Bendable Connector Structure for Wearable Contact Reliability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing connectors for smart garments, which are rigid and inflexible, cause discomfort due to their protruding structures, compromising wear comfort when attached to flexible mounting objects like garments.
Innovation Solution
A connector design featuring a housing made of a bendable insulating material with orthogonal arrangement of contacts and projections, allowing for flexible bending and reduced protrusion, ensuring comfortable wear even on garments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the connector body is made of rigid insulating material with protrusion portions to ensure reliable electrical connection, then the reliability of electrical connection is improved, but the wear comfort is reduced due to discomfort from the rigid structure
Solution Approach 1:
The connector body is divided into multiple independent protrusion portions, each capable of moving separately. This segmentation allows each protrusion to maintain contact pressure for reliable electrical connection while independently adapting to bending forces, preventing the entire connector from becoming rigid and uncomfortable.
Solution Approach 2:
The protrusion portions are designed to move dynamically relative to the connector body, enabling them to flex and adapt when the connector is bent. This dynamic capability allows the connector to maintain both reliable electrical connection through sustained contact pressure and wear comfort through flexible adaptation to garment movement.
2Ease of operation
If the connector body is made of flexible insulating material to improve wear comfort, then the ease of operation is improved, but the reliability of electrical connection deteriorates because the connector cannot maintain stable contact pressure
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the connector into a flexible body with independent protrusion portions, each protrusion can individually maintain contact pressure through elastic recovery, while the overall connector body remains flexible for wear comfort. The segmented structure prevents the flexibility from compromising contact stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The protrusion portions are designed with specific elastic modulus and geometric parameters that enable them to exert sufficient contact pressure on the counter connector contacts. This parameter optimization ensures that even with a flexible connector body, reliable electrical connection is maintained through controlled elastic deformation and recovery of the protrusions.
3Reliability
If protrusion portions with predetermined width and projection height are provided to ensure reliable electrical connection, then the reliability is improved, but the flexibility of the connector is reduced making it difficult to obtain good wear comfort
Solution Approach 1:
The connector body is segmented into multiple independent protrusion portions rather than a single rigid structure. This segmentation allows the connector to flex between the protrusions while each protrusion maintains its dimensional stability for reliable contact, resolving the contradiction between flexibility and contact stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The connector body is designed as a flexible structure that can bend, while the protrusion portions maintain predetermined dimensions for reliable electrical connection. The flexible body accommodates garment movement, and the dimensional stability of protrusions ensures contact reliability, combining both requirements.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~5
AI summary
A connector (11, 31, 61) includes a bendable housing (12, 32, 52) and contacts (13, 33) retained in the housing (12, 32, 52) with arranged in an arrangement direction orthogonal to a fitting direction, the housing (12, 32, 52) having first projections (14C, 34C) arranged in the arrangement direction to correspond to the contacts (13, 33) and projecting in the fitting direction, each of the contacts (13, 33) having a contact portion (13A, 33A) retained in a corresponding one of the first projections (14C, 34C) and configured to make contact (13, 33) with a corresponding counter contact (54) of a counter connector (51), a connection portion (13B, 33B) connected to a corresponding one of flexible conductors (23, 43) of a mounting object, and a joint portion (13C, 33C) joining the contact portion (13A, 33A) and the connection portion (13B, 33B) to each other, the plurality of first projections (14C, 34C) being separate from one another.