Abstract:
An electrical connector is disclosed with electrically contacting contact pins or contact sockets, such as plugs or couplings. The electrical connector exhibits on one side a receiver part. A light-guiding body made of a light-transmitting material with at least one illuminating body is inserted into the receiver part. Feed lines for contact pins are led through the receiver part. The light-guiding body is furnished with at least two arms. Reflection surfaces are furnished for deflecting light coming from an illuminating body into the two arms. The reflection surfaces deflect light into the respective arm and are capable of deflecting the light mainly in axial direction within the respective arm at an angle of from between about 40 to 140 degrees relative to the main radiation direction of the arm. The light-guiding or light-conducting body exhibits a recess below the tip or edge and the illuminating body is disposed in the recess.

Description:
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/983,307, filed of Dec. 30, 1997, now pending which is a 371 of PCT/DE96/00522, filed on Mar. 26, 1996. 
    
    
     CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     (Not Applicable) 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     (Not Applicable) 
     REFERENCE TO A “MICROFICHE APPENDIX” (SEE 37 CFR 1.96) 
     (Not Applicable) 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     Technical Field 
     The invention relates to an electrical connector with electrically contacting contact pins or contact sockets such as plugs or couplings, which includes a device for deflecting light in preferred directions of the illuminating body emitting a light, such as a light-emitting diode LED or other diode or incandescent bulb, in particular for the operating display of a illuminating body of electrical circuits in casings with view windows. 
     2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98 
     State of the Art 
     Frequently, a light-emitting diode or incandescent bulb is required for a display of specific states of the electrical circuit in connection with electronic circuits, which are located or encapsulated in shells or casings. In this context, if possible, the light-emitting diode or incandescent bulb should be visible from several sides such that the view angle for the observer becomes as large as possible. For this it is known to drill four holes staggered in each case at an angle of 90 degrees into shells or into casings for proximity switches. The light-emitting diode can then be seen from four sides through the four holes. The light-emitting diode is normally disposed in a plug insert and the plug insert is inserted into the shell or into the casing. The disadvantage of such arrangements comprises that, upon employment of a light-emitting diode, the light-emitting diode is associated with a radiation characteristic, which radiates for practical purposes only along the longitudinal axis of the light-emitting diode or, respectively, of the shell, such that the light-emitting diode appears to be only weakly illuminating in case of a lateral view through the laterally disposed windows. In case of small operating currents of the light-emitting diode and upon radiating in the direction of the axis of the shell or of the casing, there hardly remains any light which can exit radially through the view windows. 
     A multi-pole electrical plug connector device became known through the printed patent document DE 37 03 423 A1, which multi-pole electrical plug connector device includes a cable plug and an apparatus part with a front plug part for receiving the cable plug. The cable plug is furnished with light conductors in order to be able to monitor therewith the operating status of the apparatus part. The light conductors are furnished inside of the cable plug, wherein the light conductors are furnished as right-angled rigid rods made of a clear transparent plastic with a reflection face disposed in the bend of the rod, which reflection face exhibits an inclination angle of 45 degrees, such that a 90-degree reflection of the light passing through the light conductor is given. 
     Lamps are known from the British printed patent document GB 607,922 A which exhibit massive curved arm-shaped light-guiding bodies of different forms, where an incandescent bulb is disposed at a front side end of the light-guiding bodies, wherein the light of the incandescent bulb exits at the other end of the light-guiding body. Such light-guiding bodies are also known from the citation in the literature A. M. Blumenfeld and S. E. Jones: Parts That Glow, in: Machine Design, Oct. 29, 1959, pp. 94 through 103. 
     A disk-shaped light-guiding body made of clear transparent plastic in the shape of quarter circles is known from the U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,504, which light-guiding bodies are combined in parallel to a set. Diodes are disposed at a front side radial delimiting face of in each case one disk, wherein the light of the diodes is deflected by 90 degrees within the disk, which light is deflected after reflection at the curved delimiting face of the disk and which light exits again approximately at a right angle through two arms disposed at the disk, wherein the two arms are directed perpendicular to that delimiting face, in which face the diodes are disposed, such that a 90 degree reflection of the light is furnished. The set can be plugged with pins onto a printed circuit board. 
     Furthermore, a diode is known which is furnished with a on top-positioned, beaker-shaped screen in the main radiation direction of the light, wherein the main radiation direction of the light coincides with the longitudinal axis of the diode, and wherein the top-positioned, beaker-shaped screen somewhat expands the incident radiation. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Technical Object 
     It is an object of the invention to furnish an electrical connector of the kind recited, which electrical connector deflects the radiation of an illuminating body preferably at a right angle relative to the main radiation direction of the illuminating or light body or, respectively, of the casing for the purpose of making the radiation of the illuminating body better visible from the side, wherein the illuminating body is disposed inside the casing, such that the illuminating body is visible brightly luminous from a plurality of sides of the connector. 
     Disclosure of the Invention and its Advantages 
     The solution of the object of the invention comprises an electrical connector with electrically contacting contact pins or contact sockets, such as plugs or couplings. Said connector exhibits on one side a receiver part, into which receiver part there is inserted a light-guiding body made of a light-transmitting material with at least one illuminating body. Feed lines for the contact pins are led through the receiver part. The light-guiding body is furnished with at least two arms. The two arms exhibit at their abutting ends on the side opposite to the illuminating body a surface which is planar inclined or curved in direction of the longitudinal axis of the main radiation direction of the illuminating body. The surface forms in each case the reflecting deflection surface of the respective arm and is capable of deflecting the light mainly in axial direction within the respective arm at an angle of from between about 40 to 140 degrees relative to the main radiation direction of the arm. The reflecting deflection faces of the arms in each case impact each other jointly in the axis of the main radiation direction of the illuminating body in a tip or edge directed into the light-conducting body. The light-guiding or light-conducting body exhibits a recess below the tip or edge, wherein the illuminating body is disposed in the recess. 
     The electrical connector according to the present invention is associated with the advantage that the connector deflects and laterally reflects visible light or infrared or ultraviolet light emitted by the illuminating body, such as a luminescent element, light-emitting diode or other diode or incandescent bulb, from the direction of the main radiation direction of the illuminating body, wherein the main radiation direction is in particular the longitudinal axis of the light or illuminating body, such that the reflected light exits at an angle of between about 40 to 140 degrees depending on the direction of the arms, wherein the direction of the arms relative to the center axis of the light-guiding body can also amount to between about 40 to 140 degrees. In case of an embodiment of the light-guiding body with a deflection angle of about 90 degrees, the light-guiding body preferably comprises two pairs of arms disposed in a plane and having the same length and aligned in an antiparallel direction and crossing each other at a right angle, such that the light of the illuminating body is mainly deflected at a right angle relative to the main radiation direction of the illuminating body. Thereby, the illuminating body can be seen or be detected brightly luminous laterally at the circumference of a shell or of a casing, because the substantially largest part of the radiation of the illuminating body is deflected and exits to the outside through the outer front faces of the arms. View windows are disposed inside of a shell or of a casing in the region of these front faces of the arms, such that the illuminating body can be easily seen or detected from the outside. Thus, the light-guiding body advantageously operates as a collimator. 
     Furthermore, the increase in the illuminating density can not only be obtained by deflecting the light from the longitudinal axis of the illuminating body by a predetermined angle of preferably 90 degrees, but also by bundling the light in the arm itself or in the arms themselves. Thus, the deflection is performed in preferred directions. The arms can be radially formed or molded at an end of the light-guiding body and the arms can form two arm pairs disposed in a plane, crossing each other and aligned antiparallel relative to each other, wherein the arms are of solid material. The reflecting deflection faces of the arms can in each case form part of an ellipsoid or of a paraboloid or of a cylinder jacket or can be planar faces, which exhibit a deflection angle of about 90 degrees, wherein the illuminating body reaches into the region of the abutting ends of the arms within the recess, and wherein the recess reaches up to below the tip. 
     Advantageously, the plug can exhibit a beaker on the side disposed opposite to the illuminating body, wherein the beaker is sitting on the arms of the light-guiding body and contains the contact pins, wherein the plug and the beaker are formed cylindrically or parallelepipedally and the front faces of the arms are disposed in the jacket plane of the cylinder or in the delimiting faces of the parallelepiped of the plug. Furthermore, the light-guiding body can exhibit two or three or five or six arms disposed in the shape of a star, wherein the arms have the same arcuate distances from each other, wherein the illuminating body is disposed centered or off-centered below the abutting ends of the arms. The inclined surfaces of the opposing arms of the light-guiding body, which inclined surfaces form in each case the reflecting deflection face of the respective arm, can be formed in each case as holographic lenses or as holographic mirrors. The light-guiding body itself can bundle the light of at least one illuminating body into at least one or several preferred directions. The light, exiting from a illuminating body and expanding and propagating in the light-guiding body can be thrown onto at least two different reflection faces of two different arms through a mirror face of the light-guiding body and can exit out of the arms in a focussed way. Furthermore, the illuminating body and can be identical to the light-guiding body and can exhibit the desired shape of the light-guiding body. 
     The reflecting deflection faces can reflect based on total reflection or they can be formed as a mirror with a reflecting layer in an inward direction toward the light-guiding body. The inclined surfaces, which form in each case the reflecting deflection face for the respective arm, can be disposed at the foot of the recess as a projection with inclined surfaces within the recess for the illuminating body. Similarly, the light-guiding body can be furnished with a plurality of inclined and reflecting surfaces, coordinated to each other, wherein light bundles, exiting from an illuminating body between coordinated surfaces are multiply reflected inside of the light-guiding body and are led toward the outside of the light-guiding body. 
     A plurality of illuminating bodies can be employed within one and the same light-guiding body instead of a single illuminating body. The light-guiding body can be formed cylindrically or parallelepipedally, and the pairs of arms can exhibit the same length in an antiparallel direction. The arms can be radially molded to an end of the light-guiding body and can form two antiparallel pairs of arms crossing each other and disposed in a plane. The arms are preferably of solid material. 
     The reflecting deflection faces of the arms can be in each case a part of an ellipsoid or of a paraboloid or of a cylindrical jacket or planar faces, which exhibit a deflection angle of about 90 degrees, wherein the illuminating body reaches into the region of the abutting ends of the arms in the recess and the recess reaches up to below the tip. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Short description of the drawing, where there is shown in: 
     FIG. 1 a cross-sectional view through an electrical connector with a light-guiding body and with an illuminating body, which cross-section represents a section along section line A-B in FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 2 a sectional view rotated by 90 degrees relative to FIG.  1  and along section line C-D in FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 3 a top planar view onto the lower front face of the electrical connector, through which front face the illuminating body is inserted; 
     FIG. 4 a top planar view onto the electrical connector from the top into the beaker and onto the contact pins as well as onto the deflection faces; 
     FIG. 5 a view of the light-guiding body with contact pins and feed lines; 
     FIG. 6 a section through the light-guiding body and 
     FIG. 7 a view of the light-guiding body according to FIG. 5 rotated by 90 degrees; 
     FIG. 8 a top planar view onto the front face of the light-guiding body in a direction of the illuminating body; 
     FIG. 9 a top planar view on to the oppositely disposed upper front face of the light-guiding body in a direction of the contact pins; 
     FIG. 10 a section through a light-guiding body with inclined and reflecting surfaces disposed inside of the light-guiding body, for example, inside of the receiving bore opening for the illuminating body; 
     FIG. 11 a section through a further light-guiding body with multiple, reflecting surfaces, wherein the reflected light is multiply reflected inside of the light-guiding body; 
     FIG. 12 an example of a light-guiding body with two illuminating bodies for different arms of the light-guiding body; and 
     FIG. 13 an example of a light-guiding body, which light-guiding body itself focuses or, respectively, bundles the light of at least one illuminating body. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     An electrical connector is illustrated in the figures as a plug  1  in various views and sections, wherein a specifically formed light-guiding body  2  is disposed in the electrical connector, which light-guiding body  2  is directed to the requirements of the plug  1  and which light-guiding body consists of a transmitting or, respectively, transparent material and is produced as a molded part. 
     The light-guiding body  2  comprises essentially two crossed pairs of arms  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 , crossing each other preferably at right angles and disposed in a plane. The arm pairs preferably exhibit the same length. The arms  4 ,  5 , or, respectively,  6 ,  7  of a pair of arms can be directed in antiparallel directions. A cylindrical or parallelepipedal body  26  is molded at these pairs of arms  4 ,  5 , or, respectively  6 ,  7 , centered on one side. The cylindrical or parallelepipedal body  26  exhibits a recess  15 , which recess  15  is preferably formed as a blind hole  15  and which serves for receiving an illuminating body  11 . The illuminating body  11  can preferably be a luminescence diode, a light-emitting diode LED, or other diode or also an incandescent bulb. A surface, concavely curved in direction of the longitudinal axis  22  of the main radiation direction of the illuminating body  11  or, respectively, of the center axis of the light-conducting body, is in each case molded at the side disposed opposite to the illuminating body  11  at the abutting ends of the respective arms  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 . Said concave curved surfaces form in each case the reflecting deflection face  8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  18  of the respective arm  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 . These deflection faces are in each case part of an ellipsoid or of a paraboloid or of a cylinder jacket or part of planar inclined faces. These deflection faces, in case of at least three arms meeting like a star, jointly abut in a tip  23  directed inside the light-guiding body  2  in the axis  22  of the main radiation direction of the illuminating body  11  and these deflection faces deflect the reflected light inside of the arms  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 . In each case, the elliptically or parabolically or otherwise shaped deflection faces abut to each other. The reflecting deflection faces  8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  18  of the arms  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7  can reflect either according to total reflection or the deflection faces can be metalized with a reflection layer in direction toward the inside to the light-guiding body  2 . 
     The shape of the surface curvature or surface inclination of the reflecting deflection faces can be as desired, the reflecting deflection faces can be disposed on the outside at the light-guiding body or inside of the light-guiding body. For example, if the device is a furnished with four arms having in each case a planar inclined deflection face, then the deflection faces include a pyramid placed upside down or an inverted pyramid; if the device has only two arms disposed opposite to each other with planar inclined deflection faces, then the deflection faces include a prism. Similarly, the light-guiding body can be produced as a single piece or can be composed of several parts. 
     Advantageously, the selected shape for the deflection faces is an ellipsoid, wherein one focus point of the ellipsoid is the illuminating body  11 , and wherein the second focus point of the ellipsoid is the eye of the viewer. In this manner the light emitted through the outer front faces of the lateral arms  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7  can be seen best. 
     The light-guiding body  2  can be inserted into a receiver part  14 , wherein the receiver part is a part of the electrical connector  1 . A beaker  3  of the connector  1  is placed on the arms  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7  on the side disposed opposite to the illuminating body  11  and thus disposed toward the deflection faces  8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  18 . Three contact pins  12 ,  13 ,  19  protrude into the beaker  3  for connection with a coupling, not illustrated. The beaker  3  has a recess in the floor for the deflection faces  8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  18 . The contact pins  12 ,  13 ,  19  can be solidly connected to the beaker  3  according to the present embodiment of the light-guiding body  2 . Feed lines  24 ,  25  for the contact pins  12 ,  13 ,  19  lead through the receiver part  14  and past the cross-aligned arms  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7  to the contact pins  12 ,  13 , and  19 . Feed lines  16 ,  17  for the illuminating body  11 , preferably the anode A and the cathode K of a light-emitting diode LED, protrude through the lower front face of the connector for providing contact. 
     The connector  1  can also exhibit a cylindrical or also a parallelepipedal form as can be recognized from FIGS. 1 and 2, wherein the front faces of the remote disposed ends of the arms  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7  are disposed inside of the jacket face or inside of the side faces of the connector  1 . 
     The light-guiding body to can be formed from arms, joining together in the shape of a star, or also only of two arms with centrally molded-on deflection faces also without contact pins according to the embodiments of the present invention in its simplest case, and can also be employed in applications other than in an electrical connector. 
     FIGS. 10 and 11 show two further examples of light-guiding bodies  27 ,  34 , wherein a section through a light-guiding body  27  with arms  28 ,  29  as well as with inclined and reflecting surfaces  32 ,  33  disposed within the light-guiding body  27  is illustrated in FIG. 10, for example within a receiver bore  30  for an illuminating body  31 . The light-guiding body  27  is again formed as a collimator and can be a hollow body with receiver opening  30 , wherein the receiver opening  30  is for example as central blind hole  30 , and wherein the illuminating body  31 , for example a diode  31 , is disposed in the central blind hole  30 . A projection  45  with bevel inclined delimiting faces  32 ,  33  is disposed centrally inside at the foot of the blind hole, for example, a cone or a pyramid or a prism  45 , which delimiting faces  32 ,  33  deflect the light falling onto them and through the arms  28 ,  29  of the light-guiding body  27 . Similarly, the reflecting projection  45  inside of the blind hole  30  can be an acutely converging cone with a peripherally surrounding jacket face. 
     FIG. 11 shows a section through a light-guiding body  34 , which light-guiding body  34  is formed as a hollow body with a blind hole  38  for receiving an illuminating body  43 . The light-guiding body  34  exhibits outwardly disposed, bevel inclined reflecting surfaces  39 ,  40  at its upper end neighboring the tip of the illuminating body  43 , which surfaces  39 ,  40  reflect the light bundle  44  of the illuminating body  43  into the interior of the light-guiding body  34 . The deflected light bundles  44  pass onto bevel inclined surfaces  41 ,  42 , disposed at the lower end of the light-guiding body  34  for, which surfaces  41 ,  42  deflect in turn the light bundles  44  and direct the light bundles  44  toward the outside through arms  36 ,  37  attached in the lower region of the light-guiding body  34 . For example, the bevel inclined surfaces  41 ,  42  can be formed and molded as a conical expansion inside a part of the blind hole  38 , preferably in the starting region of the blind hole  38 ; similarly the surfaces  41 ,  42  can be bevel inclined planar faces. This embodiment of the light-guiding body  34  thus is furnished with multiple inclined and reflecting surfaces coordinated to each other, wherein the reflected light  44  is multiply reflected inside of the light-guiding body  34 . The arms  36 ,  37  of the light-guiding body  34  can be substantially arbitrarily molded at the light-guiding body based on this embodiment. 
     The illuminating body does not have to be mounted below the mirror planes, rather the light can pass on a desired path into the light-guiding body. The illuminating body can be mounted at a distance from the light-guiding body according to an associated embodiment, wherein the light of the illuminating body is the led, for example reflected, into the light-guiding body disposed at a distance. Furthermore, the inclined surfaces of the arms of the light-guiding body, disposed opposite to each other, can in each case be holographic lenses or holographic mirrors, wherein the inclined surfaces form in each case the reflecting deflection face of the respective arm. 
     Advantageously, also a plurality of illuminating bodies can be employed within one and the same light-guiding body  46  instead of a single illuminating body; such an example is illustrated in FIG. 12. A light-guiding body  46 , which can for example be constructed with a mirror symmetry plane, has several arms with reflecting faces. A light-emitting diode  31  is disposed in each case in two corners, disposed opposite to each other, at the base of the light-guiding body  46 , wherein the light of the light-emitting diode  31  is led over various reflection faces of the light-guiding body  46  into in each case one of the coordinated arms and exits from this arm. In this case, illuminating bodies of different colors can also be employed. 
     A further example of a light-guiding body is shown in FIG. 13, wherein the light-guiding body  47  itself bundles the light of at least one illuminating body into at least one or several preferred directions. The light emitted from at least one illuminating body  31  and expanding in the light-guiding body  47  is thrown through at least one mirror face or reflection face of the light-guiding body  47  onto at least two different reflection faces of at least two different arms and is focussed there, whereafter the light exits out of the faces of the arms furnished for this purpose. 
     According to a further embodiment of the connector, the illuminating body can be identical to the light-guiding body and the illuminating body or, respectively, the casing of the illuminating body can exhibit the desired shape of the above described light-guiding body. For example, laterally light-irradiating arms and laterally light-reflecting deflection faces are disposed in this case at the light-guiding body or, respectively, at the casing of the light-guiding body. 
     COMMERCIAL APPLICABILITY 
     The electrical connector is preferably to be employed there, where a complete plug insert together with an illuminating body and a light-guiding body is required, which plug insert can be incorporated in an advantageous manner into a plurality of electronic circuits for monitoring specific states to be displayed or to be detected. 
     
       
         
               
             
               
               
             
           
               
                   
               
               
                 List of Reference Numerals: 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
               
             
          
           
               
                 1 
                 plug with diode 
               
               
                 2, 27, 34, 46, 47 
                 light-guiding body 
               
               
                 3 
                 beaker 
               
               
                 4, 5, 6, 7, 28, 29, 36, 37 
                 arms 
               
               
                 8, 9, 10, 18, 32, 33, 39, 40, 42, 42 
                 deflection faces 
               
               
                 11, 31, 41 
                 diodes 
               
               
                 12, 13, 19 
                 pins 
               
               
                 14 
                 receiver part 
               
               
                 15, 30, 38 
                 central blind hole 
               
               
                 16, 17 
                 feed lines of the diode 
               
               
                 20, 21 
                 directions of the axis 
               
               
                 22 
                 longitudinal axis 
               
               
                 23 
                 tip 
               
               
                 24, 25 
                 feed lines 
               
               
                 26 
                 body 
               
               
                 44 
                 multiply broken light bundle 
               
               
                 45 
                 projection