EP3723214A1 - Lamella contact and method for the production of same - Google Patents

Abstract

In order to produce the one lamellar contact (2) with as little effort as possible, it is proposed to create two through slots (D1, D2 ) to be introduced parallel to each other and in particular at right angles to a third through slot (D3) in its hollow-cylindrical plug-in area (21).

Description

The invention is based on a lamellar contact according to the preamble of independent claim 1.

Furthermore, the invention is based on a method for manufacturing a lamellar contact according to independent claim 1.

Such a lamellar contact is required in order to establish an electrically conductive connection to a mating contact, in particular a pin contact, for transmitting electrical energy.

State of the art

Lamella contacts are known in the prior art. Usually, they are formed from a substantially hollow cylindrical socket for plugging with a contact pin of a mating connector, several slots being made in the socket to increase its elasticity and thus lamellae being formed.

For example, from the publication EP 1 729 371 A1 such a lamellar contact is known. The receptacle is manufactured and machined to meet its holding function by forming a cylindrical receptacle from a blank, for example using a CNC machine for machining such as turning or milling, and providing it with a likewise cylindrical blind hole-like recess.

By means of a saw or another suitable tool, slots are then made in the region of the plug-in sleeve in which the recess is also formed. The number of slots should be at least two for reasons of reliability in the clamping effect amount, but four slots that intersect, for example, in a cross shape, are even more advantageous. The slots have a constant width over their axial length, ie the edges of the slots are each equally spaced from one another over the axial length.

After the preparatory machining, the plug-in sleeve thus has a plurality of wall sections separated by the slots in the region of the recess which, depending on the material thickness of the wall of the plug-in sleeve, have more or less elasticity.

The pamphlet EP 2 946 443 A1 discloses, inter alia, a lamellar contact with three axial, continuous slots and accordingly six lamellas. A method for its production is also disclosed.

The pamphlet US 6,899,572 B1 discloses a socket contact for mating with a pin contact. The socket contact has an axial bore and lamellae. Their shape is described in relation to the dimensions of the pin contact.

The pamphlet US 2004/0219843 A1 discloses a socket contact with a base and a plurality of tabs and an inwardly pressing, circular, concentrically arranged biasing spring which is arranged in an elliptical groove of at least one of the tabs.

The disadvantage of this prior art is that the manufacture of such lamellar contacts is still associated with an undesirably high manufacturing cost. In particular, the number of available work stations, hereinafter referred to as stations, into which the contact / lamellar contact can be brought in order to be processed in this position, is limited on rotary transfer machines. The production known in the prior art is therefore a burden many lamella contacts further production steps and thus the options of the entire design in an undesirable way.

Task

The object of the invention is therefore to reduce the cost of producing such lamellar contacts, in particular using rotary indexing machines, and to specify a method with which the work steps required for lamella formation and in particular the number of stations of a rotary indexing machine required for this are reduced. This object is achieved by the characteristics of the independent claims.

A lamellar contact consists of an at least slightly elastically deformable metal. It has a plug-in area with an essentially hollow-cylindrical basic shape. In the plug-in region of the lamellar contact, at least six elementary slots are furthermore formed by at least three axially extending through slots, namely a first, a second and a third through slot. As a result, at least six at least slightly elastically deformable lamellae are formed. These lamellae are used to produce an electrically conductive plug connection with a mating contact.

According to the invention, the first and the second through slot run parallel to one another.

In this context, axial means in the direction of the plug-in axis, i.e. in the plug-in direction.

In a preferred embodiment, the third through slot can be arranged at right angles to the first and second through slots. Alternatively or in addition, it can be arranged centrally to the cylindrical basic shape of the plug-in area. The latter means with In other words, that in this preferred embodiment the axis of symmetry of the hollow-cylindrical basic shape of the plug-in region runs through the third through slot. In contrast, the first and the second through slot are preferably arranged eccentrically, which means that they do not run through the axis of symmetry of the plug-in area.

1. A. Formen eines Kontakts mit einem hohlzylindrischen Steckbereich;
2. B. Einbringen der beiden zueinander parallelen, exzentrischen Durchgangsschlitze in den Steckbereich, wodurch im Steckbereich Lamellen gebildet werden, wodurch der Kontakt zum Lamellenkontakt wird;
3. C. Ändern der Position des Lamellenkontakts (2) in eine um die Steckachse (C) seines Steckbereichs (21) um einen Rotationswinkel gedrehte Position;
4. D. Einbringen eines dritten, zentrischen Durchgangsschlitzes in den Steckbereich.

A method for manufacturing the lamellar contact has the following steps:

1. A. Forming a contact with a hollow cylindrical mating area;
2. B. Introducing the two parallel, eccentric through slots in the plug-in area, whereby lamellae are formed in the plug-in area, whereby the contact becomes the lamellar contact;
3. C. Changing the position of the lamellar contact (2) into a position rotated about the insertion axis (C) of its insertion area (21) by an angle of rotation;
4. D. Introduction of a third, central through slot in the plug-in area.

It is clear to the person skilled in the art that process steps B and D can also be interchanged in the aforementioned process sequence. It goes without saying that the central through-slot can also be introduced into the plug-in area first and, after a rotation through 90 °, the two eccentric through-slots.

Further advantageous configurations of the invention are specified in the subclaims.

An essential advantage of the invention is that the effort and in particular the time required to produce such a lamellar contact is significantly reduced.

A particularly great advantage is that in this way at least one station on a rotary indexing machine on which the lamellar contact is made can be saved. It is clear to the person skilled in the art that rotary transfer machines only have a limited number of stations. The at least one saved station is thus available for other work steps. In certain constellations, this saving can even have the effect that a rotary indexing machine can process two contacts at the same time and thus even double its production capacity.

The lamellar contact can thus be produced with only little effort by means of a rotary indexing machine with which a large number of other necessary production steps can also be carried out, in particular even at the same time. This saves a considerable amount of process time for the reasons mentioned above.

The elementary slots can advantageously be arranged at equidistant intervals. In other words, the slats can be of the same size. As is clear to the person skilled in the art, this means a uniform and therefore particularly advantageous distribution of the insertion and contact forces both in the insertion process and in the inserted state.

As already mentioned, the first and the second through slot can each be arranged eccentrically to the cylindrical basic shape of the lamellar contact. In other words, the first and the second through slot can be arranged in such a way that the axis of symmetry of the hollow-cylindrical basic shape runs neither through the first nor through the second through slot. Rather, in a particularly preferred embodiment, the first and the second through slot can be arranged symmetrically opposite one another at the same distance from the said axis of symmetry and along the third cross the through slot at right angles to this through axle. This distance can in particular be selected so that all of the lamellae have the same elasticity.

In the above-mentioned process step A of the manufacturing process, at least one of the manufacturing techniques turning or milling can be used.

In method step B and method step D, at least one of the manufacturing techniques sawing or milling can be used.

Process step B can be carried out using a double cutting disc. This is particularly advantageous because it saves a separate production step and thus the production time required for it.

In order to produce the right-angled alignment of the third through-slot in relation to the two other through-slots, the angle of rotation used in method step C can be 90 °.

Method step C can be carried out in that the rotary indexing machine moves the lamellar contact into a station provided for it and / or rotates it around its plug-in axis. Alternatively or in addition, the milling cutter can also move relative to the lamellar contact into the correct position for generating the third slot, or a milling cutter can be used which is already in this position.

For the reasons mentioned above, the manufacturing method can particularly advantageously reduce its manufacturing effort on a rotary indexing machine and / or have a more complex design.

Embodiment

Fig. 1a, b, c

einen zentrisch geschlitzten Lamellenkontakt im Querschnitt und aus zwei Seitenansichten;

Fig. 2a, b, c

einen exzentrisch geschlitzten Lamellenkontakt im Querschnitt und aus zwei Seitenansichten.

An embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawings and is explained in more detail below. Show it:

Fig. 1a, b, c

a centrally slotted lamellar contact in cross section and from two side views;

Figures 2a, b, c

an eccentrically slotted lamellar contact in cross section and from two side views.

The figures contain partially simplified, schematic representations. In some cases, identical reference symbols are used for identical, but possibly not identical elements. Different views of the same elements could be scaled differently.

The Fig. 1a shows a centrally slotted lamellar contact 1 known from the prior art in cross section. This has a plug-in area 11 with a hollow cylindrical basic shape. It is easy to see that with three through slots D0, of which only one is designated in the drawing for reasons of clarity, six elementary slots E0 are created in the plug-in area 11, of which only three are designated for reasons of clarity. Through these elementary slots E0, six lamellae 12 are formed in the plug-in area 11. Furthermore, three main axes A, B, C oriented perpendicular to one another are shown. These serve to establish the relationship between the drawings 1a, b and c, the viewing direction running in the plugging direction, namely in the direction of the main axis C, in this first illustration. The main axis C thus represents the axis of symmetry of the hollow cylindrical basic shape of the plug-in area 11 and thus also the plug-in axis, which is therefore also provided with the same reference symbol C in the following. The through slots D0 of the centrally slotted lamella contact 1 run both in the direction of Through axle C as well as through the through axle C.

In the prior art, the plug-in area 11 of such a centrally slotted lamellar contact 1 can be slotted as follows during its manufacture:
First of all, the plug-in area 11 has a central through-slot D0, for example by sawing or milling, which thus runs both in the direction of the plug-in axis C and through the plug-in axis C. Two opposing elementary slots E0 are then formed through the through slot D0 in the plug-in area 11.

The lamellar contact 1 then rotates at an angle of 60 ° around its plug-in axis / the main axis C. Another through slot D0 can then be introduced in the same way into the plug-in area 11, thereby forming two further, opposing elementary slots E0.

The lamellar contact then rotates again by 60 ° around its plug-in axis C. A through slot D0 is now again introduced in the aforementioned manner, and thus the last two elementary slots E0, are introduced into the plug-in area.

The Figure 1b shows the lamellar contact 1, centrally slotted in this way, in a side view looking in the direction of the main axis A. It can be clearly seen that the resilient lamellae 12 are slightly bent towards one another towards their free ends. As a result, when a contact pin (not shown) is inserted, an insertion force acts between it and the lamellae 12.

The Figure 1c shows this lamellar contact in the same way, looking in the direction of the main axis B.

It is easy to see that this production technique requires an undesirably high expenditure of time.

The Fig. 2a shows, however, an eccentrically slotted lamellar contact 2 in cross section. This also has a plug-in area 21 with a hollow cylindrical basic shape. It is easy to see that with three through slots D1, D2, D3, six elementary slots E11, E12, E21, E22, E31, E32 are created in the plug-in area. By means of these elementary slots E11, E12, E21, E22, E31, E32, six eccentric lamellae 22 are formed in the plug-in area 21. Furthermore, the three main axes A, B, C oriented perpendicular to one another are also entered in this illustration, in order to establish the relationship between the drawings 2a, b and c in the above-mentioned manner. The two first through slots D1 and D2 of the eccentrically slotted lamellar contact 1 run parallel to one another. Furthermore, as can be seen particularly well in the following two figures, they run in the direction of the plug-in axis C. However, as can be clearly seen here, they do not run through the plug-in axis C. Since the first two through slots D1, D2 are aligned parallel to one another are, the edges of the associated slots E11, E12, E21, E22 also run parallel to one another. This is in the drawing when comparing the Fig. 1a and 2a particularly good to see.

Furthermore, the first D1 and the second D2 through slot are arranged opposite one another, each at the same distance from the plug axis C, symmetrically to this. They cross the third through slot D3 at right angles. The third through slot is designed centrally, that is to say runs through the plug-in axis C. The plug-in axis C is formed by the axis of symmetry of the hollow-cylindrical basic shape of the plug-in area 21.

The plug-in area 21 of such an eccentric lamellar contact 2 can be slotted as follows during its manufacture:
First, the plug-in area 21 has its central through-slot D3, for example by sawing or milling, which thus runs both in the direction of the plug-in axis C and through the plug-in axis C. The two opposing elementary slots E31, E32 are then formed by the through slot D3 in the plug-in area 21.

Then the eccentric lamellar contact 2 rotates through an angle of 90 ° about its axis of symmetry, i.e. the plug-in axis, ie the main axis C. The two further, eccentric through slots D1, D2 can then be introduced into the plug-in area 11, thereby forming four further eccentric elementary slots E11, E12, E21, E22. In one embodiment, this can be done in two separate manufacturing steps. In another embodiment, the two eccentric through slots D1, D2 are made in a single production step by means of a double cutting disc.

Of course, the sequence of the work steps can also vary meaningfully, i.e. e.g. the two eccentric through slots D1, D2, as described above, are also first introduced into the plug-in area 21 and, after the lamellar contact has rotated through 90 °, the central slot D3.

In any case, in the production of the eccentrically slotted lamellar contact 2, compared to the centrally slotted lamellar contact 1 discussed above, several production steps and thus a considerable amount of production time are saved.

The Figure 2b shows the eccentrically slotted lamellar contact 2 in a side view looking in the direction of the main axis A. It can be clearly seen that the spring-elastic lamellae 22 are slightly bent towards one another towards their free ends. As a result, when a contact pin (not shown) is inserted, an insertion force acts between it and the lamellae 22.

The Figure 2c shows this eccentrically slotted lamellar contact 2 looking in the direction of the main axis B.

Compared to the central lamellar contact 1, the eccentric lamellar contact 2 is functionally equivalent with less manufacturing effort.

Even if various aspects or features of the invention are each shown in combination in the figures, it is clear to the person skilled in the art - unless otherwise stated - that the combinations shown and discussed are not the only possible ones. In particular, corresponding units or feature complexes from different exemplary embodiments can be exchanged with one another.

List of reference symbols

1

centrally slotted lamella contact

11

centrally slotted plug-in area

12

centrically shaped slats

D0

centric passage slot

E0

centric elementary slots

2

Eccentrically slotted lamellar contact

21st

eccentrically slotted plug-in area

22, 22 ', 22 ", ...

eccentrically shaped slats

D1, D2

first, second eccentric through slot

D3

third through slot

E11, E12, E21, E22

eccentric elementary slots

E31, E32

centric elementary slots of the third through slot

A, B, C

Main axes of the lamellar contacts

Claims (11)

Lamellar contact (2), which consists of an at least slightly elastically deformable metal and has a plug-in area (21) with an essentially hollow-cylindrical basic shape, wherein in the plug-in area (21) of the lamellar contact (2) through at least three axially extending through slots (D1, D2, D3), namely a first (D1), a second (D2) and a third (D3) through slot, at least six elementary slots (E11, E12, E21, E22, E31, E32) and thereby at least six at least slightly elastically deformable lamellas (22 , 22 ', 22 ", 22"', 22 "", 22 '"") are formed to produce an electrically conductive plug connection with a mating contact, characterized in that
the first and the second through slot (D1, D2) run parallel to each other. Lamellar contact (2) according to Claim 1, characterized in that the third through slot (D3) is arranged at right angles to the first (D1) and to the second (D2) through slot. Lamellar contact (2) according to claim 2, characterized in that the third through slot (D3) is arranged centrally to the cylindrical basic shape of the plug-in area (21), so that the plug-in axis (C) of said hollow cylindrical basic shape of the plug-in area (21) through the third through slot (D3) runs. Lamellar contact (2) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the first (D1) and the second (D2) through slot are each arranged eccentrically to the cylindrical basic shape of the plug-in area (21). Method for producing a lamellar contact (2) according to one of the preceding claims, the method comprising the following steps: A. Forming a contact (2) with a hollow cylindrical plug-in area (21); B. Introduction of the two parallel, eccentric through slots (D1, D2) in the plug-in area (21), whereby lamellas (22 ', 22 "") are formed in the plug-in area, so that the contact is a lamellar contact (2) acts; C. Changing the position of the lamellar contact (2) into a position rotated about the insertion axis (C) of its insertion area (21) by an angle of rotation; D. Introduction of a third, central through slot (D3) in the plug-in area (21), whereby further lamellas (22, 22 ", 22"', 22 ""') are formed in the plug-in area (21). Method according to claim 5, wherein method step A uses at least one of the manufacturing techniques turning or milling. Method according to one of claims 5 to 6, wherein method step B and method step D use at least one of the manufacturing techniques sawing or milling. Process according to one of Claims 5 to 7, process step B being carried out by means of a double cutting disc. A method according to any one of claims 5 to 8, wherein the angle of rotation used in method step C is 90 °. Method according to one of Claims 5 to 9, the method being carried out by means of a rotary indexing machine. Method according to claim 10, wherein method step C is carried out in that the rotary indexing machine moves the lamellar contact (2) into a station provided for it and / or rotates it about its plug-in axis (C).

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