A low-cost charging socket and its assembly process

Abstract

A low-cost charging socket and an assembly process. The low-cost charging socket comprises a socket body (1), a bracket (2), a conductive terminal (3) and an injection molded filling body (4); one end of the socket body (1) is provided with a groove, the groove is provided with a terminal hole (11), and the terminal hole (11) is used to insert a terminal end (31) of the conductive terminal (3); one end of the conductive terminal (3) is a terminal end (31), and the other end is connected to a cable, the terminal end (31) is fixed in the terminal hole (11) of the socket body (1), and the cable end (32) passes through the bracket (2) and the injection molded filling body (4); the bracket (2) comprises a bottom surface (21) and a rib (22), the bottom surface (21) is pressed on the bottom of the groove of the socket body (1) to fix the terminal end (31), and the rib (22) is used to support the injection molded filling body; the injection molded filling body (4) is a filling material injection molding structure, which is filled in the groove cavity of the socket body (1) on which the conductive terminal (3) and the bracket (2) are installed.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of charging sockets, and in particular to a low-cost charging socket formed by assembly injection molding and an assembly process. Background Art

[0002] With the popularity of electric vehicles, the use of charging interfaces has increased significantly. However, the use environment of charging sockets is harsh and has high protection requirements, especially waterproof and earthquake resistance. Therefore, waterproofing and other aspects must be handled carefully during the production process of charging sockets, resulting in multiple manufacturing processes, long time consumption and low efficiency.

[0003] At present, all parties are looking for new charging socket products with simpler structures and more efficient assembly. The new products are required to significantly reduce material and assembly costs while reliably ensuring various functions, and adapt to large-scale automated (mechanized) production.

[0004] However, in order to meet the insulation, waterproof and other functions, the current charging socket adopts the following Figure 1 In the structure shown, the parts of the charging socket include the main body, insulating bushing, terminal (crimped cable), sealing pad, back cover, etc. It can be seen that during the assembly process, multiple cables must pass through the sealing pad one by one and be fixed in the socket with the bushing and back cover. The assembly of products with such a structure is time-consuming and labor-intensive, especially for DC sockets with thick cables and many signal lines. The assembly of the sealing pad is not only labor-intensive, but also prone to tearing of the sealing ring, improper assembly of the sealing ring, etc., and it is necessary to add inspection processes such as airtightness testing later, which further increases the product cost. Summary of the invention

[0005] Therefore, the present invention provides a charging socket with a simplified product structure and suitable for automated production, which can not only greatly improve product production efficiency, but also reduce the defect rate caused by manual work and improve work quality.

[0006] According to one aspect of the present invention, a low-cost charging socket is provided, which adopts a brand-new structural form and applies an on-site injection molding process, thereby eliminating the need for manual assembly of a sealing gasket and a back cover, and can significantly improve product production efficiency while improving the quality of work; the low-cost charging socket comprises a socket body, a bracket, a conductive terminal and an injection-molded filling body; one end of the socket body for mounting a conductive terminal and a cable is a groove structure, and a terminal hole is provided in the groove, the groove is used to carry the bracket and the injection-molded filling body, and the terminal hole is used to insert the terminal end of the conductive terminal; one end of the conductive terminal is a terminal end, and the other end is a connecting cable end, and the terminal end is fixed to the socket body. The cable end is connected to the terminal hole of the charging socket. After the charging socket structure is assembled, the cable passes through the bracket and the injection molded filling body and extends out of the end face of the injection molded filling body; the bracket has a bottom surface that matches the socket body groove, which is used to press on the bottom of the socket body groove, so as to fix the terminal end of the conductive terminal in the terminal hole of the socket body; the injection molded filling body is a filling material injection molding structure, which is used to fill the socket body groove cavity installed with the conductive terminal and the bracket. After the filling material is injection molded and cured, it forms a seamless overall structure with the cable of the conductive terminal and the groove wall of the socket body, thereby realizing the overall sealing and waterproofing of the charging socket. Compared with the traditional charging socket, the charging seat of the present invention replaces the insulating bushing of the traditional socket with the bracket in the groove of the socket body, and replaces the rubber pad and the back cover with the injection molded filling body, thereby realizing the overall sealing and waterproofing of the charging socket, eliminating the need for manual assembly of the sealing pad and the back cover, significantly improving the product production efficiency, and improving the operation quality at the same time. The injection molded filling body is made by directly filling the remaining cavity of the socket body groove with filling material using an injection molding machine on the assembly line after the conductive terminals and brackets are installed on the socket body. After curing, it becomes a permanent part of the socket.

[0007] Furthermore, the bracket also includes ribs perpendicular to the bottom surface for supporting the injection-molded filling body.

[0008] Furthermore, the ribs are a grid structure, and the filling material of the injection molded filler is filled into the grid structure during injection molding, so that the injection molded filler is more firmly combined with the socket body and the bracket. The bracket is fixed in the groove of the socket body, and the bottom surface of the bracket is used to fix the terminal with the cable pressed in the terminal hole of the socket; the function of the bracket ribs is that the ribs have grid gaps, which provide a grid skeleton for the injection molded filler. Therefore, when the filling material fills these grids and solidifies, the injection molded filler and the bracket together reliably become a component of the socket.

[0009] Furthermore, holes with matching positions and sizes are provided in the groove of the socket body and on the bottom surface of the bracket, which are used to fix the bracket in the groove of the socket body by screws.

[0010] Furthermore, the bracket is made of high-strength nylon glass fiber reinforced material. Because the bracket plays the following dual roles: fixing the terminal with the cable pressed in the terminal hole of the socket and providing a grid skeleton for the injection molded filling body, the strength of the bracket should be greater than the strength of the injection molded filling body after the filling material is cured. Specifically, high-strength nylon glass fiber reinforced material is selected for processing and manufacturing.

[0011] Furthermore, the filling material of the injection molded filling body is a soft gel whose hardness is lower than that of the bracket material. The filling material of the injection molded filling body is selected mainly to meet the following requirements: 1. The filling material and the cable insulation layer have good bonding properties to ensure that the cable and the injection molded filling body are reliably sealed at the bonding position; 2. The filling material must have good low-temperature and high-temperature performance to ensure that the charging stand can work normally in harsh environments; 3. The filling material has good dimensional stability after curing. The filling material of the present invention uses a low-hardness soft gel material with a low injection molding temperature. The filling and molding process will not cause adverse effects such as damage to other parts, and can be fully cross-linked and bonded with the bracket to form a product component with stable state and performance, which can meet the fixing and sealing requirements of the injection molded filling body in the present invention.

[0012] The present invention also provides an assembly process of the low-cost charging socket, comprising the following steps:

[0013] a) insert the terminal end of the conductive terminal of the connecting cable into the terminal hole of the socket body;

[0014] b) Install the bracket into the groove of the socket body, press the conductive terminal with the bottom surface, and fix the bracket in the groove of the socket body with screws;

[0015] c) placing the assembly of step b) on a vertical injection molding machine, filling the groove cavity of the socket body with a filling material of the injection molding filling body, and solidifying the filling material into shape.

[0016] The present invention also provides an alternative assembly process, which is mainly aimed at solutions when the sealing performance of the filling material of the injection molded filling body cannot fully meet the requirements, or when the dimensional stability of the filling material in hot and cold environments after curing is considered. Because the charging socket requires IP67 waterproof on the back, the injection molded filling body must be reliably sealed, and two bonding surfaces must be handled well, one is the bonding surface between the injection molded filling body and the cable, and the other is the bonding surface between the injection molded filling body and the groove wall of the charging socket body. When the filling material cannot be well compatible with two different materials at the same time or the dimensional stability in hot and cold environments meets the long-term sealing requirements, for example, in the application of the charging socket, it may be easy to find a filling material that perfectly combines the filling material and the cable insulation layer material; but it is not easy to select and prepare a filling material that can perfectly combine with the cable sheath and the outer wall of the socket body (glass fiber reinforced nylon), or can still maintain a completely seamless combination with the two materials in a long-term hot and cold environment. This alternative assembly process can make up for the above-mentioned performance deficiencies of the selected filling material. The assembly process includes the following steps:

[0017] a) insert the terminal end of the conductive terminal of the connecting cable into the terminal hole of the socket body;

[0018] b) Install the bracket into the groove of the socket body, press the conductive terminal with the bottom surface, and fix the bracket in the groove of the socket body with screws;

[0019] c) placing a thin layer mold on the inner circle of the groove wall of the socket body, placing the assembly of step b) on a vertical injection molding machine, filling the groove cavity of the socket body with a filling material of the injection molding filling body, and solidifying the filling material into shape;

[0020] d) taking out the thin layer mold placed in step c), and applying glue to seal the gap between the injection molded filling body and the groove wall of the socket body after the thin layer mold is taken out.

[0021] When the filling material of the injection-molded filling body is injected, an appropriate gap is left between the injection-molded filling body and the groove wall of the socket body by placing a thin layer mold. After the filling material is cured, the gap is filled with a suitable waterproof glue. Through the above-mentioned processing method, the above-mentioned alternative assembly process of the present invention can well solve the problem that the sealing performance of the filling material cannot fully meet the requirements or the dimensional stability in cold and hot environments after curing.

[0022] Compared with the prior art, the present invention is advanced in that:

[0023] 1) The structure of the socket is simplified, and the structure and process of injection molding filling are used to solve the problems of fixing and sealing the terminals and cables in the socket. This simplified new structure is more suitable for automated mass production.

[0024] 2) A bracket is designed between the injection molded filler and the socket body. The bracket has a grid structure feature. On the one hand, the bracket fixes the terminal, and on the other hand, it serves as the skeleton of the injection molded filler to combine the injection molded filler and the socket body into a whole.

[0025] 3) In order to solve the sealing problem between parts of different materials, a pairing method is adopted, that is, first select the material that can be sealed and combined with the injection molded filler and the cable, and then determine the glue that can be sealed and combined with the injection molded filler and the socket body to perform gap sealing. Both links are reliably sealed, thereby achieving reliable sealing of the entire product.

[0026] The assembly and sealing of the charging socket of the present invention are basically machine-processed, such as using a vertical injection molding machine and an automatic dispensing machine, which not only saves a lot of manpower and working hours, but also greatly improves the consistency and stability of the operation quality, thereby greatly reducing the production cost of the product. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] Attached Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of an exploded form of a charging socket in the prior art;

[0028] Attached Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the exploded structural composition of a low-cost charging socket according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0029] Attached Figure 3 This is a structural appearance diagram of a bracket of a low-cost charging socket according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0030] Attached Figure 4 A schematic diagram of terminal installation of a low-cost charging stand according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0031] Attached Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the appearance structure of an assembled low-cost charging socket according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0032] Attached Figure 6 This is a cross-sectional view of a socket in which glue is dispensed to seal between an injection-molded filling body and a groove wall of a socket body according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the present invention, the present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific implementation methods.

[0034] Example 1

[0035] like Figures 2 to 4 As shown, a low-cost charging socket includes a socket body 1, a bracket 2, a conductive terminal 3 and an injection-molded filling body 4.

[0036] A groove is formed at one end of the socket body 1 , and a terminal hole 11 is formed in the groove. The groove is used to support the bracket 2 and the injection-molded filling body 4 , and the terminal hole 11 is used to insert the terminal end 31 of the conductive terminal 3 .

[0037] One end of the conductive terminal 3 is a terminal end 31 , and the other end is connected to a cable. The terminal end 31 is fixed in the terminal hole 11 of the socket body 1 , and the cable end 32 passes through the bracket 2 and the injection molded filling body 4 and extends out of the end surface of the injection molded filling body 4 .

[0038] The bracket 2 is made of high-strength nylon glass fiber reinforced material, such as Figure 3 As shown, the bracket 2 includes a bottom surface 21 matching the groove of the socket body 1, which is used to press on the bottom of the groove of the socket body 1 so as to fix the terminal end 31 of the conductive terminal 3 in the terminal hole 11 of the socket body 1; and also includes a rib 22 perpendicular to the bottom surface, the rib 22 is a grid structure, and the filling material of the injection molding filler 4 is filled into the grid structure during injection molding, so that the injection molding filler 4 is more firmly combined with the socket body 1 and the bracket 2;

[0039] There are holes in the groove of the socket body 1 and on the bottom surface 21 of the bracket 2, which are matched in position and size, and are used to fix the bracket 2 in the groove of the socket body 1 by screws;

[0040] The injection molded filling body 4 is a filling material injection molding structure, which is used to fill the groove cavity of the socket body 1 installed with the conductive terminal 3 and the bracket 2. After the filling material is injection molded and solidified, it forms a seamless integral structure with the cable of the conductive terminal 3 and the groove wall of the socket body 1.

[0041] When assembling and producing the charging socket of this embodiment, Figure 4 As shown, firstly, the conductive terminal 3 with the cable is placed into the terminal hole 11 in the charging socket body 1, and then the bracket 2 is installed into the socket body 1, pressing the conductive terminal 3, and fixing the bracket 2 in the socket body 1 with screws 5, and finally the charging socket is sent to the assembly line for injection molding of the injection molding filling body 4. After the injection molding filling material is solidified, the overall assembly of the charging socket of the present invention is completed. The schematic diagram of the appearance structure of the low-cost charging socket after assembly is shown in FIG. Figure 5 shown.

[0042] Example 2

[0043] A process for assembling the low-cost charging socket of Example 1 comprises the following steps:

[0044] a) inserting the terminal end 31 of the conductive terminal 3 of the connecting cable into the terminal hole 11 of the socket body 1;

[0045] b) inserting the bracket 2 into the groove of the socket body 1, pressing the conductive terminal 3 with the bottom surface 21, and fixing the bracket 2 in the groove of the socket body 1 with screws;

[0046] c) placing the assembly of step b) on a vertical injection molding machine, filling the groove cavity of the socket body 1 with the filling material of the injection molding filling body 4, and solidifying the filling material into shape.

[0047] Example 3

[0048] A process for assembling a low-cost charging socket of embodiment 1 comprises the following steps:

[0049] a) inserting the terminal end 31 of the conductive terminal 3 of the connecting cable into the terminal hole 11 of the socket body 1;

[0050] b) inserting the bracket 2 into the groove of the socket body 1, pressing the conductive terminal 3 with the bottom surface 21, and fixing the bracket 2 in the groove of the socket body 1 with screws;

[0051] c) placing a thin layer mold on the inner circle of the groove wall of the socket body 1, placing the assembly of step b) on a vertical injection molding machine, filling the groove cavity of the socket body 1 with the filling material of the injection molding filling body 4, and solidifying the filling material into shape;

[0052] d) Take out the thin layer mold placed in step c), and perform glue sealing AA on the gap between the injection molded filling body 4 and the groove wall of the socket body 1 after the thin layer mold is taken out. The cross-sectional view of the glue sealing between the injection molded filling body 4 and the groove wall of the socket body 1 is as shown in FIG. Figure 6 shown.

[0053] It can be seen that the charging socket with a novel structural process according to the embodiment of the present invention can be easily applied with automated equipment due to its simple structural design, thereby greatly improving product production efficiency and reducing product costs.

[0054] The embodiments of the present invention have been described above, and the above description is exemplary, not exhaustive, and is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should be subject to the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A low-cost charging socket, characterized in that: It comprises a socket body (1), a bracket (2), a conductive terminal (3) and an injection-molded filling body (4); The socket body (1) has a groove at one end, and a terminal hole (11) is provided in the groove, the groove is used to carry the bracket (2) and the injection molded filling body (4), and the terminal hole (11) is used to insert the terminal end (31) of the conductive terminal (3); One end of the conductive terminal (3) is a terminal end (31), and the other end is connected to a cable. The terminal end (31) is fixed in a terminal hole (11) of the socket body (1), and the cable end (32) passes through the bracket (2) and the injection molded filling body (4) and extends out of the end surface of the injection molded filling body (4); The bracket (2) has a bottom surface (21) matching the groove of the socket body (1) and is used to press on the bottom of the groove of the socket body (1) so as to fix the terminal end (31) of the conductive terminal (3) in the terminal hole (11) of the socket body (1); The injection molded filling body (4) is a filling material injection molding structure, which is used to fill the groove cavity of the socket body (1) on which the conductive terminal (3) and the bracket (2) are installed. After the filling material is injection molded and solidified, it forms a seamless integral structure with the cable of the conductive terminal (3) and the groove wall of the socket body (1).

2. The low-cost charging socket according to claim 1, characterized in that: The support (2) also includes ribs (22) perpendicular to the bottom surface, which are used to support the injection-molded filling body (4).

3. The low-cost charging socket according to claim 2, characterized in that: The ribs (22) are of a grid structure, and the filling material of the injection-molded filling body (4) is filled into the grid structure during injection molding, so that the injection-molded filling body (4) is more firmly combined with the socket body (1) and the bracket (2).

4. The low-cost charging socket according to claim 3, characterized in that: There are holes in the groove of the socket body (1) and on the bottom surface (21) of the bracket (2) with matching positions and sizes, which are used to fix the bracket (2) in the groove of the socket body (1) by means of screws.

5. The low-cost charging socket according to claim 4, characterized in that: The bracket (2) is made of high-strength nylon glass fiber reinforced material.

6. The low-cost charging socket according to claim 5, characterized in that: The filling material of the injection-molded filling body (4) is a soft glue having a lower hardness than the material of the support (2).

7. A process for assembling a low-cost charging socket as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: a) placing the terminal end (31) of the conductive terminal (3) of the connecting cable into the terminal hole (11) of the socket body (1); b) inserting the bracket (2) into the groove of the socket body (1), pressing the conductive terminal (3) with the bottom surface (21), and fixing the bracket (2) in the groove of the socket body (1) with screws; c) placing the assembly of step b) on a vertical injection molding machine, using the filling material of the injection molding filling body (4) to fill the recessed cavity of the socket body (1), and solidifying the filling material into shape.

8. A process for assembling a low-cost charging socket as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: a) placing the terminal end (31) of the conductive terminal (3) of the connecting cable into the terminal hole (11) of the socket body (1); b) inserting the bracket (2) into the groove of the socket body (1), pressing the conductive terminal (3) with the bottom surface (21), and fixing the bracket (2) in the groove of the socket body (1) with screws; c) placing a thin layer mold on the inner circle of the groove wall of the socket body (1), placing the assembly part of step b) on a vertical injection molding machine, filling the groove cavity of the socket body (1) with the filling material of the injection molding filling body (4), and solidifying the filling material into shape; d) taking out the thin layer mold placed in step c), and applying glue to seal the gap between the injection molded filling body (4) and the groove wall of the socket body (1) after the thin layer mold is taken out (AA).

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