Contact device

Abstract

A contact device for transmitting electrical energy from a preferably spatially fixed busbar to a tap-off bar, movable along the busbar, including: at least one connecting housing, the busbar being mechanically connected to the tap-off bar by connecting housing, at least one combi clip, the combi clip brought into engagement with part of the outer periphery of the connecting housing in a mechanically releasable manner and establishing a mechanical connection between the connecting housing and a connecting bracket.

Claims

1. Contact device for transmitting electrical energy from a preferably spatially fixed busbar to a tap-off bar, which is movable along the busbar or likewise spatially fixed, comprising: at least one connecting housing, the busbar being mechanically connected to the tap-off bar by means of the connecting housing, and at least one combi clip, the combi clip being brought into engagement with part of the outer periphery of the connecting housing in a mechanically releasable manner and establishing a mechanical connection between the connecting housing and a connecting bracket, wherein, by clipping the combi clip onto the part of the outer periphery of the connecting housing, the mechanical connection is established between the connecting housing and the connecting bracket, the combi clip being mechanically connected to the connecting bracket releasably or non-releasably; wherein the combi clip has at least one underside clip element for fastening in an opening of the connecting bracket on an underside opposite the upper side, the underside clip element being designed such that it mechanically brings itself into engagement with a boundary of the opening in the connecting bracket upon application of compressive force onto the combi clip towards the connecting bracket.

2. Contact device according to claim 1, wherein the combi clip has at least one upper side clip element on an upper side for clipping onto the connecting housing, the upper side clip element being designed such that upon application of compressive force towards the connecting housing it is automatically positioned against the outer periphery of the connecting housing and/or a free end of the upper side clip element connects to a fastening region of the connecting housing which is provided for said end and is explicitly assigned to said end.

3. Contact device according to claim 2, wherein the underside clip element interlocks with the opening in the connecting bracket.

4. Contact device according to claim 3, further comprising: at least one power plug housing, wherein the power plug housing is positioned mechanically and from the outside on the busbar and/or on the tap-off bar such that a mechanical connection between the connecting housing and the busbar and/or the connecting bar is established by the power plug housing.

5. Contact device according to claim 4, wherein the power plug housing is at least partially open on one side, and on this side has at least one power plug clip element, the power plug clip element being designed such that, upon application of compressive force towards the connecting housing, it is automatically positioned against the outer periphery of the connecting element and/or a free end of the power plug clip element is connected to an additional fastening region of the connecting housing, which is provided for said end and is explicitly assigned to said end, at least part of the preferably spatially fixed busbar therefore being arranged between the connecting housing and an internal wall of the power plug housing.

6. Contact device according to claim 5, wherein the connecting housing comprises at least one electrically conductive sliding contact element, this sliding contact element being connected on one side to an electrically conductive board of the connecting housing and being electrically conductively connected on the other side to the busbar via a slide contact.

7. Contact device according to claim 6, wherein the sliding contact element comprises an elongate base element, which is set up and provided to establish sliding and electrically conductive sliding contact along and with the busbar upon application of pressure on the busbar, at least one fastening element of the sliding contact element establishing an electrically conductive connection between the electrically conductive board of the connecting housing and the busbar.

8. Contact device according to claim 7, wherein the base element has at least one mounting portion for electrically conductive mounting on the board, the mounting portion constituting the fastening element or the fastening element being releasably or non-releasably fastened thereto, and has a contact portion, the contact portion being electrically conductively connected to the mounting portion by means of at least one curved portion, and the curved portion extending at an angle of less than 90 degrees relative to the mounting portion.

9. Contact device according to claim 1, wherein the underside clip element interlocks with the opening in the connecting bracket.

10. Contact device according to claim 9, further comprising: at least one power plug housing, wherein the power plug housing is positioned mechanically and from the outside on the busbar and/or on the tap-off bar such that a mechanical connection between the connecting housing and the busbar and/or the connecting bar is established by the power plug housing.

11. Contact device according to claim 10, wherein the power plug housing is at least partially open on one side, and on this side has at least one power plug clip element, the power plug clip element being designed such that, upon application of compressive force towards the connecting housing, it is automatically positioned against the outer periphery of the connecting element and/or a free end of the power plug clip element is connected to an additional fastening region of the connecting housing, which is provided for said end and is explicitly assigned to said end, at least part of the preferably spatially fixed busbar therefore being arranged between the connecting housing and an internal wall of the power plug housing.

12. Contact device according to claim 11, wherein the connecting housing comprises at least one electrically conductive sliding contact element, this sliding contact element being connected on one side to an electrically conductive board of the connecting housing and being electrically conductively connected on the other side to the busbar via a slide contact.

13. Contact device according to claim 12, wherein the sliding contact element comprises an elongate base element, which is set up and provided to establish sliding and electrically conductive sliding contact along and with the busbar upon application of pressure on the busbar, at least one fastening element of the sliding contact element establishing an electrically conductive connection between the electrically conductive board of the connecting housing and the busbar.

14. Contact device according to claim 13, wherein the base element has at least one mounting portion for electrically conductive mounting on the board, the mounting portion constituting the fastening element or the fastening element being releasably or non-releasably fastened thereto, and has a contact portion, the contact portion being electrically conductively connected to the mounting portion by means of at least one curved portion, and the curved portion extending at an angle of less than 90 degrees relative to the mounting portion.

15. Contact device according to claim 14, wherein the sliding contact element is formed integrally.

Description

(1) Further advantages and embodiments will emerge from the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1A-1C are each schematic perspective views of an embodiment of the contact device described here in accordance with the invention;

(3) FIG. 2A, 2B show an embodiment of a combi clip described here;

(4) FIG. 3A, 3B show a further embodiment of a contact device described here and in particular an embodiment of a power plug housing described here;

(5) FIG. 4 show an embodiment of the sliding contact element described here.

(6) FIG. 1A is a first schematic perspective view of a contact device 100 described here and according to the invention for transmitting electrical energy from a busbar 1, which is spatially fixed in this embodiment, comprising electrical conductors 1A to 1D. Here, the electrical conductors 1A to 1D are each mounted separately and electrically insulated from one another in a plastics frame 14 provided for this purpose, which is at least partially open towards a connecting housing 10 of the contact device 100 in order for electrical contact to be made here.

(7) In this respect, the electrical conductors 1A-1D extend in a longitudinal direction L and each also run separately and parallel to one another in this longitudinal direction L.

(8) The connecting housing 10 connects the busbar 1 mechanically and preferably also electrically conductively to a tap-off bar 2. On the tapping side, the tap-off bar 2 in turn contains the electrical tapping lines 2A-2D that are assigned, preferably explicitly assigned, to the electrical conductors 1A to 1D of the busbar 1, respectively.

(9) The connecting housing 10 is connected by means of a combi clip 20 to a connecting bracket 30 of the contact device 100. For this purpose, the combi clip 20 is clipped on one side into an opening 31 in the connecting bracket 30. On the opposite side, the combi clip 20 is clipped into the connecting housing 10. The combi clip 20 therefore establishes a particularly simple, time-saving and cost-effective snap-in connection (also referred to as a clip connection) between the connecting housing 10 and the connecting bracket30.

(10) In this respect, in this embodiment, the connecting housing 10 is movable together with the connecting bracket 30, preferably even the whole contact device 100, along the busbar 1 (by means of the combi clip 20). In order to make this possible, the connecting housing 10 also has a through-opening 10A in a longitudinal direction L, through which the busbar 1 is guided. Because the busbar 1 is constructed in a direction towards the connecting housing 10 such that the electrical conductors 1A-1D arranged therein are exposed, an electrical sliding contact can therefore be located on the electrical conductors 1A-1D in these exposed channels.

(11) Moreover, the embodiment according to FIG. 1A comprises a power plug housing 40, which is arranged on a mounting surface 10B of the connecting housing 10. Between the power plug housing 40 and the connecting housing 10, a mechanical, for example also electrically conductive, connection is therefore made possible between the electrical tapping lines 2A-2D guided inside the power plug housing 40 and the electrical lines 1A-1D.

(12) As can be seen from FIG. 1A, the power plug housing 40 shown therein consists of two half-shells 40A and 40B. With regard to assembly, therefore, quite simply the half-shell 40B can first be provided, in a second step the ends of the electrical tapping lines 2A-2D can be laid into the half-shell 40B, and therefore preferably likewise by means of a snap-in process, preferably only by means of a snap-in process, the second half-shell 40A can be snapped onto the first half-shell 40B such that the electrical tapping lines 2A to 2D are arranged and fixed between the two half-shells 40A, 40B. In this respect, therefore, in one embodiment, the power plug housing 40 shown in FIG. 1A also likewise again uses the core concept of a snap-in process described throughout the entire application.

(13) Moreover, the embodiment of the power plug housing 40 according to FIG. 1A has an end plate 45, which is for example flush with the electrical conductors 2A to 2D at the end.

(14) Alternatively, the half-shell element 40A can be joined to the half-shell element 40B in another manner, for example by screws or bonding.

(15) As can likewise already be seen from FIG. 1A, the combi clip 20 has at least one upper side clip element 22 on an upper side 21 for clipping onto the connecting housing 10, which element defines the entire combi clip 20 so as to be flush on the side in a lateral direction L and lines up therewith, and is snapped onto part of the outer surface of the connecting housing 10 from the outside.

(16) The connecting housing also has at least one light signal surface 65. The light signal surface comprises, for example, optical fibre elements, for example organic or inorganic LEDs. The light signal surfaces 65 can be perceived without aids at any time by the user. If the light signal surface 65 lights up, there is electrical contact between the busbar 1 and the tap-off bar 2. Preferably, the light signal surfaces 65 are installed so as to be integrated into a screw dome 66 of the connecting housing.

(17) FIGS. 1B and 1C are two further schematic perspective views of the contact device shown in FIG. 1A.

(18) FIG. 2A is a schematic side view of an embodiment of a combi clip 20 described here.

(19) The combi clip 20 has a mounting surface 20A. The mounting surface 20A can therefore also be described as a bearing surface. Moreover, the combi clip 20 has an upper side 21 and an underside 23. On the underside 23, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2A, two underside clip elements 24 are formed in a direction CL. The underside clip elements 24 project from the mounting surface 2A in a direction extending in a direction perpendicular to the main direction of extension of the mounting surface 20A away from the mounting surface 2A. In the direction CL, the two underside clip elements 24 are arranged at a distance D1 from one another. The distance D1 has a width such that the underside clip elements 24 interlock solely as a result of compressive force and then automatically and in particular without tools onto or with the boundary 310 of the opening 31 in the connecting bracket 30.

(20) However, in the opposite direction, for example, in the same manner as the underside clip elements 24 on the underside previously described above, the upper side clip elements 22 project away from the mounting surface 20A. In the process, the combi clip 20 from FIG. 2A has at least two clip elements, but for example also more clip elements, which are flush with the edge of the mounting surface 20A. For example, at least one additional upper side clip element 22 is however formed in the main extension plane of the mounting region 20A away from the boundary of the mounting surface 20A.

(21) FIG. 2B is a schematic perspective view of the combi clip 20 shown in FIG. 2A.

(22) FIG. 3A is a schematic perspective view of a further embodiment of the contact device 100 described here.

(23) As can be seen from FIG. 3A, therefore, instead of mounting the power plug housing 40 on a mounting surface of the connecting housing 10 (as shown in FIG. 1A-1C), the power plug housing 40 is open on one side and has power plug clip elements 41 provided for this purpose on the edge, which elements connect to and interlock with the connecting housing 10 preferably automatically and without tools upon application of compressive force towards an electrically conductive board 16 of the connecting housing 10.

(24) In this respect, the connecting housing 10 has additional fastening regions 13. These additional fastening regions 13 cannot be a constituent part of the connecting housing 10, but rather are already constituted by the electrically conductive board 16 of the connecting housing 10 itself.

(25) After attaching a power plug housing 40 constructed in this manner, the electrical conductors 1A-1D, but alternatively or additionally (and this is not shown) also the electrical conductors 2A-2D, are therefore arranged between an internal wall of the power plug housing 40 and the electrically conductive board 16 of the connecting housing 10.

(26) FIG. 3B is a further schematic perspective view of the contact device 100 shown in FIG. 3A.

(27) In FIG. 4, a sliding contact element 15 is shown, as is already shown in FIG. 3B for example, but can also be seen particularly clearly in FIG. 1C.

(28) The sliding contact element 15 shown in FIG. 4 therefore has an elongate base element 150, which is set up and provided for establishing sliding contact along and with the tap-off bar 2 upon application of pressure to the busbar 1, at least one fastening element 151 of the sliding contact element 15 constituting an electrically conductive connection between the electrically conductive board 16 of the connecting housing 10 and the busbar 1.

(29) In particular, the sliding contact element 15 can also have two or more fastening elements 151, which project away from a main extension plane and/or a main extension direction of the base element 150 in a predetermined direction.

(30) In particular, the fastening elements 151 can be designed in the form of plug connections, since it has become clear that in particular such plug connections can be plugged particularly easily into boards, in particular the above-described electrically conductive boards 16 of the connecting housing 10.

(31) As shown in FIG. 4, the base element 150 has a mounting portion 150A and a contact portion 152 and two curved portions 153, the curved portion 153, which is directly connected to the mounting portion 150A, curving by 90 in the direction away from a main extension direction and/or main extension plane of the mounting portion 150A, the further curved portion 153, which is in direct contact with the contact portion 152, curving by less than 90 such that the contact portion 152 and the mounting portion 150A are not arranged in parallel with one another in relation to their longitudinal directions of extension and/or main directions of extension, but rather extend so as to be straight at an acute angle towards one another such that an application of pressure in the form of the above-described sliding contact is made possible as a result of this acute angle between the contact portion 152 and the mounting portion 150A.

(32) The invention is not limited on the basis of the description and the embodiments. On the contrary, the invention comprises any novel feature and any combination of features, and this particularly also includes any combination of the claims, even if this feature or this combination of features itself is not explicitly stated in the claims or the embodiments.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

(33) Busbar

(34) 1A-1D Electrical conductors

(35) Tap-off bar

(36) 2A-2D Electrical tapping lines

(37) 10 Connecting housing

(38) 10A Through-opening

(39) 10B Mounting surface

(40) 13 Fastening regions

(41) 14 Plastics frame

(42) 15 Sliding contact element

(43) 16 Electrically conductive board

(44) 20 Cambi clip

(45) 20A Mounting surface

(46) 21 Upper side

(47) 22 Upper side clip elements

(48) 23 Underside

(49) 24 Underside clip elements

(50) 30 Connecting bracket

(51) 31 Opening in the connecting bracket

(52) 40 Power plug housing

(53) 40A,40B Half-shells

(54) 41 Power plug clip elements

(55) 45 End plate

(56) 65 Light signal surface

(57) 66 Screw dome

(58) 100 Contact device

(59) 150 Base element

(60) 150A Mounting portion

(61) 151 Fastening element

(62) 152 Contact portion

(63) 153 Curved portion

(64) 310 Boundary of the opening in the connecting bracket

(65) L Longitudinal direction

(66) CL Direction

(67) D1 Distance