Combination of a connection bridge with contact terminals belonging to an electrical connection plate

Abstract: Connection bridge (12) for contact terminals (11) which are advantageously, but not essentially, of a lamina type and which belong to a connection plate (10) and are arranged on the connection plate (10) according to a first predetermined plan, the connection bridge (12) being suitable to obtain a personalised re-organisation of the contact terminals (11) according to a second predetermined plan and being equipped with resilient means (112) for cooperation with the contact terminals (11) and equipped also with an electrical connection strip (16) that joins pairs of the resilient means (112), the resilient means (112) comprising at least two contact forks (15) cooperating respectively with two contact terminals (11), each of the at least two contact forks being provided with two arms (115) the ends of which comprise projections (112) facing each other and separated by a gap less than the thickness (25) of the contact terminals (11), the contact between the connection bridge (12) and the contact terminal (11) taking place between the projections (112) and a lateral zone (11b-­ 11c) of the contact terminal (11). Electrical connection plate (10) equipped with a plurality of contact terminals (11) organised according to a predetermined plan, at least two of the contact terminals (11) being interconnected by means of a connection bridge (12) as described above.

Description: This invention concerns a connection bridge for contact terminals. To be more exact, the invention concerns a connection bridge suitable to make possible a personalized connection of contact terminals belonging to a connection plate which comprises a plurality of contact terminals organised according to a predetermined plan. Such connection bridge is mainly applied in the field of electromechanical components. The invention relates also to an electrical connection plate equipped with such connection bridges. The electromechanical components industry produces connection plates which enable function control devices to be connected electrically to the operational apparatus contained within a usage means. This is the case, for instance, with connection plates comprising a plurality of contact terminals belonging to the adjacently arranged modules of a timed programmer for a washing machine. The end-users of these connection plates require the contact terminals borne on these plates to be organised thereon according to a predetermined plan that meets the subsequent connection requirements, that is to say, the plates should be personalized. This entails a set of problems for the industry producing connection plates; these problems are due to the fact that the end-users generally employ contact arrangements which differ from each other and which vary also according to the electrical apparatus to be connected to the plate. For this reason the industry generally produces connection plates in small or very small lots and adapts its production, and therefore the arrangement of the contact terminals on the plates, substantially according to the type of supply required by each single end-user. This procedure entails very slow rates of output and therefore high costs. Moreover, the end-users of these plates require the terminals borne on the plates to ensure in all cases a perfect electrical contact with the apparatus downstream. This involves the fact that the contact between the lamina contact tags normally borne on these plates and the corresponding sockets borne on the apparatus downstream should take place on a surface free of irregularities such as scratches or the like. DE-A-2.739.209 and DE-A-2.517.465 are known and their contents have the purpose of overcoming problems other than those tackled by the present invention. In DE-A-2.739.209 the plates are inserted longitudinally to the connecting forks. In the nearest prior art DE-A-2.517.465 too the contacts are inserted longitudinally to the connecting forks, furthermore this reference represents the nearest prior art corresponding to the first part of Claim 1. These solutions do not enable the central strip of the contact terminal to be safeguarded. The present invention has the purpose of obviating the drawbacks and shortcomings of the state of the art and therefore of enabling standardized connection plates to be produced at low cost. Such connection plates can be adapted to the requirements of end-users with a minimum effort and can ensure at the same time a perfect electrical connection between the terminal on the plate and a downstream apparatus. These and other purposes are achieved with a connection bridge for terminals belonging to an electrical connection plate having the features described in the main claim, while the dependent claims describe preferred embodiments of the invention. The connection bridge according to this invention comprises at least one contact fork suitable to cooperate with a respective lamina-type contact terminal borne on a standardized electrical connection plate, the contact fork being connected to another contact fork or another contact terminal by means of an electrical connection strip. The connection bridge comprises advantageously at least two contact forks for the connection between the lamina-type contact terminals. Each of the contact forks includes zones for contact with the lamina-type contact terminals or laminas, the zones being such as to ensure a wide surface free of interference on the laminas, thus making possible a perfect electrical contact between the lamina-type terminals and the specific electrical connector connected to the apparatus downstream of the connection plate. The connection bridge can be produced advantageously in various standardized shapes in large lots, thus enabling the contact terminals borne on the plate to be reorganised in a personalised manner at a very low cost. Moreover, according to the invention the use of sheets of an insulating material arranged on the plate makes it possible to fit the connection strips one upon another and even crossed over each other without risks such as a short circuit. Likewise, the standards for the distances between the conductors in the plates can be complied with just the same. The invention will be illustrated better hereinafter by means of a description of one embodiment, which is given as a non-restrictive example, and with the help of the attached figures, in which:- Fig.1 gives a plan view of a personalised connection plate equipped with a plurality of connection bridges according to the invention; Figs.2, 3 and 4 show a plan view respectively of first, second and third embodiments of a connection bridge according to the invention; Fig.5 gives a side view of a detail of a connection plate according to the section A-A of Fig. 1; Fig.6 shows a variant of an embodiment of a bridge according to the invention; Fig.7 shows a partial, final application of the invention. In Fig.1 an electrical connection plate 10 is equipped with a plurality of lamina-type contact terminals 11, or laminas, arranged in columns and aligned. The example described hereinafter provides only for a case in which the contact terminals 11 are all of a lamina type but the invention can be applied also to contact terminals 11 which are all round, oval or square or else to contact terminals of which some are of one type while others are of another type. Such a connection plate 10 is used, for instance, to obtain the organisation, according to a predetermined plan, of the outputs of a timed programmer device consisting of a plurality of modules. In the example shown the outputs are organised in rows 17 and columns 18. In Fig.1 can also be seen five types of connection bridges 12a-12b consisting of flattened metallic elements, each of which is equipped with a pair of contact forks 15 connected together by an electrical connection strip 16. The connection bridges 12a-12b connect electrically together contact terminals 11 belonging even to different rows 17 and/or columns 18 and provide in this way a reorganisation of the contact terminals 11 according to a predetermined plan. Where an end-user, therefore, requires an electrical connection plate 10 having contact terminals 11 arranged to suit his own requirements, a suitable choice of connection bridges 12 enables the end-user to be supplied with a personalised connection plate consisting of fully standardised basic elements. In fact, it is possible to produce at a very low cost various runs of standardised connection bridges 12 able to connect any two or more contact terminals 11 belonging to the electrical connection plate 10. Electrical insulation between the various connection bridges 12 and the various connection strips 16 is achieved with ribs 13 made of an insulating material. The ribs 13 may be provided respectively on the base of a personalised cover plate 14 (see Fig.5) or be obtained by arranging on the connection plate 10 a sheet of insulating material which too will be personalised according to the connection requirements. In a case (not shown in the figures) where the electrical connection strips 16 are crossed over each other owing to connection requirements, a sheet of insulating material 19 is placed between the strips 16; different layers of connection bridges 12 (Fig.5) become formed in this way. The cover plates 14 may comprise only ribs 13 or only a lower portion 23 covering the area where the connection bridges 12 are located, or may also comprise a higher portion 24 in which are provided specialised pits 21 holding one or more contact terminals 11. These pits 21 serve to accommodate specialised connectors 20 which are connected by harnesses of wires 22 to the apparatus controlled (not shown). A lamina-type contact terminal 11 (see Fig.5) is normally provided with a central contact zone 11a defined on the two sides of the lamina-type terminal 11 and positioned parallel to the direction of insertion of the specific electrical connection element included in the connector 20 and thrust onto the lamina-type terminal 11 and is also provided normally with two lateral contact zones 11b and 11c respectively located on one side and the other of the central contact zone. According to the invention the contact between the contact terminal 11 and the connection bridge 12 takes place on these lateral zones 11b and 11c or on a lateral surafce 25 constituting the thickness 25 of the contact terminal 11. In this way the central zone 11a of the contact terminal 11 is free of interference or previous abrasions or chipped portions and a perfect electrical connection between the contact terminal 11 and an electrical connection element is made possible during electrical connection of the downstream apparatus linked thereto. For this purpose (see Figs.2 to 4 in particular) arms 115 of each of the forks 15 of the connection bridges 12a-12e are equipped with projections 112 facing each other and separated by a distance smaller than the thickness 25 of the contact terminal 11. In a variant (Fig.6) the innermost end 26 of the fork 15 between the arms 115 is distant from the contact points of the projections 112 by a value equal to the length of the long side of the contact terminal 11, while the contact points of the projections 112 are separated by a distance equal to the thickness 25 of the contact terminal 11, the inner protrusions of the projections 112 being separated by a value less than the thickness 25 of the contact terminal 11. This has the effect that, when the contact terminal 11 is inserted into the fork 15, the arms 115 of the fork 15 act resiliently on the projections 112 and keep them pressed against the contact terminal 11 constantly and also keep the contact terminal 11 advantageously pressed resiliently against the innermost end 26 within the arms 115 of the fork 15. According to this variant of the embodiment (Fig.6) the contact between the connection bridge 12 and the lamina-type contact terminal 11 can take place between the corners of the lamina-type contact terminal 11 and the inner surfaces of the projections 112, and in this case the whole lamina-type contact terminal 11 is enclosed within the fork of the connection bridge. In this example the contact between the lamina-type contact terminal 11 and the projection 212 is improved by the thrust imparted by the projections 112 to the lamina-type contact terminal 11 in the direction of a ridge 212. In fact, the connection bridges 12 can be provided advantageously with a ridge 212 at their innermost end 26 between the arms 112 of the fork 15; this ridge 212 will cooperate with the lateral surface constituting the thickness of the lamina-type contact terminal 11. Moreover, instead of the ridge 212 two V-shaped sides may be provided to form the innermost end 26, so that the electrical contact at that end 26 between the contact terminal 11 and the connection bridge 12 will take place at the lateral edges. It can therefore be seen that in every form of embodiment the contact between the connection bridge 12 and the contact terminal 11 takes place only at one of the lateral zones 11b 11c of the contact terminal 11 or also against the lateral surface 25 constituting the thickness of the lamina-type contact terminal 11 or at the corners of the lateral surface 25. According to another preferred embodiment (not shown in the figures) the projections 112 and ridges 212 are equipped with micro-teeth or micro-corrugations able to improve electrical engagement on the contact terminal 11. Where the surface of the contact terminal 11 is treated with a surface finish suitable to improve its conduction capacity (for instance, silver-plating, tin-plating or another system), the micro-teeth may be such as to cut into this surface treatment and to make the electrical contact between the connection bridge 12 and the contact terminal 11 even more intimate. Lastly, to complete this disclosure, it may be noted that (see Fig.1) in another variant the connection bridge 12 may include, for instance in correlation with the projections 112, pairs of holes 27 arranged at the ends of the arms 115. These holes 27 are able to cooperate with an appropriate tool (not shown here) which enables the arms 115 of the fork 15 to be further separated to assist application or removal of the connection bridge 12 to or from the contact terminal 11. Adaptation of the invention to contact terminals 11 having a square, oval, round, hexagonal or triangular section is immediate.

Claims: Combination of a connection bridge (12) with contact terminals (11) which are advantageously, but not essentially, of a lamina type and which belong to a connection plate (10), the contact terminals (11) being arranged on the connection plate (10) and perpendicular thereto (10) according to a first pre-determined plan, the connection bridge (12) being suitable to obtain a personalized re-organization of the contact terminals (11) according to a second pre-determined plan and being equipped with resilient means (112) for cooperation with the contact terminals (11) and equipped also with an electrical connection strip (16) that joins pairs of the resilient means (112), the contact terminals (11) comprising a lateral surface (25) constituting the thickness thereof and a wide face defined lengthwise by two lateral outer zones (11c-11b) adjoining the lateral surface (25) and by a central zone (11a), the resilient means (112) comprising at least two contact forks (15) cooperating with two respective contact terminals (11), each of the at least two contact forks (15) being defined by two arms (115), each of which bears at its outermost end a projection (112) facing the projection on the other arm and separated therefrom by a distance less than the thickness (25) of the contact terminals (11), the forks (15) defining a first plane of positioning and a second plane perpendicular to that first plane of positioning and parallel to the longitudinal direction of the arms (115) of the fork (15), the second perpendicular plane being located in a position between the arms (115), the combination being characterized in that the first plane of positioning is parallel to the connection plate (10), the connection bridge (12) is removable and the contact terminals (11) lie on that second plane and are positioned substantially between the arms (115), the projections (112) cooperating with the contact terminal (11) at or near the edges of the lateral surface (25) of the same, so that the contact terminal (11) is inserted between the arms (115) in a direction perpendicular to that first plane of positioning and substantially parallel to the second plane substantially without contact between said projections (112) of the connection bridges and said central zone of the contact terminals. Combination as in Claim 1, wherein the connection bridge (12) includes another projection ridge (212) positioned in the area defined by the arms (115) and in the innermost zone (26) of bifurcation of the arms (115), the projection ridge (212) being suitable to cooperate with a lateral surface (25) constituting the thickness of the contact terminal (11). Combination as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the connection bridge (12) comprises in the zone (26) of branching of the arms (115) a substantially V-shaped conformation suitable to cooperate with the corners of the relative lateral surface (25) constituting the thickness of the contact terminal (11). Combination as claimed in Claim 2 or 3, wherein the connection bridge (12) cooperates with the contact terminal (11) by means of a contact taking place between the inner part of the projections (112) and the corners of the lateral surface (25) constituting the thickness of the contact terminal (11). Combination as claimed in any Claim hereinbefore, wherein the connection bridge (12) comprises means (27) that enable the connection bridge (12) to be applied to the contact terminal (11). Combination as claimed in Claim 5, in which such enabling means (27) consist of holes provided in the neighbourhood of the projections (112) and able to cooperate with an application tool. Combination wherein at least two of the contact terminals (11) are interconnected by a connection bridge (12) according to any of the claims hereinbefore. Combination as claimed in Claim 7, which comprises a cover plate (14) made of an insulating material. Combination as claimed in Claim 8, in which the cover plate (14) comprises ribs (13) which separate the connection bridges (12) and are organized according to the first predetermined plan. Combination as claimed in Claim 8 or 9, in which the cover plate (14) comprises at least one specialized pit (21), which encloses at least one contact terminal (11) and is suitable to accommodate a specialized connector (20). Combination as claimed in any of Claims 7, 8 or 9, in which at least one sheet of insulating material (19) is arranged above at least one of the connection bridges (12). Combination as claimed in Claim 10, in which the at least one sheet of insulating material (19) comprises ribs (13) to separate connection bridges (12). Combination as claimed in any of Claims 9 to 12 inclusive, in which the insulating ribs (13) that separate connection bridges (12) are taken from an insulating sheet.

Inventors: BAIO ALFONSO, DE BIASI VIRGILIO, SCUSSEL ADRIANO, BAIO, ALFONSO, DE BIASI, VIRGILIO, SCUSSEL, ADRIANO
Applicants: EATON CONTROLS SPA
Application year: 1989
Main classification: H01R31
IPC codes: H01R31