Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
  • H01R43/00—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing, assembling, maintaining, or repairing of line connectors or current collectors or for joining electric conductors
  • H01R43/20—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing, assembling, maintaining, or repairing of line connectors or current collectors or for joining electric conductors for assembling or disassembling contact members with insulating base, case or sleeve

Definitions

• the invention relates to a method for assembling contact parts in connector housings according to the preamble of claim 1 and to an apparatus for performing this method.
• a method for assembling contact parts in connector housings which was assumed in the formulation of the preamble of claim 1, is known from DE-OS 27 40 377.
• a device is used in which a crimping device and a joining device are combined. After the "crimping" of the line, the contact part or the connector is held on the holding strip and fed to a gripper which grips the contact part and aligns the contact part for the subsequent joining process using the holding strip as a guide.
• This known method has a number of disadvantages:
• a device is required in which a crimping device and a joining device are rigidly linked to one another.
• the known method is therefore only suitable for inserting "crimped" contact parts.
• the device proposed for carrying out the known method is rigidly automated, so that it is hardly suitable for fitting different connector housings with varying contact parts or connectors.
• the invention is based on the object of specifying a method for mounting contact parts in plug housings or a device suitable for carrying out this method, by means of which any contact parts can be flexibly and automatically inserted into a wide variety of plug housings.
• a solution to this problem according to the invention is characterized by its developments in the claims.
• the basic idea of the invention is that the gripper does not grip the contact part with the line attached to it on the contact part, but on the line.
• This solution has been expressly rejected in the aforementioned DE-OS 27 40 377 on page 9.
• the exact positioning or centering of the contact part gripped on the line is carried out according to the invention by a positive guide which is arranged between the gripper and the plug housing.
• a device for carrying out the method according to the invention is characterized in claims 4 and following:
• the device according to the invention has a positive guide for the contact part and a gripper which is designed such that it can grip the contact part on the line attached to it and at least move it in the direction of the positive guide towards the plug housing.
• the positive guide is tapered in the direction of displacement (claim 5), so that the outlet opening of the positive guide is exactly aligned with the opening of the stretcher housing into which the contact part is to be inserted.
• claim 6 an advantageous development of the device is characterized, which allows a simple displacement of the device relative to the connector housing or vice versa after inserting the contact part. By opening the two-part positive guidance, the line is released so that the line does not remain in the positive guidance during a displacement process.
• any type of gripper can be used as the gripper, which enables the contact part to be gripped on the line.
• a particularly simple and thus advantageous gripper that makes this possible is characterized in claim 7. Due to the tines provided on the parallel jaws, the line including the contact part attached to it is already pre-centered. Of course, it is a prerequisite for the function of the grippers characterized in claims 7 and 8 that the contact part with the assembled line is provided in a position in which the line can be gripped with the parallel jaw gripper.
• the further development characterized in claim 9, according to which the positive guidance is designed specifically for the contact part is particularly advantageous when the contact parts have to be inserted into the plug housing in a certain rotational position. In order to be able to mount different contact parts in one and the same connector housing, it is either possible to make the positive guides interchangeable in the device or to use different devices one after the other, each with correspondingly adapted positive guides.
• the design of the gripper which is characterized in claim 10, enables the engagement of the contact part in the connector housing, already discussed in connection with claim 3, to be checked.
• a sensor for example a limit switch, is provided which detects a "backward movement" of the gripper when the device is acted on counter to the joining direction after the contact part has been inserted.
• the relative positioning between the device designed according to the invention and the plug housing can of course take place in almost any manner.
• the gripper movable in the direction of the joining process and to provide corresponding possibilities of movement for the positive guidance.
• the device according to the invention ie the positive guidance and the gripper which can only be moved in the direction of the positive guidance, are attached by means of a flange to a commercially available positioning device and in particular to an industrial robot which holds the device relative to the connector core housing positioned.
• the device is advantageously equipped with a tool change flange so that the industrial robot can, for example, change different devices according to the invention in order to use different contact parts.
• Figure 1a and 1b an inventive device in side view and view VQn front
• the device according to the invention has a flange plate 1, with which it can be attached to a handling or positioning device, not shown, for example an industrial robot.
• a linear guide 2 is attached to the flange plate 1, on which a slide 3 is slidably guided, for example with the aid of a pneumatic cylinder (not shown).
• On the carriage 3 is also only a cal matically illustrated parallel jaw gripper 4, the jaws of which grip a line (not shown) with a contact part 5.
• a positive guide 7 which can be pivoted about an axis 6 and which can be pivoted in the joining direction in front of the parallel jaw gripper 4.
• the positive guide 7 has a conical passage opening, which forces the contact part 5 onto the connector housing opening (not shown in FIG. 1).
• FIGS. 1 The mode of operation of the device shown schematically in FIGS. 1 is explained in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 2a to 2c.
• FIG. 2a it is shown that the device shown, for example, on an industrial robot grasps a contact part 5, which is provided in a preparation unit 8, which is only shown schematically, on the line attached to it, with the parallel jaw gripper 4.
• the device then moves to the connector housing 9 provided, into which the contact part 5 is to be inserted.
• the pivotable positive guide 7 is pivoted in front of the opening of the connector housing 9 in such a way that its outlet opening exactly matches the opening of the connector housing into which the contact part is to be inserted.
• the parallel jaw gripper 4 is moved in the joining direction (arrow in FIG. 2b), so that the joining movement takes place.
• the gripped cable with the contact is guided into the opening of the positive guide so that all tolerances that occur are compensated for and the joining process takes place without any problems.
• the opening of the positive guide can be designed specifically for the contact part, ie for each contact part geometry a separate positive guide must be flanged to the device. However, this also means that the same families of contact parts can be assembled with the same device without modification.
• the parallel jaw gripper will move back in the direction of the column guide and can actuate a limit switch, not shown.
• the signal of the limit switch thus provides information as to whether the joining process has been carried out properly or incorrectly.
• the parallel jaw gripper is opened and the industrial robot can return to the starting position. This is facilitated by the fact that the positive guidance is formed in two parts so that it can be swung out without coming into contact with the line.
• the gripper system can be equipped with a tool change flange so that the industrial robot can change different grippers one after the other.
• a prerequisite for the function of the gripper is, of course, that the cable assembled with the contact part is provided in a position in which it can be gripped with the parallel jaw gripper.
• the gripper jaws of the parallel jaw gripper can be equipped with several prongs so that the cable is pre-centered.
• the method according to the invention is used when equipping connector housings with connector parts or contact parts.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Details Of Connecting Devices For Male And Female Coupling (AREA)
• Manufacturing Of Electrical Connectors (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=6320030

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Cited By (6)

Families Citing this family (1)

Citations (3)

Family Cites Families (1)

• 1987
  • 1987-02-02 DE DE19873703010 patent/DE3703010A1/de active Granted
• 1988
  • 1988-02-01 WO PCT/DE1988/000044 patent/WO1988005968A1/de unknown
  • 1988-02-01 AU AU11887/88A patent/AU1188788A/en not_active Abandoned

Patent Citations (3)

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