Patent Publication Number: US-2023135409-A1

Title: Weather-resistant feedthrough housing

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The disclosure relates to a feedthrough housing for securing to a wall for feeding through one or more lines and/or cables. Such feedthrough housings are required to guide lines or cables from a closed region into another region or vice versa. 
     BACKGROUND 
     EP 2 845 277 A2 sets out a bushing housing which is arranged on a device wall. The feedthrough housing comprises a lower housing portion and an upper housing portion. In the lower housing portion there are provided recesses in which a plurality of cable feedthrough seals are arranged for feeding through cables. The feedthrough housing has a substantially parallelepipedal basic shape. If water penetrates between the feedthrough housing and device wall, at low temperature the feedthrough housing may be ejected from the device wall as a result of the formation of ice. Such a feedthrough housing can therefore be used only in a limited manner externally. 
     The German Patent and Trademark Office has in the priority application with respect to the present application searched the following prior art: U.S. Pat. No. 7,258,556 B1, WO 2020/156610 A1, EP 2 845 277 A2 and WO 2013/164420 A2. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present application presents a weather-resistant feedthrough housing. 
     The feedthrough housing is provided for securing to a wall for feeding through one or more lines and/or cables. Such a feedthrough housing is, for example, used in the rail sector in order to connect two wagons to each other by means of lines. The feedthrough housings are generally fitted to an outer wall of the wagons and are in this instance subjected to the usual environmental influences. 
     The feedthrough housing has a housing member and a compatible, removable housing cover. Via the housing cover, access to the cables or lines which are introduced into the feedthrough housing can be achieved. To this end, the feedthrough housing or the housing member thereof preferably has an opening which corresponds to an opening in the wall. The housing member advantageously has at the wall side a circumferential seal which comprises the opening and which thus protects the feedthrough housing at the wall side from the penetration of media. 
     The cables or lines which extend into the feedthrough housing may, for example, be connected to modular plug connection systems which act as plug interfaces for plug connections which are intended to be connected. 
     The housing cover has a region which is directed toward the wall and which has a concave contour. In this instance, the term “concave” is intended to be understood to mean that the contour is directed away from the wall, that is to say, is directed inwardly (into the interior of the feedthrough housing). 
     Water which penetrates between the wall and feedthrough housing can drain away at the short or outer sides of this contour. When, for example, snow accumulates between the wall and feedthrough housing, the snow can also flow away at the side during melting. At low temperatures, ice which is formed can be displaced to the short sides of the contour. The feedthrough housing is thereby not mechanically loaded. The connection between the feedthrough housing and the wall remains stable and media-tight. 
     In a particularly preferred embodiment, the region which is directed toward the wall, when viewed as a plan view, has a rectangular basic shape with an equal-sided trapezoidal attachment which adjoins it at the top. 
     Preferably, the contour extends between the outer short sides of the rectangular basic shape and/or between the outer sides of the trapezoidal attachment in a concave manner. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       An embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the drawings and is explained in greater detail below. 
         FIG.  1    shows a perspective illustration of the front side of a feedthrough housing. 
         FIG.  2    shows a perspective illustration of the rear side of a feedthrough housing. 
         FIG.  3    shows a plan view of the rear side of a feedthrough housing. 
         FIG.  4    shows a perspective illustration of the rear side of a feedthrough housing. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The figures contain partially simplified, schematic illustrations. Identical reference numerals are sometimes used for elements which are the same but which may not be identical. Various views of the identical elements could be scaled differently. 
       FIG.  1    shows the front side of a feedthrough housing  1 . The feedthrough housing  1  comprises a housing member  2  and a compatible housing cover  3 . The housing cover  3  can be removed and is configured in such a manner that, by removing the housing cover  3 , the largest possible structural space is provided in the feedthrough housing  1 . This facilitates the installation and maintenance operations which have to be carried out with such a feedthrough housing. 
     The housing member  2  and the housing cover  3  comprise a metal material and are each provided with a weather-resistant coating. 
     In the housing member  2 , there are laterally provided two openings in each case in which screws  6  for securing the feedthrough housing  1  to a wall (not shown) are arranged. 
     The housing cover  3  has a region  4  which is directed toward the wall and which in turn has a concave contour. 
     The concave region  4  is illustrated in  FIG.  3    in a highly schematic manner. The concave region  4  can be described purely schematically by means of the corner points A, B, C, D, E and F in  FIG.  3   . The corner points A, B, C, and D form a rectangle. Between the short sides A, C and B, D of the rectangle, a concave region at least partially extends, that is to say, the housing cover  3  is curved in this instance toward the interior of the image. The corner points C, D, E and F form an isosceles trapezium. Between the trapezium sides C, E and D, F, a completely concave region extends. The housing cover  3  is also curved in this instance toward the interior of the image. 
     In  FIG.  4   , the concave region  4 ′ of the feedthrough housing  1  is illustrated in greater detail. The concave region  4 ′ is defined in  FIG.  4    by the corner points A′, B′, C′, D′, E′ and F′. For illustration, the corner points A′, B′, C′, D′, E′ and F′ are connected by means of a dashed line. In this instance, the corner points A′, B′, C′ and D′ substantially form a rectangle again, wherein the corner points A′ and B′ are connected to each other by means of a circle segment. The corner points C′, D′, E′ and F′ can again be considered geometrically as an isosceles trapezium. 
     Even if various aspects or features of the invention are shown in combination in the figures, for the person skilled in the art—unless otherwise stated—it is evident that the combinations illustrated and discussed are not the only ones possible. In particular, mutually corresponding units or feature complexes from different embodiments are interchangeable. 
     LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 
     
         
           1  Feedthrough housing 
           2  Housing member 
           3  Housing cover 
           4  Region 
           5  Opening 
           6  Screw 
         A, B, C, D, E, F Corner points