Terminal block

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9812796-B2
Application number	US-201515119221-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 25, 2015
Priority date	Apr 14, 2014
Publication date	Nov 7, 2017
Grant date	Nov 7, 2017

Abstract

A terminal block assembly is provided, comprising a plurality of terminal blocks mounted on a common horizontal support member, including a supply terminal block connected with a voltage source, and a plurality of distribution terminal blocks connected with a plurality of loads, respectively, characterized in that the length and height dimensions of the terminal blocks are the same, but the width of the supply terminal block is greater than that of the distribution terminal blocks, and that the supply conductor contact arrangements of the supply terminal block are designed for connection with a supply conductor having a relatively large cross-sectional area, while the distribution conductor contact arrangements of the distribution terminal blocks are designed for connection with distribution conductors having a relatively small cross-sectional area. A conductive comb member extends transversely across the assembly to interconnect the electrical circuitry contained within the terminal block housings.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A terminal block assembly, comprising:
(a) a plurality of terminal blocks mounted in side-by-side relation on a common fixed support:
(1) each of said terminal blocks having a rectangular housing containing electrical circuitry and including a pair of parallel side walls, a top wall, and a pair of end walls;
(2) at least one of said terminal blocks comprising a supply terminal block adapted for connection with a voltage source;
(3) each of the remaining terminal blocks comprising a distribution terminal block adapted for connection with a load; and
(4) at least one electrically-conducting link comb extending transversely across said terminal blocks to interconnect the electrical circuits contained therein;

(b) each of said terminal blocks having the same dimensions in directions orthogonally arranged relative to an axis defined by the support member;
(c) said supply terminal block having supply contact connections having a first cross-sectional area designed for connection with supply conductors having a relatively large cross-sectional area;
(d) said distribution terminal blocks having distribution contact connections having a second cross-sectional area less than said first cross-sectional area designed for connection with distribution conductors having a relatively small cross-sectional area.

2. A terminal block assembly as defined in claim 1 , wherein each of said terminal block housings includes on its lower portion a foot arrangement for removably mounting said housing on said fixed support.

3. A terminal block assembly as defined in claim 2 , wherein each of said supply and distribution contact connections comprises a resilient electrical contact arranged beneath a housing opening contained in said housing top wall, and an actuation arrangement for opening said contact to receive a conductor that is inserted into said opening and is clamped to said housing upon release of said contact.

4. A terminal block assembly as defined in claim 1 , and further including at least one bus bar arranged within said housing and connected with said resilient contact, thereby to connect the conductor with electrical circuitry contained in said housing.

5. A terminal block assembly as defined in claim 4 , and further including:
(e) a cross-link conductive comb member extending transversely across said terminal blocks for electrically connecting the electrical circuitry contained in selected ones of said terminal blocks.

6. A terminal block assembly as defined in claim 1 , wherein at least some of said housing end walls contains deformations for receiving indicia-bearing markers.

7. A terminal block assembly as defined in claim 6 , wherein one of said deformations is adjacent one corner between said housing top and side walls.

8. A terminal block assembly as defined in claim 1 , wherein one of said terminal blocks comprises a supply terminal block having a greater width than that of each of said distribution terminal blocks.

9. A terminal block assembly as defined in claim 1 , wherein said supply terminal block also includes distribution contact connections designed for connection with distribution conductors having a relatively small cross-sectional area.

10. A terminal block assembly as defined in claim 9 , and further including a comb member for connecting a supply contact of said supply terminal block with corresponding contacts of each of said distribution terminal blocks.

11. A terminal block assembly as defined in claim 10 , wherein said supply terminal block supply contact is connected with ground.

12. A terminal block assembly as defined in claim 1 , wherein the cross-sectional area of the supply conductor is from about 0.5 mm 2 to about 6 mm 2 , and the cross-sectional area of the distribution conductor is from about 0.5 mm 2 to about 2.6 mm 2 .

13. A terminal block assembly, comprising:
(a) a plurality of terminal blocks mounted in side-by-side relation on a common fixed support:
(1) each of said terminal blocks having a rectangular housing containing electrical circuitry and including a pair of parallel side walls, a top wall, and a pair of end walls;
(2) at least one of said terminal blocks comprising a supply terminal block adapted for connection with a voltage source, a top wall of said supply terminal block containing a first conductor opening adjacent a first corner of said supply terminal block housing, and a second conductor opening spaced from said first corner about 60% to 90% of the distance of the length of said supply terminal block housing;
(3) each of the remaining terminal blocks comprising a distribution terminal block adapted for connection with a load, said supply terminal block having a greater width than said distribution terminal blocks; and
(4) at least one electrically-conducting link comb extending transversely across said terminal blocks to interconnect the electrical circuits contained therein;

(b) each of said terminal blocks having the same dimensions in directions orthogonally arranged relative to the axis defined by the support member;
(c) said supply terminal block having supply contact connections designed for connection with supply conductors having a relatively large cross-sectional area;
(d) said distribution terminal blocks having distribution contact connections designed for connection with distribution conductors having a relatively small cross-sectional area.

14. A terminal block assembly as defined in claim 13 , wherein a top portion of said terminal block assembly contains a plurality of cross-connecting grooves that extend transversely across the top portions of all of said terminal blocks.

15. A terminal block assembly as defined in claim 14 , and further including a plurality of conductive comb members arranged in said cross-connecting grooves for electrically connecting together the contacts of electrical circuitry contained in said terminal block housings, respectively.

16. A terminal block assembly as defined in claim 15 , wherein said distribution terminal blocks include two parallel spaced rows of output contacts connected with the electrical circuitry of said distribution terminal blocks, respectively, said outlet contacts being connected with load conductors having relatively smaller cross-sectional areas via corresponding outlet conductor openings contained in the housing top walls.

17. A terminal block assembly as defined in claim 16 , wherein a first row of said outlet contacts is connected with a first voltage source via a first transverse conductive comb member, and a second row of said outlet contacts is connected with a second voltage source via a second transverse conductive comb member.

18. A terminal block assembly as defined in claim 17 , wherein said terminal block assembly includes a plurality of fuse devices mounted on said distribution terminal block housing top walls, respectively, each of said fuse devices being connected in the electrical circuitry between said second comb member and said second row of output contacts, respectively.

19. A terminal block assembly as defined in claim 17 , wherein said first row of outlet contacts is connected with ground via said support member.

Assignees

• Weidmueller Interface Gmbh & Co Kg

Inventors

• Adamczyk Martin
• Buhrke Jörn
• Neumann Genadij
• Rutz Andreas

Classifications

• H01R9/2675 Primary

  Electrical interconnections between two blocks, e.g. by means of busbars · CPC title

• H01R11/07

  the connecting locations being of the same type but different sizes · CPC title

• H01R9/2691

  with ground wire connection to the rail · CPC title

• H01R9/2683

  Marking plates or tabs · CPC title