Floating Connector Ground Member Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing floating connectors with earthing buses face challenges in manufacturing and functionality, as they require complex assembly steps and can lead to unequal stress on signal and ground contacts, causing potential short-circuiting during floating action.
Innovation Solution
A floating connector design featuring a movable housing with resiliently deformable coupling portions and a distinct ground member that ensures proper alignment and contact between ground contacts, allowing for equal deformation and displacement of signal and ground contacts, enabling reliable electrical integration of ground contacts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If an earthing bus is used to integrate ground contacts, then electrical integration of ground contacts is achieved, but manufacturing complexity increases and contact arrangement becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The ground member is divided into multiple independent ground contact portions (first, second, third ground contact portions) that are separated from each other, allowing each to be arranged and connected to corresponding ground contacts independently, thus simplifying manufacturing while maintaining electrical integration
Solution Approach 2:
The ground member serves multiple functions: it provides electrical integration among ground contacts, supports the movable housing, and enables floating action through resilient deformation, eliminating the need for separate earthing bus and simplifying the overall structure
2Reliability
If ground contacts are integrated by an earthing bus, then electrical integration is achieved, but assembly steps increase making proper contact arrangement difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The ground member integrates multiple ground contact portions and supporting portions into a single unified component that can be assembled as one piece, reducing the number of assembly steps and simplifying the manufacturing process while maintaining electrical integration among ground contacts
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 design simplifies the assembly of floating connectors, ensures reliable contact alignment, and prevents short-circuiting by matching the deformation of signal and ground contacts, making it suitable for floating action while maintaining electrical integration of ground contacts.
Implementation Method 1
The coupling portion is resiliently deformable. The movable housing is movable within a predetermined range in a plane perpendicular to the up-down direction by the resilient deformation.
Implementation Method 2
Each of the supporting portions is bent from the ground coupling portion to extend outward in a width direction perpendicular to the up-down direction, and is then bent to extend upward in the up-down direction and each of the supporting portions is resiliently deformable independently of each other.
Data Source
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AI summary
A floating connector comprises a movable housing, a plurality of contacts and at least one ground member. Each of the contacts has a fixed portion, a first held portion, a coupling portion, an extending portion and a contact portion. The coupling portion is resiliently deformable. The movable housing is movable within a predetermined range in a plane perpendicular to an up-down direction by the resilient deformation. The contacts include a plurality of ground contacts and a signal contact. The ground member has a plurality of ground contact portions, a plurality of supporting portions, a ground coupling portion and a second held portion. The ground contact portions correspond to the ground contacts, respectively. Each of the ground contact portions is brought into contact with the corresponding ground contact even when the movable housing is moved within the predetermined range. The ground coupling portion couples the supporting portions with each other.