Plugs for IoT devices

Abstract

A plug (100) for connecting to an Internet of Things device (200) is provided. The plug (100) has a housing (6) and a circuit board (4), wherein the circuit board has a first end and a second end (4a, 4b). The circuit board (4) is arranged in the housing (6). The first end (4a) of the circuit board (4) is connected to a hybrid single-pair Ethernet cable (1). A plug surface (110) having a contact surface (7) is provided at the second end (4b) of the circuit board (4), through which the plug (100) can be coupled to the Internet of Things device (200). The plug (100) also has an EMC protection unit (5) in or on the circuit board (4).

Description

Background Art

[0001] In the field of IoT (Internet-of-Things), sensors and / or actuators are usually connected to a network via cables (or wirelessly) to allow communication with services in the network. The communication between sensors and / or actuators and services in the network can be based on the IP protocol, for example.

[0002] Typically, IoT devices are connected to the network via Ethernet lines to enable data transmission. In this case, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) protection measures are implemented in IoT devices. Summary of the invention

[0003] One object of the present invention is to improve the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) protection of IoT devices.

[0004] This object is achieved by a plug for an Internet of Things device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0005] According to the present invention, a plug for connecting to an IoT device is provided, the plug having a housing and a circuit board. A first end of the circuit board is connected to a hybrid single-pair Ethernet cable. At the other end of the circuit board, a plug surface having a contact surface is provided, by means of which the plug can be coupled to the IoT device. An electromagnetic compatibility EMV protection unit is provided on the circuit board. Therefore, EMV protection is provided in the plug housing.

[0006] According to one aspect of the present invention, a sealing member is provided between the plug-in surface and the housing in the region of the second end of the circuit board. Thus, a space or region sealed by the housing and the sealing member is provided.

[0007] According to one aspect of the invention, a locking element is provided outside the sealed region on the housing.

[0008] According to one aspect of the present invention, the circuit board usually present in the plug for IoT devices is also used to record EMV protection measures. In other words, the EMV protection measures are integrated into the housing of the plug for IoT devices.

[0009] According to one aspect of the present invention, the housing of the plug is rotated 90° relative to the circuit board of the IoT device, so that the plug is coupled to the circuit board of the IoT device in an upright manner.

[0010] According to one aspect of the invention, the printed circuit board is arranged centrally relative to the long plug-in surface side and is oriented parallel to the short axis of the plug-in surface.

[0011] According to the relevant European EMV standards, protection against surge voltages (surges) is required in hybrid single-pair Ethernet devices starting from a connection line length of 30 m. According to one aspect of the present invention, a hybrid single-pair Ethernet cable is provided with a plug for connection with an IoT device as described above, which allows a larger connection line length of longer than 30 m even if the device does not have a protection circuit against surge voltages (surges). Therefore, by using a plug according to one aspect of the present invention, the maximum length of the cable that can be used can be increased.

[0012] The required protective circuit (EMC protection unit), usually a special diode between the DC voltage terminals, is introduced into the plug, for example by being soldered to the plug contacts on the rear side.

[0013] According to one aspect of the present invention, the plug or the plug connector has an M8 H-coded plug. Alternatively, an M8 D-coded plug can also be provided. The plug supports the Ethernet protocol standard IEEE802.3. The plug can be standardized according to PASIEC61076-2-14.

[0014] According to one aspect of the present invention, the plug connector has four electrical terminals, of which two are used for transmitting a DC voltage and two are used for transmitting data based on the Ethernet standard.

[0015] The invention also relates to an Internet of Things device having a plug connector that can be coupled to a plug according to one aspect of the invention so that the Internet of Things can be supplied with electrical energy and with data and / or instructions via a hybrid single-pair Ethernet cable. Thus, the Internet of Things is arranged via a plug according to one aspect of the invention and a hybrid single-pair Ethernet cable located thereon so as to be able to communicate with a network.

[0016] According to one aspect of the invention, the IoT device optionally has only one interface, namely the plug connector. Thus, the IoT device has neither a keyboard nor a display nor any other interface for user configuration. Optionally, a web-based user interface can be used to set the parameters of the device.

[0017] Other embodiments of the present invention are the subject matter of exemplary embodiments of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Advantages and embodiments of the present invention are explained in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0019] Figure 1 A schematic perspective view showing a plug according to a first embodiment of the present invention,

[0020] Figure 2A schematic perspective view showing a plug according to a second embodiment of the present invention,

[0021] Figure 3 A schematic perspective view showing a plug according to a third embodiment of the present invention, and

[0022] Figure 4 A diagram illustrating a hybrid single-pair Ethernet cable according to one embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] Figure 1 A schematic three-dimensional view of a plug according to a first embodiment of the present invention is shown. A cable 1 having a plurality of cores 2 is provided on the plug 100. The plug 100 has a housing 6. The housing 6 can be injection molded around the end 1a of the cable 1. A circuit board 4 is provided in the housing 6, which is connected to the cores 2 of the cable 1 via the contact portion 3 on its first side 4a, that is, there is an electrical connection between the cores 2 and the contact portion 3. An EMC protection unit 5 is provided on the circuit board 4. Optionally, the EMC protection unit 5 can be soldered to the circuit board 4. At the second end 4b of the circuit board 4 is a contact surface 7. The contact surface 7 can be optionally designed as a contact pad that can be equipped with an SMD. The plug 100 has a plug-in surface 110, for example, four contact surfaces 7 evenly distributed on two circuit board sides.

[0024] At least one locking element, for example in the form of at least two springs 8, is provided outside the housing 6 for locking into a socket or housing of the IoT device. The spring 8 can optionally be fixed at the rear. The locking element can absorb the tensile forces at the cable 1.

[0025] The housing 6 has a seal 9 at its second end 4b, which seals the plug surface 110 in the plugged state. The remaining circuit board in the plug, including components and contacts and open line ends, can be sealed, for example, by injection molding. The locking element is arranged outside the sealed area.

[0026] The plug can be a plug supporting M8 H coding of the IEEE 802.3 standard and can correspond to the PAS IEC 61076-2-14 standard. The plug 100 is used to couple an Internet of Things device (IoT device) to a network via a hybrid single-pair Ethernet cable.

[0027] Advantageously, the EMC protection unit is integrated into the housing 6 of the plug 100 , so that in the inserted state a compact design of the plug and the IoT device is achieved by partially or completely displacing the EMC protection from the IoT device into the plug.

[0028] According to one aspect of the invention, the cable 1 is a 4-pole T1 connection, that is to say in this case a hybrid single pair Ethernet line SPE.

[0029] Figure 2 FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a plug according to a second embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 In the embodiment of the present invention, the plug 100 is arranged upright, so that a space-saving connection of multiple plugs to the IoT device 200 is achieved. The IoT device 200 has a circuit board 11, to which the plug 100 is coupled. In particular, the plug 100 is rotated 90° relative to the circuit board 11 of the IoT device 200. This is particularly advantageous because the operability of the plug is improved, because the user has better access to the individual plugs. In addition, multiple plugs can be coupled to the IoT device 200 with less space requirements. In particular, only contact surfaces are required on the plug side without components for contacting.

[0030] Since the plug already has at least one locking element, the printed circuit board of the IoT device does not have to have a locking element.

[0031] The plug 100 according to the second embodiment corresponds to the plug according to the first embodiment.

[0032] According to a second embodiment of the invention, the cable 1 is a 4-pole T1 connection, that is to say in this case a hybrid single-pair Ethernet line SPE.

[0033] Figure 3 A schematic perspective view of a plug according to a third embodiment of the invention is shown. The plug 100 according to the third embodiment corresponds substantially to the plug according to the first embodiment. Compared to the first and second embodiments, the circuit board in the plug is rotated by 90°, whereby the circuit board is oriented coplanarly with the circuit board in the IoT device and a common socket can be used in the IoT device for contacting.

[0034] According to one aspect of the invention, the plug can be plugged into the IoT device in a manner rotated by 180°. This is achieved by a double design of the contact surfaces, which are present on the upper side and the lower side of the circuit board, respectively, wherein the arrangement on both sides is identical. In addition, the socket in the IoT device can be positioned centrally in the plug-in surface.

[0035] According to one aspect of the invention, the printed circuit board in the plug is made of a special material (water compatibility, wear behavior, stability, . . . ) such as ceramic and can thus be used in the plug surface without further protection.

[0036] According to one aspect of the present invention, the contact surface is configured as a gold-plated solder joint that can be mounted with an SMD in order to achieve sufficient plug-in cycle stability.

[0037] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a single pair Ethernet cable according to one aspect of the present invention is shown. The cable has an M8 H-coded plug. Preferably, the cable has two wires or lines for data communication (e.g. 100 Mbit / s) and two lines for energy transmission (e.g. 24 volts DC). Figure 4 1 and 12. The two possible plug surfaces are also shown. The plug 1a is shown at the top and the socket 1b is shown at the bottom. The plug 1a is provided with two terminals 11a, 12a for data transmission, a terminal 13a for DC transmission, and a grounding terminal 14a. The socket 1b is also provided with terminals 11a, 12a for data transmission, and terminals 13b, 14b for DC transmission.

[0038] According to one aspect of the present invention, Figure 4 The cable corresponds to the IEC 63171-6:2020 standard. The 100BASE-T1 single-pair Ethernet standard (IEE 802.3bw) can be used for communication. The cable between the plug and the socket corresponds to the standard DIN VDE0285-525-2-51 / DIN EN 50525-2-51.

[0039] According to the invention, the cable as well as the plug and socket are M8 single-pair Ethernet hybrid plugs according to IEC 63171-6 with an integrated protection circuit. According to the invention, the protection circuit is integrated in the socket and / or the plug.

Claims

1. A plug (100) for connecting to an Internet of Things device (200), the plug comprising: Housing (6), A circuit board (4), the circuit board having a first end and a second end (4a, 4b), wherein the circuit board (4) is arranged in the housing (6), The first end (4a) of the circuit board (4) is connected to a hybrid single-pair Ethernet cable (1). A plug-in surface (110) having a contact surface (7) is provided at the second end (4b) of the circuit board (4), and the plug (100) can be coupled to the Internet of Things device (200) by means of the contact surface (7), and an electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) protection unit (5) in or on the circuit board (4), The electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) protection unit (5) has at least one diode between the DC voltage terminals and serves as protection against surge voltages.

2. The plug (100) for connecting to an Internet of Things device (200) according to claim 1, wherein the plug comprises: A seal (9) is provided in the region of the second end (4b) of the printed circuit board (4), the seal being used to produce a sealing region around the plug-in surface in the plugged-in state.

3. The plug (100) for connecting to an Internet of Things device (200) according to claim 2, wherein the plug comprises: A locking element is located outside the region of the housing (6) which is sealed by the seal (9).

4. A plug (100) for connecting to an Internet of Things device (200) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein The housing (6) of the plug (100) is arranged in a manner of being rotated 90 degrees relative to another circuit board (11) of the Internet of Things device (200).

5. The plug (100) for connecting to an Internet of Things device (200) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein The plug surface is designed to be rotationally symmetrical with respect to a rotation of 180°, so that the plug (100) can be inserted into the Internet of Things device (200) in a manner rotated by 180°.

6. A plug (100) for connecting to an Internet of Things device (200) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The plug corresponds to standard IEC63171-6:2020.

7. A hybrid single-pair Ethernet cable (1) having a plug according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

8. An Internet of Things device (200), comprising: A plug connector having an M8 H-coded plug, and A plug having: Housing (6); A circuit board (4), the circuit board having a first end and a second end (4a, 4b), The circuit board (4) is arranged in the housing (6), the first end (4a) of the circuit board (4) is connected to a hybrid single-pair Ethernet cable (1), a plug surface (110) having a contact surface (7) is provided at the second end (4b) of the circuit board (4), and the plug (100) can be coupled to the Internet of Things device (200) by means of the contact surface (7), and an electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) protection unit (5) in or on the circuit board (4), The plug is connected to a plug connector of the Internet of Things device, and the Internet of Things device (200) further comprises only one interface in the form of the plug connector.

9. The Internet of Things device (200) according to claim 8, wherein The electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) protection unit (5) has at least one diode between the DC voltage terminals and serves to protect against surge voltages.

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