EP1671399A1

EP1671399A1 - Shield connection

Info

Publication number: EP1671399A1
Application number: EP04790194A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jörg SÖFKER
Original assignee: Phoenix Contact GmbH and Co KG
Current assignee: Phoenix Contact GmbH and Co KG
Priority date: 2003-10-08
Filing date: 2004-10-08
Publication date: 2006-06-21
Anticipated expiration: 2024-10-08
Also published as: US20070054549A1; US7247052B2; DE10347306A1; WO2005036700A1; DE10347306B4; EP1671399B1

Abstract

The invention relates to a shield connection between a printed circuit board which receives electrical and/or electronic components and is arranged in a housing, and at least one connector socket that is arranged in a wall of the housing and comprises a metallic, cylindrical socket sleeve that is guided through the housing wall and comprises a receiving element, on the outer side of the wall, for receiving a plug provided with a corresponding metallic coupling element, said coupling element being electrically connected to the shield of a cable connecting to the plug. The aim of the invention is to create a shield connection, whereby the sleeve of the connector socket, that is electrically connected to the potential of the shielding of the cable to be connected, is automatically electrically coupled to the printed circuit board, by which means the shielding potential is further distributed, during the assembly of the housing. To this end, the inventive shield connection consists of a metallic, annular shield element comprising contact pins that respectively protrude from the ring plane, on one side of the ring, for mechanical and electrical connection to the printed circuit board, and spring legs protruding on the other side of the ring, to be brought into contact with the socket sleeve.

Description

SCREEN CONNECTION

TECHNICAL AREA

The invention relates to a shield connection between a printed circuit board arranged in a housing and at least one connection socket arranged in a wall of the housing according to the preamble of patent claim 1.

STATE OF THE ART

It is generally known to connect an electrically conductive shield to an electrical line _. to improve and simplify a device provided with a housing. For this purpose, document DE 298 05 316 oil describes an angular shield element with a self-resilient contact, which is arranged in the area of a housing insertion of an electrical line provided with a shield, in order to be able to connect the shield to the housing without additional expenditure of time. From the document DE 197 34 422 AI, shielding elements can be seen which are provided on connection devices for shielded electrical lines and which have the form of protective caps or rectangular housings which have to be plugged onto a mounting frame.

THE INVENTION

The invention has for its object to provide a shield connection of the type mentioned, in which the electrical coupling of the socket jacket of the connection socket, which makes electrical contact with the potential of the shielding of the cable to be connected, to the printed circuit board, via which the shielding potential is further distributed, takes place automatically when the housing is joined.

This object is achieved in the case of a screen connection with the features of the preamble of patent claim 1 by the characterizing features of patent claim 1.

The ring-shaped shield element according to the invention enables the shield connection of the printed circuit board to the metal socket jacket of the connecting socket to be carried out in a particularly simple manner. With its contact members, the shield element is plugged onto the circuit board in question, at the point at which the axis passing perpendicularly through the center of the ring plane of the shield element coincides with the axis of the associated connection socket in the closed position of the housing. Thus, when assembling the housing, the circuit board to be arranged therein, on the one hand, and the housing wall receiving the connection socket are brought together relative to one another in such a way that the socket jacket of the connection socket projecting on the inside of the housing wall automatically introduces itself between the spring legs of the shielding element, widening them. Another advantage is that the screen element can be produced in a simple manner. When punching out of a steel sheet, only a few bending processes have to be provided in order to to bring contact members and spring legs projecting away from the ring plane into their functional position. Thus, a multiplicity or multiplicity of shield elements can also be manufactured at the same time, which are easy to separate from one another in the case of individual use or can be used as interconnected shield elements in order to be able to simultaneously carry out the shield connection to several connection sockets in the relevant housing wall, on the arrangement of which the arrangement of the shield elements connected to one another can be easily coordinated.

Further advantageous design features of the invention result from the subclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

The invention is explained in more detail below with the aid of exemplary embodiments. Show:

1 is a perspective view of an annular screen element,

FIG. 2 shows a perspective illustration of the shielding element according to FIG. 1 in an arrangement mounted on a printed circuit board before assembly with the associated connection socket in a housing wall, FIG. 3 shows a representation corresponding to FIG. 2 in an assembled arrangement of the shielding element and the connecting socket,

4 a representation corresponding to FIG. 2 of two interconnected shield elements for two connecting sockets arranged next to one another before the joining process,

Fig. 5 shows the arrangement of the screen elements and sockets according to FIG. 4 in an assembled arrangement and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a plurality of screen elements in one-piece, coherent arrangement.

BEST WAY OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

1 shows a screen element 1 which, with its components arranged thereon, is punched out of a flat steel sheet and is partially bent in the manner discussed below. The screen element 1 has the basic shape of a circular ring, which is predetermined by the circular course of flat webs 2. The flat webs 2 have a width which is considerably greater than their thickness, which is determined by the thickness of the steel sheet from which the screen element 2 is punched out. The ring sections Forming flat webs 2 are arranged lying flat in the ring plane.

The flat webs 2 each have cranks 3 at their two ends, which are directed away from the center of the ring and connect to the bends 4. The bends 4 merge into intermediate webs 5 which are flat and which are perpendicular to the ring plane of the screen element 1. The intermediate webs 5 are at a certain distance from this ring plane and are adjoined centrally in the direction away from the ring plane by contact members 6 in the form of contact pins or pads. The contact members 6 thus project on one ring side of the shielding element 1 with respect to the ring plane and extend in a parallel direction to the axis passing perpendicularly through the center of the ring plane.

On the side facing away from the contact members 6, spring legs 7 adjoin the intermediate webs 5, the length of which is dimensioned such that they protrude on the second ring side in relation to the ring plane of the screen element 1. In the starting position, the spring legs 7 are inclined slightly inwards towards the axis passing through the center of the ring plane. At the free ends, the spring legs have outwardly angled end sections 8, contact points 9 being located in the bending area on the inner sides of the spring legs 7 toward the angled end sections 8, which are used for the electrical described below Coupling are provided.

Overall, the screen element 1 is a rotationally symmetrical structure in relation to the axis passing perpendicularly through the center of the ring plane. The screen element 1 preferably has three, four or an even greater number of angled intermediate webs 5 with the contact members 6 and the spring legs 7..

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the screen element 1 is plugged onto a printed circuit board 10 in the functional position. The shielding potential, which is taken up by the shielding element 1, is distributed in a suitable manner by the printed circuit board 10 in order to achieve optimum shielding. The mechanical fastening and electrical contacting of the screen element 1 on the printed circuit board 10 takes place via the contact members 6, which can be designed as soldering pins for this purpose. Coaxial to the shield element 1 with respect to the axis passing perpendicularly through the ring plane of the shield element 1, a contact carrier 12 of a connecting socket 11 is firmly placed on the printed circuit board 10. A metal socket jacket 15, which is hollow-cylindrical, also belongs to the connection socket 11. The socket jacket 15 is firmly inserted into a cylindrical projection 13 on a wall 14 which belongs to a housing which accommodates the printed circuit board 10 and which is not shown in its entirety in the drawing. It is crucial that when assembling or assembling the housing Housing wall 14 and the printed circuit board 10 are aligned with one another and can be moved toward one another in such a way that the socket jacket 15 surrounding the contact carrier 12 is aligned coaxially with the shielding element 1 and can be shifted until contact with the shielding element 1.

The socket jacket 15 of the connection socket 11 projects on the inside of the housing wall 14 and has an inside end which is provided on its outside with a chamfer 16 towards its free end face. When joining the connection socket 11, the inner end of the socket casing 15 moves in between the spring legs 7 of the shield element 1, which are thereby widened. Accordingly, the inner end of the sleeve shell 15 has an outer diameter which is larger than the diameter of the circle on which the inner contact points 9 on the spring legs 7 of the shield element 1 are located in the starting position. As shown in FIG. 3, this ensures secure contacting of the spring legs 7 at the inner end of the bushing jacket 15.

The socket casing 15 of the connection socket 11 has an internal thread or an external thread, depending on the type of connection, that is accessible from the outside of the housing wall for coupling a plug, which has a corresponding threaded part for screwing with the socket casing 15 of the connection socket 11. This threaded part of the plug in turn is in the usual way with the shield of a cable Electrical line connected, with which there is an electrical coupling of the conductor shield to the shield element 1 when the connector 11 is attached to the connector.

Figures 4 and 5 serve on the one hand to illustrate a connection socket 11.1 and a connection socket 11.2, of which the socket jacket 15 of the connection socket 11.1 is provided with an external thread and that of the connection socket 11.2 with an internal thread. FIGS. 4 and 5 also make it clear that the shielding elements 1 assigned to the two connecting sockets 11.1 and 11.2 are connected to one another in one piece via connecting webs 17. This leads to an improved shielding with several line inputs in the relevant housing and on the associated circuit board. In principle, if only a connection of the shielding elements between two or more connection sockets 11 is required, the contact members 6 on the shielding element 1 can remain unused or can even be omitted. In this case, the shielding plates 1 are only plugged onto the socket jackets 15 of the connection sockets 11.

6 shows a plurality of the screen elements 1, which are connected to one another in one piece via the connecting webs 17. In this form, there is an efficient production of the screen elements 1, which can be separated if necessary by opening the connecting webs 17. On the other hand, the coherent screen elements 1 can also be used in combination, provided that they are in relation to one another occupy such distances which corresponds to the arrangement of correspondingly adjacent connection sockets 11. Both when used individually and when used in a composite, the spring legs 7 of the shielding elements 1 compensate for possible tolerances on the socket jackets 15 of the connection sockets 11 or in the arrangement of a plurality of connection sockets 11 with respect to one another due to their elasticity.

The plurality or plurality of screen elements 1 can be produced in the form of a grid or band. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the screen elements 1 each have four flat webs 2, and accordingly the other components of the screen elements 1 are provided four times. The connecting webs 17 preferably connect centrally to the flat webs 2 in the radial direction, and two adjacent connecting webs 17 accordingly form an angle of 90 ° with one another. In the grid, there are therefore two directions of escape of the connecting webs 17, which likewise form an angle of 90 ° with one another. The connecting webs 17.1 and 17.2 arranged in each of these two escape directions are of the same length, and the connecting webs 17.1 and 17.2 lying in the two different escape directions can also be of the same length or of different lengths. This depends on the configuration of the connection sockets 11, as is provided on the housing of the respective device, in particular a sensor-actuator box.

Claims

1. Shield connection between an electrical and / or electronic component-receiving circuit board, which is arranged in a housing, and at least one connection socket arranged in a wall of the housing with a metallic, cylindrical socket jacket which is guided through the housing wall and on the outside of the wall a receiving device for a plug with a corresponding metal coupling part, which is electrically connected to the shield of a cable connected to the plug, characterized by a metal, ring-shaped shield element (1), each of which protrudes from the ring plane on one ring side contact members (6) for the electrical contact with the printed circuit board (10) and on the other side of the ring projecting spring legs (7) for contacting the socket jacket (15).

2. Screen connection according to claim 1, characterized in that the screen element (1) is a one-piece stamped part cut free from a steel sheet.

3. screen connection according to claim 2, characterized in that a plurality or a plurality of the screen elements (1) Are integrally connected stampings cut out of the steel sheet by means of separable connecting webs (17).

4. Screen connection according to claim 3, characterized in that at least a part of the coherent screen elements (1) are arranged with one another in a configuration which corresponds to that of a plurality of connection sockets (11) which together on the wall (14) concerned Housing are arranged.

5. Shield connection according to one of claims 1-4, characterized in that the spring legs (7) of the shield element (1) with their contact points (9) are arranged on a circle, the diameter of which is smaller than the diameter of the socket jacket (15) of the connecting socket (11) is in the contact area.

6. screen connection according to claim 5, characterized in that the socket jacket (15) of the connection socket (11) in the functional position is inserted coaxially to the screen element (1) between the spring legs (7).

7. screen connection according to claim 6, characterized in that the part of the letter (15) has at its inner end a chamfer (16) tapering its diameter towards the free end.

8. Screen connection according to one of claims 5 - 7, characterized in that the spring legs (7) of the screen element (1) at the contact points (9) have adjoining end sections (8) which are angled away from the center of the ring towards the outside.

9. shield connection according to one of claims 1-8, characterized in that the contact pins (6) of the shield element (1) project perpendicular to the ring plane of the shield element (1).

10. shield connection according to one of claims 1-9, characterized in that the shield element (1) between the contact pins (6) and / or the spring legs (7) in the ring plane flat flat webs (2).

11. Screen connection according to claim 10, characterized in that between the flat webs (2) of the screen element (1) there is an angled, flat intermediate web (5) which is perpendicular to the ring plane and to which the contact pins (6) and / or the spring legs (7) connect.

12. Screen connection according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that in the case of the screen elements (1) which are connected to one another in a plurality or a plurality, the connecting webs (17) are also designed as flat webs lying flat in the ring plane.

13. screen connection according to one of claims 1-12,. characterized in that the at least one screen element (1) is designed to be rotationally symmetrical with respect to the axis passing through the center of the ring plane perpendicular to it and has at least three flat webs (2), one of each of the intermediate webs (5) located between them Contact pins (6) and one of the spring legs (7) are arranged above in opposite directions.

14. Shield connection according to claim 12 and 13, characterized in that the interconnected shield elements (1) each have four flat webs (2), to which the connecting webs (17) are connected in the middle, respectively offset by 90 ° to one another, the connecting webs (17.1 ) the same in the first of the two escape directions offset by 90 ° to each other long and the connecting webs (17.2) in the second of the two escape directions are of equal length.

15. Screen connection according to claim 14, characterized in that the lengths of the connecting webs (17.1) in the first direction of escape and the lengths of the connecting webs (17.2) in the second direction of escape are the same or different.