EP2793326A1

EP2793326A1 - Insulation or sealing crimp die

Info

Publication number: EP2793326A1
Application number: EP13164000.5A
Authority: EP
Inventors: René Reger
Original assignee: Delphi International Operations Luxembourg SARL
Current assignee: Delphi International Operations Luxembourg SARL
Priority date: 2013-04-16
Filing date: 2013-04-16
Publication date: 2014-10-22
Anticipated expiration: 2033-04-16
Also published as: EP2793326B1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a crimp die (101) comprising a main body (103), a first crimping leg (105), a second crimping leg (107) and a crimping ridge (111; 111'; 111") comprising two opposing side face portions (114; 114'; 114") which both extend in a direction essentially parallel to the longitudinal ridge axis, whereby the side face portions (114; 114'; 114") are essentially mutually parallel and extend from the main body (103) essentially in the crimping direction (601).

Description

1. Field of the invention

The present invention relates to a crimp die for crimping an electrical contact terminal to an insulation or a sealing of an electrical cable.

2. Technical background

In order to mechanically and electrically connect electrical contact terminals to electrical cables, usually the contact terminals are crimped to the electrical cable. To this end, such terminals comprise a connection portion provided with a pair of wire crimping wings which upon crimping are bent around a corresponding dismantled cable portion. Thereby, usually such wire crimping wings are bent into a so called B-shaped form, i.e. a form with a cross-section shaped like an inverted W, whereby free ends or edges of the crimping wings are rolled inwardly. This cross-section is advantageous to establish an electrical connection between the terminal and the cable since it allows for said free ends, respectively free edges, of the wire crimping wings to be pressed into the dismantled cable portion. Due to the inward rolling of the free edges essentially into the dismantled cable strands, the electrical connectivity is improved.
Further, upon crimping the contact terminal to the electrical cable, insulation or sealing crimping wings are bent around a non-dismantled portion of the electrical cable, i.e. around the cable insulation and/or a seal member which can be provided around the cable insulation, to establish a mechanical connection between the contact terminal and the cable. To this end, the insulation or sealing crimping wings can be similarly bent into a B-shape, however, in this case a risk exists that due to a cutting of the cable insulation and/or the seal member by edges of the insulation or sealing crimping wings the mechanical connection is deteriorated. In particular, when seal members are used which often are made from silicone material, the inward rolling of the edges can lead to micro-cracks within the seal member material which deteriorates said mechanical connection. Due to such micro-cracks, pull-out forces which are necessary to pull the seal member out of the crimped connection are undesirably reduced. To avoid such cutting of the cable insulation or the seal member, the insulation or sealing crimping wings can be bent into a round shape of essentially circular cross-section.
A typical prior art example of a crimping tool used for crimping a contact terminal to an electrical cable is described in document US 5,415,015 . Therein, crimp dies are described which can be used for example in a hand crimp tool, i.e. a plier-like hand tool used for manually crimping of contact terminals to electrical cables. According to this document, the crimp dies comprise separate sections for crimping insulation crimping wings e.g. to a cable insulation and wire crimping wings to dismantled cable strands. The crimping method described therein results in insulation crimping wings which are bent around a cable insulation in a round shape and wire crimping wings which are bent forming a B-shaped cross-section.
A further prior art example of crimp dies is described in document EP 2 485 343 A1 . In this document, an attempt is described to overcome the problem that after crimping the contact terminals can get stuck in the crimping tools. For example, according to this document the crimped contact terminal can get stuck in the contour of the corresponding crimp die after crimping. To solve this problem, it is suggested to provide a crimping anvil with a particular opening angle and a correspondingly formed B-shaped crimp die to facilitate removal of the crimped contact terminals after crimping.
A further prior art crimping tool for crimping an insulation crimping portion of a contact terminal to a cable insulation is described in document DE 197 37 863 A1 . According to this document, a round shape of the crimped insulation crimp wings is achieved making use of a crimp die with an essentially round shaped inner crimping surface whereby a bending radius of the inner surface corresponds to the desired radius of curvature of the bent insulation crimping wings. In order to avoid edges of the insulation crimping wings to cut into the cable insulation, it is suggested to taper the free ends, respectively edges, of the insulation crimping wings.
In view of this prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a crimp die for crimping an insulation or sealing crimping portion of an electrical contact terminal to a cable insulation or a seal member which allows for an improved mechanical connection. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a crimp die for crimping insulation or sealing crimping wings to a cable insulation or to a seal member such that edges of the insulation or sealing crimping wings do not cut into the cable insulation or the seal member.
These and other objects which will become apparent upon reading the following description are solved by a crimp die according to claim 1.

3. Summary of the invention

According to the invention, a crimp die is provided which is adapted for crimping an insulation or sealing crimping portion of a contact terminal to an electrical cable. Thereby, the crimp die comprises a main body, a first crimping leg, a second crimping leg and a crimping ridge. The crimping ridge is arranged in between the crimping legs, and extends along a longitudinal ridge axis in a direction essentially perpendicular to the crimping direction of the crimp die. Further, the crimping ridge extends parallel to the longitudinal axis of the contact terminal upon crimping, i.e. the crimping ridge is parallel to said longitudinal axis when the contact terminal is inserted in between the crimp die and a corresponding crimping anvil.
Further, according to the invention, the crimping ridge comprises two opposing side face portions which both extend in a direction essentially parallel to the longitudinal ridge axis. Thereby, "essentially" as used herein indicates deviations e.g. from exact shapes, exact angles or other dimensions as they are common in the art for example due to fabrication tolerances which generally are on the order of less than 10%, preferably less than 5%, preferably less than 2.5%. According to the invention, the side face portions are essentially mutually parallel and extend from the main body essentially in the crimping direction. Thereby, preferably, the side face portions are inclined with respect to the crimping direction by an angle which is at most 2°, preferably at most 1.5°, more preferably at most 1°, even more preferably at most 0.5°, yet even more preferably at most 0.2° and most preferably at most 0.1°.
In a preferred embodiment, within a plane parallel to the crimping direction and perpendicular to the longitudinal ridge axis, a cross-section of the crimp die essentially encompasses a circular arc and within this plane, the cross-section of the crimping ridge extends essentially from the center of the circular arc essentially in the crimping direction. In other words, as opposed to a standard crimp die which in this plane has a cross-section with the shape of an inverted W or is B-shaped, the cross-section of the crimp die has essentially a concavely shaped form from which the crimping ridge extends. Thus, preferably in this plane a cross-section of the crimp die does not comprise a B-shape.
Further, according to the invention a crimping apparatus is provided comprising at least one crimp die, whereby in a preferred embodiment the crimping apparatus further comprises a wire crimp die, whereby the wire crimp die comprises a wire crimp section with a wire crimp surface comprising a B-shaped cross-section. In other words, the crimping apparatus comprises a crimp die for crimping insulation or sealing crimping wings to a cable insulation or a seal member. Further, the crimping apparatus comprises a wire crimp die with an inner crimping surface which comprises a B-shape for crimping wire crimping wings to a dismantled cable portion.
According to the invention, further a method for crimping a contact terminal to a cable insulation or to a seal member which for example is provided around a dismantled cable portion or around a cable insulation is provided. This method comprises the steps of providing a crimping apparatus, providing a contact terminal with an insulation or sealing crimping portion, providing an electrical cable with a cable insulation and/or providing a seal member. According to the invention the method further comprises crimping the insulation or sealing crimping portion of the contact terminal to the cable insulation and/or to the seal member using a crimp die according to the invention. Further, according to the invention, a contact terminal is provided with an insulation or sealing crimping portion crimped to a cable insulation and/or to a seal member with a crimp die according to the invention. Thereby, the seal member can e.g. be provided around a dismantled portion of an electrical cable or around an insulation of an electrical cable.

4. Description of the preferred embodiments

In the following, the invention is described exemplarily with reference to the enclosed figures in which:

Fig. 1: shows a schematic view of the connection portion and the contact portion of a contact terminal;
Fig. 2: shows a schematic exploded view of a crimping apparatus with crimp die, wire crimp die, cable, contact terminal, seal member and crimping anvil;
Fig. 3: shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a crimp section of a crimp die;
Fig. 4: shows a crimp section of a crimp die including a further embodiment of a crimping ridge;
Fig. 5: shows a further crimp section with yet a further preferred embodiment of a crimping ridge;
Fig. 6: schematically illustrates the contact terminal of Fig. 1 in crimped condition, whereby wire crimping wings are crimped around cable strands (not shown) of an electrical cable and insulation or sealing crimping wings are crimped around a cable insulation (not shown);
Fig. 7: is a picture illustrating insulation or sealing crimping wings crimped around a seal crimping portion of a seal member using a standard crimp die;
Fig. 8: shows a photograph of a contact terminal after crimping with an inventive crimp die is completed and before the crimp die is removed from the corresponding anvil; and
Fig. 9: shows a picture of a contact terminal whereby insulation or sealing crimping wings are crimped around a seal crimping portion using the inventive crimp die.

Fig. 1 schematically illustrates a connection portion 201 of a contact terminal 200 with an insulation or sealing crimping portion 204 and a wire crimping portion 206. The contact terminal 200 is further provided with a contact portion 203 (see Fig. 2) for connecting the contact terminal 200 e.g. to a further contact terminal (not shown). The insulation or sealing crimping portion 204 is provided with insulation or sealing crimping wings 205 and the wire crimping portion 206 is provided with wire crimping wings 207. As may be derived from Fig. 2, to mechanically and electrically connect the contact terminal 200 to an electrical cable 400, the electrical cable 400 can be placed within the contact terminal 200 such that electrically conductive cable strands 401 within a dismantled portion of the electrical cable 400 are placed within the wire crimping portion 206 and an end portion of the cable insulation 403 is placed within the insulation or sealing crimping portion 204. A seal member 300 can be provided around the cable 400, in particular around the cable insulation 403, whereby in this case, a seal crimping portion 301 is placed around said end portion of the cable insulation 403.
As illustrated in Fig. 2, for crimping, the contact terminal 200 is placed on an anvil 500 such that its longitudinal axis is oriented along a direction 608 essentially perpendicular to the crimping direction 601 of a crimp die 101 and a wire crimp die 131 of crimping apparatus 100. Thereby, the insulation or sealing crimping portion 204 is placed on an insulation anvil portion 503 and the wire crimping portion 206 is placed on a corresponding wire anvil portion 505_. To crimp the wire crimping wings 207 around the dismantled cable strands 401, the wire crimp die 131 is moved along the crimping direction 601, i.e. downwardly in Fig. 2, such that crimping wing edges 208 (see Fig. 1) slide along inner wire crimping surfaces 135 (only one of which is visible due to the perspective of the figure) and after reaching wire crimp section 133 are rolled inwardly into an inverted W-shape due to the B-shaped cross-section of a wire crimp section 133 of the wire crimp die 131.
The crimp die 101 serves for crimping the insulation or sealing crimping wings 205 around the seal crimping portion 301 of the seal member 300 and comprises a main body 103, a first crimping leg 105, and a second crimping leg 107. Thereby, the main body 103 of crimp die 101 is further provided with a mounting recess 104 for mounting the crimp die 101 inside of a corresponding crimping tool (not shown) of crimping apparatus 100. In the shown embodiment, the crimping apparatus 100 with crimp die 101, wire crimp die 131 and crimping anvil 500 is suited to be used for example in a production line in a mass production facility. However, the crimp die 101 can also be used in a suitable hand crimp tool for manual crimping. As indicated by the corresponding circle, the crimp die 101 is provided with a crimp section 110 within which a crimping ridge 111 is arranged in between crimping legs 105,107.
Fig. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of the crimp section 110. In the shown cross-section, within a plane parallel to the crimping direction 601 and perpendicular to the longitudinal ridge axis of the crimping ridge 111, which extends in a direction 608 essentially perpendicular to the crimping direction 601, i.e. perpendicular to the plane of drawing in Fig. 3, an inner surface 115 of the crimp section 110 essentially encompasses a circular arc along the dashed circle 603. Preferably, the circular arc spans at least 30°, more preferably at least 45°, even more preferably at least 60°, yet even more preferably at least 90°, and most preferably at least 135°. For example, as indicated by horizontal line 607, in the shown embodiment the circular arc spans about 180°.
The crimping ridge 111 extends essentially, i.e. up to common fabrication tolerances, from the center of the circular arc essentially in the crimping direction 601, whereby side face portions 114, which in a preferred embodiment are faces of an intermediate portion 112 of the crimping ridge 111, extend from the main body 103 essentially in the crimping direction 601. The crimping ridge 111 further comprises an end portion 113, such that preferably the crimping ridge 111 is formed by intermediate portion 112 and end portion 113.
Preferably, the side face portions 114 are adapted to prevent an inwardly directed rolling of free edges 209 upon crimping the contact terminal 200 to the electrical cable 400. Thus, upon crimping, i.e. when the crimp die 101 is moved along the crimping direction 601, free edges 209 (see Fig. 1 above) of the insulation or sealing crimping wings 205 move along inner surfaces 106, 108 of first and second crimping legs 105, 107 and are bent inwardly following the curvature of said inner surfaces 106, 108 and the concavely shaped inner surface 115 until they abut the crimping ridge 111 at side face portions 114, which preferably to this end are accordingly dimensioned. In other words, the side face portions 114 extend along the crimping direction 601 such that free edges 209 can abut the side face portions 114. Thus, due to the inventive crimping ridge 111, which upon crimping is moved in between the free edges 208 of the insulation or sealing crimping wings 205, said wings are prevented from rolling or bending inwardly and accordingly their free edges 208 are prevented from cutting for example into an outer surface of the seal crimping portion 301.
In order to beneficially prevent an inwardly directed bending of the free edges 209, preferably the intermediate portion 112 has a height h _ip 702 in the crimping direction 601 such that due to said abutment of free edges 209, an inwardly directed rolling of said insulation or sealing crimping wings 205 is prevented. To this end, preferably the ratio h_ip/h_t of height h _ip 702 of the intermediate portion to the total height h _t 701 of the crimping ridge is in between 0.9 and 0.1, preferably in between 0.8 and 0.2, more preferably in between 0.7 and 0.3, even more preferably in between 0.6 and 0.4, and most preferably in between 0.55 and 0.45. For example, if the height h_ip 702 of the intermediate portion 112 is 0.9 mm and the total height h _t 701 of the crimping ridge 111 is 1.0 mm, said ratio is 0.9. Accordingly, if the height h _ip 702 of the intermediate portion 112 is 0.1 mm and the total height h _t 701 of the crimping ridge 111 is 1.0 mm, said ratio is 0.1.
In order to further advantageously prevent an inward bending or rolling of said free edges 209, and to provide the crimping ridge 111 with sufficient stability, in a preferred embodiment the intermediate portion 112 comprises a width w _ip 703, wherein the ratio w_ip/h_t of the width w _ip 703 of the intermediate portion 112 to the total height h _t 701 of the crimping ridge 111 is in between 0.75 and 0.1 preferably in between 0.7 and 0.15, more preferably in between 0.65 and 0.2, even more preferably in between 0.6 and 0.25 and most preferably in between 0.55 and 0.275. For example, if the width w _ip 703 of the intermediate portion 112 is 0.7 mm and the total height h _t 701 of the crimping ridge is 1.0 mm said ratio is 0.7. Accordingly, if the width w _ip 703 of the intermediate portion 112 is 0.15 mm and the total height h _t 701 of the crimping ridge is 1.0 mm said ratio is 0.15.
Fig. 4 illustrates a further embodiment of the crimping ridge 111' whereby in this embodiment, the end portion 113' of the crimping ridge 111' is provided with end side walls 117' which are inclined with respect to side walls 114'. Preferably, the end side walls 117' form an angle 801' which is in between 10° and 70°, preferably in between 15° and 65°, more preferably in between 20° and 60°, even more preferably in between 25° and 55°, and most preferably in between 30° and 50°. As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the crimping ridge 111 as well as the crimping ridge 111' is generally oriented and elongated in the crimping direction 601, such that a general orientation angle 803, respectively 803', i.e. an angle e.g. of side walls 114, respectively 114', with respect to tangential 602, respectively 602', is essentially 90°. In the embodiment of Fig. 4, the height h_ip 702' of the intermediate portion 112' and the total height h_t 701' of the crimping ridge 111', preferably are within the ranges as specified for heights h _t 701 and h _ip 702 of the embodiment according to Fig. 3.
Fig. 5 shows a further embodiment of the crimping ridge 111", whereby preferably the end portion 113" is thickened as compared to the intermediate portion 112", preferably whereby the ratio w_ip/w_ep of the width w _ip 703" of the intermediate portion 112" to the width w _ep 704" of the end portion 113" is in between 0.9 and 0.1, preferably in between 0.85 and 0.2, more preferably in between 0.8 and 0.3, more preferably in between 0.75 and 0.4 and most preferably in between 0.7 and 0.45. For example, if the width w _ip 703" of intermediate 112" is 0.9 mm and the width w _ep 704" of the end portion 113" is 1.0 mm, said ratio is 0.9. Accordingly, if the width w _ip 703" of intermediate 112" is 0.1 mm and the width w _ep 704" of the end portion 113" is 1.0 mm, said ratio is 0.1. Also in this embodiment a general orientation angle 803" of side walls 114" with respect to a tangential 602" is essentially 90°. Preferably, the total height h _t 701" and the height h _ip 702" of the intermediate portion 112" are within the ranges as specified for heights h _t 701 and h _ip 702.
Fig. 6 schematically illustrates the result of crimping an insulation or sealing crimping portion 204 and a wire crimping portion 206 using wire crimp die 131 and crimp die 101 as illustrated in Fig. 2 above. As one may derive from Fig. 6, due to the B-shaped or inverted W-shaped crimping surface of the wire crimp die 131, the crimped wire crimping portion 206 of the contact terminal 200 accordingly is B-shaped, i.e. the wire crimping wings 207 are inwardly bent following the shape of an inverted W. Further, due to the use of the crimp die 101, the insulation or sealing crimping wings 205 are bent in a round shape, whereby due to the use of the crimping ridge 111; 111'; 111" the free edges 209 of the insulation or sealing crimping wings 205 are mutually spaced apart from each other and are not bent inwardly.
Fig. 7 illustrates the result of crimping insulation or sealing crimping wings 205 around a seal crimping portion 301 of a seal member 300 which is provided around a cable 400 making use of a standard crimp die which is not provided with a crimping ridge 111; 111'; 111". In this picture a damaged portion 303 of the seal 300 is visible within which the lower insulation or sealing crimping wing 205 has cut into the seal crimping portion 301. Due to such damages, the structure of the seal material is weakened thereby deteriorating the mechanical connection between the seal member 300 and the contact terminal 200.
Figure 8 shows a picture of the contact terminal 200 after completion of the crimping process before removing the crimp die 101 from anvil 500. The picture according to Fig. 8 corresponds to a view from the left onto a contact terminal oriented as the contact terminal shown in Fig. 7 without a seal member 300 and a cable 400. In this picture, one can see insulation or sealing crimping wings 205 which are bent essentially in a circular shape and abut side walls 114 of the crimping ridge 111. One can see further the bent wire crimping wings 207 which are bent inwardly thereby essentially forming a B-shape.
Fig. 9 shows the result of crimping insulation or sealing crimping wings 205 around a seal crimping portion 301 making use of the inventive crimp die 101. As one may derive from this figure, due to the use of the inventive crimp die 101, i.e. due to the insertion of the crimping ridge 111 in between the free edges of the insulation or sealing crimping wings 205, upon crimping damage of the seal crimping portion 301 of the seal member 300 is prevented and the seal crimping portion 301 is not damaged.

Claims

1. Crimp die (101) adapted for crimping an insulation or sealing crimping portion (204) of a contact terminal (200) to an electrical cable (400), the crimp die (101) comprising a main body (103), a first crimping leg (105), a second crimping leg (107) and a crimping ridge (111; 111'; 111") which is arranged in between the crimping legs (105, 107), and which extends along a longitudinal ridge axis in a direction essentially perpendicular to the crimping direction (601) of the crimp die (101) and parallel to the longitudinal axis of the contact terminal (200) upon crimping, whereby the crimping ridge (111; 111'; 111") comprises two opposing side face portions (114; 114'; 114") which both extend in a direction essentially parallel to the longitudinal ridge axis,
characterized in that
the side face portions (114; 114'; 114") are essentially mutually parallel and extend from the main body (103) essentially in the crimping direction (601).

2. Crimp die (101) according to claim 1, characterized in that the side face portions (114; 114'; 114") are adapted to prevent an inwardly directed rolling of free edges (209) of insulation or sealing crimping wings (205) of the contact terminal (200) upon crimping the contact terminal (200) to the electrical cable (400).

3. Crimp die (101) according to any one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the side face portions (114; 114'; 114") are dimensioned such that upon crimping the contact terminal (200) to the electrical cable (400), free edges (209) of insulation or sealing crimping wings (205) of the contact terminal (200) abut the side face portions (114; 114'; 114"), whereby an inwardly directed rolling of said insulation or sealing crimping wings (205) is prevented.

4. Crimp die (101) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the side face portions (114; 114'; 114") are faces of an intermediate portion (112; 112'; 112") of the crimping ridge (111; 111'; 111"), whereby the intermediate portion (112; 112'; 112") has a height h_ip (702; 702'; 702") in the crimping direction (601), such that upon crimping the contact terminal (200) to the electrical cable (400), due to an abutment of free edges (209) of insulation or sealing crimping wings (205) of the contact terminal (200), an inwardly directed rolling of said insulation or sealing crimping wings (205) is prevented.

5. Crimp die (101) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the side face portions (114; 114'; 114") are inclined with respect to the crimping direction (601) by an angle which is at most 2°, preferably at most 1.5°, more preferably at most 1°, even more preferably at most 0.5°, yet even more preferably at most 0.2° and most preferably at most 0.1°.

6. Crimp die (101) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that within a plane parallel to the crimping direction (601) and perpendicular to the longitudinal ridge axis, a cross-section of the crimp die (101) essentially encompasses a circular arc and within this plane, the cross-section of the crimping ridge (111; 111'; 111") extends essentially from the center of the circular arc essentially in the crimping direction (601).

7. Crimp die (101) according to claim 6, characterized in that the circular arc spans at least 30°, more preferably at least 45°, even more preferably at least 60°, yet even more preferably at least 90°, and most preferably at least 135°.

8. Crimp die (101) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the ratio h_ip/h_t of the height h_ip (702; 702'; 702") of the intermediate portion (112; 112'; 112") to the total height h_t (701; 701'; 701") of the crimping ridge (111; 111'; 111") in the crimping direction (601), is in between 0.9 and 0.1, preferably in between 0.8 and 0.2, more preferably in between 0.7 and 0.3, even more preferably in between 0.6 and 0.4 and most preferably in between 0.55 and 0.45.

8. Crimp die (101) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the ratio w_ip/h_t of a width w_ip (703; 703'; 703") of the intermediate portion (112; 112'; 112") to the total height ht (701; 701'; 701") of the crimping ridge (111; 111'; 111") is in between 0.75 and 0.1, preferably in between 0.7 and 0.15, more preferably in between 0.65 and 0.2, even more preferably in between 0.6 and 0.25 and most preferably in between 0.55 and 0.275.

9. Crimp die (101) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the crimping ridge (111; 111'; 111") comprises an end portion (113') with end side walls (117'), whereby the end side walls (117') form an angle (801') in between 10° and 70°, preferably in between 15° and 65°, more preferably in between 20° and 60°, even more preferably in between 25° and 55°, and most preferably in between 30° and 50°.

10. Crimp die (101) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the end portion (113") is thickened as compared to the intermediate portion (112"), preferably whereby the ratio w_ip/w_ep of the width w_ip (703") of the intermediate portion (112") to the width w_ep (704") of the end portion (113"), is in between 0.9 and 0.1, preferably in between 0.85 and 0.2, more preferably in between 0.8 and 0.3, even more preferably in between 0.75 and 0.4 and most preferably in between 0.7 and 0.45.

11. Crimp die (101) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that within a plane parallel to the crimping direction (601) and perpendicular to the longitudinal ridge axis, a cross-section of the crimp die (101) does not comprise a B-shape.

12. Crimping apparatus (100) comprising at least one crimp die (101) according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 11.

13. Crimping apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising a wire crimp die (131), characterized in that the wire crimp die (131) comprises a wire crimp section (133) with a wire crimp surface (135) comprising essentially a B-shaped cross-section.

14. Method for crimping a contact terminal (200) to a cable insulation (403) or a seal member (300) comprising the following steps:

• Providing a crimping apparatus (100) according to any one of claims 12 to 13,

• Providing a contact terminal (200), with an insulation or sealing crimping portion (204),

• Providing an electrical cable (400) with a cable insulation (403), and/or

• Providing a seal member (300),

• Crimping the insulation or sealing crimping portion (204) of the contact terminal (200) to the cable insulation (403) and/or to the seal member (300) using a crimp die (101; 101'; 101") according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

15. Contact terminal (200) with an insulation or sealing crimping portion (204) crimped to a cable insulation (403) and/or to a sealing member (300) with a crimp die (101; 101'; 101") according to any one of claims 1 to 11.