Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~HD 94.077
2151678
29.03. 1995
Housing for electronic plug-in units.
The invention relates to a housing for electronic plug-in units which are
insertable from the housing front and which are constructed so as to be contactable in the
region of the housing rear wall by means of plug-in connectors, while the plug-in connectors
are c~nl-~ted t,hrough to a connælion area.
S This connelion area serves for eYtern~l cabling. The plug-in connectors
are usually ~,~lged on a se~dle rear wall print~d circuit (pc) board. Often t,he connection
area forms part of the rear wall pc-board, in which case the board surface is eYten~ed in
upward, downw~, left or right direction for accommodating the cable connections, or
allel,.ali~ely the side of the rear wall pc-board facing away from t,he housing interior is
10 cabled. A disadvantage of such arrange,l,ellls is that t,he connection area is usually badly
~s~ible.
A rack for pc-boards with a housing of the kind mentioned in the opening
paragraph is known from DE-OS 41 14 484. The pc-boards here have multipoint plugs at
t,heir rear ends mating with resilient strips in the housing side when the relevant assembly is
15 inserted into its end position. The resilient strips are f~tentoA to central profile rails of the
rack in this case. The result is t,hat a ~hiPl~e~ space for the wiring is created at the rear side
of the rack behind the resilient strips up to a housing rear wall.
The invention has for its object to simplify and f~c-ilit~te t,he wiring for theeYtern~l cables in a housing of t,he kind mentioned in the opening paragraph.
According to the invent,ion, this object is achieved in a housing of the
kind mentioned in the opneing paragraph in that the connection area is formed on a sep~le
connection pc-board which is se~a,dle from the rear wall and is provided wit,h cable
comle~;lo,~, and in- that the cable connectors are electrically connecte~ to the plug-in
comle to,~ by means of a fle,Yible cable. The connection pc-board which is sepa,~le from the
25 rear wall or a rear wall pc-board and is constructed as a se~a,ale component may thus be
accommodated in a 1oc~tion easily ~ce~ible to the te~nici~n by a simple action. The
cabling may thus be effected quickly, easily, and without problems. A laborious cabling
operation in the region of the possibly badly ~ces~ihle rear wall becomes redundant.
In an embodiment of the invention, the housing is characteri7ed by a
PHD 94.077
2151678
2 29.03. 1995
circuit board space which accommoclates the plug-in units and a connection space sc~ dted
theler~ul" which accommodates the connection pc-board and the cabling. This results in a
clear ~.alion belween the circuit board space on the one hand and the connectiQn space on
the other hand, the latter being prereldbly arranged below the circuit board space.
S In a further embodiment of the invention, the connection pc-board is
arranged at the front or in the region of a side wall of the housing. This provides the
possibility of making the cable con~ on either from the front or from the side, depending
on how the hol-~ing is ..~ount~.
In a further e...bo~;...e~-t of the invention, the com eclion space is provided
10 at the front of the housing with grooves running parallel to the front side for accommodating
the connection pc-board. This construction renders possible a simple lateral insertion of the
connection pc-board.
When the wiring is to be provided not from the front, but from the side in
a colles~ollding mou,,ling of the housing, a further embo~im~nt of the invention is
15 rh~ terized in that the conn~cPon space is provided with factenin~ elements, for example
with snap-action hooks, for accommo~i~ting the colmeclion pc-board in the region of a side
wall. This construction facilitates a simple mounting of the conn~tiQn pc-board from the
side.
A further embodiment of the invention is char~eteri7e~ in that the circuit
20 board space can be closed off with a front cover plate and the connection space with a front
and/or a side cover plate.
Further advantageous embodiments of the invention are described in the
depend~o-nt claims and in the sul,sequent descli~ion of the drawings.
Figs. 1 to 7 show in perspective view embodiments of the subject of the
25 invention.
Fig. 1 shows a housing which is closed on all sides,
Fig. 2 shows the same housing, accessible from its narrow side,
Fig. 3 shows the same housing, ~essible from its wide side,
Fig. 4 shows the housing in an exploded view,
Fig. S shows the opened housing with connection contact~ arranged at the
front,
Fig. 6 shows the housing with conn~tion cont~ct~ arranged lateraUy, and
Fig. 7 shows the housing in a dirrerellt position with connection contacts
arranged at the top.
2 1 5 1 6 7 8
3 29.03.1995
The housing according to Figs. 1 to 7 is made from injection-moulded
s.~lllh~tic resin parts with inleg,dled functional units. This housing comprises, according to
Figs. S and 6, a single-part basic box 10 which can be closed with cover plates 11, 12 at its
open narrow side and with cover plates 13, 14 at its open wide side (see Figs. 1 to 4). The
S basic box 10 has in its upper region a circuit board space 15 which is closed off by the cover
plate 13, which cannot be opened any more after m~mlf~t~lre, as well as by the removable
cover plate 11. In the lower region there is a colln~tion space 16 for a connection area with
cabling to be descrihed further below. This conn~tiQn space 16 is closed off with the
removable cover plates 12, 14. All removable cover plates 11, 12, 14 in this embodiment are
10 secured with f~ctening elements, for example screws 17, for reasons of electrical safety (see
Figs. 1 to 3).
In Figs. 4 to 6, plug-in units 18 in the form of insertion boards can be
ih~s~i~d into the circuit board space 15, which boards carry levers 19 at the front as aids for
insertion and pulling out. Reference numeral 20 denotes guide rails for the circuit boards 18.
15 Parallel to the rear wall lOa of the housing there is a rear wall pc-board 21 which is inserted
into the housing via grooves lOb. The rear wall pc-board 21 supports plug-in connectors 22
for com ection pins arranged at the rear sides of the circuit boards 18. The rear wall pc-
board 21 is provided with an extension 23 which projects into the connection space 16 and to
which the plug-in connectors 22 are electr~ ly conl-~led by means of a flexible cable 24.
20 The flexible cable is conl-ected with its other end to cable connectors 25 which are f~ctçn~
on a conn~clion pc-board 26. The com~ction pc-board 26 with its cable connectors 25 forms
a connection area for the connection of eYtçrn~l cables which are not shown. The connection
pc-board 26 is inselled into grooves 27 which are arranged in the lower conn~tion space 16
parallel to the front side. In contrast to Fig. 5, the conneclion pc-board in Fig. 6 is arranged
25 at the wide side and facten~l here by means of clamping elements 28. The construction of
Fig. S collei~nds to the construction shown in Fig. 2, which shows, for example, the
incol~,~lion into a so-called cable splitter, which compri~es vertical f~ctçning rails 29 in its
in~lior. When used in this way, the housing is a-~cessihle from the front only.
The construction of Fig. 6 col~sponds to the construction shown in Fig.
30 3 where the housing is ~-~ounted against a wall 30 and the connection is made at the wide
side for a convenient operation. In both cases, it should be safeguarded that plug-in units can
still be inserted and pulled out a~,~a~ds, and that afterwards additional cables can be
inco,~l~ted and connected without the unit having to be taken out of operation.
If the unit in the embodiment of Fig. 6 must be so mounted in an
PHI) 94.077 2 1 5 1 6 7 8
4 29.03.1995
exceptional case that the narrow front end is no longer ~ sible (for example, because of a
projecting wall), the housing may be mounted rotated through 180 as shown in Fig. 7. The
connection circuit board 26, however, may be snapped home in the same orientation as
before, since it hangs by the flexible line 24, so that any legends present on plugs are not
5 upside down.
Su."..~ ing, the advantage is created that three different mounting
arrange~ ,lls with dirrel~nl operational directions are made possible by one and the same
housing. Rotatable s.ls~ncions and the like, which lead to instabilities and to higher cost, are
avoided. The device is adapted to the given lllounlil~g sit~-ation by a simple re-plugging of the
10 connection circuit board in situ, without tools being necçss~ry. The rear wall pc-board 21
and the conn~ti~n pc-board 26 h~ on~ ed by the flexible line 24 form one co~ onent.
This simplifies the final assembly of the device considerably because no subsequent intern~l
appliance cabling is n~ce~
An advantageous construction according to the invention is created in that
15 the rear wall pc-board 21 and the connection pc-board 26 are manufactured from a single
circuit board which is provided with an inten-led break-off region and which can be sep~ted
at the inten~ break-off region during final Illour,li,lg. This construction means a further
simplification of the assembly.
The final assembly of the device can be carried out in a very simple and
20 therefore incA~nsive ",amler as follows:
- the rear wall pc-board 21 is inserted into the basic box 10,
- the connection pc-board 26 conn~ d to the rear wall pc-board 21 via the
flexible line 24 is insclled into the cable space either through sliding (Fig. 5) or
Sl~ap~ lg (Fig. 6),
- the cover plate 13 is snapped home on the basic box 10, and
- the cover plates 11, 12, 14 are mounted by means of the f~tening elements 17
(or added in the paç~ging, if the housing is to be pre-assembled up to this
point).
Splitting up of the device into the fractions "f~tenin~ elements" (e.g.
30 st~inless steel) "synthetic resin parts" (unmixed) and "circuit board" may be carried out for
recycling pul~ses.
