EP0444078B1 - Systeme de distribution de courant electrique - Google Patents

Systeme de distribution de courant electrique Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0444078B1
EP0444078B1 EP19890912643 EP89912643A EP0444078B1 EP 0444078 B1 EP0444078 B1 EP 0444078B1 EP 19890912643 EP19890912643 EP 19890912643 EP 89912643 A EP89912643 A EP 89912643A EP 0444078 B1 EP0444078 B1 EP 0444078B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
power
power distribution
sockets
distribution system
plug
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP19890912643
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German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0444078A1 (fr
Inventor
Michael John Shand
John Michael Allen
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
UK Secretary of State for Defence
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UK Secretary of State for Defence
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by UK Secretary of State for Defence filed Critical UK Secretary of State for Defence
Publication of EP0444078A1 publication Critical patent/EP0444078A1/fr
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0444078B1 publication Critical patent/EP0444078B1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
    • H01R27/00—Coupling parts adapted for co-operation with two or more dissimilar counterparts

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to the field of electrical supply systems for portable battery powered hand-held tools and other such items of electrical equipment which are particularly suitable for use in hazardous and inhospitable environments.
  • the invention seeks to overcome the above disadvantages associated with the supply of direct current electrical power to hand held power tools.
  • a load engageable plug is connected the size of which is dependent on the current carrying capacity of the cable.
  • a cable can be prevented from being overloaded by being connected to a load which is too large for the cable.
  • power supply means In order that heavy high capacity power supply means do not always have to be taken to a location where work is to be carried out a variety of power supply means of different electrical capacity may be provided.
  • One of these electrical supply means may be a relatively light duty supply which is connected to a power point having one pair of sockets only.
  • the power point is advantageously provided with a switch for isolating the power point from its associated power supply means, and preferably a charge meter is also provided which indicates the extent to which the power supply has been exhausted.
  • the power supply means In order to make the power supply means easily transportable it is preferably incorporated in a waistbelt, a back-pack, a case or a trolley.
  • each power distribution plug preferably conforms with part or all of the external shape of the power point.
  • FIG. 1 there is provided a suite of 24 volt rechargeable nickel cadmium power supplies of varying electrical capacities which comprises:-
  • the suite of power supplies is provided with a selection of light, medium and heavy duty cables 9, 10 and 11, which contain conductors having sectional areas of 1.5mm2, 4mm2 and 16mm2 respectively, which may be made up from bundles of wires.
  • the three types of cables are provided with plugs (30, 41, and 48 respectively) at one end for conection to one or more power supplies as described below, and a load engageable plug 13 at the opposite end for connection to a hand tool with an appropriate power rating.
  • the light duty cables 9 can carry up to 15A, have 1.5mm2 conductors and are suitable for connection to tools which take up to 350W to operate such as jigsaws, orbital sanders, disc sanders, power files and 10mm diameter drills.
  • the medium duty cables 10 can carry up to 40A, have 4mm2 conductors and are suitable for connection to tools which take upwards of 350W but less than 950W such as power scrapers, disc grinders and hammer drills.
  • the heavy duty cable 11 can carry up to 93A, has 16mm2 conductors and is suitable for connection to tools which take upwards of 950W but less than 2200W such as large disc grinders, demolition hammers, circular saws and demolition breakers.
  • Each tool is provided with a recessed twin pin socket 12 as shown in Figure 5, which is provided with flat 14 configured to mate with a corresponding flat 15 on the load engageable plug 13 in order to prevent incorrect insertion of the supplementary plug into the recessed twin pin socket.
  • Small, medium and large recessed twin pin sockets 12 are used for tools falling into the low, medium and high relative power consumption categories referred to above and the load engageable plugs 13 are appropriately graded in size in order to ensure that cables 9, 10 and 11 can not be overloaded by connection to a tool with a current demand that is too high.
  • FIGs 2, 3 and 4 illustrate three control boxes 2, 4 and 8 for attachment to the power supplies 1, 3 and 5, and 7 respectively.
  • the control boxes are provided with power points 19, 20 and 21 respectively, on/off switches 22, 23 and 24 respectively for isolating the power point from the supply and charge indicators 25, 26 and 27 respectively which show the extent to which the charge in the power supply has been used.
  • Control box 2 ( Figure 2) is attached to the light duty supply 1 and is provided with a light duty power point 19 having two sockets 28 and 29 each being connected to a different polarity of the light duty supply and having square and round cross sectional shapes respectively.
  • Each light duty cable 9 contains two conductors each of which is connected to a contact 31 or 32 in a light duty plug 30.
  • the contacts 31 and 32 have identical cross sectional shape and spacing to the sockets 28 and 29 respectively, and are dimensioned so as to allow only the light duty plug 30 to be engaged with the light duty power point 19 in one orientation.
  • the medium duty supply 3 is provided with a control box 4 ( Figure 3), which is identical to control box 6 on medium duty supply 5.
  • the control box 4 is provided with a medium duty power point 20 having two sockets 33 and 34 connected to one polarity of the medium duty supply and two sockets 35 and 36 connected to the other polarity of the medium duty supply.
  • the shape, size and spacing of socket pairs 33, 35 and 34, 36 is identical to those of socket pair 28, 29 of the light duty power point 19 which means that two light duty plugs 30 can be simultaneously inserted into the medium duty power point 20.
  • Each medium duty cable 10 contains two conductors one of which is connected to two contacts 39 and 40, and the other of which is connected to two contacts 37 and 38 of a medium duty plug 41, the contacts being configured so that they are engageable in the sockets of the medium duty power point in one orientation only.
  • the heavy duty supply 7 is provided with a control box 8 ( Figure 4) with a heavy duty power point 21 having three sockets 42, 43 and 44 connected to one polarity of the heavy duty supply and three contacts 45, 46 and 47 connected to the other polarity of the supply.
  • the shape, size and spacing of the socket pairs 42, 45 and 43, 46 and 44, 47 are identical to those of socket pair 28, 29 of the light duty power point 19 which means that three high duty plugs 30 can be simultaneously engaged in the heavy duty power point 21.
  • the heavy duty socket 21 is engageable by a light duty plug 30 in combination with a medium duty plug 41.
  • Each heavy duty cable 11 is provided with a heavy duty plug 48 and contains two conductors each of which is connected to three contacts 49, 50, 51 or 52, 53, 54 the contacts being configured so that they are engageable in the sockets of the heavy duty power point 8 in one orientation only.
  • FIGs 6 to 8 show an alternative plug and power point system that can be used instead of the plugs and power points shown in Figures 2 to 4. The main differences from the system described are given below.
  • the three contacts 55, 56, and 57 of the heavy duty plug 61 which are connected to the same conductor are graded in size and are spaced from the contacts 58, 59 and 60 connected to the other conductor by varying distances.
  • the size shape and spacing of the contacts 63, 64, 65 and 66 of the medium duty plug 62 are equivalent to those of contacts 55, 56, 58 and 59 of the heavy duty plug, and contacts 68 and 69 of the light duty plug are identical in size shape and spacing to contacts 63 and 65 of the medium duty plug and contacts 55 and 58 of the heavy duty plug.
  • the power points 70, 71 and 72 connected to the heavy medium and light electrical supplies (1, 3 and 5, and 7) respectively are provided with sockets configured to receive the heavy, medium and light duty plugs respectively.
  • the heavy duty power point 70 may be engaged by a medium duty plug 62 or a light duty plug 67 in its smaller sockets
  • a medium duty power point 71 may be engaged by a light duty plug 67 in its smaller sockets.
  • the external configuration of the plugs 61,62 and 67 is tapered and designed to be an exact match with the appropriate power point or section of a power point with which the plug engages. This feature considerably facilitates engagement of the plug in the power point which is particularly useful when the operation is being performed in the dark and/or with cumbersome gloves on. While the tapered design is only shown with reference to the second embodiment described it could also be applied to the embodiment shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4. Alternatively the plugs and power points of the preferred embodiment ( Figures 2 to 4) could be curved at one end as shown in Figure 9, which would also ease correct insertion of the plugs into the power points.

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  • Details Of Connecting Devices For Male And Female Coupling (AREA)
  • Cable Accessories (AREA)

Abstract

Un système de distribution de courant électrique comprend un raccordement (8) connectable à un moyen d'alimentation en courant continu, et est doté de fiches femelles (42, 43 et 44) connectables à une polarité de l'alimentation, ainsi que de fiches femelles (45, 46 et 47) connectables à l'autre polarité de l'alimentation. On a prévu un certain nombre de câbles (9, 10 et 11) d'alimentation de différentes capacités de courant, contenant chacun deux conducteurs et dotés de fiches mâles (30, 41 et 48) ayant respectivement des contacts engageant les fiches femelles. Le nombre de contacts reliés à chaque conducteur est dépendant de la capacité porteuse de courant du câble. On peut simultanément engager une, deux ou trois fiches mâles dans le raccordement (8) selon les fiches mâles utilisées. On peut prévoir un certain nombre de différents moyens d'alimentation électrique, relié chacun à un raccordement doté de plus ou moins de fiches femelles par polarité de l'alimentation, selon la capacité électrique de l'alimentation.

Claims (16)

  1. Système de distribution électrique comprenant un point de branchement 21 ayant au moins deux paires de prises femelles (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47), les prises femelles de chaque paire pouvant être connectées à des pôles différents d'un moyen d'alimentation électrique en courant continu, au moins deux câbles de distribution électrique (9, 10; 11) contenant chacun deux conducteurs et chacun étant pourvu d'une prise mâle de distribution électrique (30, 41; 48) pouvant être introduite dans le point de branchement pour connecter électriquement le câble associé à ce point de branchement avec les prises femelles, caractérisé en ce que les au moins deux câbles de distribution électrique ont des capacités de charge différentes l'un par rapport à l'autre, chaque prise mâle peut être introduite dans au moins une paire de prises femelles et la prise mâle connectée au câble (10; 11) de capacité de charge supérieure peut être introduite simultanément dans plus de paires de prises femelles que la prise mâle connectée au câble (9, 10) de capacité de charge inférieure.
  2. Système de distribution électrique selon la revendication 1, caractérisé en ce que les prises femelles sont insérées dans une face du point de branchement pouvant recevoir des prises mâles et en ce que les lignes passant entre les prises femelles de chaque paire de prises femelles sont parallèles entre elles.
  3. Système de distribution électrique selon la revendication 2, caractérisé en ce que la distance sur la face pouvant recevoir des prises mâles entre les prises femelles (63, 65) d'une paire de prises femelles est différente de la distance entre les prises femelles d'une autre paire de prises femelles (64, 66).
  4. Système de distribution électrique selon la revendication 2 ou la revendication 3, caractérisé en ce que les prises femelles (63, 65) d'une paire de prises femelles ont une taille différente de celles (64, 66) d'une autre paire de prises femelles.
  5. Système de distribution électrique selon l'une quelconque des revendications 1 à 3, caractérisé en ce que la forme et la taille de deux prises femelles quelconques (42, 43, 45, 46), chacune d'elles pouvant être connectée au même pôle du moyen d'alimentation électrique sont identiques.
  6. Système de distribution électrique selon la revendication 5, caractérisé en ce que la forme des prises femelles (42, 43) pouvant être connectées à un pôle de l'alimentation électrique est différente de la forme des prises femelles (45, 46) pouvant être connectées à l'autre pôle du moyen d'alimentation électrique.
  7. Système de distribution électrique selon l'une quelconque des revendications 1 à 6, caractérisé en ce qu'il est prévu un premier, un second et un troisième câble de distribution électrique (9, 10, 11).
  8. Système de distribution électrique selon la revendication 7, caractérisé en ce que les trois câbles ont des capacités de charge différentes et en ce que les premier, deuxième et troisième câbles (9, 10, 11) ont des prises mâles de distribution d'électricité (30, 41, 48) qui peuvent être introduites simultanément dans une, deux et trois paires de prises femelles respectivement.
  9. Système de distribution électrique selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, caractérisé en ce que le point de branchement (21) n'a pas plus de trois paires de prises femelles.
  10. Système de distribution électrique selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, caractérisé en ce qu'à l'extrémité du câble opposée à celle à laquelle est connectée la prise mâle de distribution électrique, est connectée une prise de charge mâle (13) dont la taille dépend de la capacité de charge du câble.
  11. Système de distribution électrique multiple comprenant le système de distribution électrique de la revendication 1, caractérisé en outre par l'inclusion d'un deuxième point de branchement, ledit deuxième point de branchement pouvant être connecté à un deuxième moyen d'alimentation électrique en courant continu.
  12. Système de distribution électrique multiple comprenant le système de distribution électrique de la revendication 1, caractérisé en outre par l'inclusion d'un deuxième point de branchement ayant une paire de prises femelles, et dont chaque prise femelle peut être connectée à des pôles opposés d'un deuxième moyen d'alimentation électrique en courant continu.
  13. Système de distribution électrique selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, caractérisé en ce que le ou les points de branchement (21) sont chacun pourvus d'un interrupteur (24) pour isoler le point de branchement de son alimentation associée.
  14. Système de distribution électrique selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, caractérisé en ce que le système est pourvu d'un enregistreur de charge (27) pour indiquer le degré d'épuisement de l'alimentation électrique.
  15. Système de distribution électrique selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, caractérisé en ce que le moyen d'alimentation électrique est monté sur une ceinture (1), une unité dorsale (3), un coffret portatif (5) ou un chariot (7).
  16. Système de distribution électrique selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, caractérisé en ce que la forme externe de chaque prise mâle de distribution électrique correspond en partie ou complètement à la forme externe du point de branchement.
EP19890912643 1988-11-15 1989-11-02 Systeme de distribution de courant electrique Expired - Lifetime EP0444078B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB8826712 1988-11-15
GB888826712A GB8826712D0 (en) 1988-11-15 1988-11-15 Electrical supply system

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0444078A1 EP0444078A1 (fr) 1991-09-04
EP0444078B1 true EP0444078B1 (fr) 1993-09-01

Family

ID=10646896

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Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP19890912643 Expired - Lifetime EP0444078B1 (fr) 1988-11-15 1989-11-02 Systeme de distribution de courant electrique

Country Status (4)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0444078B1 (fr)
DE (1) DE68908898T2 (fr)
GB (2) GB8826712D0 (fr)
WO (1) WO1990006006A1 (fr)

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP3061328B2 (ja) * 1992-08-05 2000-07-10 ホシデン株式会社 コンタクト・コネクタ
GB2394603A (en) * 2002-10-25 2004-04-28 Larry George Pringle Electrical connector fitting for a socket box

Family Cites Families (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB936486A (en) * 1959-05-29 1963-09-11 Kathleen Zilla Rumble Improvements in electrical fittings such as plugs
GB1393059A (en) * 1973-09-18 1975-05-07 Hego Electric Gmbh Electrical connectors
DE8701689U1 (de) * 1987-02-04 1987-07-02 Nixdorf Computer Ag, 4790 Paderborn Steckereinheit

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0444078A1 (fr) 1991-09-04
GB2243502A (en) 1991-10-30
GB8826712D0 (en) 1988-12-21
DE68908898T2 (de) 1994-02-24
GB9110351D0 (en) 1991-07-03
WO1990006006A1 (fr) 1990-05-31
DE68908898D1 (de) 1993-10-07
GB2243502B (en) 1992-11-18

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