Most pluggable terminal block are either screwed into a panel, snapped onto a metal rail or mounted on a printed circuit board.
Rail
phoenix contact terminal block that are mounted are usually done on some form of a DIN rail (Deutsches Institut fur Normung). DIN is the German standards body that originally published rail specifications.
Terminal blocks are manufactured to fit in one of several DIN rail sizes such as:
1. Miniature Top-Hat Rails
Miniature top-hat rails are 15 mm wide. They are rated to 300V.
2. G32 Rails
As their name suggests, these rails are shaped like the letter ‘G’ and are 32 mm wide. They can handle terminal blocks rated to 60V.
3. Top-Hat Rails
Top-hat rails look exactly like their miniature version except they are 35 mm wide. They’re rated to 600V.
4. PCB Mount
There are also terminal blocks which are manufactured for mounting on printed circuit boards. Some products can be plugged into a pin strip which is mounted to the board.
Others have integral pins for mounting through the circuit board. These are also known as electronic blocks.