FR2692081A1 - Quick connect electrical distribution device. - Google Patents

Abstract

Electrical distribution device consisting of a horizontal rail (1), elongated and of constant section, intended to support an electrical cable (8), and by at least one box (3) intended to be fixed in a removable manner at any point along said rail. According to the invention, said rail (1) a mounting plate (5) and said housing (3) comprises a lower part having a cross section in the general shape of an inverted U so as to form a groove (6) in which s 'engage said mounting plate (5) from the rail, and a cam (20) is pivotally mounted and can be manually actuated so that it can be pivoted in one direction to wedge said mounting plate (5) to the rail in said groove (6), and to establish an electrical contact by perforation of the insulation of the cable.

Description

ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION DEVICE

QUICK CONNECT

  The present invention generally relates to an electrical distribution device with quick connection which is constituted by a horizontal rail, elongated and of constant section, intended to support electrical conductors, and by at least one housing intended to be fixed detachably. along

of said rail.

  The invention can be applied to distribution

low tension.

  It is known practice to install rails which run along the walls in any dwelling or room and to have boxes along these rails at will containing electrical sockets.

  make a final installation of the electrical wires

  power supply plugs, these electrical wires passing in or along the rails, and then fix the plugs in the desired location, in a desired number, these plugs can be easily connected to the wires

  along the rails We can later-

  ment remove at least one of these sockets or move it on the rail By electrical socket, we generally mean all connectable elements, electrically connected either to electric power supply wires, or to special cables allowing 'convey electromagnetic waves, any analog or digital electrical signals, optical signals, etc. These known devices are generally called electrical distribution devices In the most frequent case where the voltage in the electrical wires does not exceed the voltage of low voltage power supply, these devices can be called

  low voltage electrical distribution devices.

  Their application can be industrial or domestic.

  The known electrical distribution devices have the drawback that the operations necessary to effect the mechanical fixing of a housing to the rail and the electrical connection of the terminals of the socket included in the housing and of at least one of the electrical wires running along the rail are complex operations On the other hand, if one wishes to remove a box fixed and connected to a rail or if one wishes to move this box along the rail, it is generally necessary to intervene on the electric wire (s) which were initially connected to this box in order to restore the continuity of the electric wire (s) or to restore their electrical insulation, essentially at the level of the initial location of the box. Another disadvantage lies in the fact that it is necessary to at least partially extract the electric wires which run along the rail in order to examine them (to check their color or their size) in order to connect the right electrical wires to the right terminals of the socket which is included in the box This results in risks of connection errors, a relatively long time for handling and installing the boxes on the rail as well as a certain deterioration of the electrical wires running along the rail due to the fact that we are

  forced to spread them slightly to control them.

  On the other hand, the electrical wires which run along the rail cannot be fixed permanently in a very rigid manner, for example these wires cannot be glued

to the rail over their entire length.

  An object of the present invention to provide a dispensing device which allows a removable attachment of a housing on a rail, this removable attachment can be easily operated, while being particularly effective, simple,

  aesthetic and inexpensive to make.

  Another object of the present invention to provide such a device for performing, in a single mounting operation, the mechanical fixing of a housing on a rail as well as the electrical connection of at least one wire running along the rail with at

  minus an electrical terminal included in the housing.

  Another object of the present invention consists in proposing such a device making it possible to avoid any manipulation or intervention at the level of the wire or wires.

along the rail.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide such a device in which the conductors are included in parallel in a sheath

  insulator of roughly flat shape.

  According to an essential characteristic of the invention, there is provided an electrical distribution device, constituted by a horizontal rail, elongated and of constant section, intended to support electrical conductors, and by at least one housing intended to be fixed so removable at any point along said rail, wherein said rail comprises a base and a mounting plate which projects substantially vertically upwards from said base; and said housing comprises: an upper part including an electrical outlet means, a lower part comprising a rear wall and a front wall parallel to the rear wall, this lower part thus having a cross section in the general shape of an inverted U so as to form a groove in which engages said rail mounting plate when said housing is removably attached to said rail, and a cam pivotally mounted on said front wall, housed in a window formed in said front wall and whose the cam surface opens into said groove in the lower part of the housing, said cam being able to be actuated manually from the front of the housing so as to be able to pivot in one direction so as to further open into the groove said cam surface so as to clamping said rail mounting plate in said groove and being able to pivot in the other direction afi n to release said plate from

rail mounting.

  According to another characteristic of the invention, the pivot axis of said cam is substantially horizontal and parallel to said front wall of the lower part of the housing, the cam surface has a profile around the pivot axis of the cam so that the cam surface opens further into said groove when the cam is turned in the direction which corresponds to a downward movement of the cam surface part which opens into the groove, and the cam is provided with a handle which is protruding on the front of the housing, this handle serving to manually actuate the cam in the direction of its raising to fix the housing on the rail and in the direction of its lowering to release the housing

of the rail.

  According to another characteristic of the invention, said rear wall of the lower part of the housing comprises at least one point-shaped electrical contact element which passes through said rear wall and the tapered part of which opens into said groove, this electrical contact element being electrically connected to a terminal of said electrical outlet means, and said rail mounting plate has on its rear face a profiled electrical cable, so that when the housing is mounted on the rail the tapered point comes opposite with a wire conductor of the electric cable and when, in this position, the cam is actuated to fix the housing to the rail, the mounting plate of the rail is pushed in the direction of the tapered tip so that the tapered tip enters the sheath and electrical conductor insulation to establish a

electric contact.

  These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be better

  understood during the detailed description which follows

  of embodiments illustrated by the appended figures among which: FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a dispensing device according to the present invention, on which one can see a part of a rail, a first box installed on the rail and a second housing separate from the rail; Figure 2 is a front view of part of the device shown in Figure 1, in which the housing is arranged above the rail in a position which precedes its mounting on the rail; Figure 3 is a sectional view along line I-I of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a front view similar to Figure 2 but in which the housing is mounted on the rail; Figure 5 is a sectional view along line II-II of Figure 4; Figure 6 is a sectional view of an alternative embodiment of the invention; and Figure 7 is a sectional view of another

  variant embodiment of the invention.

  In Figure 1, there is a part of a rail 1, a first housing of a first type 2 which is mounted on the rail 1 and a second housing of a second type 3 which is located near the rail 1 in a position which precedes its mounting on the rail 1 The boxes 2 and 3 differ only in the type of electrical outlet they include. The rail 1 is a profile which has a cross-section in general L shape. More precisely, the rail 1 comprises a base 4 which has the general shape of an elongated flat strip arranged substantially horizontally and a mounting plate 5 which has the general shape of an elongated flat strip arranged substantially vertically The housings 2 or 3 likewise have a lower part essentially comprising a groove 6 in which is housed the mounting plate 2 of the rail 1 when the housing is mounted on the rail 1 The structure of the housing will be described in more detail below On the rear face 7 of the a mounting plate 5 of the rail 1 is fixed a multicore flat cable 8 which is thus

  arranged parallel to the rail 1 over its entire length.

  Rail 1 can be in one or more sections, the sections being connected end to end in any known way (not shown) and the electrical wires of the multiconductor cable being continuous or interconnected in any known way Rail 1 is generally arranged against or in the vicinity of a wall of a dwelling or any room and is fixed to the ground, to the wall or to an intermediate piece in any known way Conventional corner pieces (not shown) can be provided in the corners of the room to connect two rails

  identical 1 along two perpendicular walls.

  In Figure 2, there is a front view of a portion of the rail 1 of Figure 1 and the housing 3 of Figure 1, this housing 3 being disposed above the rail 1 in a position which precedes its mounting on the rail 1 Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of the rail 1 and the housing 3, along line II of Figure 2 In Figure 3, there is a vertical wall 10 which belongs to the room in which one wishes to install the distribution device according the invention as well as a chute 11 (shown schematically in phantom) The chute 11 can be of any shape and can be fixed on the floor, on the wall or on any other intermediate piece The chute 11 is generally used to contain and guiding electrical cables while rigidly supporting the rail 1 It is also understood that the rail 1 can be an integrated part of the chute 11 The chute 11 is not part of the distribution device according to the invention and can in cer in any case not to be associated with this device If the chute 11 is absent, the rail 1 can be fixed directly to the ground or to an intermediate piece itself fixed to the ground or to the wall 10 In general, the rail 1 is rigidly fixed to the level of its lower surface 12 of its base 4 or can be integrated with any support The housing 3 comprises

  an upper part 14 and a lower part 15.

  The upper part 14 includes an electrical connection means 16 which can be of any model and function, for example an electrical outlet base The lower part 15 comprises a rear wall 17 and a front wall 18 which is parallel to the rear wall 17 The lower part 15 thus has a cross section in the general shape of an inverted U, so as to form the groove 6 in which the mounting plate 5 of the rail 1 engages when the housing 3 comes to be mounted removable on the rail 1 The multiconductor cable 8 is of relatively flat shape, that is to say it is in the form of an elongated strip, which allows its easy fixing, for example by clipping or by gluing against the rear face 7 of the mounting plate 5 of the rail 1 The multi-conductor cable 8 can however be mechanically fixed by any other means to the mounting plate 5, this mechanical fixing being able to be removable or demon table The cable 8 can contain at least one electric wire but generally comprises at least three or more electric wires, for example five electric wires, as shown in FIG. 3 On the front wall 18 of the lower part of the housing 3, is pivotally mounted a cam which is housed in a window 21 formed in this wall 18 The cam surface 22 opens into the groove 6 of the lower part 15 of the housing 3, and the cam further comprises a lever 22 which is located outside the housing 3, at the front thereof Cam 20 can pivot around an axis 23 which is substantially horizontal and parallel to the front wall 18 Cam 20 can pivot by turning approximately 90 between a first position (shown in Figure 3) in which the lever 20 is lowered and projects substantially horizontally towards the front of the housing 3 and a second position (shown in Figure 5) in which the lever e st raised and extends substantially vertically In the first position which is shown in FIG. 3, it can be seen that the cam surface 21 does not or practically does not engage in the groove 6 of the housing 3 This makes it possible to be able to mount the housing 3 on the rail 1 by lowering the housing 3 so that the assembly constituted by the mounting plate 5 of the rail 1 and by the multi-conductor cable 8 glued to the rear of the mounting plate 5 engages in the groove 6 which corresponds to the space which separates the rear wall 17 and the front wall 18 from the lower part 15 of the housing 3. In FIGS. 4 and 5, we see the housing 3 which is mounted on the rail 1 and we see that the handle 22 has been raised in order to rotate the cam 20 by about

    counterclockwise.

  This pivoting of the cam 20 causes the cam to push (to the left in the sectional drawings) the mounting plate 5 of the rail 1 so that the multi-conductor cable 8 comes to bear against the rear wall 17 of the housing 3 The dimensions of the entire mechanism can be determined so that, in this assembled position, the cam 20 exerts a permanent force for clamping or pinching the mounting plate 5 and the multi-conductor cable 8 in order to constitute a rigid fixing of the housing 3 to the rail 1 A certain elasticity of the rear wall 17 and of the front wall 18 easily makes it possible to carry out such a pinching in order to establish a rigid connection

  removable from housing 3 on rail 1.

  After the assembly constituted by the mounting plate 5 and the multi-conductor cable 8 is engaged in the groove 6, the fact of rotating the cam 20 anticlockwise by raising the lever 22 until its vertical position (up to the position shown in FIG. 5) causes the multiconductor cable 8 to approach the rear wall 17 On the rear wall 17, an electrical contact element 26 is arranged which ends in the shape of a tapered point. electrical contact element 26 passes right through the rear wall 17 so that its part in the shape of a tapered point opens into the groove 6 During the assembly operation, the bringing together of the multiconductor cable 8 of the wall 17 has the consequence that the tapered tip of the electrical contact element 26 pierces the cable 8 by piercing its insulating outer layer and also pierces the insulation of one of the conductive wires 27 of the cable 8 which st arranged opposite the electrical contact element 26 This causes electrical contact between the conductive wire 27 and the electrical contact element 26 The rear part of the electrical contact element 26 is connected, via 'an electrical connection piece 28, to one of the electrical terminals 29 of the socket outlet 16 which is mounted inside the upper part 14 of the housing 3 In fact, more than one element is generally provided electrical contact 26; in general, 2 or 3 electrical contact elements are provided in the same housing 3 In fact, most electrical sockets or other connection means intended for establishing electrical contacts by plug-in comprise more than one conductive element to be connected, in particular 2 or 3 separate conductive elements For the sake of clarity, a single electrical contact element 26 has been shown, but it can easily be understood that other electrical contact elements can be arranged similarly at the rear wall 17 of the housing 3 , while being spaced apart from each other by a sufficient distance to ensure their electrical isolation and while being respectively connected to corresponding terminals of the electrical socket 16 housed in the upper part 14 of the housing 3 The assembly operation of the housing 3 on the rail 1 then causes the simultaneous connection of the different terminals of the socket 16 with the different corresponding electric wires

multicore cable 8.

  In FIG. 4, the shape of the handle 22 can be distinguished when the latter is in its raised or vertical position. This particular shape given by way of example in this embodiment is not essential for the operation of the mechanism but it has a functional and aesthetic advantage which will now be described. The handle 22 is integral with the cam 20 and, when it is in the vertical position (as shown in FIG. 4), ll has a general shape of a T whose length of the horizontal bar of the T corresponds to the overall width of the housing 3 and the thickness of the vertical bar of the T corresponds to the width of the cam 20 To explain this otherwise, it can be said that the handle 22 has an enlarged shape which allows this lever, when in the raised or vertical position, to occupy substantially all the space which separates the upper part 14 of the housing 3 and its lower part which comprises essential Lely two side parts 32, 33 which are integral with the rest of the housing 3 and which support the two opposite ends of one pivot shaft 23 which passes right through the lower part of the lever 2 (which also corresponds to the part front of the cam 20) in order to constitute the articulation of the cam 20 It can be seen that under these conditions, a housing 3 can be easily arranged, the front face 35 of the upper part 14, the front face 36 of the lever 22 when this is raised or vertical as well as the front face 37 of the parts 32, -33 which constitute the supports of the articulation axis of the cam 20 are three faces which are preferably planar and substantially in the same plane, this in order to constitute a relatively flat and continuous front face of the housing 3 This arrangement is advantageous from the point of view of its aesthetics and of its protection with respect to the risks of introduction of foreign bodies to

inside the mechanism.

  To remove a box 3 from the rail 1, simply grasp the lever 22 by the sides and lower it (so as to bring it into the position which is shown in FIG. 3), then push towards the wall 10 the box 3 so as to separate the multi-conductor cable 8 from the rear wall 17 in order to release the tapered point or points which pierce the cable 8 and finally to extract the box 3 upwards. The multi-conductor cable 8 keeps its integrity and practically all its electrical insulation qualities after a box 3 has been mounted on the rail 1 and it has then been removed from the rail 1 In fact, as is known per se, the outer insulation layer of the cable can close almost completely after removal

  of the tapered point that pierced it.

  Figures 3 and 5 further distinguish another part of the mechanism which is not essential to the operation which has been described above but which constitutes a possible variant of an embodiment or an improvement of the present invention. This complementary part consists essentially of a part which is, in known manner, included in a conventional female electrical socket, this part constituting a shutter flap 40 The shutter flap (known per se) is housed in the electrical socket 16, is in a position in which it masks the terminals contact plug when no male plug is inserted in the socket and retracts when the

  male plug is plugged into the female plug.

  According to this variant of the present invention, the displacement of the shutter 40 is advantageously used when a plug is engaged in the socket 16. In fact, a control rod 41 is provided, one end of which is rigidly connected to the shutter 40 and the other end of which 42 cooperates with the cam 20 so that, when a male connector 43 is not inserted, the control rod 41 releases the cam 20 so that this cam can be actuated manually in order to fix the housing 3 on the rail 1 or in order to release it from the rail 1, and when the male plug 43 is inserted in the female plug 16, the end 42 of the control rod 41 locks the cam 20 In its locked position, the cam 20 cannot be actuated and remains in the position which is shown in FIG. 5 If, in this position, the housing 3 is not mounted on a rail 1, this housing 3 cannot be mounted there since it does not is not possible a lower the lever 22 beforehand, and if this box 3 is already mounted on the rail 1, it cannot be removed for the same reason of

  the impossibility of lowering the lever 22.

  In Figure 6, there is shown another alternative embodiment of the present invention In this other variant, the housing 3 no longer contains an electrical outlet (such as that 16 which is housed in the housing shown in Figures 2 to 5) but this housing 3 only supports a continuous electrical connection terminal 45 This variant can be used for example in the case where it is wished to connect an electrical appliance to the housing 3, in an irremovable manner This type of electrical connection is encountered for example for the connection of electric radiators whose power is too high compared to that which is permitted for connection by plug-in socket In this case, the housing 3 preferably further comprises a cover or cover 46 which forms a substantially vertical wall coming from

  hide the upper part 15 of the housing at the front 3.

  The cover 46 improves the aesthetics of the housing 3 and insulates and protects the interior of the housing. The electrical wires of the cable 47 open into the interior of the housing 3 by passing through the connector 45 and each of these wires is connected to a terminal. 48 itself connected in a similar manner to what has been described previously by means of a connection element 49 to one of the electrical contact elements 26 mounted in the part

lower 15 of the housing 3.

  The variant embodiment which is shown in FIG. 7 shows that such a housing 3 can be mounted on a rail 1 without the function of establishing electrical contacts between electrical wires and terminals of a socket contained in the housing 3 is not carried out Indeed, it may be useful to also have on a rail 1 (with or without a multiconductor cable 8) a housing 2 which does not have an electrical outlet but which allows to support a connection means any electrical (not shown) using electrical wires 52 which come from a cable 53 which is not disposed along the rail 1 but which for example comes from a chute located under the rail 1 Indeed, certain electrical wires , for example telephone cables, optical fibers or other specialized electrical connections, do not have the characteristics allowing their arrangement in the form of the multi-conductor cable 8 which has been described above in relation to FIGS. 1 to 6 In this case, it is still possible to install a box 3 similar to the box described above, and in particular one can use the same mechanical fixing method of the box 3 on the rail 1 (c that is to say the mechanism using the cam 20) In this case, the housing 3 may include a front cover 54 serving to close off the upper part 14 of the housing 3 and which may possibly serve as a support for a special socket, intended for the

  connecting the conductive wires 52.

  Through all the exemplary embodiments which have been described above, one can notice a great similarity of shapes in the essential parts which constitute the distributed electrical distribution device, namely the housing 3, the rail 1 and the multiconductor cable 8, the contacting mechanism by tapered tip 26 as well as the removable fixing mechanism 20 These similarities of shapes make it possible to envisage a set of housings 3 which have a coherent aesthetic and which differ only in the nature of the

  electrical outlet which is included in each box 3.

  It is possible, for example, to provide a box 3 intended to contain a female electrical supply socket or a 220 V socket outlet socket, a telephone socket or a TV antenna socket and another housing 3 intended to support an electrical connection.

irremovable 45.

  One of the features of the present invention resides in the fact that the device for fixing the housing 3 to the rail 1 comprises a mechanism which, outside of its actuation, allows, in a single operation (which consists simply in raising the lever 22 of the cam 20) to obtain the mechanical fixing of the housing 3 on the rail 1 and the simultaneous establishment of the various electrical connections between the electrical wires contained in the multiconductor cable 8 and the terminals 29 of the electrical outlet (or of the connector

fixed 45).

  As can be seen in Figures 2 to 7, the lower end of the front wall 18 of the housing 3 has a tapered portion projecting forward which is intended to come to engage in a notch 51 formed in the vicinity of the front edge of the base 4 of the rail 1 During the operation which consists in raising the lever 22, the housing 3 moves to the right with respect to the rail 1 (in the figures) and the tapered end 50 comes engage in the notch 51 in order to contribute to the rigid fixing of the housing 3 on the

rail 1.

  To complete the housing 3, there is further provided a bottom wall 55 extending generally vertically so as to constitute a single substantially closed volume, the upper part 14 of which serves to house the electrical socket and the lower part of which serves to enclose the rear part of the tip-shaped electrical contact element 26, behind the rear wall 17 of the lower part of the housing, and the electrical connection 28 of this electrical contact element 26 with a terminal 29 of the socket electric 16 The box 3 is thus more rigid and forms effective protection for the elements it contains.

Claims (4)

  1 electrical distribution device, consisting of a horizontal rail (1), elongated and of constant section, intended to support an electrical cable (8), and by at least one housing (3) intended to be fixed in a removable manner in a any point along said rail, characterized in that: said rail (1) comprises a base (4) and a mounting plate (5) which projects substantially vertically upward from said base; said cable consists of one or more insulated conductors included in parallel in a flat insulating sheath; and said housing (3) comprises an upper part (14) including an electrical outlet means (16), a lower part (15) comprising a rear wall (17) and a front wall (18) parallel to the rear wall, this lower part thus having a cross section in the general shape of an inverted U so as to form a groove (6) in which engages said mounting plate - (5) of the rail when said housing (3) comes to be fixed in a removable manner on said rail (1), and a cam (20) pivotally mounted on said front wall (18), housed in a window formed in said front wall and the cam surface (21) of which opens into said groove of the part lower of the housing, said cam (20) being able to be actuated manually from the front of the housing so as to be able to pivot in one direction so as to open more into the groove (6) said cam surface (21) so as to fix by jamming lad ite mounting plate (5) of the rail in said groove (6) and able to pivot in the other direction in order to release the   housing (3) of said rail mounting plate (5).   2 Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the pivot axis (23) of said cam is substantially horizontal and parallel to said front wall (18) of the lower part (15) of the housing and in that the surface of cam (21) has a profile around the pivot axis of the cam so that the cam surface (21) opens further into said groove (6) when the cam is turned in the direction which corresponds to a movement towards the bottom of the cam surface part (21) which opens into the groove (6), and in that the cam is provided with a handle (22) which is protruding on the front of the housing (3), this lever being used to manually actuate the cam in the direction of its raising to fix the box on the rail and in the direction of its lowering to release the box from the rail. 3 Device according to claim 2, characterized in that said rear wall (17) of the lower part (15) of the housing comprises at least one electrical contact element (26) in the shape of a point which passes through said rear wall (17) and the tapered part of which opens into said groove (6), this electrical contact element being electrically connected to a terminal (29) of said electrical outlet means (16), and in that said mounting plate (5) of the rail has on its rear face (7) a profiled electrical cable (8), so that, when the housing is mounted on the rail, the tapered tip (26) comes opposite with a conductive wire (27) of the electrical cable (8) and when, in this position, the cam is actuated to fix the housing to the rail, the mounting plate (5) of the rail is pushed in the direction of the tapered tip (26) so that the tapered tip enters the insulation electric cable for establish electrical contact.   4 Device according to claim 3, characterized in that said electric cable (8) comprises at least two insulated electric wires, the electric cable having a relatively flat strip shape, one face of which comes to bear against the rear face (7) of said mounting plate (5) of the rail in   being glued or mechanically attached thereto.   Device according to claim 4, comprising a socket outlet or socket (16) provided with a shutter flap (40), characterized in that a control rod (41) is provided, one end of which is connected to said shutter and the other end of which (42) cooperates with said cam, so that, when a male plug (43) is inserted in the female plug (16), said control rod (41) locks the cam and, when the male plug is not inserted, the control rod (41) releases the cam so that it can be actuated manually to fix the   housing on the rail or to release it from the rail.   6 Device according to any one of   previous claims, characterized in that said   housing includes a terminal (45) for fixed connection with an electrical appliance, said terminal replacing said electrical outlet (16), the housing further comprising a front plate (46) sealing the housing   intended to receive said electrical outlet normally.   7 -Device according to any one of   claims 3 to 5, characterized in that said   housing further comprises a bottom wall (55) extending generally vertically so as to constitute a single substantially closed volume, the upper part (14) of which serves to house said electrical outlet and the lower part (15) of which serves to enclose the rear part of said point-shaped electrical contact element (26), behind said rear wall (17) of the lower part of the housing, and the electrical connection (28) of this electrical contact element (26) with a terminal (29) of said electrical outlet (16).