Electrical Contact With Dynamic Release Mechanism
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional electrical connectors fail to maintain optimal contact pressure over time, leading to safety risks such as accidental electric shock, tripping injuries, and damage from tight power cords, as they do not reliably release plugs at low extraction forces and can be dislodged by inadvertent pulls or vibrations, especially when plugs are partially inserted or pulled at angles.
Innovation Solution
A female contact design featuring pivotally connected elongated metal blades with angular extensions and a resilient member that applies side pressure to the plug during insertion and releases it abruptly upon a predetermined pull force, maintaining optimal contact pressures and allowing easy manufacturing and use in various electrical devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If contacts are designed to tightly retain the plug, then contact pressure is improved, but plug extraction becomes difficult and causes safety hazards
Solution Approach 1:
The contact blade is designed to dynamically change its retention force based on the plug's insertion depth. During insertion, the blade provides strong retention to ensure proper seating. Once fully inserted, the blade's geometry allows it to yield and reduce retention force, enabling easy extraction. This dynamic behavior resolves the contradiction between tight retention and easy extraction.
Solution Approach 2:
The contact blade's effective length and leverage ratio change during the insertion process. When the plug is partially inserted, the blade operates with higher leverage providing strong retention. As insertion progresses, the geometric relationship changes, reducing the effective leverage and allowing the blade to release the plug easily. This parameter change enables both strong initial retention and easy final extraction.
2Reliability
If contact pressure is increased to prevent accidental disconnection, then reliability is improved, but the risk of injury from tight cords increases
Solution Approach 1:
The contact blade provides high retention force only during the critical insertion phase to ensure reliable connection. Once the plug is fully seated, the blade's geometry causes it to naturally yield and reduce the retention force to a safe level. This dynamic adjustment maintains reliability while eliminating the harmful effect of continuously tight cords that cause tripping injuries.
Solution Approach 2:
The contact blade is designed with pre-calculated geometric properties that automatically provide cushioning after insertion. The blade's length and pivot point are positioned to create a yielding effect once the plug is seated, preventing excessive force from being transmitted to the power cord. This beforehand cushioning protects against both connection failure and cord-related injuries.
3Strength
If blade length is increased to reduce bending stresses, then strength is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing constraints increase
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than simply increasing blade length, the invention optimizes the blade's geometric parameters including its thickness, material properties, and pivot point location. These parameter changes allow the blade to achieve the necessary strength and flexibility characteristics without requiring excessive length, thereby avoiding manufacturing constraints and device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The contact blade utilizes materials with optimized mechanical properties that combine strength and flexibility. By selecting appropriate materials and optimizing their properties, the blade achieves the required structural integrity without needing to be excessively long, thus avoiding the complexity and manufacturing difficulties associated with long, thin blades.
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 contact design ensures reliable plug release at low extraction forces, prevents partial insertion and extraction, provides feedback for full insertion, and maintains consistent contact pressure over time, reducing safety risks and operational difficulties while being easy to manufacture and integrate into existing electrical devices.
Implementation Method 1
A separate resilient member having a spring portion urges wiping surfaces on the extensions against wiping surfaces on the shaped member. The spring portion thereby indirectly acts in applying side pressure on the male prong inserted into the gap.
Data Source
AI summary
A female contact comprising two opposing elongated blades pivotally connected defining a gap there between to receive a male prong, the blades having at least one angularly directed extension resiliently engaging a shaped surface configured to regulate restraining forces on a male prong during insertion, retention and extraction from the gap, thereby self activating an abrupt release of the prong in response to a predetermined extraction force applied in a substantial range of lateral angles.