Cross Connect Terminal Block Merging Plug and Contacts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cross connect terminal blocks require complex procedures and additional components for connecting and switching telephone lines, making them costly and difficult to operate.
Innovation Solution
A simplified cross connect terminal block design that integrates two contacts and a plug into one piece, allowing for easy assembly and operation, with optional electrical protection features, enabling direct connection and switching of wire sets without additional plugs and maintaining the functionality of half tapping or bridging circuits.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional cross connect terminal blocks use separate plugs and additional components for connecting wire sets, then reliable electrical connections are achieved, but device complexity and operational difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the plug and terminal block into a single integrated unit. The cross connect terminal block includes contact elements that directly receive and secure wire sets without requiring separate plugs. The housing integrates the structural support, insulation, and connection mechanisms that were previously distributed across multiple components, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining reliable electrical connections.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated terminal block design performs multiple functions within a single component: it provides structural support for wire sets, establishes electrical connections, provides insulation, and enables switching operations. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate plugs and additional components, resolving the contradiction between reliability and complexity.
2Reliability
If conventional cross connect terminal blocks require additional plugs and components for line switching, then connection reliability is maintained, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
By merging the plug functionality into the terminal block itself, the patent enables direct manipulation of wire sets for switching operations. The contact elements are accessible within the integrated structure, allowing operators to perform line switching and testing directly on the terminal block without assembling or manipulating separate plugs, thereby significantly improving ease of operation while maintaining connection reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated design allows the terminal block to serve its own connection and switching functions without requiring additional service components. Wire sets can be directly inserted and secured by the contact elements within the housing, and switching operations can be performed directly on the integrated structure, eliminating the need for separate plugs and simplifying operational procedures.
3Adaptability or versatility
If conventional cross connect terminal blocks use multiple separate components, then connection functionality is achieved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates multiple functional components into a single molded housing structure. The housing is designed to accommodate contact elements, provide insulation, and secure wire sets all within one component. This integration reduces the number of parts that need to be manufactured, assembled, and inventoried, thereby reducing manufacturing costs while maintaining full connection functionality including wire set support, electrical connection, and switching capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated terminal block performs multiple functions that would traditionally require separate components: structural support, electrical connection, insulation, and switching. By consolidating these functions into a single manufacturable unit, the patent reduces manufacturing complexity and cost while preserving all necessary connection adaptabilities and versatility.
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
The solution reduces operational complexity and costs while providing reliable electrical connections and protection against overvoltage or overcurrent events, such as lightning strikes, by integrating the plug functionality into the terminal block and incorporating modularized plug elements with built-in protection loops.
Implementation Method 1
the portion of a contact with the insulative layer removed is used to enable the contact to be connected to the bare wires
Implementation Method 2
the conductor in the wires is pressed with an elastic force, and thus is electrically connected with the contact element
Data Source
AI summary
A cross connect terminal block, comprising: a base; at least one set of terminals disposed in the base, the terminal having a first end and a second end, the first end being used for connecting with a first set of wires and the second end being used for connecting with a second set of wires; at least a first cover removably disposed on the base and having a support means for supporting the first set of wires, the support means of the first cover being located at a position corresponding to the first end of the terminal; and at least a second cover removably disposed on the base and having a support means for supporting the second set of wires, the support means of the second cover being located at a position corresponding to the second end of the terminal.