Brush holder assembly with quick disconnect terminal

Abstract

A brush holder assembly including a quick disconnect assembly for quickly disconnecting a brush and electrical leads from a remaining component of the brush holder assembly to facilitate brush removal and replacement. The quick disconnect assembly includes a receptacle having a cavity for removably receiving and an end of the electrical lead, such as the nugget, and a resilient clip. When positioned in the cavity of the receptacle, the resilient clip urges a surface of the nugget into direct contact with a surface of the receptacle partially defining the cavity, completing an electrical current pathway from the brush through the electrical lead to the nugget, and from the surface of the nugget to the surface of the receptacle.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A brush holder assembly comprising:
 a brush holder mounted to a stationary member; 
 a brush slidably disposed in the brush holder; 
 an electrical lead having a first end secured to the brush and a second end; 
 a resilient clip removably coupled to the second end of the electrical lead; and 
 a receptacle for removably receiving both the second end of the electrical lead within the receptacle and the resilient clip therein within the receptacle; 
 wherein an electrical pathway is provided from the brush, through the electrical lead, to a surface of the receptacle; 
 wherein the resilient clip and the second end of the electrical lead are removable from the receptacle simultaneously as a unit; 
 wherein the second end of the electrical lead includes a nugget; 
 wherein the nugget is a separately formed structure secured to filaments of the electrical lead. 
 
     
     
       2. The brush holder assembly of  claim 1 , A brush holder assembly comprising:
 a brush holder mounted to a stationary member; 
 a brush slidably disposed in the brush holder; 
 an electrical lead having a first end secured to the brush and a second end; 
 a resilient clip removably coupled to the second end of the electrical lead; and 
 a receptacle for removably receiving the second end of the electrical lead and the resilient clip therein; 
 wherein an electrical pathway is provided from the brush, through the electrical lead, to a surface of the receptacle; 
 wherein the resilient clip and the second end of the electrical lead are removable from the receptacle simultaneously as a unit; and 
 wherein the resilient clip urges a surface of the second end of the electrical lead into direct contact with the surface of the receptacle. 
 
     
     
       3. The brush holder assembly of  claim 2 , wherein the second end of the electrical lead includes a nugget formed of a plurality of wire strands of the electrical lead. 
     
     
       4. The brush holder assembly of  claim 3 , wherein the nugget is formed by ultrasonically welding together the plurality of wire strands into a formed shape. 
     
     
       5. A brush holder assembly comprising:
 a brush holder mounted to a stationary member; 
 a brush slidably disposed in the brush holder; 
 an electrical lead having a first end secured to the brush and a second end; 
 a resilient clip removably coupled to the second end of the electrical lead; and 
 a receptacle for removably receiving the second end of the electrical lead and the resilient clip therein; 
 wherein an electrical pathway is provided from the brush, through the electrical lead, to a surface of the receptacle; 
 wherein the resilient clip urges a surface of the second end of the electrical lead into direct contact with the surface of the receptacle; 
 wherein the second end of the electrical lead includes a nugget formed of a plurality of wire strands of the electrical lead; 
 wherein the nugget is formed by securing end portions of the electrical lead in a channel of a U-shaped sleeve. 
 
     
     
       6. The brush holder assembly of  claim 5 , wherein a surface of the U-shaped sleeve contacts the surface of the receptacle. 
     
     
       7. The brush holder assembly of  claim 6 , wherein the resilient clip faces three surfaces of the nugget, the three surfaces including a front surface opposite the surface of the U-shaped sleeve contacting the surface of the receptacle and first and second side surfaces extending between the front surface and the surface of the U-shaped sleeve contacting the surface of the receptacle. 
     
     
       8. The brush holder assembly of  claim 5 , wherein the U-shaped sleeve is configured to accept electrical leads of various gauges, sizes or quantities. 
     
     
       9. The brush holder assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the receptacle includes a body with a cavity formed therein for removably receiving both the second end of the electrical lead within the cavity and the resilient clip within the cavity. 
     
     
       10. The brush holder assembly of  claim 9 , wherein the body is bolted to either the stationary member or the brush holder. 
     
     
       11. The brush holder assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the receptacle is integrally formed in either the stationary member or the brush holder. 
     
     
       12. The brush holder assembly of  claim 1 , wherein during replacement of the brush, the resilient clip is decoupled from the receptacle and removed with the brush and electrical lead. 
     
     
       13. An assembly for providing an electrical current pathway through a brush holder assembly, the assembly comprising:
 a brush for contacting a moving conductive surface; 
 an electrical lead having a first end secured to the brush and a second end; 
 a nugget at the second end of the electrical lead; 
 a resilient clip removably coupled to the nugget; and 
 a receptacle having a cavity for removably receiving the nugget and the resilient clip therein; 
 wherein the resilient clip urges a surface of the nugget into direct contact with a surface of the receptacle partially defining the cavity; 
 wherein an electrical current pathway is provided from the brush through the electrical lead to the nugget, and from the surface of the nugget to the surface of the receptacle. 
 
     
     
       14. The assembly of  claim 13 , wherein the nugget includes a first side, a second side opposite the first side, a third side extending between the first side and the second side, and a fourth side opposite the third side extending between the first side and the second side;
 wherein the resilient clip faces or contacts each of the first, second and third sides of the nugget. 
 
     
     
       15. The assembly of  claim 14 , wherein the fourth side of the nugget includes the surface in direct contact with the surface of the receptacle. 
     
     
       16. The assembly of  claim 13 , wherein the resilient clip includes one or more tabs configured to interlock in one or more recesses formed in the nugget. 
     
     
       17. The assembly of  claim 16 , wherein the resilient clip includes one or more tabs configured to interlock with one or more recesses formed in the receptacle. 
     
     
       18. The assembly of  claim 13 , wherein the nugget is formed by ultrasonically welding together a plurality of wire strands of the electrical lead into a formed shape. 
     
     
       19. The assembly of  claim 13 , wherein the receptacle includes a body having the cavity extending from a first surface of the body to a second surface of the body, the body being symmetrical about two perpendicular planes of symmetry such that the nugget and the resilient clip may be inserted into the cavity of the body from either the first surface of the body or the second surface of the body. 
     
     
       20. A method of replacing a brush in a brush holder of a brush holder assembly, the method comprising:
 removing a first brush from the brush holder by decoupling an end of a first electrical lead extending from the first brush simultaneously along with a first resilient clip from a receptacle; 
 inserting a second brush into the brush holder, the second brush having a second electrical lead extending from the brush and a second resilient clip coupled to an end of the second electrical lead; and 
 inserting both the end of the second electrical lead into a cavity of a receptacle and the second resilient clip into a the cavity of a the receptacle to provide an electrical pathway from the second brush, through the second electrical lead, to a surface of the receptacle; 
 wherein the end of the second electrical lead includes a nugget; 
 wherein the nugget is a separately formed structure secured to filaments of the second electrical lead. 
 
     
     
       21. The method of  claim 20 , wherein the end of the second electrical lead and the second resilient clip are removably retained in the cavity of the receptacle by a spring force applied by the second resilient clip. 
     
     
       22. The method of  claim 21 , wherein the second resilient clip is removably coupled to a shaped nugget at the end of the second electrical lead that is integrally formed from a plurality of wire strands of the electrical lead. 
     
     
       23. The method of  claim 22 , wherein the second resilient clip and the shaped nugget include interlocking geometry to retain the second resilient clip coupled to the shaped nugget. 
     
     
       24. A method of replacing a brush in a brush holder of a brush holder assembly, the method comprising:
 removing a first brush from the brush holder by decoupling an end of a first electrical lead extending from the first brush along with a first resilient clip from a receptacle; 
 inserting a second brush into the brush holder, the second brush having a second electrical lead extending from the brush and a second resilient clip coupled to an end of the second electrical lead; and 
 inserting the end of the second electrical lead and the second resilient clip into a cavity of a receptacle to provide an electrical pathway from the second brush, through the second electrical lead, to a surface of the receptacle; 
 wherein the end of the second electrical lead and the second resilient clip are removably retained in the cavity of the receptacle by a spring force applied by the second resilient clip; 
 wherein the second resilient clip is removably coupled to a shaped nugget at the end of the second electrical lead that is integrally formed from a plurality of wire strands of the electrical lead; 
 wherein the second resilient clip urges a surface of the shaped nugget into direct contact with the surface of the receptacle. 
 
     
     
       25. An assembly for providing an electrical current pathway through a brush holder assembly, the assembly comprising:
 a brush for contacting a moving conductive surface; 
 an electrical lead having a first end secured to the brush and a second end; 
 a nugget at the second end of the electrical lead, the nugget including a rear surface, a front surface opposite the rear surface, and first and second side surfaces extending between the front surface and the rear surface; 
 a resilient clip removably coupled to the nugget, the resilient clip contacting the front surface and facing the first and second side surfaces of the nugget; and 
 a receptacle having a cavity for removably receiving the nugget and the resilient clip therein; 
 wherein the resilient clip is elastically compressed in the cavity to press against the nugget and urge the rear surface of the nugget into direct contact with a surface of the receptacle partially defining the cavity; 
 wherein an electrical current pathway is provided from the brush through the electrical lead to the nugget, and from the rear surface of the nugget to the surface of the receptacle. 
 
     
     
       26. The assembly of  claim 25 , wherein the resilient clip does not contact the rear surface of the nugget. 
     
     
       27. The assembly of  claim 25 , wherein the nugget is formed by securing an end portion of the electrical lead in a channel of a U-shaped sleeve. 
     
     
       28. The assembly of  claim 27 , wherein a first surface of the U-shaped sleeve defines the rear surface of the nugget. 
     
     
       29. The assembly of  claim 28 , wherein the U-shaped sleeve includes first and second wing portions extending from a back portion of the U-shaped sleeve, wherein the resilient clip presses against an edge of the first wing portion and an edge of the second wing portion. 
     
     
       30. The assembly of  claim 29 , wherein the resilient clip includes tabs in interlocking engagement with notches formed in the first and second wing portions. 
     
     
       31. The assembly of  claim 25 , wherein the front surface of the nugget includes first and second stepped edges and the resilient clip includes first and second arms contacting the first and second stepped edges of the front surface of the nugget. 
     
     
       32. The brush holder assembly of claim 13, wherein the nugget is a monolithic structure of the electrical lead. 
     
     
       33. The assembly of claim 13, wherein the nugget is a separately formed structure secured to filaments of the electrical lead. 
     
     
       34. The method of claim 20, wherein the second resilient clip is removably coupled to a shaped nugget secured to filaments of the electrical lead. 
     
     
       35. The assembly of claim 25, wherein the nugget is a monolithic structure of the electrical lead. 
     
     
       36. The assembly of claim 25, wherein the nugget is a separately formed structure secured to filaments of the electrical lead. 
     
     
       37. The brush holder assembly of claim 2, wherein the second end of the electrical lead includes a nugget. 
     
     
       38. The brush holder assembly of claim 37, wherein the nugget is a monolithic structure of the electrical lead. 
     
     
       39. The brush holder assembly of claim 37, wherein the nugget is a separately formed structure secured to filaments of the electrical lead.