"Connector for a cable connector, especially for a pre-assembled media cable"

Abstract

A connector part (1) comprising a plug part (2) with a plug shaft (3) and a sealing area (4) formed therein, and a connection section (20) adjoining the plug shaft (3) with a heating element (23) attachable thereto for connection to a media line (21) provided with a heating device (22), and a housing (24) enclosing the connection section (20) and connected to the plug part (2), characterized in that a locking part (7) is mounted on the plug shaft (3), wherein the locking part (7) surrounds the plug shaft (3) at its outer circumference, wherein the locking part (7) is radially elastically expandable with respect to a longitudinal axis (XX) of the plug part (2), wherein the locking part (7) has a radially inwardly directed retaining area (14) with respect to the longitudinal axis (XX) which engages in a retaining groove (25).which is at least partially part of the housing (24) on its outer circumference, wherein the retaining groove (25) is arranged at the end of the end of the housing (24) pointing in the plugging direction (Z), and a heated interior of the housing is arranged in the immediate vicinity of the plug shaft (3).

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a plug connection part, comprising a plug part with a plug shaft and a sealing region formed thereon and a connection section adjoining the plug shaft with a heating element attachable thereon for connection to a media line provided with a heating device and a housing enclosing the connection section and connected to the plug part.

[0002] Such a plug connector is known from EP 2 171 337 A2. In this plug connector, the sealing function and the holding function of the connection are divided between the housing and the connector body by a mating coupling part, so that the housing has locking means for locking the connection to the mating coupling part, and the locking means are formed on a housing section surrounding the connection section for locking the connection to the mating coupling part. A sealing ring is arranged in a groove in the front sealing area of ​​the plug shaft, and the locking means consists of a groove in the housing extending behind the sealing area. While such a known plug connector makes it possible to bring the heating element outside the plug shaft up to just before the sealing area, this plug connector is only suitable for connecting relatively small diameter cables to be connected.This is because the housing with the locking groove can no longer absorb the forces that occur with larger pipelines, such as frost pressure, due to the relatively thin wall thickness and the insufficient strength of the housing material. Furthermore, large contact surfaces for the retaining element cannot be realized. Under load changes, there is a risk that the movement of the pipes could damage the housing and cause the connection to loosen.

[0003] DE 20 2011 106 751 U1 discloses a line connector for a heatable media line. In this line connector, heat is coupled into the casing of the media line. For this purpose, the line connector must have sections made of a thermally conductive or heat-conducting material. The larger the diameter of the line to be connected, the larger the dimensions of such a device. This leads to increasing forces on the line connector, which must be designed accordingly. WO 2006 / 018 384 A1 generally describes a plug-in connection for fluid lines. WO 2006 / 018 384 A1 does not describe heating the fluid line. Devices for heating a fluid line are known from DE 10 2007 036 533 A1 and DE 10 2011 102 148 A1.While DE 10 2007 036 533 A1 proposes a large-area thermodynamic contact area with the heating element, DE 10 2011 102 148 A1 describes a heating element integrated into the cable connector. In both cases, the area requirement increases with increasing cable diameter. This, in turn, leads to increasing loads, which in turn leads to a disproportionately large increase in the area required to absorb the resulting forces.

[0004] The present invention is based on the object of improving a cable connector of the type described above in such a way that even with larger diameters, e.g., 8 mm diameter and 1 mm wall thickness, of the cables to be connected, a reliable absorption of the forces occurring is ensured and that the heating element of the plug part can be brought close to the plug shaft having the peripheral seal.

[0005] According to the invention, this is achieved in that a locking part is mounted on the plug part, which surrounds the plug shaft on its outer circumference, wherein the locking part is radially elastically expandable with respect to a longitudinal axis of the plug part during a plugging process, wherein the locking part has a holding region which is directed radially inwards with respect to the longitudinal axis and engages in a holding groove formed on the outer circumference of the housing, which is at least partially a component of the housing on its outer circumference and the holding groove is arranged at the end of the housing pointing in the plugging direction, and a heated interior of the housing is arranged in the immediate vicinity of the plug shaft (3).In this case, it is particularly advantageous if the holding groove is formed from a groove base as well as a holding web and a fixing web, wherein the holding web is located at the front end of the groove base in the insertion direction, and the fixing web is formed at the rear end of the groove base in the insertion direction, wherein the groove base and the fixing web are components of the housing. It can be expedient if the holding web is components of the plug shaft or the housing. Due to the inventive arrangement and design of the holding groove directly at the end of the housing adjacent to the plug shaft, the heating element, which runs on the connection section, can be brought directly up to the plug shaft and thus the heated interior of the housing is in the immediate vicinity of the plug shaft.Furthermore, the invention makes it possible to make the plug shaft axially short, since the locking element is arranged coaxially to the sealing section on the plug shaft on its circumference, so that the locking means themselves do not have to be formed on the plug shaft, which would result in an extension of the plug shaft.

[0006] Further advantageous embodiments are contained in the subclaims and are explained in more detail with reference to the embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings. They show: Fig. 1 a longitudinal section through a plug connection part according to the invention with connected media line, Fig. 2 a perspective view of Fig. 1, but without heating device and heating element, Fig. 3 a longitudinal section through a plug connection part according to the invention with connected media line in an alternative embodiment, Fig. 4 a longitudinal section through a plug connection part according to the invention with connected media line in a further embodiment and Fig. 5 a partial view from Fig. 4, but in a modified design.

[0007] In the various figures of the drawing, identical parts are always identified by the same reference numerals.

[0008] With regard to the following description, it is expressly emphasized that the invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments and not to all or several features of described combinations of features; rather, each individual partial feature of the / each exemplary embodiment can have an inventive significance, even detached from all other partial features described in connection therewith, on its own and also in combination with any features of another exemplary embodiment, as well as independently of the combinations of features and references to the claims.

[0009] A plug connection part 1 according to the invention comprises a plug part 2, see Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, which can be inserted into a socket part (not shown) as a counter-coupling part. The plug part 2 has a plug shaft 3, on which a circumferential seal is preferably arranged in the sealing area 4. This circumferential seal is formed in particular by an annular groove 5 with an annular seal 6 seated therein. The plug part 2 has a locking part 7 on the outer circumference of its plug shaft 3, which is detachably and in particular force-fittingly connected to the plug part 2. The locking part 7 serves to lock the plug part 2 inserted into the socket part.

[0010] The locking part 7 is formed in particular by a holding section 8 which, in cross-section perpendicular to its longitudinal axis XX of the plug part 2, is bent into a C-shape and forms an annular receiving space 9 for the socket part with the plug shaft 3 and which is open in the insertion direction Z of the plug part 2. The C-shaped holding section 8 encloses the plug shaft 3 with a wrap angle that is greater than 180° and less than 360°, wherein the holding section 8 is radially elastically deformable in the radial direction to the longitudinal axis XX, i.e., can be expanded such that the locking part 7 can be pushed onto the plug part 2 and pulled off therefrom. The holding section 8 has at least two, preferably four locking cams 10 on its end pointing in the insertion direction Z, on its inner side facing the receiving space 9.The locking cams 10 run from a front end of the holding section 8 in the insertion direction Z inwards into the receiving space 9 and are conical in shape so that they increase in height radially inwards starting from their front end and form a radially inward-facing holding surface 11 at their inner end, running perpendicular to the longitudinal axis XX. Due to this design, the socket part can engage radially behind the holding section 8 at the end of the insertion process during the insertion of the plug part 2 with an annular collar formed on the end of the socket part. During the insertion process, the locking part 7 is radially expanded due to the conical locking cams 10 and springs back into its holding position after the insertion process has been completed by the socket part engaging behind the holding surface 11, so that an axial fixation of the plug part 2 in the socket part is achieved.

[0011] The locking part 7 has, at its end opposite the plugging direction Z, on the holding section 8, a circumferentially arranged holding region 14 directed radially inward with respect to the longitudinal axis XX, which can be formed in particular from a continuous holding collar or several spaced-apart holding sections. Regarding the design or construction of the locking part 7, reference is made to EP 1 781 979 B1, so that the features of the locking part 7 described in this regard can also be part of the locking part 7, wherein a force-locking connection is considered captive.

[0012] Adjoining the plug shaft 3, opposite the plugging direction Z, is a connection section 20 to which a media line 21 can be connected. The media line 21 is equipped with a heating device 22. The connection section 20 is also provided with a heating element 23, which in particular consists of a spiral heating wire winding wound in the axial direction on the connection section 20. In the illustrated embodiment, the plug connection part 1 is designed as an angle connector, wherein the connection section 20 encloses an angle of, for example, 90°, but any other configuration of the connection section 20 is also possible. Arranged in the area of ​​the connection section 20 is a housing 24 which circumferentially encloses it and which expediently also encloses the media line 21 in its connection area with the connection section 20.The housing 24 is preferably formed from two housing half-shells 26, which can be connected to one another in a form-fitting and / or force-fitting manner, in particular by a latching connection. The heating device 22 and the heating element 23 can be connected to one another and / or to a common power source. A fluid channel 27 runs through the plug shaft 3 and the connection section 20 and is sealingly connected to the media line 21. The housing 24 is expediently connected to the media line 21 via a form-fitting connection, so that the housing 24 is fixed both axially and radially with respect to the media line 21 and the connection section 20.

[0013] To fix the locking part 7 in the axial direction with respect to the plug shaft 3, the holding area 14 engages in a holding groove 25 which is provided on the outer circumference of the housing 24. The holding area 14 is in a first embodiment, see Fig. 1, between a holding web 28 extending radially outwards with respect to the longitudinal axis XX of the plug shaft 3 and a fixing web 29 formed on the circumference of the housing 24 and extending radially outwards with respect to the longitudinal axis XX. The axial distance between the preferably circumferentially extending webs 28, 29 is adapted to the axial width of the holding area 14, so that the locking part 7 is fixed against axial displacement in or counter to the plugging direction Z. The radial distance of the free end of the fixing web 29 from the longitudinal axis XX is greater than the radial distance of the free outer end of the holding web 28, so that when the locking part 7 is spread open during the plugging process, displacement of the holding means 34 counter to the plugging direction Z is prevented. The holding groove 25 has a groove base 30, which preferably lies exclusively in the region of the housing 24. The groove base 30 runs perpendicular to the fixing web 29.Due to the above arrangement and design of the holding groove 25 directly at the end of the housing 24 adjacent to the plug shaft 3, the heating element 23 of the connection section 20 can be guided directly to the plug shaft 3, and thus the heated interior of the housing 24, up to the locking part 7 or below the locking part 7. In addition, the plug shaft 3 can be made axially very short, since the holding section 8 for the mechanical connection between the plug connection part 1 and the mating coupling part, the sleeve part, is displaced radially outwards with respect to the sealing area 4. In addition, the holding forces that occur, i.e. axial tensile forces, are absorbed by the holding web 28 on the plug shaft 3. This design also promotes heat transfer to the mating coupling part.

[0014] It may be advantageous, as in the Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, a circumferentially formed retaining means 31 extending radially inward relative to the longitudinal axis XX is provided at the end of the groove base 30 pointing in the plugging direction Z, which retaining means 31 projects into an annular groove 32 between the retaining web 28 and a retaining collar 38 on the plug shaft 3 in the connection section 20 in the region below the groove base 30. The retaining means 31 expediently consists of a circumferentially extending annular web. This creates a positive connection in the axial direction between the housing 24 and the plug part 2.

[0015] In Fig. 3 shows an embodiment in which the holding means 31 has been omitted, but which is otherwise identical to that of the Fig. 1 matches.

[0016] In Fig. 4 shows a further embodiment. In contrast to the Fig. 1 and Fig. 3, both the fixing web 29 and the holding web 28 are formed on the housing 24. In this embodiment, the annular groove 32 for receiving the holding means 31 is displaced axially in the plugging direction Z into the receiving space 9 present between the locking part 7 and the plug shaft 3, wherein the holding means 31 is formed radially below the holding web 28 on the housing 24. In this embodiment, the heated interior of the housing 24 extends below the locking part 7, and the unheated plug shaft 3 is shorter than in the embodiments of Fig. 1 and Fig. 3. The axial force transmission from the housing 24 and the locking part 7 on the one hand and to the plug shaft 3 on the other hand takes place via the holding means 31. The locking part 7 also serves as a closure element for the housing 24, since it encloses it. This function is also used in the embodiment according to Fig. 1 exercised.

[0017] Furthermore, it may be useful if the Fig. 1, Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, as in Fig. 5, in the holding web 28 and optionally in the holding means 31, axial openings 35 are provided between the receiving space 9 and the housing interior 37, which also run through the holding collar 38, so that an exchange of air can take place between these two spaces, whereby an improvement in the heating effect in the area of ​​the plug shaft 3 can be achieved.

[0018] The plug-in connector part 1 according to the invention creates the possibility of achieving effective heating even in the area of ​​the unheated connector shaft 3 in heated connectors for media lines with higher requirements, e.g., regarding pressure and assembly, and with larger diameters. This is intended to ensure reliable power transmission between the plug-in connector part 1 according to the invention and a matching mating coupling part.

[0019] The invention is not limited to the illustrated and described embodiments, but also encompasses all equivalent embodiments within the meaning of the invention. It is expressly emphasized that the embodiments are not limited to all features in combination; rather, each individual partial feature can also have an inventive significance in isolation from all other partial features. Furthermore, the invention is not yet limited to the combination of features defined in the respective independent claim, but can also be defined by any other combination of specific features of all individual features disclosed as a whole. This means that, in principle, practically every individual feature of the respective independent claim can be omitted or replaced by at least one individual feature disclosed elsewhere in the application.In this respect, the claims are to be understood merely as a first attempt at formulating an invention. List of reference symbols: 1 plug-in connector 2 plug part 3 Plug shaft 4 Sealing area 5 ring groove 6 ring seal 7 Locking part 8 holding section 9 Recording room 10 locking cams 11 Holding surface 14 Holding area 20 connection section 21 Media Management 22 Heating device 23 Heating element 24 housings 25 retaining groove 26 housing half shells 27 Fluid channel 28 Holding bridge 29 Fixing bar 30 groove base 31 Holding devices 32 ring groove 34 holding devices 37 Housing interior 38 retaining collar XX Longitudinal axis Z Plug-in direction

Claims

[1] Plug connection part (1), comprising a plug part (2) with a plug shaft (3) and a sealing area (4) formed by the latter and a connection section (20) adjoining the plug shaft (3) with a heating element (23) attachable thereon for connection to a media line (21) provided with a heating device (22) and a housing (24) enclosing the connection section (20) and connected to the plug part (2), characterized byin that a locking part (7) is mounted on the plug shaft (3), wherein the locking part (7) surrounds the plug shaft (3) on its outer circumference, wherein the locking part (7) is radially elastically expandable with respect to a longitudinal axis (XX) of the plug part (2), wherein the locking part (7) has a radially inwardly directed holding region (14) with respect to the longitudinal axis (XX), which engages in a holding groove (25) which is at least partially a component of the housing (24) on its outer circumference, wherein the holding groove (25) is arranged at the end of the end of the housing (24) pointing in the plugging direction (Z), and a heated interior of the housing is arranged in the immediate vicinity of the plug shaft (3). [2] Plug connection part (1) according to claim 1, characterized by that the sealing area (4) has a peripheral seal consisting of an annular seal (6) which is arranged in an annular groove (5). [3] Plug connection part (1) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by that the locking part (7) is formed by a holding section (8) which is bent in a C-shape in cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal axis (XX) of the plug part (2), which holding section forms an annular receiving space (9) with the plug shaft (3) for a counter-coupling part to be connected, and which is open in the insertion direction (Z) of the plug part (2). [4] Plug connection part (1) according to claim 3, characterized by that the C-shaped holding section (8) surrounds the plug shaft (3) with a wrap angle greater than 180 ° and less than 360 °, wherein the holding section (8) is radially elastically deformable in the radial direction to the longitudinal axis (XX), so that the locking part (7) can be pushed radially onto the plug part (2) and pulled off therefrom. [5] Plug connection part (1) according to claim 3 or 4, characterized bythat the holding section (8) has at its end pointing in the plug-in direction (Z) on its inside facing the receiving space (9) at least two, preferably four locking cams (10) which run from a front end of the holding section (8) in the plug-in direction (Z) inwards into the receiving space (9) and are conically designed so that they increase in height starting from their front end radially inwards and form at their end a radially inwards directed holding surface (11) running perpendicular to the longitudinal axis (XX). [6] Plug connection part (1) according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized bythat the holding groove (25) is formed from a groove base (30) as well as a holding web (28) and a fixing web (29), wherein the holding web (28) is located at the front end of the groove base (30) in the insertion direction (Z), and the fixing web (29) is formed at the rear end of the groove base (30) in the insertion direction (Z), wherein the groove base (30) and the fixing web (29) are components of the housing (24). [7] Plug connection part (1) according to claim 6, characterized by that the retaining web (28) is part of the housing (24). [8] Plug connection part (1) according to claim 6, characterized by that the retaining web (28) is part of the plug part (2). [9] Plug connection part (1) according to one of claims 6 to 8, characterized bythat at the end of the groove base (30) pointing in the plug-in direction (Z), a circumferentially formed holding means (31) is provided which extends radially inwards with respect to the longitudinal axis (XX) and projects into an annular groove (32) in the connection section (20) in the region below the groove base (30). [10] Plug connection part (1) according to claim 9, characterized by that the annular groove (32) for receiving the holding means (31) is displaced axially in the plug-in direction (Z) into the receiving space (9) present between the locking part (7) and the plug shaft (3), wherein the holding means (31) is formed in the radial direction below the holding web (28) on the housing (24). [11] Plug connection part (1) according to one of claims 9 to 10, characterized bythat axial openings (35) are provided in the holding web (28) and the holding means (31) as well as a holding collar (38) between the receiving space (9) and the housing interior (37), so that an exchange of air can take place between these two spaces. [12] Plug connection part (1) according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized by that the housing (24) is formed from two housing half-shells (26) which are connected to one another in a form-fitting and / or force-fitting manner, in particular in a locking manner. [13] Plug connection part (1) according to one of claims 1 to 12, characterized by that the housing (24) can be connected to the media line (21) via a positive connection.

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