Patent Publication Number: US-11646511-B1

Title: Feeder terminal block

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     Technical Field 
     The disclosure relates to a terminal block, particularly to a feeder terminal block which is modularized and easy to be assembled. 
     Description of Related Art 
     With the development of technological industry, terminal blocks are widely applied in various fields such as automatic control, communication equipment and power equipment so as to allow workers to implement rapid wiring for connections between multiple sets of power wires, control wires and data transmission wires, and allow workers to change product types in the production more frequently for freely adjust manual or automatic production and reasonably accomplish the effect of highly efficient production in a small amount and multiple specifications. 
     However, all related-art terminal blocks have various specifications, so the manufacturers need mass production and large inventory for those terminal blocks with different wire holes. This causes considerable pressure of manufacturing costs and warehousing costs. In addition, with the market demands of high efficiency and high performance in recent years, when the number of the wire holes becomes more, the internal structure becomes more complicated to hinder assembling. 
     In view of this, the inventors have devoted themselves to the above-mentioned prior art, researched intensively and cooperated with the application of science to try to solve the above-mentioned problems. Finally, the invention which is reasonable and effective to overcome the above drawbacks is provided. 
     SUMMARY 
     An object of the disclosure is to provide a feeder terminal block, which is modularized and easy to be assembled, and facilitates increasing or decreasing the number of wires to be inserted. 
     To accomplish the above object, the disclosure provides a feeder terminal block for multiple wires to be inserted, the feeder terminal block includes an insulative case, a supply conductive plate and a wire connecting module. The insulative case has a chamber and two wire holes communicating with the chamber. The supply-side conductive plate is disposed in the chamber. The wire connecting module is mounted on the conductive plate and includes a feed-side conductive plate, two insulative supports and two flexible clamping sheets. The feed-side conductive plate is electrically connected to the supply-side conductive plate and includes a first side wall and a second side wall opposite to each other. Each insulative support is arranged parallelly on the feed-side conductive plate. Each insulative support and the second side wall separately jointly form a clamping space corresponding to each wire hole. Each flexible clamping sheet is disposed on each insulative support. One end of each flexible clamping sheet is flexibly connected with the first side wall. Another end of each flexible clamping sheet is located in each clamping space and operatably clamps or releases each wire. 
     The disclosure further has the following functions. By each riveting hole being passed by and fixedly riveted with each riveting bar, the feed-side conductive plate may be fixed on the supply-side conductive plate to form an electric connection. By the slots of the first side wall and the second side wall, each block of each longitudinal side plate may be embedded to fix each insulative support on the feed-side conductive plate. The protrusion in each slot may be interferentially fixed with the block to enhance the fixing effect. By the connecting bar and the connecting hole on a left side and a right side of the transverse side plate, the insulative supports may be connected in series. The multiple hooks of the second side wall may be engaged with each pressing section to axially limit each pressing section. Each release slider formed on a side of each wire hole may press each pressing section to control the communication between each wire hole and each clamping space. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is an exploded view of the insulative case and the side plate of the disclosure; 
         FIG.  2    is an explode view of the disclosure; 
         FIG.  3    is a perspective view of the supply-side conductive plate and the wire connecting module of the disclosure; 
         FIG.  4    is a partially exploded view of  FIG.  3   ; 
         FIG.  5    is another exploded view of  FIG.  4    from another point of view; 
         FIG.  6    is a cross-sectional view of a using status of the disclosure; 
         FIG.  7    is a cross-sectional view of another using status of the disclosure; and 
         FIG.  8    is an exploded view of another embodiment of the insulative support of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The technical contents of this disclosure will become apparent with the detailed description of embodiments accompanied with the illustration of related drawings as follows. It is intended that the embodiments and drawings disclosed herein are to be considered illustrative rather than restrictive. 
     The disclosure provides a feeder terminal block for multiple wires A to be inserted. Please refer to  FIGS.  1 - 7   . The feeder terminal block includes an insulative case  10 , a supply-side conductive plate  20  and at least one wire connecting module  30 . 
     The insulative case  10  is, but not limited to, integrally formed (or formed in one piece) by plastic injection molding. For example, the insulative case  10  may also be made of other insulative materials. The insulative case  10  has a chamber  11 , at least two wire holes  12  communicating with the chamber  11 , and a power supply wire hole  13 . Each wire A is inserted to reach in the chamber  11  through each wire hole  12 . In the embodiment, the wire connection structure associating with the power supply wire hole  13  is of a bolt type, i.e., a power supply wire B is fastened in a conductive box  40  by a bolt C, but not limited to this, for example, the wire connection structure of the power supply wire hole  13  may also be of an elastic sheet type. 
     In the embodiment, the supply-side conductive plate  20  is a strip-shaped metal plate with the materials of desirable conductivity, such as, but not limited to, silver, copper, gold, aluminum, steel, or an alloy thereof, or any plate with good conductivity is available. The supply-side conductive plate  20  is disposed in the chamber  11 . In detail, the supply-side conductive plate  20  is disposed on the bottom of the chamber  11  and contact the conductive box  40  in the power supply wire hole  13  to form an electric connection so as to make the power supply wire B be electrically connected with the supply-side conductive plate  20 . 
     Please refer to  FIGS.  3 - 5   . The wire connecting module  30  is mounted on the supply-side conductive plate  20  and includes a feed-side conductive plate  31 , at least two insulative supports  32  and at least two flexible clamping sheets  33 . In the embodiment, the wire connecting modules  30  are four in number and longitudinally arranged along the supply-side conductive plate  20 , but not limited to this, for example, the wire connecting modules  30  may also be two, three or more than five in number, designers may adjust the number of the wire connecting modules  30  according to different requirements. Also, in the embodiment, the insulative supports  32  and the flexible clamping sheets  33  in each wire connecting module  30  are, but not limited to, three in number, for example, the insulative supports  32  and the flexible clamping sheets  33  in each wire connecting module  30  may also be two or more than four in number, or the insulative supports  32  and the flexible clamping sheets  33  in different wire connecting modules  30  are different in number, it depends on a designer&#39;s requirements to correspondingly adjust. It is noted that the feed-side conductive plate  31 , each insulative support  32  and each flexible clamping sheet  33  of the wire connecting module  30  shown in the figures are merely exemplified for understanding, so the size and amount of each component do not constitute a limitation to the disclosure. 
     The feed-side conductive plate  31  is a metal plate with the materials of desirable conductivity, such as, but not limited to, silver, copper, gold, aluminum, steel, or an alloy thereof, or any plate with good conductivity is available. The feed-side conductive plate  31  is stacked on the supply-side conductive plate  20  to form an electric connection therebetween and includes a first side wall  311  and a second side wall  312  opposite to each other. In the embodiment, the supply-side conductive plate  20  is protruded with multiple riveting bars  21 . The feed-side conductive plate  31  is formed with multiple riveting holes  313  corresponding to each riveting bar  21 . Each riveting hole  313  is passed by and fixedly riveted with each riveting bar  21  to fix the feed-side conductive plate  31  on the supply-side conductive plate  20  to form an electric connection, but not limited to this, any fixture which may fix the both and form an electric connection is applicable. 
     The insulative support  32  is, but not limited to, integrally formed (or formed in one piece) by plastic injection molding. For example, the insulative support  32  may also be made of other insulative materials. Each insulative support  32  is arranged on the feed-side conductive plate  31 . Each insulative support  32  and the second side wall  312  separately jointly form a clamping space  321  corresponding to each wire hole  12 . In detail, the insulative support  32  is a substantially L-shaped plate and includes a transverse side plate  322  and a longitudinal side plate  323 . The transverse side plate  322 , the longitudinal side plate  323  and the second side wall  312  jointly surround the clamping space  321 . In the embodiment, each of the first side wall  311  and the second side wall  312  is formed with multiple slots  311 A,  312 A corresponding to each insulative support  32 . Each of a front side and a rear side of each longitudinal side plate  323  is provided with a block  322 A,  323 A corresponding to each slot  311 A,  312 A. Each block  322 A,  323 A is separately embedded in corresponding one of the slots  311 A,  312 A to fix each insulative support  32  on the feed-side conductive plate  31 . In some embodiments, the inside of each slot  311 A,  312 A may be further formed with at least one protrusion  311 B,  312 B. The fixing effect between each insulative support  32  and the feed-side conductive plate  31  may be further strengthened by the interferential fixture between the protrusions  311 B,  312 B and the blocks  322 A,  323 A. 
     Please refer to  FIG.  8   . Each of a left side and a right side of each transverse side plate  322  is formed with at least one connecting bar  322 B and at least one connecting hole  322 C. The connecting bar  322 B of each transverse side plate  322  is fixedly embedded into the connecting hole  322 C of adjacent transverse side plate  322  to connect the insulative supports  32  in series. Outer one of the insulative supports  32  is symmetrically formed as an insulative support  32 ′. The insulative support  32 ′ is symmetrically extended with two transverse side plates  322  separately toward the left direction and the right direction, two support shafts  322 D and two connecting holes  322 C so as to install two flexible clamping sheets  33 , but not limited to this, for example, each insulative support  32  may also be the same piece formed by plastic injection molding. 
     The flexible clamping sheet  33  is, but not limited to, a metal sheet with desirable conductivity. The flexible clamping sheet  33  includes a fixing section  331 , a pressing section  332  and a surrounding section  333  connected between the fixing section  331  and the pressing section  332 . Each flexible clamping sheet  33  is disposed on each insulative support  32 . One end of each flexible clamping sheet  33  flexibly abuts against the first side wall  311  and the other end of each flexible clamping sheet  33  is located in each clamping space  321  and operatably clamps or releases each wire A. In detail, each transverse side plate  322  is transversely extended with a support shaft  322 D. The surrounding section  333  is of an arc shape and surrounds the support shaft  322 D so as to make a distal end of the fixing section  331  flexibly abut against the first side wall  311 , and make a distal end of the pressing section  332  flexibly press the second side wall  312 . As a result, each flexible clamping sheet  33  is fixed on the feed-side conductive plate  31 . In some embodiments, the second side wall  312  is provided with multiple hooks  312 C toward the first side wall  311  corresponding to each insulative support  32 . Each hook  312 C is engaged with each pressing section  332  of each flexible clamping sheet  33  to axially limit each pressing section  332  to make each pressing section  332  only downward sway to facilitate insertion and fixing of the wire A after engagement. 
     Furthermore, please refer to  FIGS.  1 ,  2 ,  6  and  7   . The feeder terminal block further includes multiple release sliders  50  corresponding to the number of the wire holes  12 . Each release slider  50  is axial-slidably disposed on a side of corresponding one of the wire holes  12  and penetrates to reach in the chamber  11  to contact each flexible clamping sheet  33  to press each pressing section  332  so as to control the communication between each wire hole  12  and each clamping space  321 . In detail, when each release slider  50  is downward pressed along the axial direction, each pressing section  332  of each flexible clamping sheet  33  is pressed downward to make each wire hole  12  and each clamping space  321  communicate with each other so as to facilitate insertion or withdrawal of each wire A. when each release slider  50  is released, each flexible clamping sheet  33  makes each pressing section  332  be re-engaged with each hook  312 C by its own elasticity and push each release slider  50  to restore to the original position. In addition, the insulative case  10  further includes a side cover  14 . The side cover  14  covers a side of the insulative case  10  to shield the supply-side conductive plate  20  and each wire connecting module  30 . 
     While this disclosure has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of this disclosure set forth in the claims.