Spring-cage terminal and conductor connection terminal

Abstract

The invention relates to a spring-loaded terminal connection (1) with a busbar (3) and a clamping spring (4) having a clamping leg (6) with a clamping edge for clamping an electrical conductor (15) to the busbar (3), a contact leg (5), and a spring arch (7) connecting the contact leg (5) to the clamping leg (6). The spring-loaded terminal connection (1) has a hold-open element (2) with a spring-elastic latching arm (12), wherein the latching arm (12) has a latching contour which, in a hold-open position in which the clamping leg (6) is deflected against the spring force towards the contact leg (5), forms a stop for the clamping leg (6). Furthermore, there is a release element (17) with a release section (19).The trigger element (17) is designed to be deflected by an electrical conductor (15) which is inserted for clamping onto the busbar (3) and strikes the trigger section (19), and thereby to cause a displacement of the elastically springy latching arm (12) transversely to the spring force exerted by the clamping leg (6) on the latching arm (12) in the latched open position and to unlock the clamping leg (6) which is latched to the latching contour in the open position.

Description

The invention relates to a spring force clamping connection having a busbar and a clamping spring. The clamping spring has a clamping leg with a clamping edge for clamping an electrical conductor to the busbar, a contact leg and a spring bend. The spring arch connects the contact leg to the clamping leg.The invention further relates to a conductor connection terminal having an insulating material housing and a spring force terminal connection in the insulating material housing. The insulating housing has a conductor insertion opening for inserting an electric conductor to a terminal formed between a bus bar clamping portion of the bus bar and the clamping edge of the clamping leg to clamp the inserted electric conductor between the bus bar clamping portion and the terminal.Spring force clamping connections serve for clamping an electrical conductor to a clamping point which is formed between the clamping limb of a clamping spring and a busbar. For clamping the electrical conductor, the clamping spring is pressed away from the busbar by the electrical conductor against the force of the clamping spring during the direct plug connection. This is possible for rigid conductors, but not for multi-wire conductors or stranded conductors.There is a need for clamping electrical conductors to provide a spring force clamping terminal in a self-holding manner in an open position. It is often desired that the conductor connection terminals are delivered at the factory with the spring force clamping terminal open.EP 2 768 079 B1 discloses a spring force clamp designed as a direct plug-in clamp for connecting an electrical conductor, which has a busbar for contacting an electrical conductor and a clamping spring acting as a compression spring for fixing the electrical conductor in the spring force clamp. The clamping spring has a clamping leg which can be pivoted about a pivot axis in a pivot direction and which can be adjusted from a latching state, in which it is latched on a holding means, by displacement of the electrical conductor into a clamping state, in which it is unlatched from the holding means and presses the electrical conductor against the busbar. The spring force clamp also comprises a restoring means for pivoting the clamping leg back, with which the clamping leg can be pivoted back from the clamping state into the latching state by displacing the restoring means counter to the pivoting direction.EP 3 469 659 B1 describes a spring force clamp for connecting an electrical conductor to a housing, a busbar for contacting the electrical conductor, and a clamping spring having a clamping leg which can be transferred between a release position for inserting the electrical conductor into the housing and a clamping position for clamping the electrical conductor in contact with the busbar. A release and holding spring is provided with a release section for transferring the clamping leg from the release position into the clamping position and with a holding section for holding the clamping leg in the release position. A latching device is provided with a first latching element on the holding section of the release and holding spring and with a second latching element on the clamping spring, wherein the clamping leg is arranged in the release position in the latched state of the first and second latching elements and in the unlatched state of the first and second latching elements in the clamping position. The second latching element is provided on a rear side of the clamping leg of the clamping spring facing away from the receptacle for the electrical conductor, wherein the second latching element has at least one latching wing which projects from a longitudinal edge of the clamping leg of the clamping spring. The first latching element has at least one latching nose on the holding section of the release and holding spring, which latching nose is arranged in the release position on the rear side of the clamping limb facing away from the receptacle for the electrical conductor. The holding section of the release and holding spring is plate-shaped. The at least one latching nose is formed by a narrow region of the plate-shaped holding section of the release and holding spring.Proceeding from this, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved spring force clamping connection and a conductor connection terminal having such a spring force clamping connection.The object is achieved with the spring force terminal having the features of claim 1 and the conductor terminal having the features of claim 14. Advantageous embodiments are described in the dependent claims.It is proposed that the spring force clamping connection has an hold-open element with a spring-elastic latching arm. The latching arm has a latching contour which, in a holding open position in which the clamping limb is deflected towards the contact limb counter to the spring force, forms a stop for the clamping limb. The spring force clamping connection has a triggering element with a triggering section, wherein the triggering element is designed to be deflected by an electrical conductor which is inserted on the busbar for clamping and strikes the triggering section, and thereby to bring about a displacement of the elastically resilient latching arm transversely with respect to the spring force exerted by the clamping limb on the latching arm in the latched hold-open position, and to unlatch the clamping limb which is latched on the latching contour in the hold-open position.By "transversely to the spring force" is meant that the latching arm is laterally displaced in the width direction of the clamping leg.This results in a lateral latching on the latching arm with self-locking. The self-retaining can be realized, for example, with a groove stop between the latching arm and the clamping leg or with a groove stop between the latching arm and the triggering element. Further variants are optionally conceivable. The unlocking can be effected by means of a release rocker for the lateral deflection of the locking arm.The self-retention advantageously reduces the risk of self-dissolution. The unlocking can take place by active or passive lateral displacement of the locking arm transversely to the locking forces between the clamping leg and the locking arm. This disengagement transverse to the latching forces, caused by the lateral latching, significantly reduces disengagement forces. The lateral space can be used for the latching movement.The unlocking movement thus takes place transversely to the direction of extension of the clamping leg, while the locking by the stop acts in the spring force direction. In this case, self-retention can be provided, for example, by a groove stop for reducing the laterally acting holding force or the lateral holding forces can be absorbed by an additional stop on the release element. This reduces the risk of self-disengaging.The latching contour can be designed as a retaining groove on the latching arm for receiving a retaining section of the clamping leg in the hold-open position. This allows self-retention by a groove stop in the spring force direction. The disengagement of the latching arms then takes place transversely thereto.The holding section of the clamping leg, which forms a form fit with a stop wall delimiting the holding groove of the latching arm in the open holding position, can be the free end of the clamping leg or a holding tab protruding laterally from the clamping leg.The latching contour of the latching arm can be a retaining tab which projects from the latching arm and forms a stop for the clamping limb in the hold-open position. The release portion of the release element may have a stop wall which forms a stop for the latching arm in the hold-open position and prevents lateral displacement of the latching arm. The triggering element is designed to displace the stop wall away from the latching arm for disengaging the latching arm. This allows an additional latching of the latching arm on the triggering element to be provided.The latching arm can be movable resiliently away from the side edge edge of the clamping leg in the width direction of the clamping leg. The lateral space can thus be used for the latching movement. This made possible other structural designs, in particular a more compact design outside the actuating and conductor insertion region.A lateral deflection for unlocking transversely to the spring force direction can thus be combined with a positive locking in the spring force direction, i.e. transversely to the lateral deflection of the locking arm.The trigger element may be integrally formed with the hold-open element.However, it is also conceivable for the release element to be a separate release part interacting with the hold-open element. This multi-part embodiment has the disadvantage that several stamped and bent parts have to be manufactured and assembled. However, this may be useful, for example for manufacturing reasons, for more stable fastening and for realizing other kinematics and desired lever forces.The release element can be designed as a one-piece cage with the latching arms. However, a two-part variant is also conceivable, in which the latching arms are formed on a first hold-open element and the socket acted upon by the conductor together with the latching elements for the latching arms are formed on a second part, i.e. the release part.In the one-piece embodiment of the at least one latching arm and the release section as an integrally formed part, only one stamped and bent part is required for latching and de-latching.The hold-open element can, however, also be multi-part. The release section is then realized by a further release part in addition to the separate at least one latching arm.The release section can form a support surface behind the latching contour of the latching arm in the conductor insertion direction for the free end of an inserted conductor to be clamped. This forms a socket for actuation by the inserted conductor, which socket is positioned in the insertion space in alignment with the conductor insertion direction of the electrical conductor to be clamped or a conductor insertion channel structurally present therefor.The hold-open member may have a fixing portion fixed to the bus bar. The spring-elastic latching arm can extend from the fastening section at a distance from the busbar parallel to the plane of the busbar spanned there.The feature "extends at a distance from the busbar parallel to the plane of the busbar spanned there" is to be understood here in the sense of quasi-parallel. Exact parallelism is not important. The direction of extension can be from the contact limb in the direction of movement of the free end of the clamping limb (for example with its clamping edge) from the open position into the clamping position or opposite thereto.The busbar can have a conductor feedthrough opening and the clamping spring can project with the clamping leg and the contact leg into the conductor feedthrough opening. The hold-open member has a fixing portion fixed to the conductor through hole. The spring-elastic latching arm extends from the fastening section at a distance from the busbar parallel to the plane spanned by the conductor feedthrough opening.The conductor feedthrough opening can have a collar which extends away from the plane of the busbar spanned by the conductor feedthrough opening in a conductor insertion direction and partially or completely delimits the conductor feedthrough opening and has two collar longitudinal walls which are spaced apart from one another and are opposite one another. The fastening section of the hold-open element can have two flank walls spaced apart from one another, which are connected to one another via a front-side root region and bear against the collar longitudinal walls, wherein the flank walls are fixed to the collar in a force-fitting manner by a spring force applied by the root region.The hold-open element can have two elastically resilient latching arms which are spaced apart from one another and are movable away from one another in opposite directions for unlocking.The hold-open element can have two mutually opposite side walls, an end wall connecting the side walls to one another and the release element projecting from the end wall. The side walls can have the elastically resilient latching arms. The release element projecting from the end wall has a base plate at a distance from the latching arms in a plane spanned transversely to the side walls and transversely to the end wall, wherein a latching section extends from the base plate to the free end of the elastically resilient latching arms and the latching section has retaining grooves for latchingly receiving in each case an edge region of the respectively adjacent latching arm.Thus, for example, a U-shaped bent release element with retaining grooves can be provided, wherein the retaining grooves have pockets which are open towards the top and form a stop for the laterally outwardly resilient latching arms.The hold-open element can have two latching arms which are arranged at a distance from one another and are opposite one another, wherein the two latching arms each have latching contours for latching a side edge of the clamping limb.The conductor connection terminal has an insulating material housing and at least one spring force terminal connection described above in the insulating material housing. The insulating housing has a conductor insertion opening for inserting an electric conductor to a terminal formed between a bus bar clamping portion of the bus bar and the clamping edge of the clamping leg to clamp the inserted electric conductor between the bus bar clamping portion and the terminal. The conductor insertion opening leads out toward the respective clamping point and is oriented such that an electrical conductor inserted into the conductor insertion opening comes into contact with the release section and displaces the elastically resilient latching arm by displacing the release section in order to unlatch the clamping leg latched to the latching contour in the hold-open position.The insulating material housing can have an actuating opening which is open toward the clamping limb in order to displace the clamping limb in the direction of the contact limb into the hold-open position counter to the spring force of the clamping spring by means of an actuating tool which is inserted into the actuating opening or an actuating element which is installed movably into the actuating opening.In the context of this application, the words "a / an" are not to be understood as a numerical word unless expressly defined otherwise, but rather as an indeterminate article having the word sense of "at least one / one". Features with the specification "exactly one / one" can, on the other hand, explicitly relate to "one / one" as a number word.The invention is explained in more detail below by way of example with reference to exemplary embodiments. The following are shown: FIG. 1 shows a sketch of a first embodiment of a spring force clamping connection in a side view with an hold-open element; FIG. 2a is a plan view of a sectional view of the spring force clamping terminal of the first embodiment in the locked hold-open position; FIG. 2 b is a plan view of the sectional view of the spring force clamping connection of the first embodiment in the unlocked position; FIG. 3 shows a sketch of a side sectional view of a second embodiment of the spring force clamping connection with a one-piece hold-open element; FIG. 4 is a perspective side view of the one-piece hold-open element from FIG. 3 ; FIG. 5 shows a perspective front view of the hold-open element from FIG. 4 ; FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a third embodiment of a spring force clamping terminal with an hold-open element; FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a fourth embodiment of a spring force clamping terminal with an opening element; FIG. 8 shows a sketch of a front view of a fifth embodiment of the spring force clamping connection with hold-open element.FIG. 1 shows a sketch of a first embodiment of a spring force clamping connection 1 in a side view with an hold-open element 2. the spring force clamping connection 1 comprises a busbar 3 and a clamping spring 4. The contact leg 5 is mounted on a contact wall 8 of a fastening section 9 of the hold-open element 2. The abutment wall 8 is a first end wall of the fastening section 9, which projects from a side wall 10. The fastening portion 9 has a second end wall 11 which protrudes from the side wall at a distance from the first end wall 8 at the opposite end of the side wall 10. This second end wall 11 rests against the busbar 3. The hold-open element 2 is thus mounted on the busbar 3.The busbar 3 can have an angle for mounting, wherein the second end wall 11 set obliquely to the direction of extent from the first to the second end wall 8, 11 of the side wall 10 in accordance with the angle is mounted in a form-fitting manner on the angle of the busbar 3.The side wall 10 has an elastically resilient latching arm 12 which extends in the direction of extension of the side wall 10 aligned from the first end wall 8, 11 to the second end wall. At the upper edge portion of the resilient latch arm 12, a retaining groove 13 is provided. The elastically resilient latching arm 12 is formed with its retaining groove 13 in such a way that the free end 14 of the clamping leg 6 of the clamping spring 4 dips into the retaining groove 13 in the illustrated hold-open position. The elastically resilient latching arm 12 thus forms a stop for the clamping leg 6 with a delimiting wall of the holding groove 13 in order to latch the clamping spring 4 in the hold-open position.In the hold-open position, the clamping leg 6 is displaced against the force of the clamping spring 4 toward the contact leg 5.An electrical conductor 15 can be clamped with its stripped end 16 between the busbar 3 and the free end 14 of the clamping limb 6 when the clamping limb 6 disengages and springs out toward the busbar 3 as a result of the force of the clamping spring 4 stored in the spring bow 7.The hold-open element 2 has a triggering element 17 which can be mounted with a pivot bearing 18 on or in an insulating material housing, for example, on a section of the busbar 3 or the fastening section 9. A lever arm is thus formed. A release section 19 forms a bearing surface for the free end 16 of the electrical conductor 15 to be clamped in the conductor insertion direction L below the fastening section 9, and the electrical conductor 15 strikes the release section 19 which is transverse to the alignment of the conductor insertion direction L traversing the space between the retaining groove 13 and the busbar 3 and forms a base.The portion of the release element 17 extending from the pivot bearing 18 to the release surface 19 forms a force arm. The load arm extending from the pivot bearing 18 to the free end of the release element 17 on the other side projects toward the elastically resilient latching arm 12 and forms an unlocking finger 20. The unlocking finger 20 is guided next to the elastically resilient latching arm 12 in order to displace the latter laterally, in the viewing direction toward the observer in FIG. 1. The free end 14 of the clamping leg 6 is thereby released and the clamping leg 6 can spring out away from the contact leg 5 towards the busbar 3 in order to clamp the stripped end 16 of the electrical conductor 15 to the busbar 3.The elastically resilient latching arm 12 is connected to the side wall 10 in the root region. The free end of the locking arm 12 opposite the root region interacts with the unlocking finger 20.On the upper side of the free end region of the latching arm 12, which faces the clamping spring 4, an insertion bevel 21 can be formed by a material tab bent outwards. This enables additional unlocking by an actuating tool (e.g. screwdriver) introduced from above or from the front (as indicated by the arrows) or an additional actuating element which is installed in an insulating material housing in a pivotable or displaceable manner.The hold-open element 2 can have an elastically resilient latching arm 12. It is also conceivable, however, for the hold-open element 2 to have two side walls 10 arranged at a distance from one another, from each of which an elastically resilient latching arm 12 projects. The clamping leg 6 can thus be latched on both sides in the hold-open position. For unlocking, the two elastically resilient latching arms 12 are displaced laterally, i.e. transversely to the plane of the respective side wall 10, by the release element 17, wherein the latching arms 12 are moved away from one another.FIG. 2 ashows a top view of a sectional view of the spring force clamping connection 1 in the locked hold-open position. The exemplary embodiment is shown here with a pair of latching arms 12 which each have a retaining groove 13 for receiving and latching the free end of the clamping limb 6. The clamping leg 6 dips into the holding grooves 13 and is held there in a form-fitting manner.It can be seen that the free end of the latching arms 12 has an insertion bevel 21 in each case. In addition, the unlocking finger 20 is designed to taper conically in order to enter the intermediate space of the elastically resilient latching arms 12 when the triggering element 17 is pivoted by an electrical conductor 15 which strikes the triggering section 19 in the conductor insertion direction L.FIG. 2 bshows a plan view of the sectional view of the spring force clamping connection 1 in the unlocked position. It becomes clear that the unlocking finger 20 is now displaced between the latching arms 12 in the region of the free end with the insertion slopes, in order to thus pivot the latching arms 12 laterally away from one another. The holding grooves 13 are thus displaced in the width direction of the clamping limb 6, so that the stop for the clamping limb 6 formed by the marginal edges of the holding grooves 13 is cancelled. The holding leg thus unlocked can now spring out from the holding open position into the clamping position toward the busbar 3 by the force of the clamping spring 4, as is indicated by the arrow E. The stripped end 16 of the electrical conductor 15 is thus clamped between the clamping edge at the free end of the clamping leg 6 and a clamping edge on the busbar 3, in order to produce an electrically conductive connection of the electrical conductor 15 to the busbar 3 and to mechanically hold the electrical conductor 15.It is also clear that the triggering section 19 is arranged transversely to the conductor insertion direction L in the space on which an inserted conductor 15 impinges.FIGS. 3 a) and 3 b) show sketches of a side sectional view of a second embodiment of the spring force terminal connection 1 with a one-piece hold-open element 2 with two variants of a busbar 3 and the fixing of the hold-open element 2 to the busbar.The busbar 3 clamps a surface which is transverse to the conductor insertion direction L and from which a contact wall 22 projects, which is aligned obliquely with respect to the inserted electrical conductor 15 and forms a clamping point for clamping the electrical conductor 15. The busbar 3 has a conductor passage opening 23, through which a conductor 15 to be clamped can be inserted.The hold-open element 2 has a side wall 10 or two side walls 10 spaced apart from one another, from which optional flank walls 24 in the form of spacers or retaining lugs can protrude.FIG. 3 a) shows a preferred variant of the busbar 3 with a circumferential collar 40 delimiting the conductor passage opening 23. The first end wall 8 and the second end wall 11 with the contact wall 22 are formed on the collar 40. The side walls 10 engage around the collar 40 formed on the busbar 3 and thus connect the hold-open element 2 to the collar in a positive-locking manner. The optionally protruding flank walls 24 provide spacers in order to set a defined distance of the hold-open element 2 from the underside of the busbar 3.FIG. 3 b ) shows a variant of the busbar 3 without a circumferential collar 40 delimiting the conductor passage opening 23. The flank walls 24 can project into the conductor passage opening 23 of the busbar 3 or extend laterally past the busbar 3. The flank walls 24 are connected positively to the busbar 3 on the side of the busbar 3 which is opposite the side wall 10 of the fastening portion 9. In this variant, the hold-open element 2 is connected with the flank walls 24 in a form-fit manner to the busbar 3.The hold-open element 2 is thus supported on the busbar 3 by the side walls 10 and / or the flank walls 24.On the narrow side of the conductor passage opening 23, which is opposite the contact wall 22, a contact wall 8 can protrude. A clamping spring 4, which is not shown and is designed as a leg spring as in the first exemplary embodiment, can be inserted with its contact leg 5 into the conductor passage opening 23 and mounted on the contact wall 8.On the side wall 10 of the hold-open element 2 an elastically resilient latching arm 12 is formed. However, it is also conceivable that, in the case of two side walls 10 spaced apart from one another, one latching arm 12 is formed on in each case, so that two latching arms 12 are present which are arranged spaced apart from one another and extend parallel to one another and parallel to the plane of the busbar 3. Here, "parallel" is not necessarily to be understood as an exact parallelism. An extension in the same direction at approximately the same height is sufficient.The at least one latching arm 12 has a latching contour with which the free end of the clamping limb 6 can be latched in the hold-open position. This can be a retaining groove 13 as in the first exemplary embodiment, or a retaining tab protruding from the latching arm 12 toward the clamping limb 6. The latching contour is not shown in FIG. 3.The release element 17 is formed integrally with the fastening portion 9. For this purpose, a sheet metal element can protrude from the end wall 11 protruding transversely to the at least one side wall 10 and, after bending or bending with the release section 19, form a base arranged below the conductor passage opening 23 of the busbar 3 in alignment in the conductor insertion direction L. After a bend or bend pointing toward the latching arm 12, the release section 19 then merges into the unlocking finger 20, which displaces the latching arm 12 laterally, i.e. transversely to the conductor insertion direction L and transversely to the direction of extent of the latching arm 12, when a release force is exerted on the release section by the inserted conductor 15 in the conductor insertion direction L.FIG. 4 shows a perspective side view of the one-piece hold-open element 2 from FIG. 3.It can be seen that the fastening section 9 has two side walls 10 spaced apart from one another and aligned parallel to one another. The side walls 10 are connected to one another via a second end wall 11. The side walls 10 each have a first end wall 8 which project from the respective side wall 10 facing one another. The second end wall 8 is separated by a gap, so that a spring-elastic cage is formed.At the upper edge of the side walls, flank walls 24 protrude, which are designed as retaining tabs bent obliquely out of the plane of the side walls. These flank walls 24 are suspended in the conductor passage opening 23 of the busbar 3 and connected there in a form-fitting manner to the busbar 3.On the lower edge of the side walls 10 in the region of the second end wall 11, the latching arms 12 are integrally formed. They extend parallel from the second direction of extension of the side walls 10 aligned with the first end wall 11, 8, The latching arms 12 can be bent towards one another towards the free end in order to provide a smaller distance in the region of the free end of the latching arms 12 than the distance of the side walls 10 from one another.On the upper side of the latching arms 12, which faces the side walls 10, a respective retaining tab 25 can project. The holding tabs 25 of the two latching arms 12 can be oriented obliquely with respect to the opposite side wall 10 or with respect to the opposite latching arm 12, in order to form a stop for the clamping leg 6 of the clamping spring 4 arranged between the latching arms 12 in the hold-open position.The retaining tabs 25 can have a stop surface 26 projecting transversely to the plane of the latching arms 12 on the side facing the free end of the latching arm 12 and an inclined surface 27 on the side facing the second end wall 11. The clamping leg 6 can slide on the inclined surface 27 during the displacement from the clamping position toward the contact leg 5 into the hold-open position and press the latching arms 12 apart in order to reach behind the stop surface 26.The free ends of the latching arms 12 are provided with guide slopes 28 which are oriented away from the side walls 10 in the conductor insertion direction L so as to point conically downwards at an angle towards one another. The distance between the latching arms 12 in the conductor insertion direction L is thus reduced. The unlocking finger 20 of the release element 17 has an unlocking section 29 which widens conically in a corresponding manner toward the free end and bears laterally against the two guide slopes 28. When the unlocking finger 20 is pivoted away from the side walls 10 downwards, the latching arms 12 are pivoted away from one another laterally by the conically tapering contour. The holding tabs 25 are thus also moved outwards and a clamping leg 6 locked therewith is released (unlocked).The unlocking finger can have optional stop walls 30 on its free outer edge regions, which are spaced apart from the unlocking section 29 with a gap. The latching arms 12 enter the gap in the locked position. The stop walls 30 thus form a stop for the latching arms 12, so that a lateral deflection of the latching arms 12 is prevented.It can also be seen that the release element 17 is reinforced by edge regions 31 bent laterally upwards along the release section 19 and the release finger 20, so that the release finger 20 is displaced downwards in the line insertion direction L when pressure is applied to the release section 19 and the release element 17 does not bend or bends only insignificantly.FIG. 5 shows a perspective front view of the hold-open element 2 from FIG. 4.It is clear that the free ends of the elastically resilient latching arms 12 have guide slopes 28 which, starting from the side facing the side walls 10, are oriented obliquely facing one another along the width direction of the latching arms 12, i.e. downwards in the conductor insertion direction L. The distance of the latching arms 12 from one another thus narrows in the conductor insertion direction L.The unlocking section 29 widens towards the free end of the unlocking finger 20 and is arranged between the guide slopes 28 of the unlocking finger 20. If the unlocking finger 20 is moved downward in the conductor insertion direction L by an inserted electrical conductor 15 exerting a triggering force on the triggering section 19, the latching fingers 12 are forced apart. The distance between the two mutually opposite holding tabs 25 thus also increases, which in the hold-open position form a stop for the clamping leg 6 of the clamping spring 4, and the stop is canceled in order to unlatch the clamping leg 6.It is also clear that the stop walls 30 are arranged laterally next to a respective guide slope 28 in order to prevent a lateral deflection of the latching arms 12 outwards. These stop walls 30 are displaced downwardly away from the latching arms 12 when the triggering element 17 is triggered, in order to cancel the stop for the latching arms 12.It can also be seen that the release element 17 is reinforced by the inwardly bent edge regions 31.FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of a third embodiment of a spring force clamping connection 1 with an hold-open element 2. the spring force clamping connection 1 has a busbar 3 and a clamping spring 4 mounted on the busbar 3. The clamping spring 4 is designed in the manner of a cage tension spring and has a contact leg 5 which is mounted on the busbar 3 and merges into a spring bend 7. The spring bend 7 is adjoined by a clamping leg 6. The clamping leg 6 has a conductor passage opening 32 which is bounded at the free end of the clamping leg 6 by a transverse web 33. The bus bar 3 protrudes through the conductor passage opening 32. A clamping point for clamping the stripped end 6 of the electrical conductor 15 between the transverse web 33 and the busbar 3 is thus formed.By pressing on the horizontal section of the clamping spring 4 running parallel to the busbar 3 at a distance, the clamping spring 4 can be displaced into the illustrated hold-open position. In the hold-open position, the clamping point formed between the transverse web 33 and the busbar 3 is open.The clamping leg 6 has a latching contour which can be designed, for example, as a projecting latching nose or as a latching web 34. The latching web 34 can be arranged, for example, as illustrated on the transverse web 33. The latching web 34 can be formed integrally with the transverse web 33.The clamping spring 4 has a latching arm 12 which adjoins the contact limb 5 and is bent away from the contact limb 5 which extends parallel to the busbar 3. The busbar 3 is passed through the latching arm 12 so that the latching arm 12 extends at its free end away from the busbar 3 on the side of the busbar 3 diametrically opposite the spring bend 7.Optionally, the latching arm 12 can also be bent laterally from the contact limb 5 and guided laterally past the current slide 3. The surface of the latching arm 12 is then rotated by 90° with respect to the variant shown in FIG. 6. Here, a latch arm 12 may be provided on one side of the bus bar 3 or a pair of latch arms 12 may be provided on both sides of the bus bar 3.The latching arm 12 likewise has a latching contour which can be designed, for example, as a latching groove 35. The latching contours of the clamping limb 6 and of the latching arm 12 are formed in a complementary manner to one another, with the result that they engage one another in the hold-open position. The latching groove 35 forms a stop for the latching web 34, so that the clamping spring 4 is held in the prestressed hold-open position.Below the busbar 3, i.e. on the underside opposite the spring bend 7, there is a triggering element 17 which is designed in the form of an L-shaped bent part. It has a release section 19 arranged at the rear, below the spring bend 7, i.e. a release surface which is aligned in the conductor insertion direction L in alignment with the conductor passage opening 32 and transversely to the busbar 3. Thus, an inserted electric conductor 15 to be clamped abuts on the trip portion 19 to apply a trip force in the conductor insertion direction L.The triggering element 17 can be mounted displaceably. For this purpose, it can be accommodated displaceably in an insulating material housing, not shown. However, it is also conceivable for the triggering element 17 to be mounted displaceably on the spring force clamping connection, such as, for example, on the busbar 3.The triggering element 17 can, however, also be mounted pivotably or can execute a combined displacement and pivoting upon actuation.After bending, the release section 19 oriented transversely to the busbar 3 merges into a horizontal section 36 extending approximately parallel to the busbar 3, which is adjoined by an unlocking section 37 opposite the release section 19. The unlocking section 37 is bent over so as to point toward the busbar 3 and projects below the free end of the clamping limb 6 as far as the free end region of the latching arm 12.Upon a displacement of the release section 19, the unlocking section 37 is displaced towards the free end region of the latching arm 12 in order to exert an unlocking force, by means of which the stop between the latching groove 35 and the latching web 34 is cancelled.FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of a fourth embodiment of a spring force clamping connection 1 with an hold-open element 2, which is a modification of the spring force clamping connection 1 from FIG. 6, so that reference can be made substantially to the previous explanations.In this embodiment, the latching contour is designed such that the transverse web 33 has a latching groove 35 on the side facing the unlocking section 37 of the release element 17. The unlocking section 37 has a latching web 34, which extends towards the clamping limb 6 or the transverse web 33.This allows a more compact design in which the triggering element 17 can be arranged with a smaller overall height directly below the busbar 3.The hold-open element 2 can be under elastic prestress, for example, by means of a spring element which presses the hold-open element 2 towards the transverse web 33. The latching web 34 functionally forms with the spring element a spring-elastic latching arm 12.FIG. 8 shows a sketch of a front view of a fifth embodiment of the spring force clamping connection 1 with an hold-open element 2.The clamping leg 6 has a latching groove 35 at its edge region. An elastically resilient latching arm 12 has a retaining tab 34 (i.e. latching web or latching finger) and extends next to the clamping limb 6.By a lateral extension of the latching arm 12 in the direction of the arrow, the clamping leg 6 is unlocked. This is prevented with the release element 17 by a stop wall 38 being arranged laterally next to the latching arm 12.An electrical conductor 15 can be passed in the conductor insertion direction L through the conductor insertion opening 32 of the clamping limb 6. It impinges on the release section 19 of the release element 17 arranged in this alignment. The release section 19 is connected to the stop wall 38 which is present on an unlocking finger 20 protruding from the release section 19 to the retaining tab 34. By displacing the release element 17 upon the action of a release force on the release section 19, the stop wall 38 is moved away from the latching arm 12 in order to cancel the stop preventing the lateral rebound of the latching arm 12.List of reference characters1 Spring force clamping connection 2 Hold-open element 3 Busbar 4 Clamping spring 5 Contact limb 6 Clamping limb 7 Spring bow 8 First end wall 9 Fastening section 10 Side wall 11 Second end wall 12 Resilient latching arm 13 Retaining groove 14 Free end 15 Electrical conductor 16 Stripped end 17 Release element 18 Pivot bearing 19 Release section 20 Unlocking finger 21 Insertion bevel 22 Contact wall 23 Conductor passage opening 24 Flank walls 25 Retaining tab 26 Stop surface 27 Inclined surface 28 Guide bevel 29 Unlocking section 30 Stop wall 31 Bent edge region 32 Conductor passage opening 33 Transverse web 34 Retaining tab 35 Latching groove 36 Horizontal section 37 Unlocking section 38 Stop wall L Conductor insertion directionReferences included in the specificationThis list of documents cited by the applicant has been produced in an automated manner and is only included for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent application or utility model application. The DPMA does not take any adhesion for any faults or omissions.Patent Literature citedEP 2 768 079 B1

[0005] EP 3 469 659 B1

[0006]

Claims

Spring force clamping connection (1) having - a busbar (3) and - a clamping spring (4) which has a clamping limb (6) with a clamping edge for clamping an electrical conductor (15) to the busbar (3), a bearing limb (5) and a spring bend (7) which connects the bearing limb (5) to the clamping limb (6), characterized in that the spring force clamping connection (1) has an hold-open element (2) with a spring-elastic latching arm (12), wherein the latching arm (12) has a latching contour which, in a hold-open position in which the clamping limb (6) is deflected towards the bearing limb (5) counter to the spring force, forms a stop for the clamping limb (6), and in that the spring force clamping connection (1) has a triggering element (17) with a triggering section (19), wherein the triggering element (17) is configured, by an electrical conductor (15) inserted for clamping onto the busbar (3) and impinging on the release section (19), and thereby causing a displacement of the elastically resilient latching arm (12) transversely to the spring force exerted by the clamping limb (6) on the latching arm (12) in the latched hold-open position, and to unlatch the clamping limb (6) latched on the latching contour in the hold-open position.Spring force clamping connection (1) according to Claim 1, characterized in that the latching contour is designed as a retaining groove (13) on the latching arm (12) for receiving a retaining section of the clamping limb (6) in the hold-open position.Spring force clamping connection (1) according to Claim 2, characterized in that the holding section of the clamping limb (6), which forms a positive fit with a stop wall delimiting the holding groove (13) of the latching arm (12) in the open holding position, is the free end of the clamping limb (6) or a holding tab (25) protruding laterally from the clamping limb (6).Spring force clamping connection (1) according to Claim 1, characterized in that the latching contour of the latching arm (12) is a retaining tab (25, 34) which projects from the latching arm (12) and forms a stop for the clamping limb (6) in the hold-open position, wherein the release section (19) of the release element (17) has a stop wall (30, 38) which forms a stop for the latching arm (12) in the hold-open position and prevents lateral displacement of the latching arm (12), wherein the release element (17) is designed for displacing the stop wall (30, 38) away from the latching arm (12) for releasing the latching arm (12).Spring force clamping connection (1) according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the latching arm (12) is movable resiliently away from the side edge edge of the clamping limb (6) in the width direction of the clamping limb (6).Spring force clamping connection (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the release element (17) is formed integrally with the hold-open element or is a separate release part which interacts with the hold-open element.Spring force clamping connection (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the release section (19) forms a bearing surface for the free end of an inserted conductor (15) to be clamped behind the latching contour of the latching arm (12) in the conductor insertion direction (L).Spring force clamping connection (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the hold-open element (2) has a fastening section (9) which is fixed to the busbar (3), and in that the spring-elastic latching arm (12) extends from the fastening section (9) at a distance from the busbar (3) parallel to the plane of the busbar (3) spanned there.Spring force clamping connection (1) according to Claim 8, characterized in that the busbar (3) has a conductor passage opening (23), and the clamping spring (4) projects with the clamping limb (6) and the bearing limb (5) into the conductor passage opening (23), wherein the hold-open element (2) has a fastening portion (9) which is fixed to the conductor passage opening (23), and the spring-elastic latching arm (12) extends from the fastening portion (9) at a distance from the busbar (3) parallel to the plane spanned by the conductor passage opening (23).Spring force clamping connection (1) according to Claim 9, characterized in that the conductor passage opening (23) has a collar which extends away from the plane of the busbar (3) spanned by the conductor passage opening (23) in a conductor insertion direction (L) and partially or completely delimits the conductor passage opening (23) and has two collar longitudinal walls which are spaced apart from one another and lie opposite one another, wherein the fastening section of the hold-open element (2) has two flank walls (24) which are spaced apart from one another and are connected to one another via an end-side root region and bear against the collar longitudinal walls, wherein the flank walls (24) are fixed to the collar in a force-fitting manner by a spring force applied by the root region.Spring force clamping connection (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the hold-open element (2) has two elastically resilient latching arms (12) which are spaced apart from one another and are movable away from one another in opposite directions for unlocking.Spring force clamping connection (1) according to Claim 11, characterized in that the hold-open element (2) has two mutually opposite side walls (10), an end wall (11) connecting the side walls (10) to one another and the release element (17) projecting from the end wall (11), the side walls (10) having the elastically resilient latching arms (12), and the release element (17) projecting from the end wall (11) having a base plate at a distance from the latching arms (12) in a plane spanned transversely to the side walls (10) and transversely to the end wall (11), a latching section extending from the base plate towards the free end of the elastically resilient latching arms (12), and the latching section having retaining grooves (13) for latching reception in each case of an edge region of the respectively adjoining latching arm (12).Spring force clamping connection (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the hold-open element (2) has two latching arms (12) which are arranged at a distance from one another and are opposite one another, wherein the two latching arms (12) each have latching contours for latching a side edge of the clamping limb (6).Conductor connection terminal with - an insulating material housing and - a spring force clamping terminal (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the insulating material housing has a conductor insertion opening for inserting an electrical conductor (15) to a clamping point formed between a busbar clamping section of the busbar (3) and the clamping edge of the clamping limb (6) in order to clamp the inserted electrical conductor (15) between the busbar clamping section and the clamping point, characterized in that the conductor insertion opening opens out towards the clamping point and is aligned such that an electrical conductor (15) inserted into the conductor insertion opening comes into contact with the triggering section (19) and displaces the elastically resilient latching arm (12) by displacing the triggering section (19) in order to unlatch the clamping limb (6) latched to the latching contour in the open retaining position.Conductor connection terminal according to claim 14, characterised in that the insulating material housing has an actuating opening which is open towards the clamping limb (6) in order to displace the clamping limb (6) in the direction of the contact limb into the hold-open position counter to the spring force of the clamping spring (4) by means of an actuating tool inserted into the actuating opening or an actuating element movably installed into the actuating opening.

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