conductor connection terminal

Abstract

A conductor terminal (1) with an insulating housing (2) having a conductor entry channel (3), a busbar (4) in the insulating housing (2), and a clamping spring (8) having a support leg (9) resting on the busbar (4), a spring arc (10) adjoining the support leg (9), a clamping leg (12) adjoining the spring arc (10) with a clamping edge (17) which together with the busbar (4) forms a clamping point for clamping an electrical conductor, and a pull tab (13) projecting from the clamping leg (12), and with an actuating lever (18) which is pivotably mounted in the insulating housing (2), wherein the actuating lever (18) has a drive lug (21) and is designed to engage the pull tab (13) with the drive lug (21) and to displace the pull tab (13) when the actuating lever is pivoted. (18) is designed to open and close the clamping point, characterized in thatthat the actuating surface (23) of the drive lug (21), which comes into contact with the pull tab (13) when gripped, extends in a concentric section of the drive lug (21) around a center of rotation (D) of the actuating lever (18), wherein the actuating surface (23) extends in a spiral section towards the center of rotation (D) such that the distance of the actuating surface (23) of the drive lug (21) to the center of rotation (D) increases along the length of the drive lug (21) towards the free end of the drive lug (21).

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a conductor connection terminal with an insulating housing which has a conductor entry channel, a busbar in the insulating housing and a clamping spring which has a contact leg supported on the busbar, a spring arch adjoining the contact leg, a clamping leg adjoining the spring arch with a clamping edge which, together with the busbar, forms a clamping point for clamping an electrical conductor, and a pull tab protruding from the clamping leg, and with an actuating lever which is pivotably mounted in the insulating housing, wherein the actuating lever has a driver lug and is designed to grip the pull tab with the driver lug and to displace the pull tab when the actuating lever is pivoted in order to open and close the clamping point.

[0002] Such conductor connection terminals are used, for example, in the form of series terminals, printed circuit board terminals, box terminals or similar, to clamp electrical conductors and to electrically connect them to the busbar and a circuit component that is electrically connected to the busbar.

[0003] In particular, to remove the electrical conductor clamped to the busbar with the clamping edge, the clamping point must be opened by moving the clamping leg. Lever-operated conductor connection terminals with an actuating element pivotably mounted in the insulating housing are known for this purpose.

[0004] DE 10 2011 110 640 A1 discloses such a conductor terminal comprising an insulating housing, a spring clamp connection with a clamping spring and a busbar, and an actuating lever mounted on a lever bearing contour of the insulating housing by means of a pivot bearing. The clamping spring is connected to the actuating lever by an actuating leg extending from the clamping leg toward the actuating lever. For this purpose, a curved end of the actuating leg is suspended in an actuating section located between the rotation axis and the lever arm section protruding from the insulating housing.

[0005] DE 10 2014 114 026 A1 shows a conductor terminal with an insulating housing, a contact insert arranged therein with a contact piece and a clamping spring, and an actuating lever pivotably mounted in the insulating housing for actuating the clamping spring. The actuating lever has a tension arm that engages behind a driver element of the clamping spring. The driver surface of the tension arm extends essentially radially to the bearing pin, whereby the support of the clamping spring on the tension arm remains virtually unchanged during the pivoting movement of the actuating lever.

[0006] DE 10 2017 103 508 B3 discloses a conductor terminal with an actuating lever having an external, convex actuating surface. DE 10 2012 110 895 A1 discloses a terminal with an actuating element having at least two spaced-apart protruding actuating lugs on its outer circumference. DE 20 2016 103 363 U1 discloses a conductor terminal with a damping tab for dampening the movement of the actuating lever. DE 20 2016 100 798 U1 discloses a spring terminal with a guide pin projecting from the plane of the contact section there to a side wall opposite. DE 10 2011 110 640 A1 discloses a conductor terminal with lever actuation, in which a pivot bearing has at least one latching stop. A spring-loaded terminal connection and a conductor connection unit are known from DE 10 2011 011 080 A1.DE 10 2016 118 331 A1 discloses a conductor terminal with a multi-part actuating lever. DE 10 2013 101 409 A1 discloses a conductor terminal with a U-shaped actuating lever.

[0007] Based on this, it is the object of the present invention to provide an improved conductor connection terminal which ensures good and safe lever guidance with improved force effect while having a compact, short design of the conductor connection terminal.

[0008] The object is achieved by the conductor connection terminal having the features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments are described in the subclaims.

[0009] It is proposed that the actuating surface which comes into contact with the pull tab when gripped extends in a concentric section of the driver lug around a center of rotation of the actuating lever. The distance of the actuating surface of the driver lug from the center of rotation increases over the length of the driver lug towards the free end of the driver lug. This means that the actuating surface extends in a spiral section towards the center of rotation. This curved actuating surface, which is aligned towards the center of rotation, ensures that when the actuating lever is pivoted, the section of the pull tab resting on the actuating surface slides along the driver lug and is guided towards the center of rotation when the actuating lever is pivoted from a closed position to an open position to open the clamping point. The center of rotation is predetermined, for example, by a structurally existing or virtual axis of rotation of the actuating lever.

[0010] The pull tab can have an engagement opening for receiving the driver lug. This engagement opening can be delimited by a crossbar with a support lug protruding transversely from the plane of the pull tab and at least one side web. The driver lug of the actuating lever is then designed and aligned such that the actuating surface of the driver lug engages below the support lug when the actuating lever is pivoted into the open position. The support lug then rests on the actuating surface and, together with the crossbar, is displaced toward the rotation axis, so that the distance of the support lug from the rotation axis is reduced from the parked position to the open position of the actuating lever by pivoting the actuating lever.

[0011] The support surface can have a curved, particularly convex, support plane for the driver lug. This has the advantage of reducing friction between the driver lug and the support tab and reducing the risk of jamming of the driver lug when inserting into the engagement opening.

[0012] The support of the driver lug on the pull tab can be located in the area of ​​the alignment line between the center of rotation of the actuating lever and the clamping edge of the clamping leg. The support does not have to be exactly on the alignment line. It can be positioned next to the alignment line within a tolerance range of a few millimeters. This alignment of the support to the alignment line prevents self-locking during the opening and closing process. This kinematics also greatly reduces the deflection of the pull tab perpendicular to the direction of extension of the pull tab of the clamping spring.The reduction in the distance between the center of rotation and the actuating surface of the driver lug during the pivoting movement of the operating lever from the closed position to the furnace position results in a reduction in the effective lever arm between the center of rotation and the driver surface, so that the spring forces that increase with increasing deflection of the clamping spring can be compensated. This means that the actuating forces required by the operator remain essentially constant or increase only slightly during the pivoting movement. With appropriate design of the geometric conditions, the actuating forces can also decrease during the pivoting movement of the operating lever from the closed position to the open position.

[0013] The insulating housing can have a locking contour with a locking recess, and the actuating lever can have a stop edge. When the actuating lever is in the open position, with the clamping point open, the stop edge engages the locking recess and forms a stop that holds the actuating lever in the open position. Thus, in the open position, the actuating lever is pulled into a locking position by the spring force of the clamping spring, which automatically holds the clamping edge in the open position. To close the clamping point, this stop must then be overcome by moving the actuating lever.

[0014] The insulating housing can have a partially circular pivot bearing contour. The center of rotation of the actuating lever is then mounted in the curved pivot bearing contour of the insulating housing, allowing it to rotate when the actuating lever is pivoted from a parked position to the open position. In the open position, the actuating lever is then displaceably mounted in the partially circular pivot bearing contour by the tensile force of the clamping spring. This allows the actuating lever to rotate about an imaginary virtual or structurally existing axis of rotation when pivoting from the closed position to the open position. In the open position, however, a linear displacement radial to the axis of rotation is possible.The tensile force of the clamping spring acting on the actuating lever allows the center of rotation of the actuating lever to be moved radially out of the part-circular pivot bearing contour toward the rotation axis, thereby enabling the stop contour to be shifted into the locking recess. The actuating lever is then held in this locked open position by the tensile force of the clamping spring, which is exerted on the actuating lever via the pull tab.

[0015] For this purpose, the operating lever can have at least one pivot pin that engages a slotted hole in the insulating housing that forms the pivot bearing contour. However, it is also conceivable for the operating lever to have at least one slotted hole into which a pivot pin of the insulating housing that forms the pivot bearing contour engages.

[0016] The actuating lever can also be mounted with its center of rotation floating in the insulating housing, without a structurally predefined, projecting axis of rotation. The partially circular bearing contours can be formed by curved end faces of the actuating lever, which are mounted in correspondingly curved guide surfaces of the insulating housing.

[0017] The operating lever can have a guide wall that is spaced from the drive lug by a gap. A web of the insulating housing is then arranged in this gap between the drive lug and the guide wall. Such a guide wall, which can be designed, for example, as a segment-like circular guide disc on the side of the operating lever, improves bearing stability, particularly to prevent the operating lever from tipping. Furthermore, it increases the clearance and creepage distances between the current-carrying parts of the conductor terminal and the outer surface of the insulating housing in a structurally simple and space-saving manner.

[0018] For the purposes of the present invention, the indefinite article "a" is to be understood as such and not as a numeral. A conductor connection terminal can therefore also have multiple busbars and multiple clamping springs for clamping multiple electrical conductors with more than one actuating lever. Combinations of different conductor connection technologies are also conceivable, for example, the combination of a spring-loaded terminal with a clamping spring in one part of the busbar and an IDC (insulation displacement) connection to another part of the busbar.

[0019] The invention is explained in more detail below using an exemplary embodiment with the accompanying drawings. They show: Fig. 1 - Side sectional view of a conductor terminal with a partial section in the park position; Fig. 2 - Side sectional view of the conductor terminal from Fig. 1 in the open position; Fig. 3 - Top view of a conductor terminal block with several conductor connection terminals arranged side by side without operating levers and with operating levers in different positions; Fig. 4 - Side view of the operating lever.

[0020] Fig. 1 shows a side sectional view of a conductor connection terminal 1 in partial section. The conductor connection terminal 1 has an insulating housing 2 into which a conductor insertion channel 3 is inserted. A busbar 4 is installed in the insulating housing 2. In the illustrated embodiment, the busbar 4 has a material passage with a conductor insertion opening 5, which is delimited by a collar 6. The collar 6 protrudes transversely to the plane of the busbar 4, which spans the busbar in the area of ​​the conductor insertion opening 5. The collar 6 also has a contact surface 7, which, unlike the adjacent collar walls, does not protrude transversely from this plane, but is positioned at an angle to it.

[0021] A clamping spring 8 is suspended in the conductor insertion opening 5. This clamping spring 8 has a contact leg 9, the free end of which dips into the conductor insertion opening 5 and rests on the busbar 4. This free end can have an S-shaped bend to align the position of the clamping spring 8. A spring bend 10 is connected to the contact leg 9. This spring bend 10 can then be guided around a bearing pin 11 of the insulating housing 2, which prevents undesired tilting of the clamping spring 8. A clamping leg 12 is connected to the spring bend 10, the free end of which projects into the conductor insertion opening 5. In the illustrated embodiment, the free end of the clamping leg 12 has a bend 14, so that the free end of the clamping leg 12 does not run approximately parallel to the contact leg 9, but points obliquely away from the direction of extension of the contact leg 9.A pull tab 13 is formed integrally with the clamping leg 12. This is cut free from the clamping leg 12 and, in the area of ​​the bend 14, is bent from the clamping leg 12 in the direction of the contact leg 9. This results in the free end of the clamping leg 12 having a smaller width than the section of the clamping leg 12 adjoining the spring arch 10, since part of the material of the clamping leg 12 is used to form the pull tab 13. This pull tab 13 can be formed from the material on one side edge of the clamping leg 12. However, it is also advantageous if the pull tab 13 is exposed on the two opposite sides of the clamping leg 12 and is thus formed by two webs that are joined at their free end by a transverse web 15.As shown, a support tab 16 can be provided on the crossbar 15, which, as shown, protrudes transversely from the plane of the tension tab 13 and has a curved support plane 22. The crossbar 15 is also bent out of the plane of the tension tab 13 in order to form a U-shaped cross section together with the support tab 16.

[0022] It can be seen that the free end of the clamping leg 12 has a clamping edge 17 which, in the illustrated non-actuated position without an inserted electrical conductor, rests on the contact surface 7. In this position, the clamping point formed by the clamping edge 17 and the contact surface 7 is closed for clamping an electrical conductor. A rigid or sufficiently strong multi-wire electrical conductor can be inserted through the conductor insertion channel 3. It then strikes the free end of the clamping leg 12 and displaces it towards the contact leg 9 so that the electrical conductor is guided between the clamping edge 17 and the contact surface 7 of the collar 6. Such an electrical conductor can thus be inserted and clamped by actuating the clamping spring 8 without first opening the clamping point.

[0023] With a flexible electrical conductor, however, the strands would deform if an attempt were made to insert it directly. Therefore, the terminal point must be opened before clamping such an electrical conductor. An electrical conductor is clamped by the clamping force of the clamping spring 8 via the clamping edge 17, which wedges itself against the electrical conductor. Therefore, an electrical conductor cannot simply be pulled out of the terminal point. To disconnect an electrical conductor, especially a flexible electrical conductor, the clamping spring 8 must be opened.

[0024] For this purpose, the conductor connection terminal 1 has an actuating lever 18 pivotably mounted in the insulating housing 2. The actuating lever 18 has an actuating arm 19 protruding from the insulating housing 2, which merges into a main body 20. The main body 20 carries a driving lug 21 on the side opposite the actuating arm 19. In the closed position shown, the driving lug 21 is not engaged with the pull tab 13. Rather, its free end is spaced from the pull tab 13 and the crossbar 15 of the pull tab 13.

[0025] It is also clear that the actuating lever 18 has a center of rotation D, which in the illustrated embodiment is formed as a pivot pin with a defined axis of rotation. However, a floating mounting of the actuating lever 18 with a moving center of rotation D is also conceivable.

[0026] It can also be seen that the curved support plane of the support tab 16 on the crosspiece 15 lies in the area of ​​alignment between the center of rotation D, in particular the center of a rotation axis, and the clamping edge 17.

[0027] If the actuating lever 18 is now pivoted clockwise around the rotation center D by grasping the actuating arm 19, the free end of the driving lug 21 moves toward the pull tab 13. The driving lug 21 then slides past at least one side web of the pull tab 13 and engages under the support tab 16. This support tab 16 then slides on the curved actuating surface 23, which extends over the length of the driving lug 21 in a concentric section around the rotation center D of the actuating lever 18. It is clear that this curved actuating surface 23 has a spiral shape, in which the distance of the actuating surface 23 of the driving lug 21 to the center of rotation D, in particular to the center of the center of rotation D, increases over the length of the driving lug 21 from the transition of the driving lug 21 to the main body 20 to the free end of the driving lug 21.If the support tab 16 of the pull tab 13 resting on the actuating surface 23 slides on this actuating surface 23 when the actuating lever 18 is pivoted clockwise, then the distance of the support tab 16 to the center of rotation D is reduced by the concentric, spiral-shaped section of the actuating surface 23 with respect to the center of rotation D.

[0028] This is from the Fig. 2, which is the conductor connection terminal 1 from Fig. 1 in the open position. Here, too, the curved support plane 22 of the support lug 16 is in the alignment between the rotation center D and the clamping edge 17. It is clear that the clamping edge 17 is now moved away from the contact surface 7 and thus the clamping point in the outlet of the conductor entry channel 3 is open. The clamping leg 12 is hereby displaced towards the contact leg 9. The spring force of the clamping spring 8, which is pre-tensioned in this state, now exerts a tensile force on the pull lug 13, which acts via the support plane 22 of the support lug 16 on the driver arm 23. The actuating lever 18 is thereby pulled downwards towards the busbar 4. It can be seen that the pivot pin, which forms the rotation center D, is mounted in an elongated hole 24 in the insulating housing 2. The operating lever 18 can then be pulled upwards again.In the open position shown, the actuating lever 18 is locked to the insulating housing 2 by a stop edge 25 of the actuating lever 18 engaging a locking recess 26 of the insulating housing 2. Thus, the actuating lever 18 is locked in the open position, even if the clamping spring 8 exerts a tensile force on the actuating lever 18, causing the actuating lever 18 to move into the parked position. Fig. 1 would spring back. By pulling the actuating lever 18 up in the elongated hole 24, the stop edge 15 can be lifted out of the locking recess 26 in order to then pivot the actuating lever 18 counterclockwise back into the parked position. Alternatively, pivoting the actuating lever counterclockwise when the torque is exceeded, up to which the locking of the stop edge 25 of the actuating lever 18 to the locking recess 26 is maintained, leads to an overpressure of the locking and thus to an upward movement of the actuating lever 18, in which the locking pin of the rotation center D moves upwards in the elongated hole 24.

[0029] Fig. Figure 3 shows a plan view of a conductor terminal block 27 with several conductor connection terminals 1 of the type described above arranged side by side with their sides adjacent to each other. The actuating levers 18 are in different positions. The actuating lever 18 of the lower conductor connection terminal 1 is in a closed position corresponding to the Fig. 1. It can be seen that the actuating lever 18 has a test opening 28 on the lever arm 19, which opens into a test channel 29 leading to the spring arch 10. This allows a test tool to be inserted through the test opening 28 into the test channel 29 in order to measure an electrical potential present on the clamping spring 8.

[0030] This alignment of the test opening 28 with the test channel 29 in the closed position is also evident from the sectional view of the Fig. 1 can be seen.

[0031] When the actuating lever 18 is then pivoted upwards away from the insulating housing 2, the driving lug 21 engages under the support tab 16 of the pull tab 13 when a working position is reached. This working position is reached in the position as sketched from below for the second conductor connection terminal 1.

[0032] In the second conductor terminal 1 from the top, the actuating lever 18 is now shifted from the working position to the open position by the working stroke. It is now clear that the remainder of the driver lug 21, which protrudes beyond the crosspiece 15, extends freely toward the test channel 29 and the conductor entry channel 3.

[0033] It can be seen that the actuating lever 18 has a guide wall 30, which is spaced apart from the driving lug 21 by a gap. It is clear that a web 31 of the insulating housing 2 is arranged in this gap between the guide wall 30 and the driving lug 21. This improves the tilt stability of the position of the actuating lever 18 in the insulating housing 2 and increases the clearance and creepage distances.

[0034] The topmost conductor connection terminal 1 of the terminal block 27 is shown without the installed actuating lever 18. It can be seen that the web 31 protrudes into the space provided for the driver lug 21 and the guide wall 30 in the insulating housing 2.

[0035] Fig. 4 shows a side view of the actuating lever 18. It can be seen that the driving lug 21 extends from the main body 20 in a curved manner, tapering conically towards the free end. It is clear that the driving lug 21, with its actuating surface 23, is aligned transversely to the radius of the rotation center D and thus concentrically to the rotation center D. The actuating surface 23 represents a spiral-shaped distance from the rotation center D, with the distance from the rotation center D decreasing from the free end to the transition into the main body 20.

[0036] It is clear that by partially overlapping the driving lug 21, a partially circular, disc-shaped guide wall 30 protrudes from the main body 20 at a distance from the driving lug 21. There is a gap between the driving lug 21 and the guide wall 30, as shown in Fig. 3 is recognizable.

[0037] It can also be seen that the free end of the driving lug 21 is rounded in order to facilitate threading into the pull tab 13. List of reference symbols 1 conductor connection terminal 2 insulating housings 3 conductor entry channel 4 busbar 5 Conductor insertion opening 6 collars 7 Contact surface 8 clamping spring 9 investment legs 10 spring bows 11 bearing journals 12 clamping legs 13 Pull tab 14 Bend 15 Crossbar 16 support bracket 17 clamping edge 18 operating levers 19 Actuating arm 20 main bodies 21 Driving nose 23 Actuating surface 24 slot 25 Stop edge 26 rest recess 27 conductor terminal block 28 Inspection opening 29 test channel 30 guide wall 31 steps D turning center

Claims

[1] Conductor connection terminal (1) with an insulating housing (2) which has a conductor entry channel (3), a busbar (4) in the insulating housing (2) and a clamping spring (8) which has a contact leg (9) supported on the busbar (4), a spring arch (10) adjoining the contact leg (9), a clamping leg (12) adjoining the spring arch (10) with a clamping edge (17), which together with the busbar (4) forms a clamping point for clamping an electrical conductor, and a pull tab (13) projecting from the clamping leg (12), and with an actuating lever (18) which is pivotably mounted in the insulating housing (2), wherein the actuating lever (18) has a driver lug (21) and is designed to grip the pull tab (13) with the driver lug (21) and to displace the pull tab (13) when pivoting the operating lever (18) is designed to open and close the clamping point, characterized byin that the actuating surface (23) of the driving lug (21), which comes into contact with the pull tab (13) when gripped, extends in a concentric section of the driving lug (21) around a center of rotation (D) of the actuating lever (18), wherein the actuating surface (23) extends in a spiral section to the center of rotation (D) in such a way that the distance of the actuating surface (23) of the driving lug (21) to the center of rotation (D) increases over the length of the driving lug (21) towards the free end of the driving lug (21). [2] Conductor connection terminal (1) according to claim 1, characterized by that the pull tab (13) has an engagement opening for receiving the driver nose (21), wherein the engagement opening is delimited by a transverse web (15) with a support tab (16) projecting transversely from the plane of the pull tab (13) and at least one side web. [3] Conductor connection terminal (1) according to claim 2, characterized bythat the support tab (16) has a curved support plane (22) for the driving nose (21). [4] Conductor connection terminal (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that the support of the driving lug (21) on the pull tab (13) lies in the area of the alignment line between the center of rotation (D) of the actuating lever (18) and the clamping edge (17) of the clamping leg (12). [5] Conductor connection terminal (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by in that the insulating material housing (2) has a locking contour with a locking recess (26) and the actuating lever (18) has a stop edge (25), wherein the stop edge (25) dips into the locking recess (26) in an open position of the actuating lever (18) and forms a stop which holds the actuating lever (18) in the open position. [6] Conductor connection terminal (1) according to claim 5, characterized bythat the insulating material housing (2) has an at least partially circular pivot bearing contour and the rotation center (D) of the actuating lever (18) is rotatably mounted in the curved pivot bearing contour of the insulating material housing (2) when the actuating lever (18) is pivoted between a closed position and the open position and is displaceably mounted in the partially circular pivot bearing contour in the open position by the tensile force of the clamping spring (8). [7] Conductor connection terminal (1) according to claim 6, characterized by that the actuating lever (18) has at least one pivot pin which extends into an elongated hole (24) of the insulating housing (2) forming the pivot bearing contour. [8] Conductor connection terminal (1) according to claim 6, characterized by that the actuating lever (18) has at least one elongated hole into which a pivot pin of the insulating housing (2) forming the pivot bearing contour is inserted. [9] Conductor connection terminal (1) according to one of claims 6 to 8, characterized by that the actuating lever (18) with its center of rotation (D) is mounted floating in the insulating housing (2). [10] Conductor connection terminal (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that the actuating lever (18) has a guide wall (30) which is spaced from the driving nose by an intermediate space, wherein a web (31) of the insulating housing (2) is arranged in the intermediate space in the assembled state.

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