1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a plug connector with a housing and at least one contact element fixed within the housing which is designed for connection to at least one wire of a cable, the wire being partially surrounded by a cable jacket. The invention also relates to a system consisting of such a plug connector and a cable. In particular, the invention relates to a system consisting of a twisted-pair cable and a plug connector with two contact elements.
2. Description of Related Art
Twisted-pair cables have long been in use in the field of signal and data transmission. “Twisted-pair” refers to cables in which the wires (i.e., the conductors of the cable which are each surrounded by an insulating jacket) are twisted together in pairs. In comparison with cables in which the wire pairs are parallel, twisted-pair cables with their twisted wire pairs provide better protection against external alternating magnetic fields and electrostatic interference, since with a symmetrical signal transmission interference through external fields is largely cancelled out as a result of the twisting of the wire pairs.
Plug connectors are used to connect together electrically conductive components such as cables in an electrically conductive manner.
When connecting a twisted-pair cable with a conventional plug connector, the outer cable jacket surrounding the wires is removed in a section in which these are inserted within a housing of the plug connector. The ends of the conductors of the wires, which are in addition stripped of their insulating jacket, are then permanently connected with contact elements of the plug connector. The contact elements are in turn fixed within the housing. Within the housing, i.e., in the section from which the cable jacket has been removed, the wires run substantially parallel to one another. This section of the twisted-pair cable could thus be exposed to increased interference through external fields.
In order to avoid such increased interference, it is usual to integrate a shielding in the plug connector and in particular in the housing of the plug connector. However, this leads to relatively high costs for the plug connector, since it rules out the economic possibility of designing the housing exclusively of electrically insulating or non-conductive plastics.
In virtually all systems consisting of plug connector and cable it is relevant to create a strain relief for the connection of the wires with the contact element in order to prevent a tensile strain on the plug connector and cable jacket being transferred to this connection. The integration of a strain relief in such a system is generally associated with a relatively complex structure of the plug connector and consequently relatively high manufacturing costs, as well as with a relatively complex assembly of the system and consequently relatively high assembly costs. The costs per unit for the system are thus increased through the integration of a strain relief.