Plug contact

Abstract

The invention relates to a composite plug contact (1) for a contact plug (100) for a releasable, electrically conductive contacting process, having at least one front contact element (20), at least one rear contact element (30), and a contact protection pin (10). The at least one front contact element (20) and the at least one rear contact element (30) are releasably combined, wherein the contact protection pin (10) has a clamping piece (12) with a sealing device (13, 14) which acts radially outwards, and the clamping piece (12) of the contact protection pin (10) is positioned into a clamping piece receiving area (22) of the front contact element (20) and is releasably compressed by means of clamping forces acting in the axial direction. The invention additionally relates to a contact plug (100) comprising at least two composite plug contacts (1).

Description

[0001] Description

[0002] plug contact

[0003] The invention relates to a plug contact for a plug-in contact connector for detachable, electrically conductive contacting, comprising at least one front contact element and at least one rear contact element and a contact protection pin, wherein the at least one front contact element and the at least one rear contact element are detachably assembled. Furthermore, the invention relates to a plug-in contact connector with at least two assembled plug contacts.

[0004] Connectors in a wide variety of designs and variants are used to make contact or create detachable, electrically conductive connections. Connector solutions are available in a wide range of different designs, for example, with regard to the number of poles, electrical performance, and conditioning for a wide range of external influences such as humidity, temperature, corrosive media, or mechanical stress.

[0005] Depending on the installation or environmental conditions, application, cabling situation, and so on, different requirements may apply to the connector or detachable contact device. In particular, connectors in the high-power electrical range must meet the highest standards in terms of safety, reliability, and personal protection. This applies not only to the intended use of the connectors, but especially in situations during assembly, before mating the connection, and, last but not least, with regard to unintentional disconnection of the connector or incorrect handling in general.

[0006] To prevent danger to people or operating and assembly personnel and to meet the highest safety requirements, plug connectors are known whose current-carrying elements and contact elements are insulated and / or provided with touch protection, preventing contact with the current-carrying components both when plugged in and unplugged, as well as during assembly. If touch protection solutions are required for circular connectors, such as socket contacts, lamellar sleeves, or contact sleeves (so-called Radsok elements), these are usually implemented through the geometry of the connector housing. If this alone is not sufficient, touch protection pins can be used. This means a centrally arranged pin extending within the socket contact and projecting in the axial direction of the socket contact.This prevents a user from reaching and touching the conductive inner surface of the socket contact. The corresponding contact pin for establishing the electrically conductive connection with the contact socket must have an axial longitudinal bore into which the contact protection pin fits when the connector is plugged together.

[0007] Such a touch protection pin is made either of plastic or of metal with a plastic tip. The touch protection pins are typically pressed or screwed into the connector housing. Designs are also conceivable in which the touch protection pin is implemented as an integral part of a connector cover or the connector housing.

[0008] DE 10 2021 115 707 A1 proposes a contact protection solution using a contact protection pin. The contact protection pin has a round flange at one end, through which the contact protection pin is clamped with its flange between the lamella sleeve in the receiving bore of the contact sleeve and protrudes with the pin's shaft through the contact sleeve on the inside.

[0009] WO 2013 / 091990 A1 describes a contact protection device for electrically conductive connecting elements in an arrangement comprising a connector pin and a shield. The connector pin is provided with contact protection in the form of a non-conductive protective cap. Furthermore, the non-conductive shield and the connector pin area are separated by a gap opening.

[0010] The technical teaching presented in US 5 588 852 A relates to an electrical connector for an electrical connector assembly, comprising a dielectric housing with at least one cavity extending inwardly from a terminal surface of the housing. An electrically conductive socket contact is arranged in the at least one cavity. The socket contact generally has a tubular shape with inner and outer surfaces and an end surface arranged near the mating surface. A first dielectric element is arranged on the socket contact and extends at least over the end surface to shield the socket contact from inadvertent electrical engagement. A second dielectric element having a pin is arranged centrally within the socket contact to prevent inadvertent engagement with its inner surface.

[0011] DE 20 2014 011 405 U1 shows a contact protection solution on the male side of a plug connection with an electrically conductive pin contact element, the contact protection solution of which is formed by a contact protection device that partially encompasses the pin contact element.

[0012] US 2019 / 0348802 A1 presents a socket connector with a pin-like touch protection element arranged centrally within a socket. The socket connector comprises a tubular connector body on the socket side with a space portion on the socket side, into which the connector body on the plug side is insertably fitted along a same cylindrical axis. The insulation element on the female side comprises a finger touch protection body inserted into a first space portion of the outer tubular body and a space portion on the male side of the connector body on the male side. The finger touch prevention body protrudes further than a tip end surface of the socket-side connector body.An insulating annular body further projecting beyond the tip end surface of the socket-side connecting body on the same cylinder axis is provided outside the socket-side space portion in a direction orthogonal to a cylinder axis direction of the socket-side connecting body.

[0013] The state-of-the-art touch protection solutions with touch protection pins are not always convincing, especially when the touch protection pins are not integrally formed with the connector housing. This means that they must be mounted, secured, centered, precisely aligned axially congruent with the socket contact, and positioned precisely as a separate component. At the same time, the fastening must be highly reliable, and a sealing function must be integrated as required. Replaceability of the touch protection pin in the event of a fault is desirable; this means that the installation of the touch protection pin in a connector housing should be reversible to support the repair of the connector in the event of damage.The object of the invention is to further develop the existing contact protection solutions for plug connections, connector systems in the form of contact protection pins as a separate component and to improve them in such a way that the contact protection pin is very securely fastened and precisely aligned and a sealing function is realized and the disadvantages occurring in the prior art are at least partially reduced.

[0014] To solve this problem, the invention proposes a built-in plug contact with a touch protection pin, which has a clamping piece with a sealing device at its end. The touch protection pin is arranged axially centrally to the center axis of a front contact element with its clamping piece in a clamping piece receiving space and is positioned against a stop in the axial direction. A sealing device seals the clamping piece from the clamping piece receiving space. A rear contact element is releasably combined with the front contact element and clamps or braces the clamping piece of the touch protection pin axially against the stop within the clamping piece receiving space. In this way, the touch protection pin is particularly well and reliably attached to its clamping piece and precisely aligned axially parallel to the center axis of the front contact element.

[0015] In the event of damage or wear, the contact protection pin can be removed and replaced by detachably joining the front and rear contact elements, meaning the contact protection pin is reversibly arranged. At the same time, a sealing function is realized, for example, against a liquid cooling medium when using the assembled plug contact in a charging connector for electric vehicles, whose current-carrying components must be cooled due to the frequently high charging currents. Even in plug connection situations without a cooling medium, sealing the connector face against external influences may be necessary, which is then made possible by the sealing function of the contact protection pin.

[0016] The touch protection pin is formed entirely or partially from an electrically non-conductive material, thus fulfilling the touch protection function. To keep the current-carrying components of the front contact element inaccessible by contact, the touch protection pin projects beyond the front contact element end facing in the plug-in direction. The invention is explained in more detail below using an exemplary embodiment in conjunction with the figures. In the figures:

[0017] Fig. 1 the sectional side view of the assembled plug contact with touch protection pin and two contact elements;

[0018] Fig. 2 the front view of a plug contact connector (upper illustration) and the sectional side view of a plug contact connector (lower illustration) with two assembled plug contacts;

[0019] Fig. 3 the sectional side view of the plug contact connector.

[0020] Figure 1 illustrates the sectional side view of the assembled plug contact 1 with touch protection pin 10 and two contact elements 20, 30.

[0021] The contact protection pin 10 has a shaft 11, which is preferably cylindrical. The contact protection pin 10 can be rounded at one end of the shaft 1, and a clamping piece 12 is provided at the opposite end.

[0022] The clamping piece 12 is essentially cylindrical in shape and thus largely rotationally symmetrical with respect to the center axis xx. At least one groove 13 is machined into the outer surface of the clamping piece 12, into which an O-ring 14 (not shown in the drawing) is inserted. The contact protection pin 10 is inserted with its end clamping piece 12 into a clamping piece receiving space 22 of a front contact element 20. This arrangement offers two significant advantages: Firstly, sealing against cooling media or other flowable substances takes place between the clamping piece 12 of the contact protection pin 10 and the clamping piece receiving space 22, and secondly, the contact protection pin 10 is held in the inserted position during the assembly process by the clamping effect of the O-ring arrangement.The assembled plug contact 1 further comprises a rear contact element 30, which is detachably joined to the front contact element 20. The joining is achieved by an external thread 31 of the rear contact element 30 and a threaded bore 21, i.e., an internal thread of the front contact element 20, such that both contact elements 20, 30 form an aligned center axis xx, to which the center axis of the contact protection pin 10 is congruent.

[0023] In the plug-in direction and thus in the arrangement direction towards the front contact element 20, the rear contact element 30 has a front-end clamping projection 32. This clamping projection 32, which is designed concentrically to the center axis xx and corresponding to the front side of the clamping piece 12, presses the contact protection pin 10 with its clamping piece 12 in the clamping piece receiving space 22 due to the axial force introduced by screwing the contact elements 20, 30 together using the thread pair 21, 31. The pressing is carried out by the clamping projection 32 axially relative to a stop 23, which axially delimits the clamping piece receiving space 22 on the side of the front contact element 20. The stop 23 is preferably designed as a concentric annular shoulder, through the front-end bore of which the shaft 11 of the contact protection pin 10 is guided.

[0024] Depending on the selected and permissible tightening torque of the thread pair 21, 31, high axial clamping forces can also be introduced into the clamping piece 12 through the clamping projection 32, so that a very secure, play-free fixation of the contact protection pin 10 can be realized and the contact protection pin 10 is guided with high precision centrically and axially congruent to the center axis xx.

[0025] The touch protection pin 10 is preferably formed in one piece and either consists of a pressure-resistant, electrically non-conductive material or has an electrically non-conductive sheath at least in the shaft and shaft tip area. To ensure the touch protection function is as reliable as possible, the shaft 11 of the touch protection pin 10 projects beyond the longitudinal end of the front contact element 20, preferably with an overhanging length that approximately corresponds to the shaft diameter. Figure 2 shows the front view of a plug-in contact connector 100 (upper illustration) and the sectional side view of a plug-in contact connector 100 (lower illustration) with two assembled plug contacts 1.

[0026] This exemplary application example shows the installation of the assembled plug contacts 1 in a plug contact connector 100 designed for the detachable electrical connection of a vehicle battery via a plug contact mating connector (not shown).

[0027] The plug contact connector 100 essentially comprises a front plug contact housing 110 and a rear plug contact housing 120. Both plug contact housings 110, 120 have a dividing section in at least one plane radial to the center axis xx, at which they are releasably joined together.

[0028] Particularly when implementing fast-charging functions, the transmission of very high electrical power is required. Due to the electrical line resistance of the components involved in the electrical line, this leads to considerable heat generation and requires cooling. This cooling media typically involves flowable or liquid cooling media, which are often electrically conductive if the cooling media have good cooling properties and / or are inexpensive. Therefore, such cooling media must be sealed away from the electrically conductive components of the plug-in contact connector 100 and the assembled plug-in contact 1.

[0029] This sealing function is functionally achieved by the at least one groove 13 and the O-ring 14 inserted into the groove 13 (the inserted O-ring 14 is not shown) arranged in the outer surface of the clamping piece 12. It is particularly advantageous that the seal created by the groove / O-ring arrangement in the outer surface of the clamping piece 12 creates an annular, radial sealing surface and is therefore not exposed to the axially occurring force effect of the compression of the clamping piece 12 in the clamping piece receiving space 22 between the stop 23 and the clamping projection 32. This allows a suitable high pressing force and thus clamping force to be selected without running the risk of damaging or crushing the O-ring 14. The high clamping force acting on the clamping piece 12 by pressing is particularly advantageous for the secure, play-free fixing of the contact protection pin 10 and its centric, axis-congruent guidance to the center axis xx.Figure 3 depicts the sectional side view of the plug contact connector 100 from Figure 2 in a rotated and enlarged view. The front contact element 20 of the assembled plug contact 1 with touch protection pin 10 is largely accommodated in the front plug contact housing 110 of the plug contact connector 100.

[0030] The front plug contact housing 110 can optionally have, as shown in this exemplary embodiment, a housing touch guard 111, which functionally complements the touch guard pin 10. The housing touch guard 111 is a section flanged approximately 180 degrees at the end of the inner insertion area of ​​the front plug contact housing 110 for the front contact element 20 and has three functions:

[0031] On the one hand, the flanged housing contact protection 111 prevents a user or assembly personnel from touching the front contact element 20 before plugging together the plug contact connector 100 with its plug contact mating connector (not shown).

[0032] On the other hand, the flange-shaped housing contact protection 111 serves as a front-side mechanical stop for the front contact element 20 of the assembled plug contact 1 during the assembly process, i.e. inserting the assembled plug contact 1 into the front plug contact housing 110 of the plug contact connector 100.

[0033] The third function is the axial securing of the assembled plug contact 1 in the plug contact connector 100. For this purpose, a snap ring 130 is provided, which is secured in a snap ring groove 33 of the rear contact element 30. When the assembled plug contact 1 is fully assembled in the plug contact connector 100, a snap ring shoulder 121 of the rear plug contact housing 120 clamps the snap ring 130 axially on one side against the flange of the housing contact guard 111, thus securing the assembled plug contact 1 axially in the plug contact connector 100. Reference numeral

[0034] 1 built-in plug contact

[0035] 10 touch protection pin

[0036] 11 shaft

[0037] 12 clamping piece

[0038] 13 grooves

[0039] 14 O-ring

[0040] 20 front contact element

[0041] 21 threaded hole

[0042] 22 Clamping piece receiving space

[0043] 23 stop

[0044] 30 rear contact element

[0045] 31 external thread

[0046] 32 clamping projection

[0047] 33 Snap ring groove

[0048] 100 plug-in connectors

[0049] 110 front plug contact housing

[0050] 111 Housing contact protection

[0051] 120 rear plug contact housing

[0052] 121 Snap ring shoulder

[0053] 130 Snap ring xx center axis

Claims

Claims 1 . Plug contact, in particular assembled plug contact (1 ) for a plug contact connector (100) for detachable, electrically conductive contacting, comprising at least one front contact element (20) and at least one rear contact element (30) and a contact protection pin (10), wherein the at least one front contact element (20) and the at least one rear contact element (30) are detachably put together, characterized in that the contact protection pin (10) has a clamping piece (12) with a radially outwardly acting sealing device (13, 14), wherein the contact protection pin (10) with the clamping piece (12) is positioned in a clamping piece receiving space (22) of the front contact element (20) and is detachably pressed by axially acting clamping forces.

2. Plug contact (1) for a plug contact plug (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that the contact protection pin (10) is formed from an electrically insulating and pressure-resistant material and / or is at least partially covered with an insulating material.

3. Plug contact (1) for a plug contact plug (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that the clamping piece (12) has a cylindrical outer surface into which a groove (13) is made and an O-ring (14) is inserted, which form the radially outwardly acting sealing device.

4. Plug contact (1) for a plug contact plug (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that the axial clamping forces acting on the clamping piece (12) are applied by a clamping projection (32) of the rear contact element (30).

5. Plug contact (1) for a plug contact plug (100) according to claim 4, characterized in that the clamping projection (32) is arranged in at least one plane of a dividing section between the at least one front contact element (20) and the at least one rear contact element (30).

6. Plug contact (1) for a plug contact plug (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that the axially acting clamping forces press the clamping piece (12) against a stop (23) of the front contact element (20).

7. Plug contact (1) for a plug contact plug (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that the axially acting clamping forces are introduced by a tightening torque of a thread pairing consisting of a threaded bore (21) of the front contact element (20) and an external thread (31) of the rear contact element (30).

8. Plug contact (1) for a plug contact plug (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that the thread pairing (21, 31) determines the releasable joining of the front contact element (20) and the rear contact element (30).

9. Plug contact (1) for a plug contact plug (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that the at least one rear contact element (30) has a snap ring groove (33).

10. Plug-in contact connector (100) for electrically conductive, detachable contacting of a mobile vehicle battery with a power source, comprising at least one front plug-in contact housing (110) and at least one rear plug-in contact housing (120) and at least two assembled plug-in contacts (1) according to one of the preceding claims.

11. Plug contact plug (100) according to claim 10, characterized in that the at least one front plug contact housing (110) has a housing contact protection (111) assigned to a respective assembled plug contact (1), wherein the housing contact protection (111) is flanged and the associated assembled plug contact (1) abuts the flange on the end face.

12. Plug contact plug (100) according to claim 9 and 11, characterized in that the at least one rear plug contact housing (120) has a snap ring abutment shoulder (121) which cooperates with a snap ring (130) inserted into the snap ring groove (33) of the at least one rear contact element (30), so that the assembled plug contact (1) is axially positioned and fixed against the flanging of the housing contact protection (111).

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