Contoured Hyperbolic Socket Contacts for Pin Misalignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional electrical sockets suffer from reduced performance and service life due to deformation of socket contacts, misalignment of mating pins, and skiving of pins, leading to reduced reliability and efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The design features a cylindrical body with rotatably offset end rings that twist contact beams into a hyperbolic geometry, creating a teardrop-shaped middle section with a fully radiused inner contact area, which extends further into the receiving area than the end sections, ensuring proper alignment and contact with the mating pin, and is made from conductive materials like copper or silver plating.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional electrical sockets are used with straight contact beams, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the socket contacts deform, mating pins misalign, and service life is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The contact beams are formed with a hyperbolic curvature by rotating the end rings relative to each other, transforming the straight beams into curved hyperbolic shapes. This curvature allows the contact beams to better accommodate misalignment and reduce deformation during mating operations, thereby improving reliability and service life.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces a rotational dimension by offsetting the end rings relative to each other around the longitudinal axis. This creates a three-dimensional hyperbolic geometry from what would otherwise be a two-dimensional straight beam structure, enabling the contact beams to absorb misalignment in multiple directions.
2Manufacturing precision
If the contact beams are made longer and wider in the middle section with contoured inner contact areas, then alignment and contact with mating pins is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The contoured inner contact areas and teardrop shape of the contact beams are pre-formed during the manufacturing process before assembly. This preliminary shaping ensures proper alignment and contact geometry is built into the component itself, eliminating the need for complex post-assembly adjustments.
Solution Approach 2:
The contact beam geometry is optimized by varying the length and width parameters along the beam, creating a teardrop shape with a broader middle section. This parameter change concentrates the contact area where it is most needed for alignment, while the overall hyperbolic form is achieved through the rotational offset of end rings.
Data Source
AI summary
An electrical socket and method of making an electrical socket. The socket includes a body that has spaced contact beams extending between the first and second ends and an inner receiving area for accepting a mating pin. The contact beams are configured for aligning into a hyperbolic geometry. Each of the contact beams has a middle section between first and second end sections. Each middle section has a pre-formed contour that defines a cross-section of each contact beam that defines a fully radiused, inner contact area without sharp edges such that each middle section extends further into the inner receiving area than the first and second end sections when the contact beams are aligned into the hyperbolic geometry and such that the fully radiused, inner contact areas of the contact beams are positioned for contact with the mating pin when inserted into the inner receiving area of the socket body.