Protective device for sealing a plug connection

Abstract

A protective device (2) for sealing a plug-in connection, said protective device comprising a plug-in connector and a mating plug-in connector, should be produced inexpensively and inexpensively. Preferably, the plug-in connection should be retrofit without expenditure in a state in which the plug-in connection and the protective device (2) have been installed / pre-assembled. The protective device (2) is designed as a protective jacket (2) in one piece. The protective device is made of an elastic material, such as rubber, and has a substantially tubular shape, that is, it is open on both sides and is closed in a circumferential manner for sealing apart from the two openings. In particular, the protective sleeve (2) can be turned over in order to sleeve the pre-assembled plug connector from the direction of the plug side, i.e. To turn back. Preferably, the shape of the protective sleeve (2) corresponds to the outer contour of the plug connector.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention is based on a protective device of the type according to independent claim 1.

[0002] Furthermore, the present invention relates to a system composed of a protective device according to claim 1, a cable, and a plug-in connection device, in particular a plug-in connection device mainly for signal transmission, such as an RJ45 or ix Industrial plug-in connection device, etc.

[0003] Furthermore, the present invention is based on a method for using the protective device according to claim 3 together with a plug-in connection device of the above type.

[0004] Such a protective device is needed to protect the plug-in connection device from dirt, dust, and moisture. Background Art

[0005] EP 1 413 013 1B shows a multi-piece protective device for a plug-in connection device.

[0006] The disadvantage here is that the manufacture and installation of the protective device are very costly. In addition, it is not feasible to subsequently install the protective device known from the prior art at a plug connector that has already been installed and thus pre-assembled. However, this may be necessary in cases where the protective effect of the plug-in connection device proves insufficient after installation, for example, because the environmental conditions deteriorate and the requirements for sealing increase accordingly. When an old plug-in connection device has to be replaced with a new one, the disadvantageous result is, for example, the associated cost and corresponding time loss in the production process of an industrial manufacturing facility.

[0007] The German Patent and Trademark Office retrieved the following prior art in the priority application regarding this application: DE 18 74556U, US2013 / 0337670 A1, US 3,167,674A, AU 1992 022 080A1, CN 112 864 700A, and CN202 308 562U. Summary of the Invention

[0008] The object of the present invention is a protective device for sealing a plug-in connection device, wherein the protective device can be manufactured as inexpensively and simply as possible. In particular, an existing plug-in connection device, preferably in the installed state, should be able to be retrofitted with the protective device without much effort.

[0009] The plug-in connection device can, for example, relate to a plug-in connection device mainly for signal transmission, that is, for example, an RJ45 or ix Industrial plug-in connection device, etc.

[0010] The object is achieved by the subject matter of the independent claims.

[0011] The protective device for sealing a plug-in connection device is embodied in one piece as a protective sleeve. The protective device is made of an elastic, waterproof material, such as rubber, preferably latex, and is embodied substantially in the form of a hose, i.e., the protective device is open on both sides and is closed circumferentially between the two openings for sealing.

[0012] The plug-in connection device has a plug connector and a mating plug connector, in particular embodied as a circuit board plug connector, wherein the plug connector can be plugged with the mating plug connector. The term circuit board plug connector is to be understood here as a plug connector that can be mounted on a circuit board. The circuit board can be arranged in a device housing. The circuit board plug connector can thus be connected to a plug connector outside the device through a wall penetration of the housing wall of the device housing. The plug-in connection device can thus be used in particular for device connection technology.

[0013] The advantage of the invention is that the plug connector and in particular also the plug-in connection device are simply and inexpensively sealed. In particular, existing cabling can be quickly and simply retrofitted with already connected ("pre-assembled") plug connectors.

[0014] Advantageous embodiments of the invention are described in the dependent claims and hereinafter.

[0015] The protective device has the advantage that it can be manufactured with only little effort.

[0016] The protective device in particular has the advantage that it can be automatically manufactured without great effort and inexpensively.

[0017] In addition, the protective device has the advantage that it can subsequently be slipped over a plug connector that has already been pre-assembled ("assembled"), i.e., connected to a cable on the connection side.

[0018] Especially in the case of fixed installations, this enables a subsequent improvement of the protection against dust, dirt and moisture. This also has the advantage that in particular the already installed current distribution and signal distribution can be simply and quickly retrofitted so that there is no or only a relatively short downtime of the associated facilities, such as industrial manufacturing facilities.

[0019] In other words, the protective device has the particular advantage that it can also be slipped onto an already installed and thus pre-assembled plug connector. Pre-assembled means that the cable has already been connected on the cable connection side to the plug connector, i.e., conductively connected to its plug contact part on the connection side, for example by soldering, screwing, crimping, clamping via a clamping spring or also via soldering to the printed conductors of a circuit board inside the plug connector, etc. In a fixed wiring where the cable is guided, for example, even through a through-hole in a device wall or a room wall and fixedly installed, slipping on the protective sleeve (protective device) on the plug side has particularly great advantages.

[0020] An additional advantage is that the plug connectors in question have long been available on the market, especially within the scope of a time period of many years or even decades. The plug connectors and the plug connection devices having a plug connector and a mating plug connector can, with the help of the subsequently produced protective device, have a higher IP ("International Protection") protection rating with respect to harmful environmental influences such as foreign objects (dust) and water (moisture) compared to the original design, which is simply referred to here as "sealing". This additional, simply retrofittable sealing is a particularly great advantage especially for RJ45 plug connectors or similar plug connectors because, although these plug connectors historically first came from similar communication fields, they are now always used more frequently in industrial application fields. For their use in the industrial environment, they must not only meet high requirements for transmission power, i.e., for data rate and data integrity, for example, but usually also withstand harsh environmental conditions. Usually, the need for retrofitting only becomes apparent after installation has taken place.

[0021] Finally, the plug connector is already connected in these cases, i.e., pre-assembled ("assembled") to the fixed wiring. Therefore, in these cases, the effortless and rapid retrofittability with the help of the protective device / protective sleeve has particularly prominent advantages.

[0022] In other cases, in contrast, the conventional method is to subsequently replace all the plug connection devices of the facility with plug connection devices of a higher IP protection rating. However, this conventional method has, in addition to increased material costs, also a significant downtime of the facility, such as an industrial manufacturing facility, resulting in corresponding competitive disadvantages. It is readily understandable that such a downtime of the wiring within an industrial manufacturing facility, for example, is highly undesirable.

[0023] In addition, there may be the following problem. Fixed wiring precisely measures the lengths of individual cables, such that replacement of most of the existing plug connectors, which mostly occur with a certain shortening of the cable length, becomes completely infeasible. Even in such a case, the protection device still has particular advantages, because the existing plug connectors can be fully sealed by the protective sleeve and thus do not need to be replaced at all.

[0024] For newly manufactured plug connectors, a particularly high protection against dust and moisture can also be achieved cost-effectively by means of the protective sleeve. This can also simplify the customer's logistics if necessary.

[0025] Another additional advantage is that the plug connector is better protected against collisions by the elasticity of the protective sleeve.

[0026] In addition, the protective sleeve can cause a relatively high shock resistance, i.e., protect the plug connector against vibrations, especially in the plugged state. For example, it protects the plug connector when it is plugged into a vibrating machine tool.

[0027] In a preferred design, the protection device can have openings at two opposite ends respectively, i.e., a total of two openings, namely a wiring-side opening at its wiring-side end and a plugging-side opening at its plugging-side end. This is advantageous because the protection device (protective sleeve) can surround the plug connector, but its plugging area is exposed through the plugging-side opening for plugging. At the same time, it is possible to lead out the connected cables through the wiring-side opening.

[0028] In a preferred design, the protective sleeve (protection device) can be reversible. In this context, the term "reversible" should be understood in the sense of "interchanging the inner and outer sides". The advantage of this reversibility is that in the reversed state of the protective sleeve, i.e., when its inner side faces outwards and its outer side faces inwards, it can be very simply put over the plug connector from the plugging-side direction. Then, the sleeve can also closely adhere to the plug connector, preferably fitting tightly around the plug connector and especially also having a static friction with respect to the plug connector. Finally, in this way, it is not necessary to slide the protective sleeve onto the plug connector, but simply to flip it onto the plug connector when putting it on.

[0029] For this purpose, the initially flipped protective cover can be plugged onto the plugging area of a pre-assembled plug connector by means of its plugging-side opening and, by means of its wiring-side end and its wiring-side opening, moved onto the plugging area and thus onto its own plugging-side end. Here, the inner side of the protective cover, which at this moment is at least partially still pointing outwards, can in particular be in force-fitting engagement with the surface of the plug connector and, when the wiring-side end of the protective cover is further slipped over the plug connector, increasingly inverts inwards, so that the outer side inverts outwards to the same extent. This flipping back is particularly advantageous because, on the one hand, the protective cover can be slipped over the plug connector with little manual effort and, at the same time, also elastically adapt to its outer contour. Also particularly advantageous is that the shape of the protective cover corresponds to the outer contour of the plug connector.

[0030] In particular, the protective cover can then enclose the plug connector in a form-fitting and force-fitting manner and, in particular, even have a static friction with respect to the surface of the plug connector, which is detrimental to its ease of operation. Finally, the now flipped-back protective cover not only encloses the plug connector in a sealed manner and thus also its wiring area, but also encloses the cable guided out through the wiring area from the plug connector housing in a sealed manner.

[0031] A method is provided for using a protective device together with a pre-assembled and / or already installed plug connection device and (as already mentioned above) provides that the protective cover is slipped onto the plug connector of the plug connection device on the plugging side in a state in which its inner side is arranged on the outside and its outer side is arranged on the inside, whereby said inner side of the protective cover is on the surface of the plug connector and inverts inwards when the protective cover is slipped over the plug connector and the outer side inverts outwards.

[0032] Thereby, the protective cover slipped over the plug connector can enclose the wiring area of the plug connector and the cable already connected to the plug connector and guided out through its wiring area in a sealed manner by means of its wiring-side end.

[0033] At its plugging-side end, the protective device can also have an outer sealing molding. The sealing molding can in particular have a radially outwardly pointing sealing portion, for example a radially sealing portion in the form of one or more circumferential sealing rings or sealing flakes. Alternatively or additionally, the sealing molding can have, for example, a sealing lip protruding in the plugging direction, which sealing lip is in particular implemented as a surface sealing portion. This is particularly advantageous because it provides an effective and low-cost plugging-side seal when plugging with a mating plug, in particular with a mating plug implemented as a circuit board plug connector and installed in a device. The sealing molding can preferably be part of a one-piece protective cover and thus can be made of the same material.

[0034] The pluggable connector can be plugged with a mating pluggable connector through a plugging side opening, wherein the protective sleeve seals the pluggable connector relative to the mating pluggable connector and / or the device housing by means of its plugging side end and in particular by means of a sealing molding preferably molded thereon.

[0035] The system has a protective device, a pluggable connector and a mating pluggable connector, and a cable connected to the pluggable connector. The protective device can enclose the wiring area of the pluggable connector in a sealed manner on the cable wiring side and guide the cable led out through the wiring area and through the wiring side opening of the protective device.

[0036] In addition, the protective sleeve can also seal the pluggable connector relative to the mating pluggable connector plugged therewith and / or the device housing.

[0037] Here, as already mentioned, the shape of the protective sleeve forming the protective device can correspond to the outer contour of the pluggable connector. The protective sleeve can at least be configured to elastically match its outer contour.

[0038] Through the elastic protective sleeve, a flexible "rubber coating" (industry term) is advantageously provided to achieve a higher sealing effect for the plugging connection device for retrofitting. As described above, the protective sleeve can be subsequently put on the already pre-assembled ("assembled") pluggable connector. In addition, the rubber coating of the pluggable connector ensures a particularly sealed connection relative to the device housing in which the mating pluggable connector is inserted.

[0039] The protective sleeve can be delivered to the customer / user by the manufacturer in a turned-over state to simplify the operation. As described above, from the turned-over state, the protective sleeve can be put on the already pre-assembled pluggable connector in a particularly user-friendly manner on the plugging side and turned back during this process.

[0040] As already mentioned, in the protective sleeve, a plugging side opening can also be provided opposite to the wiring side opening. The plugging side opening is used to expose the plugging surface of the pluggable connector so that the plugging surface can be plugged with the mating pluggable connector. In a preferred design, the plugging side opening of the protective sleeve is slightly smaller than the plugging surface of the pluggable connector in order to achieve the best possible seal. In addition, the material of the protective sleeve can be slightly strengthened in this area, for example in the form of a closed ring that integrally surrounds the plugging side opening and is integrated into the plugging side end of the protective sleeve. This is advantageous because it reliably avoids cracks in the protective sleeve, especially during repeated use. In addition, this ensures a particularly good retention of the protective sleeve on the pluggable connector.

[0041] The protective sleeve can have a sufficiently high elasticity at its connection-side end, at least in the region of the cable / connection area, so as to ensure that the protective sleeve seals tightly against the cable surface advantageously and particularly well. In this region, the protective sleeve can also have a particularly high material strength and / or a closed connection-side closing ring for the above reasons. In addition, this has the advantage that the protective sleeve can be turned back onto the plug connector without damage.

[0042] The system can be designed such that there is sufficient clearance between the locking and unlocking mechanism between the plug connector and the mating plug connector to accommodate the sealing molding. In this way, on the one hand, the locking and unlocking mechanism and, on the other hand, the sealing molding of the protective sleeve can be coordinated with each other.

[0043] In this way, the protective sleeve advantageously not only protects the plug connector itself, but also enables a sealed transition between the plug connector and the mating plug connector and / or the device housing in which the mating plug connector is preferably implemented as an extended plug connector in the plugged state.

[0044] As already mentioned, the latter can be achieved particularly advantageously by the sealing molding molded at the plug-side end of the protective sleeve, such as a sealing lip (e.g., having a face seal) or also by a radial seal (e.g., at least one circumferential seal ring).

[0045] In the plug connection device, there may be small gaps between the plug connector and the mating plug connector and / or the wall of the housing in which the mating plug connector is installed. Especially when the protective sleeve has the plug-side sealing lip, the plug between the plug connector provided with the protective sleeve and the mating plug connector can, for example, bridge the gap. The sealing lip can preferably be implemented as a face seal. This has the advantage that the sealing lip closes over a relatively large area at the face section of the mating plug connector, thus sealing particularly reliably and well. Then, a sealed clamping pressure can be achieved by locking, where the sealing lip preferably exerts an elastic reaction force.

[0046] Alternatively or additionally, a radial seal in the form of the circumferential seal ring or circumferential seal sheet can also be provided at the plug-side end section of the protective sleeve. Thereby, it is also feasible to seal the plug connection device outward even in the case of insufficiently large gaps, in such a way that the plug connector is partially inserted into the device housing or at least into the wall penetration of the housing wall.

[0047] Another advantageous design proposes integrating a magnet integrally into the plug-side end of the protective sleeve. Thereby, in addition to improving the sealing effect, an additional holding / detachable locking of the plug connection device can be advantageously achieved. This can have the additional advantage of signaling the connection between the plug connector and the mating plug connector to the user not only haptically but also acoustically.

[0048] As already mentioned, the protective sleeve can have the shape of the outer contour of the corresponding plug connector. Such a protective sleeve can be manufactured by creating a mold or female mold of the corresponding plug connector and subsequently spraying or impregnating it with an elastic material. In order to reinforce specific areas or to completely implement a closed ring or a sealing molded part as described above, the mold can be impregnated / sprayed several times at the corresponding locations or sprayed for a correspondingly longer period of time, or a similar method can be implemented.

[0049] In a preferred design, additional elements, such as separate sealing rings or plastic rings, can be placed, for example sprayed or injected, into the protective sleeve during manufacturing for stabilization.

[0050] In another advantageous design, an RFID chip / RFID transponder can also be embedded in the protective sleeve so that the existing plug connection device can be equipped with an RFID chip / RFID transponder as an additional advantageous side effect without much additional cost subsequently. Description of the Drawings

[0051] An embodiment of the present invention is shown in the drawings and will be elaborated in detail below. The drawings show:

[0052] Figure 1a Showing the first plug connector;

[0053] Figure 1b Showing the first protective sleeve;

[0054] Figure 1c Showing the first plug connector together with the first protective sleeve put on;

[0055] Figure 2a Showing the second plug connector;

[0056] Figure 2b Showing the second protective sleeve;

[0057] Figure 2c Showing the second plug connector together with the second protective sleeve put on;

[0058] Figure 3a Showing the plug connection device composed of the second plug connector and a mating plug connector installed in the device housing;

[0059] Figure 3b 、 Figure 3c Showing the second plug connector together with the second protective sleeve put on, the second plug connector having a sealing lip;

[0060] Figure 3dShows a second plug connector together with a second protective sleeve put thereon, the second plug connector having a radial sealing ring.

[0061] The drawings include partially simplified, schematic illustrations. The same reference numerals are used in part for identical, but optionally different, elements. Different views of the same element may be of different scales. Directional designations such as "left", "right", "up" and "down" are understood with reference to the respective drawings and may vary with respect to the objects shown in the individual illustrations. Detailed description

[0062] Figure 1a and Figure 2a Show the first or second plug connector 1 respectively. In the example, the plug connectors 1 each relating to an ixIndustrial plug connector respectively have a plug connector housing 10 with a wiring area 13 through which a cable 3 is guided from the outside into the plug connector 1 and is connected within the respective plug connector housing 10 to a plug contact (not shown here) of the plug connector 1. "Connected" means in the context that the individual core wires of the cable 3 are conductively connected to the respective plug contacts of the plug connector 1.

[0063] The wiring area 13 of the first plug connector 1 also has a cable lead-out section 133 which has a braided structure so as to be on the one hand more flexible than the housing 10, but on the other hand to act on the cable 3 guided therethrough as anti-bending protection sufficiently stably.

[0064] Opposite to its wiring area 13, each of the two plug connectors 1 has a mating area 140 for plugging and electrically connecting to the mating contacts of a mating plug connector 4 shown in Figure 3a ...

[0065] Figure 1b and Figure 2b Show a protection device 2 respectively, the protection device being embodied as a first or second protective sleeve 2. As can be readily seen, each of the two protective sleeves 2 has the shape of the outer contour of the respective first or second plug connector 1. Each of the two protective sleeves 2 is made of a flexible, watertight material, such as rubber, and is formed in one piece and substantially in a hose shape. Hose shape means in the context that the protective sleeve 2 is open on both sides and closed circumferentially between the two openings for sealing.

[0066] At its plug-in side end 24, the protective sleeve 2 thus has a plug-in side opening 240. Opposite the plug-in side opening 240, the protective sleeve 2 has a connection side opening which is not visible in the drawing as it is visually blocked by the connection side end section 233 of the protective sleeve 2. Finally, the protective sleeve 2 has an annular cable seal 236 at its connection side end 233, which surrounds the above-mentioned, not shown connection side opening. The annular cable seal 236 is formed by a material thickening of the protective sleeve 2. In the case of a non-circular cable cross-section, a correspondingly adapted cable seal can also be envisaged.

[0067] Figure 1c and Figure 2c shows the first and second plug connectors 1 together with the respectively mounted protective sleeves 2. Preferably, the protective sleeve 2 is mounted by simply slipping it onto the plug connector 1. Here, the plugging area 140 of the respective plug connector 1 passes through and engages with the plug-in side opening 240 of the protective sleeve 2. The annular cable seal 236 seals the cable 3 in a sealed manner.

[0068] Figure 3 illustrates the plug-in side sealing design of the protective sleeve 2.

[0069] Figure 3a In a sectional view, the housing wall 5 of the device housing is shown, into which the mating plug connector 4, which is designed as a circuit board plug connector, is inserted. On the connection side, the mating plug connector 4, which relates to an ix Industrial socket plug connector, is soldered to the circuit board 6, that is to say its mating contact part has a connection area which is conductively connected to the printed conductors of the circuit board 6 and is also mechanically connected to the circuit board 6. Thus, the mating plug connector 4 also relates to a circuit board plug connector.

[0070] In the drawing shown, the second plug connector 1 is exemplary plugged with the mating plug connector 4 without the protective sleeve 2. Obviously, the first plug connector 1 can also be involved in the same way. There is a gap S between the housing wall 5 and the second plug connector 1 shown here by way of example.

[0071] Figure 3b and Figure 3c shows the second plug connector (not explicitly provided with a reference numeral here) together with the protective sleeve 2 slipped onto it. The protective sleeve 2 has sealing moldings in the form of sealing lips 244 on the plug-in side, where the sealing lips 244 shown in Figure 3a are designed relatively narrowly and in Figure 3cThe sealing lip 244 shown in [figure] is designed wide and flat, which improves the sealing effect. The sealing lip 244 on the plugging side fills the above-mentioned gap S in the plugged state and surrounds the mating plugging area of the mating plug connector 4 in this way. In this way, the plugging connection device including the first plug connector 1 and the mating plug connector 4 is sealed outward by the protective sleeve 2.

[0072] Figure 3d As an alternative variant, a sealing molded part in the form of a radial seal is shown, and the radial seal is implemented as a plurality of sealing rings 245 here. In an alternative embodiment specifically disclosed as part of the present invention, it may also relate to a sealing sheet here.

[0073] When plugging the plug connector 1 with the mating plug connector 4, the radial seal 245 seals the plug connector 1 relative to the mating plug connector 4 and / or the housing wall 5 so that the radial seal seals the plugging connection device outward.

[0074] List of reference numerals

[0075] 1 Plug connector

[0076] 10 Plug connector housing

[0077] 13 Wiring area

[0078] 133 Cable lead-out section

[0079] 140 Plugging area

[0080] 2 Protection device / protective sleeve

[0081] 233 Wiring side end / wiring side end section

[0082] 236 Cable seal

[0083] 24 Plugging side end / plugging side end section

[0084] 240 Plugging side opening

[0085] 244 Sealing lip

[0086] 245 Radial seal / sealing ring (multiple sealing rings)

[0087] 3 Cable

[0088] 4 Mating plug connector

[0089] 5 Housing wall

[0090] 6 Circuit board

[0091] S Gap

Claims

1. A protective device (2) for sealing a plug-in connection device, wherein the protective device (2) is integrally formed as a protective sleeve, made of an elastic material and substantially implemented in a hose shape.

2. The protective device (2) according to claim 1, wherein the protective device (2) has two opposite ends (24, 233), namely a plugging side end (24) and a wiring side end (233), and openings are respectively provided at the two ends (24, 233), namely a wiring side opening provided at the wiring side end (233) and a plugging side opening (240) provided at the plugging side end (24).

3. The protective device (2) according to claim 2, wherein the protective device (2) is flipable so as to be sleeved onto the pre-assembled plug connector (1) starting from the plugging side direction in the flipped state and flipped back during this process.

4. The protective device (2) according to claim 3, wherein the plugging side end (24) of the protective device (2) has an outer sealing molding part (244, 245).

5. The protective device (2) according to claim 4, wherein the sealing molding part is implemented as a radially sealing part in the form of one or more surrounding sealing rings (245) or sealing flakes pointing outward.

6. The protective device (2) according to claim 4, wherein the sealing molding part is implemented as a sealing lip (244) protruding in the plugging direction in the form of a surface sealing part.

7. A system having a cable (3), a plug connector (1) and a mating plug connector (4), and the protective device (2) according to any one of the above claims, wherein the protective device (2) encloses the plug connector (1) in a sealed manner.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the cable (3) is connected to the plug connector (1) such that the plug connector (1) is in a pre-assembled state, and the protective device (2) encloses the wiring area (13) of the plug connector (1) in a sealed manner on the connection side, and encloses the cable (3) led out from the plug connector (1) through the wiring area (13) and through the wiring side opening of the protective device (2) in a sealed manner.

9. The system according to any one of claims 7 to 8, wherein the plug connector (1) and the mating plug connector (4) respectively relate to plug connectors mainly designed for signal transmission.

10. The system according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the shape of the protective device (2) corresponds to the outer contour of the plug connector (1) and / or is at least configured to elastically match the outer contour of the plug connector (1) when the protective device is used together with the plug-in connection device.

11. The system according to any one of claims 7 to 10, wherein the protection device (2) exposes the plugging area (140) of the plug connector (1) through the plugging-side opening (240) of the protection device for plugging with the mating plug connector (4), but seals the plug connector (1) at the plugging area (140) of the plug connector in the plugged state towards the mating plug connector (4) by means of the plugging-side end (24) of the protection device.

12. A method for using the protection device (2) according to any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein the protection device (2) is put on the plug connector (1) of the plugging connection device in a state where its inner side is on the outside and its outer side is on the inside and is turned over, whereby the inner side of the protection device (2) is on the surface of the plug connector (1) and the inner side is turned inwards when the protection device (2) is put on the plug connector (1), so that the outer side is turned outwards.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the protection device (2) put on the plug connector (1) sealingly surrounds the wiring area (13) of the plug connector (1) and the cable (3) connected to the plug connector (1) by means of the wiring-side end (233) of the protection device.

14. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 13, wherein the protection device (2) surrounds the plug connector (1) in a form-fitting and force-fitting manner.

15. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein the plug connector (1) is subsequently plugged with the mating plug connector (4) by means of the plugging area (140) of the plug connector extending through the plugging-side opening (240) of the protection device (2), wherein the protection device (2) seals the plug connector (1) relative to the mating plug connector (4) by means of the plugging-side end (24) of the protection device.

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