MARKING PROFILE FOR IDENTIFYING ELECTRICAL INSTALLATIONS

Abstract

Marking profile for identifying electrical installations, comprising a marking region which has a cover surface to be labeled, comprising a support region which adjoins the marking region on the opposite side of the cover surface, comprising at least one shaped element for interlockingly securing to a receiving section, wherein the marking profile has an extruded plastic profile or consists of an extruded plastic profile and wherein the plastic profile has a constant cross-section when viewed along its longitudinal extension.

Claims

1. Marking profile for identifying electrical installations, comprising a marking region which has a cover surface to be labeled, comprising a support region which adjoins the marking region on the opposite side of the cover surface, comprising at least one shaped element for interlockingly securing to a receiving section, wherein the marking profile has an extruded plastic profile or consists of an extruded plastic profile and wherein the plastic profile has a constant cross-section when viewed along its longitudinal extension.

2. Marking profile according to claim 1, characterized in that a plastic of the plastic profile has a Shore hardness that is selected from a range from 85A to 54D, or a plastic of the plastic profile has a Shore hardness that is selected from a range from 75A to 70D, or a plastic of the plastic profile has a Shore hardness that is selected from a range from 75A to 60D.

3. Marking profile according to claim 1, characterized in that the plastic profile is a solid profile.

4. Marking profile according to claim 1, characterized in that the plastic profile is a hollow profile.

5. Marking profile according to either claim 1, characterized in that the plastic profile, when viewed in a cross-section, has an open profile cross-section such as a C-profile, a U-profile, a V-profile, a double-T-profile or the like.

6. Marking profile according to claim 1, characterized in that the marking region, when viewed in a cross-section, is curved and, in particular, has a convex shape.

7. Marking profile according to claim 1, characterized in that the marking region, when viewed in a cross-section, has a width in a range from 8 mm or more to 15 mm or less, and preferably that the marking region, when viewed in a cross-section, has a width of 15 mm, 12 mm or 11 mm, and/or the marking profile, when viewed in a cross-section, has a height in a range from 2 mm or more to 6 mm or less, and preferably that the marking profile, when viewed in a cross-section, has a height of 3 mm or 4.2 mm or 4.4 mm, and/or the marking region, when viewed in a cross-section, has a thickness in a range from 0.3 mm or more to 2 mm or less, and preferably, the labeling region, when viewed in a cross-section, has a thickness of 1.1 mm or 0.5 mm or 0.9 mm and/or the shaped element, when viewed in a cross-section, has a thickness in a range from 0.5 mm or more to 2.8 mm or less, in particular that the shaped element, when viewed in a cross-section, has a thickness of 1 mm.

8. Marking profile according to claim 1, characterized in that the marking profile has optically detectable position marks that are spaced apart from one another on at least one surface on the opposite side of the cover surface, wherein intermediate regions are formed between the position marks and wherein the position marks, in particular, have reflective properties that differ from the intermediate regions.

9. Marking profile according to claim 8, characterized in that the position marks are formed by a plurality of regions that are spaced apart from one another in the longitudinal extension, that are reflecting to a limited extent and/or are light-permeable to a limited extent, wherein the regions reflecting to a limited extent and/or being light-permeable to a limited extent are formed, in particular, by a black or dark coloring, and/or a position mark has a length of 4 mm or more when measured in the longitudinal extension and/or a height of 3 mm or more when measured transversely to the longitudinal extension, and/or the position marks, when viewed in the longitudinal extension, have a spacing of 20 mm or more, in particular a spacing of 30 mm or more, in particular a spacing of 30 mm.

10. Method for producing a marking profile, comprising the method steps of: Plasticizing at least one plastic in an extrusion device; Extruding the marking profile by means of the extrusion device, wherein the marking profile is formed according to one of the preceding claims; Feeding the marking profile to a marking device such as a label printer, a thermal transfer printer or the like; Customizing and/or perforating the marking profile to a predefined length.

Description

[0048] The invention is described in greater detail in the following with reference to drawings showing embodiments in which, schematically:

[0049] FIG. 1 is a marking profile according to the invention in a cross-section;

[0050] FIG. 2 is a further marking profile according to the invention in a cross-section;

[0051] FIG. 3 is a further marking profile according to the invention in a cross-section;

[0052] FIG. 4 is a further marking profile according to the invention in a cross-section;

[0053] FIG. 5 is a marking profile according to the invention in a perspective view;

[0054] FIG. 6 is the marking profile from FIG. 1 in a view from below;

[0055] FIG. 7 is the marking profile from FIG. 1 in a further view from below;

[0056] FIG. 8 is another variant of a profile according to the invention in a view from below;

[0057] FIG. 9 is another variant of a profile according to the invention in a view from below.

[0058] To make the following statements easier to understand, a coordinate system with the axes x, y, z has been introduced in FIG. 1-4.

[0059] FIG. 1 is a marking profile 2 for marking electrical installations. The marking profile is shown in a cross-section along the plane X-Z, wherein a longitudinal extension of the marking profile 2 is oriented along the y-axis.

[0060] The marking profile 2 has a marking region 4 which has a cover surface 6 to be labeled. The marking profile 2 has a support region 8 which adjoins the marking region 4 on the opposite side of the cover surface 6.

[0061] The marking profile 2 also has two shaped elements 10 for interlockingly securing the marking profile 2 to a receiving section. Such a receiving section can be, for example, a groove or a groove profile with a corresponding undercut in which the shaped elements 10 can be interlockingly secured.

[0062] The marking profile 2 in the present case consists of an extruded plastic profile 2. The plastic profile 2 has a constant cross-section along its longitudinal extent, i.e., when viewed along the y-axis.

[0063] The plastic profile 2 has a plastic with a Shore hardness in a range from 85A to 54D.

[0064] In the present case, the plastic profile 2 is a solid profile 2. As can be seen in FIG. 1, this means that the plastic profile 2 has no cavities.

[0065] The marking region 4 has a width B1 of 10.5 mm. The marking profile 2 has a height H1 of 3 mm. The marking region 4 has a thickness D1 of 0.5 mm.

[0066] The shaped elements 10 are formed as webs 10 which protrude transversely to the longitudinal extent and which have a thickness D2 of 1 mm.

[0067] FIG. 2 shows a further variant of a marking profile 12 for identifying electrical installations in a cross-section. In the following, only the differences from the exemplary embodiment described above with reference to FIG. 1 will be discussed in order to avoid repetitions. The same features are assigned the same reference symbols.

[0068] The marking profile 12 differs from the exemplary embodiment, according to FIG. 1, in its cross-sectional shape and the individual dimensions. The marking profile 12 also has a width B1 of 10.5 mm in the marking region 4.

[0069] The marking profile 12 has a height H2 of 4.2 mm. The marking region 4 of the marking profile 12 has a thickness D3 of 1.1 mm. The shaped elements 10 of the marking profile 12 have a thickness D4 of 1.2 mm.

[0070] FIG. 3 is a further variant of a marking profile 14 in a cross-section. Again, only the differences from the exemplary embodiments discussed above are shown. The marking profile 14 is a plastic profile 14 which is designed as a hollow profile 14. The hollow profile 14 therefore has a cavity 16.

[0071] The marking profile 14 also has a marking region 18 which, when viewed in the present cross-section, is arched or has a convex shape. The width B1 of the marking region is again 10.5 mm. The webs 10 or shaped elements 10 have a thickness D5 of 1.05 mm.

[0072] FIG. 4 shows a further marking profile 20 in a cross-section, wherein the marking profile 20 differs from the marking profiles described above in that it is a plastic profile 20 that is shaped like a C-profile, wherein a marking region 22 of the plastic profile 20 and a shaped element 10 are connected to one another via a web 24.

[0073] The plastic profile 20 has a width B2 of 10.8 mm. A thickness D6 of the marking region 22 is 0.9 mm. A height H3 of the marking profile 20 is 4.4 mm.

[0074] The marking profiles 2, 12, 14, 20 can have position marks. This is described below by way of example for a marking profile 102.

[0075] FIG. 5 shows a marking profile 102 for identifying electrical installations. The marking profile 102 has a marking region 104 which has a cover surface 106 to be labeled.

[0076] The marking profile 102 has a support region 108 which adjoins the marking region 104 on the opposite side of the cover surface 106. As can be seen from FIG. 5, the support region 108 has, at least in portions, a smaller width than the marking region 104 in a region that is transverse to the direction of longitudinal extent L.

[0077] The marking profile 102 is provided to a printer as continuous material.

[0078] The marking profile 102 has a constant cross-section viewed along its longitudinal extent. That means that the marking profile 102 is not prefabricated with predetermined breaking points or the like and that is has no formed notches that would predetermine a longitudinal division.

[0079] The marking profile 102 has optically detectable position marks 112 which are spaced apart from one another on a surface 110 on the opposite side of the cover surface 106. Intermediate regions 114 are formed between the position marks 112, wherein the position marks 112 have reflective properties that differ from those of the intermediate regions 114.

[0080] In the present case, the position marks 112 are formed by a plurality of regions 112 that are spaced apart from one another in the longitudinal extension L and have limited reflective properties. The position marks 112 are formed by a local coloring of the marking profile 102 which is made of plastic.

[0081] In the present case, a respective position mark 112 has a length L101 of 4 mm when measured in the longitudinal extension direction L. A respective position mark 112 has a height H101 of 20 mm when measured transversely to the longitudinal extension L. The position marks 112, when viewed in the longitudinal extension L, are spaced 30 mm apart from one another. The distance S101 is thus 30 mm.

[0082] FIGS. 8 and 9 show further embodiments of marking profiles, according to the invention, with only the differences from the exemplary embodiment described above being discussed in order to avoid repetition.

[0083] The embodiment of a marking profile 116 shown in FIG. 8 differs from the embodiment described above in that position marks 118 are provided whose height H102 is only 3 mm. In this case, the length L102 is 4 mm. According to the further variant of a marking profile 120, such position marks 118 are arranged in two rows (FIG. 9).

[0084] To produce a marking strip or an individual profile for an electrical installation, a marking profile 102, 116, 120 is first provided.

[0085] The marking profile 102, 116, 120 is fed to a printer (not shown). Inside the printer, the cover surface 106 is labeled in the region of the printing regions 122, 124.

[0086] Subsequently, the respective marking profile is customized or cut to length into at least one, two or more marking strips where, for example, a predefined length L103 is cut from the marking profile 102 for the printing region 122 provided for a first marking strip.

[0087] The respective position marks 112, 118 are optically detected before, during or after the marking.

[0088] In the present case, a plurality of marking strips is produced from a respective marking profile 102, 116, 120, wherein the length of a first marking strip and/or the length of a second marking strip is increased or decreased if a deviation in the feed speed of the printer has been detected on the basis of the detected position marks, especially if the feed speed is set to a constant value. The correction of the length is indicated by the arrows 126.