Conductor terminal and method for mounting the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10665965-B2
Application number	US-201816211943-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 6, 2018
Priority date	Sep 26, 2014
Publication date	May 26, 2020
Grant date	May 26, 2020

Abstract

A conductor terminal having at least one insulating material housing; at least one contact insert arranged at least partially in the housing and having at least one contact piece and at least one clamping spring. The contact piece, together with the clamping spring, forms at least one conductor clamping point for an electrical conductor to be contacted via the conductor terminal, which electrical conductor can be acted upon by a spring force of the clamping spring. At least one actuating lever is pivotably supported in the housing for actuating the clamping spring. The actuating lever can be pivoted from a closed position to an open position and vice versa in relation to the housing and/or the contact piece and an electrical conductor inserted into the conductor terminal is not acted upon by the spring force of the clamping spring at the conductor clamping point at least in the open position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A conductor connection terminal comprising:
at least one insulating material housing;
at least one contact insert that is arranged at least partially in the insulating material housing and has at least one contact piece and at least one clamping spring, the contact piece together with the clamping spring forms at least one conductor clamping point for an electrical conductor that is to be contacted via the conductor connection terminal, the electrical conductor being adapted to be acted on at the conductor clamping point by a spring force of the clamping spring; and
at least one operating lever that is pivotably mounted in the insulating material housing for operating the clamping spring,
wherein the operating lever is adapted to be pivoted from a closed position to an open position and vice versa relative to the insulating material housing and/or the contact piece,
wherein an electrical conductor that is inserted into the conductor connection terminal is not acted on by the spring force of the clamping spring at the conductor clamping point at least in the open position,
wherein the operating lever is mounted in a floating manner and is supported at least partially on the contact piece at least in the open position, and
wherein, in the completely open position of the operating lever, the clamping spring on account of its tensile force, which is exerted onto a driver element of the clamping spring, holds the operating lever in the completely open position.

2. The conductor connection terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the contact piece has a clamping section, in which the contact point is arranged, and a bearing section, on which the operating lever is at least partially supported in the open position, wherein a conductor receiving chamber is arranged between the clamping section and the bearing section.

3. The conductor connection terminal according to claim 2 , wherein the operating lever is supported at least partially on a second side of the bearing section of the contact piece at least in the open position, the second side facing away from the conductor receiving chamber.

4. The conductor connection terminal according to claim 2 , wherein the bearing section is connected to the clamping section via a connecting section of the contact piece.

5. The conductor connection terminal according to claim 2 , wherein the bearing section of the contact piece is designed as a plate or a metal plate.

6. The conductor connection terminal according to claim 2 , wherein a closed force chain is formed, at least in the open position of the operating lever, from a driver element of the clamping spring to a bearing limb of the clamping spring via a tension arm, which acts on the driver element of the operating lever via an outer contour thereof, and via the first side and the second side of the bearing section.

7. The conductor connection terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the clamping spring has a bearing limb via which the clamping spring is supported on the contact piece on a first side of the bearing section, the first side facing the conductor receiving chamber.

8. The conductor connection terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the conductor receiving chamber is separated from the operating lever by an upper section or the bearing section of the contact piece.

9. The conductor connection terminal according to claim 1 , wherein a tension arm of the operating lever is arranged between an outer contour of the operating lever and a grip region of the operating lever.

10. The conductor connection terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the conductor connection terminal has a first latching via the operating lever is latched in the open position.

11. The conductor connection terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the first latching has a first lever latch, which is part of the operating lever, and a first contact piece latch, which is part of the contact piece, which first lever latch and first contact piece latch interact with one another in order to latch the operating lever in the open position.

12. The conductor connection terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the operating lever has bearing pins that project parallel to the axis of rotation of the pivoting movement and secure the operating lever against removal of the operating lever from the insulating material housing.

13. The conductor connection terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the insulating material housing has a lever insertion channel for the insertion of the operating lever, wherein the lever insertion channel has a guide contour for guiding the bearing pins at least during the insertion of the operating lever.

14. The conductor connection terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the part of the contact piece on which the operating lever is supported at least in the open position is a ramp that falls in a direction of rotation of the operating lever during opening.

15. The conductor connection terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the operating lever is supported on an upper section of the contact piece, and a conductor receiving chamber for receiving the electrical conductor to be contacted is arranged between the upper section and a contact point of the contact piece, at which contact point the conductor clamping point is formed together with an end region of the clamping spring.

16. The conductor connection terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the operating lever has a first lever latch via which the operating lever is adapted to be fixed in a fully open position by the latching of the first lever latch to a part of the contact piece, which serves as a mating bearing, in the form of a latching.

17. The conductor connection terminal according to claim 16 , wherein an additional latching is formed between a lower region of a tension arm of the operating lever and a projection, which is arranged on an inner housing wall of the insulating material housing in the completely open position of the operating lever.

18. The conductor connection terminal according to claim 17 , wherein an active line of the tensile force of the driver element runs through between the latching and the additional latching.

Assignees

• Wago Verwaltungsgesellschaft
• Wago Verwaltungs Gmbh

Inventors

• Lorenschat Markus
• Mastel Rudolf
• Glammeier Maria

Classifications

• H01R43/18

  for manufacturing bases or cases for contact members · CPC title

• H01R43/20

  for assembling or disassembling contact members with insulating base, case or sleeve · CPC title

• H01R4/4845

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01R4/4836 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01R4/4835

  Mechanically bistable arrangements, e.g. locked by the housing when the spring is biased · CPC title