AUTOMATABLE CONNECTION TERMINAL AND METHOD FOR CONTACTING A CONDUCTOR

Abstract

A connection terminal includes a housing, a slide, and an insulation displacement contact. At least portions of the slide and the insulation displacement contact are received in the housing. The slide has an opening for inserting a conductor to be contacted. The slide is movable from a first position toward the insulation displacement contact to a second position in order to engage the insulation displacement contact with the conductor to be contacted. The slide has a tool abutment configured to transmit, to the slide, an assembly force of a robot-guided assembly tool for moving the slide from the first position to the second position.

Claims

1. A connection terminal comprising: a housing; a slide; and an insulation displacement contact; wherein at least portions of the slide and the insulation displacement contact are received in the housing, wherein the slide has an opening for inserting a conductor to be contacted, wherein the slide is movable from a first position toward the insulation displacement contact to a second position in order to engage the insulation displacement contact with the conductor to be contacted, and wherein the slide has a tool abutment which is designed to transmit, to the slide, an assembly force of a robot-guided assembly tool for moving the slide from the first position to the second position.

2. The connection terminal according to claim 1, wherein the housing has a further tool abutment in order to support the assembly tool on the housing when the slide is moved from the first position to the second position.

3. The connection terminal according to claim 2, wherein the tool abutment of the slide and the further tool abutment of the housing face one another, and delimit a seat for inserting a spreading tool.

4. The connection terminal according to claim 2, wherein the tool abutment of the slide and the further tool abutment of the housing are spaced apart from one another and each forms a seat for inserting a pressing tool.

5. The connection terminal according to claim 1, wherein the opening in the slide is part of a tubular conductor seat which extends in a straight line; or wherein the opening in the slide is part of a tubular conductor seat which extends, at least in portions, in a curved manner.

6. The connection terminal according to claim 1, wherein the slide has a recess for receiving the insulation displacement tool, and wherein, at least in the second position of the slide, the insulation displacement tool extends into the recess in the slide in a protruding manner.

7. The connection terminal according to claim 1, wherein the insulation displacement tool has cutting edges protruding in a fork-shaped manner in order to encase and contact a conductor to be contacted on two sides.

8. The connection terminal according to claim 1, further comprising: a snap-in device in order to hold the slide in the first position in a form-locking and/or force-locking manner; and/or a snap-in device in order to hold the slide in the second position in a form-locking and/or force-locking manner.

9. A method for contacting a conductor, the method comprising steps of: providing a connection terminal as claimed in claim 1; providing a conductor (2) to be contacted; inserting the conductor into the opening in the slide; moving the slide from the first position toward the insulation displacement contact to the second position in order to engage the insulation displacement contact with the conductor to be contacted, wherein the insulation displacement contact cuts an insulation of the conductor and is brought to bear against a conducting core of the conductor, and wherein the slide is moved automatically using the assembly tool of a robot.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein: the provided connection terminal is fastened to a retaining device that is one of a mounting wall, a mounting rail, or a support rail, and the connection terminal further includes a tool abutment to support the assembly tool on the housing when the slide is moved from the first position to the second position, wherein an assembly force of the assembly tool is substantially entirely supported on the housing, so that substantially no forces are introduced into the retaining device when the slide is moved.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the movement of the slide from the first position to the second position is a straight-line movement, and/or wherein the assembly tool is a spreading tool that performs a spreading movement, or the assembly tool is a pressing tool that performs a closing movement.

12. The method according to either claim 9, wherein the conductor to be contacted is not pretreated, stripped, and/or provided with a ferrule, prior to the insertion of the conductor into the opening in the slide.

Description

[0038] In the following, the invention shall be described in more detail by means of drawings showing embodiments. In the drawings, shown schematically:

[0039] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a connection terminal according to the invention;

[0040] FIG. 2 is the connection terminal from FIG. 1 with a conductor to be contacted;

[0041] FIG. 3 is the connection terminal from FIG. 1 with a conductor to be contacted and a tool;

[0042] FIG. 4 is the connection terminal from FIG. 1 with a conductor to be contacted and a tool;

[0043] FIG. 5 is the connection terminal from FIG. 1 with a conductor to be contacted and a tool;

[0044] FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a further connection terminal according to the invention;

[0045] FIG. 7 is the connection terminal from FIG. 6 with a conductor to be contacted;

[0046] FIG. 8 is the connection terminal from FIG. 6 with a conductor to be contacted;

[0047] FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a further connection terminal according to the invention;

[0048] FIG. 10 is the connection terminal from FIG. 9 with a conductor to be contacted;

[0049] FIG. 11 is the connection terminal from FIG. 9 with a conductor to be contacted.

[0050] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a connection terminal 2 according to the invention. The connection terminal 2 comprises a housing 4, a slide 6, and an insulation displacement contact 8. At least portions of the slide 6 and the insulation displacement contact 8 are received in the housing 4. The slide 6 has an opening 10 for inserting a conductor 12 to be contacted.

[0051] The slide 6 can be moved from a first position (FIG. 1) toward the insulation displacement contact 8 to a second position (FIG. 5). In this manner, the insulation displacement contact 6 engages with the conductor 12 to be contacted.

[0052] The slide 6 has a tool abutment 14 which is designed to transmit, to the slide 6, an assembly force of a robot-guided assembly tool 16 (FIG. 3) for moving the slide 6 from the first position to the second position.

[0053] In addition to the tool abutment 14 of the slide 6, the housing 4 has a further tool abutment 18. The tool abutment 18 is used to support the assembly tool 16 on the housing 4 when the slide 6 is moved from the first position to the second position. In this manner, the assembly force introduced into the slide 5 by the tool 16 can be entirely supported on the housing 4, so that, when the slide 6 is moved from the first position to the second position, no forces act on a retaining device (not shown), to which the connection terminal 2 is fastened in the fully assembled state. The assembly force acting on the slide 6 and a resulting reaction force or support force acting on the tool abutment 14 cancel each other out with regard to a retaining device, to which the connection terminal 2 is fastened.

[0054] Presently, the tool abutment 14 of the slide 6 and the further tool abutment 18 of the housing 4 face one another in the first position of the slide 6 shown in FIG. 1 and delimit a tubular seat 20 for inserting the tool 16 designed as a spreading tool 16.

[0055] The opening 10 in the slide 6 is presently part of a tubular conductor seat 22 extending in a straight line. As seen when viewed along its longitudinal extension, the conductor seat 22 is presently oriented parallel to the tubular seat 20.

[0056] The slide 6 also has a recess 24 for receiving the insulation displacement tool 8. In the first position (FIG. 1) of the slide 6 and in the second position (FIG. 5) of the slide 6, the insulation displacement tool 8 extends into the seat 24 of the slide 6 in a protruding manner.

[0057] The insulation displacement tool 8 has cutting edges 26 protruding in a fork-shaped manner in order to encase and contact a conductor 12 to be contacted on two sides.

[0058] The connection terminal 2 has a snap-in device 28 in order to hold the slide 6 in the first position in a form-locking and/or force-locking manner. The snap-in device 28 has a tongue 30 formed on the housing 4 and a groove 32 provided on the slide 6, between which a snap-in connection is formed. A further snap-in device 34 is used to immobilized the slide 6 in the second position (FIG. 5), wherein the snap-in device 34 has a tongue 36 formed on the housing 4 and a groove 38 provided on the slide 6.

[0059] In the following, a method according to the invention for contacting the conductor 12 shall be described in more detail using FIG. 1-5.

[0060] In a first method step, the connection terminal 2 is initially provided. In this case, the slide 6 is in the first position shown in FIG. 1, wherein the slide 6 is held in the first position by the snap-in connection formed by the tongue 30 and the groove 32.

[0061] In a next method step, the conductor 12 to be contacted is provided and automatically inserted into the opening 10 in the slide 6 (FIG. 2). For this purpose, the conductor 12 extends along the conductor seat 22 over the recess 24, so that the conductor 12 is supported on two sides.

[0062] In a next method step (FIG. 3, FIG. 4), the spreading tool 16 is provided and inserted into the seat 20.

[0063] Subsequently (FIG. 5), the prongs 40, 42 of the spreading tool 16 are moved apart in order to move the slide 6 from the first position to the second position shown in FIG. 5. In such case, the insulation displacement contact 8 engages with the conductor 12, wherein the insulation displacement contact 8 cuts an insulation of the conductor 12 and is brought to bear against a conducting core of the conductor 12. The slide 6 is moved automatically by means of the assembly tool 16 attached to a robot. The movement of the slide 6 from the first position to the second position is presently a straight-line movement.

[0064] FIGS. 6, 7, and 8 describe a further connection terminal 44 according to the invention in a perspective view. In order to avoid repetitions, only the differences with regard to the previously described embodiment shall be described in the following, wherein the same features are denoted with the same reference signs.

[0065] The connection terminal 44 has a slide 46, the first position of which is shown in FIG. 6. In the first position, at least one portion of the slide 46 extends beyond the housing 2 in a protruding manner.

[0066] The slide 46 has a tool abutment 48 which is designed to transmit, to the slide 46, an assembly force of a robot-guided assembly tool for moving the slide 46 from the first position (FIG. 6) to the second position (FIG. 8). For moving the slide 46 from the first position to the second position, a compression force is applied on one side to the tool abutment 48 of the slide 46, so that the slide 46 is moved into the housing 2. For this purpose, a snap-in device 50 initially forms a resistance, wherein the snap-in device can be displaced in the direction of the slide 6 by applying a minimum force.

[0067] In contrast to the initially described embodiment, the slide 46 has a tubular conductor seat 52 extending in a curved manner. A conductor 12 is thus deformed on one side by an insertion into the conductor seat 52, so that the outer lateral surface of the conductor 12 faces the insulation displacement tool 8.

[0068] Moving the slide 46 into the housing 2 thus effects contacting of the conductor 12 with the insulation displacement contact 8, analogous to the embodiment described with FIG. 1-5.

[0069] FIGS. 9, 10, and 11 show a further embodiment of a connection terminal 54 according to the invention which differs from the embodiment described with reference to FIG. 1-5 in that the slide 56 can be moved from the first position shown in FIG. 9 to the second position shown in FIG. 11 by means of a pressing tool.

[0070] A tool abutment 58 of the slide 56 and a tool abutment 60 of the housing 2 in the first position shown in FIG. 9 are initially arranged apart from one another by a pressing stroke to be executed, and they are moved toward one another by the insertion of prongs of a pressing tool into the seats 58, 60 and a subsequent bringing-together of the prongs. Therefore, a movement of the slide 56 toward the insulation displacement contact 8 is, contrary to the initially described embodiment, not effected by opening a spreading tool but by closing a pressing tool.

[0071] In this variant, the assembly forces and reaction forces also cancel each other out, so that a retaining device (not shown), on which the connection terminal is held in the fully assembled state, does not experience a load from assembly forces or resulting reaction forces.

REFERENCE SIGNS

[0072] 2 Connection terminal

[0073] 4 Housing

[0074] 6 Slide

[0075] 8 Insulation displacement contact

[0076] 10 Opening

[0077] 12 Conductor

[0078] 14 Tool abutment

[0079] 16 Assembly tool

[0080] 18 Tool abutment

[0081] 20 Seat

[0082] 22 Conductor seat

[0083] 24 Recess

[0084] 26 Cutting edges

[0085] 28 Snap-in device

[0086] 30 Tongue

[0087] 32 Groove

[0088] 34 Snap-in device

[0089] 36 Tongue

[0090] 38 Groove

[0091] 40 Prong

[0092] 42 Prong

[0093] 44 Connection terminal

[0094] 46 Slide

[0095] 48 Tool abutment

[0096] 50 Snap-in device

[0097] 52 Conductor seat

[0098] 54 Connection terminal

[0099] 56 Slide

[0100] 58 Tool abutment

[0101] 60 Tool abutment