Leaf Spring Punch Design for Clamping Terminal Lug Separation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Self-tightening connection terminals with leaf springs can experience issues where the connection lugs cling together due to irregular cuts during production, leading to unexpected deformation and malfunction when inserting or removing conductors, especially when the restricted portion of the slot is too narrow.
Innovation Solution
The leaf spring design incorporates a punch between the internal and external surfaces of the slot, ensuring a greater clearance between the outer ends of the restricted edges than the inner ends, preventing the connection lugs from touching and addressing the irregular cut issues through the punching process, which spreads the material and maintains sufficient width to prevent malfunction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the restricted portion of the slot is made narrow to prevent conductor interference, then the connection lugs may cling together due to irregular cuts, but widening the slot increases the risk of conductor interference
Solution Approach 1:
The punch bottom is positioned upstream (toward the outer ends) of the restricted portion before the shearing cut reaches it. During the shearing process, the punch bottom预先 spreads the material at the restricted portion, creating sufficient clearance between connection lugs before they can cling together due to irregular cuts. This preliminary spreading action prevents the harmful effect of material clinging while maintaining the narrow slot width.
Solution Approach 2:
The punch bottom creates a cushioning effect by spreading the material at the restricted portion before the shearing irregularities can cause the connection lugs to cling together. This beforehand cushioning compensates for the potential harmful effect of irregular cuts during shearing, ensuring smooth operation without requiring a wider slot that would increase conductor interference risk.
2Reliability
If the disconnection tabs are reduced in width to prevent clinging, then the connection lugs may touch during operation, but maintaining full width increases the risk of overheating and mechanical weakness
Solution Approach 1:
The punch bottom spreads the material at the restricted portion before shearing, creating sufficient clearance between connection lugs. This preliminary action ensures that the full-width disconnection tabs maintain adequate spacing during operation, preventing contact between connection lugs while preserving the thermal and mechanical properties of the full-width tabs.
3Manufacturing precision
If shearing is used to create the restricted portion for precision, then irregular cuts cause material clinging between connection lugs, but alternative methods increase manufacturing complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The punch bottom spreads the material at the restricted portion before the shearing cut is made. This preliminary spreading action compensates for the irregularities that will occur during shearing, ensuring sufficient clearance between connection lugs even though shearing is used for its manufacturing precision and simplicity benefits.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention converts the potential harm of shearing irregularities into a benefit by using the punch bottom to spread material at the restricted portion. The irregular cuts that would normally cause clinging are transformed into a controlled spreading action that ensures adequate clearance, turning the shearing process's weakness into a strength.
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 design effectively prevents the connection lugs from contacting each other during conductor insertion or removal, ensuring reliable operation without reducing the dimensions of the disconnection tabs or portions, thus avoiding overheating and mechanical weakness.
Implementation Method 1
the punching process, which spreads the material and maintains sufficient width to prevent malfunction
Implementation Method 2
each comprising a connection edge for under the elastic effect pressing the core of the conductor against a connection wall of the body
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
An aspect of the invention relates to a leaf spring (1) for an automatic clamping connection terminal, comprising: - an attachment arm; - a main slot (14) traversing and emerging on a free edge of the leaf spring, the main slot comprising at least one restricted portion (141); - at least two connection lugs connected together by the attachment arm and separated from one another by the main slot, the two connection lugs comprising at least one restricted border along the at least one restricted portion, each restricted border comprising an outer end and an inner end, the free edge being closer to the outer end than the inner end, characterised in that the leaf spring comprises a punch (16) and in that a clearance between the outer ends of the two restricted borders (141a, 141b) is greater than the clearance between the inner ends of the two restricted borders.