Electrical Connector Shorting Bar Actuator Inversion
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional electrical connectors with shorting bars are prone to damage during shipment or assembly due to exposed plastic protrusions that can break, leading to system failure when the shorting bar cannot be disconnected.
Innovation Solution
An electrical connector design with a movably disposed operation device inside the housing, where an actuator is used to disconnect the shorting bar from the terminals upon mating, ensuring the actuator is protected from external damage and allowing reliable disconnection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a thin plastic piece protrudes outwardly from the connector housing to disconnect the shorting bar, then the shorting bar can be disconnected upon mating, but the thin plastic piece is easy to be damaged during shipment or assembling process
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of having the protrusion face outwardly from the connector housing where it is accessible and vulnerable to damage, the invention inverts the arrangement by having the actuator face away from the mating interface and be disposed inside the housing. This reverses the exposure configuration, protecting the actuator from external damage while maintaining its function to disconnect the shorting bar upon mating.
Solution Approach 2:
The actuator is nested inside the housing rather than protruding outwardly. By placing the actuator within the protective enclosure of the housing, it is shielded from external damages during shipment and assembly while still being able to perform its function of disconnecting the shorting bar when the connectors mate.
2Ease of operation
If the thin plastic piece is directly accessible from outside of the connector, then the shorting bar can be disconnected, but the thin plastic piece is easy to be damaged during shipment or assembling process
Solution Approach 1:
The invention inverts the accessibility configuration by having the actuator face away from the mating interface and be disposed inside the housing rather than protruding outwardly. This protects the actuator from external damage while maintaining its operational function through the mating process.
Solution Approach 2:
The actuator is pre-positioned inside the housing in a protected state before mating occurs. The housing structure provides preliminary protection to the actuator during shipment and assembly, and the actuator is then activated through the mating process to perform its function of disconnecting the shorting bar.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
The present invention relates to an electrical connector having a shorting bar and an operation device for controlling the shorting bar. The connector has a housing and electrical conductive terminals disposed in the housing. One or more metal shorting bars are attached to the housing, each shorting bar electrically connects two or more terminals as a protective measure to the systems connected to these terminals before the connector is connected to a counterpart connector. The operation device is movably disposed inside the housing. During the connecting process, the operation device is pushed by the counterpart connector to move relative to the housing towards the shorting bar. Upon completion of the connecting process, a portion of the operation device is inserted between the shorting bars and the terminals whereby the shorting bar are electrically isolated from the terminals to resume the original functions of these terminals.