Conductor Terminal with Pivoting Lever for Creepage Distance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing conductor connection terminals face challenges in maintaining required clearances and creepage distances while achieving a compact construction, as they often compromise on size to accommodate these essential electrical safety features.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a pivotable actuating element with two lever arm sections that dip into the insulating material housing, forming a U-shaped pivoting lever, which allows for increased air and creepage distances without increasing the terminal's size, with housing wall sections protruding into a free space to enhance clearance and creepage distances, and a U-shaped housing wall section that accommodates the spring-loaded terminal connection, optimizing the compact construction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the terminal construction is made compact, then the device size is reduced, but the required clearances and creepage distances cannot be maintained
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes the vertical dimension by having housing wall sections protrude upward into the free space above the actuating element, rather than expanding the terminal horizontally. This allows clearance and creepage distances to be increased in the vertical direction while maintaining a compact horizontal footprint, effectively resolving the contradiction between compact size and required electrical distances.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing wall sections are nested within the free space that is already defined by the actuating element's lever arm sections. By placing the housing wall sections inside this existing spatial envelope, the design increases clearance distances without requiring additional external space, thus maintaining compact overall dimensions while satisfying electrical safety requirements.
2Reliability
If housing wall sections protrude into free space, then creepage distance is increased, but the actuating element's movement space is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The housing wall sections protrude only partially into the free space, specifically into the region adjacent to the transverse web and laterally delimited by the lever arm sections. This partial protrusion is sufficient to achieve the required creepage distances while leaving the central pivot area and lever arm movement paths clear, thus maintaining ease of operation while improving electrical safety.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration enables a low overall height and compact construction of the conductor connection terminal while ensuring compliance with necessary air and creepage distances, ensuring effective electrical connectivity and safety.
Implementation Method 1
at least one spring-loaded terminal connection (11) for connecting an electrical conductor (30)
Implementation Method 2
an associated actuating element (3) which is pivotably accommodated in the insulating material housing (2)
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4
AI summary
A conductor terminal (1) with an insulating housing (2) and with at least one spring-loaded clamping connection (11) in the insulating housing (2), as well as with at least one actuating element (3) which is pivotably mounted in the insulating housing (2) and is designed to open at least one associated spring-loaded clamping connection (11), is described. The actuating element (3) has two spaced-apart lever arm sections (7a, 7b) which extend at least partially into the insulating housing (2) with a pivot bearing area (23) and are connected to each other by a crossbar (8) to form a lever arm, spaced apart from the pivot bearing area (23).In the closed state of the respective associated actuating element (3), each housing wall section (5) of the insulating housing (2) projects into a free space (6) adjacent to the crossbar (8) of the respective associated actuating element (3), which is laterally limited by the lever arm sections (7a, 7b).