Electrical connectors – With circuit conductors and safety grounding provision – Grounding to connector container or housing
Patent
1987-01-30
1988-11-01
McQuade, J. Patrick
Electrical connectors
With circuit conductors and safety grounding provision
Grounding to connector container or housing
439607, H01R 13648
Patent
active
047816031
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a grounding system for cabinets containing electrical equipment and particularly to cabinets containing bars of soft metal such as aluminum for carrying off ground currents.
BACKGROUND
When electronic equipment is placed in cabinets, there is the requirement that ground currents, which can be considerable, shall be led off with a rise in potential which is so small that the sensitive electronic equipment is not damaged. One kind of ground connection used so far, comprises conductors with cable shoes placed between the apparatus and their stands, the shoes being screwed to the apparatus and to the stand. Another kind of ground connection comprises a serrated washer placed between the apparatus casing and the plates of the stand. A fastening screw which fastens the apparatus to the stand passes through this serrated washer. An example of such a contact means is described in SE-C-7509869 9(387201).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is directed to a further development of the above mentioned serrated washer. The invention is characterized by a construction in which first and second bars of a yielding soft material, such as aluminum serve for leading off ground currents, the bars being attachable to a cabinet adapted for containing electrical equipment in an arrangement in which the first and second bars overlap one another, and a contact-making spring-biased contact plate is disposed between the bars at the locations where the bars overlap one another. The contact plate has a plurality of spaced contact points at which contact is made between the contact plate and the bars, the contact plate being inserted in an opening in a second plate disposed between the bars to maintain the contact between the contact plate and said bars at discrete locations constituted by said spaced contact points.
In the grounding system, the bars which are connected to each other, and together thus have conductive capacity which is so great that occuring ground currents are led away with only a resulting small rise in potential, and the spring-biased contact plates at the junction points between the bars give a continous, low transfer resistance between them, although the material of the bars is of soft metal, in this case aluminum, which yields somewhat to compression stress.
The horizontal bars in side-by-side cabinets are united by connection bars of aluminum with the aid of the same spring-biased contact plate which unites the bars in the cabinet.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES OF THE DRAWINGS
An example of a grounding system in accordance with the invention is described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 diagrammatically illustrates two cabinets with bars;
FIG. 2 illustrates a junction point between a vertical and horizontal bar
FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a spring-biased contact plate in side view and elevation view respectively;
FIG. 5 illustrates a contact plate inserted at an intersection point between bars; and
FIG. 6 is an exploded view which illustrates a connection bar between horizontal bars.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF INVENTION
Two cabinets 1 are illustrated as an example in FIG. 1, each containing two vertical bars 2 and two horizontal bars 3. Each vertical bar 2 is bent towards at right angles at each end, and in each cabinet there is an unillustrated connection terminal arranged on one of the bent-in parts for the connection of a ground conductor. Any of the four bent-in parts may be used for connecting the ground conductor.
A contact plate 4 is disposed, as illustrated in FIG. 2, at an intersection point between one of the vertical bars 2, and one of the horizontal bars 3. The vertical bar 2 has a rectangular cross section and is attached to the side wall of the cabinet by fastening screws (not shown), while the horizontal bar 3, which is carried by a surrounding plate 5, is fastened to the cabinet with other fastening screws and pressed against the narrow edge of the vertical bar.
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patent: 4572921 (1986-02-01), May et al.
patent: 4593961 (1986-06-01), Cosmo
Andersson Hans O. W.
Olsson Rolf T.
McQuade J. Patrick
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
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