CN102834986B - Bus bar adapter - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a bus bar adapter (1) for fastening a luminaire or a spotlight to a U-shaped bus bar and for contacting conductors present inside the bus bar, wherein the bus bar adapter (1) comprises a housing (2), which has a T-shaped cross-section and a central part (10) provided for engaging in the bus bar, and a base part (20), which connects to the central part (10) and is oriented transversely thereto and which is seated against the outside of the bus bar in the inserted state. A core element (60) that is provided for mounting the luminaire or spotlight is arranged inside the housing (2), said core element extending both into the central part (10) and into the base part (20), wherein the core element (60) preferably has an integral design.

Description

busbar adapter

technical field

The invention relates to a busbar adapter, which is provided for fastening a lamp, in particular a spotlight, to a U-shaped busbar and for contacting conductors running in the busbar.

Background technique

Such adapters have been known for a long time. They allow a flexible arrangement of the lighting units on the busbar and are accordingly often used in situations where the lighting must be adapted to certain situations. Such a system is proposed, for example, for illuminating a store or a showroom in a museum, since the position of a plurality of individual lighting elements can be changed without much effort.

A corresponding adapter is known, for example, from DE 20 2005 001 472 U1. The known adapter firstly has two sections, namely a first section provided for insertion into the busbar and a second section below it, which is used for fixing the spotlight and also has the adapter operation mechanism. In this case, a plurality of contact tongues are provided on the first section, which can be moved from a rest position into a contact position, in which the contact tongues contact the conductor cores running in the busbar. Usually, these tongues are swung sideways for this purpose. In addition, the adapter also allows a mechanical fixation on the busbar in such a way that, in addition to the contact tongues, the mechanical locking element can also be removed. The mechanism for actuating or removing the contact tongue and the mechanical locking element is located in the lower section which abuts against the underside of the busbar in the mounted state.

Also like other solutions known so far, the busbar adapter disclosed in DE 20 2005 001 472 U1 is designed relatively large. In the installed state, the sections lying on the underside of the busbar are clearly visible, which accordingly affects the overall appearance of the system.

Contents of the invention

The present invention is now based on the task set forth below to provide a busbar adapter of novel design which is compact and which, in particular in the installed state, does not significantly affect the appearance of the lighting system.

The solution of the invention is based in particular on the use of a so-called core located in the housing of the busbar adapter. The wick is responsible for connecting the lamp or spotlight and is designed in such a way that it confers a particularly high degree of stability on the adapter. This in turn enables a particularly compact design of the adapter, which, as desired, only slightly affects the appearance in the installed state, but at the same time permits a reliable fixation on the busbar, so that it can reliably withstand the damage caused by the lighting unit fixed on the adapter. The resulting forces and moments. For this purpose, it is proposed that a core part is provided in the T-shaped housing, which core is preferably formed in one piece and designed in such a way that it not only extends into the housing section inserted into the busbar, but also extends into the adapter. In the section that abuts against the outer surface of the busbar in the installed state.

Accordingly, according to the invention, a busbar adapter is proposed for fastening a lamp to a U-shaped busbar and for contacting conductors running in the busbar, wherein the busbar adapter has a housing with a T-shaped cross section. body, the housing has a central portion arranged for insertion into the busbar and a base portion adjoining the central portion and oriented transversely of the central portion, the base portion abuts against the outer surface of the busbar in the installed state, and A wick, which is provided for holding a lamp or a spotlight, is arranged in the housing and extends not only into the central part but also into the base part, wherein the wick is preferably designed in one piece.

The core, for example made of aluminum, is again preferably T-shaped, wherein the transverse section arranged in the base part is dimensioned such that it covers the busbars.

By using the core, the housing of the adapter can be constructed very compactly. In this case it can in particular be provided that the thickness of the base part is less than 1/3 of the thickness of the central part. That is to say, in the installed state, only a not too thick plate is visible, which is arranged on the bottom side of the busbar. In particular, the reduced thickness of the base part in this case leads to a slim-looking busbar adapter, especially in the installed state.

The adapter according to the invention is designed not only for fastening a lamp to a busbar, but also for fastening a spotlight to a busbar. In the case of holding a spotlight, the busbar adapter in particular has a cantilever, on the underside of which the spotlight is mounted. For this purpose, the cantilever is held, and the core can now have a cavity which is accessible from the bottom and extends upwards. The fixing of the cantilever can then be realized by screws.

In addition, grounding elements, which can be formed, for example, in the form of grounding springs and protrude in particular in the direction away from the base part, are preferably provided on the busbar adapter and in particular on the core part. Through the ground spring, which can be screwed to the core, a continuous ground path is then ensured from the bus bar, through the ground spring and the adapter, and finally to the lighting unit fastened to the adapter.

The busbar adapter according to the invention also has at least one actuating element by means of which the mechanical locking element and/or the electrical contact can be swiveled from a retracted rest position into an extended locking position or contact position. The operating element can be, for example, a lever protruding laterally from the base part. It is also conceivable to use an adjusting wheel which is accessible from the underside as an alternative or in addition.

Description of drawings

Below, the present invention will be described in detail in conjunction with accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figures 1 and 2 are views of a busbar adapter according to the invention comprising a cantilever protruding from the bottom side for mounting a spotlight;

Figures 3 and 4 are views of the adapter without the cantilever;

Figure 5 shows the busbar adapter when the housing parts are separated from each other; and

6 to 8 are various views of the core.

Detailed ways

The busbar adapter of the present invention is generally provided as described above for connecting a lighting unit to a U-shaped busbar. Not only classic lighting units but also spotlights can be fastened, the advantages of the adapter being especially valid for spotlights, since spotlights have smaller overall dimensions than classic lamps and are generally also arranged at a distance from the adapter. However, the invention is by no means limited to adapters for connecting spotlights.

Usually, a plurality of busbars are formed in a U-shape. They have an elongated support which is open towards the underside, wherein the conductor cores run within the busbar and in particular on both side walls. An adapter provided for connection to such a busbar must accordingly, on the one hand, be able to contact the conductor cores and, on the other hand, should obtain a mechanical fixation on the busbar.

The adapter 1 proposed by the invention for this purpose and shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 accordingly has a housing 2 which can be divided into two mutually distinct sections. The first section now consists of a central part 10 which is provided for insertion into the busbar. Formed on the bottom surface of the central part 10 is a second section, which is formed by the base part 20 . This base part is plate-shaped and perpendicular to the central part 10 , resulting in a T-shape for the housing 2 as a whole. In the mounted state on a busbar, the base part 20 rests against the bottom of the busbar in such a way that it covers the busbar.

The two components, namely the central part 10 and the base part 20, perform different setting tasks. For example, the central part 10 is primarily responsible for the mechanical fastening on the busbar and the contacting of the conductor cores, while the base part has the means for handling the adapter 1 .

In the busbar adapter 1 according to the invention, the contacting of the conductor cores and the mechanical fastening on the busbar are achieved by means of mechanical locking elements 11 and contact tongues 12 protruding laterally from the central part 10 . The locking element 11 and the contact tongue 12 can be extended from the retracted rest position into the locking position or the contact position by means of a mechanism which will be described in detail later. Then, the locking pieces 11 hook onto the protrusions of the busbar, thereby obtaining locking. These contact tongues 12 are in turn pressed onto the conductor cores and establish a connection to a power supply or a conductor which can be used for signal transmission, for example.

The telescoping of the locking part 11 and the contact tongue 12 is realized by means of a lever 21 which is arranged on the base part. The base part 20 has an approximately rectangular base according to the illustration in FIG. 4 . The ends of a lever 21 protruding from opposite ends each protrude, and the lever is rotatably accommodated in the housing 2 . The locking element 11 and the contact tongue 12 are then also arranged on the axis of both levers 21 , as can be seen in particular from the illustration in FIG. 5 . Correspondingly, the components 11 and 12 can be retracted and extended by rotating the two levers 21 . At this time, in order to operate one of the two levers 21 , an adjustment wheel 22 is also provided on the bottom surface of the base part 20 . The adjustment wheel 22 is formed in particular by the bottom face of the corresponding disc-shaped member on which the lever 21 is arranged. In the installed state of the adapter 1 on the busbar, the adjustment wheel 22 is well accessible and can be used accordingly for releasing the mechanical locking with the busbar.

Now, a special feature of the busbar adapter 1 according to the invention is that it is of very compact design. This is achieved in particular in that the components of the adapter which are responsible for the fastening on the busbar and for the connection of the suspension 50 for holding the spotlight are designed in a special manner. In particular, the adapter 1 now has a core in the housing 2 which imparts a particularly high stability to the adapter 1 despite its compact construction and correspondingly secure holding in place.

The housing 2 or base part 20 has an approximately rectangular base as seen from the bottom and is dimensioned such that it covers the bottom of the busbar in the assembled state. Seen from the front, the housing is T-shaped, the central part 10 being designed as wide as the busbar channel here. Due to the fact that the base part abuts against the outer surface of the busbar in the installed state, the adapter 10 as a whole is reliably able to withstand the forces and moments from the boom 50 and the spotlight mounted on it. For this, a robust design is required, which is achieved by using so-called core elements. The arrangement of the core within the housing 2 is shown in Figure 5, and Figures 6-8 show different views of the core.

That is to say, the task of the core 60 is to give the adapter 1 a special robustness. For this purpose, the core part 60 preferably made of aluminum is formed in one piece. Its section is again T-shaped and it is designed in particular such that it extends on the one hand into the central part 10 and on the other hand into the base part 20 . The section of the core 60 is dimensioned in such a way that the upwardly directed web 61 corresponds substantially to the width of the busbar channel, the substantially square base 62 covering the busbar in the assembled state. In this way, the core 60 is able to withstand various forces and moments acting on the adapter 1 in the mounted state. It represents the load-bearing reinforcement of the adapter 1 on which the other components are mounted.

As shown in FIG. 5, the housing 2 basically consists of two L-shaped housing parts 40, 41 which can be assembled into a T-shape. Each housing part is placed laterally on the core 60 and is subsequently connected to the core and to each other by means of a plurality of screws. One of the two housing parts 40 also has a central opening 42 which is closed by an additional cover 43 . Since the forces are almost entirely taken up by the core 60, the housing parts 40 and 41 perform almost no primary load-bearing function. The two parts 40 and 41 can accordingly be designed with thin walls and consist of plastic, for example.

Because of the above-mentioned special design, the thickness of the base portion 20 can be significantly reduced. Because first of all two levers 21 are provided in the base part 20 , its thickness can be reduced to a value which is less than 1/3 of the thickness of the central part 10 . Correspondingly, only the flat plate of the base part 20 is visible in the mounted state of the adapter 1 on the busbar.

The attachment of the cantilever 50 to the adapter 1 is effected by means of a cylindrical opening 30 which extends from the bottom side through the core 60 to the central part 10 of the adapter 1 . The end of the cantilever 50 can be inserted into the opening 30 in a form-fitting manner, wherein the opening 30 and the end of the cantilever 50 are preferably designed in such a way that a rotationally fixed fixation is obtained. The cantilever 50 is then prevented from falling out by means of screws, the ends of the corresponding screw channels 31 being visible here in FIG. 4 . In this way, the core 60 in particular also absorbs the forces acting on the adapter 1 via the cantilever 50 .

In order to ground the device, a grounding element is provided on the adapter 1 , in particular a grounding spring 35 , which is fastened to the core 60 by means of screws 36 . The ends of the springs 35 protrude upwards from the central part 10 , here also side arms 37 . This ensures a reliable grounding when the adapter 1 is installed in the busbar, where the grounding path runs from the busbar via the grounding spring 35 to the housing 2, the suspension arm 50 and finally to the spotlight. Reliability when connecting to a busbar is also improved in that the lateral formations on the housing 2 constitute reverse polarity protection, thereby preventing the adapter from being incorrectly mounted on the busbar.

All in all, a compact adapter for fastening lamps or spotlights to busbars is accordingly provided, which is designed to be extremely compact and thereby improves the appearance, but at the same time guarantees a connection with the busbars in the usual safe and reliable manner. Row connection.

Claims (11)

1. A busbar adapter (1) for fixing a lamp on a U-shaped busbar and for contacting conductors running in the busbar, Wherein, the busbar adapter (1) has a housing (2) with a T-shaped cross-section, the housing has a central part (10) configured to be inserted into the busbar and is connected to the central part (10) and a base portion (20) oriented transversely of the central portion, the base portion resting against the outer surface of the busbar in the mounted state, It is characterized in that, Inside the housing (2) there is a wick (60) for holding the lamp, which extends not only into the central part (10) but also into the base part (20), wherein the wick ( 60) is integrally formed, The cross-section of the core (60) is T-shaped, wherein the dimension of the transverse section (62) of the core (60) provided in the base part (20) is set in such a way that the transverse section able to cover the busbar, The thickness of the base part (20) is less than 1/3 of the thickness of the central part (10). 2. The busbar adapter of claim 1, wherein the light is a spotlight. 3. The busbar adapter as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the core (60) consists of aluminum. 4. The busbar adapter as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that the core (60) is configured to hold a cantilever (50) in order to fix the spotlight. 5. The busbar adapter according to claim 4, characterized in that the core (60) has a cavity (30) accessible from the bottom side and extending upwards for receiving the cantilever (50). 6. The busbar adapter according to claim 1, characterized in that a grounding element is provided on the core (60). 7. The busbar adapter according to claim 1, characterized in that the housing (2) consists of two housing parts (41, 42) with a substantially L-shaped cross-section, which can be separately connected to each other. 8. The busbar adapter according to claim 1, characterized in that the busbar adapter has at least one operating element (21), by means of which the mechanical locking element (11) and/or the electrical contact ( 12) Rotate from retracted position to extended position. 9. The busbar adapter according to claim 8, characterized in that the operating member (21) is a lever protruding laterally from the base part (20). 10. The busbar adapter according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that the operating member is an adjustment wheel (22) arranged on the bottom surface of the base part (20). 11. The busbar adapter according to claim 6, characterized in that the grounding element is a grounding spring (35) protruding from the housing (2).