METALLIC PLUG CONNECTOR, AND METHOD AND DEVICE FOR PRODUCING A METALLIC PLUG CONNECTOR COMPONENT

Abstract

The invention relates to a metallic plug connector component (1), in particular an electrical contact element, or a support sleeve, of an electrical plug connector, having a main body (3) which has been coated with a coating (2) and which has been mechanically deformed in a processing portion (4). It is provided that a surface (6, 7) of the coating (2) in the processing portion (4) has a defined surface structure (8) at least in certain portions.

Claims

1. A metallic plug connector component (1), comprising: a main body (3); a coating (2) covering the main body (3); and wherein the main body is mechanically deformed at a processing portion (4); and wherein a surface (6, 7) of the coating (2) in the processing portion (4) has a defined surface structure (8) at least in certain portions of the surface (6, 7).

2. The metallic plug connector component (1) as claimed in claim 1, and wherein the coating (2) adjoins a margin (R) or a projection (5′) or a transition portion that is formed between two portions with different radii.

3. The metallic plug connector component (1) as claimed in claim 1, and wherein the main body (3) is formed in a manner of a plate from a metal.

4. The metallic plug connector component (1) as claimed in claim 1, and wherein the coating (2) covering the main body (3) has a compressive strength that is lower than a compressive strength of the main body (3).

5. The metallic plug connector component (1) as claimed in claim 1, and wherein the coating (2) covering the main body (3) is a metallic coating.

6. The metallic plug connector component (1) as claimed in claim 1, and wherein the main body (3) is coated on at least two mutually averted sides with the coating (2); and wherein the coating (2) on the at least two mutually averted sides is provided with the surface structure (8).

7. The metallic plug connector component (1) as claimed in claim 1, and wherein, the processing portion (4) is deformed to form at least one bevel (5) at a margin (R) of the metallic plug connector component (1).

8. The metallic plug connector component (1) as claimed in claim 1, and wherein that surface of the coating (2) which has the surface structure (8) is an outer face (6) of the coating (2), that is averted from the main body (3), and wherein the surface structure (8) establishes a form-fitting connection with a complementary negative form (9) of a stamping face (10) of a deformation tool (11).

9. The metallic plug connector component (1) as claimed in claim 1, and wherein that surface of the coating (2) which has the surface structure (8) is an inner surface (7) of the surface coating (2), facing toward the main body (3), of the metallic plug connector component (1); and, wherein the main body (3) of the metallic plug connector component (1) has a complementary surface structure (8′) to establish a form-fitting connection with the surface structure (8) of the surface coating (2).

10. The metallic plug connector component (1) as claimed in claim 1, and wherein the surface structure (8) of the coating (2) is an ordered structure.

11. The metallic plug connector component (1) as claimed in claim 1, and wherein a roughness depth of the surface structure (8) of the coating (2) is at least half of a layer thickness (s) of the coating (2).

12. A method for producing a metallic plug connector component (1) comprising the steps: providing a main body (3) for the metallic plug connector component (1) that has a main body face (15) which has been coated with a coating (2), the coating (2) having an outer face (6) averted from the main body (3); processing at least one of the main body face (15) of the main body (3) or the outer face (6) of the coating (2), to generate a defined surface structure (8) on a processing portion (4) of the coated main body (3); providing a deformation tool (11); and performing with the deformation tool (11), a compressive deformation of the processing portion (4) of the coated main body (3) that has the defined surface structure (8).

13. The method for producing a metallic plug connector component (1) as claimed in claim 12, and wherein the defined surface structure (8, 8′) is stamped into an outer face (6) of the surface coating (2), during the compressive deformation.

14. The method for producing a metallic plug connector component (1) as claimed in claim 12, and wherein the processing portion (4) adjoins a margin (R) of the main body (3), and wherein; the main body (3) is deformed responsive to the compressive deformation so that a bevel (5) is formed at the margin (R).

15. A device (14) for producing a metallic plug connector component (1) which has a main body (3) and which has been coated with a coating (2), comprising: a processing tool (16) that is configured to generate a defined surface structure (8, 8′) in a main body face (15) of the main body (3) and/or in an outer face (6) of the coating (2) of the main body (3); and a deformation tool (11) for performing compressive deformation of a processing portion (4) of the main body (3) that has been coated with the coating (2); and the processing portion (4) has the defined surface structure (8, 8′).

16. The metallic plug connector component (1) as claimed in claim 1, and wherein the main body (3) is formed in the manner of a sheet from a high-grade metal.

17. The metallic plug connector component (1) as claimed in claim 1, and wherein the coating (2) covering the main body (3) is a tin coating.

18. The metallic plug connector component (1) as claimed in claim 1, and wherein the surface structure (8) of the coating (2) is a cross-knurled structure.

19. The metallic plug connector component (1) as claimed in claim 1, and wherein the metallic plug connector component (1) forms an electrical contact element or support sleeve of an electrical plug connector.

20. The method for producing a metallic plug connector component (1) as claimed in claim 12, and wherein the defined surface structure (8, 8′) is stamped through the surface coating (2) and into the main body (3) of the metallic plug connector component (1), at the same time as the compressive deformation.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FIGURES

[0119] In the figures, functionally identical elements are denoted by the same reference designations.

[0120] FIG. 1 shows a metallic plug connector component according to a first exemplary embodiment of the invention in a perspective illustration.

[0121] FIG. 1A is an enlarged cross-section view of a segment of the metallic plug connector component of FIG. 1 showing details thereof.

[0122] FIG. 2 shows a metallic plug connector component according to a second exemplary embodiment of the invention in a perspective illustration.

[0123] FIG. 3 shows a metallic plug connector component according to a third exemplary embodiment of the invention in a perspective illustration.

[0124] FIG. 4 shows a metallic plug connector component according to a fourth exemplary embodiment of the invention in a perspective illustration.

[0125] FIG. 5 shows a metallic plug connector component according to a fifth exemplary embodiment of the invention in a perspective illustration.

[0126] FIG. 6 shows an exemplary surface structure (cross-knurled structure) that can be used in the context of the invention.

[0127] FIG. 7 shows a further surface structure (line structure) that can be used in the context of the invention.

[0128] FIG. 8 shows a further surface structure (dotted pattern) that can be used in the context of the invention.

[0129] FIG. 9 shows, in a perspective sectional illustration, the metallic plug connector component of FIG. 1, which has been deformed to form a sleeve-shaped body.

[0130] FIG. 10 shows a further sleeve-shaped metallic plug connector component according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention in a perspective sectional illustration.

[0131] FIG. 11 shows a device for producing a metallic plug connector component, with an opened deformation tool, according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention before the deformation of the plug connector component.

[0132] FIG. 12 shows the device of FIG. 11 in a closed state of the deformation tool, after the deformation of the plug connector component.

[0133] FIG. 13 shows a device for producing a metallic plug connector component, having a deformation tool according to the prior art.

DETAILED WRITTEN DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0134] This disclosure of the invention is submitted in furtherance of the Constitutional purposes of the US Patent Laws “to promote the progress of Science and the useful arts” (Article 1, Section 8).

[0135] FIG. 1 shows, in a perspective illustration, a metallic plug connector component 1 according to the invention and according to a first exemplary embodiment. The illustrated plug connector component 1 may, for example, be deformed in the course of a production process to form an electrical contact element, or to form a support sleeve of an electrical plug connector, which can result in the sleeve-shaped body illustrated in FIG. 9.

[0136] The plug connector component 1 has a main body 3 which has been coated with a coating 2 and which is formed in the manner of a plate, preferably from a metal. The main body 3 may in particular be a sheet composed of a high-grade metal, and the coating 2 may in particular be a metallic coating such as, but not limited to, a tin coating. The exemplary embodiments illustrate, by way of example, a main body 3 that has been coated on both sides, though this is not to be understood as limiting. In principle, it is also possible for only a single side of the main body 3, or for more than two sides of the main body 3, to be correspondingly coated.

[0137] The metallic plug connector component 1, or the main body 3, has been mechanically deformed in a processing portion 4. The processing portion 4 may have been deformed in any desired manner. The advantages of the invention however come to bear in particular if the processing portion 4 has been deformed to form at least one shaped edge, or bevel 5, formed at an edge or at a margin R of the plug connector component 1, or has a bevel 5, as illustrated, or has at least one projection 5′ (cf. FIG. 10) and/or a transition radius in the processing portion 4. Preferably, the coating 2 adjoins the margin R, the projection 5′ and/or the transition radius. The coating 2 may however also be spaced apart from the margin R or from the bevel 5, the projection 5′ or the transition radius.

[0138] Width b of the bevel 5 may preferably be greater than half of a thickness d of the main body 3. The bevel angle α of the bevel 5 may be between 10° and 80°, preferably between 15° and 60°. Layer thickness s of the coating 2 may for example be approximately 1 μm.

[0139] In particular if the coating 2 has a lower compressive strength than the main body 3, a disadvantageous flow of the coating 2 on the main body 3 can occur during the deformation process, as a result of which the coating 2 can project beyond the margin R of the main body 3 (cf. the illustration of the prior art in FIG. 13) or at least partially detaches in some other way from the main body 3 (generally in a radial direction in the case of the projection 5′ illustrated in FIG. 10). In the hitherto known prior art, if it has been sought to produce a highly precise metallic plug connector component 1, secondary processing has been imperative. The present invention is intended to remedy this.

[0140] In the context of the invention a surface 6, 7 of the coating 2 in the processing portion 4 has a defined surface structure 8. The formation of a chip from the plug connector component can be prevented in the proposed manner. It is thus possible to produce highly precise, deformed and coated metallic plug connector components 1 without cumbersome secondary processing.

[0141] In FIG. 1, by way of example, only the upper coating 2, at which the bevel 5 is formed, has the defined surface contour 8. The lower coating 2 is unprocessed (cf. the enlarged sectional illustration FIG. 1A). It is however preferable for all coatings 2, in particular in the processing portion 4, to have a corresponding surface structure 8, as indicated in FIGS. 11 and 12.

[0142] That surface of the coating 2 which has the surface structure 8 may in particular be an outer face 6, averted from the main body 3, of the coating 2, whereby a form-fitting connection can be established with a complementary negative form 9 of a stamping face 10 of a deformation tool 11 (cf. FIGS. 11 and 12).

[0143] That surface of the coating 2 which has the surface structure 8 may also be an inner face 7, facing toward the main body 3, of the coating 2. The main body 3 may finally have a complementary surface structure 8′ (cf. the enlarged sectional illustration in FIG. 1A) in order to establish a form-fitting connection with the surface structure 8 of the coating 2.

[0144] Corresponding surface structures 8 on the outer face 6 and/or the inner face 7 of the coating 2 and on the main body 3 may be produced at the same time as the deformation process, as will be described in more detail herein.

[0145] Provision may be made whereby the surface structure 8, 8′ is arranged entirely in the processing portion 4, as indicated in FIG. 1. It is however also possible in principle for the surface structure 8, 8′ to be provided in the processing portion 4 only in certain portions (cf. FIG. 2), for the surface structure 8, 8′ to be divided over multiple regions of the processing portion 4 (cf. FIG. 3), for a surface structure 8, 8′ to be provided which extends beyond the processing portion 4 (cf. FIG. 4), or else for a surface structure 8, 8′ to be provided which extends over the entire plug connector component 1 (cf. FIG. 5).

[0146] An ordered surface structure 8, 8′ is preferably provided which has elevations 12 and depressions 13 (cf. In particular the enlarged sectional illustration in FIG. 1A). The roughness depth of the surface structure 8, 8′ may preferably correspond at least to half of a layer thickness s of the coating 2.

[0147] A cross-knurled structure as indicated in FIG. 6 has proven to be a particularly suitable surface structure 8, 8′. It is however possible in principle for any surface structures 8, 8′ to be provided in order to prevent a flow of the coating 2 on the main body 3, for example also a line structure (cf. FIG. 7) or a dotted pattern by way of individual elevations 12 and/or depressions 13 (cf. FIG. 8). A disordered surface structure 8, 8′ may also be provided.

[0148] As already mentioned, the metallic plug connector component 1 may also be merely an intermediate product that is deformed in a further production step, for example to form a sleeve-shaped body. Two examples of a sleeve-shaped metallic plug connector component 1 are illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10—an initially still flat plug connector component 1 can be correspondingly bent. The plug connector component 1 may also be further processed in some other way, for example punched out of a larger flat body and/or provided with punched-out portions.

[0149] Aside from the formation of bevels 5 in the region of margins R or edges, the invention can in particular also be advantageously suitable for plug connector components 1 that have projections 5′, bends or transition radii, for example in the manner of a (preferably, but not imperatively, annularly encircling) bulge 5′, a flange or a convexity, as illustrated in FIG. 10. Such structures are for example known in the case of external-conductor contact elements of FAKRA plug connectors. The invention is also advantageous for use with a rib formed on (or in) the plug connector component 1, for example a rib extending in a longitudinal direction of the plug connector component 1 (not illustrated in the figures).

[0150] A suitable method and a device 14 for producing the plug connector component 1 will be described below on the basis of FIGS. 11 and 12.

[0151] In the context of the proposed method, provision is made whereby a main body face 15 of the main body 3 and/or an outer face 6, averted from the main body 3, of the coating 2 are processed in order to generate the defined surface structure 8, 8′.

[0152] Provision is furthermore made whereby the main body 3 that has been coated with the coating 2 is deformed in the course of a compressive deformation process in a processing portion 4, which has the surface structure 8, 8′, by means of at least one deformation tool 11. In the exemplary embodiment, the deformation tool 11 for the compressive deformation and the processing tool 16 for the introduction of the surface structure 8, 8′ are stamping punches 17, which can be used simultaneously for the deformation of the plug connector component 1 and for the introduction of the surface structure 8, 8′. The stamping surfaces 10 of the deformation tool 11 and of the stamping punch 17 may have been processed in advance (not illustrated) in order to generate a negative form 9 of the surface structure 8, 8′. Thus, if the stamping punches 17 are advanced toward one another during the deformation process, the negative form 9 of the surface structure 8 is stamped at least into the outer face 6 of the coating 2 at the same time as the compressive deformation. The stamping is however preferably performed through the coating 2 into the main body face 15 of the main body 3, in order to establish both a form fit of the coating 2 with respect to the stamping punch 17 and a form fit of the coating 2 with respect to the main body 3.

[0153] In contrast to the prior art illustrated in FIG. 13, a flow of the coating 2 beyond the margin R of the main body 3 is reliably prevented.

Operation

[0154] Having described the structure of my metallic plug connector component, and method and device for producing a metallic plug connector component, its operation is briefly described.

[0155] A principal object of the present invention is a metallic plug connector component (1) comprising: a main body (3); a coating (2) covering the main body (3); and wherein the main body is mechanically deformed at a processing portion (4); and wherein a surface (6, 7) of the coating (2) in the processing portion (4) has a defined surface structure (8) at least in certain portions of the surface (6,7).

[0156] A further object of the present invention is a metallic plug connector component (1) wherein the coating (2) adjoins a margin (R) or a projection (5′) or a transition portion that is formed between two portions with different radii.

[0157] A further object of the present invention is a metallic plug connector component (1) wherein the main body (3) is formed in a manner of a plate from a metal.

[0158] A further object of the present invention is a metallic plug connector component (1) wherein the coating (2) covering the main body (3) has a compressive strength that is lower than a compressive strength of the main body (3).

[0159] A further object of the present invention is a metallic plug connector component (1) wherein the coating (2) covering the main body (3) is a metallic coating.

[0160] A further object of the present invention is a metallic plug connector component (1) wherein the main body (3) is coated on at least two mutually averted sides with the coating (2); and wherein the coating (2) on the at least two mutually averted sides is provided with the surface structure (8).

[0161] A further object of the present invention is a metallic plug connector component (1) wherein, the processing portion (4) is deformed to form at least one bevel (5) at a margin (R) of the metallic plug connector component (1).

[0162] A further object of the present invention is a metallic plug connector component (1) wherein that surface of the coating (2) which has the surface structure (8) is an outer face (6) of the coating (2), that is averted from the main body (3), and wherein the surface structure (8) establishes a form-fitting connection with a complementary negative form (9) of a stamping face (10) of a deformation tool (11).

[0163] A further object of the present invention is a metallic plug connector component (1) wherein that surface of the coating (2) which has the surface structure (8) is an inner surface (7) of the surface coating (2), facing toward the main body (3), of the metallic plug connector component (1); and wherein the main body (3) of the metallic plug connector component (1) has a complementary surface structure (8′) to establish a form-fitting connection with the surface structure (8) of the surface coating (2).

[0164] A further object of the present invention is a metallic plug connector component (1) wherein the surface structure (8) of the coating (2) is an ordered structure.

[0165] A further object of the present invention is a metallic plug connector component (1) wherein a roughness depth of the surface structure (8) of the coating (2) is at least half of a layer thickness (s) of the coating (2).

[0166] A further object of the present invention is a method for producing a metallic plug connector component (1), comprising the steps: providing a main body (3) for the metallic plug connector component (1) that has a main body face (15) which has been coated with a coating (2), the coating (2) having an outer face (6) that is averted from the main body (3); processing at least one of the main body face (15) of the main body (3), or the outer face (6) of the coating (2) to generate a defined surface structure (8) on a processing portion (4) of the coated main body (3); providing a deformation tool (11); and performing with the deformation tool (11), a compressive deformation of the processing portion (4) of the coated main body (3) that has the defined surface structure (8).

[0167] A further object of the present invention is a method for producing a metallic plug connector component (1) wherein the defined surface structure (8, 8′) is stamped into an outer face (6) of the surface coating (2), during the compressive deformation.

[0168] A further object of the present invention is a method for producing a metallic plug connector component (1) wherein the processing portion (4) adjoins a margin (R) of the main body (3), and wherein; the main body (3) is deformed responsive to the compressive deformation so that a bevel (5) is formed at the margin (R).

[0169] A further object of the present invention is a device (14) for producing a metallic plug connector component (1) which has a main body (3) and which has been coated with a coating (2), comprising: a processing tool (16) that is configured to generate a defined surface structure (8, 8′) in a main body face (15) of the main body (3) and/or in an outer face (6) of the coating (2) of the main body (3); and a deformation tool (11) for performing compressive deformation of a processing portion (4) of the main body (3) that has been coated with the coating (2); and the processing portion (4) has the defined surface structure (8, 8′).

[0170] A further object of the present invention is a metallic plug connector component (1) wherein the main body (3) is formed in the manner of a sheet from a high-grade metal.

[0171] A further object of the present invention is a metallic plug connector component (1) wherein the coating (2) covering the main body (3) is a tin coating.

[0172] A further object of the present invention is a metallic plug connector component (1) wherein the surface structure (8) of the coating (2) is a cross-knurled structure.

[0173] A still further object of the present invention is a method for producing a metallic plug connector component (1) wherein the metallic plug connector component (1) forms an electrical contact element, or support sleeve, of an electrical plug connector.

[0174] An even still further object of the present invention is a method for producing a metallic plug connector component (1) wherein the defined surface structure (8, 8′) is stamped through the surface coating (2) and into the main body (3) of the metallic plug connector component (1), at the same time as the compressive deformation.

[0175] In compliance with the statute, the present invention has been described in language more or less specific, as to structural and methodical features. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the specific features shown and described since the means herein disclosed comprise preferred forms of putting the invention into effect. The invention is, therefore, claimed in any of its forms or modifications within the proper scope of the appended claims appropriately interpreted in accordance with the Doctrine of Equivalents.