Electrical Connector Shell Support Structure to Reduce Warpage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electrical connectors face challenges in achieving manufacturing tolerances for high-frequency signal transmission, leading to issues such as warpage, empty soldering, and increased manufacturing costs due to stringent process control requirements.
Innovation Solution
The electrical connector design includes an insulated shell with a slot in its side wall, a conductive assembly, and a support member embedded in the slot. This configuration enhances the flexural rigidity of the insulated shell, reduces warpage, and improves assembly accuracy by providing additional structural support.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the insulated shell is made with a long and thin structure (longitudinal length much greater than thickness), then the connector can accommodate more contact terminals and provide better signal transmission, but the shell becomes prone to warping deformation during reflow soldering process
Solution Approach 1:
The side wall of the insulated shell is divided into multiple sections by forming multiple recesses along the longitudinal direction. Each recess creates a segmented structure that reduces the overall length of continuous thin material, thereby reducing the tendency toward warping deformation while maintaining the ability to accommodate multiple contact terminals.
Solution Approach 2:
The recesses are strategically positioned at specific locations along the side wall to provide localized reinforcement where warping is most likely to occur. This creates areas of different structural properties - the recessed areas provide support while the areas between recesses maintain the necessary flexibility for signal transmission.
2Manufacturing precision
If the manufacturing process is strictly controlled to reduce warpage and empty soldering, then the assembly accuracy and stability improve, but the manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The recesses are pre-formed into the insulated shell during the molding process before the reflow soldering step. This preliminary structural preparation reduces the shell's susceptibility to warping during subsequent welding operations, thereby reducing the need for expensive post-processing control measures and strict process monitoring.
Solution Approach 2:
The design accepts that the long and thin structure will naturally be prone to deformation, but converts this potential harm into a benefit by strategically placing recesses that actually enhance the structural stability. The same geometric features that might seem to weaken the structure actually provide reinforcement against warping.
3Volume of moving object
If the insulated shell is made thinner to reduce the overall size of the connector, then the connector becomes more compact and easier to install, but the shell becomes more susceptible to deformation during welding
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the side wall with multiple recesses, the design allows the shell to maintain thin overall dimensions while creating localized structural reinforcements. The recesses break up the continuous thin material into shorter segments that are less prone to warping, effectively providing strength without increasing overall thickness.
Data Source
AI summary
An electrical connector includes an insulated shell having a slot in a side wall extending longitudinally, a conductive assembly, and a support member embedded in the slot. The conductive assembly includes a conductive shell assembled on the insulated shell, a plurality of contact terminals each having a base and an electrical contact segment extending from the base, and a base plate detachably connected to the insulated shell. A base of each of the contact terminals is fixed to the base plate. The conductive shell and the electrical contact segment of each of the contact terminals are held in electrical contact with each other by the base plate. A pair of free ends of the support member are fixed in the slot.