Electrical Connector Protective Members for Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electrical connectors lack effective horizontal alignment guidance, leading to potential scratching of the insulating body during connector mating, which can cause damage and reduce the service life.
Innovation Solution
The design includes an insulating body with concavely formed grooves at the front end of the side plates that communicate with the mating cavity, accommodating protective members which shield the side plates, and a shielding shell with a mating port larger than the cavity to prevent incorrect alignment and damage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the mating port is made larger than the mating cavity to allow easier insertion, then the ease of operation is improved, but the risk of horizontal misalignment and scratching of the insulating body increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces protective members as intermediary elements between the insertion portion and the insulating body. These protective members are positioned in grooves on the side plates and extend into the mating cavity to contact the insertion portion first, thereby mediating the interaction and preventing direct contact between the insertion portion and the insulating body that would cause scratching.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary protection by positioning the protective members in advance within the mating cavity structure. The protective members are pre-installed in the grooves on the side plates before mating occurs, so they are already in place to guide and protect the insulating body from the moment the insertion portion enters the mating port.
2Manufacturing precision
If guiding structures are added to provide horizontal alignment, then the manufacturing precision is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the protective members multi-functional: they serve both as protective elements that prevent scratching of the insulating body and as guiding structures that provide horizontal alignment. By combining these two functions into a single component, the patent achieves improved alignment accuracy without proportionally increasing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the protective function and the guiding function into a single integrated structure. The protective members are formed as an integral part of the assembly, combining the role of protecting the insulating body with the role of guiding horizontal alignment, thereby reducing overall structural complexity compared to having separate protective and guiding components.
Data Source
AI summary
An electrical connector configured to be electrically connected with a mating connector, including an insulating body, having a mating cavity enclosed by a top plate, a bottom plate and two side plates, allowing an insertion portion of the mating connector to be inserted backward therein. Multiple accommodating grooves are formed on the top plate and the bottom plate. A front end of each side plate is concavely provided with a groove communicating with the mating cavity. Multiple terminals are correspondingly accommodated in the accommodating grooves. A shielding shell is fixed to the insulating body. A mating port is enclosed by front ends of a top wall and two side walls of the shielding shell, and is larger than the mating cavity. Two protective members are correspondingly accommodated in the grooves. A front end of each protective member is spaced from the front end of the corresponding side wall.