Patent ID: 7344380

Claim:
A connection apparatus for establishing electrical connections between an electrical transmitter unit ( 1 ) and an electrical receiving unit ( 3 ), the connection apparatus comprising: mating electrical contact elements ( 2 , 4 ) located in corresponding opposing positions in the transmitter unit ( 1 ) and the receiver unit ( 3 ); the contact elements ( 2 , 4 ) being formed of magnetic bodies having opposing contact surfaces ( 7 ) and each pair of opposing contact elements ( 2 , 4 ) having oppositely oriented magnetic fields whereby the magnetic fields of opposing contact elements ( 2 , 4 ) interact to guide and attract the contact elements ( 2 , 4 ) toward each other to form a contact between the contact surfaces ( 7 ) of each opposing pair of contact elements ( 2 , 4 ); and a mechanical approximate positioning guide ( 9 , 10 or 11 a , 11 b ) including: a first approximate positioning guide element ( 9 or 11 a ) on the transmitter unit ( 1 ) and corresponding and mechanically mating second approximate positioning guide element ( 9 or 11 a ) on the receiver unit ( 3 ) and a transmitter unit ( 1 ); wherein a positioning tolerance between the first and the second positioning guide elements ( 9 or 11 a and 10 or 11 b ) is sufficient to bring the magnetic fields of each opposing pair of contact elements ( 2 , 4 ) into an attraction range of each other but is insufficient to bring the contact surfaces ( 7 ) of the contact elements ( 2 , 4 ) into mechanical contact to form an electrical connection between the contact elements ( 2 , 4 ), whereby the mechanical approximate positioning guide provides an initial positioning of the transmitter unit ( 1 ) and the receiving unit ( 3 ) to bring the magnetic fields of the opposing contact element ( 2 , 4 ) into an interacting position and the magnetic fields of the contact elements ( 2 , 4 ) provide a final alignment of the contact elements ( 2 , 4 ) to bring the contact surfaces ( 7 ) of the contact elements ( 2 , 4 ) into mechanical contact to form an electrical connection.