The present disclosure relates to electrical grounding of housings and/or enclosures. In particular, the present disclosure relates to the electrical grounding of housings and/or enclosures for telecommunications equipment.
In the field of telecommunications, there is a need to electrically ground certain enclosures and/or housings. The electrical grounding may be used to dissipate static electricity, provide a return path for electrical power, provide a safety ground in case of equipment malfunction, etc. Certain enclosures/housings are made of nonconductive material (e.g., plastic, fiber glass, etc.). As the enclosure/housing may not readily conduct electricity, a grounding stud may be passed through a wall of the housing/enclosure and thereby provide a grounding point on an exterior and interior of the enclosure/housing.
In certain applications, the enclosure/housing needs to be water-proof or water-resistant. In particular water, moisture, cleaning fluids, etc. present at the exterior of the housing/enclosure should be prevented by the housing/enclosure from reaching components within the interior of the enclosure/housing. Various rating systems (e.g., IP67) have been established to classify various levels of water resistance of various enclosures. To provide such water resistance around the grounding stud, a seal may be used to seal the grounding stud against an opening through a wall of the enclosure/housing.
The grounding stud may include threaded connections for attaching terminals to the grounding stud at the interior and/or the exterior of the enclosure/housing. To facilitate installing and/or removing the terminals from the threaded connections, the grounding stud may be rotationally connected to the enclosure/housing.
The present disclosure relates to a grounding stud arrangement including a grounding stud assembly and a housing. The grounding stud assembly includes a ground stud that extends from a first end to a second end with an anti-rotation flange position between the first end and the second end of the grounding stud. The grounding stud includes a first attachment feature positioned between the first end of the grounding stud and the anti-rotation flange. The grounding stud further includes a second attachment feature positioned between the second end of the grounding stud and the anti-rotation flange. The housing includes a wall with a hole and an anti-rotation receiver. A portion of the grounding stud is positioned within the hole and at least a portion of the anti-rotation flange is received by the anti-rotation receiver. The housing further includes at least one guide for rotationally orienting the anti-rotation flange with the anti-rotation receiver.
Other aspects of the present disclosure relate to a method of assembling a grounding stud arrangement. The grounding stud arrangement includes a grounding stud assembly and a housing. The grounding stud assembly includes a grounding stud extending from a first end to a second end with an anti-rotation flange positioned between the first end and the second end of the grounding stud. The method includes providing the housing, inserting the second end of the grounding stud through a hole of the housing, and rotationally orienting the anti-rotation flange of the grounding stud with an anti-rotation receiver of the housing. The anti-rotation flange of the grounding stud is rotationally oriented with the anti-rotation receiver by engaging the anti-rotation flange with at least one guide of the housing and further inserting the grounding stud through the hole.
Still other aspects of the present disclosure relate to a housing with provisions for grounding at least one component within an interior of the housing. The housing includes a wall, a hole in the wall, an anti-rotation receiver, and at least one guide. The hole in the wall is configured to receive a portion of a grounding stud. The anti-rotation receiver is configured to receive at least a portion of an anti-rotation flange of the grounding stud. The at least one guide is configured to rotationally orient the anti-rotation flange with the anti-rotation receiver.
A variety of additional inventive aspects will be set forth in the description that follows. The inventive aspects can relate to individual features and to combinations of features. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the broad inventive concepts upon which the embodiments disclosed herein are based.
According to the principles of the present disclosure, a housing assembly 102 is provided with a grounding stud assembly 200 and thereby forms a grounding stud arrangement 100. As depicted at
According to the principles of the present disclosure, the grounding stud 210 is rotationally held by a mount 130 of the housing piece 120. Furthermore, the grounding stud 210 is rotationally oriented with respect to the mount 130 automatically when positioning the grounding stud 210 into the mount 130. As will be described in detail below, by inserting the grounding stud 210 into the mount 130 along an axis A1, rotational alignment is established between the grounding stud 210 and the mount 130 of the housing piece 120.
Turning again to
The mount 130 further includes a hole 134. As depicted, the hole 134 is a cylindrical bore through the wall 122 that is centered on the axis A1. As depicted, the mount 130 further includes a counter bore 136 positioned at the interior 114 of the wall 122. As depicted, the counter bore 136 is also centered on the axis A1.
As depicted, the mount 130 includes an anti-rotation receiver 138. As depicted, the anti-rotation receiver 138 is formed in a pocket positioned within the boss 132. The anti-rotation receiver 138 includes anti-rotation features. As depicted, the anti-rotation receiver 138 includes a faceted perimeter 150 about the pocket. In the depicted embodiment, the faceted perimeter 150 is a multi-faceted perimeter. In other embodiments, the faceted perimeter 150 may include a single facet 152. In the depicted embodiment, the faceted perimeter 150 includes a plurality of the facets 152. As depicted at
Turning now to
As depicted, the grounding stud 210 includes an anti-rotation flange 230. As depicted, the anti-rotation flange 230 is a medial flange positioned between the first end 212 and the second end 214 of the grounding stud 210. As depicted, the anti-rotation flange 230 extends from a first shoulder 232 to a second shoulder 234. The first shoulder 232 is adjacent the radial surface 222. As depicted, the anti-rotation flange 230 includes a faceted perimeter 236. The faceted perimeter 236 includes at least one facet 238. In the depicted embodiment, the faceted perimeter 236 is a multi-faceted perimeter with a plurality of the facets 238. In the depicted embodiment, the faceted perimeter 236 includes a hexagonal perimeter. As depicted, the male hexagonal perimeter is centered about the axis A1.
As depicted, the anti-rotation flange 230 includes a sealing member groove 240. In the depicted embodiment, the sealing member groove 240 is an O-ring groove. As depicted, the sealing member groove 240 is positioned beneath the second shoulder 234. The sealing member groove 240 extends from the second shoulder 234 to a bottom 242 along the axis A1. The sealing member groove 240 further extends between an outer wall 244 and an inner wall 246. As depicted, the inner wall 246 of the sealing member groove 240 is coincident with a radial surface 262 that extends toward the second end 214 from the anti-rotation flange 230.
As depicted, the radial surface 262 is included on a second attachment feature 260 of the grounding stud 210. The second attachment feature 260 further includes second threads 264. The second threads 264 extend from the radial surface 262 to a pilot 250. A chamfer 252 is included between the pilot 250 and the second end 214 of the grounding stud 210.
As illustrated at
As depicted, the internal ground conductor assembly 340 includes a terminal 342 with an eyelet 344. The internal ground conductor assembly 340 further includes a wire 350 that is terminated at the terminal 342 at an end 352 of the wire 350. Similarly, the external ground conductor assembly 400 is depicted as including a terminal 402 with an eyelet 404. The external ground conductor assembly 400 further includes a wire 410 with an end 412 that is terminated at the terminal 402.
As mentioned above, according to the principles of the present disclosure, the grounding stud 210 and/or the grounding stud assembly 200 is automatically rotationally aligned with the anti-rotation receiver 138 of the grounding stud mount 130 of the housing piece 120. As depicted at
As depicted, two of the facets 152 do not include a corresponding one of the guides 140. A terminal exit 160 for the terminal 402 may thereby be provided by the absence of one or more of the guides 140, 140′ from the facets 152. As depicted, a pair of the guides 140, 140′ is positioned opposite the axis A1. In other embodiments, all of the facets 152 may include a corresponding one of the guides 140, 140′.
As depicted, the plurality of the guides 140, 140′ together form a plurality of the peaks 142, 142′ and valleys 144, 144′. A plurality of slopes 146, 146′ is formed between the plurality of peaks 142, 142′ and valleys 144, 144′, respectively. As depicted at
As depicted at
The mount 130 with the triangular guides 140 and chamfered edges 148 is given reference numeral 130a at
The guides 140, 140′ engage edges 270 and/or vertexes 272 of the second shoulder 234 of the anti-rotation flange 230 of the grounding stud 210 (see
Turning now to
Connection of the external ground conductor assembly 400 to the grounding stud 210 will now be described in detail. The eyelet 404 of the terminal 402 of the external ground conductor assembly 400 may be positioned over the first end 212 of the grounding stud 210. This may be done from the exterior 112 of the enclosure 110. A first side 406 of the eyelet 404 is abutted against the first shoulder 232 of the anti-rotation flange 230 of the grounding stud 210. The eyelet 404 may be positioned about the radial surface 222. The lock washer 420 may be installed over the first end 212 of the grounding stud 210. The lock washer 420 may be positioned against a second side 408 of the eyelet. The nut 430 may be positioned over the first end 212 of the ground stud 210. Threads 432 of the nut 430 may be threaded on the first threads 224 of the grounding stud 210. Upon tightening the nut 430 against the lock washer 420, the lock washer 420 may bite into the second side 408 of the terminal 402 and thereby enhance an electrical connection between the external ground conductor assembly 400 and the grounding stud 210. The external ground conductor assembly 400 is thereby securely mechanically connected to the grounding stud 210. The external ground conductor assembly 400 is thereby electrically connected by the grounding stud assembly 200 to the internal ground conductor assembly 340.
In embodiments where the grounding stud assembly 200 is being sub-assembled to the grounding stud arrangement 100 without the external ground conductor assembly 400, assembling the eyelet 404 may be omitted and the nut 430 may be tightened against the lock washer 420 and the anti-rotation flange 230 without the eyelet 404.
As illustrated at
This application is a National Stage Application of PCT/EP2016/082898, filed on Dec. 29, 2016, which claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 62/273,128, filed on Dec. 30, 2015, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. To the extent appropriate, a claim of priority is made to each of the above disclosed applications.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2016/082898 | 12/29/2016 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2017/114935 | 7/6/2017 | WO | A |
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Entry |
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International Search Report and Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority for International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2016/082898 dated Mar. 1, 2017, 14 pages. |
Grounding bolt images, 3 images, 2 pages, admitted as prior art as of Dec. 30, 2015. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20190006774 A1 | Jan 2019 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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62273128 | Dec 2015 | US |