This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) of Patent Application No. 1650456 filed in the Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle (French Patent Office) on Jan. 20, 2016, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The invention relates to an electrical connection device. A device of this type can be used in electric vehicles circuits for example, and more particularly, in electrical power circuits such as those interconnecting with one another, in electric or hybrid vehicles, elements such as a battery, a motor, a voltage converter, etc.
An electrical connection device comprises one or more contacts, or pins, mounted in a housing and electrically connected to one or more cables, or one or more bus bars, for example. In this case, the contacts used in this kind of connection often have a rod or bar, having a portion with a cylindrical external surface of revolution about a longitudinal axis. If this cylindrical surface of rotation is inserted into a cavity of the housing of complementary shape, i.e. tubular and cylindrical, the contact having this cylindrical portion can potentially turn in its cavity, about its longitudinal axis. In this case, it may happen that another portion of the contact, intended to be connected to a bus bar for example, is no longer oriented correctly to cooperate with and/or be connected to thereto.
This incorrect orientation can lead to complications when securing or connecting the contact to another conductive element (e.g. a bus bar or a cable). An additional, often manual, operation is necessary to rotate the contact and give it in an orientation suitable for connection with the other element. However, this orientation operation, which may be imprecise and does not completely solve the problems, can also result in a loss of productivity.
The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.
According to a first embodiment of this invention, an electrical connection device is provided. One purpose of this electrical connection device is to block the contact in an appropriate orientation for its mechanical or electrical connection with another element (bus bar or cable, for example). Optionally, another purpose is to obtain an orientation of the contact about the longitudinal axis of its cylindrical portion of revolution (inserted into the tubular cavity of the housing), which does not depend on the precision provided by an operator to reorient the contact in its tubular cavity.
At least one of these purposes is at least partly achieved with an electrical connection device having:
The first portion has a cylindrical external surface of revolution about a longitudinal axis and is inserted into the tubular cavity of the housing. The second portion extends outside the tubular cavity and includes an orientation zone with an external surface that is not completely cylindrical of revolution about the longitudinal axis. In other words, the second portion comprises at least one zone (referred to as the “orientation zone” in this document, but this zone can have another function in addition to orienting the contact about the longitudinal axis) whose external surface is not completely symmetrical, and at least not symmetrical in revolution, about the longitudinal axis.
Furthermore, the connection device comprises an anti-rotation device. This anti-rotation device is displaceable in translation along a placement direction, up to a final position (in which the electrical connection device can be connected to at least a bus bar or a cable). The placement direction of anti-rotation device is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the first portion of contact. The anti-rotation device has at least one surface complementary to the external surface of the orientation zone. This complementary surface abuts the external surface of the orientation zone, when the anti-rotation device is in final position and when the contact is oriented in an operating position, i.e. in the desired position or orientation (around the longitudinal axis) for its connection to at least one other element (bus bar or cable, for example). When the anti-rotation device is in final position and the contact is oriented in an operating position, the surface complementary to the external surface of the orientation zone and this external surface of the orientation zone are substantially parallel and/or in contact with one another.
In this manner, it is possible to block the orientation of the orientation zone about the longitudinal axis according to at least one predefined direction. Furthermore, if the contact is not properly oriented about the longitudinal axis, it is possible, during the placement of the anti-rotation device, to mechanically interact with the orientation zone in order to change its orientation about the longitudinal axis. In other words, during the placement of the anti-rotation device, if a contact with which it must interact is not correctly oriented, the anti-rotation device turns it and when the anti-rotation device is in final position, the respective surfaces of the anti-rotation device and of the second portion of contact cooperate to maintain the contact blocked in rotation in the desired position.
The electrical connection device may further comprise one or more of the following features, each considered independently of one another or in combination with one or more others:
According to another embodiment a method for mounting an electrical connection device is provided, in which
Optionally, in this method, the anti-rotation device moves the contact in rotation to this position when the anti-rotation device is placed in its final position if the contact is not oriented about the longitudinal axis in the operating position.
The present invention will now be described, by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
In these figures, the same references are used to designate identical or similar elements.
The housing 2 and the anti-rotation device 4 are formed of an electrically insulating material. They are, for example, molded from a plastic material. In the example illustrated in
In the example shown and described in this document, the tubular cavities 6 and the contacts 3 lodged therein are respectively two in number, but the invention may be applied to connection devices having a single contact or more than two contacts.
The electric wires 5 are electrically connected (e.g. crimped) on electric terminals (not visible in the figures), inserted into cavities formed in the housing 2. The electric wires 5 exit through openings 13 in the housing 2, between the contacts 3.
The contacts 3 are formed of a conductive material. For example, they are machined (bar turning) from a bar of copper alloy. The contacts 3 extend along a longitudinal axis L. They have several successive portions along this longitudinal axis L. Notably, a first portion 14 whose external surface 15 is cylindrical of revolution about the longitudinal axis and a second portion 16 which has an orientation zone 17 whose external surface 18 is not cylindrical of revolution about the longitudinal axis L can be defined. More particularly, in the example described in relation to
The first portion 14 is intended to be inserted into one of the tubular cavities 6 of the housing 2. Here, the first portion 14 is provided with an O-ring 34 mounted in a groove and ensuring a watertight seal between each contact 3 and its tubular cavity 6. The second portion 16 is intended to be connected electrically to a cable or bus bar.
As shown in
In order to define and fix this angular orientation, an anti-rotation device 4 is mounted on the connection device 1.
This anti-rotation device 4 is described in more detail in relation to
The hollow body 21 has two notches 27, or gutters, aligned in a direction substantially perpendicular to the wings 22. Each of these notches 27 is intended to accommodate, guide and protect an electric wire 5. Each wing 22 has a surface 28, or zone, complementary to an orientation zone 17 of a contact 3. In the example presented here, this surface 28 is flat and oriented perpendicularly to the placement and mounting direction T of the anti-rotation device 4 on the connection device 1. Each wing 22, also has a notch 29 to fix the corresponding contact 3 in a specific position, along the longitudinal direction L, in relation to the anti-rotation device 4. This notch 29 has a rounded and stepped shape so as to match the shape of the reinforcing ring 20. The curved surface of the notch 29 is open towards the outside of the connection device 1 and blocks the movement of the contact 3 in the housing 2 in the direction of the flange 7. Furthermore, the anti-rotation device comprises a rib 30, on each side of the hollow body 21, under each of the wings 22 in order to the fix the anti-rotation device 4 along the longitudinal axis L on the edge of each of the sleeves 9. The position of the contacts 3 along their respective longitudinal axis can thus be precisely defined and respected when mounting the contacts 3 in the housing 2. As can be seen in
The assembly of the anti-rotation device on the connection device is illustrated in
Initially, the anti-rotation device 4 is brought close to the connection device 1. The electric wires 5 are inserted to the centre of the hollow body 21, therethrough. The anti-rotation device 4 is placed substantially above the end of the sleeves 9 and of the orientation zones 17 of the contacts 3 (see
According to a variant illustrated in
According to non-illustrated variants, the anti-rotation device 4, instead of being positioned partly on the sleeves 9 and partly on the contacts 3, as explained above, may be positioned only on the sleeves 9 or only on the contacts 3.
While this invention has been described in terms of the preferred embodiments thereof, it is not intended to be so limited, but rather only to the extent set forth in the claims that follow. Moreover, the use of the terms first, second, primary secondary, etc. does not denote any order of importance, but rather the terms first, second, etc. are used to distinguish one element from another. Furthermore, the use of the terms a, an, etc. do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced items.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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16 50456 | Jan 2016 | FR | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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1420675 | Andreae | Jun 1922 | A |
1472391 | Ford | Oct 1923 | A |
4775604 | Dougherty | Oct 1988 | A |
7575476 | Tyler | Aug 2009 | B2 |
8192212 | Casses | Jun 2012 | B2 |
8827729 | Gunreben | Sep 2014 | B2 |
9425541 | Data | Aug 2016 | B2 |
9601863 | Takemura | Mar 2017 | B2 |
Number | Date | Country |
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102013102647 | Sep 2014 | DE |
Entry |
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English Translation of DE 10 2013 102 647. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20170207564 A1 | Jul 2017 | US |