Electrical connectors – Preformed panel circuit arrangement – e.g. – pcb – icm – dip,... – Within distinct housing spaced from panel circuit arrangement
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-08
2004-09-14
Paumen, Gary (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
Preformed panel circuit arrangement, e.g., pcb, icm, dip,...
Within distinct housing spaced from panel circuit arrangement
C439S949000, C361S752000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06790050
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a distributor box.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
In industrial plants many widely scattered items of field equipment, in particular drive mechanisms, consisting of electric motors with frequency or voltage converters or switching devices, must be controllable from a central computer. For this purpose various types of field buses are used, such as the Interbus, Profibus, CANbus or the like. The field equipment is provided with leads suitable for a field bus and usually each mechanism includes an addressable electronic control unit that filters data out of the field-bus signals when those data are addressed to the particular mechanism concerned.
Energy or power is supplied to the field equipment by way of high tension cables, in particular those designed for three-phase current.
In many cases the manufacturers of field equipment make use of other control-bus protocols, which are not in the same category as field buses. For example, those skilled in the art will be familiar with the control-bus protocol MOVILINK, made by the firm SEW-EURODRIVE GmbH & Co. These control-bus protocols are not compatible with the field-bus protocols conventionally used in industry and are also termed system-bus protocols. They can exhibit an extremely high data-transfer rate. In particular, with such control or system buses the commands and codings are designed specifically for a certain group of devices, and in particular depend on the individual manufacturer. On the whole, with system buses the real-time performance of applications can be improved.
The set of cables used for high voltage and bus systems is elaborate and expensive, in particular because of the stellate cable arrangement of the high tension wiring. One substantial cost factor is the time needed to install the cabling.
DE 40 05 086 discloses a terminal unit for domestic technology. The housing of this unit provides a separation between electronic circuitry and cabling. Here the cabling is mounted in the lower part of the unit and the electronic circuitry, in the upper part of the unit. This terminal unit cannot be used for industrial plants.
The objective of the invention is to provide a distributor box which avoids the above-mentioned disadvantages. In particular, it is intended to enable simple and inexpensive cabling.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Essential features of this solution of the problem are that the distributor box with at least one electronic circuit, in particular comprising microprocessor, memory and logic components and/or power semiconductor components, with a housing, comprises
a lower housing compartment,
at least one upper housing compartment, which can be connected to the lower compartment in a tightly sealed, firm manner to provide a high degree of protection,
at least one transfer pin-and-socket connector, each of which comprises a first and a second connector part, the first connector part of which is fixedly mounted in an upper housing compartment in such a way that when this upper compartment is set onto the lower compartment, the first connector part is brought into electrical contact with a second connector part of the transfer pin-and-socket connector, which fits together with the first part and is fixedly mounted in the lower housing compartment,
wherein in the lower housing compartment are mounted connecting devices or external terminal arrangements such as terminal strips or the like, so that a set of cables can be connected to at least the associated second pin-and-socket connector part,
and wherein the lower housing compartment comprises a T-shaped, high tension cabling, such as for a three-phase current, between two external connecting devices and one external terminal arrangement for a hybrid cable on the lower housing compartment,
and wherein the lower housing compartment comprises a T-shaped cabling for a field bus between two external terminal arrangements on the lower housing compartment and at least one second pin-and-socket connector part,
and wherein in at least one upper housing compartment there is mounted an electronic circuit that can be electrically connected to a control bus by way of a first and a second pin-and-socket connector part,
and wherein the lower housing compartment comprises an external means of connecting a hybrid cable with hybrid pin-and-socket connector part that incorporates high tension and low tension leads,
and wherein the high tension leads of the hybrid cable can be connected to at least one electronic circuit in an upper housing compartment.
Hence it advantageously enables the cabling arrangement to be very simple and inexpensive. In particular, parts can be preassembled and prefabricated, and thus need not be handled individually during installation in the plant. The transfer pin-and-socket connector and connector parts enable a particularly rapid, secure and simple connection of housing compartments. In particular, the use of hybrid pin-and-socket connector parts also makes it possible to close and disconnect high tension and low tension leads in a time-saving manner. The provision of the hybrid cable saves time and furthermore makes the layout of the whole cabling system clearer, because high tension and low tension cables no longer need to be positioned individually.
An especially crucial characteristic of the invention is that the leads of the field bus are looped through and therefore advantageously make possible annular structures of the cabling for field buses. A similar essential characteristic of the invention is that the high tension cabling is T-shaped and the branch to the associated field mechanism is enabled by a hybrid cable. Hence it is possible to use annular cabling for the high voltage as well. Here it is of advantage that such cablings can be implemented in a distinctly more economical way, with a saving of materials.
The term “field mechanism” is understood here to include an electric motor with converter, an electric motor with a simple switching device to turn it on and off, an electric motor with smooth-starting device or the like.
The term “looped through” indicates that a cable coming from the exterior is connected by leads to an external terminal arrangement in the distributor box and then, by way of internal cabling, is connected to an additional external terminal arrangement in the distributor box to which, in turn, a cable coming from the exterior is connected by leads.
The term “T-shaped cabling” should be understood to mean that a cable coming from the exterior is connected by leads to an external terminal arrangement in the distributor box and then, by way of an internal cabling, is electrically connected to at least two additional external terminal arrangements in the distributor box, to which in turn cables coming from the exterior can be connected by leads. One of these external terminal arrangements is designed for a hybrid cable that comprises high tension and control-bus leads.
Another particularly essential characteristic of the invention consists in the fact that cable systems and connectors are fixedly mounted in the lower housing compartment, so as to be immune to interference, whereas the electronic apparatus that requires maintenance or repair, or needs to be adjusted or replaced to suit the local conditions, is disposed in the upper housing compartment. This separation makes it possible to carry out extremely complicated maintenance work even under adverse field conditions, by merely exchanging one upper housing compartment for another one with electronics that are undamaged or suited to the altered conditions or requirements. An added benefit is that the degree of protection can be of a high standard, which is likewise facilitated in particular by the mechanical and electrical separation between the upper and lower compartments.
Altogether, then, the distributor box comprises at least one electronic circuit, in particular one with microprocessor, memory and logic circuitry, and a housing with a lower compartment and at least one upper compartment, which can be connected th
Roth-Stielow Jörg
Schmidt Josef
Merchant & Gould P.C.
Paumen Gary
Sew Eurodrive GmbH & Co.
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