Electrical connectors – Contact comprising cutter – Insulation cutter
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-02
2001-03-06
Donovan, Lincoln (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
Contact comprising cutter
Insulation cutter
C439S936000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06196863
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to electrical connection arrangements having a housing into which a cable can be received and one or more insulation-piercing electrical contacts are mounted to displace the cable insulation and establish electrical contact with a cable conductor and to a method for making electrical connection with a conductor in an insulated cable.
A variety of arrangements for making electric contact or connection with conductors in an insulated cable are known. Cables which are installed as internal bus cable systems in vehicles are being used to an ever-increasing extent, particularly in automobiles. In addition, it has been found expedient to use so-called ring circuits, which are installed in a vehicle when it is manufactured. The ring circuits are continuous circuits having, as a rule, no initial contact interfaces. This is because automobiles are ordered by customers with varied equipment rather than identical equipment and some electrical components are installed after they are ordered. As a result, the automobile equipment bus circuit is universally installed initially as a ring circuit. During manufacture of a vehicle more or fewer individually locatable electrical connection devices are required at suitable positions within the vehicle depending upon equipment features in order to connect, for example, electric window openers or other equipment-dependent electrical components directly, to the ring circuit. The provision of a ring circuit with direct electrical connection arrangements eliminates the need for cable harnesses, at least in certain sections within the vehicle. In addition, this procedure not only has manufacturing advantages, but advantages that appear in later use of the vehicle as well. For example, if in the later use of a vehicle a conventional cable harness having an electrical component breaks down, a large number of cables have to be found and followed in order to find a possible contact problem. In a bus ring circuit, only the contact element that connects to the particular defective component has to be found in order to be able to follow and possibly find a faulty mechanical contact or determine whether the component to which it is connected is defective.
The starting point in the use of such a bus ring circuit is the connection of the corresponding electrical component to the bus circuit, i.e., establishment of the contact.
In this connection, German Offenlegungsschrift No. 30 30 286 discloses an electrical connection plug in which a plurality of insulated wires are engaged by cutting elements. In this case, the cutting elements, which constitute electrical contacts, engage the wires in such a way that the insulation is pierced and the cutting elements either contact the conductors or, for better contact, possibly even cut partially into the conductors. Thus, the cutting elements form the electrical contacts that produce an electrical connection between the corresponding individual wire conductors and a cable connector or the like which is inserted into the plug.
When bus circuits are used in motor vehicles, they must also withstand rough everyday operation. This means exposure in some cases to varying thermal loads in a temperature range near the engine from about minus 40 degrees to up to 100 degrees Celsius, for example. It is known that, with varying temperature loading, environmental influences due to moisture or corrosive substances act especially rapidly and strongly affect the connection thus established by permanent corrosion. In automobile manufacture, however, it is required that secure connection under these environmental influences must be assured for at least 15 years.
Under these conditions, it is insufficient merely to enclose such a connection.
Other prior art, for example German Offenlegungsschrift No. 44 27 675, discloses an electrical connector which is sealed with a gel. In this arrangement, a cable end or a plug is introduced into a plug-in device and sealed with gel by a pressing or tamping device. The embodiment described in that document is disadvantageous because the device as a whole is complicated and is not useful for a ring circuit since it requires a separate electrical wiring arrangement consisting of two circuit sections which, moreover, provides for only one cable.
In addition, European Published Application No. 0 731 531 discloses an electrical connector in which a cable conductor mounted on a sleeve can be slipped onto a plug contact which receives the sleeve. That arrangement has a gel reservoir within the sleeve which is located so that, when the cable is inserted, the gel reservoir is first pierced and thereafter, i.e., when the cable is pushed in further, electrical contact is made with a contacting lug. Subsequently, pressure is exerted on the gel reservoir by a tamping device so that the gel is distributed within the plug. This is disadvantageous because, upon introduction of the cable, the gel reservoir is first pierced so that the cable conductor becomes coated with the gel and electrical contact is made only after the cable conductor has been coated, which may lead to a faulty connection. In this case, too, the device cannot be used for a connection of a ring circuit, since the wiring arrangement requires two separate circuit sections to be connected together.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electrical connection arrangement and a method for making electrical connections which overcome disadvantages of the prior art.
Another object of the invention is to provide a reliable and corrosion-resistant electrical connection arrangement for ring circuits that may be located at any desired point of the ring circuit without interrupting the circuit.
These and other objects of the invention are attained by providing an electrical connection arrangement for a cable having a cable receiving portion conforming to the shape of a cable and at least one insulation-penetrating electrical contact member and a gel reservoir arranged in such a way that the cable is positioned between the gel reservoir and the insulation-penetrating electrical contact member so that the contact member penetrates the cable before penetrating the gel reservoir.
According to the invention, the method for making electrical connections involves three succeeding steps, namely:
1. establishment of electrical connection of the cutting contact member with the cable conductor;
2. concurrently with the establishment of an electrical connection, compressing a sealing gel reservoir; and
3. cutting into the gel reservoir after establishment of electrical connection so that gel passes to the electrical connection.
With respect to the connection arrangement, an important aspect of the invention is that, prior to making the connection, the cable is positioned between the cutting contact members and the gel reservoir. Consequently, when the cutting contact members are moved to penetrate the cable insulation, this relative positioning of the individual elements according to the invention causes the insulation of the cable to be cut first so that the cutting contact members then make contact with the cable conductors and then, only upon further motion, the cutting electrical contact members pierce the gel reservoir on the opposite side of the cable. Consequently, the sealing gel, on which pressure has already been exerted simultaneously with the cable piercing motion, is not released into the electrical connection region until after the electrical connection has already been made. Thus, the cutting contact members are absolutely clean when the electrical connections are established and the actual engaging electrical contact surfaces not coated with gel but are surrounded by the sealing gel. This produces exceptionally good electrical connection and, in addition, also provides precisely located sealing of the insulation where it has been pierced. Moreover, this connection arrangement has the important advantage that, with the specified relative locations of the
Baker & Botts L.L.P.
Donovan Lincoln
Volkswagen AG
Webb Brian S.
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