GB2366096A

GB2366096A - Electrical connector box with two cable sealing means

Info

Publication number: GB2366096A
Application number: GB0118534A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Christopher John Kissane
Original assignee: TIMEGUARD Ltd
Current assignee: TIMEGUARD Ltd
Priority date: 2000-07-29
Filing date: 2001-07-30
Publication date: 2002-02-27
Anticipated expiration: 2021-07-30
Also published as: GB0018566D0; GB2366096B; GB0118534D0

Abstract

A twin-socket electrical connector has a lid 6 that closes onto a body-part 2 to define a watertight enclosure for socket(s) 4 and plug(s) 22. A Cable 23 exits the enclosure through port 15 which otherwise seals watertightly by flat face-to-face abutment together of resilient strips 19,20 carried by the lid 6 and body-part 2. Sealing integrity is maintained when there is a cable 23 by elements 24,25 which abut the strips 19,20, and which have conical grooves 26 of semi-circular cross-section. When the lid 6 is closed on the cable 23 the hollow elements 24,25 are squeezed around cable 23, and also onto one another and the strip elements 19,20. A lever 8 can move between an 'on' and 'off' position.

Description

<Desc/Clms Page number 1> Electrical Connectors This invention relates to electrical connectors.

The invention is particularly concerned with electrical connectors that have sealing against ingress of water. According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided an electrical connector having a lid that closes upon a body-part of the connector to define an enclosure with sealing between the lid and body-part against ingress of water into the enclosure, wherein a cable-port for enabling an electrical cable to exit the enclosure between the lid and the body-part involves first resilient sealing-means that comprises a pair of resilient elements which are carried by the lid and body- part respectively and which have surfaces that in the absence of an exiting cable between them, bear conformably upon one another for sealing as aforesaid at the cable-port, and wherein the cable-port includes second resilient sealing-means configured to receive a portion of a cable exiting the enclosure between said surfaces such that when the lid is closed onto the cable, there is resilient compression of the second sealing- means onto both the received portion of the cable and said first sealing-means to maintain integrity of said sealing at the cable-port. The electrical connector of the invention may have a socket of a plug-and-socket connection located within the enclosure, and the enclosure may then be adapted to house a plug engaged with the socket with its connection cable exiting the enclosure via the cable-port. Also, the electrical connector may include a switch for selectively isolating the connector electrically, and a lever for operating the switch that is selectively pivotable between a first position in which the switch is in its

'ON' condition and a second position in which it is in its isolating, ',OFF' condition. In these latter circumstances, it may be arranged that the lever obstructs opening of the lid when in its first position, and when in its second position, is clear of the lid to allow the lid to be opened. The lever when in its first position, may bear down on the lid to hold it closed.

The resilient elements of said first sealing means may be strips of resilient material that have flat edges which abut one another face to face when the lid is closed.

The second sealing means may comprise a further pair of resilient elements which are carried by the lid and body- part respectively and which cooperate with one another to define a passageway within which there is compression onto said portion of the cable when the lid is closed. The passageway may be of changing cross-section along its length, and the further pair of resilient elements may have respective grooves of substantially semi-circular cross-section that change progressively along their lengths to define said passageway with a substantially conical configuration.

An electrical connector in accordance with the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of the electrical connector in accordance with the invention, with its lid removed and showing a plug engaged with one of its twin sockets; Figure 2 is a plan view of the electrical connector of Figure 1 with the lid in place and locked closed by a padlock;

Figures 3 and 4 are, respectively, a front and side elevation of the electrical connector of Figure 2 with the padlock removed in Figure 3; Figures 5 and 6 are, respectively, sectional side elevations to enlarged scale of part of the electrical connector, the section of Figure 5 being taken on the line V-V, and the section of Figure 6 on the line VI-VI, of Figure I with the lid in place and closed; Figure 7 is a perspective view of the lid; and Figure 8 is a front elevation of two abutting sealing elements of a cable-port of the electrical connector; and Figures 9 and 10 are, respectively, a plan and sectional plan taken on the lines IX-IX and X-X of Figure 8.

The connector to be described with reference to the drawings is a twin-socket connector of a conventional three-pin 13-amp plug-and-socket connection for a mains electricity power supply.

Referring to Figures 1 to 6, the socket connector has a base plate 1 that is carried within an surrounding frame 2 of a mounting box 3. The plate 1 incorporates two three-pin socket outlets 4 that together with their individual switches 5 are located side by side with one another; provision for residual-current detection and fuse protection may also be made. A transparent protective lid 6 - omitted from Figure 1 and shown most clearly in Figure 7 - is mounted by hinges 7 (one only, shown in Figure 4) to the back of the frame 2 for closing down over the frame 2 to define a sealed enclosure containing the plate 1 with its socket outlets 4.

An electrical double-pole switch (not shown) is included in the assembly for isolating the socket outlets 4 from power supplied to the connector-box 3. A lever 8 for operating the switch is pivotally-mounted on the frame 2, being in this regard pivotable between an 'OFF' position as shown in Figure 1, in which the socket outlets 4 and their switches 5 are isolated electrically, and an "ON' position as shown in Figures 2 to 4 in which power is supplied to the socket outlets 4 via their switches 5.

In the 'OFF' position, the lever 8 extends sideways of the box 3 within a cut-out 9 of the lid 6 so that the lid 6 can be freely hinged open and closed. However, when the lever 8 is pivoted into the 'ON' position with the lid 6 closed, it bears on a bottom corner 10 of the lid 6. Accordingly, while power is supplied to the socket outlets 4, the lid 6 is held down by the lever 8 and cannot be opened. An interlock (not shown) between the lid 6 and the lever 8 ensures that the lever 8 cannot be moved into the "ON' position while the lid 6 is open.

The lever 8 is configured such that it just passes over an upwardly-projecting pin 11 of the lid 6 in moving to the 'ON' position, and can be locked in that position as illustrated in Figures 2 and 4 using a padlock 12. More particularly, the shackle 13 of the padlock 12 is threaded round the pin 11 to lie against a downwardly- projecting shoulder 14 of the underside of the lever 8, so that pivotal movement of the lever 8 from the 'ON' position is blocked by abutment of the shoulder 14 with the shackle 13 while the padlock 12 is engaged.

A substantially-watertight seal is formed between the lid 6 and the frame 2 when the lid 6 is held closed. Referring especially to Figures 1, 5 and 6, the seal is formed throughout the whole periphery of the plate 1 apart from at the locations of two cable-ports 15 in the front of the frame 2, by a resilient string 16 of

expanded-foam rubber that is inset into a gutter 17 of the frame 2. When the lid 6 is closed, a bead 18 on its underside presses into the string 16 throughout its full length around the periphery of the plate 1 between the ports 15.

Sealing at the ports 15 and directly between them, is effected by two foam-rubber strips 19 and 20 that are let into the front of the lid 6 and frame 2 respectively.

The strips 19 and 20 close onto one another with their flat edges face-to-face with one another, and are compressed tightly together when the lid 6 is closed. In the absence of cables exiting the enclosure through the ports 15, the squeezing of the strips 19 and 20 onto one another, together with the pressing of the bead 18 into the string 16, is adequate for watertight sealing. The lid 6 is held hard down by engagement of a snap-in clip 21 with the frame 2 so that the sealing against ingress of water to the enclosed socket outlets 4 is enhanced. The integrity of the watertight sealing is maintained when plugs such as the plug 22 shown in Figures I and 6, are engaged with either or both of the socket outlets 4. More particularly, the ports 15 allow the lid 6 to be closed onto any exiting cable, such as the cable 23 of the plug 22, without loss of watertight seal within them. In this regard, each cable-port 15 in addition to utilising the strips 19 and 20 for sealing, involves two resilient elements 24 and 25. The elements 24 and 25 are retained within the lid 6 and frame 2 abutting the outer, front faces of the strips 19 and 20 respectively, to abut one another face to face when the lid 6 closes.

The elements 24 and 25, as illustrated in Figures 8 to 10, are hollow blocks of very soft rubber that are each moulded with a groove 26 of increasing semi-circular cross-section running front to back of their abutting

faces. As the lid 6 closes, the elements 24 and 25 of each port 15 are brought together with their grooves 26 in register with one another so as to form a conical passage of progressively increasing diameter into the port 15. In the circumstances illustrated more particularly by Figure 5 where no cable enters the port 15, watertight sealing within the port 15 remains with the face-to-face abutment of the strips 19 and 20, but this is disrupted when a cable, such as the exiting cable 23 of the plug 22, extends through the port 15.

When, with the lid 6 open, the plug 22 is inserted in the socket outlet 4, the cable 23 in laid through the respective port 15 to extend across the flat abutment- face of the strip 20 and then along the groove 26 of the element 25 of that port 15. Closing of the lid 6 brings the strip 19 and element 24 down onto the strip 20 and element 25 respectively, and whereas the face-to-face abutment between the strips 19 and 20 for watertight sealing is established elsewhere, it is interrupted within the port 15 at the cable 23. Although the strips 19 and 20 are squeezed onto the cable 23 closely top and bottom, they tend to bulge away from it to leave a cusp- shape gap between them on either side.

However, the portion of cable 23 between the elements 24 and 25 is squeezed into the conical passage formed by their cooperating grooves 26. The conical configuration of the passage ensures that throughout a substantial range of variation of cable-diameter, the elements 24 and 25 bear conformably and resiliently on the cable 21 to provide a watertight seal with it. The squeezing of the elements 24 and 25 onto one another and the portion of cable 23 in the grooves 26, also acts to hold them tightly against the front faces of the strips 19 and 20 within the port 15, so that the integrity of the

watertight sealing of the enclosure is maintained overall.

opening of the lid 6 and removal of the plug 22, and in particular removal of its cable 23 from the port 15, restores the unintetrupted face-to face sealing of the strips 19 and 20 when the lid 6 has been closed again, sc that watertight sealing within the port 15 is transferred back to them alone.

The sealing string 16, the strips 19 and 20 and the elements 24 and 25 may all be of synthetic rubber, in particular all or some may be of a cellular nitrile or silicone rubber. The lid 6, and the frame 2 and box 3, may be of polycarbonate or polypropylene.

Claims

claims: 1. An electrical connector having a lid that closes upon a body-part of the connector to define an enclosure with sealing between the lid and body-part against ingress of water into the enclosure, wherein a cable-port for enabling an electrical cable to exit the enclosure between the lid and the body-part involves first resilient sealing-means that comprises a pair of resilient elements which are carried by the lid and body- part respectively and which have surfaces that in the absence of an exiting cable between them, bear conformally upon one another for sealing as aforesaid at the cable-port, and wherein the cable-port includes second resilient sealing-means configured to receive a portion of a cable exiting the enclosure between said surfaces such that when the lid is closed onto the cable, there is resilient compression of the second sealing- means onto both the received portion of the cable and said first sealing-means to maintain integrity of said sealing at the cable-port.
2. An electrical connector according to Claim 1 wherein a socket of a plug-and-socket connection is located within the enclosure, the enclosure being adapted to house a plug engaged with the socket with its connection cable exiting the enclosure via the cable-port.
3. An electrical connector according to Claim I or Claim 2 wherein the resilient elements of said first sealing means are strips of resilient material that have flat edges which abut one another face to face when the lid is closed.

<Desc/Clms Page number 9>
4. An electrical connector according to any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein the lid is hinged to the body-part.
5. An electrical connector according to any one of Claims 1 to 4 including a switch for selectively isolating the connector electrically, and a lever for operating the switch that is selectively pivotable between a first position in which the switch is in its 'ON' condition and a second position in which it is in its isolating, 'OFF' condition, the lever when in its first position obstructing opening of the lid and when in its second position being clear of the lid to allow the lid to be opened.
6. An electrical connector according to Claim 5 wherein the lever when in its first position bears down on the lid to hold it closed.
7. An electrical connector according to any one of Claims 1 to 7 wherein a resilient clip is engageable to urge the lid hard down closed.
8. An electrical connector according to any one of Claims 1 to 7 wherein the second sealing means comprises a further pair of resilient elements which are carried by the lid and body-part respectively and which cooperate with one another to define a passageway within which there is compression onto said portion of the cable when the lid is closed.
9. An electrical connector according to Claim 8 wherein the passageway is of changing cross-section along its length.
10. An electrical connector according to Claim 9 wherein the further pair of resilient elements have respective grooves of substantially semi-circular cross-section that

<Desc/Clms Page number 10>

change progressively along their lengths to define said passageway with a substantially conical configuration.
11. An electrical connector according to any one of Claims 8 to 10 wherein the resilient elements of said further pair carried by the lid and body-part abut respectively the resilient elements of said first sealing-means, carried by the lid and body-part.
12. An electrical connector according to Claim 11 wherein the resilientelements of said further pair are located in abutment with outer faces of the resilient elements of said first sealing-means.
13. An electrical connector according to any one of Claims 8 to 12 wherein the resilient elements of said further pair are hollow elements.
14. An electrical socket connector substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.