Insulating Body Guide Web for Plug Connector Assembly

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Solution Overview

Problem

The existing insulating bodies for plug connectors with receptacles open in the circumferential direction face challenges in ensuring correct assembly of contacts due to limited space, which makes it difficult to reliably mold guide elements and prevents incorrect insertion at an angle, often requiring expensive special plastics.

Innovation Solution

The design incorporates elastic guide webs with a thicker wall thickness at the free end, curved to ensure a full-surface contact with the contact, allowing for reliable injection molding and preventing misalignment by ensuring the contact enters the receptacle correctly.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If guide elements are added to prevent incorrect contact insertion, then assembly safety is improved, but the available installation space is reduced and molding reliability deteriorates due to limited wall thickness

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveassembly safetyVSAvoidmolding reliability
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The guide rib is designed with non-uniform wall thickness, featuring a thickened free end portion with wall thickness of 0.4 to 0.8 mm while the connection area has smaller wall thickness. This local quality variation ensures sufficient material at the critical free end for reliable injection molding while maintaining the guide function, resolving the contradiction between providing adequate guide elements and ensuring manufacturability in confined spaces

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The inner surface of the guide rib is designed with a curved profile having a specific radius of curvature that corresponds to the contact outer diameter. This curvature enables full-surface contact guidance between the guide rib and contact, improving assembly safety while the thickened free end ensures reliable molding of this curved structure

Inventive Principle:
Principle #14Spheroidality (Curvature)

2Ease of operation

If the receptacle is open over a large angular range for elasticity, then ease of contact insertion is improved, but assembly precision deteriorates due to risk of askew insertion

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecontact insertion easeVSAvoidcontact positioning precision
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The guide rib is positioned at the circumferential edge of the receptacle to perform preliminary guidance action before the contact fully enters the receptacle. The curved inner surface of the guide rib pre-aligns the contact in the radial direction, ensuring correct positioning is established early in the insertion process while maintaining the benefits of the open receptacle design

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

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

This solution enhances assembly safety by allowing the contact to be inserted correctly, even in tight spaces, without the need for expensive plastics, as the guide webs can be reliably molded with a thin wall thickness of 0.4 to 0.8 mm, ensuring proper alignment and reducing misalignment risks.

Implementation Method 1

a guide rib (20) that is elastic in the radial direction of the receptacle (10)

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectElasticity: Elasticity

Data Source

PatentEP3369141B1Insulating body for a plug-type connector
Publication Date: 2020.12.09 HARTING ELECTRIC GMBH & CO KG
  • EP3369141B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3369141B1 patent drawingFigure 2~3
  • EP3369141B1 patent drawingFigure 4~5

AI summary

The invention relates to an insulating body (5) for a plug-type connector, comprising at least one receptacle (10) for a contact (30), which receptacle is open in the peripheral direction and extends around a receiving space (12) for the contact (30) over an angular range (α), which is greater than 180° and less than 300°. Said insulating body is characterized in that a guide web (20) that is elastic in the radial direction of the receptacle (10) is provided on at least one peripheral edge (16) of the receptacle (10), the wall thickness of which guide web is greater at the free end than in the region of the connection to the receptacle (10).