EP3639329B1 - Plug-in connector part with caulked contact elements and method for producing said plug-in connector part - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a plug connector part for plugging in connection with a mating connector part according to the preamble of claim 1 and a method for producing a plug connector part for plugging in connection with a mating connector part.

Such a connector part, which can be designed as a circular connector part, for example, has a housing part that includes at least one receiving opening. At least one electrical contact element is arranged in the at least one receiving opening, via which the connector part can make electrical contact with the associated mating connector part.

In the production of such a connector part, contact elements are to be arranged firmly on the housing part. The contact elements are to be fixed in a precise position on the housing part while maintaining low tolerances in such a way that the contact elements are held firmly on the housing part during use and, for example, forces acting when plugging in do not lead to the contact elements becoming detached.

To assemble a connector part, the cores of an electrical line must be connected to the contact elements. This is done, for example, via crimp connections, via which the line cores are connected to respectively assigned contact elements, in order then to fix the contact elements together with the line cores connected to them on the housing part.

Different methods for fixing the contact elements on a housing part are common nowadays. For example, the contact elements can be pressed into the housing part. Alternatively, the contact elements can be latched to the housing part and connected to the housing part in a form-fitting manner.

In general, there is a need, especially for those connector parts that only provide a small amount of space for the contact elements and therefore require close tolerances, to fix contact elements to a housing part in a reliable, simple and precisely positioned manner. Reliable fixing should also be possible in particular for line cores with a large conductor cross-section and the resulting high rigidity and load on the contact elements.

At one from the DE 20 2015 103 779 U1 known connectors are set flat contacts by caulking in an insulating material.

At one from the DE 10 2013 222 941 A1 known connector is a contact element caulked by pressing press-in pins with a housing. At one from the DE 10 2010 063 303 A1 known connectors, a contact element is connected to a housing by heat staking by caulking the housing at a fusion point.

U.S. 2016/164223 A1 discloses the features of the preamble of claim 1.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a connector part and a method for producing a connector part which enable assembly with reliable and precisely positioned hold of contact elements on a housing part and also simple handling.

This object is solved by an object with the features of claim 1.

Accordingly, the connector part comprises a caulking element arranged on the housing part, which can be moved in a pre-assembly state of the connector part along a caulking direction to the housing part and can be brought into interaction with a caulking section of the housing part by moving in the caulking direction, so that in an assembled state the at least one contact element the housing part is caulked.

One or more contact elements are thus attached to a housing part, for example an insulating body made of an electrically insulating material, in particular a plastic material, by caulking. This makes it possible to place the contact elements initially without force on the housing part by inserting the contact elements into the receiving openings provided for them on the housing part. The contact elements are then caulked to the housing part and thereby fixed to the housing part, so that the contact elements are fixed to the housing part in a resilient manner.

Due to the fact that the contact elements can initially be inserted without force into the receiving openings provided on the housing part, the contact elements can first be connected to the line cores of the line and then attached to the housing part together with the cable cores. Caulking can then be used to fix the contact elements on the housing part in one working step for all contact elements together, which in particular also makes it possible to handle comparatively stiff cable cores with a large cable cross section while still holding the contact elements firmly on the housing part while maintaining low tolerances.

The caulking is done by a caulking element that is arranged on the housing part. In a pre-assembly state, the contact elements can be inserted into the receiving openings on the housing part with essentially no force. The caulking then takes place by moving the caulking element towards the housing part in a caulking direction, as a result of which the caulking element interacts with a caulking section on the housing part and thereby caulks the contact elements with the housing part. The caulking thus takes place in a defined manner uniformly for all contact elements using the caulking element, which acts on the housing part to caulk the contact elements.

The connector part can be designed, for example, as a round connector part with an at least approximately round cross section. Correspondingly, the housing part, which is part of a contact insert of the connector part, for example, can have a cylindrical basic shape with an approximately round cross section. A plurality of receiving openings, in which the contact elements are to be received, can be arranged in the housing part, wherein the contact elements can be grouped on the housing part, for example, in such a way that they are arranged along a circle.

In one embodiment, the caulking section can protrude outwards from a lateral surface of the housing part, for example, in the pre-assembly state of the connector part. Because the caulking element is moved relative to the housing part, the caulking element acts on the caulking section and plastically deforms it in such a way that material is pressed into the area of a receiving opening in which a contact element is placed, so that the contact element is positively locked in the receiving opening and is firmly established. A positive and non-positive connection of one or more contact elements with the housing part is thus created by plastic deformation of the housing part, by means of which the one or more contact elements are fixed in a precise position on the housing part.

In one embodiment, the caulking element can be designed, for example, as a ring element that surrounds the housing part. The ring element thus surrounds the housing part in the manner of a sleeve and can be displaced towards the housing part in order to act on the at least one caulking section of the housing part and thereby caulk the contact elements arranged on the housing part with the housing part. The use of a uniform caulking element for caulking a plurality of contact elements with the housing part results in simple handling with a defined fixing of the contact elements on the housing part.

While the housing part is preferably made of an electrically insulating material and thus provides an insulating body on which the contact elements are arranged and electrically insulated from one another, the caulking element can be made of an electrically conductive material in one configuration, for example. A shielding conductor of a line connected to the connector part can be arranged on the caulking element, for example, so that the shielding conductor is electrically connected to the caulking element and can be contacted electrically with an associated mating connector part via the caulking element. The caulking element thus not only serves to fix the contact elements to the housing part during assembly, but also assumes an electrical function for contacting a shield conductor that is at ground potential.

In one embodiment, a plug-in section is formed on the housing part, which is used for the plugging connection to a mating connector part and has, for example, one or more contact openings that are aligned with the receiving openings of the housing part. The contact elements lie in the contact openings in such a way that by inserting the plug-in section into the associated mating connector part, electrical contact can be made between the contact elements and associated mating contact elements of the mating connector part. The plug-in section can also have an essentially cylindrical basic shape. In contrast, on the mating connector part, for example, a plug-in opening that is cylindrical in its basic shape can be formed in the manner of a socket.

The contact element can be designed in different ways. For example, the contact element can form a contact socket into which a mating contact element in the form of a contact pin can be inserted. Alternatively, the contact element also have the form of a contact pin which can be inserted into a contact socket.

The contact element can be designed as a turned part, for example. The contact element is thus made from a solid body by turning, wherein contact lamellae (which are elastically deformable to a certain extent to enable a contact pin to be inserted into a contact opening formed by the contact lamellae) can be separated from one another by sawing.

Alternatively, the contact element can also be designed as a rolled contact. Such a contact element consists of a stamped metal sheet that is rolled up to provide a socket geometry.

In each case, an electrical conductor can be connected to the contact element, for example by crimping.

The housing part, together with the caulking element, can be part of a contact insert, for example, which is accommodated in a housing of the connector part. The contact insert is to be arranged together with the line cores connected to the contact elements as a unit in the housing of the connector part, so that simple assembly is possible when using very different contact inserts on very different housings to provide connector parts with very different plug faces.

The object is also achieved by a method for producing a connector part for plugging connection with a mating connector part according to claim 9.

The advantages and advantageous configurations described above for the connector part also apply analogously to the method, so that reference should be made to what was explained above.

Fig. 1

eine Ansicht eines Ausführungsbeispiels eines Steckverbinderteils;

Fig. 2

eine Ansicht eines Kontakteinsatzes des Steckverbinderteils, in einem Vormontagezustand;

Fig. 3

eine Ansicht des Kontakteinsatzes in einem Montagezustand;

Fig. 4A

eine Seitenansicht des Kontakteinsatzes, in dem Vormontagezustand;

Fig. 4B

eine Schnittansicht entlang der Linie C-C gemäß Fig. 4A;

Fig. 5A

eine Seitenansicht des Steckverbinderteils, in dem Montagezustand;

Fig. 5B

eine Schnittansicht entlang der Linie D-D gemäß Fig. 5A;

Fig. 6

eine Ansicht eines anderen Ausführungsbeispiels eines Steckverbinderteils;

Fig. 7

eine Ansicht eines Kontakteinsatzes des Steckverbinderteils, in einem Vormontagezustand;

Fig. 8

eine Ansicht des Kontakteinsatzes, in einem Montagezustand;

Fig. 9A

eine Seitenansicht des Kontakteinsatzes, in dem Vormontagezustand;

Fig. 9B

eine Schnittansicht entlang der Linie A-A gemäß Fig. 9A;

Fig. 10A

eine Seitenansicht des Kontakteinsatzes, in einem Montagezustand; und

Fig. 10B

eine Schnittansicht entlang der Linie B-B gemäß Fig. 10A.

The idea on which the invention is based is to be explained in more detail below with reference to the exemplary embodiments illustrated in the figures. Show it:

1

a view of an embodiment of a connector part;

2

a view of a contact insert of the connector part in a pre-assembly state;

3

a view of the contact insert in an assembled state;

Figure 4A

a side view of the contact insert in the pre-assembly state;

Figure 4B

a sectional view along the line CC according to FIG Figure 4A ;

Figure 5A

a side view of the connector part, in the assembled state;

Figure 5B

a sectional view along the line DD according to FIG Figure 5A ;

6

a view of another embodiment of a connector part;

7

a view of a contact insert of the connector part in a pre-assembly state;

8

a view of the contact insert in an assembled state;

Figure 9A

a side view of the contact insert in the pre-assembly state;

Figure 9B

a sectional view along the line AA according to FIG Figure 9A ;

Figure 10A

a side view of the contact insert, in an assembled state; and

Figure 10B

a sectional view along the line BB according to FIG Figure 10A .

Figures 1 to 5A , 5B show a first embodiment of a connector part 1, which, as schematically in 1 illustrated, plugged into a plug-in direction E with a associated mating connector part 3 can be engaged in order to establish electrical contact between the connector part 1 and the mating connector part 3 .

The plug connector part 1 is designed as a so-called round plug connector, with a housing 10 that is at least approximately round in cross section. A line 11 with line cores 110 routed therein is connected to the housing 10 and is electrically connected to contact elements 23 on a housing part 21 of a contact insert 2, which forms a plug-in section 20 are connected, as is the case, for example, in Figure 4B is shown.

How out Figure 4B and 5B results, the contact elements 23 are received in receiving openings 210 of the housing part 21 . In this exemplary embodiment, the contact elements 23 are designed as turned parts and are inserted into the receiving openings 210 of the housing part 21 in such a way that the contact elements 23 with socket-shaped contact sections 230 rest in contact openings 200 of the plug-in section 20 and thus plug in via the contact openings 200 with associated contact pins of the mating connector part 3 and can be brought into electrical contact engagement.

At the rear of the contact openings 200, connection sections 231 connect to the contact sections 230, which are electrically contact-connected to line cores 110 of the line 11, for example by means of crimping.

The contact elements 23, which are distributed along a circle on the housing part 21 to one another, as can be seen, for example 2 results (see the arrangement of the contact openings 200 on the end face of the plug-in section 20) are fixed in the housing part 21 by caulking. For this purpose, a caulking element 22 is arranged on the housing part 21 in the form of a ring element, which surrounds the housing part 21 in a ring shape and from a pre-assembly state ( 2 ) into an assembly state ( 3 ) is movable to the housing part 21 to set the contact elements 23 within the receiving openings 210 in the assembled state.

In the pre-assembly state shown in 2 and Figures 4A and 4B , the contact elements 23 can be inserted into the associated receiving openings 210 of the housing part 21 essentially without force until the connecting sections 231 are inserted into the receiving openings 210 until they stop and the in Figure 4B take position shown in the housing part 21. In this pre-assembly state, this takes Caulking element 22 a rearward position on the housing part 21 and is in particular with an end portion 221 not with caulking portions 212 on the outside of the housing part 21 in interaction, such as this Figure 4B is evident.

If the contact elements 23 have been inserted into the receiving opening 210 on the housing part 21, the caulking element 22 is displaced in a caulking direction V on the housing part 21, as is the case in the transition from 2 to 3 is evident. As a result, the end section 221, which has a smaller inner diameter than other sections of the cylinder opening 220 of the caulking element 22, runs onto the caulking sections 212 on the outside of an outer lateral surface 211 of the housing part 21, so that the housing part 21 is plastically deformed in the region of the caulking sections 112 and material flows inwards into the Area of the receiving openings 210 is pressed, like this Figure 5B is evident.

Due to the fact that in the assembled state - shown in 3 and Figures 5A, 5B - Material thus protrudes behind the connection sections 231 of the contact elements 23 into the receiving openings 210, the contact elements 23 are positively and non-positively fixed within the receiving openings 210 and thus fixed in the housing part 21.

How out 2 results, the outer lateral surface 211 of the housing part 21 can be interrupted by indentations 213 . The caulking sections 212 are arranged on the outer lateral surface 211 in such a way that they are each associated with a receiving opening 210 so that material can be pressed into the region of the receiving openings 210 by plastic deformation on the plug-in sections 211 .

The conductors 110 of the line 11 are connected to the contact elements 23 before the caulking. The contact elements 23 can then be attached together to the housing part 21 and caulked together with the housing part 21 by adjusting the caulking element 22 .

While the housing part 21 is made of an electrically insulating material, in particular a plastic material, the caulking element 22 in the form of the ring element surrounding the housing part 21 is preferably made of an electrically conductive material, in particular a metal material. According to a further aspect, the caulking element 22 can be electrically connected, for example, to a shielding conductor 111, as is shown in Figure 4B is shown, so that the caulking element 22, in addition to its caulking function, also has an electrical function of the connector part 1 takes over and ensures electrical contacting of the shield conductor 111 of the line 11, which is at ground potential.

Once the contact insert 2 has been assembled with the contact elements 23 and the line cores 110 connected to them, and if necessary by connecting the shielding conductor 111 to the caulking element 22, the contact insert 2 can be inserted into the housing 10 of the connector part 1, in order in this way to disconnect the connector part 1 to complete.

The fact that the contact elements 23 are caulked to the housing part 21 results in simple assembly that can take place without the use of external tools. To caulk the contact elements 23 to the housing part 21, the caulking element 22 only has to be displaced on the housing part 21. The result is a firm hold of the contact elements 23 within the housing part 21 with possible compliance with even small tolerances.

While in the embodiment according to Figures 1 to 5A , 5B the contact elements 23 are designed as turned parts, in another, in Figures 6 to 10A , 10B illustrated embodiment, the contact elements 23 are made as so-called rolled contacts from a rolled stamped sheet metal.

Again, a caulking element 22 is arranged on a housing part 21 of a contact insert 2 of the connector part 1, which is designed as a ring element and surrounds the housing part 21 in a ring shape. The caulking element 22 can come from a pre-assembly state ( 7 ) into an assembly state ( 8 ) are moved in order to caulk the contact elements 23 in receiving openings 210 of the housing part 21 in this way.

9A, 9B show the contact insert 2 in the pre-assembly state. 10A, 10B show the contact insert 2 in contrast in the assembled state. By adjusting the caulking element 22 in the caulking direction V, the caulking element 22 acts on caulking sections 212 on the outside of the housing part 21 and thereby presses material into the receiving openings 210, so that material engages in fixing sections 232 in the form of notches on the contact elements 23, as illustrated Figure 10B is evident. In this way, the contact elements 23 are fixed in a positive and non-positive manner within the receiving openings 210 and are thus fixed in the housing part 21 .

Again, line cores can be connected to connection sections 231 of the contact elements 23 by crimping. The line cores are connected before the contact elements 23 in the housing part 21 are caulked, so that the contact elements 23 on the line cores can be inserted into the receiving openings 210 in the housing part 21 .

In the embodiment according to Figures 6 to 10A , 10B the connector part 1 extends in a straight line. In the embodiment according to Figures 1 to 5A , 5B the connector part 1 is angled in contrast. However, this is only to be understood as an example and in no way restricts the function of the connector part 1.

The caulking of the contact elements in the housing part can be done by cold caulking just by adjusting the caulking element.

The caulking element is adjustable relative to the housing part. In this case, the caulking element is not necessarily designed as a ring element, but can also have a different shape and can in particular also be movable in other ways, for example be rotatable on the housing part.

In addition, the connector part is not necessarily designed as a circular connector, but can also have a different shape.

Reference List

1

connector part

10

Housing

11

Management

110

wire

111

cable screen

2

contact insert

20

mating section

200

contact opening

21

housing part

210

intake opening

211

outer surface

212

caulking section

213

deepening

22

Mortising element (ring element)

220

cylinder opening

221

end section

23

contact element

230

contact section

231

connector section

232

Fixation Section (Indentation)

3

mating connector part

V

caulking direction

Claims (9)

1. Plug-in connector part (1) for plug-connecting to a mating plug-in connector part (3), having a housing part (21) which has at least one receptacle opening (210), having at least one electrical contacting element (23) which is disposed in the at least one receptacle opening (210), and having a caulking element (22) which is disposed on the housing part (21) and in a pre-assembled state of the plug-in connector part (1) is movable along a caulking direction (V) towards the housing part (21), and by moving in the caulking direction (V) is able to be brought to interact with a caulking portion (212) of the housing part (21) such that the at least one contacting element (23) in an assembled state is caulked to the housing part (21), characterized in that the housing part (21), by moving the caulking element (22) in the caulking direction (V), in the region of the caulking portion (212) is able to be plastically deformed in order for the at least one contacting element (23) to be connected to the housing part (21) .
2. Plug-in connector part (1) according to Claim 1, characterized in that the housing part (21) has a cylindrical basic shape.
3. Plug-in connector part (1) according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the caulking portion (212) in the pre-assembled state of the plug-in connector part (1) projects from a shell face (211) of the housing part (21).
4. Plug-in connector part (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the caulking element (22) is configured as an annular element that circumferentially encompasses the housing part (21) .
5. Plug-in connector part (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the housing part (21) is made from an electrically isolating material, and the caulking element (22) is made from an electrically conductive material.
6. Plug-in connector part (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a plug-in portion (20) for plug-connecting to the mating plug-in connector part (3) is disposed on the housing part (21), wherein the plug-in portion (20) has at least one contact opening (200) which is in alignment with the at least one receptacle opening (210) and in which is enclosed a contact portion (230) of the at least one contacting element (23).
7. Plug-in connector part (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the at least one contacting element (23) is configured as a turned part or as a rolled contact.
8. Plug-in connector part (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the housing part (21), conjointly with the caulking element (22), configures a contact insert (2) which is received in a housing (10) of the plug-in connector part (1).
9. Method for producing a plug-in connector part (1) for plug-connecting to a mating plug-in connector part (3), in which method at least one electrical contacting element (23) is disposed in at least one receptacle opening (210) of a housing part (21) of the plug-in connector part (1), and in which method, for caulking the at least one contacting element (23) to the housing part (21), a caulking element (22) disposed on the housing part (21) is moved in a caulking direction (V) towards the housing part (21) and as a result is brought to interact with a caulking portion (212) of the housing part (21) such that the at least one contacting element (23) in an assembled state is caulked to the housing part (21), characterized in that the housing part (21), by moving the caulking element (22) in the caulking direction (V), in the region of the caulking portion (212) is plastically deformed in order for the at least one contacting element (23) to be connected to the housing part (21).

Images