TW202005192A - Contact device with a spring fork - Google Patents

Abstract

A contact device comprises a housing (2) and an electrically conductive spring fork (1) which can be inserted in the housing (2) in a mounting direction (M) and fixed to the housing (2) in a mounting position, and which comprises a base portion (10), a first contact leg (11) extending from the base portion (10), and a second contact leg (12) extending from the base portion (10) for providing an electrical contact. It is provided that the spring fork (1) has a first fixing device (15) physically arranged between the first contact leg (11) and the second contact leg (12), and the housing (2) has a second fixing device (25), wherein the first fixing device (15) and the second fixing device (25) are configured to create a form-fit connection between the spring fork (1) and the housing (2) for fixing the spring fork (1) to the housing (2) in the mounting position. In this way, a contact device is provided which allows simple mounting of the spring fork with a secure and firm hold in the mounting position.

Description

Contact device with spring fork

The present invention relates to a contact device according to the preamble of technical solution 1.

This contact device includes: a housing; and a conductive spring fork that can be inserted into the housing in a mounting direction and fixed to the housing in a mounting position. The spring fork includes a base portion, a first contact leg extending from the base portion, and a second contact leg extending from the base portion for providing an electrical contact.

The contact device may be, for example, a portion of a baseband through which terminals can be provided on a circuit board. Here a mating contact element can be inserted into a terminal opening formed in the housing in order to thereby make an electrical connection with the electrical contact formed by the spring yoke, wherein for this purpose the contact leg must be designed such that It is elastically deflectable, at least to a certain extent, so that the contact legs bear an elastic preload on the assigned counterpart contact element for electrical connection.

In the case of this contact device, for installation, the spring fork is inserted into the housing and fixed to the housing in the installation position. Here it is expected that the spring force is fixed in or on the housing in all spatial directions, ie in the mounting direction and in a plane perpendicular to the mounting direction, so that the spring fork is held in the housing in a fixed and reliable manner on.

It must be noted here that there may be tolerances on both the spring fork and the housing. Despite the tolerances, the spring yoke should be held on the housing as reliably as possible with minimal clearance.

The object of the present invention is to provide a contact device which allows the spring fork to be simply mounted on the housing, while the spring fork is firmly and firmly held in the housing in the installation position.

This objective is achieved by a device having the features of technical solution 1.

Accordingly, the spring fork has a first fixing device physically disposed between the first contact leg and the second contact leg, and the housing has a second fixing device. The first fixing device and the second fixing device are structurally designed to produce a form-fit connection between the spring fork and the housing for fixing the spring fork to the housing in the installation position.

The spring fork and the housing therefore each include a fixing device. When the spring fork is inserted into the housing, the fixing devices are used to create a form-fit connection between the spring fork and the housing. Through the cooperation of the fixing devices, the spring fork is held by at least one spatial direction relative to the housing by a form fit, wherein due to the physical configuration between the contact legs, the fixing occurs between the legs and thus It is locally concentrated, which allows a gap-free fixation even when tolerances exist.

The spring fork, for example, is formed as a metal stamping part and extends in a substantially flat manner in a plane spanned by the mounting direction and a depth direction oriented perpendicular to the mounting direction. In this case, the contact legs arranged on the base portion also extend along the plane, and preferably spring elastically in the plane (for example, in the depth direction); therefore, in order to generate and allocate For an electrical connection of the mating contact elements, the contact legs can be deflected by at least a certain distance in order to be supported on the assigned mating contact elements under elastic preload in the contact position. Here, the mating contact element can be received between the contact legs in the insertion position such that the contact legs are supported on the mating contact element on both sides.

In one embodiment, the first fixing device is formed on the base portion of the spring fork. The spring fork is preferably formed as a single piece and integrally formed with its contact leg, the base portion and the first fixing device, for example as a metal stamping part.

In one embodiment, the first contact leg and the second contact leg are spaced apart from each other in a depth direction extending perpendicular to the mounting direction, and extend parallel to each other in the mounting direction. Here, the fixing devices can be particularly structurally designed such that when the spring fork is in the installation position on the housing, a form-fit connection is created for fixing the spring fork relative to the housing in the depth direction. Therefore, the spring fork is held and secured relative to the housing in the depth direction via the fixing devices.

The form-fit connection can be produced in particular in such a way that when the spring fork is inserted in the housing, the first fixing device is positively engaged with the second fixing device in the mounting direction. When the spring yoke is inserted in the housing, a positive fit between the fixing devices is thus automatically generated for fixing the spring yoke in the depth direction, because the fixing devices are engaged with each other in the mounting direction.

For example, when the spring fork is placed on the housing, engagement may occur because one of the engagement openings of one of the fixing devices engages with a yoke portion of the other fixing device. For example, the first fixing device of the spring yoke may form an engagement opening defined by a pin-shaped fixing portion, the pin-shaped fixing portions and the yoke portion formed on the casing when the spring yoke is placed on the casing The form-fit engagement makes it possible in this way that the spring fork is fixed relative to the housing in the depth direction. However, it is obvious that a kinematically opposite configuration of an engagement opening on the second fixing device with the housing and a yoke portion on the first fixing device of the spring fork is also conceivable.

In one embodiment, at least one locking lug is formed on the base portion for fixing the spring fork to the housing in the mounting direction. For example, when the spring fork is placed on the housing, one or more locking lugs can protrude laterally from the flat base portion and engage with a portion of the housing, so that in this way a positive fit is produced in the mounting direction and The spring fork is therefore fixed relative to the housing in the mounting direction.

In order to fix the spring yoke relative to the housing in a lateral direction perpendicular to the flat extension of the base portion, one or more engaging portions may be formed on the base portion and configured, for example, in the depth direction On opposite edges of the base portion, and in the mounting position of the spring yoke, the portions are engaged in assigned engagement openings of the housing, so that the spring yoke is therefore also fixed relative to the housing in the lateral direction.

Therefore, in the installation position, the spring yoke is reliably held and fixed to the housing in all spatial directions, preferably without gaps, so that the push-fit connection between the contact device and the allocated counterpart contact element At this time, no relative movement occurs between the spring fork and the housing, and a reliable electrical connection can be generated between the spring fork and the mating contact element.

In one embodiment, the housing has a body and a terminal opening formed therein for the push-fit connection of the contact device and a push-fit connector fitting. The push-fit connector counterpart can be inserted into the terminal opening to create an electrical connection with the spring fork in the housing, and in this way (for example) connect a wire to the contact device and thus connect to the assigned to An assembly of the contact device (for example, a circuit board).

Opposite the terminal opening, a mounting opening may be formed on the housing, and the spring fork is inserted into the mounting opening for mounting on the housing. Therefore, observing the opening of the terminal, the spring fork is inserted into the rear of the housing in the mounting direction so as to be fixed in the housing in a form-fitting manner.

The contact device may, for example, be part of a baseband or the like, which may be configured, for example, on a circuit board to provide terminals for connecting wires or other electrical push-fit connectors on the circuit board. Here, the electrical connection of the contact device and the circuit board can occur via one or more contact pins of the spring fork, which are inserted into the assigned contact openings of the circuit board (for example) and can be soldered to the circuit board in the contact openings . Therefore, the spring fork is electrically connected to the circuit board, so that the push-fit connection counterpart can be electrically arranged on the circuit board by being inserted into the contact device.

FIGS. 1-9 show an exemplary embodiment of a contact device, which includes a spring fork 1 (FIG. 1) and one of the housings 2 (FIG. 2) into which the spring fork 1 is to be inserted.

The spring fork 1 forms an electrical contact element, which includes a base portion 10 and contact legs 11, 12 extending from the base portion 10 in a longitudinal direction Z. The contact legs 11, 12 extend parallel to each other in the longitudinal direction Z, are spaced apart from each other in a depth direction Y, and are elastically deflectable relative to each other in the depth direction Y-at least over a certain distance, so that the contact device can be contacted via The legs 11, 12 are electrically connected to an assigned counterpart contact element 4 (FIG. 9).

The contact legs 11, 12 each carry an inwardly directed contact lug 110, 120, which together are used to make electrical connection with the mating contact element 4. When the spring fork 1 is installed in the housing 2, the contact legs 11, 12 are located in one of the terminal openings 23 of a main body 20 of the housing 2, and the engaging protrusions 111, 121 used on the outer sides of the contact legs 11, 12 are engaged with the terminals Assignments on both sides of the opening 23 are received in the openings 21,22. The engagement protrusions 111, 121 specifically ensure that when a mating contact element 4 is inserted into the terminal opening 23, excessive deflection of the contact legs 11, 12 (with a risk of breaking) does not occur.

In an installed position, the spring yoke 1 is inserted into the housing 2 as is apparent from FIGS. 8 and 9. Here, the spring fork 1 is fixedly held on the housing 2, as will be explained below, and the contact pins 13, 14 are used to protrude from the housing 2, so that the contact device can be configured on a circuit board, for example, via the contact pins 13, 14 3, because the contact device uses a contact pin 13, 14 to be inserted into one of the assigned contact openings 30 of the circuit board 3 and is connected to the circuit board 3 via the contact opening 30, for example, by creating a solder connection.

When the contact device is arranged on the circuit board 3, through the contact device, a pair of contact elements 4 can be connected to the circuit board 3 by being inserted into the terminal opening 23 of the housing 2 and by the spring fork 1 connected to the housing 2 .

For installation, the spring yoke 1 can be inserted into one of the mounting openings 24 on the back of the terminal opening 23 of the housing 2 in one of the mounting directions M oriented in the longitudinal direction Z, as shown in FIGS. 5 to 7. Here, the spring fork 1 is first introduced into the mounting opening 24 by its contact legs 11, 12 and then pushed into the housing 2 in the mounting direction M until the spring fork 1 reaches where the spring fork 1 is fixed to the housing in a form-fitting manner 2 in its installation location.

The form-fit connection between the spring fork 1 and the housing 2 occurs in all spatial directions X, Y, Z. In particular, the spring yoke 1 has a first fixing device 15 formed on the base portion 10, which is used in the installed position to cooperate with a second fixing device 25 in the terminal opening 23 of the housing 2 so as to be in the depth direction Y The upper produces a form-fit connection between the spring fork 1 and the housing 2.

The first fixing device 15 is formed of two pin-shaped fixing portions 150, 151 which protrude from the base portion 10 in the mounting direction M and form an engaging opening 152 between them and the like. When the spring fork 1 is inserted into the installation opening 24 of the housing 2, the engagement opening 152 engages with a yoke portion 252 extending between the two web portions 250, 251 in the terminal opening 23, so that the fixing means 15, 25 There is a positive fit therebetween and therefore the spring fork 1 is fixed in the housing 2 in the depth direction Y.

Because the first fixing device 15 is arranged centrally between the contact legs 11 and 12 in the depth direction Y, and a shape is formed centrally on the base portion 10 between the spring fork 1 and the housing 2 via the fixing devices 15 and 25 Fit, so the form-fit connection is not sensitive to tolerances and allows the spring fork 1 to be fixed to the housing 2 without clearance, specifically in the depth direction Y.

In addition, when the spring yoke 1 is inserted into the mounting opening 24 of the housing 2, the engaging portions 101, 102 arranged on the edges of the base portion 10 facing away from each other in the depth direction Y and the groove on the body 20 of the housing 2 The engaging openings 201, 202 of the form engage in such a way that a form fit is produced in the lateral direction X in this way and therefore the spring fork 1 is also fixed in the lateral direction X relative to the housing 2, in particular as is apparent from FIG.

Here, the engaging portions 101, 102 also form a stopper to limit the insertion stroke of the spring fork 1 relative to the housing 2 in the mounting direction M.

Also in order to fix the spring fork 1 relative to the housing 2 in the mounting direction M, that is, in the longitudinal direction Z, the locking protrusions 103, 104 laterally protrude from the flat base portion 10 of the spring fork 1, and insert the spring fork 1 into the housing 2 The mounting opening 24 is engaged with the assigned locking protrusions 203, 204 on the housing 2 in a form-fitting manner (refer to FIG. 2 in particular in conjunction with FIG. 9). Therefore, in the mounting position, the spring fork 1 is held on the housing 2 by a form fit in the mounting direction M and is therefore fixed relative to the housing 2.

The spring fork 1 is preferably integrally formed as a metal stamping part and extends substantially in a flat manner in a plane spanned by the longitudinal direction Z and the depth direction Y, as is apparent from FIGS. 1, 3 and 4. Here, the locking protrusions 103, 104 projecting laterally from the base portion 10 may be formed by imprinting on the base portion 10, one of the locking protrusions 103 protruding to one side and the other locking protrusion 104 protruding to the other of the base portion 10 The side, as is obvious from FIG. 1 observed from FIG. 4.

Conversely, the housing 2 can be made of plastic (for example, as a plastic injection molded) and electrically isolated.

The contact device may, for example, be a part of a baseband, which forms several terminal openings 23 arranged adjacent to each other and has several spring forks 1. Through this baseband, terminals can be provided on a larger assembly (eg, a circuit board 3) to allow electrical plug connections to connect to the larger assembly (specifically, the circuit board 3).

The concept on which the invention is based is not limited to the exemplary embodiments outlined above, but can also be implemented in different ways.

Therefore, one of the contact devices of the type described here can be used on completely different assemblies, in particular electrical push-in connectors. Here, a generated electrical contact can be used for both power transmission and signal or data transmission.

A contact device of the type described here can be configured on a larger assembly, where this larger assembly can be implemented by a circuit board or another electrical assembly.

1‧‧‧Spring fork 2‧‧‧Housing 3‧‧‧ circuit board 4‧‧‧Mating contact element 10‧‧‧Base part 11, 12‧‧‧ contact legs 13, 14‧‧‧ contact pin 15‧‧‧First fixing device 20‧‧‧Main 21, 22‧‧‧ accept opening 23‧‧‧terminal opening 24‧‧‧Installation opening 25‧‧‧Fixed device 30‧‧‧Contact opening 101、102‧‧‧joining part 103, 104‧‧‧ locking protrusion 110, 120‧‧‧ points inwardly to the contact lug 111, 121‧‧‧ joint protrusion 150, 151‧‧‧pin-shaped fixed part 152‧‧‧joint opening 201, 202‧‧‧ joint opening 203, 204 ‧‧‧ locking protrusion 250、251‧‧‧Web part 252‧‧‧Yoke M‧‧‧Installation direction X‧‧‧Space direction/lateral direction Y‧‧‧Space direction/depth direction Z‧‧‧Space direction/Vertical direction

The concept on which the invention is based will be explained in more detail below with reference to the exemplary embodiments shown in the drawings. These diagrams show:

Figure 1 A view of a spring fork of a contact device, which has a base portion and a contact leg protruding from it;

Figure 2 One view of the housing of one of the contact devices;

Figure 3 One side view of spring fork;

Figure 4 Top view of one of the spring forks;

Figure 5 A view of the contact device when the spring fork is installed on the housing;

Figure 6 through a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the configuration according to Figure 5;

FIG. 7 through another longitudinal cross-sectional view of the configuration according to FIG. 5;

Figure 8 through a longitudinal cross-sectional view through a contact device with a spring fork installed therein; and

Fig. 9 is another longitudinal sectional view through the contact device in which the spring fork is installed.

1‧‧‧Spring fork

10‧‧‧Base part

11‧‧‧contact legs

12‧‧‧contact legs

13‧‧‧Contact pin

14‧‧‧Contact Pin

101‧‧‧Joint part

102‧‧‧Joint part

103‧‧‧ Locking protrusion

104‧‧‧locking protrusion

110‧‧‧ points inward to the contact lug

111‧‧‧ Protrusion

120‧‧‧Inward contact lug

121‧‧‧Joint protrusion

150‧‧‧pin-shaped fixed part

151‧‧‧pin-shaped fixed part

152‧‧‧joint opening

M‧‧‧Installation direction

X‧‧‧Space direction/lateral direction

Y‧‧‧Space direction/depth direction

Z‧‧‧Space direction/Vertical direction

Claims (12)

A contact device having a housing (2) and a conductive spring fork (1), the conductive spring fork (1) can be inserted into the housing (2) in a mounting direction (M) and in a mounting position Fixed to the housing (2), and the conductive spring fork (1) includes a base portion (10), a first contact leg (11) extending from the base portion (10) and extending from the base portion (10) One of the second contact legs (12) is used to provide an electrical contact, characterized in that the spring fork (1) has a physical configuration between the first contact leg (11) and the second contact leg (12) A first fixing device (15), and the casing (2) has a second fixing device (25), wherein the first fixing device (15) and the second fixing device (25) are designed to fit the spring A positive fit connection is formed between the fork (1) and the housing (2) for fixing the spring fork (1) to the housing (2) in the installation position. The contact device according to claim 1, wherein the spring yoke (1) is formed as a metal stamping part. The contact device as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the first contact leg (11) and the second contact leg (12) each extend from the base portion (10) in the mounting direction (M). The contact device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first fixing device (15) is formed on the base portion (10) of the spring fork (1). The contact device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first contact leg (11) and the second contact leg (12) are spaced apart from each other in a depth direction (Y) extending perpendicular to the mounting direction (M), Wherein the first fixing device (15) and the second fixing device (25) are structurally designed to cooperate to fix the spring fork (1) to the housing (2) so as to be relative to the depth direction (Y) The housing (2) sets up the spring fork (1). The contact device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first fixing device (15) and the second fixing device when the spring fork (1) is inserted into the housing (2) in the mounting direction (M) (25) Can be joined to each other. The contact device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein one of the fixing devices (15, 25) has an engaging opening (152) and the other of the fixing devices (25, 15) has a yoke portion (252) ), wherein the engagement opening (152) and the yoke portion (252) are positively engaged with each other in the installation position. The contact device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein at least one locking lug (103, 104) is formed on the base portion (10) for fixing the spring yoke (1) to the mounting direction (M) Housing (2). The contact device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the base portion (10) extends in a flat manner, wherein on the base portion (10), at least one engaging portion (101, 102) is formed for use in the housing (2 ) One of the designated engaging openings (201, 202) is engaged to fix the spring fork (1) to the housing in a lateral direction (X) directed perpendicular to the flat extension of the base portion (10) 2). The contact device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the housing (2) has a body (20) and a body formed therein for a push-fit connection of the contact device and a push-fit connector counterpart (4) Terminal opening (23). The contact device according to claim 10, wherein the housing (2) has a mounting opening (24) facing away from the terminal opening (23) for inserting the spring yoke (1) into the housing (2). The contact device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the spring fork has at least one contact pin (13, 14) for electrical connection of the contact device with a circuit board (3).

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