Modular Plug-in Connector Housing Segmentation for Cost Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing multiple plug connectors for twisted pair cables face challenges in cost-effective production and storage due to the need for diverse housing shapes and materials, which increases manufacturing and storage costs, and exposes cables to external fields without adequate shielding.
Innovation Solution
Designing multiple plug connectors with housings composed of identical first parts and distinct second parts, allowing for varied shapes in specific areas, reducing the number of required components and tools, and using snap-in connections for assembly, while eliminating the need for shielding to maintain effective high-frequency signal transmission.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If shielding is integrated into the plug connector housing to protect cables from external fields, then protection against external alternating magnetic fields and electrostatic influences is improved, but manufacturing costs increase and the possibility of using cost-effective non-conductive plastics is eliminated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the shielding function from the housing structure and implements it through the twisted pair cable design itself. The cable maintains its twisting configuration throughout the connector housing section, and the connector housing is made of non-conductive plastic without integrated shielding, thereby eliminating the cost increase while maintaining protection against external fields through the cable's inherent twisted pair structure
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by maintaining the twisted pair configuration specifically in the section where the cable jacket is removed and passes through the connector housing. This localized twisting provides targeted protection against external fields exactly where needed, while the rest of the system can use cost-effective non-conductive materials without shielding
2Adaptability or versatility
If different housing shapes are used for various plug connectors to provide coding and differentiation, then connector identification and matching are improved, but manufacturing costs and storage costs increase due to requiring different injection molds and housing parts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the housing into two distinct parts: a first housing part that is identical across all plug connectors in the system, and a second housing part that varies in shape for each connector type. This segmentation allows the common first housing part to be manufactured once and reused, while only the smaller second housing parts need to be differentiated, thereby reducing manufacturing and storage costs while maintaining coding capability
Solution Approach 2:
The first housing part serves as a universal component that can be used with any second housing part in the system. This universal base housing part provides common structural support and interface features, while the specific connector type is determined by the interchangeable second housing part, thereby reducing the total number of unique components that need to be manufactured and stored
Data Source
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AI summary
A system having a plurality of plug-in connectors each with a housing, the shape of the housings differing such that the housings have first housing parts which, at least in terms of the interface connections to second housing parts, are identical to the other components of the particular plug-in connector, and second housing parts having identical connecting means for connecting with the first housing part, and differ slightly in the external shape which serves to form a coding by which the individual positions of the individual plug-in connectors on or in the multiple housing are assigned.