FR2605807A1 - ELECTRICAL CONTACT BAR, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SUCH A BAR AND ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR COMPRISING THE SAME - Google Patents

Abstract

THE BAR, USED FOR CONNECTION CONNECTORS, CONSISTS OF A STRIP FOLDED ON ITSELF IN THE MIDDLE, INCLUDING A CENTRAL ZONE 14 FORMING THE CONNECTION TRACK AND LEGS 16, 16A SURROUNDING EACH SIDE OF THE CENTRAL ZONE, DISTRIBUTED WITH REGULAR AND CAMBERED INTERVALS SO THAT TWO SYMMETRIC LEGS RELATIVE TO THE CENTRAL ZONE CONSTITUTE A FEMALE CONTACT, AT LEAST ONE OF THE LEGS HAVING AT LEAST ONE CUT FINGER AND FOLDING INWARD TO IMMOBILIZE A MALE CONTACT INSERTED INTO THE CONTACT FEMALE.

Description

Electrical contact strip. manufacturing process

  of such a bar and electrical connector comprising

both application.

  The present invention relates to the general field of electrical connection connectors and it finds a particularly important application in

  the connectors intended to receive finished plugs

  the wires to connect to each other. Such connections

  They are widely used in aeronautics: they consist of an insulating box containing female electrical contacts. Each of these contacts is designed to receive a male terminal contact of a wire. The female contacts intended to receive a lead (or more) and corresponding starting leads are

  connected together by short-circuit elements

  manent. Often the insulating boxes are reduced to

  molded modules mounted on rails provided in an ar-

central moire.

  The very large number of connections to be made in many installations, and in particular on large-capacity commercial aircraft, leads to the search for a

  unit price as low as possible for con-

  tacts. But at the same time it is necessary that the insert-

  tion and removal of the wire terminal contacts can be carried out quickly and easily and the terminal contacts, once inserted, are retained

definitely.

  To this end, the invention proposes in particular a strip of female electrical contacts connected to each other constituted by a strip folded back on itself in the middle, comprising a central zone forming a connecting track and tabs projecting from each side of the central zone. , distributed at regular intervals and

  arched so that two symmetrical legs relative to

  port to the central zone constitute a female contact, at least one of the legs having at least one cut finger and folded inwardly to immobilize a

  male contact inserted into the female contact.

  The term "bar" should be interpreted broadly and as well as covering the case of a

  element of flat form as that of a coiled element

corn.

  The invention also provides a method of

  brication of such a bar, according to which, success

  sively: a flat strip of metal strip is cut to form, on each edge, legs each having an oblique finger, the said legs are arched to give them a semi-cylindrical shape in

  a direction such that the legs are directed inward

  laughing at the camber; and fold the strip in the middle to form a female contact from

  each pair of corresponding legs.

  Each leg advantageously comprises two

  fingers with the free ends facing each other,

  putting to imprison a collar or protrusions

of a male terminal contact.

  In the strip are advantageously made a middle row of holes embodying the fold line, and two lateral rows of holes staggered relative to the central holes and coming

juxtapose when folding.

  The invention finally proposes a connector made

  modular, including a material box

  insulating line pierced with several rows of holes for introducing the contacts of a strip opening into a rear cavity for receiving the strip of each strip section and corresponding to a row

  holes and possible jumpers for short-circuiting

  circuit of several contacts, said cavity possibly

  be filled with potting insulating material.

  The invention will be better understood on reading

  the following description of a particular mode of realization

  sation given as an example. Description refers

  in the accompanying drawings, in which: - Figure 1 is a plan view of a strip intended to produce a bar by the method according to the invention, after cutting and before bending; - Figure 2 shows a section of the strip of Figure 1 in the state it occurs after folding the strip and bending the legs; - Figure 3 is a section along line III-III of Figure 2; - Figure 4 is a top view of Figure 2; - Figure 5 is an elevational view in partial section showing a connector according to a particular embodiment of the invention, only one of the female contacts being shown with the male contact which cooperates with it; - Figure 6 is a sectional view along line VI-VI of Figure 5, showing a possible mode of short-circuiting contacts belonging to different rows, using jumpers; - Figure 7 is a bottom view of Figure 5, showing a possible embodiment of connections between female contacts on a connector

three rows.

  We will first describe the manufacturing process.

  tion of a contact strip from a strip of material commonly used to form contacts

  electrical, such as beryllium copper. The bars-

  rettes can be made in any length

  but often it will be beneficial to provide a number of con-

  tacts by bar allowing to obtain by cutting up

  contact groups equal in number to those who

  can be connected together in a connector.

  The first operation to be carried out consists in cutting a strip 10 of generally symmetrical constitution around a central line 12 in the strip. After cutting, the bar blank obtained is in the form of a central zone 14 extended on each side by legs 16 and 16a. These tabs are distributed at regular intervals and the tabs 16a are directly opposite the tabs 16. Three rows of holes are made in the strip 14. The holes 18, placed at the

  center of the strip, halfway between successive legs

  ves, are intended to facilitate subsequent folding. The holes and 20a, placed in line with the tabs 16 and 16a, are equidistant from the central row 18. They are placed one above the other after folding the strip and make it possible to improve the retention of the contacts , as we

will see it further.

  All the legs 16 and 16a have the same shape.

  Their parts intended to be arched have a width such that they are contiguous, to the nearest cutting interval. In these parts 22 are cut two fingers or tongues 24 and 26, the free parts of which face each other, slightly folded so as to project from the rest of the strip. The spacing between the free ends of the fingers 24 and 26 is chosen as a function of the flange or the projection of the male contacts 27 which must be inserted and retained in the

  female contacts of the terminated strip (figure 5).

  This wide part of each tab is connected to the strip 14 by an area having one or more constrictions. In the case illustrated in Figure 1, a first constriction 28 is provided immediately behind the wide part to allow its bending. A second constriction 30 is provided at the connection with the strip 14 and makes it possible to easily cut one or more legs or to form the bottom

of a contact.

  The length of the part between the two throttles 28 and 30 will depend on the diameter to be given to the

female contact once completed.

  It will often be advantageous to give each leg a constriction 32 between the fingers 24 and 26. This constriction constitutes the border between the area of the female contact which will constitute the socket (at the base of the

  contact) and the part that will constitute the retaining clip.

  The next manufacturing operation is to

  arch the legs to give them the half section

  circle that appears in Figures 3 and 4. This arching

  can be done in a simple way on automatic presses

  ticks, several legs at a time.

  The following operation, which can be inverted with the previous one, consists in folding the blank obtained around the center line 12, to apply the two halves of the strip 14 one against the other and arrive at the bar shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4. In the illustrated embodiment, it can be seen that the part forming an elastic locking clip has a smaller thickness than the part forming a sleeve, from the neck 32. This arrangement is however not essential. Strip sections of the type shown in FIG. 2 to 4 can be inserted into a connector housing 34 of the type shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. In FIG. 5 are shown only one of the female contacts and a section of the strip 14. Each contacts is provided to be housed in a stepped passage 36 of the housing 34, generally made of molded material. All the passages open into a cavity 30 for receiving

  the strip 14, having a depth less than the dis-

  tance between the contacts and the midline 12. Each stepped passage may include a shoulder 40 for supporting the

  constricted 32 of the female contact which is housed there.

  The housing shown in Figures 5 and 6 is of modular construction. It has recesses and a lateral projection in which is formed a dovetail groove 42 for retaining. Modules of the kind shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, having any number of parallel rows, can be glued

  and mounted on the same fixing rail.

  The electrical connection between all the contacts in the same row can be ensured by the strip which connects them. The strip sections each corresponding to one of the rows can be short-circuited by welded jumpers, such as that shown at 44 in FIG. 6. Once these junctions have been made, the cavity-38

  can be filled with poured potting material.

  The connector strips according to the invention allow great flexibility of implementation. One can for example, as in the case illustrated in FIG. 7: - provide three rows of parallel female contacts, each occupying a fraction of the length of the connector, the contacts of each row remaining connected together by their strip section 14; - place another set of three contacts in the form of a crossbar section at 46;

  - fold up a section of bar of six

  tacts, so as to maintain an electrical connection between these six contacts, then removing the middle tabs at location 48 by truncation at the level indicated in

in figure 1.

Claims (7)

  1. Female electrical contact strip   interconnected, characterized in that it is cons-   formed by a band folded in on itself in the middle, comprising a central zone (14) forming a connecting track and tabs (16, 16a) projecting from each   side of the central area, distributed at regular intervals   tied and arched so that two legs symmetrical with respect to the central zone constitute a female contact, at least one of the legs having at least   a finger cut and folded inwards to immo-   activate a male contact inserted into the female contact.   2. Bar according to claim 1, character-   in that each leg has two fingers whose   free ends are opposite, allowing imprisonment-   ner a flange or protrusions of a male terminal contact.   3. Bar according to claim 1 or 2, ca-   characterized in that in the strip are made a middle row of holes embodying the fold line, and two lateral rows of holes staggered relative to the central holes and coming juxtapose when folding.   4. Bar according to claim 2, character-   in that each leg has a constriction (32)   in the area between your fingers.   5. Bar according to any one of the claims   previous cations, characterized in that each tab has a wide part constituting the contact and an at least locally choked part for connection with the strip. 6. Method of manufacturing a bar according to   any of the preceding claims, charac-   terized in that, successively, a flat strip of metal strip is cut to form, on each edge, legs each having an oblique finger, the said legs are arched to give them a semi-cylindrical shape in a direction such that the legs are directed towards the interior of the camber; and the strip is folded in the middle to form a female contact from each pair of corresponding tabs. 7. Connector, characterized in that it comprises   an insulating material housing pierced with several   holes for insertion of the contacts of a strip   according to any one of claims 1 to 5, the   holes opening into a rear cavity for receiving the strip of each strip section corresponding to a row of holes and possible jumpers for   short circuit of several contacts, said cavity can   before being filled with potting insulating material.