Automotive Electrical Connector Retainer Hinge Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing connector members for electrical wires in automobiles face challenges in durability and reliability due to hinge fracture and interference issues when mating, particularly as connectors are downsized, leading to poor retention of terminals and potential failure in connection.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a lance housing with guide walls and a retainer that is swingably connected, featuring a recess and locking protrusions to prevent hinge fracture and ensure smooth mating by engaging with the mating connector's recesses, thereby enhancing durability and reliability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the connector is downsized, then the size of the connector is reduced, but the ability to prevent terminals from dropping off deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The connector is divided into two separate housings: a first housing for receiving terminals and a second housing for mating with the opposite connector. This segmentation allows each housing to be optimized independently, enabling downsizing while maintaining terminal retention through the retainer mechanism in the first housing.
Solution Approach 2:
A retainer is introduced as an intermediary component between the terminals and the first housing. The retainer includes a retainer body with a retainer hole and a pressing portion that elastically presses terminals, providing reliable terminal retention even in downsized connectors without requiring larger housing structures.
2Reliability
If hinges of the retainer are provided, then terminals can be secured in the opening, but the hinges may collide with the housing of the mating connector and be fractured
Solution Approach 1:
The hinges are extracted from the retainer body and integrated into the first housing instead. The retainer is now swingably connected to the first housing via hinges formed on the housing itself, removing the vulnerable external hinges from the retainer that would collide with the mating connector.
Solution Approach 2:
The hinge function is merged with the first housing structure. The hinges are formed as integral parts of the first housing rather than separate components on the retainer, combining the housing and hinge into a single robust structure that prevents fracture during mating.
Data Source
AI summary
A connector member that is improved in durability and reliability by preventing fracture of hinges of a retainer and can be smoothly mated with a mating connector. The connector member having a lance housing. a connector housing, and the retainer. The lance housing includes a plurality of terminal receiving slots, a recess disposed at a rear of the plurality of terminal receiving slots and in a portion of the lance housing near a rear surface thereof, and a pair of guide walls positioned opposite each other along a top surface of the lance housing. The connector housing includes a housing recess opening at one side for housing the lance housing. The retainer is fitted into the recess of the lance housing and swingably connected to the lance housing by a hinge.