Hybrid Plug Connector Miniaturization and Shielding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hybrid plug connectors face challenges in miniaturization due to their dimensions, which hinder economical manufacturing and assembly, and struggle with continuous and all-round shielding, leading to issues with strain relief and effective shielding during assembly.
Innovation Solution
The design features a trapezium-shaped contact carrier receiving means with a shield housing that accommodates data lines in a shielded manner, allowing for easy assembly and ensuring continuous shielding through a clamping mechanism that prevents damage to the shielding braid, and includes a 'poka-yoke' principle for error prevention and easy disassembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the contact parts are arranged to meet electrical requirements, then the electrical functionality is ensured, but the dimensions prevent desired miniaturization
Solution Approach 1:
The contact carrier receiving means is nested within the shield housing, creating a compact hierarchical structure. The contact carrier is inserted into the receiving means, which itself is contained within the outer shield housing, allowing multiple functional elements to occupy overlapping spatial volumes and achieve miniaturization while maintaining all required electrical connections
Solution Approach 2:
The contact parts are arranged in an eccentric configuration rather than symmetric radial arrangement, utilizing three-dimensional space more efficiently. This asymmetric positioning allows optimal spacing between power contacts and data contacts while reducing the overall diameter of the plug connector, transitioning from two-dimensional radial layout to three-dimensional optimized positioning
2Ease of manufacture
If individual wires are unraveled during assembly, then the shielding braid can be installed to size, but individual wires can break off and adversely influence shielding
Solution Approach 1:
The shield housing is pre-assembled with the contact carrier receiving means integrated into its structure before cable installation. This preliminary configuration creates a protected pathway for the shielding braid, allowing wires to be guided through the housing structure rather than being manually unraveled and handled, preventing wire breakage while maintaining ease of assembly
Solution Approach 2:
The contact carrier receiving means acts as an intermediary structure between the shield housing and the shielding braid. It provides a guided pathway and structural support that mediates the interaction between the flexible braid and the rigid housing, preventing direct stress and wire breakage while ensuring proper shielding installation
3Ease of operation
If tensile strain is applied during assembly, then the plug connector can be assembled, but parts of the braid can be torn off causing gaps in shielding
Solution Approach 1:
The shield housing and contact carrier receiving means are designed with built-in strain relief features and flexible mounting arrangements that cushion and absorb tensile forces during assembly. The structure anticipates and compensates for assembly stresses, protecting the shielding braid from tearing while maintaining ease of connector assembly
Solution Approach 2:
The shield housing incorporates flexible elements and thin-walled structures that can deform elastically during assembly to accommodate tensile strain. This flexibility allows the housing to yield under assembly forces without transmitting damaging stress to the shielding braid, ensuring continuous shielding is maintained while enabling straightforward assembly
Data Source
AI summary
Hybrid plug connectors are provided for connecting different electronic modules to insulators arranged in an outer casing and for receiving a power conductor transmitting a power supply and a shielded data conductor for data transmission for transmitting signals/data of an industrial bus, such as ISA, ethernet or similar, wherein the power conductor has at least two power lines and the data conductor has at least one data line, wherein the power lines and the data lines are guided in contact parts designed as plugs or sockets and can be coupled via these contacts parts, and wherein the outer casings of the pair-type hybrid plug connectors can be joined inside one another for interlocking coupling. The insulator arranged in each of the plug connectors can be arranged in a shield housing as a contact carrier receiving arrangement, the shield housing accommodating a contact carrier, which carries forward the data line(s) designed as plug sockets or plug pins in a shielded manner in the plug connector, and wherein the coupleable contacts form a shape-encoded interlocking connection in the plugged-in state of the connection.