conductor connection terminal

Abstract

A conductor terminal (2) comprising: - an insulating housing (24) having a conductor entry opening (25) and an actuating opening (26); - a spring-loaded clamping connection (1) in the insulating housing (24) having a busbar (3) and a clamping spring (4) having a clamping leg (6) with a clamping edge (8) for clamping an electrical conductor (10) to the busbar (3), a support leg (5) for mounting the clamping spring (4), and a spring arc (7) connecting the support leg (5) to the clamping leg (6); - an actuating element (16) movably mounted in the actuating opening (26) and designed to pivot the clamping leg (6) against the spring force in the direction of the support leg (5) into an open position, characterized in that the actuating element (16) and the clamping leg (6) have locking contours (17, 18).the clamping arm (6) is designed to lock in the open position by means of a positive locking connection of the locking contours (17, 18), and the conductor terminal (2) has a movably mounted release element (14) which has a release contour (21) and a release surface (13) arranged in the plane of the conductor entry opening (25), wherein the release element (14) is designed to be moved into a release position by an electrical conductor (10) inserted into the conductor entry opening (25) and impacting the release surface (13), in which the release contour (21) breaks the positive locking connection formed by the locking contours (17, 18) of the clamping arm (6) and the actuating element (16).

Description

The invention relates to a conductor connection terminal withan insulating housing having a conductor insertion opening and an actuation opening,a spring force clamping connection in the insulating material housing, which has a busbar and a clamping spring, which has a clamping leg with a clamping edge for clamping an electrical conductor to the busbar, an abutment leg for mounting the clamping spring, and a spring bend, which connects the abutment leg to the clamping leg, andan actuating element which is movably mounted in the actuating opening and is designed for pivoting the clamping limb counter to the spring force in the direction of the contact limb into an open position.Conductor connection terminals with spring force clamping terminals 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.WO 2019 / 174 982 A1 describes a direct plug-in terminal for connecting a flexible stranded conductor having a housing with a chamber and a plug channel for the conductor into the chamber, a busbar and / or a clamping cage and a clamping spring arranged in the chamber, which spring acts as a compression spring for fixing the electrical conductor on the busbar and / or the clamping cage in the region of a clamping point. The clamping spring has a clamping leg which can be pivoted about a pivot axis and which can be adjusted from a latching state, in which the clamping leg is latched in a latching position, into a clamping state, in which the clamping leg is unlocked from the latching state and presses the electrical conductor against the busbar or the clamping cage and the latching state is produced by the action of pressure on the clamping leg. The clamping leg can be released from the locked state by means of two differently actuatable adjusting means. The second triggering element is arranged in the chamber laterally of the pusher and is configured to release the pusher from the latching position and thus also the clamping leg from the latching state, so that the triggering element acts on the pusher perpendicularly to the conductor plug-in direction or substantially perpendicularly to the conductor plug-in direction for releasing the pusher from the latching position.Proceeding from this, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved conductor connection terminal.The object is achieved with the conductor connection terminals having the features of claims 1 and 14. Advantageous embodiments are described in the dependent claims.It is proposed that the actuating element and the clamping limb have locking contours which are designed for locking the clamping limb in the open position by means of a positive connection of the locking contours.A compact space-saving design can thus be achieved.Unlocking can be achieved by means of an external tool, a displacement of the actuating element or a release element movably installed in the insulating material housing. Thus, a pivoting of the actuating element for disengaging is conceivable, since as a rule there is a certain clearance for the actuating element anyway.The conductor connection terminal can have a movably mounted triggering element which has a triggering contour and a triggering surface arranged in alignment with the conductor insertion opening. The triggering element is designed to be moved, when being displaced by an electrical conductor inserted into the conductor insertion opening and striking the triggering surface, into a de-latching position in which the triggering contour separates the positive connection formed by the locking contours of the clamping leg and of the actuating element.The actuating element is used as a holding element and is held in the open position by the locking contours and the spring force of the clamping spring. The release element takes over only the disengagement, so that simple kinematics are possible with little force exertion and little displacement. The electrical conductor is inserted in order to be clamped at the clamping point between the clamping edge and the busbar and can cause the deflection of the triggering element. The clamping spring can thus be unlatched by an inserted electrical conductor, with the result that the electrical conductor is then clamped at the clamping point between the clamping limb and the busbar.The actuating element can have a retaining lug and the clamping limb can have a retaining opening. The actuating element can be designed such that the retaining lug, in the state of the clamping limb deflected by the actuating element, dips into the retaining opening of the clamping limb and the clamping limb is held in the open position by the actuating element locked in this way.This has the advantage of a simple construction which enables an extremely compact design. The retaining lug can be a section or finger protruding from the plane of the actuating element.The release contour of the release element can be designed as a release nose. The release lug is moved into the holding opening by the release movement of the release element in order to push the holding lug out of the holding opening.This has the advantage that the latching by the actuating pusher is released, so that the clamping leg moves from the open position into the clamping position by the spring force. The movement takes place away from the release lug, so that the release lug is no longer in engagement with the clamping limb after the unlocking. Surfaces which are set obliquely to one another on the release lug and the inner edge of the retaining opening are advantageous here, so that jamming of the release lug and retaining opening cannot occur.The actuating element can be an actuating presser which is mounted displaceably in the actuating opening of the insulating material housing and on the outer surface of which the retaining lug projects.The triggering element can be mounted pivotably in the insulating material housing or on the busbar.The pivotable mounting enables a compact construction and the utilization of a lever kinematics. By means of load and force arm lengths, greater disengaging forces can be realized from smaller pressure forces exerted by an impinging conductor.The release element can have a lever arm from which an unlocking nose forming the release contour projects at a first end and a release arm with the release surface at a second end, which is opposite the first end.The unlocking nose and the release arm can project from the lever arm in the same direction parallel to one another.The lever arm can have a pivot bearing and can be mounted pivotably in the insulating material housing with the pivot bearing.The bus bar may have a lead-through opening. The clamping spring can project with the clamping leg and the contact leg into the conductor feedthrough opening, wherein the contact leg abuts a first end side delimiting the conductor feedthrough opening and the busbar has a clamping projection on a second end side of the conductor feedthrough opening, which clamping projection extends away from the plane of the busbar spanned by the conductor feedthrough opening and forms a clamping section for clamping the electrical conductor between the clamping edge of the clamping leg and the clamping projection.The conductor feedthrough opening of the busbar can have a collar which partially or completely delimits the conductor feedthrough opening and extends from the plane of the busbar spanned by the conductor feedthrough opening towards the triggering surface of the triggering element.The clamping portion may be formed on the collar.A busbar can have a plurality of conductor plug-through openings, each with a clamping spring arranged thereon.The clamping spring may be a leg spring. However, constructions are also conceivable in which the clamping spring is realized, for example, as a cage tension spring.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 spring force terminal terminal pivoted into the hold-open position for a conductor terminal in a side sectional view; FIG. 2 shows a side sectional view of the spring force clamping connection from FIG. 1 latched in the hold-open position; FIG. 3 shows a side sectional view of a conductor connection terminal with the spring force clamping terminal from FIG. 2 latched in the hold-open position; FIG. 4 shows a side sectional view of the spring force clamping connection, which is unlocked from the hold-open position and pivoted into the clamping position.FIG. 1 shows a sketch of a spring force terminal connection 1 for a conductor terminal connection 2 pivoted into the hold-open position in a side sectional view.The spring force clamping terminal 1 has a bus bar 3 and a clamping spring 4. The clamping spring 4 is designed, for example, as a leg spring bent in a U-shape, having a contact leg 5, a clamping leg 6 and a spring bend 7 connecting the contact leg 5 to the clamping leg 6. The clamping leg 6 has a clamping edge 8 at its free end for clamping the stripped end 9 of an electrical conductor 10.The busbar 3 has a conductor through-opening 11. the conductor through-opening 11 can have a collar 12 with collar side walls 12 aand collar end walls 12 b, 12 c,which partially or completely delimits the conductor through-opening 11 and extends from the plane of the busbar 3 spanned by the conductor through-opening 11 to a release surface 13 of a release element 14.It can be seen that the clamping spring 4 projects with its contact limb 5 and clamping limb 6 into the conductor plug-through opening 11. The contact leg 5 is mounted on an end wall of the conductor plug-through opening 11. For this purpose, it can optionally rest against the second collar end wall 12 c. The opposite first collar end wall 12 bis set out obliquely to the second collar end wall 12 cor to the alignment F in the conductor insertion direction L of the electrical conductor 10 in order to provide a clamping projection 15 presented to the electrical conductor 10 to be clamped.Furthermore, an actuating element 16 is present, which is mounted displaceably in an actuating direction B. The actuating element 16 has a retaining lug 17 which projects out of the plane of the actuating element 16 in the direction of the clamping limb 6. The clamping leg 6 has a holding opening 18. This forms a locking contour which is designed such that the retaining lug 17 dips into the retaining opening 18 of the clamping limb 6 in the state of the clamping limb 6 deflected by the actuating element 16. The clamping leg 6 is thus held in the hold-open position by the actuating element 16 locked in this way and secured against being slid back.In the illustrated storage position, the actuating element 16 has not yet been pressed down far enough. The retaining lug 17 is still located in front of the retaining opening 18.The triggering element 14 is movably mounted. In the exemplary embodiment shown, it can be pivoted about a pivot bearing S in the direction of the arrow. The triggering element 14 is designed as an L-shaped lever arm and has, on the side of the triggering arm 19 (force arm) originating from the pivot bearing S, a triggering surface 13 arranged in alignment F with the conductor through-opening 11.In the position shown, the release contour 21 dips into the retaining opening 18.The triggering element 14 is designed to be moved, in the event of a displacement by an electrical conductor 10 inserted into the conductor plug-through opening 11 and striking the triggering surface 13, into a de-latching position in which the triggering contour 21 separates the positive connection formed by the locking contours 18, 17 of the clamping leg 6 and of the actuating element 16. For this purpose, the release contour 21 presses the retaining lug 17 out of the retaining opening 18.The actuating presser 16 can have an actuating contour 22 on its upper end face facing away from the busbar 3, such as a slot, a depression or a cross slot, into which the tip of an actuating tool can enter in order to find sufficient hold.The load arm 19 can be reinforced with a side wall 23 connecting the release surface 13 to the vertical section of the release element 14. The side wall 23 preferably protrudes as far as the lever arm 20 in order to optimize the force flow via the pivot bearing S. The side wall 23 also contributes to the guidance of the electrical conductor 10 onto the release surface 13 and prevents any deflection of strands of a multi-wire conductor.FIG. 2 shows a sketch of the spring force clamping connection 1 from FIG. 1, which is latched in the hold-open position, in the side sectional view.When the actuating element 16 is displaced further in the actuating direction B toward the busbar 3, the retaining lug 17 dips into the retaining opening 18 and pushes the release contour 21 of the release element 14 out of the retaining opening 18 in the direction of the contact limb 5.The upper marginal edge of the holding opening 18 now forms a stop for the actuating element 16, which is urged upward counter to the actuating direction B by the spring force of the clamping spring 4. This opening movement of the actuating element 16 is prevented by the stop of the retaining lug 17 on the upper marginal edge of the retaining opening 18, so that the actuating element 16 is latched in the hold-open position.FIG. 3 shows a sketch of a conductor connection terminal 2 with the spring force clamping terminal 1 from FIG. 2 latched in the hold-open position in a side sectional view.It can be seen that the spring force clamping connection 1 described above is installed in an insulating material housing 24. The insulating housing 24 has a conductor insertion opening 25 and an actuation opening 26. The actuating element 16 is accommodated displaceably in the actuating opening 26 and is therefore designed as an actuating presser. The actuating opening 26 is oriented toward the busbar 3 or the conductor plug-through opening 11 in the busbar 3.It is clear that the retaining lug 17 is arranged on the outer surface of the actuating element 16, which faces the contact limb 5. The retaining lug 17 protrudes toward the clamping limb 6 in order to be able to enter into the retaining opening 18 of the clamping limb 6.Likewise, the conductor insertion opening 25 is oriented in a conductor insertion direction L toward the busbar 3 and opens toward the conductor through-opening 11. The conductor insertion hole 25 and the operation hole 26 may be separated from each other by a partition wall 27.The conductor insertion opening 25 is aligned with its alignment F with the release surface 13 of the release element 14. Thus, an electric conductor inserted into the conductor insertion opening 25 and inserted through the conductor insertion opening 11 in the bus bar 3 appears on the release surface 23 lying in alignment F. The release surface 23 is arranged below the busbar 3 diametrically opposite the conductor insertion opening 25. It forms a base which is aligned approximately parallel to the insertion plane of the conductor through-hole 11 of the busbar 3 and is arranged at a distance therefrom.FIG. 4 shows a sketch of the spring force clamping connection 1 released from the hold-open position and pivoted into the clamping position in a side sectional view.It can be seen that the electrical conductor 10 is inserted with its stripped end 9 through the conductor insertion opening 11 and impinges on the release surface 13. A triggering force in the conductor insertion direction L (as indicated by the arrow) is thus exerted on the triggering element 14 and the triggering element 14 is pivoted about the pivot bearing S (see arrow on the pivot bearing S). The lever arm 20 with its release contour 21 at its free end moves away from the contact limb 5 toward the clamping limb 6. The release contour 21 dips into the retaining opening 18 and pushes the retaining lug 17 of the actuating element 16 out of the retaining opening 18. The stop between clamping leg 6 and actuating element 16 is thus canceled. The actuating element 16 is displaced upwards by the clamping limb 6 by the spring force stored in the spring arch 7 counter to the actuating direction B. The clamping leg 6 thus springs away from the contact leg 5 into the clamping position, in which the stripped end 9 of the electrical conductor 10 is clamped between the clamping edge 8 of the clamping leg 6 and the clamping projection 15 of the busbar 3.For the unlocking, only a small pivot angle of the release element 14 is required, which is sufficient to push the retaining lug 17 out of the retaining opening 18.List of reference characters1 Spring force clamping connection 2 Conductor connection terminal 3 Busbar 4 Clamping spring 5 Contact limb 6 Clamping limb 7 Spring bend 8 Clamping edge 9 Insulated end 10 Electrical conductor 11 Conductor plug-through opening 12 Collar 12 a Kragen side wall 12 b, 12 c Kragen end wall 13 Release surface 14 Release element 15 Clamping projection 16 Actuating element 17 Retaining lug 18 Retaining opening 19 Release arm 20 Lever arm 21 Release contour 22 Actuating contour 23 Side wall 24 Insulating material housing 25 Conductor insertion opening 26 Actuating opening 27 Dividing wall B Actuating direction F Alignment L Conductor insertion direction S Pivot bearingReferences 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

[0004] EP 3 469 659 B1

[0005] WO 2019 / 174 982 A1

[0006]

Claims

Conductor connection terminal (2) having - an insulating material housing (24) which has a conductor insertion opening (25) and an actuation opening (26), - a spring force clamping connection (1) in the insulating material housing (24) which has a busbar (3) and a clamping spring (4) which has a clamping limb (6) with a clamping edge (8) for clamping an electrical conductor (10) to the busbar (3), a contact limb (5) for mounting the clamping spring (4), and a spring bend (7) which connects the contact limb (5) to the clamping limb (6), - an actuating element (16) which is mounted movably in the actuation opening (26) and is designed for pivoting the clamping limb (6) counter to the spring force in the direction of the contact limb (5) into an open retaining position, characterized in that, the actuating element (16) and the clamping limb (6) have locking contours (17, 18) which are designed for locking the clamping limb (6) in the open holding position by means of a positively locking connection of the locking contours (17, 18), and the conductor connection terminal (2) has a movably mounted triggering element (14) which has a triggering contour (21) and a triggering surface (13) arranged in alignment with the conductor introduction opening (25), wherein the triggering element (14) is designed, when being displaced by an electrical conductor (10) inserted into the conductor introduction opening (25) and impinging on the triggering surface (13), to be moved into a delocked position in which the triggering contour (21) separates the positively locking connection formed by the locking contours (17, 18) of the clamping limb (6) and of the actuating element (16).Conductor connection terminal (2) according to Claim 1, characterized in that the actuating element (16) has a retaining lug (17) and the clamping limb (6) has a retaining opening (18) and are designed in such a way that, in the state of the clamping limb (6) deflected by the actuating element (16), the retaining lug (17) dips into the retaining opening (18) of the clamping limb (6) and the clamping limb (6) is held in the open retaining position by the actuating element (16) locked in this way.Conductor connection terminal (2) according to Claim 2, characterized in that the release contour (21) of the release element (14) is designed as a release lug, wherein the release lug is moved into the retaining opening (18) by the release movement of the release element (14) in order to push the retaining lug (17) out of the retaining opening (18).Conductor connection terminal (2) according to Claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the actuating element (16) is an actuating presser which is mounted displaceably in the actuating opening (26) of the insulating material housing (2) and on the outer surface of which the retaining lug (17) projects.Conductor connection terminal (2) according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the triggering element (14) is mounted pivotably in the insulating material housing (2) or on the busbar (3).Conductor connection terminal (2) according to one of Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the release element (14) has a lever arm (20) from which an unlocking nose forming the release contour (21) projects at a first end and a release arm (19) with the release surface (13) projects at a second end which is opposite the first end.Conductor connection terminal (2) according to claim 6, characterised in that the unlocking nose (21) and the release surface (13) project from the lever arm (20) in the same direction parallel to one another.Conductor connection terminal (2) according to Claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the lever arm (20) has a pivot bearing (S) and is mounted pivotably in the insulating material housing (24) by means of the pivot bearing (S).Conductor connection terminal (2) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the busbar (3) has a conductor through-opening (11) and the clamping spring (4) projects with the clamping limb (6) and the contact limb (5) into the conductor through-opening (11), wherein the contact limb (5) bears against a first end side delimiting the conductor through-opening (11), and the busbar (3) has, on a second end side of the conductor through-opening (11), a clamping projection (15) which extends away from the plane of the busbar (3) spanned by the conductor through-opening (11) and forms a clamping section for clamping the electrical conductor (10) between the clamping edge (15) of the clamping limb (6) and the clamping projection (15).Conductor connection terminal (2) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the conductor plug-through opening (11) of the busbar (3) has a collar (12) which partially or completely delimits the conductor plug-through opening (11) and extends from the plane of the busbar (3) spanned by the conductor plug-through opening (11) towards the release surface (13) of the release element (14).Conductor connection terminal (2) according to claim 10, characterised in that the clamping section is formed on the collar (12).Conductor connection terminal (2) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a busbar (3) has a plurality of conductor plug-through openings (11), each with a clamping spring (4) arranged thereon.Conductor connection terminal (2) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the clamping spring (4) is a leg spring.Conductor connection terminal (2) having - an insulating material housing (24) which has a conductor insertion opening (25) and an actuation opening (26), - a spring force clamping connection (1) in the insulating material housing (24) which has a busbar (3) and a clamping spring (4) which has a clamping limb (6) with a clamping edge (8) for clamping an electrical conductor (10) to the busbar (3), a contact limb (5) for mounting the clamping spring (4), and a spring bend (7) which connects the contact limb (5) to the clamping limb (6), - an actuating element (16) which is mounted movably in the actuation opening (26) and is designed for pivoting the clamping limb (6) counter to the spring force in the direction of the contact limb (5) into an open retaining position, characterized in that, the actuating element (16) and the clamping limb (6) have locking contours (17, 18) which are designed for locking the clamping limb (6) in the hold-open position by means of a positive connection of the locking contours (17, 18).

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