bounding an opening, wherein the opening is configured such that one or more plug(s) arranged side by side can be introduced, and wherein the guide means are configured and oriented such that each plug which is introduced has electrically conductive contact with socket contacts of the socket.

Description

The invention relates to an adapter, in particular for RJ45 sockets, according to the preamble of claim 1. The invention further relates to a plug for such an adapter according to the preamble of claim 12.

An RJ45 connector is a standard in accordance with EN 60603-7 IEC 60603-7 and is used worldwide for connectors in communication and data networks. Such connectors are used for example for building cabling, among other things, shielded cable with four signal conductor pairs are used. The sockets for such RJ45 connectors have a standardized arrangement of the contacts and the geometry of the opening. The plug each have 8 mutually parallel arranged plug contacts, which produce an electrical connection with appropriately adjusted arranged socket contacts when plugging.

A disadvantage of this known connector is the fact that always all electrical contacts are contacted simultaneously. If it is necessary to transmit different services via the four pairs of signal conductors, for example a computer network on two pairs of signal conductors and, for example, a telephone and a fax machine on the remaining two pairs of signal conductors, three individual RJ45 sockets, each with an 8-pin connector, are required for their connection. This is very costly and also requires a lot of space.

From EP 0 817 320 an additional housing for receiving a plurality of electric plugs as used in the automotive industry - known. This extra housing allows you to connect multiple standardized plugs to standard sockets, but is not suitable for use with RJ45 or RJ11 plugs.

The US 5,328,390 discloses a splitter, resp. a multiple-socket, in which several standard RJ45 plug can be inserted into several separate socket openings. This adapter also proves to be extremely bulky and is not suitable to safely guide plugs with 2, 4 or 6 plug contacts.

Another embodiment of an adapter of known type - as it is suitable for use in printed circuits - is described in US 5,281,161. This adapter has feedthrough leads and dedicated pins to connect the contact points of the printed circuit to the electrical contacts of plug modules. Also, this adapter is not suitable for use with RJ45 or RJ11 plugs and can not safely guide plug sub-modules.

It is an object of the present invention to form a plug connection part, in particular for RJ45 plug-in connector, which allows a plurality of connection possibilities with a plug socket and enables better utilization of the copper cable and is thus less expensive.

This object is achieved with an adapter having the features of claim 1. The dependent claims 2 to 5 relate to advantageous developments of the inventive adapter. The invention is further solved with a plug adapted to the adapter having the features of claim 6. The dependent claims 7 and 8 relate to further advantageous developments of the inventive connector.

The object is achieved in particular with an adapter for a standardized socket, in particular for a RJ45 or RJ11 socket, comprising a housing with an opening and this limiting guide means, wherein the opening is configured such that at least two juxtaposed connector in this one Opening are introduced, and wherein the guide means are configured and aligned such that each inserted plug with its contacts has an electrically conductive connection to socket contacts of the socket.

The inventive adapter is arranged in front of the opening of the socket, and serves to guide a plurality of individual plugs and to hold in the opening of the socket such that the plug contacts of the inserted plug make electrical contact with the socket contacts of the socket. The Plug contacts must be designed according to the geometry of the adapter adapted. The thus configured plug are preferably designed two or four-pole.

The inventive adapter thus has the advantage that in an existing socket, in particular in an RJ45 socket, two, three or four individual plug can be inserted. This allows the sockets of existing building cabling to be used much more flexibly, without the need to install additional RJ45 sockets. For new installations, thanks to the adapter according to the invention, even with a small number of installed RJ45 sockets, great flexibility is possible.

The inventive adapter as well as the correspondingly adapted configured connector thus allow a cost-effective and flexible building cabling.

Fig. 1

einen RJ45-Steckverbinder;

Fig. 2a

eine perspektivische Ansicht einer RJ45-Steckerbuchse;

Fig. 2b

eine Frontansicht einer RJ45-Steckerbuchse;

Fig. 3

eine Frontansicht einer ersten Ausführungsform eines Adapters;

Fig. 4

eine Seitenansicht des ersten Adapters mit Buchse und Stecker in einer Schnittdarstellung;

Fig. 5

eine perspektivische Ansicht des ersten Adapters mit Stecker;

Fig. 6a

eine perspektivische Vorderansicht des ersten Adapters mit Stecker;

Fig. 6b

eine perspektivische Ansicht des ersten Adapters mit Stecker von hinten;

Fig. 10

ein 2-poliger Stecker mit zwei Kontakten;

Fig. 11

ein 4-poliger Stecker mit vier Kontakten;

Fig. 12

eine Seitenansicht eines Steckers gemäss Fig. 10 oder Fig. 11;

Several embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the following figures. Show it:

Fig. 1

an RJ45 connector;

Fig. 2a

a perspective view of an RJ45 socket;

Fig. 2b

a front view of a RJ45 socket;

Fig. 3

a front view of a first embodiment of an adapter;

Fig. 4

a side view of the first adapter with socket and plug in a sectional view;

Fig. 5

a perspective view of the first adapter with plug;

Fig. 6a

a front perspective view of the first adapter with plug;

Fig. 6b

a perspective view of the first adapter with plug from behind;

Fig. 10

a 2-pin connector with two contacts;

Fig. 11

a 4-pin connector with four contacts;

Fig. 12

a side view of a plug according to FIG. 10 or FIG. 11;

In the following figures, the same objects are denoted by the same reference numerals.

Fig. 1 shows a computer 12, which is connected via a cable 11 to a communication network, also referred to as LAN. The cable 11 comprises four pair-stranded, mutually-twisted electrical conductors, also referred to as "twisted pair" in English, and is suitable for example for high-bandwidth computer networks, for video or telephone lines. At the end of the cable 11, an 8-pin RJ45 plug 9 is arranged, which has at its top eight mutually parallel plug contacts 9a, which mutually have a normalized distance of in particular 1.016 mm (0.04 inch). The plug 9 also includes a latch means 9b, with which the plug 9 in the socket 10 is releasably fastened.

In Fig. 2a, the female connector 10 with the interior 10a and extending in the upper region of the inner space 10a female contacts 1-8 is shown. The front view of the socket 10 according to FIG. 2b shows the standardized geometry of the opening 10e with inner width 10c and latching element 10b. The arrangement of the socket contacts 1-8 is also normalized, the mutual spacing corresponding to the plug contacts 9a also being 1.04 inches.

Figure 3 shows the front view of a first embodiment of an adapter 13 with housing 131 and opening 13a from the direction A (Figure 4). The adapter 13 can be held on the handles 13o and, for example, via the fastening means 13q, which are designed as latching parts, detachably or permanently connected to the socket 10 are connected. The adapter 13 is attached to the front side of the female connector 10 such that the opening 13a comes to rest in front of the opening 10e of the female connector 10. The opening 13a is bounded by a plurality of guide means 13e-13k, 13m, 13n, said guide means forming three plug openings 13b, 13c, 13d for receiving a plug 14. These plug openings 13b, 13c, 13d hereinafter also called slots 13b, 13c, 13d are arranged opposite the socket contacts 1,2,4,5,7,8 such that the plug contacts 14b of the plug 14 to be inserted with respect to the socket contacts 1,2 , 4,5,7,8 are precisely guided, so that when inserted plug 14 between these an electrical contact is formed.

The sectional view according to FIG. 4 shows the socket 10 with socket contact 1, the adapter 13 (FIG. 3) arranged in front of the opening 10e (FIG. 2b) of the socket 10, in which the plug 14 is inserted. The adapter 13 and the plug 14 are configured with respect to the standardized socket 10, and the plug 14 is held by the adapter 13 with respect to the socket 10, that the plug contacts 14b eg bear against the socket contact 1 and thus establish an electrically conductive connection. The male contact 14b is connected to an electrical wire conductor 14a which passes through the male housing 14k and the cable guide 14e. The plug 14 also includes a latch means, in particular a locking element 14c with latching element 14d, which rests against the latching cam 13p of the adapter 13, so that the plug 14 is securely and yet releasably held in the adapter 13 or in the interior 13b, 13c or 13d of the adapter 13.

The connector 14 with guide part 14i has two grooves 14g, 14h in the region of the front end, in each of which a contact 14b is arranged. The plug 14 is inserted in the front view according to FIG. 3 in the slot 13c, and is guided at least by the guide members 13e, 13f, 13m, 13n, 13h and 13i safely and precisely, so that the two plug contacts 14b in contact with one each Socket contact 4,5 arrive. The socket contacts or the plug contacts 14b have the standardized distance for an RJ45 plug. In Fig. 3, the socket contacts 3 and 6 are not visible because they are hidden by the guide members 13m, 13n. The illustrated adapter 13 thus prevents contact with the socket contacts 3 and 6.

Figure 6a shows the fully inserted into the adapter 13 connector 14 from the perspective against the socket 10 back. FIG. 6b shows the illustration according to FIG. 6a from the opposite side (rear view), the subsection of the plug 14 projecting relative to the adapter 13 usually being located in the inner space 10a of the socket 10. The guide parts 13e, 13f extend in the running direction of the plug 14, so that it rests substantially over its entire length on the guide parts 13e, 13f, which is a Tilting of the plug 14 of the contacts 1 to 8 prevents the socket in the vertical direction.

The adapter 13 shown in FIGS. 3 to 6b, with a correspondingly adapted plug 14, permits a maximum of three juxtaposed, separately pluggable plugs 14 to be inserted into a standardized socket 10. If necessary, it may prove disadvantageous that the socket contacts 3 and 6 are not contactable.

10 shows a plug 14 with two slots 14g, 14h or two plug contacts 14b arranged therein (not visible). 11 shows a further exemplary embodiment of a plug 14 with four grooves 14g, 14h and, correspondingly, a total of four plug contacts 14b (FIG. 9) arranged therein. It could also plug 14 with six or eight grooves or plug contacts 14b may be formed. Fig. 12 shows a side view of Plug 14 according to FIGS. 10 and 11, with plug contact 14b, lead wire 14a and groove 14g.

Claims (8)

1. Adapter (13) for a standardised RJ45 or RJ11 socket (10), comprising a housing (131) with an opening (13a) as well as guide means (13e-13k) bounding the opening (13a), characterised in that this one opening (13a) has a number of plug spaces (13b, 13c, 13d) arranged side by side which are configured such that at least two plugs (14) arranged side by side can be introduced into this one opening (13a), and wherein the guide means (13e-13k) are configured and oriented such that each plug (14) which is introduced lies with its plug contacts (14b) against the associated socket contacts and thus establishes an electrically conductive connection with socket contacts (1-8) of the socket (10).
2. Adapter (13) according to Claim 1, characterised by a securing means (13q) for securing the adapter (13) in front of the opening (10e) in the socket (10).
3. Adapter (13) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised by a lock-in element (13p) for firmly connecting a plug (14) to the adapter (13) in a removable manner.
4. Adapter (13) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the adapter (13) is configured for an RJ45 socket (10) with socket contacts (1-8), that the one opening (13a) comprises three plug spaces (13b, 13c, 13d), which are arranged side by side, for accommodating multipole plugs (14), and that the plug spaces (13b, 13c, 13d) are arranged and spaced apart such that the plug contacts (14b), of which there are two in each case, of the introduced plugs (14) lie against the socket contacts (1, 2; 4, 5; or 7, 8).
5. Adapter (13) according to Claim 4, characterised in that the opening (13a) is bounded by two guide parts (13m, 13n) which are arranged so as to be in alignment in relation to the position of the socket contacts (3, 6).
6. Plug (14) for an adapter (13) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the plug is not an RJ45 or RJ11 plug, characterised in that two or four plug contacts (14b) are arranged in the plug (14), wherein each plug contact (14b) is connected to an electrical wire conductor (14a).
7. Plug (14) according to Claim 6, characterised in that the plug contacts (14b) have a mutual spacing which corresponds to the spacing of the socket contacts (1-8) of a socket (10).
8. Plug (14) according to either of Claims 6 and 7, characterised by a lock-in element (14d) which is arranged in adaptation to the lock-in element (13p) of the adapter (13) such that the plug (14) can be held firmly in the adapter (13) in a removable manner.

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