Happy Birthday! The CLIPLINE complete terminal block system is celebrating its 25th anniversary. A revolutionary product that first stood for the free and flexible combination of different terminal blocks in the control cabinet at the end of the 1990s. In addition to terminal blocks in various connection methods, the system features standardized jumper, marking and testing accessories. It was expanded in 2017 with Complete line.
We meet the man from the very beginning, Heinz Reibke. The former designer is very familiar with the project that is still close to his heart today – Clipline complete: “It’s like a Lego system. With Lego, you can put all the bricks together because they have the same buttons. That’s also how we built our Clipline complete.” The aim was to be able to combine different types of terminal blocks with identical accessories in order to keep storage and logistics costs low. “It all started with the introduction of spring connection technology, which not only saves time compared to screw connections, but is also more intuitive to use.”
The basis for the “Lego system” in control cabinet building was the terminal block. “A terminal block is always modular, always bridgeable and always labelable – this has been true since the invention of the RWE Phoenix terminal block.” This is how COO Dirk Görlitzer describes the framework that applies to the development of terminal blocks. While terminal blocks were always designed as individual products for specific customer applications in the first decades, the development of Clipline Complete established a then revolutionary system concept in the world of terminal blocks: a basic modular system that was designed to cover all industrial requirements.
“We were the first on the market back then,” says Heinz Reibke proudly. “Whether screw terminal block, spring-loaded terminal block or insulation displacement terminal block – the same design means that the same accessories fit.” But the product is not only used in control cabinets. Clipline complete also increases efficiency in the areas of building installation, transportation infrastructure, machine and switchgear construction as well as in the energy sector and process industry thanks to its feather-light mating.
Law of the terminal block
But that was not all. Clipline complete formed the foundation for today’s Complete line system, which includes terminal blocks as well as electronics products with a uniform design-in and standardized accessories. Coordinated hardware and software components simplify engineering, procurement and application. Developer Heinz Reibke therefore still does not see the end of the terminal block. “Terminal blocks are and will remain an important component of electrification. This is also related to the All Electric Society,” he says confidently. “We need energy, and energy always means: I have to transmit power and signals. I will still need terminal blocks for this in the future.” (pmg)
