Plug contact

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10680359-B2
Application number	US-201716095484-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 21, 2017
Priority date	Apr 22, 2016
Publication date	Jun 9, 2020
Grant date	Jun 9, 2020

Abstract

A plug contact for electrically contacting a printed circuit board by plugging the contact into a contact hole of the printed circuit board, has two contact limbs which are elastic relative to each other, a terminal region, and a connection region. The connection region connects the contact limbs together and to the terminal region, the plug contact being punched out of flat metal material and bent. The plug contact ensures multiple plugging and pulling cycles without the inner wall of the contact hole being damaged by each of the contact limbs being a contacting region which contacts the contact hole in the plugged-in state. The outer contour of each of the contact limbs is shaped as a segment of a circle in a cross-sectional view in the contacting region, the radius of the outer contour being smaller than the radius of the corresponding contact hole of the printed circuit board.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A plug contact for making electrical contact with a circuit board by plugging the plug contact into a contact hole of the circuit board, comprising:
two contact legs which are resilient relative to one another,
a terminal region and
a connecting region, the connecting region connecting the two contact legs to one another and to the terminal region,
wherein each of the two contact legs have a contact-making region for making contact with the contact hole in the plugged-in state,
wherein the two contact legs have an outside contour in the contact-making region which is circular segment-shaped in cross section, a radius of the outside contour being smaller than a radius of a corresponding contact hole of the circuit board,
wherein the contact legs extend from the connecting region spaced from each other all of the way to free ends thereof,
wherein the circular segment-shape of the outside contour of the two contact legs in the contact-making region extends in a longitudinal direction of the contact legs so that the contact-making regions are longitudinally crowned, and
wherein a radius of the circular segment-shaped outside contour in the longitudinal direction is greater than a radius of the circular segment-shaped outside contour in the cross section.

2. The plug contact as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the two contact legs have different lengths, a guide segment being provided on the free end of a longer one of the contact legs and being located upstream of the free end of a shorter one of the contact legs in a plug-in direction.

3. The plug contact as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each of the two contact legs has a first region and a second region which are located at an angle c relative to one another so that the two contact legs are bent it a generally L-shaped configuration, the first regions connecting to the connecting regions which are located on the second regions.

4. The plug contact as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the terminal region is a flat conductor bar which has several grooves or notches on one side.

5. The plug contact as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the terminal region is one of a crimp terminal or an insulation piercing terminal.

6. The plug contact as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each of the two contact legs has a first region extending from the connecting region and out of a lengthwise plane of the terminal region, a second region located at an angle relative to the first region and generally parallel to said lengthwise plane so that the first and second regions have a generally L-shaped configuration, and wherein the longitudinally crowned outside contour is located in the second region.

7. An electrical supply terminal, comprising:
a housing,
a plug contact,
a conductor terminal element, and
a conductor bar piece,
wherein a conductor being connectable to the conductor bar piece in an electrically conductive manner by the conductor terminal element
wherein the housing has a conductor entry opening for entry of an electrical conductor which is to be connected,
wherein the plug contact comprises:
two contact legs which are resilient relative to one another and have a contact-making region for making contact with a contact hole of a circuit board in a plugged-in state, each of the two contact legs having an outside contour in the contact-making region which is circular segment-shaped in cross section, a radius of the outside contour being smaller than a radius of a corresponding contact hole of the circuit board,
a terminal region and
a connecting region, the connecting region connecting the two contact legs to one another and to the terminal region, the legs extending from the connecting region in spaced relationship to each other all of the way to free ends thereof,
wherein the circular segment-shape of the outside contour of the two contact legs in the contact-making region extends in a longitudinal direction of the contact legs so that the contact-making regions are longitudinally crowned,
wherein the radius of the circular segment-shaped outside contour in the longitudinal direction is greater than the radius of the circular segment-shaped outside contour in the cross section, and
wherein the plug contact is located in the housing such that the conductor bar piece is formed by the terminal region of the plug contact and the contact-making regions of the contact legs protrude from a bottom of the housing in a direction for connection to a circuit board.

8. The electrical supply terminal as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the conductor terminal element is a clamping spring in the housing, the clamping spring having a clamping leg and a contact leg, the clamping leg forming, with the terminal region of the plug contact, a spring force clamping terminal for an electrical conductor which is to be connected.

9. The electrical supply terminal as claimed in claim 7 , wherein a tension sleeve in the housing forms the conductor terminal element, the tension sleeve, together with the terminal region of the plug contact, forming a screw terminal for an electrical conductor which is to be connected.

10. The electrical supply terminal as claimed in claim 7 , wherein several adjusting elements are provided on a bottom of the housing for insertion into corresponding recesses in a circuit board.

Assignees

• Phoenix Contact Gmbh & Co

Inventors

• Geske Ralf

Classifications

• H01R12/515

  Terminal blocks providing connections to wires or cables · CPC title

• H01R12/585 Primary

  Terminals having a press fit or a compliant portion and a shank passing through a hole in the printed circuit board · CPC title