Abstract:
An electrical connector having a body with a central portion and a front portion, a tubular body extending from the central portion to the front portion, the tubular body defining a cavity, an electrical contact at least partially housed within the cavity, and a closure element configured for insertion into the cavity such that the electrical contact cannot be accessed from outside the electrical connector is disclosed.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of the filing date under 35 U.S.C. §119(a)-(d) of Italian Patent Application No. TO2006A000228; filed Mar. 28, 2006. 
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to electrical connectors and more particularly to electrical connectors having closure elements for restricting access to contacts of the electrical connectors. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Document DE-A-40 25 571 discloses an electrical connector comprising a body of plastic material which has a rear portion, for receiving a wire, a central portion for connecting the wire to a plurality of electrical contacts, and a front portion, wherein said front portion comprises a plurality of substantially tubular bodies, wherein said tubular bodies extend starting from the central portion of said body and define a plurality of cavities, and wherein each cavity is provided for housing one of said electrical contacts. 
         [0004]    However, since the electrical contacts can be easily accessed from the outside of the connector, the connectors previously disclosed and above-described do not satisfy the increasingly demanding safety requirements which are provided by present regulations. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0005]    The present invention relates to an electrical connector having a body with a central portion and a front portion, a tubular body extending from the central portion to the front portion, the tubular body defining a cavity, an electrical contact at least partially housed within the cavity, and a closure element configured for insertion into the cavity such that the electrical contact cannot be accessed from outside the electrical connector. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0006]    The invention is explained in greater detail below with reference to the accompanying Figures of which: 
           [0007]      FIG. 1  is an oblique view of a receptacle-type electrical connector according to the present invention configured with three closure elements extracted from the electrical connector; 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  is another oblique view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1  configured with the closure elements inserted into the electrical connector; 
           [0009]      FIG. 3  is another oblique view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1  configured with the closure elements inserted into the electrical connector and showing a tool for extracting the closure elements; 
           [0010]      FIG. 4  is an oblique view of a plug-type electrical connector according to the present invention configured with three closure elements extracted from the electrical connector; 
           [0011]      FIG. 5  is another oblique view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 4  configured with the closure elements inserted into the electrical connector; 
           [0012]      FIG. 6  is another oblique view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 4  configured with the closure elements inserted into the electrical connector and showing a tool for extracting the closure elements; 
           [0013]      FIG. 7  is an orthogonal view of the plug-type electrical connector of  FIG. 4 ; 
           [0014]      FIG. 8  is a plan view of the receptacle-type electrical connector of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0015]      FIG. 9  is a partially cross-sectional view of the plug-type electrical connector of  FIG. 4  taken along line IX-IX of  FIG. 7 ; 
           [0016]      FIG. 10  is a partially cross-sectional view of the plug-type electrical connector of  FIG. 4  taken along line X-X of  FIG. 7 ; 
           [0017]      FIG. 11  is a partially cross-sectional view of the receptacle-type electrical connector of  FIG. 1  taken along line XI-XI of  FIG. 8 ; 
           [0018]      FIG. 12  is a partially cross-sectional view of the receptacle-type electrical connector of  FIG. 1  taken along line XII-XII of  FIG. 8 ; 
           [0019]      FIG. 13  is an oblique view of the closure element associated with the receptacle-type connector of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0020]      FIG. 14  is another oblique view of the closure element associated with the receptacle-type connector of  FIG. 1 , 
           [0021]      FIG. 15  is an orthogonal view of the closure element associated with the receptacle-type connector of  FIG. 1 , 
           [0022]      FIG. 16  is a cross-sectional view of the closure element associated with the receptacle-type connector of  FIG. 1  taken along line XVI-XVI of  FIG. 15 ; 
           [0023]      FIG. 17  is another orthogonal view of the closure element associated with the receptacle-type connector of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0024]      FIG. 18  is another orthogonal view of the closure element associated with the receptacle-type connector of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0025]      FIG. 19  is an oblique view of the closure element associated with the plug-type connector of  FIG. 4 ; 
           [0026]      FIG. 20  is another oblique view of the closure element associated with the plug-type connector of  FIG. 4 ; 
           [0027]      FIG. 21  is an orthogonal view of the closure element associated with the plug-type connector of  FIG. 4 ; 
           [0028]      FIG. 22  is a cross-sectional view of the closure element associated with the plug-type connector of  FIG. 4  taken along line XXII-XXII of  FIG. 21 ; and 
           [0029]      FIG. 23  is another orthogonal view of the closure element associated with the plug-type connector of  FIG. 4 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
       [0030]    With reference to  FIGS. 1-3 , a receptacle-type electrical connector is generally designated by reference number  1 . The electrical connector  1  comprises a body  2  of plastic material which has a rear portion  3  for receiving a wire  4 , and a central portion  5  for connecting the wire  4  to three electrical contacts  6 . In the case of the receptacle-type electrical connector  1 , the electrical contacts  6  are plug-type contacts, and in  FIG. 1  only the central contact  6  is visible which is the earth or ground contact. 
         [0031]    The body  2  of plastic material further comprises a front portion  7  which includes three substantially tubular bodies  8 . The tubular bodies  8  extend from the central portion  5  of the body  2  of plastic material and define three cavities, in which the three plug-type electrical contacts  6  are housed. 
         [0032]    With particular reference to  FIG. 1 , three closure elements  9  are associated to the electrical connector  1  and can be inserted into the above-mentioned three cavities defined by the three tubular bodies  8 . Each closure element  9  is shaped so that, once it has been inserted into one of the three cavities, it closes the cavity whereby the respective plug-type electrical contact  6  is no longer accessible from the outside. 
         [0033]    A plug-type electrical connector  11 , shown in  FIGS. 4-6 , comprises a body  12  of plastic material which has a rear portion  13  for receiving a wire  14 . The body  12  of plastic material further comprises a central portion  15  for connecting the wire  14  to three receptacle-type electrical contacts  16 . The body  12  of plastic material further comprises a front portion  17  which includes three substantially tubular bodies  18  which extend from the central portion  15  of the body  12  of plastic material. The three tubular bodies  18  define three cavities for housing the above-mentioned receptacle-type electrical contacts  16 . 
         [0034]    As shown in particular in  FIG. 4 , to the plug-type electrical connector  11  there are associated three closure elements  19  which can be inserted into the above mentioned cavities defined by the tubular bodies  18 . 
         [0035]    Each closure element  19  is shaped, so that once it has been inserted into one cavity as defined by the tubular bodies  18 , it closes the above-mentioned cavity so that the respective receptacle-type electrical contact  16  is not accessible from the outside. 
         [0036]    The closure elements  9  and  19  are shaped so that, once they have been inserted into the respective cavities, they do not have parts projecting outwardly from the respective tubular bodies  8  and  18  (see  FIGS. 2 and 5 ). 
         [0037]    With particular reference to  FIGS. 1 and 4 , the closure elements  9  and  19  have a terminal gripping portion respectively designated by  9   a  and  19   a.    
         [0038]    From  FIGS. 2 and 5  it can be noted that the shape and the dimension of the above-mentioned terminal gripping portions  9   a ,  19   a , relative to the dimension of the cavities defined by three tubular bodied  8  and  18 , are such that they prevent the closure elements  9  and  19  from being extracted from the cavities using only the fingers of a hand. Instead, the closure elements must be extracted with the aid of a tool  10  such as pliers (see  FIGS. 3 and 6 ). 
         [0039]    Due to the configuration of the closure elements  9  and  19 , a high degree of safety is ensured since the closure elements  9 ,  19  prevent the electrical contacts  6 ,  16  inside the electrical connectors  1 ,  11  from being accessed from the outside and further prevent extraction of the closure elements  9 ,  19  using only the fingers of a hand. 
         [0040]      FIG. 7  shows a plug-type electrical connector  11 , in which it can be noted that the three tubular bodies  18  have different lengths, and in particular, the central tubular body  18   a  is shorter than the lateral tubular bodies  18   b  and  18   c.    
         [0041]      FIG. 9  and  FIG. 10  show cross-sections of the central tubular body  18   a  and the lateral tubular body  18   b , respectively.  FIGS. 9 and 10  relate to the configuration in which the closure elements  19  are inserted into the receptacle-type electrical contacts  16 . It can be noted from  FIG. 9  that the closure element  19  is inserted into the cavity defined by the tubular  18   a  and contacts the tabs of the receptacle-type electrical contact  16 . However, with reference to  FIG. 10 , it can be noted that the closure element  19  appears to be more deeply inserted as compared to the example of  FIG. 9 , since the tubular body  18   b  is longer than the tubular body  18   a.    
         [0042]      FIG. 8  shows a receptacle-type connector  1  where it can be noted that the tubular body  8   a  has a shorter length with respect with the lateral tubular bodies  8   b  and  8   c.    
         [0043]      FIG. 11  and  FIG. 12  refer to the configuration in which the closure elements  9  are inserted into the above-mentioned cavities defined by the tubular bodies  8 . Also in this case, in  FIG. 12  the closure element  9  is arranged at a position more deeply inserted as compared to  FIG. 11 . This happens because  FIG. 12  depicts the tubular body  8   b , whereas  FIG. 11  depicts the central tubular body  8   a , which is shorter. 
         [0044]      FIGS. 13 and 14  show different views of a closure element  9 . The closure element  9  is the closure element which is provided for association with the receptacle-type connector  1  and has a substantially cap-like cylindrical shape with a bottom wall on which the terminal gripping portion  9   a  is formed. 
         [0045]    The closure element  9  can be inserted into a respective cavity defined by one of the tubular bodies  8  and over the respective plug-type contact  6 . In  FIG. 15 , the cap-like cylindrical closure element  9  has a flare  20 , adjacent to the terminal gripping portion  9   a , with a slightly increased outer diameter, so as to ensure a friction locking relative to the inner wall of the respective cavity defined by the respective tubular body  8 . 
         [0046]    The cap-like cylindrical closure element  9  has an inner cavity with an end part  21  (see  FIG. 16 ) adjacent to the bottom wall, having a slightly smaller diameter with respect to the diameter of the plug-type electrical contact  6 , so as to ensure a friction locking relative to the plug-electrical contact  6 . This configuration of the closure element  9  provides a double friction locking action, one friction locking action relative to the inner wall of the cavity and the other friction locking action relative to the electrical contact  6 . 
         [0047]    With reference to  FIGS. 15 ,  17 ,  18  the cap-like cylindrical closure element  9  has two flat faces  22  on its outer surface, which are diametrically opposite each other and extend the longitudinal direction so as to define a non-circular cross-section of the cap-like element. In this manner, a shape coupling is possible between the cap-like closure element  9  and the respective substantially tubular body  8  of the receptacle-type connector  1 , which has a complementary shape (see for example  FIG. 1 ). 
         [0048]    The terminal gripping portion  9   a  of the closure element  9  is defined by an axially projecting ridge, visible in  FIG. 15 , which extends from the bottom wall and in a direction transverse to the planes of faces  22 . 
         [0049]    In  FIGS. 19 and 20  a closure element  19  for association with the plug-type connector  11  is shown in different views. The closure element  19  comprises a body substantially in the form of a pin which is inserted into the respective receptacle-type contact  16  so as to prevent the contact from being accessible from the outside. 
         [0050]    With reference to  FIG. 21 , the pin-like closure element  19  has a flare  23  adjacent to the terminal gripping portion  19   a  having a slightly greater diameter as compared to the diameter of the receptacle-type contact  16 , so as to prevent the closure element  19  from being completely inserted to the above mentioned receptacle-type contact  16 , ensuring the possibility of it subsequently being extracted. In this case, the locking action is provided by the elasticity of the receptacle-type contact  16 , which comprises a number of tabs which are elastically deformed upon the insertion of the closure element  19  and hold the latter in position. 
         [0051]    The terminal gripping portion  19   a  of the closure element  19  is defined by an axially projecting tab which extends from the gripping end of the pin-like closure element  19  (see  FIGS. 22 and 23 ). 
         [0052]    As clearly apparent from the foregoing description, the electrical connector provided with the closure elements according to the invention offers a greater degree of safety with respect to the known connectors. 
         [0053]    Naturally, while the principle of the invention remains the same, the details of construction and the embodiments may widely vary with respect to what has been described and shown purely by way of example, without departing from the scope of the present invention.