Improved Electrical Connector Design for Enhanced Cable Encapsulation
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Summary
Problems
Traditional methods for molding electrical connectors are labor-intensive and do not completely encapsulate cables, leading to unwanted movement and reduced lifespan and reliability due to incomplete strain relief and impact resistance.
Innovation solutions
An improved mold with control fingers that position cables to allow thermoplastic to flow around and between them, ensuring complete encapsulation and secure attachment during the pre-mold process, followed by an over-mold process for additional protection.
TRIZ Analysis
Specific contradictions:
General conflict description:
Principle concept:
If traditional two-step molding process is used, then labor intensity is reduced, but cable encapsulation is incomplete leading to cable movement and reduced reliability
Why choose this principle:
The mold is divided into two separate pre-mold plates instead of a single mold, allowing independent positioning and control of each plate. This segmentation enables the first pre-mold plate to form the initial encapsulation while the second pre-mold plate provides additional support and completes the cable encapsulation, ensuring complete coverage and eliminating cable movement issues.
Principle concept:
If traditional two-step molding process is used, then labor intensity is reduced, but cable encapsulation is incomplete leading to cable movement and reduced reliability
Why choose this principle:
The first pre-mold plate performs preliminary encapsulation of the cable and connector assembly before the second pre-mold plate is applied. This preliminary action creates an initial bond and positioning structure that the second plate then reinforces and completes, ensuring proper cable strain relief is established early in the process and maintained through final encapsulation.
Application Domain
Data Source
AI summary:
An improved mold with control fingers that position cables to allow thermoplastic to flow around and between them, ensuring complete encapsulation and secure attachment during the pre-mold process, followed by an over-mold process for additional protection.
Abstract
An electrical connector assembly is provided and includes a plurality of cables, each of which have a conductor, and an electrical connector having a connector housing which houses a plurality of pins/sockets, each of which are connected to a pin/socket termination, wherein each pin/socket termination is connected to a conductor of the cables. The connector further includes a thermoplastic pre-mold covering which securely covers a portion of the connector housing, the pin/socket terminations and a portion of the plurality of cables, wherein the pre-mold covering is securely attached to the portion of the connector housing, the pin/socket terminations and the portion of the plurality of cables via a pre-mold process which incorporates a mold having a control finger configured to position the cables away from the wall of the mold cavity and flow channels for injecting plastic on both sides of the control finger during the molding process.