Multi-Functional Tool for Electrical Connector Assembly
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing field installable modular connectors face challenges in efficiently and uniformly cutting multiple electrical connector wires and terminating end caps and housing sections, often requiring precise alignment and separate tools, which can lead to incomplete cuts or the need for additional manual cutting.
Innovation Solution
A multi-functional termination tool with a main body featuring separate cavities for cutting and termination operations, utilizing a trigger mechanism to actuate cutting and termination rams with blades and surfaces, allowing simultaneous wire cutting and connector termination on the same device, with optional features like wire retainers and adjustable termination surfaces for different connectors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If separate tools are used for wire cutting and connector termination, then each operation can be performed with specialized equipment, but the overall process requires multiple tools and increases operational complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines wire cutting and connector termination functions into a single integrated tool body. The tool includes a first cavity with cutting blades for severing wires and a second cavity with a termination ram for crimping connectors, both operated from the same handle. This merging eliminates the need for separate cutting and termination tools, directly resolving the contradiction between versatility and device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The tool is designed as a multi-functional device that can perform both wire cutting and connector termination operations. The single tool body incorporates multiple cavities and mechanisms that enable different operations to be performed sequentially or alternatively, making one tool universal for multiple tasks that previously required separate specialized tools.
2Reliability
If manual wire cutting is used after improper alignment, then individual wires can be severed, but the process requires additional manual intervention and increases time consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The tool incorporates alignment features including a positioning fixture that pre-aligns wires with the cutting blades before the cutting operation begins. This preliminary alignment ensures that when the cutting ram is actuated, all wires are properly positioned for simultaneous cutting, eliminating the need for manual realignment and ensuring complete cuts without requiring follow-up manual intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The positioning fixture acts as an intermediary component between the wire holder and the cutting blades. It mediates the alignment process by providing a standardized interface that automatically positions wires at the correct location relative to the cutting blades, ensuring reliable and complete cuts while maintaining high operational speed.
3Manufacturing precision
If wires are not uniformly cut, then additional manual cutting is required, but this increases the number of steps and reduces assembly efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The positioning fixture pre-aligns all wires with the cutting blades before cutting occurs. This preliminary alignment ensures that when the cutting ram is actuated, all wires are positioned uniformly relative to the blades, resulting in uniform cuts across all wires in a single operation without requiring additional manual cutting steps.
Solution Approach 2:
The cutting mechanism performs a single periodic cutting action that simultaneously severs all aligned wires. This periodic action, enabled by the preliminary alignment, ensures uniform cuts are achieved in one synchronized motion, maintaining both precision and productivity without requiring multiple separate cutting operations.
Data Source
AI summary
A multi-use tool for assembly of electrical connectors includes a main tool body having an electrical connector assembly holder. The holder includes first and second cavities. The first cavity includes spaced anvils and removably retains an electrical connector end cap between the anvils. A cutting ram is opposed to the first cavity and includes two cutting blades that are translatable between disengaged and engaged positions to trim and sever excess wire lengths from the electrical connector end cap. The second cavity removably retains the electrical connector end cap and a jack housing. A termination ram is opposed to the second cavity and movably mounted between disengaged and engaged positions to terminate the jack housing with the end cap. A trigger mechanism is operably connected to both the cutting ram and the termination ram.