The present invention concerns a new method for crimping metal terminals onto electric cables. The invention extends furthermore to the press used for performing this method.
The field of the invention is that of presses used for crimping metal terminals onto electric cables. As is well-known, these presses are provided with a crimping assembly, activated by an eccentric shaft and provided with movable knives, respectively for cutting the carrier strip which supports the terminal, and for crimping the latter onto the insulation and onto the conductor.
Traditionally, the aforementioned assembly controls the simultaneous movement of all three of these knives, which are set up in advance according to the desired sequence of crimping and cutting the aforementioned terminal.
The principal disadvantage presented by the use of the known art described above is the freedom of movement which the terminal possesses, once it has been cut or detached from the respective carrier strip which supports it. In these conditions, in fact, the crimping of the terminal, carried out simultaneously with the detaching of the latter from its carrier strip, could be performed in a position not correctly centred on the respective wings which grip the conductor and the insulation, this misalignment being caused precisely by the displacement of the terminal from its correct crimping position.
WO2007/100810-A1 describes a terminal applicator device in which an arm is provided not for retaining the terminal during the crimping process, but for avoiding that the connecting part of this terminal (that is the part opposed to the carrier strip) raises, thus being misaligned with respect to the conductor.
JP03147287-A discloses a machine including means adapted for transporting an centring the terminals, but which do not retain these latter during the crimping process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,369 relates to an apparatus for processing insulated wires, in which the terminal is retained at the connecting side thereof.
US2007/0062237-A1 describes a crimping device lacking of means for retaining the terminal during the crimping process.
The main object of the present invention therefore consists of providing a method which will allow the terminal to be kept in the correct position for crimping until this is completed.
It is a further object of the invention to provide the press adapted for executing the method referred to above.
These and other objects are achieved with the method and the press of claims respectively 1 and 8. Some preferred embodiments of the invention are claimed in the remaining claims.
By comparison with the known art, the method and the press of the invention offer the advantage of ensuring that the metal terminal is kept centred in the correct position for crimping, without undergoing unwanted displacement during the process of attaching to it the conductor and the insulation of the electric cable.
These and other objects, advantages and characteristics are apparent from the description which follows, of a preferred embodiment of the press according to the present invention, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the attached drawings.
In these:
The press of the invention is indicated in its entirety by 1 in
The crimping assembly 3 is also provided with a lever 10, operated by an activating device 11 (cylinder or motor), which controls the descending movement of knives 8 and 9 only, respectively for the insulation and for cutting the carrier strip from the terminal. In particular the aforementioned lever 10 has a fulcrum 12 on the aforementioned slide 6, and has an extremity 13 which receives its movement from the cylinder 11, the opposite extremity 14, on the other hand, being engaged with block 15, which thrusts simultaneously on the aforementioned knives 8 and 9.
The crimping assembly 3 is also completed by a load cell 16, which receives the thrust reaction exerted on knife 7 during crimping of the conductor.
In the initial stage of crimping the metal terminal 17, illustrated in
Subsequently, the rotation of the eccentric shaft 5 causes the entire crimping assembly to descend towards the terminal 17, at this stage causing the crimping of just the conductor 18 of the electric cable 19, performed by the corresponding knife 7. The remaining knives 8 and 9 however remain in the raised position. Then, with terminal 17 restrained in this position both by the aforementioned support 22 and by the clamping action against knife 7, the cylinder 11 brings about the activation of the lever 10 (arrow F2 in
It will be understood from the method described above that, according to the invention, metal terminal 17 is retained in its working position throughout the entire crimping cycle, in other words:
As a variant of the invention, the support 22 for the carrier strip 21 of the terminal 17 could be omitted, thus delegating to knife 7 alone, whose function is to crimp the conductor, the task of restraining the terminal itself during the subsequent operations of crimping the insulation and cutting the carrier strip.
As with the version shown in
With this target, the press as per the mentioned version keeps featuring slide 6 which, moved by the eccentric shaft 5, generates the simultaneous descending movement of knives 7 and 8. For the reason previously explained and with reference to the previous configuration, the knife 9 (conceived to cut the carrier strip 21) and its operating lever 10 have been omitted.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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MI 2009 A 000047 | Jan 2009 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/IT2010/000193 | 1/13/2010 | WO | 00 | 8/30/2011 |