EP1686656B1 - Socket assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

The assembly has housing (14) with a lower half shell (14b) and an upper half shell (14a) with a receptacle (15), which is covered by a cover (16). A pivot (17) pivots the cover between open and closed positions, where the pivot is supported at a pivot bearing. Upper and lower halves (25a, 25b) of the bearing are provided at the upper shell and the lower shell, respectively such that the bearing is formed while assembling the shells.

Description

The invention relates to a socket arrangement, comprising a housing which is constructed from a half-shell comprising at least one socket pot and a lower half-shell which can be joined to the upper half-shell, at least one cover being provided for covering the socket pot assigned to it, which is provided by means of a pivot axis between a closed position and an open position is pivotable, wherein the pivot axis is mounted on a housing-side pivot bearing.

Sockets with hinged lid are known. The lid fulfills several functions, on the one hand he protects the socket pot from dirt and moisture, on the other hand, an inadvertent contact with the interior of the socket pot is prevented. For example, children can not easily come to the live connection contacts in the socket pot. In addition, the lid also contributes significantly to the design of the socket assembly, as with appropriate training together with the housing completely new from the typical shape of the socket different forms can arise.

In the DE 1 138 444 is a waterproof socket of the type mentioned above, which is composed of an upper and a lower part. It is provided a bow-shaped lid, which spans the top of the upper part. to Storage of the lid recesses are provided on the narrow sides of the lower part, can engage in the rotatably formed on downwardly bent tabs of the lid pins. Further, compression springs are provided, which are supported at one end on the upper part and the other end on the pin, so that the lid is pressed down and clamped to the upper part, whereby a sealing effect is achieved.

In other socket assemblies, the pivot axis of the lid sits on a projecting from the rest of the housing housing portion having a through opening for receiving the pivot axis is provided. However, the formation of the through hole means an additional step in the manufacture of the socket assembly, for example, in the way that first made the housing and then the through hole is drilled in a subsequent step. If the housing is an injection-molded part, an additional forming step forming the passage opening must be carried out during the injection process.

The object of the invention is to provide a socket arrangement of the type mentioned, which is compared to conventional socket assemblies simpler, faster and therefore less expensive to produce.

This object is achieved by a socket arrangement with the features of the independent claim 1. Further developments of the invention are shown in the subclaims.

The socket arrangement according to the invention is characterized in that the pivot bearing is formed by an upper half of the bearing formed on the upper half and a lower half formed on the lower half of the bearing. The upper and lower half bearing, which can also be referred to as upper and lower half bearing, thus form the pivot bearing for the pivot axis when joining the two half-shells. The pivot bearing thus arises automatically when assembling the housing. An additional processing or forming step; as it is needed in the conventional socket assemblies, so is no longer necessary.

In a particularly preferred manner, the two bearing halves are each connected in one piece with its associated half-shell, Preferably, they are formed in the production of the half-shell with. As a result, half-shells and bearing halves can be produced in one operation, in particular in the case of injection-molded parts in one operation injection-molded.

In a further development of the invention, the two bearing halves are each inside the associated half shell. So the pivot bearing does not protrude, as in the case of conventional socket arrangements of the case, but "disappears" almost completely in the housing, so that it does not interfere with its outer contour. This results in a more attractive design of the socket assembly and on the other hand, the size of the socket assemblies is reduced overall.

The upper and lower half bearing have at least one, a rotation of the pivot axis during opening or closing of the lid enabling, in particular substantially semicircular recess for receiving the pivot axis. Preferably, a plurality of aligned mutually aligned semicircular recesses are provided. Alternatively, however, it is also possible to provide a single recess, which is stretched relatively long. The at least one recess is formed both on the upper and on the lower bearing half, so that upon assembly of the two half shells a complete, adapted to the cross section of the pivot axis, in particular substantially circular bearing receptacle is formed.

In a further development of the invention, the lid has a hood part for engagement with the associated socket pot and one with the hood part in particular integrally connected pivoting part for receiving the pivot axis. A relatively large distance can be provided between the connection point between hood part and pivoting part and the position of the pivot axis arranged on the pivoting part. Preferably, the pivoting part is connected at one end to the hood part, while at the opposite end of the pivot axis is arranged. As a result, a pivoting of the lid can be achieved with a large folding angle, so that the insertion opening of the socket pot is generously released.

The hood part can be designed such that it automatically centers when closing the lid on a counter-contact surface on the associated socket head. This is possible, for example, in that a cone surface is formed on the hood part, which cooperates with a countercone surface on the socket pot.

It is possible to provide a clamping device for clamping the lid in the direction of its closed position. The lid can thus be forced by the clamping device in its closed position, if no counteracting external force on the lid, for example, as a result of a manual opening of the lid, is initiated. The clamping device may comprise a return spring, which is mounted on the one hand fixed to the housing and on the other hand attached to the lid with this mitbewegbar. The return spring can therefore be stretched when the lid is opened and returns the lid to its closed position as soon as the external force is removed from the lid. If a plug located in the socket pot is pulled out, the cover thus snaps automatically due to the restoring force of the return spring.

Another advantage of the socket arrangement according to the invention is that the return spring can be mounted in the untensioned state on the lid and the bias must be applied to the housing only when mounting the lid.

In a particularly preferred manner, the socket arrangement is designed as a power strip with a plurality of successively arranged functional parts, wherein of the functional parts are at least two sockets.

In a further development of the invention, the housing with a closed lid in the region of a respective socket pot has a spherical shape. However, other forms are conceivable, for example the shape of a dome or a lemon or of an egg.

Figur 1

eine perspektivische Darstellung des bevorzugten Ausführungsbeispiels der erfindungsgemäßen Steckdosenanordnung,

Figur 2

eine perspektivische Ansicht auf einen Teil der Steckdosenanordnung von Figur 1, wobei sich der Deckel in seiner aufgeklappten Offenstellung befindet,

Figur 3

einen Schnitt durch die Steckdosenanordnung von Figur 2 entlang der Linie III-III,

Figur 4

eine Draufsicht auf die obere Halbschale der Steckdosenanordnung samt Deckel und

Figur 5

eine perspektivische Darstellung des Deckels der Steckdosenanordnung.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the drawings and will be explained in more detail below. The drawings show:

FIG. 1

a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the socket assembly according to the invention,

FIG. 2

a perspective view of a part of the socket assembly of FIG. 1 with the lid in its unfolded open position,

FIG. 3

a section through the socket assembly of Figure 2 along the line III-III,

FIG. 4

a plan view of the upper half-shell of the socket assembly including cover and

FIG. 5

a perspective view of the lid of the socket assembly.

The FIGS. 1 to 5 shows a preferred embodiment of the socket assembly 11 according to the invention. It is exemplified by a power strip with linearly arranged functional parts in the form of sockets 12. In addition, a function section with a switch 13, in particular in the form of an on / off switch, is shown here by way of example. It is also possible to group the functional parts non-linearly, for example in the form of a square, rectangle or circular.

The socket arrangement 11 has a housing 14, which is constructed from an upper half-shell 14a having at least one socket pot 15 and a lower half-shell 14b which can be joined to the upper half-shell 14a.

The two half shells 14a, 14b are preferably made of plastic and are produced in particular by means of plastic injection molding. The socket pots 15 on the upper half shell 14a and not shown connecting webs in the interior of the two half-shells 14a, 14b are formed with the same. In addition, located on the lower half shell 14b guides for fastening means, in particular screws, over which the two half-shells 14a, 14b are fastened together.

The socket assembly 11 further has a lid 16 for covering its associated socket pot 15, which by means of a pivot axis 17 (FIG. FIG. 3 ) is pivotable between a closed position 18 and an open position 19. The lid 16 is also preferably a plastic injection molded part. He has a hood part 20 to the plant to the associated socket pot 15 and an integrally connected with the hood part pivoting part 21st

The hood part 20 is designed such that it automatically centers when closing the lid 16 on a formed on the associated socket pot 15 counter-contact surface 22. As in particular in FIG. 3 by way of example, the hood part 20 is curved in a spherical shape and can thereby be centered on a conically shaped counter-contact surface 22 on the socket pot 15. On the hood part 20, a handle 40 is also still formed, which allows a comfortable opening of the lid 16

The pivoting part 21 has two parallel aligned legs 23, which are free in the lower region of the pivoting part 21, while they are connected to each other in the upper region of the pivoting part 21 facing the hood part 21 via a transverse web 35. The two legs 23 each have a substantially circular opening into which the pin-like pivot axis 17 can be inserted. In this case, the pivot axis protrudes to both outer sides of the legs 23, the length of the pivot axis 17 is thus greater than the distance between the two legs 23rd

For mounting the pivot axis 17 on the housing 14, a pivot bearing 25 is provided which is formed by a formed on the upper half-shell 14a upper bearing half 25a and on a formed on the lower half shell 14b lower bearing half 25b.

As in particular in FIG. 3 shown, the complete pivot bearing 25 is formed automatically when joining the upper half with the lower shell 14a, 14b. This has the advantage that the two bearing halves 25a, 25b already in the production the two half-shells 14a, 14b can be formed without additional forming step with. The two bearing halves 25a, 25b each have two mutually parallel webs 26a, 26b, which extend from the inner wall of the respective half-shell 14a, 14b in half-shell interior. The fact that the webs 26a, 26b protrude inward, the entire pivot bearing is inside the housing 14 and thus does not interfere with its outer contour.

At the top of the webs 26a, 26b is in each case a semicircular recess 27a, 27b for receiving the pivot axis 17, in particular of the outer sides of the legs 23 outwardly projecting ends of the pivot axis 17. It can be both on the webs 26a of the upper bearing half 25a as well as on the webs 26b of the lower half bearing 25b recesses 27a, 27b may be provided, which correspond to each other such that upon assembly of the two half-shells 14a, 14b, an approximately fully circular bearing receptacle for the pivot axis 17 is formed. If the radii of the two corresponding recesses 27a, 27b are adapted exactly to the diameter of the pivot axis 17; can these completely in the recesses 27a, 27b accommodate, so that when joining the two half-shells 14a, 14b no gap is formed. The tops of the corresponding webs 26a, 26b thus contact each other.

In one embodiment, not shown and not shown, recesses 27a, 27b can be provided either on the upper or on the lower bearing half 25a, 25b, wherein on the other bearing half 25a, 25b no recesses 27a, 27b are present, the webs 26a, 26b So they are flat on their upper side. However, this would result in the joining of the two half-shells 14a, 14b, a gap, as in the semicircular recesses 27a, 27b of a Bearing half 25a and 25b located pivot axis 17 protrudes with half diameter from this recess 27a, 27b and this protruding part on the opposite half bearing 25a and 25b can not dip into a correspondingly shaped semi-circular counter-recess 27a, 27b, but only on the plane Top of the local web 26a and 26b is supported. This creates a gap between the two half-shells 14a, 14b.

At the upper half-shell 14a is also still a slot-shaped Schwenkpartieaufnahme for receiving the pivoting part 21 on the lid 16. This ensures that the pivoting part 21 when closing the lid 16 completely retracts into the upper half shell 14a and thereby does not interfere with the outer contour of the housing.

The socket assembly 11 also has a clamping device in the form of a return spring 28, which forces the lid 16 to assume its closed position 18, if no counteracting external force is introduced to the lid 16, for example, if the lid 16 is opened by hand. The return spring 28 has as in the FIGS. 4 and 5 exemplified, the shape of a double leg spring, with two spring legs 29 which are wound around the pivot axis 17 and each anchored to a leg 23 of the pivoting part 21. Between the two spring legs 29a, 29b is a U-shaped bracket 30, which is used to tension the spring 28.

When assembling the pivot axis 17 and return spring 28, the spring 28 is not tensioned, but the clamping takes place only when installing the lid 16 in the housing 14. This is located on the upper half-shell 14a, disposed between the two webs 26 of the upper half bearing 25a , one Clamping web 31, the one clamping nose 32 ( FIG. 4 ) directed inside the upper half shell 14a. When inserting the lid 16, the bracket 30 of the return spring 28 is pushed back and can hook into the clamping lug 32 on the clamping web 31, so that the return spring 28 is under tension and the lid 16 is pressed into its closed position. When unfolding the lid, the return spring 28 is thus even more tensioned, so that the lid 16 automatically snaps back into its closed position 18 when removing the external force.

As in particular in the FIGS. 1 and 2 By way of example, a sidecut 33 can be located between two adjacent functional parts of at least mutually opposite longitudinal sides of the housing 14. The sidecut 33 is formed by two indentations or constrictions or notches respectively lying on opposite longitudinal sides of the housing 14. Thus, the functional parts appear as a juxtaposition of individual elements, although they are integrally connected in the row direction. The sidecut 33 is double V-shaped, ie the indentations have a V-shape. In addition, the cross section of the housing 14 in the region of the functional parts changes over the housing height.

By the closed lid 16, the shape of the housing 14 is completed, i. For example, completed to a complete ball. When the cover 16 is closed so a complete form is present, which is not affected by hinges or visible pivot axes.

Claims (10)

1. Socket arrangement with a housing (14) constructed from an upper half-shell (14a) with at least one socket pot (15) and a lower half-shell (14b) capable of being joined to the upper half-shell (14a), wherein at least one cover (16) pivotable by means of a pivoting axis (17) between a closed position (18) and an open position (19) is provided to cover the associated socket pot (15), wherein the pivoting axis (17) is supported on a pivot bearing (25) provided on the housing and comprising an upper bearing half (25a) formed on the upper half-shell (14a) and a lower bearing half (25b) formed on the lower half-shell (14b), characterised in that each of the upper and the lower bearing halves (25a, 25b) is provided with at least one essentially semicircular recess (27a, 27b) to support the pivot axis (17) and to enable the pivot axis to rotate while the cover (16) is being opened or closed.
2. Socket arrangement according to claim 1, characterised in that each of the two bearing halves (25a, 25b) forms a single piece with the associated half-shell (14a, 14b), being preferably manufactured integrally with the half-shells (14a, 14b).
3. Socket arrangement according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that each of the two bearing halves (25a, 25b) is located in the interior of the associated half-shell (14a, 14b).
4. Socket arrangement according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the cover (16) comprises a dome section (20) designed for contact with the associated socket pot (15) and a pivoting section (21), which is in particular integrated with the dome section (20), designed to accommodate the pivoting axis (17).
5. Socket arrangement according to claim 4, characterised in that there is a relatively large distance between the joint between the dome section (20) and the pivoting section (21) on the one hand and the position of the pivoting axis (17) located on the pivoting section (21) on the other hand, in particular in that the dome section (20) is provided at one end of the pivoting section (21) and the pivoting axis (17) is provided at the opposite end.
6. Socket arrangement according to claim 4 or 5, characterised in that the dome section (20) is designed such that it is automatically centred on a mating contact surface (22) on the associated socket pot (15) as the cover (16) is closed.
7. Socket arrangement according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that a tensioning device (28) is provided to preload the cover (16) towards its closed position (18).
8. Socket arrangement according to claim 7, characterised in that the tensioning device comprises a return spring (28), one end of which is mounted on the housing, while the other end is attached to and movable with the cover (16).
9. Socket arrangement according to any of the preceding claims, characterised by a socket arrangement (11) in the form of a socket strip with a plurality of functional sections arranged one behind the other, at least two of these being sockets (12).
10. Socket arrangement according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the housing (14) has a spherical shape in the region of each socket pot (15) when the cover (16) is closed.

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