Electrical device having an ejector lever with displaceable pivot axis

Abstract

An electrical device, having a receiving shaft for releasably receiving an electrical and/or electronic component, in particular a relay module or an electrical circuit, wherein the electrical device has an ejection device for ejecting the component, wherein the ejection device has a pivotable ejector lever. In an ejection operation, the component can be at least partially pushed from the receiving shaft by manually operating the ejector lever by a pressure force exerted on the component by the ejector lever, wherein the ejector lever is pivotably supported on the electric device without a fixed pivot axis and in an ejection operation, is configured to execute a pivoting movement of which the pivot axis is displaceable during the course of the ejection operation.

Claims

1. An electrical device comprising: a receiving shaft for releasably receiving electrical and/or electronic equipment or a relay module for an electrical circuit; an ejection device adapted to perform an ejection operation of the component, the ejection device including a pivotable ejector lever; wherein by manually actuating the ejector lever, the component is at least partially pressed out of the receiving shaft in the ejection operation by a pressure force exerted by the ejector lever on the component, such that the ejector lever directly contacts and pushes the component, wherein the ejector lever is pivotally mounted on the electrical device without a fixed pivot axis and is adapted to execute a pivoting movement in the ejection operation in which a displaceable pivot axis is displaced during a course of the ejection operation, wherein the electrical device has a roll-off contour, which is stationary with respect to the receiving shaft, for supporting the ejector lever on which the ejector lever is rolled during the ejection operation so that the displaceable pivot axis is displaced, and wherein a surface of the elector lever forms a bearing contour via which the ejector lever is supported on the roll-off contour, wherein the displaceable pivot axis is formed by a bearing point of the bearing contour of the ejector lever on the roll-off contour, wherein, in the ejection operation, a lever ratio of a force arm and a load arm of the ejector lever is changed by a displacement of the pivot axis such that the lever ratio is reduced from a beginning to an end of the ejection operation, and wherein the load arm is a portion of the ejector lever that extends from the bearing point to a first free end of the ejector lever that is positioned below the component and directly contacts the component and the force arm is a portion of the ejector lever that extends from the bearing point to a second free end of the ejector, the second free end opposing the first free end.

2. The electrical device according to claim 1, wherein the ejector lever is formed as part of the electrical device.

3. The electrical device according to claim 1, wherein, via the ejector lever, an actuating force acting on the ejector lever due to a manual actuation of the ejector lever is deflected towards the pressure force applied to the component, and wherein an effective direction of the actuating force is directed counter to an effective direction of the pressure force applied to the component.

4. The electrical device according to claim 1, wherein the ejector lever has a manual actuating element via which the ejector lever is to be actuated directly manually for pressing the component from the receiving shaft.

5. The electrical device according to claim 1, wherein a surface the bearing contour of the ejector lever is a linearly extending bearing contour via which the ejector lever is supported on the roll-off contour.

6. The electrical device according to claim 1, wherein the bearing contour of the ejector lever is a convex bearing contour via which the ejector lever is supported on the roll-off contour.

7. The electrical device according to claim 1, wherein the electrical device has an insulating material housing, and wherein the roll-off contour is formed on the insulating material housing.

8. The electrical device according to claim 1, wherein the lever ratio is changed from the beginning to the end of the ejection operation by at least 10%.

9. The electrical device according to claim 1, wherein ejector lever is a single, monolithic element, and wherein a position of the bearing point moves along the bearing contour of the ejector lever during the ejection operation.

10. An electrical device comprising: a receiving shaft for releasably receiving electrical and/or electronic equipment or a relay module for an electrical circuit; an ejection device adapted to perform an ejection operation of the component, the ejection device including a pivotable ejector lever; wherein by manually actuating the elector lever, the component is at least partially pressed out of the receiving shaft in the ejection operation by a pressure force exerted by the ejector lever on the component, such that the ejector lever directly contacts and pushes the component, wherein the ejector lever is pivotally mounted on the electrical device without a fixed pivot axis and is adapted to execute a pivoting movement in the ejection operation in which a displaceable pivot axis is displaced during a course of the election operation, wherein the electrical device has a roll-off contour, which is stationary with respect to the receiving shaft, for supporting the ejector lever on which the ejector lever is rolled during the ejection operation so that the displaceable pivot axis is displaced wherein a surface of the ejector lever forms a linearly extending bearing contour via which the ejector lever is supported on the roll-off contour, and wherein the displaceable pivot axis is formed by a bearing point of the linearly extending bearing contour of the ejector lever on the roll-off contour.

11. The electrical device according to claim 1, wherein the ejector lever is a single, monolithic element.

12. The electrical device according to claim 1, wherein the ejector lever executes the pivoting movement in the ejection operation without use of a bearing pin.

13. An electrical device comprising: a receiving shaft for releasably receiving electrical and/or electronic equipment or a relay module for an electrical circuit; an ejection device adapted to perform an ejection operation of the component, the ejection device including a pivotable ejector lever; wherein by manually actuating the ejector lever, the component is at least partially pressed out of the receiving shaft in the ejection operation by a pressure force exerted by the ejector lever on the component, such that the ejector lever directly contacts and pushes the component, wherein the ejector lever is pivotally mounted on the electrical device without a fixed pivot axis and is adapted to execute a pivoting movement in the ejection operation in which a displaceable pivot axis is displaced during a course of the ejection operation, wherein the electrical device has a roll-off contour, which is stationary with respect to the receiving shaft, for supporting the ejector lever on which the ejector lever is rolled during the ejection operation so that the displaceable pivot axis is displaced, and wherein a surface of the ejector lever forms a combination of a linearly extending bearing contour and a convex bearing contour via which the ejector lever is supported on the roll-off contour.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus, are not limitive of the present invention, and wherein:

(2) FIGS. 1 to 3 illustrate an embodiment of an electrical device;

(3) FIGS. 4 to 6 illustrate an embodiment of an electrical device;

(4) FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of an electrical device; and

(5) FIG. 8 illustrates an electrical device in a perspective view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(6) In FIGS. 1 to 7, the electrical device is only partially shown with a view of the receiving shaft and the ejection device in a side view.

(7) The electrical device 1 has an insulating material housing 11. In the insulating material housing 11 is a receiving shaft 10 for releasably receiving the component 2. The component 2 can be plugged into the receiving shaft 10 and be connected via its contact elements 21 with counter contact elements of the electrical device 1, for example, in the manner of a plug connection. In some cases, the component 2 is to be replaced. Since in some assembly situations, the component 2 cannot easily be grasped by hand to pull it out of the receiving shaft 10, the electrical device 1 has an ejection device for ejecting the component 2 from the receiving shaft 10.

(8) The ejection device has an ejector lever 3 which is disposed below the component 2 with its lever arm 30 and extends up to below its underside 20, which is oriented towards the bottom of the receiving shaft 10. The ejector lever 3 is supported on a roll-off contour 4, i.e., the latter is supported downwards on this roll-off contour 4. At one end of the lever arm 30, the ejector lever 3 has the manual actuating element 31, by means of which the ejector lever 3 is actuated directly manually in order to remove the component 2 from the receiving shaft 10. At the other end, the lever arm 30 has the pressure element 32 with which a compressive force can be exerted from below against the component 2, i.e., against its bottom side 20.

(9) FIG. 1 shows the described elements in a state in which the ejector lever 3 is not actuated and the component 2 is completely inserted in the receiving shaft 10. FIG. 2 shows the elements in the ejection operation; FIG. 3 shows the elements at the end of the ejection operation, when the component 2 can be manually removed from the receiving shaft 10. On its side facing the roll-off contour 4, the ejector lever 3 has a bearing contour 34, wherein the bearing contour 34 is supported on the roll-off contour 4 on a bearing point 5 or rests on the roll-off contour 4. As can be seen, initially (FIG. 1), the bearing point 5 of the lever arm 30 is arranged very far to the right of the roll-off contour 4, i.e., near one end of the roll-off contour 4. The lever arm 30 is divided into a force arm, which extends from the bearing point 5 to the left in the direction of the actuating element 31 and up to the actuating element 31, and a load arm, which extends from the bearing point 5 to the right in the direction of the pressure element 32 and up to the pressure element 32. As FIG. 2 shows, with increasing pivoting of the ejector lever 3, the bearing point 5 moves to the left in the direction of the actuating element 32. The component 2 is pressed from the receiving shaft 10 via the pressure element 32 in the manner of a tappet by means of a pressure force acting from below. In FIG. 3, this operation is carried out further, where it can be seen that the bearing point 5 has now moved very far to the left, approximately to the other end of the roll-off contour 4. The bearing point 5 thereby indicates the pivot axis of the ejector lever 3.

(10) It can further be seen that during the course of the pivoting movement of the ejector lever 3, the ratio between the length of the force arm and the length of the load arm (lever ratio force arm/load arm) is clearly reduced as a result of the displacement of the bearing point 5, e.g., at least by the factor 1.5. It can further be seen that the ejector lever 3 performs a pure rolling-off action on the roll-off contour 4, i.e., essentially no sliding movement with respect to the roll-off contour 4 occurs.

(11) FIGS. 4 to 6 show a similar ejection operation as FIGS. 1 to 3, wherein in FIGS. 4 to 6, the ejector lever 3 is shaped differently. FIG. 4 shows the same state as FIG. 1, FIG. 5 the same state as FIG. 2, and FIG. 6 shows the same state as FIG. 3.

(12) In FIGS. 4 to 6, the ejector lever 3 is formed as an angle lever, which accordingly has an angled lever arm 30. The lower portion of the lever arm 30 remote from the manual actuating element 31 is arranged in a similar fashion to that in FIGS. 1 to 3 and also serves to roll off on the roll-off contour 4 upon a pivoting movement of the ejector lever 3. A portion of the lever arm 30 extending at an angle thereto, which ends at the manual actuating element 31, extends to the top of the component 2. In this way, the ejector lever 3 can be actuated more comfortably from the top by means of the manual actuating element 31.

(13) In contrast to FIGS. 1 to 3, in FIGS. 4 to 6, the ejector lever 3 is additionally guided via a holding axis 33 in an elongated hole 12 of the insulating material housing, as illustrated in particular in FIG. 8. This guidance by via the holding axis 33 allows for the ejector lever 3 to be securely fixed to the insulating material housing 11. In this case, however, the holding axis 33 does not embody the pivot axis during a pivoting movement of the ejector lever 3 in an ejection operation. The pivot axis continues to be determined by the moving bearing point 5.

(14) Whereas in the embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 6, the lever 30 has a linearly extending bearing contour 34 by which the ejector lever 3 is supported on the roll-off contour 4, and accordingly, the roll-off contour 4 is configured convexly with respect to the ejector lever 3, e.g., with constant curvature, FIG. 7 shows an embodiment in which a roll-off contour 4 with a linear course is realized. Accordingly, the bearing contour 34 of the ejector lever 3 has a convex course with respect to the roll-off contour 4. In both cases, the desired rolling-off action of the ejector lever 3 on the roll-off contour 4 is possible.

(15) As shown in the figures, the lever arm 30 extends underneath the component 2 on one side of the contact elements 21, so that the pivoting movement of the lever arm 30 is not hindered by the contact elements 21. Alternatively, this portion of the lever arm 30 may also be configured in the shape of a fork so that the contact elements 21 can be disposed in a space between the forks of the lever arm.

(16) FIG. 8 again illustrates the fixing of the ejector lever 3 via the holding axis 33 in the elongated hole 12 of the insulating housing 11. In addition, it can be seen that the electrical device 1 can be, for example, a DIN rail mounted device as is used in electrical installation technology, for example, a modular terminal. The electrical device 1 can have DIN rail fastening elements 13, e.g., on its insulating material housing 11, via which the electrical device 1 can be attached to a mounting rail of the electrical installation technology, e.g., to a DIN rail.

(17) The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are to be included within the scope of the following claims.