Modular Cable Connector with Removable Contacts for Rapid Reconfiguration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cable connector solutions for remote monitoring and testing equipment require custom, non-standard connectors that are costly, inflexible, and cannot be easily reconfigured, leading to long lead times and limited compatibility with standard connectors.
Innovation Solution
A modular cable connector design featuring a housing with adjustable pin and socket contacts, a removable cover, and a collar system that allows for customizable configurations, enabling the creation of various patterns and orientations to match different connectors, and can be easily rearranged or repaired.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If custom fixed configuration connectors are used, then compatibility with specific remote monitoring equipment is achieved, but lead time increases and adaptability to other devices is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The connector is divided into modular components: a housing with pin holes, removable contacts (pins or sockets), a cover, and a collar. This segmentation allows individual components to be selected and assembled based on specific device requirements, enabling custom configurations without requiring complete custom fabrication for each device.
Solution Approach 2:
The connector design allows dynamic reconfiguration by enabling users to remove and replace contacts in the pin holes, adjust the collar position, and reassemble the housing. This dynamic adaptability permits the same connector body to serve multiple remote monitoring devices with different pin patterns, reducing the need for multiple custom-fixed connectors and thereby reducing lead times.
2Stability of the object's composition
If permanently affixed contacts are used, then structural stability is improved, but reconfigurability and repairability are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is pre-formed with precisely positioned pin holes that guide contact placement, and the cover is pre-designed with receivers that align with these pin holes. This preliminary preparation ensures that when contacts are assembled, they achieve stable structural positioning without requiring permanent affixation methods like soldering or epoxy, thereby maintaining both stability and reconfigurability.
3Ease of manufacture
If custom fixed configuration printed wiring board is used, then contact routing is achieved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the contact routing function from a fixed printed wiring board and relocates it to a modular assembly system. Wires are routed through the housing and connected to contacts that can be independently selected and positioned in pin holes, eliminating the need for complex custom printed wiring boards while achieving the same contact routing functionality with simpler, more flexible hardware.
Data Source
AI summary
A cable connector including a housing with a main body having a front face opposite a rear face and pin holes formed through the main body extending between the front face and the rear face, a first arm and second arm extending from the main body distal from the rear face; a cover removably coupled to the front face, the cover including receivers configured to align with the pin holes to receive either a pin or a socket connected at a terminal end of a wire; fasteners removably coupled to the cover and the housing; at least one guide post extending from an outer surface of the cover; a collar supported between the first arm and the second arm; and a predetermined pattern of the wire coupled to at least one of the pin and the socket, wherein either the pin or the socket are insertable in the pin hole.