Glow Plug Connector Circular Segment Contacts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing glow plug connectors for sensor glow plugs face complexity in reliable connection to vehicle control devices, with conventional designs being costly and inefficient in producing reliable electrical contacts.
Innovation Solution
The contact surfaces of the connector elements are designed as circular segments protruding from a strip-shaped section, allowing for low-cost production using L- or T-shaped sheet-metal strips, with angular ranges optimized for improved contact quality and embedded in a plastic housing for enhanced spacing and injection molding compatibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional annular contact surfaces are used, then reliable electrical contact is achieved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The contact element is divided into a strip-shaped section and multiple circular segment contact surfaces. This segmentation allows the contact element to be formed by bending simple L- or T-shaped sheet-metal strips into segments that can be arranged along the strip, reducing manufacturing complexity while maintaining reliable electrical contact through the distributed circular segments
Solution Approach 2:
The contact element uses simple L- or T-shaped sheet-metal strips that are bent into circular segments and attached to a strip-shaped section. This approach replaces complex conventional contact elements with simpler, cheaper metal strip components that achieve the same electrical contact function at lower cost
2Ease of manufacture
If strip-shaped contact surfaces extending in plug-in direction are used, then manufacturing simplicity is achieved, but contact quality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The contact surfaces are formed as circular segments with curved surfaces instead of flat strip ends. The circular geometry provides better contact pressure distribution and improved electrical contact quality compared to simple strip-shaped contact surfaces, while still maintaining manufacturing simplicity through bending operations
3Reliability
If contact surfaces extend across large angular ranges, then contact quality improves, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Different contact surfaces are assigned different angular ranges based on their specific functional requirements. Some contact surfaces extend across larger angular ranges (at least 90°) for critical connections, while others use smaller ranges (at least 60°), optimizing contact quality for each connection point without uniformly increasing complexity across all contact elements
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure relates to a glow plug connector for a sensor glow plug, comprising a housing made of plastic, a plurality of contact elements made of metal, which form contact surfaces bearing against a circumferential wall of the housing, wherein the contact elements protrude on the glow-plug side from a base of the housing. The contact surfaces are embodied as segments of a circle that protrude from a strip-shaped section of the contact elements. This disclosure also relates to a connector for a cylinder pressure sensor for measuring the pressure in a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine.