Electrical connectors – With conduit or duct – Including receptacle
Patent
1988-12-27
1991-02-12
Desmond, Eugene F.
Electrical connectors
With conduit or duct
Including receptacle
174 72R, 439498, H01R 2516
Patent
active
049920588
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a flat cable transmission system and, more particularly, to a system in which a flat cable is contained within trunking which extends, for example, under a raised access floor.
Fixed pitch flat or ribbon cables are widely available for telecommunication and data transmission applications. Typically, these flat cables are employed to interconnect discrete items of data processing equipment, e.g., a VDU screen to a printer, but are also used under the carpet in open plan offices to facilitate telephone interconnections to and between employees.
The above applications have the disadvantages that, as the number of items of equipment increases, the cables can become obtrusive, thus detracting from the appearance of the office, and can become tangled, thus making rearrangement of the connections a difficult task.
The present invention seeks to overcome or reduce one or more of the above disadvantages, and to extend the use of flat cables to raised access floor (or false floor) applications in such a way as to permit easy and rapid installation or rearrangement.
Conventionally the installation of a flat cable of 50 ways (say) both commences and finishes with 50 ways being available. Connections to any particular way or ways along the length of the flat cable are effected by a connector that permits another discrete length of flat cable to spur or `T` from the main flat cable. The present invention seeks to provide an alternative method of effecting the connections which requires fewer components and is more economic in terms of both cost and time.
According to the present invention there is provided a multiconductor flat cable trunking module comprising means defining an elongate duct a flat cable having a plurality of conductors and extending within and along the length of said duct, linking means at each end of said cable, a plurality of socket outlets at intervals along a surface of the duct, and intermediate connections within the duct from said cable to said socket outlets which are formed by a number out of said plurality of conductors which form part of the flat cable along a first part of the length thereof, but which are separated from the remaining conductors along a second part of the length thereof.
In a preferred development, a multiconductor flat cable underfloor trunking system comprises a plurality of trunking modules arranged to be located one after the other beneath a raised access floor, a respective multiconductor flat cable extending within and along the length of each module with multiway connectors electrically connected to each end of the cable to effect electrical interconnections between the ends of adjacent modules.
The socket outlets may then appear flush in the floor surface, or the whole trunking system may lie in the floor void with intermediate connectors between said socket outlets and further socket outlets set in the floor surface.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
FIG. 1 shows a top perspective view of a trunking module of a flat cable transmission system in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 shows a side view of the module of FIG. 1 installed in the void of a raised access floor;
FIG. 3 shows a side view of the module of FIG. 1 with its top surface level with a raised access floor.
FIG. 4 shows a trunking system according to the invention installed in a duct;
FIG. 5 shows a cross-section on line 5--5 in FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 shows a connector device for use in conjunction with a trunking system.
FIG. 7 shows a number of cable trunking modules according to the invention in plan view;
FIG. 8 shows a side view of the module in FIG. 7;
FIG. 9 shows a cross-section of a first form of trunking; and
FIG. 10 shows a second form.
Referring to the drawings, there is shown a trunking module 10 comprising too and bottom channel members 11 and 12 of thin gauge zinc plated mild steel which define a rectangular duct which contains a fixed pit
REFERENCES:
patent: 4181395 (1980-01-01), Grabowski
Comfloor Limited
Desmond Eugene F.
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