FR2871299A1 - INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONDUCTOR STRIPPING ACCESSORY AND SELF-CONDUCTING CONNECTION TERMINAL COMPRISING SUCH AN ACCESSORY - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a tool (100) for stripping at least one insulated electric conductor (10) which consists of a conductive core (11) and insulating jacket (12) comprises means (110) for cutting the insulating jacket on a given length in a direction substentially parallel to the conductor axis (X) and means for separating and removing (140, 150) said insulating jacket cut from each electric conductor outside said tool. The inventive cutting, separating and removing means are embodied in the form of one integral unit in such a way that they perfectly follow each other in a sequential manner.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD TO WHICH THE INVENTION REFERS

  The present invention generally relates to insulation displacement connectors.

  It relates more particularly to a stripping accessory of at least one insulated electrical conductor with conductive core and insulating sheath comprising, on the one hand, means for cutting the insulating sheath over a certain length in a direction substantially parallel to the axis. said conductor, and, secondly, means for separating and discharging outside said accessory of said insulated sheath cut from each electrical conductor.

  The invention finds a particularly advantageous application in the equipment of a so-called self-stripping connection terminal, whether it is a connection terminal intended to act in isolation, for example for the connection of an electrical conductor to another, or that it is a connection terminal which, being an integral part of the housing of any electrical equipment, or duly attached to this housing, is intended for the connection, to this apparatus, of a electrical conductors necessary for its service.

BACKGROUND

  The means for stripping an electrical conductor in the self-stripping connection terminals already known, are means for tearing, drilling or cutting the insulating sheath of the electrical conductor, in a direction substantially perpendicular or parallel to the axis of said driver.

  It may be a slot whose bottom forms a receiving housing of the conducting core of the conductor and provided with cutting lips extending perpendicularly to the axis of said conductor. This slot is secured to a cover adapted to close a receiving housing. The electrical conductor is housed partially in said receiving housing, then the cover is folded down thereon so that the slot straddles said electrical conductor. The electrical conductor then enters the slot, in a direction of introduction parallel to said cutting lips, and these cut and move locally the insulating sheath of said conductor in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the latter, so that a part of its conductive core is housed in the bottom of said slot and makes electrical contact with the terminal.

  It may be a metal tip that pierces the insulating sheath of the electrical conductor placed in a receiving housing, the drilling being carried out in a direction perpendicular to the axis of said conductor, so as to come into contact with the conductive core of said conductor for making the electrical connection.

  The main disadvantage of the above-mentioned insulating or drilling displacement means lies in the fact that they do not make it possible to achieve a clear separation of the insulating sheath with respect to the conductive core of the electrical conductor, and it may then remain , after stripping of the electrical conductor introduced into a connection terminal equipped with such stripping means, one or more chips (x) of insulating sheath between the conductor core of said conductor and the metal part of electrical connection of said terminal, the chips causing poor electrical contact between the conductor and said connection terminal.

  In addition, the introduction and stripping of the electrical conductor in the aforementioned connection terminals, require two separate actions of the installer, which is relatively complex and can take a significant time.

  Finally, it may be, as described in DE 196 35 872, knives which extend into an opening of introduction of the electrical conductor in the electrical terminal, according to the direction of introduction of said conductor so that said knives are able to cut the insulating sheath of the conductor in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of said conductor. In addition, in the connection terminal described in document DE 196 35 872, downstream of said insertion opening equipped with said knives, two diverging ducts are provided whose oblique wall allows the evacuation towards the outside of the chamber. insulating sheath. Downstream of these exhaust ducts, there is finally provided the receiving housing of the stripped conductive core where the electrical connection is established with the metal contact element of the terminal. The axis of this receiving housing is centered on the axis of the introduction opening.

  Such self-cutting connection terminal has however several disadvantages.

  This terminal consists of several assembled parts. It comprises a first part pierced with a cylindrical conduit of revolution forming the insertion opening of the insulated electrical conductor in which said knives extend and opening onto a frustoconical outlet whose oblique wall forms one of the oblique walls of each duct. 'evacuation. It furthermore comprises a second part provided with a frustoconical mouthpiece whose oblique wall forms the other of the oblique walls of each discharge duct, followed by a cylindrical duct forming the housing for receiving the stripped conductive core of the conductor. electric. Thus, it is necessary for these first and second parts to be perfectly aligned so that the stripping operation is performed correctly, which implies a complex realization of said terminal.

  In particular, if there is not perfect coaxiality between the two aforementioned parts of the terminal, it may happen that the portion of insulating sheath cut from the electrical conductor inserted in said terminal is not evacuated correctly by the conduits of evacuation but it is introduced into the receiving housing of the conductive core by causing a fault electrical contact between the electrical conductor and the metal contact member of the terminal.

  In addition, in this terminal, the knives are fixed rigidly to the body of the terminal. Thus the position of the knives is immutable and said knives can not absorb the dimensional tolerances of the insulating sheath and / or the conductive core of the electrical conductor to be connected.

  OBJECT OF THE INVENTION In order to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks, the present invention proposes a new stripping accessory as defined in the introduction, characterized in that the cutting means and the separation and evacuation means belong to the same single piece of so that there is perfect continuity between them.

  Other non-limiting and advantageous features of the stripping accessory 30 according to the invention are the following: it comprises downstream of said means for separating and discharging the downstream guide means of the stripped conductive core which belong to said integral part to which belong said cutting means and said separation and discharge means - said cutting means comprise, for each electrical conductor, at least one cutting lip extending substantially parallel to the axis of the electrical conductor; - The cutting means comprise two cutting lips 5 disposed substantially in V between which is defined an introduction slot of the electrical conductor; said separation and evacuation means are arranged in such a way that the separation and evacuation of the cut insulating sheath take place on either side of the axis of said electrical conductor; said separation and evacuation means comprise, for each electrical conductor, two ramps extending generally obliquely to the direction of insertion of each electrical conductor into said accessory, said ramps being divergent with respect to the 'other; - It consists of a cut and folded thin metal part comprising, for each slot, a branch formed by one of the cutting lips and one of the ramps extending in the continuity of said cutting lip and another branch formed by the other cutting lip and the other ramp which extends in the continuity of said cutting lip; - The branches of said metal part has a certain elasticity so that the spacing between the cutting lips of a slot may vary slightly to adapt to the outer diameter of the insulated electrical conductor to be stripped; - It is made of molded plastic; said downstream guide means comprise a circular orifice whose axis extends in the direction of insertion of the electrical conductor insulated in said accessory; it comprises upstream guiding means for each isolated electrical conductor towards said cutting means; said upstream guide means comprise a cylindrical duct 30 centered on the insertion direction of the electrical conductor isolated in said accessory; said upstream guide means belong to a cover to be attached to the front face of said accessory; and - it comprises latching means adapted to cooperate with complementary latching means provided on the outer face of a base of electrical equipment on either side of the terminal block of this apparatus.

  The invention also relates to an electrical connection terminal which comprises, downstream of a metallic electrical contact member, a stripping accessory according to the invention.

  DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT

  The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, given by way of non-limiting examples, will make it clear what the invention consists of and how it can be achieved.

  In the accompanying drawings: - Figure 1 is a rear perspective view of a first embodiment of the stripping accessory according to the invention Figure 2 is a front perspective view of the stripping accessory of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a side perspective view of the stripping accessory of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a front perspective view of a second embodiment of the stripping accessory according to the invention; - Figure 5 is a rear perspective view of the stripping accessory of Figure 4; FIG. 6 is a front view of FIG. 7; Figure 7 is a rear perspective view of the stripping accessory of Figure 4 to which said guide means of Figure 6 are attached; - Figure 8 is a rear perspective view of the guide means of the electrical conductors to report on the stripping accessory of Figure 4; and FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view from behind of electrical equipment showing its connection terminals to which the stripping accessory of FIG. 7 is attached.

  As a preliminary, it will be noted that from one figure to another, the identical or similar elements of the various embodiments of the invention will, as far as possible, be referenced by the same reference signs, and will not be described. Everytime.

  FIGS. 1 to 5 show two embodiments of a stripping accessory 100 of at least one insulated electrical conductor 10.

  This is in practice a rather rigid electrical conductor, conductive core 11 and insulating sheath 12. Of course, one can introduce in this stripping accessory 100 any type of insulated electrical conductor, flexible or rigid, single-strand or multi-strand. In a manner known per se, the conductive core 11 is made of metallic material such as copper wires, the insulating sheath 12 is an envelope of thermoplastic material.

  As shown particularly in FIG. 1, the electrical conductor 10 has an elongated cylindrical shape of revolution about the X axis. This stripping accessory 100 can advantageously equip a connection terminal 10 called a self-stripping connector that can be used to connect the electrical conductor. isolated to another conductor not shown (see Figure 1) or may be integral with a housing of an electrical equipment or be reported, to allow the connection of this equipment to the electrical conductor necessary for its service (see Figure 9 ).

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the stripping accessory 100 comprises, on the one hand, means 110 for cutting the insulating sheath 12 of the electrical conductor 10 over a certain length along a direction X 1 substantially parallel to the axis X of said electrical conductor, and, secondly, separation and evacuation means 140, 150 outside said stripping accessory of said insulating sheath 12 cut from said electrical conductor 10.

  According to a particularly advantageous characteristic of the stripping accessory 100, the cutting means 110 and the separation and evacuation means 140, 150 of the accessory belong to the same one-piece part, so that there is a continuity perfect between them.

  As shown more particularly in FIGS. 3 and 4, here the cutting means 110 comprise, for each insulated electrical conductor 10, two cutting lips 112, 113 arranged substantially in V between which is defined a slot 111 for introducing the electrical conductor 10. Each slot 111 extends along the axis X 1 introduction of the electrical conductor into said stripping accessory 100.

  The stripping accessory 100 shown in Figures 1 to 3 comprises two slots 111 for introducing two insulated electrical conductors 10 and the stripping accessory 100 shown in Figures 4 and 5 comprises six slots 111 for introducing six conductors. isolated electric.

  In addition, the separation and evacuation means 140, 150 of the stripping accessory 100 shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 are arranged in such a way that the separation and evacuation of the insulating sheath cut from each electrical conductor 'perform on both sides of the X axis of the electrical conductor.

  More particularly, here the separation and evacuation means 140, 150 comprise, for each electrical conductor, two ramps 140, 150 extending generally obliquely along the axes Y1, Y2 with respect to the direction of the introduction X1 of each electrical conductor in the slot 111 of the stripping accessory 100, these ramps 140, 150 being divergent relative to each other.

  It will be noted that the two ramps 140, 150 associated with each slot 111 have slightly curved surfaces which are connected continuously to said cutting lips 112, 113.

  According to the embodiment shown in Figures 1 to 3, the stripping accessory 100 consists of a thin metal part 1 cut and folded comprising, for each slot 111, a branch formed by one of the cutting lips 112 and one of ramps 140 extending in the continuity of this cutting lip 112 and another branch formed by the other cutting lip 113 and the other ramp 150 which extends in the continuity of this cutting lip 113.

  Each of the branches of the metal part 1 constituting the stripping accessory 100 is connected by a bend to a rear wall 2.

  According to a preferred characteristic of the stripping accessory 100 shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the branches of said metal part 1 have a certain elasticity so that the spacing between the cutting lips 112, 113 forming the insertion slot 111 of an insulated electrical conductor 10, may vary slightly to accommodate the outer diameter and the more or less oval shape of the insulated electrical conductor to be stripped.

  The stripping accessory 100 shown in Figures 4 and 5 is made of a single piece of molded plastic material. It also comprises a rear wall 2 which supports on the front face the ramps = 140, 150 which extend in the continuity of the cutting blades 112, 113.

  In addition, according to another advantageous characteristic of the stripping accessory 100 shown in Figures 1 to 5, it comprises downstream means of separation and discharge 140, 150, downstream guide means 160 of the conductive core stripped of each insulated electrical conductor, these downstream guide means 160 belonging to said monoblock part 1 to which also belong said cutting means 110 and said separation and evacuation means 140, 150.

  Here, these downstream guide means comprise for each insulated electrical conductor a circular orifice 160 formed in the rear wall 2 of the stripping accessory 100, this circular orifice 160 having an axis coincident with the insertion direction X1 of the isolated electrical conductor 10 in said stripping accessory 100.

  In particular, as shown in FIG. 1, when the stripping accessory 100 equips one or more connection terminals 10, each circular orifice 160 constituting the downstream guiding means is positioned in front of the inlet of the receiving receptacle. each connection terminal 10.

  Moreover, as shown in FIGS. 6 to 8, advantageously, the stripping accessory 100 may comprise upstream guiding means 201 of each isolated electrical conductor towards the cutting means 110.

  As shown more particularly in FIG. 6, these upstream guide means here comprise, for each insulated electrical conductor, a cylindrical duct 201 centered on the insertion direction X1 of the electrical conductor insulated in said stripping accessory 100.

  According to the typical case shown in FIG. 8, these upstream guide means 201 belong to a cover 200 attached by snapping onto the front face of the stripping accessory 100.

  In addition, as shown more particularly in FIG. 9, the stripping accessory 100 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 equipped with the cover 200 comprises latching means adapted to cooperate with complementary latching means provided on the external face. a base 20 of an electrical equipment on either side of the terminal block 21 of this apparatus.

  It will be noted that the stripping accessory 100 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is particularly suitable for allowing the stripping of six insulated electrical conductors, namely three electrical conductors supplying the electrical equipment located in the base 20 and three conductors. for the transplanting of each of the terminals to serve other electrical equipment of the same type.

  The stripping accessory 100 shown in the figures, associated with one or more connection terminals, operates in the following manner.

  One end of the electrical conductor 10 cut is engaged in the upstream guide means 201 so that the cut end face of the conductor, leaving exposed the conductive core 11, is positioned against the cutting lips 112, 113 of the accessory 100. Then the insulated electrical conductor 10 is pushed along the X1 axis in the corresponding slot 111 of said stripping accessory 100, and the cutting lips 112, 113 cut out the insulating sheath 12 of this insulated electrical conductor 10 on both sides. other of its X axis over a certain length so as to strip locally this insulated electrical conductor 10. Simultaneously with the cutting, the insulating sheath 12 cut is separated and discharged to the outside of the stripping accessory 100 by sliding on the ramps 140, 150. The stripped conductive core 11 of the electrical conductor 10 then engages in the circular orifice 160 provided in the rear wall 2 of the stripping accessory. 100 and is guided to terminal 10; 21 corresponding. This denuded conductive core 11 introduced into the terminal may be blocked by a conventional non-represented locking member which may be an automatic assembly member of the terminal and the conductor.

  Due to the perfect continuity between the ramps 140, 150 and the cutting lips 112, 113 corresponding, there is no risk that the insulating sheath 12 cut does not escape outwards and is introduced into the circular orifice 160 provided for guiding the conductive core 11 to the corresponding terminal. In addition, advantageously the width of the slot 111 defines between the pair of corresponding cutting lips 112, 113 adapts to the dimension and the more or less oval shape of the insulated electrical conductor 10 to be connected.

  The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described and shown, but the skilled person will be able to make any variant within his mind.

Claims (1)

11 CLAIMS   Stripping accessory (100) of at least one insulated electrical conductor (10) with a conductive core (11) and insulating sheath (12) comprising, on the one hand, means for cutting (110) the insulating sheath ( 12) over a certain length in a direction substantially parallel to the axis (X) of said conductor, and, on the other hand, separation and evacuation means (140, 150) outside said accessory of said insulated sheath cut out of each electrical conductor, characterized in that the cutting means (110) and the separating and discharging means (140, 150) belong to the same one-piece piece so that there is a perfect continuity between them .   2. Stripping accessory according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises downstream of said means for separating and discharging (140, 150) downstream guide means (160) of the stripped conductive core belonging to said monoblock part to which belong said cutting means and said separation and evacuation means.   3. stripping accessory according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that said cutting means comprise, for each electrical conductor, at least one cutting lip (112, 113) extending substantially parallel to the axis ( X) of the electrical conductor.   4. Stripping accessory according to claim 3, characterized in that the cutting means comprise two cutting lips (112, 113) disposed substantially in V between which is defined a slot (111) for introducing the electrical conductor.   5. stripping accessory according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said means of separation and evacuation (140,150) are arranged so that the separation and evacuation of the insulating sheath cut is done from and other of the axis (X) of said electrical conductor.   6. stripping accessory according to claim 5, characterized in that said means of separation and evacuation (140,150) comprise, for each electrical conductor, two ramps (140,150) extending generally obliquely to the direction of introducing (X1) each electrical conductor into said accessory, said ramps being divergent with respect to each other.   7. Stripping accessory according to claims 4 and 6, characterized in that it consists of a thin metal piece (1) cut and folded comprising, for each slot, a branch formed by one of the cutting lips (112) and one of the ramps (140) extending in the continuity of said cutting lip (112) and another branch formed by the other cutting lip (113) and the other ramp (150) which extends in the continuity of said cutting lip (113).   8. stripping accessory according to claim 7, characterized in that the branches of said metal piece (1) has a certain elasticity so that the spacing between the cutting lips (112,113) may vary slightly to adapt to the outer diameter electrical conductor isolated to strip.   9. Stripping accessory according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that it is made of molded plastic material.   10. Stripping accessory according to one of claims 2 to 8, characterized in that said downstream guide means comprise a circular orifice (160) whose axis extending in the insertion direction of the electrical conductor isolated in said accessory.   11. Stripping accessory according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises upstream guide means (201) of each isolated electrical conductor to said cutting means.   12. Stripping accessory according to claim 11, characterized in that said upstream guide means comprise a cylindrical duct (201) centered on the insertion direction of the electrical conductor insulated in said accessory.   13. stripping accessory according to one of claims 11 or 12, characterized in that said upstream guide means (201) belong to a cover (200) to report on the front of said accessory.   14. stripping accessory according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises latching means adapted to cooperate with complementary latching means provided on the outer face of a base (20) d ' electrical equipment on both sides of the terminal block (21) of this apparatus.   An electrical connection terminal which comprises downstream of a metallic electrical contact member a stripping accessory (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 13.