Jumper Cable Plug With Asymmetric Rings For Polarity Error Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Jumper cables often result in connection errors during battery charging or boosting, leading to potential battery depletion, short-circuits, explosions, and other electrical issues due to incorrect polarity connections, and are cumbersome to attach.
Innovation Solution
A jumper cable system featuring a uniquely designed plug with larger and smaller diameter rings for secure engagement with corresponding battery terminals, and a receptacle with spaced circular contacts to prevent polarity errors, allowing for quick and easy connection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional clamps are used for jumper cables, then the connection can be established between batteries, but polarity errors may occur leading to battery depletion, short-circuits, explosions and other electrical problems
Solution Approach 1:
The plug incorporates conductive rings of different diameters (first conductive ring with larger diameter, second conductive ring with smaller diameter) that correspond to differently sized receptacle contacts. This asymmetric design ensures that the plug can only be inserted in the correct orientation, preventing polarity errors by making incorrect connection physically impossible rather than relying on user judgment or color coding alone.
2Ease of operation
If traditional clamps are used for jumper cables, then electrical connection can be established, but the clamps are cumbersome to attach and may require removal of terminal covers or adjacent parts
Solution Approach 1:
The jumper cable system is divided into separate modular components: a receptacle that attaches to the battery terminal (which may remain permanently installed), and a separate plug that connects to the receptacle via the interface cable. This segmentation allows the receptacle to be pre-installed on the battery, eliminating the need to remove terminal covers during each connection operation, while the plug provides the actual electrical connection point.
Solution Approach 2:
The receptacle is pre-installed on the battery terminal in advance, positioned and secured before the actual jumper cable connection is needed. This preliminary installation of the receptacle eliminates the need to remove terminal covers or perform preparatory actions on the battery terminal itself when connecting the jumper cable, as the receptacle is already in place to receive the plug.
Data Source
AI summary
A jumper cable includes a receptacle mounted on, near or within a battery casing. The receptacle may include a socket having a pair of circular contacts on the inner circumference thereof electrically connected to battery terminals. The device may also include a cable having a plug on each end configured to mate with the receptacle socket. Such a plug may include a larger-diameter ring for engaging the upper contact and a smaller-diameter ring for engaging the lower contact when the plug is inserted into the socket. Accordingly, if a battery needs recharging, a plug is inserted into the receptacle associated with the dead battery and the opposing plug is inserted into a receptacle associated with a charged battery to establish electrical interconnection therebetween. Alternatively, an adapter having a socket and electrical clamps for grasping battery terminals may be used when a receptacle is not connected to one of the batteries.