Clamping Spring with Variable Width Joint for Stress Distribution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing spring-loaded terminals face challenges in achieving optimal mechanical stress distribution and have complex structures with many components, leading to complicated operation and potential mechanical stress issues under load.
Innovation Solution
A clamping spring design with a clamping leg, bearing leg, and limiting leg connected via a flexible joint, where the spring steel strip is wider at the flexible joint than at the legs, allowing for a small bending radius and a nose element to prevent deep conductor insertion, along with a receiving element and housing for simplified operation and stress distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the clamping spring is made with a loop shape and small bending radius to reduce overall height, then the overall size is reduced, but the mechanical stress distribution becomes suboptimal
Solution Approach 1:
The spring steel strip has varying width along its length, being wider at the flexible joint area and narrower at the clamping and bearing leg areas. This local variation in cross-sectional dimensions optimizes the mechanical stress distribution by providing greater flexibility where needed (at the joint) while maintaining structural integrity at the functional ends, thereby resolving the contradiction between compact size and stress distribution.
2Stress or pressure
If the spring steel strip is wider at the flexible joint to improve stress distribution, then the mechanical stress distribution improves, but the overall size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The width variation is localized only to the flexible joint region, allowing the spring steel strip to achieve optimal stress distribution precisely where the bending occurs, while the clamping and bearing leg regions maintain narrower dimensions to minimize overall height. This targeted approach ensures that the increased width does not propagate throughout the entire component, thereby resolving the size-stress distribution contradiction.
3Force
If a pusher and conductor bushing are added to spread the clamping leg, then the clamping function is improved, but the structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The clamping spring is designed as an integrated component where the clamping leg, bearing leg, and flexible joint are formed as a single piece from spring steel strip. This merging of functions into one component eliminates the need for separate pushers and conductor bushings, achieving the clamping function through the spring's inherent elasticity while significantly reducing structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts and eliminates unnecessary intermediate components (pusher, conductor bushing) from the system, relying instead on the directly actuated spring-loaded clamping mechanism. By removing these redundant elements, the design achieves simpler operation and reduced component count while maintaining effective clamping force through the spring's mechanical properties.
4Reliability
If the limiting leg is added to prevent deep insertion, then conductor protection is improved, but the structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The limiting leg is integrated directly into the clamping spring structure, forming a unified component that provides both clamping and insertion limitation functions. By combining these protective and clamping functions into a single spring assembly rather than adding a separate limiting mechanism, the design enhances conductor protection while minimizing increases in structural complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design achieves improved mechanical stress distribution, reduces the overall height of the spring-loaded terminal, and simplifies the structure by using fewer components, facilitating easier operation while preventing conductor over-insertion and plastic deformation.
Implementation Method 1
the flexible joint connecting the clamping leg and the bearing leg has a curve with the smallest possible bending radius, so that the clamping spring has the smallest possible construction
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a clamping spring (10) for a spring-loaded clamp, comprising a clamping arm (12) and a supporting arm (14), wherein the clamping arm (12) and the supporting arm (14) are connected to each other by way of a bending joint (16). The clamping arm (12), the supporting arm (14), and the bending joint (16) are produced from a spring steel strip, wherein the spring steel strip has a larger width in the area of the bending joint (16) than in the area of the clamping arm (12) and the supporting arm (14). The invention further relates to a receiving element (30) for receiving the clamping spring (10) and to a housing (52), in which the receiving element (30) can be arranged together with the clamping spring (10). The clamping spring (10) according to the invention is characterized by an optimal mechanical stress distribution in the clamping spring (10). By means of the receiving element (30) according to the invention and the housing (52) according to the invention, a simple design of a spring-loaded clamp using the least number of components possible is achieved.