Multi-pin electrical connector assembly with a first and a second connector part

Abstract

Multi-pin electrical connector arrangement with a first connector part (1) having a plurality of connector pins (3), and with a second connector part (2) which has plug sleeves (4) for contacting the connector pins (3), and with a collective seal (8) on at least one connector part (1, 2), which has recesses (16) through which electrical lines are passed in a moisture-tight manner, wherein the first connector part (1) has a spring (5) parallel to each connector pin (3) for generating a contact force between a connector pin (3) and a plug-in sleeve (4), which spring (5) rests on an outer surface of a plug-in sleeve (4) connected to a connector pin (3) after the first and second connector parts (1, 2) have been joined together, characterized by that the first connector part (1) has a housing (10) which holds connector pins (3) and springs (5) arranged next to the connector pins (3), wherein the connector pins (3) and the springs (5) have the same direction of extension, and that the springs (5) are made of an electrically non-conductive material.

Description

The invention relates to a multipolar electrical plug connector arrangement having a first plug connector part which has a plurality of plug pins, and having a second plug connector part which has plug sleeves for contacting the plug pins, and having a collective seal on at least one plug connector part which has recesses through which electrical lines are passed in a moisture-proof manner, wherein the first plug connector part has, parallel to plug pins, in each case a spring for generating a contact force between a plug pin and a plug sleeve, which spring, after the first and the second plug connector part have been joined together, in each case bears against an outer surface of a plug sleeve connected to a plug pin.Such a connector arrangement, but in a single-pole embodiment, is known from the document U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,817 A. Described therein is an electrical connection formed by a pair of connectors which are interlocked such that the contact resistance between the two is extremely low. The one connector is attached to a wire and has a hollow sleeve surrounded by a flange. The other connector is disposed in a socket and includes a pin sized to fit within a sleeve and a plurality of resilient contact fingers disposed about and in electrical contact with the pin. When the first connector is inserted into the socket, the sleeve passes over the pin and between the fingers such that the pin abuts the inner surface of the sleeve while the fingers abut the outer surface of the sleeve. The socket includes a locking clip that engages the flange of the sleeve and prevents extraction of the first plug from the socket.In the connector arrangement described in European patent application EP 1 521 335 A2, a receiving chamber for receiving a short-circuit terminal for short-circuiting plug connections is provided in a plug housing. A receiving hole communicating with the receiving chamber and allowing the short-circuit terminal to enter the receiving chamber is formed in a side surface of the connector housing extending along a connecting direction. The accommodation chamber is provided with first and second engaging portions for holding a base plate of the short-circuiting terminal while being positioned at its front and rear positions with respect to the connecting direction.The German laid-open specification DE 101 10 090 A1 describes a connection terminal provided with an arc contact projecting forwardly and integrally formed on a side of a contact projection of a male terminal. The arc contact comes into contact with the side surface of a side wall of a female terminal body before the contact protrusion of the male terminal comes into contact with a contact spring of the female terminal when the male terminal is connected to the female terminal.A multipolar electrical plug connector arrangement which has plug pins and plug sleeves as contact elements is known from the German laid-open specification DE 10 2005 040 970 A1. One of the plug connector parts has plug pins, while the other plug connector part holds the associated sockets. Each plug sleeve is connected to an electrical line which is passed through a recess in a collective seal.In order to produce highly conductive electrical connections between the contact elements of the plug connector parts of a plug connector arrangement, it is known to provide at least one spring on the plug sleeve for generating a contact force. Thus, German patent specification DE 10 2004 052 378 B4 discloses a plug sleeve which, for generating the contact force, has four spring arms which are aligned so as to converge in the interior of the plug sleeve and are supported against one another under prestress.The molding or attachment of a spring to a plug-in sleeve is disadvantageous. If the plug sleeve is folded, for example, from a stamped sheet metal part, the molding of a spring requires a much more complicated folding, which leads to increased production costs. In addition, the plug sleeve is usually significantly larger by the spring, in particular in the direction perpendicular to the plug-in direction.The latter is particularly disadvantageous if, as is customary for some applications, the plug sleeve is initially prefabricated on a cable harness and is only subsequently mounted as part of a plug connector part and if the plug connector part has a collective seal, as is shown in FIG. 3 of DE 10 2005 040 970 A1. Since in this case the plug sleeves must be passed through the recesses of the collective seal, the recesses, the diameter of which is designed for the relatively small cross section of electrical lines, are greatly stretched. This strong mechanical load can tear the collecting seal consisting of a flexible material. Even due to a small damage to a single one of its many recesses, the collecting seal is leaky and thus defective. As a result, the risk that the plug connector arrangement will become defective during assembly is relatively high.It is an object of the invention to provide a plug connector arrangement which is particularly simple and cost-effective to produce and which produces high-quality electrical connections and does not have the aforementioned disadvantages or only to a lesser extent.This object is achieved according to the invention in that the first plug connector part has a housing which holds plug pins and springs arranged next to the plug pins, wherein the plug pins and the springs have the same direction of extension, and in that the springs consist of an electrically non-conductive material.In the plug connector arrangement according to the invention, springs made of an electrically non-conductive material are thus provided, which generate a contact force at the contact points between the plug sleeves and the plug pins, respectively. However, the springs are not arranged on the side of the sockets but on the side of the plug pins. This makes it possible to provide particularly small-sized and simply shaped sockets. Due to their simple construction, they can be produced simply and quickly and thus in large numbers at low cost.The particularly small cross section of the plug sleeve simplifies the passage through a collecting seal, since the recesses of a collecting seal, which preferably consists of a silicone material, no longer have to be stretched so much when plug sleeves are passed through that there is the risk of cracking. The recesses can also be made so narrow that the compressive deformation of the collective seal by housing parts of the plug connector parts is sufficient to enclose the electrical lines connected to them in a moisture-tight manner after the plug sleeves have been passed through.Further advantageous embodiments and developments of the invention are evident from the features mentioned in the claims and from the following description of an exemplary embodiment with reference to the drawing. They show FIG. 1 shows a first plug connector part, FIG. 2 shows a first view of a plug sleeve, FIG. 3 shows a second view of the plug sleeve, FIG. 4 shows a collecting seal, FIG. 5 shows the plug sleeve and a plug pin before the assembly, FIG. 6 shows the plug sleeve and the plug pin after the joining process, FIG. 7 shows the first and a second plug connector part at the beginning of the joining process, and FIG. 8 shows the first and the second plug connector part after the joining process, FIG. 9 shows an embodiment of a plug pin and a spring.FIG. 1 shows a first plug connector part 1, which is designed as a plug strip. Within a housing 10, two rows 14, 15 of plug pins 3, each designed as a flat plug, are arranged. For each plug pin 3 of the lower pin row 14, a respective spring 5 in the form of a leaf spring is recognizable, which is arranged substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the respective plug pin 3. The plug pins 3 arranged in the upper pin row 15 likewise have springs arranged in parallel, which are located above the pin row 15.The plug pins 3 of the first plug connector part 1 are each contacted by a plug sleeve 4, which is shown as an individual part in FIG. 2. A plurality of these sockets 4 are arranged in a socket housing 20, which can be seen in sections in a sectional view in FIGS. 7 and 8. The socket housing 20 together with the sockets 4 fastened therein forms a second plug connector part 2 which can be connected to the first plug connector part 1 shown in FIG. 1.The socket 4 depicted in FIG. 2 is formed as a single piece as a stamped bent part and forms in its front region a contact box 6 which is folded rectangular or preferably square, or in an alternative embodiment which is not shown also round. The contact box 6 has on an outer surface a resiliently designed latching lance 9, which enables the latching of the plug sleeve 4 in the plug sleeve housing 20. The plug sleeve 4 furthermore has a fastening section 12 and a crimping section 11 for fastening and electrically connecting a single-core electrical line, not shown here.A second view of the plug sleeve 4 is shown in FIG. 3. Additionally, a raised contact dome 7 inside the contact box 6 can be seen here. As the views of FIGS. 7 and 8 show, the contact dome 7 consists of a folded and rounded-off shaped section of the integrally formed plug sleeve 4.Dispensing with a spring on the socket 4 and in particular within the contact box 6 makes it possible to make the contact box 6 relatively slender, and thus to form the socket 4 continuously with a comparatively small-dimensioned cross section from the opening of the contact box 6 as far as the crimping section 11. As a result, the mechanical load of a collective seal 8, as is shown as an individual part in FIG. 4, can be kept low if the plug sleeve 4 is guided through one of the recesses 16 of the collective seal 8.The collecting seal 8 consists of an elastic material, preferably of a silicone material, and has the function of protecting the second plug connector part 2, which is only partially illustrated in each of FIGS. 7 and 8 in a sectional view, from the penetration of moisture and dust. Single-core electrical lines connected to the plug sleeves 4 are enclosed for this purpose in a moisture- and dust-tight manner by the recesses 16 of the collecting seal 8.As already mentioned, a plug connector arrangement with a particularly compact plug sleeve 4 is created in that the plug sleeve 4 does not have a spring for producing a contact force between the plug sleeve 4 and a plug pin 3. In order nevertheless to achieve a high-quality electrical connection between the plug connector parts 1, 2, springs 5 are provided next to the plug pins 3 in order to provide contact forces on the first plug connector part 1.FIGS. 5 and 6 each show a socket 4 and a plug pin 3 with a spring 5, specifically in FIG. 5 before and in FIG. 6 after the first and second plug connector parts 1, 2 have been joined together. A representation of further parallel plug-in connection elements and housing parts has been omitted in these figures for the sake of a particularly illustrative representation.As FIG. 5 shows, the plug pin 3 projects beyond the spring 5 arranged substantially parallel thereto, so that during the joining process the plug pin 3 first reaches the contact box 6 of the plug sleeve 4. Since the insertion of the plug pin 3 into the contact box 6 takes place without the coaction of the spring 5, the plug pin 3 can be inserted into the contact box 6 of the plug sleeve 4 practically without force. This is particularly advantageous in the case of a multipolar plug connector arrangement, since only the last part of the joining process requires a force exertion.FIG. 6 shows the arrangement consisting of plug pin 3, spring 5 and socket 4 after completion of the joining process. The spring 5 rests on the upper side of the contact box 6 and presses the inner side of the contact box 6 against the plug pin 3.Further details of the joining process can be seen from FIGS. 7 and 8. These figures show a sectional view through the first and second plug connector parts 1, 2 at the beginning and at the end of the joining process. In the housing 10 of the first plug connector part 1, two rows 14, 15 of plug pins 3 are fastened by an injection molding or by a latching connection, of which two plug pins 3 lying one above the other can be seen here. Springs 5 can be seen above and below the plug pins 3, which are aligned substantially parallel to the plug pins 3. The totality of the plug pins 3 and springs 5 thus forms an arrangement which is mirror-symmetrical with respect to the central plane of the first plug connector part 1 and thus particularly saves space.The springs 5 each form a bent portion 19 at their free end portions in the direction of a plug pin 3 and also have a bent portion 21 pointing away from the plug pin 3. At the beginning of the joining process, shown in FIG. 7, a bend 21 meets a wedge-shaped run-on profile 17 on a plug sleeve 4, which is fastened in the housing 20 of the second plug connector part 2, or, as shown here, on a housing part. As a result, the respective spring 5 is pressed away from the associated plug pin 3 and at the same time tensioned.At the end of the joining process, which is illustrated in FIG. 8, the offset of the spring 5 presses against an outer surface of the plug sleeve 4, which, as can be seen from FIG. 6, belongs to the contact box 6, and thus presses the contact dome 7 lying in the interior of the plug sleeve 4 against the plug pin 3.Most of the joining process takes place almost without force, since the action of the spring 5 only begins when the spring 5 strikes the run-on profile 17. This means that the joining process requires only a short, but high force exertion for this purpose. If, for example in the case of a plug connector arrangement with a very large number of poles, there is a need for a flatter force-displacement characteristic, then, in contrast to the embodiment shown here, provision can be made for a plurality of pin rows with the respectively associated springs to be arranged offset axially with respect to one another, such that the springs of different pin rows strike the contact profiles of the associated sockets in chronological succession.According to the illustration in FIG. 9, the spring 5 can be mechanically connected to the associated plug pin 3, for example via a rivet connection 18. The embodiment allows flexible selection of the materials for the plug pin 3 and the spring 5.List of reference characters1 first plug connector part 2 second plug connector part 3 plug pin(s) 4 plug sleeve(s) 5 spring(s) 6 contact box 7 contact dome 8 collective seal 9 latching lance 10 housing (of the first plug connector part 1) 11 crimping section 12 fastening section 13 contact section 14 lower pin row 15 upper pin row 16 recesses 17 run-on profile 18 rivet connection 19 offset 20 plug sleeve housing (housing of the second plug connector part 2) 21 offset

Claims

Multipolar electrical plug connector arrangement having a first plug connector part (1) which has a plurality of plug pins (3), and having a second plug connector part (2) which has plug sleeves (4) for contacting the plug pins (3), and having a collective seal (8) on at least one plug connector part (1, 2) which has recesses (16) through which electrical lines are passed in a moisture-proof manner, wherein the first plug connector part (1) has, parallel to plug pins (3), in each case a spring (5) for generating a contact force between a plug pin (3) and a plug sleeve (4), which spring, after the first and the second plug connector part (1, 2) have been joined together, in each case bears against an outer surface of a plug sleeve (4) connected to a plug pin (3), characterized in that the first plug connector part (1) has a housing (10) which has plug pins (3), and springs (5) arranged next to the plug pins (3), wherein the plug pins (3) and the springs (5) have the same direction of extension, and that the springs (5) consist of an electrically non-conductive material.Plug connector arrangement according to Claim 1, characterized in that the spring (5) is designed as a leaf spring.Plug connector arrangement according to Claim 1, characterized in that the spring (5) exerts a force on the outer surface of the plug sleeve (4) perpendicularly to the plug-in direction only at the end or shortly before the end of the joining path.Plug connector arrangement according to Claim 1, characterized in that the plug pins (3) are arranged in at least one row (14, 15).Plug connector arrangement according to Claim 4, characterized in that the first plug connector part (1) has mutually parallel rows (14, 15) of plug pins (3), with rows of springs (5) being arranged parallel to said rows.Plug connector arrangement according to Claim 5, characterized in that the rows of plug pins (3) and spring (5) form a mirror-symmetrical arrangement.Plug connector arrangement according to Claim 5, characterized in that different rows (14, 15) of plug pins (3) and spring (5) are arranged offset with respect to one another in the plug-in direction.Plug connector arrangement according to Claim 1, characterized in that in each case a plug pin (3) and a spring (5) are mechanically connected to one another.Plug connector arrangement according to Claim 8, characterized in that a contact dome is formed on the plug pin (3).Plug connector arrangement according to Claim 1, characterized in that the spring (5) is designed in one piece with the housing (10) of the first plug connector part (1)

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