Patent Grant
7943868
This application is a national stage filing under 35 U.S.C. 371 of PCT/US2007/067501, filed 26 Apr. 2007, which claims priority to European Patent Application No. 06009094.1, filed 2 May 2006, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its/their entirety herein.
The invention relates to access control means for cabinets and housings for telecommunication equipment, particularly to a sealed housing, a kit of parts including at least one housing, a combination including the housing or kit of parts and a use of a friction enhancing element.
In various technical fields, a variety of objects or installations are accommodated in rooms or cabinets that may be closed with a door. It is often desirable to control access to such rooms or cabinets, and in such situations it may prove insufficient to lock the door with a mechanical lock. It is possible, for example, for a person not authorized to access the room or cabinet to gain possession of a key to the mechanical lock. For this reason electronic locks are sometimes used, since unauthorized access can be prevented more easily, or at least be monitored to know who and when a protected area is accessed. An electronic lock can, for example, be connected to a centralized security system and there monitored for unauthorized access.
In the field of telecommunications, numerous customers are connected with the switch of a telecommunications company via telecommunications lines. Customers are also sometimes referred to as subscribers. The switch is also often called an exchange or “PBX” (central office exchange operated by the telecommunications company). Between the subscriber and the switch, sections of telecommunications lines are connected with telecommunications modules. Telecommunications modules establish an electrical connection between a first wire attached to the telecommunications module at a first side and a second wire attached to the telecommunications module at a second side. The wires of one side can also be called incoming wires and the wires of the other side can be called outgoing wires. Plural telecommunications modules can be put together at a distribution point, such as a main distribution frame, an intermediate distribution frame, an outside cabinet or a distribution point located, for example, in an office building or on a particular floor of an office building. To allow flexibility in wiring, some telecommunications lines are connected with first telecommunications modules in a manner to constitute a permanent connection. Such a distribution point can be accommodated in a designated room or cabinet located either inside or outside a building, and it may be protected by an electronic lock as described above. Moreover, distribution points can be accommodated in manholes, i.e. underground holes that can be adapted to allow an individual to climb into the hole and provided with a cover that may include an electronic lock. The electronic lock may include an antenna, a transponder or a similar electric or electronic component attached to a door or other outside surface of the protected room or cabinet.
European Patent Publication No. 0 848 122 A1 describes an actuator for a lock of a cabinet that may comprise a chip for carrying a code and a reader system fittable in the region of the actuator for reading the code.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,529 is related to a housing for externally mounting an electronic lock to a support structure. The electronic lock may be accommodated in a generally cylindrical bore, and the front face of the lock coincides with the housing rear face.
The present invention provides sealed housings that accommodate at least one electric or electronic component that can be mounted to a mounting surface in a particularly secure manner. The sealed housings of the invention generally have a portion extending through a mounting surface as well as a rotation preventor means that retards or prevents rotation of the housing relative to the mounting surface.
In another aspect, the invention provides a kit of parts including at least one such housing. The kit of parts described herein includes at least one such housing and at least one spacer.
In yet another aspect, the invention provides a combination of the housing or kit of parts with a door of a cabinet or a room, which combination leads to enhanced security of the room or cabinet. In one such embodiment, the combination includes the housing or kit of parts and a door (preferably of a cabinet or an installation/equipment room) in the field of telecommunications.
In a further aspect, the invention provides a friction enhancing element for securely mounting a housing to a mounting surface in a generally non-rotatable manner. In at least some embodiments, the friction enhancing element is preferably an O-ring.
The invention will be described hereinafter in part by reference to non-limiting examples thereof and with reference to the drawings, in which:
The housings described herein are generally sealed and accommodate at least one electric or electronic component. The housing may include one or more housing parts such as a cover and base plate. The housing parts may be made of a moldable plastic material, and in at least some embodiments at least a portion of the housing parts are made of a translucent plastic material. The material of the housing parts may be resistant against aggressive substances. The housing is generally sealed to protect the electric or electronic components contained within it. Such sealing can provide protection against a water spray (corresponding to IP 54 protection), or against water supplied by a hose (corresponding to IP 65 protection). By using a seal of appropriate material, such as a graphite-containing material, a seal may additionally be provided against aggressive substances like gasoline or oil which may be present in an outside environment where the housing may reside in use when, for example, it is mounted to an outside cabinet.
The electric or electronic components contained within the housing can be active, passive, or both active and passive. An antenna, which may be connected to an electronic lock or other electronic module within the cabinet, can be contained inside the housing. Thus, the invention makes it possible to mount an antenna on the outside surface of a cabinet, an installation/equipment room, an underground vault, closures, terminals, distribution hubs and the like in a well-protected manner. The housing may also be retrofitted to existing cabinets, installation rooms or other infrastructure element described above, including in the doors of the pre-existing cabinets. The housings of the invention may also be mounted to a desired object on-site. As will be described in more detail below, a single hole can be made through the mounting surface to allow the housing to be mounted. The hole may be made by known processes such as by punching, drilling and the like. It is advantageous to consider drilling circular holes since these are easy to drill. After drilling the hole, the prepared housing from which one or more cables connected with the components contained within the housing may extend can be mounted by inserting one or more cables and a portion of the housing through the hole and fixing the housing appropriately.
Thus, the housing generally has a portion extending through the mounting surface. This portion may have a substantially circular cross-section, may be provided with one or more flats around its parameter and may include a thread adapted to interact with a nut. The nut can be tightened to attach the housing by clamping the mounting surface between the housing and the nut. The portion extending through the mounting surface may include a guide and/or a seal that may surround one or more cables leading to the area inside or behind the mounting surface.
The housing also generally has a rotation prevention mechanism that can hinder or stop rotation of the housing relative to the mounting surface. This rotation prevention mechanism, or rotation preventor, can be any contour, structure, separate element or combination of elements capable of hindering or stopping rotation of the housing relative to the mounting surface. Some examples are given below. The rotation prevention mechanism may be adapted to completely prevent rotation of the housing relative to the mounting surface, or it can be adapted to sufficiently hinder rotation or stop rotation within a certain range with regard to the rotation angle. This may be sufficient for achieving the desired effects as detailed below. The rotation prevention mechanism provides the advantage of enhancing the long-term reliability of the housing and the electric or electronic components contained within it. For example, when one or more cables extending from the housing are connected with an electronic lock, the rotation prevention mechanism hinders or stops the housing and, as a consequence, prevents the cables from being twisted, which could destroy the electrical connections. Thus, a well-protected and reliable attachment of one or more electric or electronic components to a mounting surface may be achieved by the housings of the invention. The rotation preventor may also comprise means for preventing rotation of the housing relative to the mounting surface. These means may particularly be provided on the mounting surface, on the housing and/or between the housing and the mounting surface without extending through the mounting surface. When a housing includes only a single portion extending through the mounting surface, rotation cannot be prevented by interaction between this portion and the edges of a hole through which the portion extends. The inclusion of a rotation prevention mechanism has been shown to preclude rotation of the housing relative to the mounting surface.
The rotation prevention mechanism may be a friction enhancing element, allowing the housing to be mounted to a substantially flat mounting surface with the friction enhancing element providing sufficient friction between the housing and the mounting surface to prevent rotation. The housing may have a single portion extending through a hole in the mounting surface which may be larger in diameter than the portion and/or the portion may be circular in cross-section so that rotation cannot be prevented by interaction between the portion extending through the mounting surface and the edges of the hole. Surprisingly, it has been found that a friction enhancing element, which may be clamped between the housing and the mounting surface provides sufficient rotation resistance of the housing relative to the mounting surface through a frictional contact force.
It may be advantageous to use an O-ring as the friction enhancing element; as an O-ring is a standard and inexpensive piece and allows the described effects to be achieved.
The rotation prevention mechanism may also comprise or contain at least one step or groove formed in the housing that corresponds to a similar feature in the mounting surface. As will be described in more detail below, the housing may be attached to a mounting surface having one or more raised strips formed thereon. Such a raised strip may have flanks that interact with at least one step formed on the housing to prevent rotation. At least one groove may also be provided to accommodate the raised strip and prevent rotation of the housing relative to the mounting surface. Alternatively, the housing may be designed such that it is mountable on mounting surfaces having other surface features such as channels, v-shaped ridges, and the like.
The housings of the invention can be employed in connection with an electronic lock, which implies that the electronic component accommodated in the housing may include an antenna adapted to receive authorization information from a transponder or similar device. Thus, the housing may advantageously be used in a security system to prevent unauthorized access to rooms, cabinets or similar areas.
It may also prove advantageous that a person receive a confirmation signal after sending the authorization information to the electronic component such as an antenna. The confirmation signal may comprise an optical or acoustic signal, or both. Such a signal may confirm authorization by sending out a light signal or sending out a light signal having a different color than in a situation when authorization is denied.
This can be realized by providing at least one optical signaling device, such as an LED, in the housing in a manner that is visible from outside. This may be achieved by making at least a portion of the housing translucent enough to allow an optical signaling device contained inside the housing to be externally viewable. The housing may be made of two or more different materials, such as from a first a translucent material and a second opaque material. In the manufacturing process of the housing the portion of the housing made of a first material can be produced first and can thereafter be combined with the second material by injection molding “around” the first material. The portion made of the first, opaque material may have an opening that is subsequently filled with a translucent material to provide a window or viewing hole to allow an optical signaling device to be viewed from outside the housing.
The housings of the invention may additionally provide a substantially shock-proof accommodation of the one or more electronic or electric components by including at least one damper. It may, furthermore, provide enhanced protection against tampering or any attempts to destroy or remove the housing from the mounting surface. The housing may have a shape that substantially avoids corners or edges that could be used to engage a tool if an attempt to remove or destroy the housing is made. Thus, the housing may have an at least partially spherical, dome, or bowl shape.
The housing may include at least one base plate and at least one cover. The cover may be attachable to the base plate in an attachment direction. This construction of the housing may be advantageous for assembling the housing and accommodating the electronic or electric components by putting these onto the base plate and closing the housing by attaching the cover thereafter.
Additional rotation protection between cover and base plate may be provided by attaching the cover to the base plate in a non-rotatable manner. Moreover, when the position of an optical signaling device, such as an LED, relative to the base plate is fixed, the non-rotatable attachment of the cover to the base plate may ensure that the optical signaling device is reliably visible through a translucent portion in the cover and that the cover is securely attached to the base.
It may be advantageous to fix the base plate and the cover to each other by plastic deformation of at least one portion, such as at least one protrusion of the base plate and/or the cover. The other housing part, i.e., the cover or the base plate, may include one or more through holes or recesses into which the portion that is to be deformed is inserted. The deformation may be carried out by ultrasonic welding or an application of heat and/or pressure and may be considered a riveting process that deforms the mentioned portions to prevent these from leaving the through holes or recesses. As a result, the cover and the base plate are attached to each other.
When the cover is attached to the base plate in an attachment direction, it may be advantageous to provide a seal, such as an O-ring, between the base plate and the cover by a force acting in a direction different from the attachment direction. In this manner, the force generated by the seal in reaction to the holding force does not act in the attachment direction and does not, therefore, endanger the reliable attachment of the cover to the base plate.
It may also be advantageous to provide electrostatic discharge (ESD)-protection to prevent unintended damage to the electronic components contained within the housing. This may be accomplished when the cover and the base plate are made of an isolating material to provide such protection. A sealing element such as an O-ring made of silicone may also be used for this purpose. Alternatively, when a more conventional sealing element such as a graphite containing O-ring is used a maze is formed between the base plate and the cover to provide isolation between the interior and the exterior of the housing. Such a maze may be formed by one or more ridges, webs or projections. This increases the distance a spark produced outside the housing would have to travel to reach the inside of the housing. An alternative embodiment may comprise a different kind of O-ring, e.g., an O-ring made of Silicone or unfilled rubber.
The invention may be provided as a kit of parts that can be used to retrofit existing cabinets or installation rooms, in particular cabinet or room doors. The kit of parts may be mounted to the desired object easily on site in the field. The kits may include at least one housing and at least one spacer. The spacer may be used to make a housing that is compatible with a flat mounting surface. This may be achieved by placing the spacer in a groove formed in the housing, the groove being adapted to accommodate the raised strip of the mounting surface. The spacer may also be used as a drilling template to define a proper location for drilling a hole through which a portion of the housing can extend. The spacer may have at least one hole denoting a drilling location for drilling a hole for allowing the portion of the housing to pass through. In this case, the spacer may be used as a drilling template. It is noted that the spacer described herein, including one or more of the features described above or below and/or in one or more of the embodiments of the spacer of the invention, is to be considered subject matter of the application also without the housing described herein.
To render the spacer compatible with different mounting situations, the spacer may have at least one portion defining the above-mentioned hole, the portion being removable from the spacer. As a consequence, the spacer can be used as a drilling template and can, moreover, be used as a spacer for mounting the housing to a flat mounting surface when the portion including the hole is removed so that the portion of the housing extending through the mounting surface would also extend through the hole of the spacer.
It may be furthermore advantageous when the housing has a groove adapted to accommodate the spacer in a manner to locate outer contours of the spacer substantially flush with outer contours of the housing. In this case, the combination of the housing and the spacer substantially avoids any steps, gaps, edges or corners, which could be used to engage a tool.
The invention further provides a kit of parts including at least one housing and a drilling template. As described above with regard to the spacer, the drilling template may have at least one hole denoting a drilling location for drilling a hole for allowing the portion of the housing to pass through. With such a kit of parts, reliable mounting of the housing can be achieved.
The kit of parts may further include at least one fastener adapted to cooperate with the portion extending through the mounting surface to secure the housing. In particular, the mounting surface can be clamped between the housing and a fastener (e.g., a nut) by tightening the fastener.
Whereas the housing or the kit of parts described herein may be used to retrofit a cabinet or an installation room, for example by retrofitting a door, the invention also provides a combination of the housing or kit and a door, preferably of a cabinet or an installation room. With this combination, a door of an installation room or a cabinet can be provided with a well-protected electronic or electric component on the outside, for example, in the case where the electronic or electric component includes an electronic lock.
Tampering with or any other attempts to remove or destroy the housing from the mounting surface can be efficiently prevented when the housings of the invention are installed flush with the mounting surface around the perimeter of the housing.
The invention finally provides a use of a friction enhancing element, such as an O-ring, for mounting a housing to a mounting surface in a non-rotatable manner. In this context, the invention prevents rotation of the housing relative to the mounting surface by clamping the friction enhancing element by a force increasing the friction sufficiently to prevent rotation.
Turning now to
The kit of parts may include a spacer 18 adapted to fit into groove 28 formed in the base plate 38. The use of this spacer 18 renders the embodiment of
As can be seen in
As can be seen in
As indicated above, spacer 18 shown in
The inventive housing may be equipped with ESD protection to isolate internal electronic components from potentially damaging ESD events that may occur outside the housing. Isolation can be achieved by having the housing and sealing means of the housing made of isolating materials.
As shown in
In this context, it can be mentioned that the maze formed by ridges 72, 74 allows the use of conventional O-rings 44 containing graphite, which tend to be more durable than O-rings that do not contain graphite but which would otherwise not meet the criteria for an isolating sealing member. The durability of the sealing member is important because the housings may be employed on the outside of outdoor cabinets, e.g., cabinets located near streets or similar surroundings, where aggressive substances such as gasoline or oil may be present and affect durability of the O-ring. As mentioned, this durability can be ensured by an O-ring containing graphite, and ESD-protection may be accomplished by the maze.
The maze formed by complementary ridges 72, 74 may, apart from electrostatic discharge protection, additionally provide protection against water spray. In particular, the housing can thus be protected based on standard IP 54 (spray) or IP 65 (hose-proof).
Finally, the ridges 72, 74 may be formed to be in tight contact with each other in the attached state of the cover 40 to provide additional mechanical stability to the housing.
The interaction between the appropriately deformed protrusions 42 and the opening 76 can be called a rivet fastening.
As can be seen in
As can be seen in
Specific positions of the protrusions 42 may be used to provide a type of coding between the base plate 38 and the cover 40. In other words, it may be ensured by specific positions of the protrusions 42 and corresponding positions of the through holes 76 that the base plate 38 and the cover 40 are attached to each other in a specific orientation. In particular, the above-mentioned plural coding systems may ensure that the LED 14 positioned on the printed circuit board 56 is reliably positioned underneath the viewing window 78 so that it can reliably be viewed from outside. This may be achieved by using one or more pins 54 provided on the base plate 38 to determine a specific position of the printed circuit board including the LED provided relative to the base plate 38. By the coding system related to the attachment of the cover 40 to the base plate 38 (i.e., the protrusions 42 and the through holes 76) a specific position of the cover including the viewing window 78 may be ensured to position the viewing window 78 above LED 14 to make the LED 14 visible from the outside, at least when it is emitting a light signal. The specific coding methods described above are provided for illustrative purposes. It will be understood that other coding methods may also be employed with equal effect, and therefore will also be encompassed within the scope of the invention. For example, coding can also be accomplished by choosing a particular shape of the pins 54 etc.
In the embodiment of
As can be further seen in
As mentioned,
Finally,
The present invention has now been described with reference to several individual embodiments. The foregoing detailed description has been given for clarity of understanding only. No unnecessary limitations are to be understood or taken from it. All references to right, left, front, rear, up and down as well as references to directions are exemplary only and do not limit the claimed invention. It will be apparent to those persons skilled in the art that many changes can be made in the embodiments described without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the details and structures described herein, but rather by the structures described by the language of the claims, and the equivalents of those structures.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06009094 | May 2006 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US2007/067501 | 4/26/2007 | WO | 00 | 10/31/2008 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2007/143293 | 12/13/2007 | WO | A |
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| 20090255724 A1 | Oct 2009 | US |
