Buckle Oblique Insertion Guide Surfaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional buckles with guide rods and guide parts require straight insertion, making it difficult to insert the plug obliquely into the socket.
Innovation Solution
A buckle design featuring engagement protrusions, slits, and guide surfaces on the socket's upper and lower plates, allowing the plug's leg parts to be inserted obliquely and guided into engagement stepped portions, with dimensions of the protrusions and slits optimized for easy alignment and secure fitting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the guide rod and guide part are formed along the plug insertion line to ensure proper alignment, then the engagement reliability is improved, but the ease of operation deteriorates because the plug cannot be inserted obliquely
Solution Approach 1:
The guide function is segmented into multiple independent guide surfaces located at different positions (upper side wall part, lower side wall part, and inner surfaces of upper and lower plates). These distributed guide surfaces work together to guide the plug from oblique insertion to proper alignment, allowing the system to accept oblique insertion while maintaining engagement reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide mechanism transitions from a single-line guide (one-dimensional constraint along the insertion line) to a multi-surface guide system (three-dimensional guidance). By adding guide surfaces on the inner surfaces of the upper and lower plates, the system provides guidance in multiple spatial dimensions, enabling oblique plug insertion to be corrected into proper alignment during the insertion process.
2Device complexity
If the plug structure is simplified without complex guide mechanisms, then the device complexity is reduced, but the precision of alignment deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The guide function is merged into the existing structural components (upper side wall parts, lower side wall parts, and plates) rather than being implemented as separate guide mechanisms. The guide surfaces are formed on the inner surfaces of these components, combining the structural and guiding functions into a unified design that maintains alignment precision without adding device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The buckle structure guides itself through the formation of guide surfaces on its own components. The upper and lower side wall parts and plates provide the necessary guidance during plug insertion without requiring external guide mechanisms, achieving precise alignment through the structure's inherent geometry.
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided a buckle including a plug and a socket. The plug includes a plug-side base part, a pair of leg parts, and a pair of engagement protrusions. The socket includes a socket-side base part, an upper plate, a lower plate, upper side wall parts, lower side wall parts, engagement stepped portions, slits, and guide surfaces. A dimension of the pair of engagement protrusions in the upward and downward direction is set to be greater than a dimension of each of the slits in the width direction.