Telephonic communications – Terminal
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-06
2001-03-20
Chiang, Jack (Department: 2642)
Telephonic communications
Terminal
C379S325000, C439S054000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06205221
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunications equipment, and, in particular, to configurations for grounding panels used to mount electrical connectors such as high-voltage/high-current plug-in protectors.
2. Description of the Related Art
High-voltage/high-current plug-in protectors are used in telecommunications applications to provide electrical isolation between telecommunications equipment in a building and the cabling that carries the electrical signals for the telecommunications equipment to and from the building. A typical five-pin plug-in protector has two conducting pins that are connected to telecommunications equipment (e.g., a telephone), two conducting pins that are connected to wiring broken out from the cabling, and a fifth conducting pin that is connected to ground.
During normal operations, a plug-in protector connects the cable-side conductors to corresponding conductors on the equipment side to allow the flow of telecommunications signals between the equipment and the rest of the telecommunications network. In the case of sufficiently high voltage and/or current at one side, e.g., from a lightning strike at the cable side, the plug-in protector connects the cable-side conductors to ground, thereby preventing damage to the equipment and possible injury to a user of that equipment.
In a building, such as an office building, having a large number of telephones and other telecommunications equipment, each of which requires its own pair of wires from a multi-wire cable, a plug-in protector is used for each pair of wires. These plug-in protectors are typically mounted in a protector panel that is electrically connected to the telecommunications equipment, to the wiring broken out from the cabling, and to ground.
FIGS. 1A-D
show views of the end, front, side, and back, respectively, of a conventional protector panel
100
used to provide electrical isolation in a typical telecommunications application. The body
101
of protector panel
100
is made from an insulating material, such as an appropriate insulating plastic. In this particular implementation, protector panel
100
is configured to receive up to 25 five-pin plug-in protectors at 25 different locations. Each location has five holes
102
into which five electrically conducting connectors
104
are inserted and a smaller sixth hole
106
that helps ensure that a plug-in protector is inserted with the correct orientation. Four of the five connectors
104
provide wire-wrap posts on the back side of protector panel
100
for connecting to the cable-side and equipment-side wiring, while the fifth connector
104
e
forms a loop that is connected (e.g., soldered) to one of a number of grounding bars
108
, which in turn are connected (e.g., soldered) to a grounding strip
110
.
Grounding bars
108
and grounding strip
110
of protector panel
100
provide the electrical connection between the fifth connector
104
e
of each plug-in protector location and ground. In order to ensure a good ground connection, protector panel
100
is securely mounted onto other structure (not shown) that provides a good electrical connection between grounding strip
110
and grounded conductors on that other structure. Grounding strip
110
is configured to wrap around one edge
112
of protector panel
100
. Protector panel
100
is then bolted onto the other structure using bolts (not shown) that pass through mounting holes
114
in protector panel
100
. In order to ensure good electrical connection between grounding strip
110
and the external grounded conductors without damaging the relatively fragile insulating material, electrically conducting spacers
116
are inserted into the mounting holes
114
between the bolt and the grounding strip
110
. Each spacer
116
has a lip
118
that ensures that pressure applied by the bolt will result in a secure grounding connection without applying too much pressure to the insulating material.
FIGS. 2A-C
show views of the end, front, and side, respectively, of grounding strip
110
of protector panel
100
of FIG.
1
.
FIGS. 2A-C
correspond to the views shown in
FIGS. 1A-C
. Grounding strip
110
is mounted onto body
101
of protector panel
100
via screw holes
202
, while mounting holes
204
align with mounting holes
114
in body
101
for receiving the mounting bolts used to mount protector panel
100
to external structure. Mounting holes
204
in grounding strip
110
have a smaller diameter than mounting holes
114
in body
101
in order to abut and support lips
118
of spacers
116
. Grounding strip
110
is typically made by cutting material from a sheet of conducting metal such as aluminum, drilling the mounting and screw holes, and then bending the material 90 degrees at one edge.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a grounding configuration for telecommunications equipment such as the protector panels used to receive five-pin plug-in protectors used to provide electrical isolation between cabling and telecommunications equipment. The grounding configuration of the present invention ensures a good grounding connection between the protector panel and external structure while protecting the insulating body of the protector panel from high mounting pressure (e.g., overstress) without relying on special spacers. In addition, certain embodiments of the present invention have a configuration that makes manufacturing of the protector panels less wasteful of material and therefore cheaper to make.
In one embodiment, the present invention is a panel for mounting telecommunications equipment. The panel comprises an insulating body and a conducting grounding strip configured to the insulating body to provide a grounding connection for the panel. The grounding strip has a panel portion mounting the grounding strip to the insulating body and a mounting portion bending away from the insulating body and having one or more mounting holes for mounting the panel to external structure to enable the panel to be mounted to the external structure without requiring spacers to prevent overstress to the insulating material.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3936133 (1976-02-01), Splitt et al.
Agdeppa Hector
Avaya Technology Corp.
Chiang Jack
Mendelsohn Steve
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