EP1989764B1 - Plug for shielded data cables - Google Patents

Abstract

A plug for shielded data cables, in particular an RJ45 plug, has an electrically conducting housing, which can be assembled from a first shell (1) and a second shell (2). An electrically insulating plug body (4) accommodates plug contacts (302). A printed circuit board (3), which can be inserted into the housing, bears the plug contacts (302) and insulation displacement contacts (303, 304) and conductively connects them to one another. The printed circuit board (3) is insulated from the housing (1) by a non-conducting foil (301). The wires of the data cable to be connected can be inserted into a loading piece (5), wherein the wires are accommodated in two planes one above the other in the loading piece (5). The data cable can be mounted in the loading piece (5) and the second shell (2). When the shells (1, 2) are assembled, the insulation displacement contacts (303, 304) make contact with the wires of the data cable which are accommodated in the loading piece (5).

Description

The invention relates to a plug for shielded data cable according to the preamble of patent claim 1.

For structured service-neutral cabling in industrial and office environments, mainly shielded data cables are used, which are connected via pre-assembled connectors. The connectors provide the conductive connection between the wires of the data cables and ensure shielding of the contacts. At the same time, the shielding of the connectors serves to connect the shielding of the data cables to be connected to one another. Such connectors are in particular as RJ connectors in use.

From the WO 02/15340 A1 a plug for shielded data cable of the type mentioned is known. In an electrically conductive housing, a circuit board is used, on the one hand carries IDC contacts for contacting the wires of the data cable to be connected and on the other hand plug contacts for the connector and connects with each other. The wires to be connected are inserted into a charging piece, which is placed on the insulation displacement contacts to contact the wires. The plug contacts are received in a plug body, which is inserted into the socket of the connector. The housing consists of two shells, which are connected to each other via a hinge and foldable. The ends of the shells opposite the joint form a strain relief enclosing the data cable after folding. There are only four in a row juxtaposed insulation displacement contacts available, so that only a vieradriges data cable connected can be. For the transfer of the shield of the data cable to the socket a separate stamped and bent sheet metal part is provided in the plug.

From the US 5,905,637 a plug for shielded data cable is known in which the insulation displacement contacts for the wires of the data cable to be connected and the plug contacts are each arranged in separate blocks which are placed on the circuit board connecting the contacts. In order to connect eight wires, such as an RJ 45 connector, the insulation displacement contacts are arranged in two mutually offset in the insertion direction rows of four insulation displacement contacts. The data cable is fed from the top between these two rows, so that each four cores forward and four cores opposite to the rear are inserted into the insulation displacement contacts. The feed of the data cable at the top of the plug increases its height.

From the DE 100 57 833 A1 is a connector for shielded data cable is known in which eight wires of a data cable, for example, for a RJ 45 connector in a charging piece in two stacked staggered planes are taken and are used by means of the charging piece in insulation displacement contacts, in two in the insertion direction staggered rows are arranged. In the electrically conductive housing, which causes the shielding of the contacts, a shield plate is additionally used, which serves to transfer the shielding of the data cable to be connected to each other.

The invention has for its object to provide a plug for shielded data cable, which is compact and easy to install.

This object is achieved by a plug with the features of claim 1.

Advantageous embodiments of the invention are specified in the subclaims.

The plug according to the invention has an electrically conductive housing consisting of two shells, which accommodates a plug body, a printed circuit board and a charging piece. The plug body consists of an insulating material and receives the plug contacts, which produce the plug connector contacts when plugging the plug body into a socket. The circuit board carries on the one hand the plug contacts and the other insulation displacement contacts and connects these contacts. The wires of the data cable to be connected are inserted into the charging piece and contacted when placing the charging piece on the insulation displacement contacts through them. The insulation displacement contacts are arranged in two mutually offset in the insertion direction rows of four insulation displacement contacts. The wires are arranged in the charging piece in two planes, one over the other plane to contact the wires arranged in the two layers through the two rows of insulation displacement contacts. This makes it possible to connect not only four-wire industrial cables, but also up to eight-wire standard office cables.

In order to allow a particularly low height of the connector, the circuit board is insulated by a thin film against the shell of the housing. Next, the insulation displacement contacts of the two staggered rows are formed with different heights. The front in the plug-in direction of the insulation displacement contacts is higher than the rear row. The PCB-near Area of the plug contacts of the front row is enclosed by the plug body to mechanically stabilize the insulation displacement contacts. The plug-in direction in the rear row of the insulation displacement contacts, however, is free up to the circuit board, so that the charging piece can be placed in the region of this rear row of the insulation displacement contacts to the circuit board.

The plug can be easily mounted without expensive tools or aids. The wires of the cable to be connected are inserted into the charging piece, where they exit at its facing in the insertion direction end face. On this front side, the wires can be cut off. An adjustment of the length of the free ends of the wires is therefore not required during assembly. The cable to be connected can already be clamped in the charging piece receiving shell of the housing by a strain relief, so that the wires are fixed in the charging piece and can not move in the further assembly. The shell of the housing with the charging piece must be placed only on the other shell of the housing, which receives the PCB with the insulation displacement contacts.

In a shell, preferably of the circuit board receiving shell of the housing, a resilient shield contact is used, which is conductively connected to the housing. When assembling the shells in the one shell fixed by the strain relief data cable is pressed with its shield against the mounted in the other shell shield contact, so that the shield of the data cable in the assembly of the shells for mounting is inevitably brought into contact with the conductive housing , Without additional measures is thus a reliable connection of the shielding housing with the Shielding of the cable and a transfer of the shielding to the plug receiving female ensures.

The plug body, the charging piece and the shells of the housing are locked together during assembly by snap-fitting connections, so that no additional aids such. Screws or the like are required.

The conductive housing and the contacting of the shielding of the connected data cable through the housing ensure all-round shielding of the free wire ends within the connector. The small dimensions of the cable paths on the PCB between the insulation displacement contacts and the plug contacts allow optimal routing, so that a crosstalk between the individual wires is minimal. In conjunction with the shield thus a signal transmission to at least 250 MHz is possible. Due to the small outer dimensions of the plug can be installed in a variety of standardized protective housing, which are used in industrial applications, for. to meet the IP 67 protection requirements.

The small dimensions make the plug particularly suitable for so-called multi-port sockets, in which a plurality of sockets are arranged in a two-dimensional grid.

Figur 1

eine Explosionsdarstellung des Steckers von oben,

Figur 2

eine Explosionsdarstellung des Steckers von unten,

Figur 3

eine Darstellung des Steckers vor dem Zusammenfügen des Gehäuses,

Figur 4

eine Darstellung des Steckers vor dem Zusammenfügen in einer anderen Ansicht und

Figur 5

einen Längsschnitt durch den Stecker.

In the following the invention will be explained in more detail with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawing. Show it:

FIG. 1

an exploded view of the plug from above,

FIG. 2

an exploded view of the plug of below,

FIG. 3

a representation of the connector before the assembly of the housing,

FIG. 4

a representation of the plug before joining in another view and

FIG. 5

a longitudinal section through the plug.

The plug has a housing which is assembled from a first shell 1 and a second shell 2. In the housing, a printed circuit board 3, a plug body 4 and a charging piece 5 are used. The shells 1 and 2 of the housing are electrically conductive and are preferably designed as metal die castings, in particular zinc die-cast parts. The plug body 4 and the charging piece 5 are made of an insulating material and are in particular plastic injection molded parts.

The first shell 1 has the shape of an elongated in the insertion direction of the plug tray with a rectangular U-shaped profile, which has a base 101 and side walls 102. In the plug-in direction of the plug - in the FIG. 1 pointing downward - part of the first shell, the base 101 forms a receptacle 103, in which the circuit board 3 is inserted. At the rear end in the plug-in direction on the base 101, a shield contact 104 is attached. The shield contact 104 is a stamped sheet metal part and lies with a bottom surface 105 on the base 101 of the shell 1 and is conductively connected thereto, eg riveted. The bottom surface 105 is bent at its pointing in the insertion direction leading edge 106, so that between the front edge 106 and the base 101 is formed a gap in which the trailing edge of the circuit board 3 can be held in order to position them in the shell 1. At the two longitudinal edges of the bottom surface 105 contact springs 107 are bent up and bent inwardly parallel to the bottom surface 105 so that the overlapping with their free ends contact springs 107 form an elastically resilient support.

At the front edge of the base 101 of the shell 1 pointing in the insertion direction, a box-shaped suspension 108 is formed, which is open on the underside of the base 101 against the insertion direction. In the suspension 108, a locking lever 109 can be mounted. The locking lever 109 has at its front end a nose 110, with which it engages behind the front edge of the base 101 in the suspension 108, so that the locking lever 109 is held in the suspension 108 retrofittable and detachable. The locking lever 109 protrudes with a lever arm 111 to the rear from the suspension 108. On the lever arm 111 latching shoulders 112 are formed, which serve for releasably anchoring the plug in a socket, not shown. If the lever arm 111 pressed resiliently against the base 101, so the locking shoulders 112 can be released from the latch in the socket.

On the circuit board 3 connector contacts 302 are arranged on the front edge facing in the insertion direction. In the illustrated embodiment of an RJ 45 connector, these are eight juxtaposed plug contacts 302. The plug contacts 302 are formed as brackets, which are formed by wires or stampings. On the rear edge in the plug-in direction of the circuit board 3 insulation displacement contacts 303 and 304 are arranged. The insulation displacement contacts 303 and 304 are arranged in two rows extending transversely to the direction of insertion, offset in the insertion direction are spaced from each other. A rear row of insulation displacement contacts 303 adjoining the rear edge of the printed circuit board 3 has a smaller height than the front row of insulation displacement contacts 304 in the plugging direction. Each row of the insulation displacement contacts 303 and 304 consists of four insulation displacement contacts 303 and 304, respectively Gap are arranged offset and perpendicular from the circuit board 3 are up.

The plug body 4 has substantially the shape of a cuboid whose cross section corresponds to the inner cross section of the first shell 1. At its front edge pointing in the direction of insertion, the plug body 4 has continuous slots 401 lying next to one another. In its rear end region, the plug body 4 has four transverse slots 402, which pass vertically. The plug body 4 is arranged on the printed circuit board 3 in such a way that its front edge pointing in the plugging direction coincides with the front edge of the printed circuit board 3. The rear end in the plug-in direction of the plug body 4 extends beyond the front row of the insulation displacement contacts 304.

The plug contacts 302 are inserted through the slots 401 in the circuit board 3. The insulation displacement contacts 304 of the front row are inserted through the transverse slots 402 in the circuit board. The insulation displacement contacts 303 of the rear row are also inserted into the circuit board 3. The printed circuit board 3 equipped in this manner is preferably soldered in the THR method (through hole reflow). As a result, the insulation displacement contacts 303 and 304 are conductively connected via conductor tracks of the printed circuit board 3 with the plug contacts 302. The printed circuit board 3 with the insulation displacement contacts 303 and 304 and the plug contacts 302 thus forms together with the plug body 4, a compact assembly. The plug contacts 302 are exposed in the slots 401 at the front edge and top of the plug body, so that they can contact the corresponding contacts of the socket when plugging the plug into a socket. The insulation displacement contacts 304 of the front row penetrate through the transverse slots 402 and protrude upward beyond the top of the connector body 4. The insulation displacement contacts 303 of the rear row are behind the plug body 4 freely on the rear edge of the circuit board. 3

Into the receptacle 103 of the first shell 1, a thin insulating film 301 is inserted. The film 301 corresponds in size to the printed circuit board 3. After inserting the film 301, the module formed from the printed circuit board 3 and the plug body 4 is inserted into the first shell 1. The plug body 4 has on its two longitudinal side surfaces in each case at least one latching lug 403. These locking lugs 403 snap into recesses 113 in the side walls 102 of the first shell 1, when this assembly is pressed into the shell 1. As a result, the plug body 4 and the printed circuit board 3 are fixed in the first shell 1. The film 301 completely electrically insulates the circuit board 3 and its conductor tracks and soldering points against the shell 1.

After inserting and locking the circuit board 3 with the plug body 4, the shield contact 104 is inserted behind the circuit board 3 in the shell 1 and with this example. connected by riveting. In this case, the front edge 106 of the shield contact 104 overlaps the trailing edge of the printed circuit board 3, whereby it is additionally held in the shell 1.

The second shell 2 also essentially has the shape of a rectangular U-profile extending in the direction of insertion with an upper surface 201 and side walls 202. In the plug-in direction facing the front end of the second shell 2, the charging piece 5 is used. For this purpose, the charging piece 5 at its two rear outer edges notches 501, in which engage the insertion of the loading piece 5 in the second shell 2 inner projections 203 on the side walls 202. In order to keep the projections 203 and the notches 501 in engagement, the loading piece 5 engages with a latching nose 502 integrally formed on its upper side into a latching recess 204 in the upper surface 201 of the shell 2.

The charging piece 5 is stepped. In an upper, adjacent to the upper surface 201 of the shell 2 level, the charging piece 5 has four parallel through holes 503 in the insertion direction. In these holes 503 lead from the bottom of each transverse slots 504, which are staggered against each other and in their arrangement correspond to the insulation displacement contacts 304 of the front row. Behind these transverse slots 504 four juxtaposed receiving forks 505 are integrally formed on the underside of the charging piece 5, which are open towards the bottom.

Subsequent to the region of the shell 2, which receives the charging piece 5, a shield contact region 205 of the shell 2 is formed. This shield contact region 205 has on the inside of the upper surface 201 inwardly projecting transversely to the insertion direction extending contact ribs 206. Subsequent to this shield contact region 205, a strain relief region 207 of the shell 2 adjoins. In the strain relief region 207, the upper surface 201 is formed on its inside as a trough. On the strain relief 207 a strain relief clamp 208 can be placed. The Zugentlastungsschelle 208 has the shape of a U-shaped bracket with at his middle yoke formed inwardly directed pressure edges 209. Inside the two legs of the strain relief clamp 208 each have a toothing 210 is formed. The serrations 210 cooperate with locking edges 211, which are integrally formed on the outside of the side walls 202 of the shell 2 in the strain relief region 207. The strain relief clamp 208 is captively connected to the shell 2 by means of a tab 212.

To connect a data cable, especially an eight-wire cable, the wires are exposed at the cable end. Following the exposed cores, the shielding of the cable is freed from the outer cable insulation over a section. The wires are then inserted into the charging piece 5, with four wires inserted into the holes 503 of the upper level and the other four wires are pressed into the receiving forks 505 and clamped in this. The exposed shielding of the cable comes to lie in the shield contact region 205 of the shell 2. Then the strain relief clamp 208 is placed and pressed against the shell 2. The pressure edges 209 of the strain relief clamp 208 press the cable with its insulating jacket in the trough of the shell 2, to fix the cable strain-relieved. The serrations 201 thereby enable engagement of the strain relief clamp 208 in any position, so that cables with different cross-section can be clamped and held relieved of strain. Due to the strain relief, the cable is fixed in the second shell 2 and the wires of the cable are held in the charging piece 5. The protruding ends of the wires can now be cut to length at the end face of the bores 503 or the receiving forks 505 pointing in the insertion direction. The installation of the cable in the charging piece 5 and the shell 2 is simple and independent of the rest of the connector feasible. Subsequently the second shell 2 is placed with the latched in this loading piece 5 and the cable mounted on the first shell 1 with the circuit board 3 and the plug body 4. In this case, the charging piece 5 is placed so that the front insulation displacement contacts 304, which protrude upwardly from the plug body 4, penetrate through the transverse slots 504 in the holes 503, while the rear insulation displacement contacts 303 penetrate into the receiving forks 505. The insulation displacement contacts 304 thereby contact the wires of the upper level of the holes 503, while the rear insulation displacement contacts 303 contact the depressed into the receiving forks 505 wires. In order to hold together the first shell 1 and the second shell 2 in the assembled state, the second shell 2 engages with latching noses 213, which are integrally formed on the side walls 202 in the shield contact region 205, in latching recesses 114 in the corresponding region of the side walls 102 of the first shell 1. In this Zusammenfügen.der shells 1 and 2, the contact springs 107 of the shield contact 104 of the first shell 1 to the exposed shielding of the cable and press this shield resiliently against the contact ribs 206 of the second shell 2. This creates a reliable contact between the Shielding of the cable and the two electrically conductive shells 1 and 2 of the connector housing made.

In FIG. 1 the connector is shown without strain relief, ie the strain relief 207 and the strain relief clamp 208 is missing. This version is intended for installation in protective housings, which in turn already have a strain relief.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

first shell

101

Floor space

102

side walls

103

admission

104

screen contact

105

floor area

106

leading edge

107

contact springs

108

suspension

109

locking lever

110

nose

111

lever arm

112

locking shoulders

113

recesses

114

recesses

2

second shell

201

upper surface

202

side walls

203

projections

204

recess

205

Screen contact area

206

contact ribs

207

Strain relief

208

Strain relief

209

pressing edges

210

serrations

211

locking edges

212

flap

213

locking lugs

3

circuit board

301

foil

302

plug contacts

303

rear insulation displacement contacts

304

front insulation displacement contacts

4

plug body

401

slots

402

transverse slots

403

locking lugs

5

loading piece

501

notch

502

locking lug

503

drilling

504

transverse slots

505

Recording forks.

Claims (12)

1. A plug for shielded data cables, with an electrically conductive housing which is assembled from a first shell (1) and a second shell (2), with an electrically insulating plug body (4) which receives plug contacts (302), with a printed circuit board (3) which is capable of being inserted into the first shell (1) of the housing (1, 2) and which carries the plug contacts (302) and insulation displacement contacts (303, 304) and connects them to one another in a conductive manner, wherein the insulation displacement contacts (303, 304) are arranged in two rows offset with respect to each other in the insertion direction of the plug, and with a loading piece (5) into which the wires of the data cable are capable of being inserted and which is capable of being placed on the printed circuit board (3) in order to contact the wires with the insulation displacement contacts (303, 304),
   characterized in that the printed circuit board (3) is electrically insulated from the base area (101) of the first shell (1) by a foil (301), the rear row of the insulation displacement contacts (303) in the insertion direction has a lower height than the front row of the insulation displacement contacts (304), the loading piece (5) receives the wires in two planes with the ends of the wires offset in a stepped manner, the wires of the plane projecting further contact the insulation displacement contacts (304) of the front row, and the insulation displacement contacts (304) of the front row are surrounded by the plug body (4) in their region close to the printed circuit board, whilst the insulation displacement contacts (303) of the rear row are free on the printed circuit board (3).
2. A plug according to claim 1, characterized in that the insulation displacement contacts (303, 304) and/or the plug contacts (302) are soldered or pressed into the printed circuit board and are covered by the foil (301) on the opposite underside of the printed circuit board (3).
3. A plug according to claim 2, characterized in that the insulation displacement contacts (303, 304) and/or the plug contacts (302) are connected to the printed circuit board (3) by means of the THR (through hole reflow) soldering method.
4. A plug according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the pins of the insulation displacement contacts (303, 304) and/or the plug contacts (302) do not project beyond the lower edge of the printed circuit board (3).
5. A plug according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the loading piece (5) is capable of being inserted into the second shell (2) separated from the first shell (1), and the data cable is capable of being mounted in the loading piece (5) and the second shell (2).
6. A plug according to claim 5, characterized in that a strain relief (207, 208) fixes the cable to the second shell (2).
7. A plug according to claim 6, characterized in that the strain relief has a strain relief clip (208) engaging in an adjustable manner against a strain relief area (207) of the second shell (2).
8. A plug according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the loading piece (5) has continuous bores (503) for the wires in the upper plane projecting in a stepped manner and receiving forks (505) for clamping in the wires in the lower set-back plane.
9. A plug according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that one of the shells (1, 2) has attached in it a shield contact (104) which is connected to this shell in a conductive manner and which when the shells (1, 2) are assembled rests in a springing manner on the exposed shielding of the mounted data cable and presses it against the other shell (2, 1) in each case.
10. A plug according to claim 9, characterized in that the shield contact (104) is a stamped part of spring sheet riveted into the shell (1, 2).
11. A plug according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a catch lever (109) is capable of being suspended on the shell (1) receiving the plug body (4).
12. A plug according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the plug is designed in the form of an RJ 45 plug in which a rear row with four insulation displacement contacts (303) and a front row with four insulation displacement contacts (304) are provided in each case and in which the loading piece (5) has an upper projecting plane with four bores (503) and a set-back lower plane with four receiving forks (505).

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