Control cabinet

A control cabinet with an open bottom, which is enclosed by legs of a frame and can be closed off by individual bottom plates which can be placed side-by-side. The individual bottom plates rest with their short sides on a support shoulder of the facing frame legs and are connected with these frame legs. The bottom plates have an edge that is twice bent along at least one long side, wherein sealing strips seal the abutting long sides of adjacent bottom plates and where cables are introduced through cutouts in the bottom. Individual insertion and assured sealing of the individual cables, together with extensive adaptation and expansion possibilities is achieved with at least a portion of the bottom plates having cutouts spaced along the long side with the edge. Cable bushings which have stepped, offset bushing pieces with different interior diameters are insertable into the cutouts.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to a control cabinet with an open bottom, which is 
enclosed by the legs of a frame and can be closed off with individual 
bottom plates which can be positioned side-by-side. The individual bottom 
plates rest with their narrow sides on a support shoulder of facing frame 
legs and are connected with these frame legs, wherein the bottom plates 
are twice bent along at least one long side. Sealing strips seal the 
abutting long sides of adjacent bottom plates and cables are introduced 
through cutouts in the bottom. 
2. Description of Prior Art 
A conventional control cabinet with a cable inlet is known from German 
Patent Publication DE 78 16 729 U1. The individual bottom plates have a 
beveled edge on their long sides facing each other, on which a plastic 
foam block is positioned. The adjoining bottom plates are placed next to 
each other in such a way that the plastic foam blocks tightly seal the 
separating gap between the adjacent bottom plates. The cables are 
introduced between the two plastic foam blocks, which deform. If cables 
with greatly differing diameters are introduced side-by-side, the two 
plastic foam blocks no longer effectively seal the separating gap and the 
inserted cables. 
According to German Patent Publication 25 57 330 A1, cable bushings can be 
secured in a cutout and have stepped, offset bushing pieces of various 
diameters which are normally closed. In this case, the number of bushing 
pieces determines the number of cables with corresponding exterior 
diameters which can be sealingly routed through this cable bushing. The 
bushing pieces with respectively narrower interior diameters are cut off 
the cable bushing. The cable bushing consists of resilient plastic or 
rubber and the interior diameters of the bushing pieces are in each case 
somewhat narrower than the exterior diameters of the associated cables in 
order to obtain a sealed cable fit. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is one object of this invention to provide a cable entry in a bottom of 
a control cabinet similar to the above identified type, but in such a way 
that it is possible to route a plurality of different cables sealingly 
into the control cabinet wherein it is easy to adapt to the cable 
diameters and accommodate additional cables. 
In accordance with this invention, the above object is achieved in that at 
least a portion of the bottom plates has cutouts spaced along one long 
side at an edge and that cable bushings which have stepped, offset bushing 
pieces with different interior diameters can be inserted into the cutouts. 
The bottom of the control cabinet is closed off with an appropriate number 
of bottom plates that accommodate cable bushings, as required. The cutouts 
in the bottom plates receive a plurality of cable bushings which may be 
shaped the same or differently. Each introduced cable is individually 
inserted in an appropriate cable bushing and therefore is tightly sealed. 
In accordance with one preferred embodiment of this invention, introduction 
of the cable bushings into the cutouts is simplified in that the cable 
bushings, which have a groove extending over the portal-like side, are 
formed on a portal-like base plate and that the edge pieces of the bottom 
plates remaining between the portal-like cutouts have receiving grooves on 
both sides which mate with the underside of the bottom plate. 
In one preferred embodiment of this invention, the design can be such that 
identical cutouts are provided at regular intervals in a bottom plate into 
which identical base plates with identical or varied cable bushings can be 
inserted. In another preferred embodiment, cutouts of different sizes are 
provided in a bottom plate and different cable bushings can be inserted 
into the cutouts in order to obtain a great variety in the selection of 
cable bushings. 
In this case the possibility for variation can be increased in that a base 
plate insertable into the cutout has several cable bushings with identical 
or different bushing pieces. 
In the shipping state, all cutouts of all bottom plates are equipped with 
cable bushings in which the smallest bushing piece is closed. 
Fixing of the bottom plates in the control cabinet can be accomplished such 
that bores, welded-on bolts or welded-on flat ground plugs are provided in 
the area of the narrow sides for grounding the bottom plates with or 
without cutouts. The bores are also used as fastening bores for screwing 
the bottom plates to the facing frame legs of the frame. Also, a nut 
element with a securing shoulder can be inserted in a fastening receptacle 
of the facing frame leg and a tensioning bolt screwed into the nut element 
can be supported on the bottom plate to clamp it against the support 
shoulder. 
This invention will be described in detail by one preferred embodiment 
illustrated in the drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
An elongated bottom plate 10 is illustrated in FIG. 1, which is twice bent 
on the one long edge as shown by sections 15 and 16. The horizontal 
section 16 is used as support for an adjoining bottom plate 10, and a 
sealing strip is provided on the vertical section 15. Identical, 
portal-like recesses 11 are provided at equal distances on the opposite 
long side and continue beyond the corresponding long edge, so that only 
edge sections 12 remain between the cutouts 11. These edge sections 12 
have receiving grooves 13 and 14 on both sides adjacent to the underside 
of the bottom plate 10. The bottom plate 10 is first stamped and then 
appropriately bent into a desired shape. 
Identical cable bushings 22 with a base plate 20 can be inserted into the 
recesses 11. The portal-like base plate 20 has a groove extending along 
the portal-like side as shown in the groove sections 23 and 24, so that it 
can matingly receive the edge around the portal-like recess 11. The cable 
bushing 22 is formed on the base plate 20 and has bushing pieces 21.1, 
21.2 and 21.3, the interior diameters of which are offset. The bushing 
piece 21.3 having the smallest diameter is preferably closed at the top. 
The interior diameters of the bushing pieces 21.1, 21.2 and 21.3 are a 
little smaller than the associated exterior cable diameters. Since the 
cable bushing 22 is constructed of resilient plastic or rubber, the 
introduced cable is effectively sealed. If the bushing piece 21.3 is cut 
off, an appropriately sized cable 26 can be sealingly introduced. However, 
if the bushing pieces 21.2 and 21.3 are cut off, it is possible to 
sealingly introduce a cable 25 with a correspondingly larger exterior 
diameter in a sealing manner. The bottom plate 10 can have fastening bores 
41 in the area of the short sides, so that it can be secured or screwed to 
the frame of the control cabinet. 
The bottom plate 10.1 shown in FIG. 2 is somewhat wider and has portal-like 
cutouts 11.1 and 11.2 of different width and greater depth than the 
cutouts 11 of the bottom plate 10 shown in FIG. 1. It is possible to 
insert cable bushings 22.1 with a base plate 20.1 or cable bushings 22.2 
with a plurality of, for example four, cable bushings 22.2 into the 
cutouts 11.2. The larger cable bushings 22.1 have four bushing pieces for 
example, while the smaller cable bushings 22 only have three bushing 
pieces. Base plates 20.3 with three cable bushings 22.3 disposed behind 
each other are inserted into the recesses 11.1. Cables of different 
thickness can be sealingly inserted into a recess 11 by cutting off a 
different number of bushing pieces, as shown by the cables 25 and 27. 
FIG. 3 shows the lower portion of a frame 30. The frame legs 31, 32, 33 and 
34 form a lower frame which encloses and forms the open bottom of the 
control cabinet. The frame legs 31 and 33 form a horizontal inward 
oriented support shoulder 35 on which a sealing strip 36 is positioned. 
The bottom plates 10 and 10.1 with their cable bushings and the normal 
bottom plates 10.3, 10.4 and 10.5 without recesses or cable bushings rest 
with their short sides on this support shoulder 35 and can be secured or 
screwed together with the frame legs 31 and 33, as indicated by the 
fastening bores 41. However, fastening of a bottom plate, for example 
10.4, can be achieved with a nut element 38, which is inserted with a 
support shoulder 39 into a fastening receptacle 37 of the facing frame 
leg, for example 31. The tensioning bolt 40 which is screwed into the nut 
element 38 is supported on the bottom plate, for example 10.4, and clamps 
it against the support shoulder 35. 
The bottom plates 10.1 and 10.2 adjoin the bottom plate 10.3, which makes a 
seal by means of the sealing strip 17 against the frame leg 34 and which 
has a continuous edge 18 facing the bottom plate 10.2. A sealing strip 17 
is positioned on the facing long side of the bottom plate 10.1, which 
makes a seal against the edge 18 of the bottom plate 10.3. The sealing 
strip 17 of the bottom plate makes a seal against the long side of the 
bottom plate 10.1 which has cutouts and inserted cable bushings. The 
sealing strip 17 on the bottom plate 10.4 provides the seal against the 
long side of the bottom plate 10.2 having the cutouts and inserted cable 
bushings. With its covering edge 19, the bottom plate 10.4 covers the 
bottom plate 10.5 and a sealing strip can also be disposed in the area of 
overlap. The edge 18 of the bottom plate 10.5 makes a seal against the 
frame leg 32, and a sealing strip can also used for this arrangement. 
Additional bottom plates 10.2 or 10.1 can be used in place of the bottom 
plate 10.4 for covering the bottom of the control cabinet if the number of 
the cable bushings in the bottom plates 10.2 and 10.1 is insufficient. In 
the shipping state, the bottom plates 10.2 and 10.1 are fully equipped 
with closed cable bushings, so that the differently sized cables can be 
arbitrarily inserted at the place where they are to be used.