The invention relates to an electrical terminal component having an insulating material housing, a busbar installed in the insulating material housing and at least one clamping spring, which springs are arranged on the busbar so as to form clamping points for electrical conductors.
The invention also relates to a transverse link for such an electrical terminal component and to a contact spring semi-finished product in the form of a spring plate which extends in a longitudinal direction.
Various terminal components with clamping springs for connecting electrical conductors are known. In conjunction with a busbar which bears a plurality of clamping springs for forming clamping points, the terminal components may be used as collective connections for potential distribution.
DE 101 03 145 C1 discloses a terminal block for electrical distribution boards having a conductor rail and a multiplicity of connection elements for connecting conductors, which are to be connected, to the conductor rail. The conductor rail may be in the form of an angled busbar with openings for inserting conductors to be connected. Clamping springs are respectively hooked into the openings, a plurality of openings being arranged along the length of the conductor rail section in order to form a single-row terminal component.
DE 199 18 842 B4 discloses a multi-row collective connection for electrical distribution installations, in which two L-shaped insulating material housings are interleaved in one another in an offset manner. The busbars of the two rows are not connected to one another in an electrically conductive manner. The busbars have a cage tension spring for receiving an electrical conductor with a large cross section and adjoining leaf spring tongues for connecting conductors with a smaller cross section.
DE 199 34 555 C1 shows a terminal block for electrical distribution boards having spring terminal connections which are arranged along a row and are intended to receive conductors with a small cross section and having a screw terminal connection for connecting a conductor with a large cross section.
Comparable collective terminal blocks are also known from DE 199 40 971 B4, DE 199 45 817 C2, DE 201 05 501 U1, DE 299 21 249 U1 and EP 1 587 166 B1.
DE 41 32 407 A1 discloses a collective connection for electrical distribution installations, in which a busbar is divided into an upper deck and a lower deck which run substantially parallel to one another. Cage tension springs are suspended in two rows above one another on the busbar of the upper and lower decks. In addition, cage tension springs of a larger dimension are suspended only from the lower deck, these cage tension springs occupying the space actually intended for the upper deck.
DE 28 25 291 C1 and EP 1 391 965 B1 also disclose electrical spring force terminal connections with a hole collar which extends in the conductor push-through direction. A clamping point for an electrical conductor is formed between the hole collar inner wall surface and an end of a leaf spring that extends into a material passage.
On the basis of this, the object of the present invention is to provide an improved electrical terminal component.
The object is achieved with the electrical terminal component of the type mentioned at the outset by virtue of the fact that the busbar has a flat busbar region in which at least four conductor leadthrough openings, which are each surrounded by side walls projecting from the flat busbar region and a contact wall projecting from the flat busbar region and having a clamping contact point for making contact with an electrical conductor, are made, two conductor leadthrough openings being arranged behind one another in the direction of longitudinal extent of the conductor leadthrough openings, and at least two such pairs of conductor leadthrough openings arranged behind one another being arranged beside one another in a width direction which extends over the narrow side of the conductor leadthrough openings.
It is thus proposed to produce a plurality of clamping contact points on a flat busbar region of a busbar with the aid of material passages through the flat busbar region which are arranged beside one another and behind one another. In this case, conductor leadthrough openings which are bounded by side walls and at least one end wall are made in the flat busbar region. An end wall then forms a contact wall for making contact with an electrical conductor.
The electrical terminal component therefore makes use of the passage technology for spring force terminal connections which is known per se and allows electrical conductors to be directly plugged without previously actuating the clamping springs. In this case, it was recognized that material passages can also be implemented relatively closely adjacent to one another with side walls which are beside one another. Such material passages are produced in the deep-drawing method, the flat busbar region adjoining the material passage having to fixedly rest on a mating bearing of a deep-drawing die. Despite these requirements, it has been shown that such conductor leadthrough openings can be implemented close to one another in the form of a material passage.
In addition, clamping contact points need to be formed on the contact walls. It has been shown that such clamping contact points can also be introduced in the case of conductor leadthrough openings which are arranged behind one another. This is possible, in particular, when a common clamping spring with mutually opposite clamping limbs interacts with the mutually opposite contact walls of a pair of conductor leadthrough openings arranged behind one another. The contact walls of the pair of conductor leadthrough openings arranged behind one another are then accessible for a tool in order to form, for example, a clamping contact point by making a transverse edge. Such a transverse edge then projects from a perpendicular to the flat busbar region, which rests against the inside of the contact wall above the clamping contact point, in the direction of the conductor leadthrough opening.
At least one pair of conductor leadthrough openings arranged behind one another may each be separated from one another by a web in the plane of the busbar. Two completely independent conductor leadthrough openings are then arranged behind one another and are separated from one another by the web and possibly by end walls adjoining the web at the ends of the conductor leadthrough openings. In such an embodiment, the stability of the busbar and the current-carrying cross section are increased.
However, it is also conceivable for at least one pair of conductor leadthrough openings arranged behind one another to each merge into one another and to form a common opening closed on all sides in the plane of the busbar. The mutually opposite contact walls are used to form two clamping points for a respective associated electrical conductor. Such an embodiment facilitates production. A sufficient cross section for transmitting current between the clamping points is ensured by means of common side walls.
It is particularly advantageous if link contact openings for receiving and making contact with transverse link elements are provided on that plane of the busbar which has the conductor leadthrough openings. As a result of the fact that the link contact openings are made on the same busbar plane together with the conductor leadthrough openings, electrical conductors and links can be plugged into the electrical terminal component from the same side. This facilitates handling, in particular if the electrical terminal component is installed in a switchgear cabinet.
In this case, the link contact openings may be arranged on a plane which is angled from that plane of the busbar which has the conductor leadthrough openings by a maximum of 20°. As a result of the busbar being angled, it is possible to reduce the overall height since the contact point for the transverse link is at a lower point.
In one preferred embodiment, material flaps project downward from the plane of the busbar in the insertion direction of a link at the lateral edges of the link contact openings. This has the advantage that the material flaps arranged on the inner edges of the link contact openings increase the size of the contact area for a link contact and the contact point of the link is moved downward from the busbar plane. The material flap advantageously forms an insertion funnel for inserting the transverse link. In addition, busbar material which is available anyway is used to form the material flaps without additional material having to be provided. This advantageously reduces the necessary overall height of the electrical terminal component. The clamping contacts of the links are preferably in the form of spring contacts with two spring arms which are spaced apart from one another by a slot.
In order to reduce the overall height for the electrical terminal component, it is particularly advantageous to use a transverse link for such an electrical terminal component, which transverse link has an electrically conductive transverse web and at least two contact arms which leave from the transverse web and are spaced apart from one another. In this case, the transverse web is bent away from the axis of extent of the contact arms and is at an acute angle to the contact arms. Therefore, the cross section is not above the contact arms on the same plane as usual but rather is bent back, with the result that the plane of the transverse web extends parallel to the plane of the contact arms. The installation space beside the contact arms is used to receive the transverse web.
It is also advantageous if the clamping springs each have a spring bow and at least two pairs of mutually opposite clamping sections which adjoin the common spring bow and each interact with one of the two opposite contact walls of a pair of conductor leadthrough openings arranged behind one another. In this way, electrical conductors which each adjoin the two opposite contact walls of a pair of conductor leadthrough openings arranged behind one another can be clamped to the clamping limbs to the two clamping limbs. Clamping limbs, which are arranged beside one another, of two adjacent pairs of clamping limbs of the common clamping spring are separated from one another by a clearance.
Such a clamping spring having at least four clamping limbs can be produced in an inexpensive manner and, in particular, can be handled well. Above all, with the conductor leadthrough openings arranged close to one another, such a clamping spring can be easily inserted into the conductor leadthrough openings by machine.
A particular advantage of this type of clamping spring is also that the available clamping force is distributed to the electrical conductors in the best possible manner. If only one electrical conductor is connected, not only the clamping section opposite the electrical conductor ensures that the clamping force is increased. Rather, the diagonally opposite clamping section also contributes to applying a clamping force to the electrical conductor. Even in the case of two or three inserted electrical conductors in a clamping spring consisting of two pairs of clamping limbs, the remaining clamping limb contributes to applying a clamping force to the electrical conductors with the aid of the common spring bow.
In particular, in order to use the electrical terminal component as a potential distributor, it is advantageous to provide at least one clamping point having a larger cross section. For this purpose, it is proposed to provide, adjoining the adjacently arranged pairs of conductor leadthrough openings, a further individual conductor leadthrough opening having side walls, which extend away from the plane of the busbar and bound the conductor leadthrough opening, and having a contact wall. A clamping spring is then inserted into this individual conductor leadthrough opening.
In order to increase the modularity, it is particularly advantageous in this case if the width of the individual conductor leadthrough opening together with the lateral webs which bound the conductor leadthrough opening corresponds to the width of two adjacently arranged pairs of conductor leadthrough openings together with the lateral webs which bound said openings. This retains the division ratio, which allows a flexible modular design and free configuration by the user and allows an electrical conductor with a larger cross section to be connected with the aid of the individual conductor leadthrough opening.
The insulating material housing of the electrical terminal component preferably has two mutually opposite recessed grips on the outside. The terminal component can thus be gripped well and can be placed and/or latched, for example, on a supporting rail or a support in a switchgear cabinet.
A supporting rail holder can be integrated in the insulating material housing on the underside or it is also conceivable to provide an intermediate element as a supporting rail holder and to connect the insulating material housing to said intermediate element.
A particularly inexpensive, easy-to-handle implementation of the clamping spring can be achieved with a contact spring semi-finished product in the form of a spring plate extending in a longitudinal direction. The contact spring semi-finished product has, in the longitudinal direction, a material region which forms a continuous spring bow. Transversely to the longitudinal direction, material tongues which extend from the continuous material region to the lateral edges and form a multiplicity of contact sections which are spaced apart from one another by a clearance are provided. Contact springs with any desired number of pairs of contact sections which face away from one another, preferably two or more pairs, can then be cut to length from such a contact spring semi-finished product.
With the aid of the transverse link, adjacent terminal components can be combined to form a modular busbar, in particular also by interconnecting a plurality of different terminal components. Flexible, economic automatic production of different modules is possible on account of the division-related modularity.
The invention is explained in more detail below using exemplary embodiments with the accompanying drawings, in which:
a) shows a plan view of the insulating material housing in a first embodiment of an electrical terminal component;
b) shows a side view of a first housing half of the insulating material housing from
c) shows a side view of the second housing half of the insulating material housing from
a indicates a plan view of a first embodiment of an electrical terminal component 1. The terminal component 1 has an insulating material housing 2 formed from two housing parts 2a and 2b.
A single conductor insertion opening 3 and, adjacent to the latter, an actuating opening 4 which result in a spring clamping point are made in the first housing part 2a.
Two conductor insertion openings 3 which are close behind one another in the direction of the depth T and each have adjoining actuating openings 4 are provided in the second housing half 2b. Directly beside such a pair of conductor insertion openings 3 which are arranged behind one another and have associated actuating openings 4, a further pair of such conductor insertion openings 3 with associated actuating openings 4 is provided in the direction of the width B. A link insertion opening 5 for inserting a transverse link 6 into the insulating material housing 2 is respectively located in each housing half in the direction of the depth T behind the pairs of conductor insertion openings 3 arranged behind one another.
It can be seen that the pairs of conductor insertion openings 3 arranged behind one another extend from one another in opposite directions at the conventional insertion angle of a maximum of 45° to the perpendicular to a busbar. The electrical conductors are inserted obliquely from the front for the front conductor insertion openings 3 and are inserted obliquely from the rear for the rear conductor insertion openings, with the result that the actuating openings 4 in between remain accessible.
b) indicates a side view of the first housing half 2a. It becomes clear that a busbar 7 having a flat busbar region has been introduced into the second housing half 2a of the insulating material housing 2. This busbar 7 has conductor leadthrough openings 8a, 8b which are arranged behind one another in the direction of the depth T, are surrounded by the second housing half 2b and are oriented to the conductor insertion openings 3 arranged behind one another.
A single central conductor leadthrough opening 9 for the single conductor insertion opening 3 is also provided in the first housing half 2a.
The conductor leadthrough openings 8a, 8b and 9 are in the form of a material passage in the flat busbar region of the busbar 7 and have side walls 10, which preferably each project vertically downward from the flat busbar region in a manner spaced apart from one another, and, at an end of the conductor leadthrough openings 8a, 8b, 9, a contact wall 11 having a clamping contact point for making contact with an electrical conductor. In the exemplary embodiment illustrated, the clamping contact point 12 is formed by moving the lower edge region of the contact wall 11 forward in the direction of the opposite end wall 13. In the plan view of the busbar 7, the clamping contact point 12 thus projects into the conductor leadthrough opening, as seen through the conductor leadthrough opening 8a, 8b, 9, with the result that an electrical conductor comes into contact only with the clamping contact point 12 in an area which is as small as possible. The clamping force of the clamping spring 14 respectively inserted into the conductor leadthrough openings 8a, 8b, 9 is thus concentrated on the clamping contact point 12 and thus optimizes the contact force for the electrical conductor.
In the first housing half 2a, the clamping point is realized using a single clamping spring 14 which is hooked into the single conductor leadthrough opening 9. The clamping spring 14 has, in a manner known per se, a bearing limb 15, a spring bow 16 adjoining the latter and a clamping limb 17 which, in the quiescent state without an inserted electrical conductor, rests against the contact wall 11 above the clamping contact point 12.
Seen in the direction of the depth T, a link shaft 5 for a transverse link is provided in the rear region in order to transmit voltage potential from a terminal component 1 to an adjacent terminal component with the aid of a transverse link. For this purpose, a link contact opening 18 which is aligned with the link shaft 5 and is intended to make electrical contact between a transverse link and the busbar 7 is made in the flat busbar region of the busbar 7.
A label receptacle may be formed on the front side 17 of that insulating material of the insulating material housing 2 which forms the link shaft 5. The label receptacle may have, in a manner known per se, latching elements for latching separate labels.
It can also be seen that recessed grips 19a, 19b are formed in the insulating material housing on the front side and rear side of the insulating material housing 2, as seen in the direction of the depth. The terminal component 1 can thus be safely handled and can be placed on a supporting rail, for example.
c) indicates a side view of the second housing half 2b at the contact surface with the first housing half 2a according to
It can be seen that a link shaft 5 and, adjoining the latter, a clearance for receiving the busbar 7 and a clamping spring are also provided in the second housing half 2b.
It can be seen that a clamping spring 22 which is bent in a U-shaped manner and has four clamping limbs 24 adjoining a common spring bow 23 has been inserted into the four conductor leadthrough openings 8a to 8d. These four conductor leadthrough openings 8a-8d thus use four clamping limbs 24 of the same clamping spring 22 to connect four electrical conductors independently of one another. The clamping limbs 24 of the four-limbed clamping spring 22 which are beside one another and extend in the same direction are each spaced apart from one another by a clearance and are integrally connected to the spring bow 23 on the same side of the latter. The clamping limbs 24 preferably conically converge from the spring bow 23 toward their free end and are bent several times along their length in order to optimize the clamping force and the conductor insertion force.
Seen in the direction of the depth T of the busbar 7, link contact openings 18 are provided on a flat busbar region of the busbar 7 behind a pair of conductor leadthrough openings 8a, 8b and 8c, 8d which are behind one another. The link contact openings 18 are arranged on a plane which is angled from that plane of the busbar 7 which has the conductor leadthrough openings 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d and 9 by a maximum of 20°. In the exemplary embodiment illustrated, the angle is approximately 15°.
Nevertheless, this is the same plane since the transverse links, like the electrical conductors, can be inserted into the electrical terminal component 1 in a slightly oblique manner, but from the top, like the electrical conductors.
It becomes clear that all conductor leadthrough openings 8a to 8d, 9 and the link contact openings 18 are accessible from above to the same extent.
It can also be seen that the contact walls 11 of the conductor leadthrough openings 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d arranged in the form of a matrix are each arranged on the front side or rear side, as seen in the direction of the depth T.
A web 25 is provided between the conductor leadthrough openings 8a, 8b and 8c, 8d respectively arranged behind one another, with the result that the conductor leadthrough openings 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d are each completely surrounded by encircling walls which form the material passage, the walls projecting downward from the busbar 7.
In an embodiment which is not illustrated, it is possible to dispense with the web 25 with the adjoining end walls 13, if necessary, with the result that the side walls 10 of the conductor leadthrough openings 8a, 8b and 8c, 8d arranged behind one another merge into one another in order to form a single opening for two clamping points.
The clamping spring 22 illustrated in
Different variants of electrical terminal components 1 can be derived in a simple manner with the aid of a plurality of housing halves.
The busbar 7 sketched in the plan view in
In a corresponding manner, further conductor connections could also be provided for the purpose of extending the busbar 7, which increases the width of the electrical terminal component 1.
A fourth embodiment of the electrical terminal component 1 is sketched in
The busbar 7 which is used for this purpose and has the conductor leadthrough openings can be seen in the plan view in
It also becomes clear in this case that the division of the busbar regions for the housing halves is such that the width of the individual conductor leadthrough opening 9 together with the lateral webs which bound the conductor leadthrough opening corresponds to the width of two adjacently arranged pairs of conductor leadthrough openings 8a, 8b and 8c, 8d together with the lateral webs which bound said openings.
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10 2010 051 899 | Nov 2010 | DE | national |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20120196459 A1 | Aug 2012 | US |