Electric cable subassembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10770832-B2
Application number	US-201615755355-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 23, 2016
Priority date	Aug 27, 2015
Publication date	Sep 8, 2020
Grant date	Sep 8, 2020

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an electrical cable assembly with a connector, in particular a trunk line cable assembly for a photovoltaic system, and to an assembly consisting of a module inverter and the trunk line cable assembly connected thereto, and also relates to a photovoltaic system comprising a plurality of photovoltaic modules and module inverters and AC side cabling between the module inverters and the trunk line cable assemblies, wherein the drop lines are connected to the trunk line cable by means of the connector, wherein the junction is enclosed by a two-piece connector housing which includes strain relief means for the trunk line cable and is optionally additionally overmolded.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electrical cable assembly with a connector, comprising:
at least one electrical cable with a cable jacket and one or more wires,
wherein the cable jacket is made of a crosslinked plastic material, and
wherein the cable is stripped in the region of the connector and the wires are stripped to expose and electrically connect the wires at respective wire connection points;

at least a first and a second housing part, which in an assembled state are joined together to define a dielectric connector housing enclosing the wire connection points;
wherein the connector is configured as a tee connector;
wherein the connector housing has a first cable opening and a second opposite cable opening where the cable enters on one side of the wire connection points and exits on another side of the wire connection points;
wherein the connector housing comprises first strain relief means provided at the first cable opening and second strain relief means provided at the second cable opening, wherein the first strain relief means dig into the crosslinked plastic material cable jacket on the one side of the wire connection points and the second strain relief means dig into the crosslinked plastic material cable jacket on the other side of the wire connection points, when the first and second housing parts are joined together; and
wherein the first or second housing part has a connection sleeve projecting from the respective housing part transversely to the cable, and wherein the connection sleeve defines at least one lateral inlet opening for wires of a drop line; and

said wires of the drop line entering the connector housing transversely to the cable through the at least one lateral inlet opening, wherein the wires of the drop line have ends at which the insulation of the wires is stripped and the stripped ends of the wires of the drop line are permanently electrically connected inside the connector housing with the respectively associated wires of the cable in the form of a tee branch.

2. The cable assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein in the assembled state the connector housing has at least one cable opening which is defined by a cable receiving sleeve on an end face of the connector housing which encloses the cable at the cable opening like a sleeve.

3. The cable assembly as claimed in claim 2 , wherein in the assembled state the cable receiving sleeve projects outwardly from an end face of the connector housing in order to form an external cable grommet on the connector housing.

4. The cable assembly as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the strain relief means is formed integrally with an inner surface of the connector housing in the region of the cable receiving sleeve.

5. The cable assembly as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the cable receiving sleeve is formed by a first half-shell of the first housing part and a second half-shell of the second housing part.

6. The cable assembly as claimed in claim 5 , comprising at least one joining sleeve which in the assembled state is fitted on the cable receiving sleeve thereby pressing together the first and second half-shells so as to form the cable receiving sleeve and thus holding together the first and second housing parts.

7. The cable assembly as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the joining sleeve is at least one of press-fitted, latched, or screwed onto the cable receiving sleeve.

8. The cable assembly according to claim 5 , wherein the strain relief means is integrally formed with the inner surface of the first and second half-shells so as to dig into the cable jacket when the first and second half-shells are pressed together.

9. The cable assembly according to claim 1 , comprising a first and second cable receiving sleeve which are each formed as separate parts from the connector housing, and which are engaged in at least one of the first or the second housing part at a first and second end face of the connector housing, respectively, when the first and second housing parts are joined together; and a first and second gasket which seal the cable jacket against an inside of the first and second separate cable receiving sleeve, respectively.

10. The cable assembly as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the cable receiving sleeve has holes along a circumference thereof, and wherein the strain relief means extends inwards through the holes to dig into the cable jacket.

11. The cable assembly according to claim 1 , comprising a gasket which seals the cable jacket against the cable receiving sleeve.

12. The cable assembly according to claim 1 , comprising a gasket which is disposed inside the cable receiving sleeve or inside the joining sleeve.

13. The cable assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the first or second housing part has longitudinal ribs on its inner surface, which define compartments for the wires within the connector housing between the longitudinal ribs.

14. The cable assembly as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the other housing part has transverse ribs on its inner surface, which in the assembled state overlap with the longitudinal ribs in a direction transverse to the cable so as to individually urge the wires into the respective associated compartment and to retain them therein in the assembled state.

15. The cable assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the connector housing is substantially completely overmolded by a plastic material.

16. The cable assembly according to claim 1 , comprising a first and second cable receiving sleeve, which are engaged in at least one of the first or the second housing part at a first and second end face of the connector housing, wherein the cable receiving sleeves have holes along a circumference thereof, and wherein the strain relief means extends inwards through the holes to dig into the cable jacket.

17. A trunk line cable assembly for connecting a module inverter placed in the proximity of a photovoltaic module, comprising:
an electrical cable with a cable jacket and one or more wires, wherein the cable is stripped in the region of the electrical connector and the wires are stripped to expose and electrically connect the wires at respective wire connection points;
at least a first and a second housing part, which in the assembled state are joined together to define a dielectric connector housing enclosing the wire connection points; and
wherein the connector housing has a cable inlet opening and a cable outlet opening opposite to the cable inlet opening through which the cable enters the connector housing on a first end and exits on an opposite, second end;
wherein the connector housing has a second inlet opening through which, in an assembled state, wires of a drop line enter the connector housing and are electrically connected inside the connector housing with the respectively associated wire of the cable in the form of a tee branch;
wherein the wires of the drop line are connectable to a module inverter;
wherein strain relief means for the cable are provided at the cable inlet opening and at the cable outlet opening, which are effective when the first and second housing parts are joined together; and
wherein further electrical connectors are mounted at the two ends of the cable facing away from the connector housing for interconnecting a plurality of the trunk line cable assemblies to form a string.

18. An assembly comprising a module inverter and the trunk line cable assembly according to claim 17 connected thereto through wires of a drop line;
wherein the trunk line cable assembly is connected to the module inverter;
wherein the first or secon

Assignees

• Phoenix Contact Gmbh & Co

Inventors

• Franke Jens
• Galla Stefan
• Scholz Sebastian
• Schaefers Martin
• Schaefer Sebastian
• Beck Andreas
• Potthast Markus
• Gutbrot Valentin

Classifications

• H01R13/59

  Threaded ferrule or bolt operating in a direction parallel to the cable or wire · CPC title

• H02G15/117

  for multiconductor cables · CPC title

• H02G15/113

  Boxes split longitudinally in main cable direction · CPC title

• H01R13/5205

  Sealing means between cable and housing, e.g. grommet (H01R13/5221 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01R13/5825 Primary

  the means comprising additional parts captured between housing parts and cable · CPC title