GANGWAY CONNECTION SYSTEM FOR GUIDING AT LEAST ONE POWER CABLE AND CLAMPING PART FOR SUCH A GANGWAY CONNECTION SYSTEM

Abstract

A gangway connection system guides at least one power cable and has a clamping part which has at least one feed through for the power cable. The feed through extends along a longitudinal axis and between an inlet opening and an outlet opening, and has a longitudinal-section profile with an inner and an outer longitudinal-section contour. At least one of the longitudinal-section contours is curved at least regionally. Alternatively or in addition, the gangway connection system is characterized in that the power cable extends helically in a cable longitudinal direction and the clamping part has an outer face directed in the cable longitudinal direction. The clamping part has at least one abutment surface for the power cable. The abutment surface extends in an inclined manner with respect to the cable longitudinal direction.

Claims

1. A gangway connection system for guiding at least one power cable, the gangway connection system comprising: a clamping part having at least one feed through formed therein for the power cable, said feed through extending along a longitudinal axis between an inlet opening and an outlet opening and containing a longitudinal sectional profile, said longitudinal sectional profile having an inner and an outer longitudinal sectional contour, at least one of said inner and outer longitudinal sectional contours being curved at least in regions.

2. The gangway connection system according to claim 1, wherein said at least one feed through is one of two feed throughs with different longitudinal sectional profiles, namely a first feed through and a second feed through, are realized for the at least one power cable.

3. The gangway connection system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said inner and outer longitudinal sectional contours has, at least in portions, a radius of curvature which corresponds to a radius of curvature of the power cable being a helical power cable.

4. The gangway connection system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said inner and outer longitudinal sectional contours has, at least in portions, a radius of curvature which corresponds to a predefined minimum radius of curvature of the power cable or enables a progression of the power cable at the predefined minimum radius of curvature.

5. The gangway connection system according to claim 1, wherein both of said inner and outer longitudinal sectional contours are curved in a same direction on a first portion and in opposite directions on a second portion.

6. The gangway connection system according to claim 1, wherein said feed through has a holding portion for fixing the power cable and a diameter, which corresponds substantially to a diameter of the power cable, on said holding portion.

7. The gangway connection system according to claim 6, wherein said holding portion is realized in the manner of a curved cylinder.

8. The gangway connection system according to claim 6, wherein said holding portion extends over at least a quarter of a length of said feed through and no more than over half of the length of said feed through.

9. The gangway connection system according to claim 1, wherein said feed through has an outlet portion, which is realized in a manner of a funnel, connects to said outlet opening and, on said outlet portion in relation thereto, said feed through has a diameter, which increases in a direction of said outlet opening.

10. The gangway connection system according to claim 9, wherein said feed through has a circular cross section consistently on said outlet portion.

11. A gangway connection system for guiding at least one power cable, the gangway connection system comprising: a clamping part having at least one feed through formed therein for the power cable, the power cable extending in a helical manner in a cable longitudinal direction, said clamping part having an outer surface pointing in the cable longitudinal direction with at least one abutment surface for the power cable and extending at an angle with respect to the cable longitudinal direction.

12. The gangway connection system according to claim 11, wherein said abutment face is inclined at an angle of at least 65° and no more than 85° with reference to the cable longitudinal direction.

13. The gangway connection system according to claim 11, wherein said clamping part has a height and said abutment surface extends over at least 15% of the height and no more than over 50% of the height.

14. The gangway connection system according to claim 11, wherein said abutment surface is one of two abutment surfaces formed in said outer surface and are set in two opposing directions.

15. A clamping part for a gangway connection system, comprising: a body having at least one feed through formed therein for receiving a power cable, said feed through extending along a longitudinal axis and between an inlet opening and an outlet opening and having a longitudinal sectional profile with an inner and an outer longitudinal sectional contour, wherein at least one of said inner and outer longitudinal sectional contours is curved at least in portions, or in that the power cable extends in a helical manner in a cable longitudinal direction and said body having an outer surface pointing in the cable longitudinal direction and having at least one abutment surface for the power cable extending at an angle with respect to the cable longitudinal direction.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

[0043] FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic, perspective view of a gangway connection system according to the invention;

[0044] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a supporting part with a clamping part fastened thereon;

[0045] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the arrangement according to FIG. 2 with just one half shell of the clamping part;

[0046] FIGS. 4A, 4B are longitudinal sectional views of the half shell shown in FIG. 3;

[0047] FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of an alternative half shell;

[0048] FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of a further alternative half shell;

[0049] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an alternative clamping part; and

[0050] FIG. 8 is a side view of the clamping part according to FIG. 7 with a power cable held therein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0051] Referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first, particularly to FIG. 1 thereof, there is shown an oblique view of an exemplary embodiment of a gangway connection system 2 for guiding at least one power cable 6, here in particular two power cables 6. In the variant shown, the gangway connection system 2 includes two supporting parts 8 on each of which a clamping part 10 is fastened. The clamping parts 10 serve, in particular, for holding the power cable 6 and are here screwed to the respective supporting part 8 by a screw connection. The clamping parts 10 are produced from metal here, the supporting parts 8 from sheet metal. In addition, an electric terminal bus 12, to which the ends of the power cables 6 are each connected at connection points 14 so as to be electrically conducting, is fastened on each of the supporting parts 8. In order to connect the supporting parts 8 in each case to a car of a train (not shown here in any detail), each of the supporting parts 8 is attached in each case on an insulator 16 which is fastenable, in turn, on the car by a respective base plate 18.

[0052] The power cables 6 shown in FIG. 1 are realized as spiral cables, also designated as heliax cables, and extend here in a helical manner around a common cable longitudinal axis K. In this case, the power cables 6 extend here concentrically with respect to one another, that is to say the one power cable 6 is arranged inside the other power cable 6; in addition, the power cables 6 extend in opposite directions of rotation to one another.

[0053] FIG. 2 shows part of the gangway connection system 2 from FIG. 1, namely one of the supporting parts 8 with a clamping part 10 fastened thereon. The latter is in particular composed of two half shells 10a, 10b. In this case, the half shell 10a pointing away from the supporting part 8 is also designated as front half shell 10a and the half shell 10b which is directly in contact with the supporting part 8 is designated as rear half shell 10b.

[0054] The supporting part 8 serves in FIG. 2 in particular also as an angle in such a manner that the mounting directions of the clamping part 10 and of the insulator 16 (not shown here) are at a predetermined angle, here 90°, with respect to one another.

[0055] In the exemplary embodiment shown here, two feed throughs 20a, 20b in each case are inserted into the clamping part 10 for each of the two power cables 6. In particular, in this case, the feed through pair 20a, 20b which is inside with reference to the cable longitudinal axis K serves for holding the inside power cable 6 and the outside feed through pair 20a, 20b serves for holding the outside power cable 6. The feed throughs 20a, 20b, in this case, are accessible via openings 22 which are realized in a corresponding manner on the top surface and the bottom surface (which is not visible here) of the clamping part 10. In order to reduce intermittent stress on the power cables 6 when they are moving, the openings 22 are realized here in each case with rounded edges; the radius of curvature here is approximately 2 mm.

[0056] FIG. 3 shows the arrangement shown in FIG. 2 without the front half shell 10a. The feed throughs 20a, 20b and the inner walls thereof can be seen clearly here. The partition plane, which is formed on account of the realization of the half shells 10a, 10b, at the same time provides a longitudinal sectional plane E of the feed throughs 20a, 20b. The longitudinal sectional plane E is illustrated in FIG. 3 by a pair of arrows. The feed throughs 20a, 20b extend along longitudinal axes L, which are curved at least in portions and in each case extend in the longitudinal sectional plane E. Accordingly, the feed throughs 20a, 20b generally follow a bent or curved progression. The longitudinal sectional plane E is additionally characterized, in particular, in that each of the feed throughs 20a, 20b is mirror-symmetrical to the longitudinal sectional plane. The front half shell 10a (not shown) consequently includes correspondingly mirror-inverted recesses for realizing the feed throughs 20a, 20b.

[0057] FIGS. 4A and 4B each show a front view of the clamping part 10b, that is to say a longitudinal sectional view of the clamping part 10, the sectional plane corresponding to the longitudinal sectional plane E from FIG. 3. The feed throughs 20a, 20b are also shown accordingly in longitudinal section and each contains two longitudinal sectional contours 24a, 24b which together form a longitudinal sectional profile. In this case, the longitudinal sectional contour 24a which, in each case, is inside with reference to the clamping part 10, is also designated as inside longitudinal sectional contour 24a and the longitudinal sectional contour 24b of a respective feed through 20a, 20b which, in each case, is outside, is designated as outside longitudinal sectional contour 24b.

[0058] The progression of the outside power cable 6 (not shown here) is indicated in FIG. 4A by a dotted line. Proceeding from the connection point 14 (not shown either), the power cable 6 initially traverses the first feed through 20a from bottom to top and after half a winding passes from above into the second feed through 20b, which it then leaves on the bottom surface of the clamping part 10. Consequently, the opening 22 of the first feed through 20a arranged on the bottom surface of the clamping part 10 is also designated as inlet opening 22a, just as the opening 22 of the second feed through 20b lying on the top surface of the clamping part 10. In an analogous manner to this, the openings 22 of the feed through 20a, 20b, out of which the power cable 6 emerges, are designated as outlet openings 22b.

[0059] FIG. 4B illustrates the respective progression of the feed throughs 20a, 20b and of the longitudinal sectional contours 24a, 24b thereof. The first feed through 20a, shown here on the left, is designed in the manner of a curved cylinder. The longitudinal sectional contours 24a, 24b are curved in the same direction for this purpose and each comprises an approximately C-shaped progression. The second feed through 20b, shown on the right, is realized, in contrast, in the manner of a trumpet, a holding portion 26, which is formed in the manner of a curved cylinder and is followed, in turn, by a funnel-shaped outlet portion 28, connecting to the inlet opening 22a. In this case, the feed through 20b contains a length L2 and the holding portion 26 extends, in the exemplary embodiment shown here, from the inlet opening 22a over approximately a third of the length L2 of the feed through 20b. The feed through 20a is realized here, in contrast, completely as holding portion 26.

[0060] The longitudinal sectional contours 24a, 24b of the first feed through 20a are in each case formed in a C-shaped manner and are curved in the same direction. Consequently, the feed through 20a corresponds to a curved cylinder. In this case, the respective radius of curvature R1, R2 of the outer or rather inner longitudinal sectional contour 24a, 24b is constant along the same. Furthermore, the two radii of curvature R1, R2 are also radii of concentric circles with a center point M1 which, in the variant shown here, is also at the same time a center point M1 of the clamping part 10. The longitudinal sectional profile of the feed through 20a is consequently a ring portion. The design corresponds, in particular, to the progression of the wound power cable 6 and serves correspondingly for the fixing thereof. The ring defined by the radii R1, R2 consequently also shows here, in particular, the contour of the power cable 6 not shown. The radii R1, R2 then provide an outer or rather inner radius of curvature of the power cable. The longitudinal axis L of the first feed through 20a is then curved correspondingly at the nominal or also mean radius of curvature of the power cable 6.

[0061] On the holding portion 26 which connects to the inlet opening 22a, the longitudinal sectional contours 24a, 24b of the second feed through initially follow the circles defined by the radii of curvature R1, R2. The holding portion 26 is consequently also realized in the manner of a curved cylinder. As the feed through 20b develops, the holding portion 26 merges into the outlet portion 28 on which the two longitudinal sectional contours 24a, 24b are now curved in opposite directions. In the exemplary embodiment shown here, the longitudinal sectional contours 24a, 24b comprise identical radii of curvature R5, R5′, which, in a variant not shown here, however, is different for the two longitudinal sectional contours 24a, 24b. The center point M2 of the circle defined by the radius R5 is not equal to the center point M1 of the concentric circles determined by the radii R1, R2, R3, R4, but is arranged offset thereto. The corresponding center point M2′ with reference to the radius R5′ is mirror-inverted with respect to the center point M2 with reference to the straight portion of the longitudinal axis L of the second feed through 20b. In this way, the longitudinal sectional contours 24a, 24b on the outlet portion 28 are offset with reference to the power cable 6, as a result of which a corresponding space for moving is created in the feed through 20b. In particular, a minimum radius of curvature of the power cable 6 is determined by the radius R2 in such a manner that it assumes the corresponding minimum radius of curvature when abutting against the longitudinal sectional contour 24a of the feed through 20b. In an alternative to this which is not shown here, a similar effect is obtained as a result of the radius R5 being smaller than the radius R2 and the center point M2 not being offset with reference to the center point M1 in FIG. 4B in the vertical direction but simply or additionally in the horizontal direction.

[0062] In particular, on account of the offset of the center point M2, the radius R2 does not forcibly have to comprise a smaller value than the minimum radius of curvature of the power cable 6. It is sufficient in this connection simply for the feed through 20b, on account of the progression of the two longitudinal sectional contours 24a, 24b on the outlet portion 28, to comprise a diameter D1 which increases in the direction of the outlet opening 22b and is correspondingly larger than the diameter D2 of the power cable 6. The inner longitudinal sectional contour 24a of the feed through 20b is consequently realized in a consistently convex manner and contains an approximately C-shaped progression, while the outer longitudinal sectional contour 24b contains an approximately S-shaped progression.

[0063] FIGS. 5 and 6 show in each case a longitudinal sectional view of an alternative embodiment of the rear half shell 10b of the clamping part 10. The front half shell 10a which is not shown here in each case is realized in a correspondingly complementary manner hereto. The variant shown in FIG. 5 is configured for holding three power cables 6. The clamping part 10 correspondingly contains three pairs of feed throughs 20a, 20b. FIG. 6 shows correspondingly a variant of the clamping part 10 for guiding just one power cable 6 by one single pair of feed throughs 20a, 20b.

[0064] FIG. 7 shows an oblique view of a clamping part 10, for holding a power cable 6 (not shown here) which is, in particular, a spiral cable. FIG. 8 shows a side view of the clamping part 10 from FIG. 7 with a power cable 6 held therein. For guiding a winding 32 of the power cable 6 past in a suitable manner, the outer surface 34 of the front half shell 10a of the clamping part 10 is provided with two abutment surfaces 36. As FIG. 8 clearly shows, the abutment surfaces 36 are in each case set at an angle W with reference to the cable longitudinal axis K. In the exemplary embodiment shown here this is approximately 85°. It can clearly also be seen that the winding 32 of the power cable 6 which is guided past the front half shell 10a is set at a pitch S which roughly corresponds to the angle W at which the abutment surface 36 is inclined. In the event of the power cable 6 being compressed along the cable longitudinal axis K or possibly also in the case of a bend, the winding 32, in particular, is pressed in the direction of the outer surface 34. In the exemplary embodiment shown here, the bottom abutment surface 36 then forms a suitably large support for the power cable 6 and intermittent stress is avoided. In addition, the abutment surfaces 36 are also realized here with rounded edges 38, 40, wherein in the variant shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 the radius of curvature of the outside edges 38, that is to say the upper and the lower edge are realized with a radius of curvature of approximately 2 mm and the inside edges 40 with a radius of curvature of approximately 50 mm.

[0065] The following is a summary list of reference numerals and the corresponding structure used in the above description of the invention: [0066] 2 Gangway connection system [0067] 6 Power cable [0068] 8 Supporting part [0069] 10 Clamping part [0070] 10a Front half shell [0071] 10b Rear half shell [0072] 12 Terminal bus [0073] 14 Connection point [0074] 16 Insulator [0075] 18 Base plate [0076] 20a First feed through [0077] 20b Second feed through [0078] 22 Opening [0079] 22a Inlet opening [0080] 22b Outlet opening [0081] 24a Outer longitudinal sectional contour [0082] 24b Inner longitudinal sectional contour [0083] 26 Holding portion [0084] 28 Outlet portion [0085] 32 Winding [0086] 34 Outer surface [0087] 36 Abutment surface [0088] 38 Outside edge [0089] 40 Inside edge [0090] K Cable longitudinal axis [0091] L Longitudinal axis [0092] L2 Length [0093] M1, M2, M2′ Center point [0094] R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R5′ Radius