Aluminum Wire Conductor Stranded Structure for Connector Insertion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Aluminum or aluminum alloy wire conductors have lower electrical conductivity than copper or copper alloys, requiring larger cross-sectional areas to achieve the same conductivity, which increases the outer diameter of the wire conductor and makes it difficult to insert into connectors, necessitating a reduction in outer diameter while maintaining required conductivity.
Innovation Solution
The wire conductor is made by stranding elemental wires of aluminum or aluminum alloy with a concentrically stranded structure, where the number of wires is adjusted to achieve a maximum and average cross-sectional area ratio of 0.62 or higher, allowing for a smaller outer diameter while maintaining the required conductor cross-sectional area, and an insulation cover is applied to the wire conductor to further reduce the diameter.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If aluminum or aluminum alloy is used as wire conductor material to reduce vehicle weight, then weight is reduced, but electrical conductivity decreases requiring larger cross-sectional area
Solution Approach 1:
The wire conductor is divided into multiple elemental wires (7 strands of 7 wires each) instead of using a single solid wire. This segmentation allows for optimized packing arrangement that increases the conductor cross-sectional area while controlling the outer diameter, thereby maintaining electrical conductivity requirements while using lighter aluminum material
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses aluminum or aluminum alloy material which is a lightweight material. By combining this lightweight material with an optimized multi-strand structure, the invention achieves both weight reduction and maintained electrical conductivity
2Reliability
If the conductor cross-sectional area is increased to secure required electrical conductivity, then electrical conductivity is improved, but outer diameter of the wire conductor increases
Solution Approach 1:
The conductor is segmented into 49 elemental wires arranged in a 7x7 stranded structure. This segmentation enables the conductor cross-sectional area to be increased for better conductivity while the stranded arrangement controls the outer diameter by distributing wires in multiple layers around a central wire
Solution Approach 2:
The wire conductor uses a nested stranded structure where elemental wires are arranged in concentric layers around a central wire. The first layer has 6 wires, the second layer has 12 wires, and so on, creating a compact nested arrangement that maximizes conductor area while minimizing outer diameter
3Area of stationary object
If the outer diameter of the wire conductor is increased, then conductor cross-sectional area is increased, but insertion into connector housing becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the conductor into 49 thin elemental wires and stranding them, the invention achieves the required conductor cross-sectional area while keeping the outer diameter controlled and manageable for insertion into connector housings
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the structural parameters of the conductor by using a specific stranded configuration (7 strands of 7 wires) with controlled wire diameters and arrangements. This parameter optimization allows the conductor to have sufficient cross-sectional area for conductivity while maintaining a compact outer diameter for ease of insertion
Data Source
AI summary
A wire conductor has a plurality of elemental wires made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, which are stranded with each other and arranged, in cross-section intersecting an axial direction of the wire conductor, in which one or a plurality of virtual elemental wires are removed from an outer peripheral portion of a virtual cross-section represented by a maximum number of virtual elemental wires accommodated in a circumscribing figure approximated by a regular hexagon, the virtual elemental wires having a same diameter as the elemental wires. The wire conductor includes a plurality of slave strands, each being a strand of the plurality of elemental wires, a maximum diameter cross-sectional area ratio is 0.63 or higher that is calculated by dividing a cross-sectional area of the wire conductor by an area of a circle having a diameter equal to a maximum value of an outer diameter of the wire conductor.