Electrical Connector Housing with Shielding Plate Passageways
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing designs face difficulties in forming long and slender grooves for terminal insertion in electrical connectors, especially when the housing part has a complicated shape, requiring complex molding processes.
Innovation Solution
The method involves insert-molding a base portion around a shielding plate to form passageways and over-molding an insulative housing, allowing two rows of terminals to be inserted through these passageways, with the shielding plate's rear end exposed to be accommodated in a chamber, decoupling the formation of terminal grooves and housing from a single molding process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If long and slender grooves are formed on a complicated-shaped housing in a single molding process, then terminal insertion is enabled, but manufacturing complexity increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is divided into two separate components: a base portion and an insulative housing. The base portion is formed first with passageways, then the insulative housing is overmolded around it. This segmentation allows each component to be manufactured independently with simpler processes, avoiding the need to form long slender grooves directly on a complicated-shaped housing in a single molding process.
Solution Approach 2:
The base portion is formed in advance with passageways before the insulative housing is molded. This preliminary action enables the terminal insertion paths to be established early in the manufacturing process, eliminating the need to create complex grooves in the final housing structure and simplifying the overall molding process.
2Productivity
If terminal grooves and housing are formed in a single molding process, then manufacturing steps are reduced, but molding difficulty increases for complicated shapes
Solution Approach 1:
The manufacturing process is segmented into distinct stages: first forming the base portion with passageways, then overmolding the insulative housing around it. This segmentation makes each molding step feasible and manageable, avoiding the impracticality of forming both terminal grooves and complicated housing structure in a single molding process.
Solution Approach 2:
The base portion with passageways is formed as a preliminary structure before the insulative housing is molded. This preliminary formation of the base portion enables subsequent overmolding to proceed easily, as the passageways are already in place and the base portion provides a stable foundation for the housing mold.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If shielding plate is fully enclosed in base portion, then shielding is improved, but assembly flexibility and terminal orientation options are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The shielding plate is positioned to extend beyond the base portion at the rear end, creating different shielding characteristics in different regions. The front part provides electromagnetic shielding where needed, while the exposed rear part allows for assembly flexibility and reversible terminal orientation, achieving local optimization of both shielding and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The shielding plate extends in multiple directions: it is enclosed within the base portion in the front region for shielding, while exposing its rear end outwardly for assembly flexibility. This multi-dimensional positioning allows the same component to serve dual purposes of electromagnetic shielding and assembly adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of manufacturing an electrical connector including the steps of: insert-molding a base portion around a shielding plate to form two rows of passageways exposing outwardly and rearwardly; over-molding an insulative housing at a rear of the base portion; and inserting two rows of terminals through the insulative housing to the two rows of passageways, respectively.