Clamping spring-type contact device having an overstretch prevention mechanism, and plug connector insert having at least one such clamping spring-type contact device

Abstract

Disclosed is an overstretch prevention mechanism for a clamping spring (3) of a clamping spring-type contact device, the overstretch prevention mechanism consisting of a stop (21, 11) of an actuator (2) on a bus bar (1).

Claims

1.-11. (canceled)

12. A clamping spring-type contact device, comprising: a busbar (1) for electrically contacting an electrical conductor; a clamping spring (3) held on the busbar (1) for clamping and electrically connecting the electrical conductor to a contact region of the busbar (1) in an unactuated state of the clamping spring (3); an actuator (2) held indirectly or directly on the busbar (1) for transferring the clamping spring (3) from the unactuated state into an actuated state for releasing the electrical conductor; and an overstretch prevention mechanism for avoiding an overstretching of the clamping spring (3) when actuated by the actuator (2), wherein the overstretch prevention mechanism consists of the actuator (2) striking against the busbar (1).

13. The clamping spring-type contact device as claimed in claim 12, wherein the actuator has at least one stop edge (21) and wherein the busbar has at least one counter-stop edge (11) which jointly form the stop in order to limit a range of movement of the actuator (2) in an actuating direction.

14. The clamping spring-type contact device as claimed in claim 12, wherein the busbar (1) forms a peripheral cage with a first cage wall (101) and a second cage wall (102) opposing the first cage wall (101), wherein the first cage wall (101) and the second cage wall (102) are connected together via two side walls (103, 104), wherein the second cage wall (103, 104) forms the contact region and wherein the clamping spring (3) is arranged at least partially inside the cage and is held on the first cage wall (101).

15. The clamping spring-type contact device as claimed in claim 14, wherein the clamping spring (3) is designed in one substantially V-shaped piece, and has a holding limb (31) and a clamping limb (32) which are connected together via a spring bow (33), wherein the clamping spring (3) is fastened by its holding limb (31) to the first cage wall (31) or is at least supported thereon in a planar manner and at the same time pushes directly or indirectly with its clamping limb (32) via the electrical conductor against the second cage wall (102).

16. The clamping spring-type contact device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the two side walls each have a stepped portion (113), wherein the shape of the stepped portion firstly prevents an overstretching of the clamping spring (3) and secondly permits a guidance of the actuator (2).

17. The clamping spring-type contact device as claimed in claim 12, wherein the clamping spring (3) has a protrusion (323) which comes into contact with the actuator (2) at the same time as the actuator (2) strikes against the busbar (1).

18. A plug connector insert, formed from at least one clamping spring-type contact device as claimed in claim 12 and an insulating body (4) with a connecting region (41) which has at least one connecting chamber (410), and a plug-in region (45) which opposes the connecting region (41) and has at least one contact chamber (450), wherein each contact chamber (450) is connected to a connecting chamber (410) and wherein a clamping spring-type contact device is received in each connecting chamber (410).

19. The plug connector insert as claimed in claim 18, wherein, when actuated, the actuator (2) is guided jointly by the insulating body (4) and the busbar (1).

20. The plug connector insert as claimed in claim 18, wherein the actuator (2) has two actuating arms (22) which are connected together on end sides via a projection (223), wherein, when the actuator (2) is actuated, the projection (223) cooperates with a clamping limb (32) of the clamping spring (3) and at the same time is guided on a sliding edge (13) of the busbar (1).

21. The plug connector insert as claimed in claim 18, wherein a plug-in contact (5) is arranged in each contact chamber (450), the plug-in contact being electrically conductively connected to the busbar (1) of the clamping spring-type contact device received in the respective connecting chamber (410).

22. The plug connector insert as claimed in claim 21, wherein the busbar (1) has a connecting portion (15) which is angled-back perpendicularly to a plug-in direction of the plug-in contact (5), the plug-in contact (5) being fastened thereto and being electrically conductively connected thereby to the busbar (1).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0036] An exemplary embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawings and is explained hereinafter in more detail. In the drawings:

[0037] FIGS. 1a-d show a clamping spring-type contact device in a cross-sectional view in the unactuated state and in the actuated state, with and without an insulating body;

[0038] FIGS. 2a, b show the clamping spring-type contact device without the insulating body in the unactuated and in the actuated state, in a three-dimensional view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] The figures contain partially simplified schematic views. In some cases, identical reference signs are used for elements which are the same but possibly not identical. Different views of the same elements could be scaled differently.

[0040] FIGS. 1a and 1b show a clamping spring-type contact device in cross section having an electrically conductive busbar 1 with a cage, a clamping spring 3 held thereon in its unactuated state, and an actuator 2 which is shown corresponding thereto in its unactuated position. A plug-in contact 5 is shown on the plug-in side, i.e. at the bottom in the drawing, the plug-in contact being mechanically and electrically connected to the busbar 1 via a connecting portion 105 of the busbar 1. The plug-in contact 5, which is shown, is by way of example a socket contact. In a further embodiment, however, it can also be a different contact, for example a pin contact.

[0041] FIGS. 1c and 1d show in each case the same arrangement in which, however, the actuator 2 is in its actuated position and the clamping spring 3 is accordingly in its actuated state. The actuated state of the clamping spring 3 is characterized in that its clamping limb 32 is pivoted in the plug-in direction relative to its unactuated state.

[0042] It can be seen in FIGS. 1B and 1d that the actuator 2 is held by an insulating body 4, not shown in FIGS. 1a and 1c for reasons of clarity, and is arranged so as to be countersunk therein both in its unactuated position (FIG. 1B) and in its actuated position (FIG. 1d).

[0043] The insulating body 4 has a connecting region 41 with at least one connecting chamber 410 (only one shown here) and a plug-in region 45 which has at least one contact chamber 450 (only one shown here) which is connected to the respective connecting chamber 410. A clamping spring-type contact device of the aforementioned type is received in each connecting chamber 410. The plug-in contact 5 which is connected thereto is received in the contact chamber 450 of the plug-in region 45 so as to be connected to this connecting chamber 410.

[0044] The actuator 2 has two actuating arms 22 with in each case a stop edge 21 on the end side and a projection 223 connecting the actuating arms 22 on the end side for actuating the clamping limb 32 of the clamping spring 3.

[0045] It can be particularly clearly seen from a comparison of FIGS. 1a and 1c that, when actuated, (this takes place from top to bottom in the drawing) the actuator 2 slides with its projection 223 along a sliding edge 13 of the busbar 1 and in its actuated state (FIG. 1c) strikes with its stop edge 21 against a counter-stop edge 11 of the busbar 1.

[0046] As a result, the range of movement of the actuator 2 is limited in the plug-in direction, downwardly in the drawing. Thus the clamping spring 3 is not subjected to any overstretching when actuated by the actuator 2. Due to the length of the sliding edge 13 and the resulting position of the counter-stop edge 11, the maximum deformation of the clamping spring 3 can be set very accurately, so that when actuated the clamping spring 3 is exclusively subjected to a reversible elastic deformation by a suitable arrangement of the stop edge. The sliding edge 13 and the counter-stop edge jointly form a stepped portion in the respective side surface 103, 104 (see FIG. 2b).

[0047] The clamping spring 3 is designed to be substantially V-shaped. The clamping spring has a holding limb 31 and a clamping limb 32 which are connected together via a spring bow 33. The clamping spring 3 is supported with its holding limb 31 in a planar manner against a first cage wall 101. In further embodiments, the holding limb 31 can be additionally fastened, for example screwed, riveted or latched, to the first cage wall 101, or held on the busbar 1 at least in the plug-in direction (in the vertical direction in the drawing) by at least one holding aperture or holding recess of the holding limb 31 and a holding projection/a stamped-out holding tab, or the like, of the first side wall 101 engaging therein.

[0048] At the same time, the clamping spring 3 pushes with its clamping limb 32 against a second cage wall 102 which forms a contact region on the cage inner side. The second cage wall 102 opposes the first cage wall 101 and is connected thereto by two side walls 103, 104, only one thereof being able to be seen in this sectional view, namely from this view the rear side wall 103. The clamping spring 3 is in a pretensioned state in the cage even without the electrical conductor being inserted. This takes placedepending on the type of fastening of the holding limb 31 thereofin such a manner that due to the pretensioning of the clamping spring 3 it is ensured that electrical conductors with arbitrarily small cross sections can be brought into contact by means of this contact spring-type device.

[0049] The clamping limb 32 has a protrusion 323 which comes into contact with the actuator 2, more specifically with the projection 233 of the actuator 2, in the actuated state thereof (see FIG. 1c). As a result, a particularly large restoring force can be applied from the clamping spring 3 onto the actuator 2 in its unactuated position. This is particularly advantageous for restoring the actuator 2 into its unactuated position. Finally, this particularly large restoring force assists with overcoming the static friction between the actuator 2, on the one hand, and the sliding edge 13 of the busbar 1 and/or the insulating body 4 in which the actuator 2 is held, on the other hand.

[0050] The cage of the busbar 1 is designed to be open on the connecting side, i.e. at the top in the drawing. As a result, not only the actuator 2 but also an electrical conductor, not shown in the drawing, for example a core of an electrical cable, can be inserted into the cage from the direction on the connecting side (coming from above in the drawing). The electrical conductor can be inserted between the contact limb 32 of the clamping spring 3 and the second cage wall 102 and clamped therein against being pulled out on the connecting side (at the top in the drawing). The second cage wall 102 forms on the inside an electrical contact region of the busbar 1 for the electrical conductor. The clamping spring 3 with its clamping limb 32 pushes the inserted electrical conductor against the contact region, i.e. from inside against the second cage wall 102 in order to connect it in an electrically conductive manner to the busbar 1, and thereby also to the respective plug-in contact 5.

[0051] FIGS. 2a and 2b show the arrangement of FIGS. 1a and 1c, in each case in a three-dimensional view. The cage of the busbar 1 is designed over the periphery and has two side walls 103, 104 which connect together the first 101 and the second 102 cage wall. Each side wall 103, 104 has a stepped portion 113 with the sliding edge 13 running in the actuating direction (vertically in the drawing), along which the actuator slides with its projection 223 when actuated, and with the counter-stop edge 11 arranged at right-angles thereto, against which the actuator 2 strikes with its stop edge 21 in the actuated state thereof.

[0052] Opposite the stop edges 21 thereof (i.e. shown at the top in the drawing) the actuator 2 also has an actuating surface 23 with an actuating contour which is suitable for positioning a slotted screwdriver in order to be able to actuate in a simple manner the actuator 2 which is arranged so as to be countersunk in the insulating body 4.

[0053] While different aspects or features of the invention are shown in the figures, in each case in combination, it is clear to a person skilled in the artunless specified otherwisethat the combinations shown and discussed are not the only possible combinations. In particular, mutually corresponding units or sets of features from different exemplary embodiments can be interchanged with one another.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0054] 1 Busbar [0055] 101, 102 First, second cage wall [0056] 103, 104 Side walls [0057] 105 Connecting portion [0058] 11 Stop edge [0059] 113 Stepped portion [0060] 13 Sliding edge [0061] 2 Actuator [0062] 21 Stop edges [0063] 22 Actuating arms [0064] 223 Projection [0065] 23 Actuating surface [0066] 3 Clamping spring [0067] 31 Holding limb [0068] 32 Clamping limb [0069] 323 Protrusion [0070] 33 Spring bow [0071] 4 Insulating body [0072] 40 Connecting chamber [0073] 41 Connecting region [0074] 410 Connecting chamber [0075] 45 Plug-in region [0076] 450 Contact chamber [0077] 5 Plug-in contact