Electrical Connector Window Design for Terminal Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional electrical connectors for air bags face issues with unstable contact between signal transmission terminals and short-circuit terminals due to inadequate support, leading to potential malfunctions and misalignment, especially when downsized.
Innovation Solution
The connector design features a window formed at the rear of the lances, allowing for an upper supporting wall that enhances rigidity and prevents upward deformation, and a lower supporting wall at the front end to stabilize the terminals, ensuring stable contact and preventing rotation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the connector is downsized to miniaturize the electrical connector, then the volume and weight are reduced, but the rigidity of the housing decreases leading to unstable contact between terminals
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is segmented into multiple functional walls including front wall, rear wall, side walls, and partition walls that divide the housing into multiple cavities. This segmentation allows each wall section to provide localized support and rigidity even when the overall connector size is reduced, preventing the housing from becoming too flexible in miniaturized designs.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the housing are designed with different structural characteristics - the front wall and rear wall provide longitudinal support, side walls provide lateral support, and partition walls provide intermediate support. This local quality optimization ensures that rigidity is distributed where needed throughout the housing structure, maintaining contact stability even in downsized connectors.
2Ease of operation
If the lances are made more flexible to improve elasticity, then the ease of operation is improved, but the stability of terminal contact deteriorates causing upward deformation
Solution Approach 1:
The housing structure acts as a counterweight or supporting framework that compensates for the flexibility of the lances. The rigid housing walls provide a stable reference frame that prevents excessive deformation of the elastic lances, ensuring that the lances can be flexible enough for easy operation while maintaining stable contact with the terminals.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing serves as an intermediary structure between the lances and the external environment. It provides a stable mounting structure for the lances, allowing them to be elastic and easy to operate while the housing itself maintains the overall structural stability and prevents unwanted deformation during operation.
3Ease of operation
If the window is formed at the front to allow access, then the ease of operation is improved, but the support for female terminals deteriorates leading to rotation and misalignment
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of forming the window at the front which would compromise terminal support, the window is relocated to the rear of the housing. This dimensional relocation allows the front wall to remain intact and provide continuous support to the female terminals, preventing rotation and misalignment while still providing access through the rear window.
Solution Approach 2:
The conventional approach of placing the window at the front for easy access is inverted by placing it at the rear. This inversion allows the front structural integrity to be maintained for terminal support, while access is provided through the rear window, solving both the access requirement and the alignment precision requirement.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design provides stable contact between signal transmission and short-circuit terminals, preventing upward deformation and rotation, thus maintaining a reliable short circuit and ensuring smooth mating with male terminals.
Implementation Method 1
the section from the bent part to the contact part functions as a spring
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 3
AI summary
To provide an electrical connector that can provide stable contact between a signal transmission terminal and a short-circuit terminal even if the connector is downsized. A female connector 10 has a sub-housing 21 that has a plurality of terminal accommodating cavities 22 provided with a lance 23 by which a female terminal 11 is locked and a plurality of short-circuit terminal accommodating cavities 24 adjacent to the terminal accommodating cavities 22. A short-circuit terminal 12 has a bent part 14 at a forward position in a direction of mating with a mating electrical connector and a contact part 16 at a rearward position in the direction of mating. The sub-housing 21 has a window 25 that is formed at a position to the rear of the lances 23 corresponding to the contact parts 16 of the short-circuit terminals 12 and through which the terminal accommodating cavities 22 and the short-circuit terminal accommodating cavities 24 communicate with each other. The contact parts 16 of the short-circuit terminals 12 are in contact with the female terminals 11 through the window 25.