Modular Electrical Connector With Interlocking Exterior Walls
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electrical connectors face challenges in efficiently arranging multiple terminals on a circuit board while allowing for flexible modification of terminal configurations to accommodate varying equipment types and increased pin counts.
Innovation Solution
The design includes a housing with exterior wall portions that extend perpendicular to the terminal array, featuring coupling portions with engageable shapes, allowing for flexible configuration and efficient use of mounting surface area by combining connector units in various combinations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If multiple terminals are arranged in a matrix configuration to accommodate increased pin counts, then the number of pins can be increased, but the mounting surface area utilization becomes inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The connector is divided into multiple connector units, each containing a subset of terminals. These modular units can be selectively assembled to match the required pin configuration, allowing efficient use of mounting surface area while accommodating variable pin counts without requiring full matrix arrangements.
Solution Approach 2:
The connector configuration is made dynamic through the ability to selectively assemble and disassemble connector units. This allows the terminal arrangement to be adapted to different equipment types and pin requirements, optimizing mounting surface utilization for each specific application rather than being fixed in a rigid matrix pattern.
2Ease of manufacture
If the terminal configuration is fixed to simplify manufacturing, then manufacturing complexity is reduced, but flexibility to accommodate various equipment types is lost
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the connector into standardized modular units, each unit can be manufactured using the same process and tools, maintaining manufacturing simplicity. The versatility is achieved through the combinatorial assembly of these identical modular units in different quantities and configurations to suit various equipment types.
Solution Approach 2:
The connector units are designed with universal coupling portions that allow the same standardized components to be used across different applications. This multi-functionality enables a single manufacturing process to produce units that can be assembled into various connector configurations for different equipment types, maintaining ease of manufacture while achieving adaptability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If connector units are designed with coupling portions for selective assembly, then configurability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling portions are integrated into modular connector units that are themselves segmented components. This segmentation allows the complexity of the coupling mechanism to be contained within standardized units, making the overall system more manageable and easier to assemble despite the increased configurability options.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple functional elements (terminals, housing portions, and coupling mechanisms) are merged into integrated connector units. This combination reduces the overall number of separate components and assembly steps, offsetting the complexity introduced by the coupling portions through functional integration within each modular unit.
Data Source
AI summary
To provide a technology for flexibly modifying terminal configurations in electrical connectors, the present disclosure involves a plug connector that includes a housing and multiple terminals held in place in the housing, wherein the housing includes a main body portion, in which the multiple terminals are arranged, and first exterior wall portions and second exterior wall portions, which are provided at both ends of the main body portion; the first and second exterior wall portions extend in a direction perpendicular to the array direction of the multiple terminals; the first exterior wall portions include a first coupling portion at the end in a first extension direction; the second exterior wall portions include a second coupling portion at the end in the same direction as the first extension direction; and the first coupling portion and the second coupling portion have mutually engageable shapes.