Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F1/00—Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00
  • G06F1/16—Constructional details or arrangements
  • G06F1/18—Packaging or power distribution
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
  • H01R29/00—Coupling parts for selective co-operation with a counterpart in different ways to establish different circuits, e.g. for voltage selection, for series-parallel selection, programmable connectors
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
  • H01R31/00—Coupling parts supported only by co-operation with counterpart
  • H01R31/02—Intermediate parts for distributing energy to two or more circuits in parallel, e.g. splitter
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
  • H01H50/00—Details of electromagnetic relays
  • H01H50/02—Bases; Casings; Covers
  • H01H50/04—Mounting complete relay or separate parts of relay on a base or inside a case
  • H01H50/047—Details concerning mounting a relays
  • H01H50/048—Plug-in mounting or sockets

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a device for connecting each of the members of an industrial installation to the programmable control unit managing the operation of this installation.
• the connection between the various organs of a machine and the control unit for its operation will be carried out in a decentralized manner, that is to say that the electronic means of interface and convers on between signals suitable for being operated by the control unit and signals suitable for being operated by the members, will be arranged as close as possible to the members themselves in order to rationalize the cabling and allow, in general, a design, a realization, maintenance and development of the installation much simpler than those currently possible.
• La Liaison will present a general line of circulation of in ⁇ training signals connected to the control unit along which it will be possible to set up branches in the direction of each organ to be managed, the interface means and of adaptation being concentrated on these points of derivation.
• Each point of derivation will be in the form of a support defining a standard laying plane on which the connection of any member must be able to be made, this laying plan therefore comprising gathered in a unique predetermined arrangement, terminals connections for electronic channels from the programmable control unit and connection terminals for power supply lines from one or more sources.
• the means of interface and adaptation, which are to be interposed between the central unit and the organ, are necessarily specific to the nature of the organ.
• data transmitting members such as detectors or sensors and data receiving members called preactuators which may consist of contactors, electromagnetic valves, etc. that the electronic interface necessary for the dialogue of the control unit with the organs be different from one type to another, the direction of circulation of the signal and the resulting information or of information and resulting signal being opposed in The Binding of a type of organ to the other.
• organs of a different nature include two-wire detectors, Three-wire detectors, Contact sensors for transmitting components and for others, receiving components supplied directly from the energy source available at the connection terminals of the installation surface or with separate power supply by a line on which it is necessary to act to transmit the data.
• adaptation means between the electronic signals processed by the interface means and the members, appropriate to the nature of this member in the same type.
• This variety implies the need to have a range of adaptation and interface means for realizing the links, each unit of this range in which these means are grouped, being in the form of a box or module to be received by the above-mentioned installation plan and to be connected to the body.
• connection module For the maintenance of such a connection to be easy, it is necessary that each module can be easily separated from the laying surface and from the member to which it is connected. This possibility, which is essential, can be the source of numerous connection errors. Indeed, we know that The components which constitute the means of interface and adaptation are, in the connection between the body and the control unit, the elements which are subject to a higher frequency of failure, all the more so if they include devices for protecting certain electron circuits which, like fuses, only fulfill their function by destruction.
• the connection module therefore includes elements, either fragile or consumable, which require its disassembly and replacement.
• each module is specific to the member that it connects to the control unit, it has an identical connection surface to the installation plane and, in most cases, a connection device to the organ, not distinctive from one organ to the other since it can be simply two sons.
• a module replacement carried out by unskilled maintenance labor at least in the field of automation, it may very well occur that a module is not adapted to the 'organ concerned leading to a decommissioning of the installation.
• the problem to be solved therefore has two requirements. On the one hand, it is necessary to be able to have a standard laying plan to faci liter the wiring and per ⁇ put the plantat on, in the same connection area, all the different modules corresponding to organs of nature located in the vicinity of the laying plane. It will be noted in this respect that as regards the first installation (initial wiring) we are dealing with a ma i n-of competent work with which the risks of branching errors are reduced. On the other hand, it is necessary to reduce possible connection errors. During maintenance operations carried out by less qualified labor, so that the replacement of a module can only be possible with an identical module, this is ie adapted to the organ.
• the invention intends to propose a solution to this problem by providing at the connection module means by which, during a first level of hand- tenance, only part of the module, that containing the elements or components with a statistically higher failure frequency, is separable from the support and discovers a completely specific connection surface of the member and which can only receive one part in every respect similar to that which has just been disconnected.
• the subject of the invention is a device for connecting any one of a plurality of different organs managed by a programmable control unit, on a support defining a standard laying plane, comprising, gathered in a single predetermined arrangement, connection terminals for electronic channels from said control unit and for electrical supply lines from one or more sources.
• this device consists of a housing in two parts separable from each other, each of them comprising interface and / or adaptation elements.
• one of these parts being shaped as a connector for connecting the member to said housing, while said connector has a first surface which, when associated with the other part, constitutes at least one portion of a single connection surface of the housing capable of being received by said laying plane, and a second surface which, when it is dissociated from said other part, constitutes at least a portion of a connection surface capable of receiving r said other single and specific part of the member to be connected.
• the aforementioned connector is equipped with means for fixing it to said support.
• the first and second surfaces of the connector are parallel.
• these sur ⁇ faces are perpendicular.
• the aforesaid second surface of the connector has specific keying means for the member to be connected capable of cooperating with corresponding means provided on said other part of the housing.
• FIG. 1 illustrates by a simplified view an embodiment of the invention
• FIGS. 1A and 1B are two views of the possible configurations of the device of FIG. 1,
• FIG. 2 illustrates by a diagram a particular application of the device of FIG. 1 in the case of a modular support
• FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of the invention
• FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C are diagrams of three possible alternative embodiments of the connector according to the invention.
• the terminals 4 are, for their part, connection means for the device of connection, to power supply lines, led to the support 1 also by the cable guide 5.
• the support can comprise a plurality of terminal arrangements 3 and 4 side by side, which are for each from them, as many derivations of the aforementioned electronic channels and supply lines, which can cross the support 1 and continue beyond beyond this to serve other media.
• the arrangement of terminals 3 and 4 is unique in its configuration and is repeated on the support 1 and on each of the supports that the installation implements, as many times as there are members to be connected.
• the plane surface portion of the support 1 which carries each arrangement constitutes what will be called hereinafter the standard laying plane.
• the device for connecting an organ to this standard laying plane is constituted by a box 6 in two parts 6a_ and 6tj which contains means ensuring an interface and adaptation function between signals of informational type tabl es by the control unit and which are present at the terminals 3 and the signals of a generally higher power level which, for their part, can be exploited by the member connected to the housing 6 by a connection cable 7.
• the two parts 6a ⁇ and 6J3 are separable from each other, the part 6 ⁇ being shaped as a connector by which the housing 6 is connected to the cable 7.
• the box 6 which they constitute has a first connection surface 8, a portion of which is constituted by a first surface 8a_ of the connector 6b ⁇ , provided with male terminals 9 and 10 here, capable of being received by The standard installation plane 2, as shown by arrow A.
• the terminals 9 cooperate with the terminals 3 of the support 1 to ensure the connection of the electronic channels
• the terminals 10 cooperate with the terminals 4 to ensure the connection between adaptation means and the organ with the supply of the desired energy level.
• connection terminals to the supply lines are all carried by the connector 6J3 of the housing. This provision is not imperative and it will be seen with respect to some of the following figures that there may be different provisions.
• the housing 6 is available in its configuration of FIG. 1A.
• the cabler proceeds to the connection of the cable 7, that is to the connector 6b_ by connection means provided for this purpose and which will be described and shown below, if the cable 7 is part of the member to be connected and is connected to it during manufacture.
• the cable operator separates the two parts 6a_ and 6b to first connect the part 6b and hold it fixed to the support 1 by the screw 11 cooperating with the threaded orifice 12. Then he plugs the part 6a_ onto the ⁇ seems and fixes it by means of the screw 13 cooperating with the tapped hole 14.
• This arrangement is advantageous for ensuring the security of the connections but may not be essential for certain applications in which only the friction forces between the terminals males and females is sufficient to ensure the maintenance of the whole. In this case, it will be possible to provide a tighter engagement of the terminals 10 and 4 than all the other terminals so that the connector 6b_ remains in place on the laying surface if only part 6a_ of the housing is removed.
• connection device is in service as shown in FIG. 1.
• the operator of the installation detecting a failure of one of the connected components or one of the modules, or wishing to modify the installation, is called upon to intervene on the connection.
• he disassembles part 6a_ of module 6 by unscrewing screw 13 which at the same time constitutes the extractor of the plugged pins and can then remove this part, as indicated by arrow B in FIG. 1B.
• IL discovers a second connection surface formed in FIG. 1B by a portion of the laying plane 2 and a second surface 15 of the connector.
• This second connection surface is then, unlike the aforementioned first surface 8 which is identical whatever the module 6, specific to the member to be connected, and can only receive a part 6a of the module adapted to the member in cause.
• the means which confer its specificity to this connection s-urface are carried by said surface 15 of the connector which cooperate with corresponding means provided on part 6 of the module.
• These means may be detro page members produced in the form of a plurality of pins 16 received in housings 17 of part 6a, the shape and arrangement of which on the surface 15 vary from one member to another therefore from part 6 to another. They could be constituted by an arrangement and a form of terminals 18, 19 for connection of the part 6 a to the connector 6 b different for each module 6 of the existing range.
• the failure consists of a failure of the components (or one of them) contained in part 6a of module 6,
• the repair is carried out by the standard exchange of this part which can then be carried out without risk of error by unskilled labor. If, on the other hand, this first level of intervention is not sufficient, either because it is the organ itself which is faulty, or because it is a modification " of the installation, the operator can disassemble the connector 6b, or even disconnect the cable 7 from this connector and / or the body, in which case the risks of reassembly errors may be greater, but at such a high level of intervention, more staff are used qualified, whose competence is a factor in reducing this risk.
• FIG. 2 there is shown an alternative embodiment of the previous figures in which the housing or module 6 is unchanged and comprises a part 6a and a connector 6b_.
• the support of the laying plane consists of a junction box 20 for the electronic or supply lines contained in the cable guide 5 to which a plurality of modular elements 21 can each be associated, each carrying the laying plane 2 standard capable of receiving the module 6.
• Each element 21 has two parallel faces such as 21a_ by which they are associated with one another and with the housing 20 to ensure the conditions necessary for the continuity of the deviation of the electrical and electronic lines, the faces 21a_ being perpendicular to the laying plane 2.
• Means for fixing the modules together, such as screws 22 may be provided to ensure the maintenance of the assembly.
• the advantage of this variant lies in the possibility that it offers of exactly adjusting the number of laying planes 2 to the number of members to be connected.
• the initial wiring and maintenance are carried out in the same way as that previously described.
• connection box 30 similar to the box 20 of FIG. 2 having on one and / or the Another of its edges 30a, 30b is a connection surface constituting a standard installation plan.
• the connection box is, as in the previous figures, made up of two separable parts, namely the connector 36 and another part 37. in place of the complete housing (the two associated parts) is produced on the installation plane by the first surface 36a of the connector capable of being received by the installation plane.
• the connector carries, contrary to the previous figures, The entire surface of connection of the module to the laying plane (surface 36a_)
• the second connection surface 36b_ carried by the connector 36 is perpendicular to the surface 36a_ and receives part 37.
• keying means pins 38 which play the same role as those described with reference to the previous figures and which can suffer the same variants. It can be seen that in this case, contrary to FIGS 1 to 1B in which the surface 15 constitutes only a portion of the second connection surface for the part 6a_ of the module, the surface 36JD constitutes the whole of this surface.
• the connector 36 finally comprises a third surface 36 parallel to the surface 36a ⁇ which is a repetition of the standard installation plane and which makes it possible to associate the connectors 36 with one another as The modular elements of the support of the figure 2 associate with each other.
• the fixing elements such as the screws 31 and 33 allow each of the connectors to be fixed to the previous one, therefore to the support 30
• FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C schematically illustrate three examples of the internal structure of the connector according to the invention in its embodiment of FIGS. 1, 1A and -1B.
• the laying plane 2 carried by the support 1 has an arrangement of connection terminals slightly different from that shown in Figures 1, 1A and 1B. This is how the type 4 terminals of FIG. 1B can be in greater number, being partially split for example, to accommodate either a module 40 (FIG. 4A), or a module 50 (FIG. 4B).
• the module 40 comprising a part 40a_ and a connector 40b, has all of its connection terminals carried by the part 40a_, and in particular the terminals 41 which connect the module to the supply lines.
• the face 48a_ of the connector 40b_ is received by the installation plane without any electrical connection.
• the power supply to the member by the cable 7 is therefore carried out through the part 40a of the module and of the connector 40fc>.
• the command to close or open this line, if the organ is a receiving organ, or to read the state of this Line, if the organ is an emitter, is carried out by the electronic interface and adaptation means contained in Part 40a_.
• the connector 40J3 has, of course, the same functions of "memory" on the laying plane of the nature of the organ, as the connector 6b_ of Figures 1, 1A 1B, because its second surface 45 has the same means coded as those described above, and that it remains attached to the installation plane by the screw 42 when the part 40a_ is removed. From the electrical point of view, the connector only performs a connection function through the internal conductors 43 and 44 which it comprises, which lead to d screw terminals 46 and 47 allowing the detachable connection of the cable 7.
• the module 50 is connected to power supply lines by terminals 10 identical to those of FIG. 1B, therefore through the connects 50b ⁇ .
• the supply line is closed on the source through the connector 50b_, con rai rement to the previous figure where it was closed on the source outside this connector.
• This connector 50b also includes screw terminals 56 and 57, for the connection of cable 7.
• a module 60 is shown, the connector 60JD of which has surfaces 68a_ 65 identical to those 58a_ and 55 of the connector 50b_, but adapted to receive a particular detector known as a 3-wire detector. For this purpose, it has three screw terminals 66, 67 69 for the connection of the three wires which the cable 7.
• the connector 60b therefore provides the particular electrical connections required by such a detector.
• the modules of type 40 and 50 can be used to connect transmitting devices such as contact sensors or two-wire detectors or receiving devices which are supplied directly by the line controlled through the module or separately the controlled line then being a supply line for the switch member (relay) of the separate line. But it is important to note that if in the assembled state two modules of the same type (40 or 50) are similar or identical, each module of each type is different from the others by the fact that its part 40a_ or 50a_ has different components according to the member to which it is connected and that the keying means provided at the faces 45 and 55 are different from a module intended for one member to a module intended for another member.
• a module 50 intended to connect a contact sensor can, its parts 50a_ and 50b combined, have the same appearance as a module 50 intended to connect a receiving member of the contactor type.
• the part 50a_ of the module intended for the sensor cannot be associated with a connector 50b previously connected to a contactor because the connection surface of this part to the installation surface equipped with the connector is different from that offered by the connector connected to the contactor.
• the only possibility of error remains the connection at the time of wiring, of a module intended for the sensor, for example with a contactor.
• this problem remains under control because the wiring personnel are very specialized and highly qualified.
• the invention finds an interesting application in the field of industrial automation.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Power Engineering (AREA)
• Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Details Of Connecting Devices For Male And Female Coupling (AREA)
• Connector Housings Or Holding Contact Members (AREA)

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ID=9324172

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• 1985
  • 1985-10-24 FR FR8515819A patent/FR2589288B1/fr not_active Expired
• 1986
  • 1986-10-20 EP EP19860906346 patent/EP0245329A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1986-10-20 WO PCT/FR1986/000360 patent/WO1987002832A1/fr not_active Ceased

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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