Crimp and Method For Producing a Crimp

Abstract

A crimp includes a crimp barrel having a first side wall and a second side wall. The first side wall has a self-locking wing and the second side wall has a self-locking hooked pocket. The self-locking wing is adapted to lock with the self-locking hooked pocket.

Claims

1. A crimp, comprising: a crimp barrel having a first side wall and a second side wall, the first side wall has a self-locking wing and the second side wall has a self-locking hooked pocket, the self-locking wing is adapted to lock with the self-locking hooked pocket.

2. The crimp of claim 1, wherein the self-locking wing of the first side wall is a first self-locking wing and the self-locking hooked pocket of the second side wall is a first self-locking hooked pocket, the first side wall has a second self-locking hooked pocket and the second side wall has a second self-locking wing, the second side wall is cross locked with the first side wall.

3. The crimp of claim 1, wherein the self-locking wing and the self-locking hooked pocket extend up to a base of the crimp from which the first side wall and the second side wall extend.

4. The crimp of claim 1, wherein the self-locking wing has an entry chamber.

5. The crimp of claim 1, wherein the self-locking hooked pocket has an entry guide in a front side and a rear side of the self-locking hooked pocket.

6. The crimp of claim 1, wherein the self-locking hooked pocket is bent at an angle of 180 degrees.

7. The crimp of claim 1, wherein the self-locking hooked pocket is bent at an angle of 120 degrees.

8. The crimp of claim 1, wherein the crimp barrel is a F-crimp wire barrel.

9. A method for producing a crimp connection, comprising: providing a crimp including a crimp barrel having a first side wall and a second side wall, the first side wall has a self-locking wing and the second side wall has a self-locking hooked pocket; and bending the crimp barrel around a plurality of wires to lock the self-locking wing with the self-locking hooked pocket.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the self-locking wing of the first side wall is a first self-locking wing and the self-locking hooked pocket of the second side wall is a first self-locking hooked pocket, the first side wall has a second self-locking hooked pocket and the second side wall has a second self-locking wing, the second side wall is cross locked with the first side wall in the bending step.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the self-locking wing has an entry chamber.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the self-locking hooked pocket has an entry guide in a front side and a rear side of the self-locking hooked pocket.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the self-locking hooked pocket is bent at an angle of 180 degrees or 120 degrees.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the crimp barrel is a F-crimp wire barrel.

15. A crimping device, comprising: a crimp tooling member having a profile for crimping a crimp including a crimp barrel having a first side wall and a second side wall, the first side wall has a self-locking wing and the second side wall has a self-locking hooked pocket, the profile aligns operationally during crimping with a front portion and a rear portion of the first side wall and the second side wall.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying Figures, of which:

[0020] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a crimp according to the prior art;

[0021] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a self-locking hooked crimp according to an embodiment;

[0022] FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the self-locking hooked crimp of FIG. 2;

[0023] FIG. 4A is an end view of a self-locking hooked crimp according to another embodiment;

[0024] FIG. 4B is a perspective view of a crimp connection including the self-locking hooked crimp of FIG. 4A and a plurality of conductors;

[0025] FIG. 4C is a sectional perspective view of the crimp connection of FIG. 4B;

[0026] FIG. 4D is a front view of a crimper according to an embodiment;

[0027] FIG. 5A is an end view of a self-locking hooked crimp according to another embodiment;

[0028] FIG. 5B is a sectional perspective view a crimp connection including the self-locking hooked crimp of FIG. 5A and a plurality of conductors;

[0029] FIG. 5C is a front view of a crimper according to an embodiment;

[0030] FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a self-locking hooked crimp according to another embodiment; and

[0031] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a crimper according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT(S)

[0032] The invention is explained in greater detail below with reference to embodiments and the appended drawings. Elements or components which have an identical, univocal or similar construction and/or function are referred to in various Figures of the drawings with the same reference numerals. Benefits and advantages of the disclosed embodiments will become apparent from the specification and drawings. The benefits and/or advantages may be individually obtained by the various embodiments and features of the specification and drawings, which need not all be provided in order to obtain one or more of such benefits and/or advantages.

[0033] Prior to a description of embodiments of the present disclosure, underlying knowledge forming the basis of the present disclosure is described. Specific embodiments of the present disclosure are described below. Note, however, that an excessively detailed description may be omitted. For example, a detailed description of an already well-known matter, and a repeated description of substantially identical components may be omitted. This is intended to avoid unnecessary redundancies of the following description and facilitate understanding of persons skilled in the art. It should be noted that the inventors provide the accompanying drawings and the following description so that persons skilled in the art can fully understand the present disclosure, and that the accompanying drawings and the following description are not intended to limit the subject matter recited in the claims.

[0034] FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of a self-locking hooked crimp 2 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Throughout the description, the self-locking hooked crimp 2 may alternatively be referred to as a “self-locking crimp” or just a “crimp”.

[0035] As shown in FIG. 2, a first side wall 4a of the self-locking hooked crimp 2 has a pair of self-locking wings 11a and 11b. A second side wall 4b has a self-locking hooked pocket 10a, 10b. The first side wall 4a and the second side wall 4b extend opposing one another from a base of the crimp 2. In an embodiment, the self-locking hooked pockets 10a, 10b and the self-locking wings 11a, 11b extend up to the base of the crimp 2. In an embodiment, the self-locking wing 11a, 11b has an entry chamber and the self-locking hooked pockets 10a, 10b have an entry guide in a front side and a rear side of the pocket 10a, 10b.

[0036] In the self-locking hooked crimp 2, the self-locking wings 11a, 11b interlock with the self-locking hooked pocket 10a, 10b during the crimping operation, which in turn gives more mechanical robustness and electrical robustness against mechanical and torsional stresses with thinner stock thickness. Due to the compression and axial elongation during forming of the self-locking hooked crimp 2, the edges of the self-locking wings 11a, 11b and self-locking pockets 10a, 10b get squeezed against each other, which creates an interlock connection of the seam, thus providing additional robustness.

[0037] FIG. 3 is a flat perspective bottom view of the self-locking crimp 2 according the present disclosure, in other words before being bent into a three dimensional shape. Various dimensions of the self-locking wings 11a, 11b and the self-locking pockets 10a, 10b can be suitably adapted to the particular use case.

[0038] In an embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, an interior surface of a crimp barrel 16 of the self-locking crimp 2 may include one or more serrations 44 for penetrating an oxide and/or other surface material (such as, but not limited to, residual wire extrusion enhancement materials, and/or the like), layer that has built up on electrical conductors crimped by the self-locking crimp 2. The interior surfaces may each be referred to herein as a “metallic surface” of the crimp barrel 16. In an embodiment, the crimp barrel 16 is an F-crimp wire barrel.

[0039] FIG. 4A is a schematic representation of an embodiment of self-locking hooked crimp 5 according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. In this embodiment, a side wall 104b with the self-locking hooked pocket 10a, 10b is bent approximately by 180 degrees. Such a bending angle α1 of the self-locking hooked pocket 10a, 10b provides extra robustness to enhance the resilience of the interlock seam of the self-locking hooked crimp 5 against external stresses.

[0040] FIG. 4B is a schematic representation of a crimp connection 6 formed by the self-locking hooked crimp 5 showing interlocking of the side walls 104a, 104b around a plurality of electrical wires or conductors 30. FIG. 4C is a schematic cross section of the self-locking hooked crimp connection 6 showing the interlocking of the wing 11a with the pocket 10a. FIG. 4D is a schematic representation of so called “O profile thorough” of a crimper 50 suitable for the crimping operation of the self-locking hooked crimp connection 6.

[0041] FIG. 5A is a schematic representation of an embodiment of self-locking hooked crimp 7 according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. In this embodiment, the side wall 104b′ with the self-locking hooked pocket 10a, 10b is bent approximately by 120 degrees. Such a bending angle α2 of the self-locking hooked pocket 10a, 10b provides extra robustness to enhance the resilience of the interlock seam of the self-locking hooked crimp 7 against external stresses.

[0042] FIG. 5B is a schematic cross section of a crimp connection 8 formed by the self-locking hooked crimp 7 showing the interlocking of the wing 11a with the pocket 10a around the electrical conductors 30. FIG. 5C is a schematic of the “O profile thorough” of the crimper 50 suitable for the crimping operation of the self-locking hooked crimp 7.

[0043] FIG. 6 shows a schematic view of another embodiment of the self-locking hooked crimp 9 according to an embodiment. A first side wall 124a has a self-locking wing 111b and a self-locking hooked pocket 100a. A second side wall 124b has a self-locking hooked pocket 100b and a self-locking wing 111a. In self-locking the hooked crimp 9 of this embodiment, the self-locking wings 111a, 111b are cross locked with the self-locking hooked pocket 100a, 100b during the crimping operation, which in turn gives more mechanical robustness and electrical robustness against mechanical and torsional stresses.

[0044] In order to contact an electrically conductive wire 30, the crimp 2, 5, 7, 9 is, for example, attached to a non-insulated wire 30, as shown for example in FIGS. 4B, 4C and 5B. The electrical insulation layer may be removed from at least a portion of ends of the electrical conductors 30 for exposing the conductor ends. In some alternative embodiments, the crimp 2, 5, 7, 9 is electrically connected to another crimp barrel 16 that is configured to be crimped around the end of another electrical wire, to mechanically and electrically connect the other electrical wire to the crimp 2, 5, 7, 9. In some alternative embodiments, the crimp 2, 5, 7, 9 is configured to electrically connect the electrical wire 30 to another electrical wire. In other words, the crimp 2, 5, 7, 9 may be used to splice the electrical wire 30 to another wire in some alternative embodiments.

[0045] The crimp 2, 5, 7, 9 of the above embodiments is used for realizing the electrical and mechanical connections using a crimping device 50 or crimper 50, shown in FIGS. 4D, 5C, and 7. The crimping device 50 crimps the crimp 2, 5, 7, 9 to a wire 30. In an embodiment, the electrical wire 30 has electrical conductors that are received in the crimp barrel 16. For example, an end segment of the wire 30 has exposed conductors that are loaded into the crimp barrel 16. During a crimping operation, the barrel 16 is crimped around the conductors 30 forming a mechanical and electrical connection between the crimp 2, 5, 7, 9 and the electrical wire 30.

[0046] FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a crimping device 50, also known as crimper, used in a crimping tool according a method of the present disclosure. When the crimping is started, the self-locking wing 11a, 11b, 111a, 111b enters the self-locking pocket 10a, 10b, 100a, 100b and get crimped with wires 30. The groove 51 in the crimper 50 allows an easy flow of the self-locking wing 11a, 11b, 111a, 111b for creating a seam self-locking.

[0047] The crimping operation entails forming the crimp connection 6, 8 to mechanically hold the conductors 30, and to provide an engagement between the conductors 30 and the crimp 2, 5, 7, 9. Forming of the terminal may include bending arms or tabs around the wire conductors 30 as in an open terminal (e.g., “F” type crimp), or compressing a closed barrel around the wire conductors 30 as in a closed terminal (e.g., “O” type crimp). As the terminal is formed around the wires 30 during the crimping action, the metal of the terminal and/or of the conductors 30 within the terminal may be extruded. It is desirable to provide a secure mechanical connection, and a good quality electrical connection between the terminal and the electrical wire 30. Using the embodiments of crimp tooling as disclosed herein creates a formed feature on the terminal that is formed during the crimping operation due to the extrusion of the metal(s). With this tooling, the formed feature can be formed on various types of terminals with varying terminal shapes and designs.

[0048] The crimping device 50 is provided with a crimping tooling member 51 with a profile for crimping the crimp 2, 5, 7, 9. During crimping, the profile aligns operationally with a front portion and a rear portion of the walls 4a, 4b, 104a, 104b, 124a, 124b of the crimp barrel 16 as shown in the embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 6. According to embodiments of this invention, the length of the side walls 4a, 4b, 104a, 104b, 124a, 124b is such that when the side walls 4a, 4b, 104a, 104b, 124a, 124b are engaged to form an interlocked seam, the ends of the side walls 4a, 4b, 104a, 104b, 124a, 124b do not hit the inner surface of the crimp 2, 5, 7, 9.

[0049] A crimping device 50 according to an embodiment may include an anvil and the crimp tooling member 51, as shown in FIG. 7. The anvil has a top surface that receives the crimp 2, 5, 7, 9 thereon. The electrical conductors 30 are received in the crimp barrel 16 on the anvil. The crimp tooling member 51 includes a forming profile that is selectively shaped to form or crimp the barrel 16 around the conductors 30 when the forming profile engages the crimp 2, 5, 7, 9. The forming profile defines part of a crimp zone in which the crimp 2, 5, 7, 9 and wire 30 are received during the crimping operation. The top surface of the anvil also defines a part of the crimp zone, as the terminal is crimped to the wire 30 between the crimp tooling member 51 and the anvil.

[0050] The crimp tooling member 51 is movable towards and away from the anvil along a crimp stroke in a direction 53 as shown in FIG. 7. The crimp stroke has an upward component away from the anvil, and a downward component towards the anvil. The crimp tooling member 51 moves bi-directionally towards and away from the anvil, along a crimp axis 52. The crimp tooling member 51 crimps the crimp 2, 5, 7, 9 around the electrical conductors 30 during the downward component of the crimp stroke as the crimp tooling member 51 moves towards the anvil. Although not shown, the crimp tooling member 51 may be coupled to a mechanical actuator that propels the movement of the crimp tooling member 51 along the crimp stroke. For example, the crimp tooling member 51 may be coupled to a movable ram of an applicator, or lead-maker machine. In addition, the applicator or the lead-maker machine may also include or be coupled to the anvil and the base support of the crimping device 50.

[0051] During a crimping operation, the crimp 2, 5, 7, 9 is loaded onto the top surface of the anvil. The wire 30 is moved in a loading direction towards the crimp zone such that the electrical conductors 30 are received in the crimp barrel 16 between the two side-walls 4a, 4b, 104a, 104b, 124a, 124b of the crimp barrel 16. As the crimp tooling member 51 moves toward the anvil, the forming profile descends over the crimp barrel 16 and engages the side walls 4a, 4b, 104a, 104b, 124a, 124b to bend or form the walls 4a, 4b, 104a, 104b, 124a, 124b around the electrical conductors 30. More specifically, side tabs and the top-forming surface of the forming profile gradually bend the side walls 4a, 4b, 104a, 104b, 124a, 124b over a top of the electrical conductors 30 as the crimp tooling member 51 moves downward.

[0052] The self-locking wing 11a, 11b, 111a, 111b is configured to engage with the self-locking hooked pocket 10a, 10b, 100a, 100b of the crimp 2, 5, 7, 9. At a bottom dead position of the crimp tooling member 50, which is the lowest position (or most proximate position to the base support) of the crimp tooling member 50 during the crimp stroke, part of the forming profile may extend beyond the top surface of the anvil. The crimp 2, 5, 7, 9 is compressed between the forming profile and the anvil, which causes the side walls 4a, 4b, 104a, 104b, 124a, 124b of the crimp barrel 16 to mechanically engage and electrically connect to the electrical conductors 30 of the wire. High compressive forces cause metal-to-metal bonds between the side walls 4a, 4b, 104a, 104b, 124a, 124b and the conductors 30. One or more embodiments described herein is directed to the forming profile such that the seam self-locking operation as described herein is formed when the side walls 4a, 4b, 104a, 104b, 124a, 124b of the crimp barrel 16 engage with each other.

[0053] The mechanics and the behavior of the crimp connection formed by the crimp 2, 5, 7, 9 under external forces will be described. There are two mechanisms for establishing and maintaining permanent contact in a crimp connection, namely cold welding and the generation of an appropriate residual force distribution. Both mechanisms contribute for creating a permanent connection and are independent of each other. During crimping, two metal surfaces are brought under an applied force to sliding or wiping actions, thus welding the metals in a cold version also known as cold welding. Under an appropriate residual force distribution, the contact interface will experience a positive force. During crimping, residual forces are developed between the conductor 30 and the crimp barrel 16 as the crimp tooling 50 is removed which is indicative of different elastic recovery.

[0054] When the electrical conductor 30 tends to the spring back more than the crimp barrel 16, the barrel 16 exerts a compressive force on the conductor 30 which maintains the integrity of the contact interface. The electrical and the mechanical performance of a crimped connection results from a controlled deformation of conductors 30 and crimp barrel 16 which produce micro cold welded junctions between the conductors 30 and between conductors 30 and the crimp barrel 16. These junctions are maintained by an appropriate residual stress distribution within the crimped connection which leads to residual forces which in turn maintain the stability of the junctions.

[0055] During the application of an external force (for example tensile force) on the crimp connection formed by crimps according to the prior art, the interlocking between the crimps flanks could be misaligned, thus resulting in a poor crimp connection. Crimps 2, 5, 7, 9 according to the embodiments described herein with the self-locking wing 11a, 11b, 111a, 111b and the self-locking pocket 10a, 10b, 100a, 100b are provided in embodiments of the seam self-locking crimp connection of the present disclosure. Such tapered embossed areas could be provided both inside or outside of the crimp flanks or side walls 4a, 4b, 104a, 104b, 124a, 124b thereby ensuring that interlocking is maintained even when the tensile force applied at an angle not equal to the normal vector in the lateral direction of the outer surface of the crimp flank 4a, 4b, 104a, 104b, 124a, 124b.

[0056] While the present disclosure has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the disclosure and from the scope of the appended claims. The exemplary embodiments should be considered in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.