1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to an electrical connector.
2. Related Art
EP 0 471,943 B1 discloses an electrical connector that includes a plug unit with an insulator housing and a socket unit with an insulator housing, both of which have a molded anti-shock sleeve for each pole, such that when the connector is closed the anti-shock sleeves that surround the contacts of the socket unit can be inserted into the receiving chambers of the anti-shock sleeves that surround the pins of the plug unit, while the cross section profiles of the uptake chambers of the anti-shock sleeves of the plug unit each correspond in shape and are substantially fitted to the outer cross section profile of the corresponding anti-shock sleeves of the socket contacts (fixed coding).
Such connectors have many uses in instrument and installation engineering. However, such connectors have the systematic disadvantage that the anti-shock sleeves, which can be inserted one into the other with identical shape for coding purposes, nevertheless require a sufficiently large play in their accuracy of fit so that in practical terms the anti-shock sleeves can be joined together and separated again with the least possible insertion force. The aforesaid play in the accuracy of fit of the anti-shock sleeves of a connector means that the connectors are not very stable in the closed condition, especially since the relatively long anti-shock sleeves of the plug unit, which surround the particular plug pin at a distance (cross section of the uptake chambers), are relatively unstable because of their tubular cross section profile and usually slight wall thickness. In robust use of such connectors, for example, for heating purposes, the instability can lead to contact problems.
One object of the invention is to develop a more stable configuration of such connectors, without increasing the insertion forces when closing and opening the connector and without limiting the coding possibilities of the anti-shock sleeves that fit together.
One embodiment of the invention is directed to an electrical connector that includes a plug unit. The anti-shock sleeves of the plug unit each have a multi-chamber cross section profile. In some embodiment, the cross-section profile is a two-chamber cross section profile, which is formed from a first uptake chamber, surrounding the plug pin, and a second uptake chamber, such that the second uptake chamber runs parallel to the first uptake chamber and is shaped as a single piece with it and is separated from the first uptake chamber by an insulator partition.
The two-chamber cross-section profile of the anti-shock sleeves of the plug unit improves the shape stability (stiffness) of the relatively long anti-shock sleeves very substantially, while the material required for the insulator walls of the second uptake chamber increases only slightly, since the two-chamber anti-shock sleeves gain their improved shape stability primarily from the multi-chamber cross-section profile and not from increasing the wall thickness of the uptake chambers.
By inserting the anti-shock sleeves of the socket contacts (which are more stable by their very nature, since they enclose the socket contacts more tightly and with thicker walls, in comparison to that disclosed in EP 0 471,943 B1) into the anti-shock sleeves of the plug pins (which are configured as two-chamber anti-shock sleeves in the present), the connector achieves overall a good stability of use in the closed condition, even when the second uptake chamber of the anti-shock sleeves of the plug unit remains unused.
However, a further development of the invention envisions a meaningful use for the second uptake chamber of the two-chamber anti-shock sleeves.
In another embodiment, the second uptake chamber can accommodate an insert peg, which is molded on the insulator housing of the socket unit and which, when the connector is closed, engages by precise shape and fit with the corresponding second uptake chamber of the two-chamber cross section profile of the anti-shock sleeves of the plug unit. Insert pegs of this kind, which are made dimensionally stable with the insulator housing of the socket unit, provide an additional stabilization of the connector in the closed condition, so that it is suitable for especially robust practical applications.
In another embodiment, the second uptake chamber of the two-chamber antishock sleeves has insert pegs molded on the insulator housing of the socket unit. The insert pegs have predetermined breaking notches near the insulator housing, so that they can be optionally separated (e.g., broken off) for coding purposes and can be inserted in the corresponding uptake chambers of the two-chamber anti-shock sleeves of the plug unit. In this way, a connector has a further variable coding possibility in addition to its fixed coding (which is permanently provided by the manufacturer through the respective shape identity of the anti-shock sleeves fitting together).
In another embodiment, it is very advantageous to have the two-chamber cross-section profile of the anti-shock sleeves of the plug unit configured on two levels, so that all of the second uptake chambers are situated on an upper level and all the first uptake chambers are arranged on a lower level. The aforesaid fixed coding is realized in that the manufacturer provides molded projections and recesses in the side walls of the first uptake chambers, which extend only in the direction of the lower level. In this way, the lower level is optimally utilized, and a relatively flat overall construction of the connector is achieved despite the arrangement of the second uptake chambers on an upper level.
In another embodiment, where the second uptake chambers of the two-chamber anti-shock sleeves of the plug unit are positioned according to the previous embodiment, an optimal space utilization is provided in that the width of the second uptake chambers extending in the direction of the upper level is dimensioned such that a free space (open space) is formed on the upper level between the second uptake chambers of neighboring anti-shock sleeves, and in the free space are positioned the structural elements of an interlock device, which joins together the halves of the connector (plug unit and socket unit) in the closed state.
In another embodiment, the structural elements of an interlock device can be arranged almost completely embedded in the free space, so that they project little if at all from the outer contours of the connector halves. This greatly protects the interlock device from an unintentional loosening.