Patent Application
20080287014
The present invention relates to a terminal for enameled electric wires.
Currently known terminals for enameled electric wires are constituted by a plate-like body which forms a connection fork with tabs which cantilever inward on the same plane of arrangement as the plate-like body; the tabs face each other so as to form a tapering self-centering opening for guiding the insertion of an electric wire with insulating enamel, said wire being arranged between the ends of the tips of the tabs and an abutment formed on the plate-like body proximate to the tips, with an axis arranged transversely with respect to the arrangement of the plate-like body; the tips form a slot whose transverse dimensions are smaller than the diameter of the enameled wire, so as to cut through at least its insulating layer during its passage between them and provide the electrical contact at the flat part of the ends of the tips.
Such terminals are applied particularly but not exclusively in the wiring of the windings of electric motors and transformers, electric coils, reactors, actuators and power supplies.
Currently, due to the increase in the cost of copper, enameled conducting wires made of aluminum are increasingly widespread.
However, aluminum is softer than copper, and the passage of an enameled aluminum wire between the cut-through tips of a terminal of a known type often causes only the deformation of the aluminum core of the enameled wire, reducing the resisting cross-section, without however cutting through the insulating covering layer; when this occurs, electrical contact between the conducting wire and the terminal does not occur, and the provided electrical connection is substantially unusable.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a terminal for enameled electric wires which solves the drawback shown by known types of connector.
Within this aim, an object of the present invention is to provide a terminal which is capable of cutting through even enameled electric wires in which the conductor is made of a metallic material softer than copper.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a terminal which can be used for the same applications for which similar connectors of a known type are designed, without having to act at all on the elements that support it or on the assembly equipment.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a terminal which can be manufactured cheaply with known systems, equipment and technologies.
This aim and these and other objects, which will become better apparent hereinafter, are achieved by a terminal for enameled electric wires, of the type constituted by a plate-like body which forms a connecting fork with tabs which cantilever inward on the same plane of arrangement as the plate-like body, said tabs facing each other so as to form a self-centering tapered opening for guiding the insertion of an electric wire with insulating enameling, said wire being adapted to be arranged between the ends of the tips of said tabs and an abutment formed on said plate-like body proximate to said tips, with an axis which lies transversely to the arrangement of the plate-like body, said tips forming a cut-through slot whose transverse dimensions are smaller than the diameter of the enameled wire, so as to cut through at least its insulating layer during its passage between them and provide electrical contact, said terminal being characterized in that at least one of the facing edges of said cut-through tips is serrated in order to scrape and remove the layer of enamel from the surface of the enameled electric wire.
Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the following detailed description of two preferred but not exclusive embodiments thereof, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:
With reference to the figures, a terminal for enameled electric wires according to the invention is generally designated by the reference numeral 10 in its first embodiment of
The terminal 10 is of the type constituted by a plate-like body 11, which forms a connecting fork 12, which is provided with tabs 13 which cantilever inward on the same plane of arrangement as the plate-like body 11.
The tabs 13 face each other so as to form a self-centering tapered opening 14 for guiding the insertion of an electric wire 15 with insulating enameling.
The wire 15 is locked between ends 16 of tips 17 of the tabs 13 and an abutment 18 formed on the plate-like body 11 proximate to the ends 16 of the tips 17.
The wire 15 is arranged so that its axis is transverse with respect to the arrangement of the plate-like body 11.
The tips 17 form a cut-through slot 19 whose transverse dimensions are smaller than the diameter of the enameled wire 15, so as to cut through at least its insulating layer during its passage between the tips and provide electrical contact.
In the present non-limiting and exemplifying embodiment of the invention, the two facing edges of the cut-through tips 17 have a serrated portion 20 for scraping and removing the layer of enamel from the surface of the enameled electric wire 15.
The serrated portion 20 can be provided inherently with the blanking of the entire terminal 10 from a metal plate, by means of a contoured punch, or, as an alternative, can be provided after blanking the plate-like body 11 from a metal plate, by scraping the edges of the cut-through tips 17 with a contoured punch.
The serrated portion 20 is provided so as to have grooves which form through hollows 21, i.e., hollows which affect the tips 17 over their entire thickness.
Such grooves are provided at right angles to the arrangement of the plate-like body 11 of the terminal 10, as clearly shown in
The serrated portions 20 are provided by a series of teeth 22 which have sharp edges or only slightly rounded edges and are formed, as mentioned, either by means of a scraping operation after blanking the entire terminal 10 from a metal plate or directly by blanking; each tooth 22 protrudes between two hollows 21 toward the facing edge of the facing cut-through tip 17.
It should be understood that the teeth 22 can be provided in any number at will according to requirements.
The view of
In this case also, the teeth 122 can be provided either inherently with the blanking of the entire terminal 110 from a metal plate or by scraping after blanking.
Similarly to what has been described above, it is understood that the serrated portion 120 can be provided with any number of teeth, the embodiment with a single tooth 122 being merely a non-limiting example of the invention.
In practice it has been found that the invention thus described solves the problems noted in known types of connector for enameled electric wires.
In particular, the present invention provides a terminal which is capable of cutting through even enameled electric wires in which the conductor is made of a metallic material which is softer than copper.
This is the case of enameled aluminum electric wires, from the surface of which the terminal 10 and 110 according to the invention is capable of removing the enamel by means of the serrated portions 20, 120 or 420 with which the edges of the cut-through tips 17 and 117 are provided.
Moreover, the present invention provides a terminal which can be used for the same applications for which similar connectors of a known type are designed, without having to affect at all the elements that support it or the assembly equipment.
Moreover, the present invention provides a terminal which can be manufactured cheaply with known systems, equipment and technologies.
The invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims; all the details may further be replaced with other technically equivalent elements.
In practice, the materials employed, so long as they are compatible with the specific use, as well as the dimensions, may be any according to requirements and to the state of the art.
The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. PD2007A000033 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PD2007A000033 | Feb 2007 | IT | national |
