Radial Magnetic Socket Layout for Sealed Contact Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electrical sockets fail to achieve a balance between ensuring electrical continuity, masking contacts, providing seal-tightness, preventing access to contacts during use, and facilitating easy disconnection while maintaining protection and reducing mechanical stress.
Innovation Solution
A radially connected electrical socket with a body, actuating means, a control unit, and first electrical contact members that are translatable in a radial direction, combined with a magnetic architecture that rotates to align with the plug's contact members, ensuring secure connection and easy disconnection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If electrical contacts are exposed to enable connection, then electrical continuity is achieved, but access to contacts is not prevented and seal-tightness is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The electrical contact members are nested within cavities in the socket body. Each contact member is housed in its own cavity, which is accessible through an aperture in the protective envelope. This nesting arrangement allows the contacts to be protected when not in use while enabling selective access during operation, resolving the contradiction between exposure for connection and protection against harmful factors.
Solution Approach 2:
The socket is segmented into multiple independent cavities, each housing a specific electrical contact member. The protective envelope is also segmented with multiple apertures that can be selectively opened or closed. This segmentation allows individual contacts to be accessed independently while maintaining protection for other contacts, achieving both electrical continuity and protection simultaneously.
2Reliability
If magnetic attraction force is increased to ensure secure connection, then bonding reliability is improved, but disconnection becomes difficult requiring excessive force
Solution Approach 1:
The magnetic architecture incorporates movable elements that can change their magnetic properties dynamically. During connection, the magnetic elements are positioned to maximize attraction force for secure bonding. During disconnection, the actuating means moves the magnetic elements to reduce the magnetic attraction, allowing easy separation. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction between secure connection and easy disconnection.
Solution Approach 2:
The magnetic architecture uses periodic or oscillating magnetic fields to maintain connection during normal operation, then reverses or reduces the field during disconnection. This periodic action allows the system to alternate between strong bonding (for reliability) and weak bonding (for ease of operation), effectively resolving the contradiction between these two requirements.
3Area of stationary object
If electrical contact members are positioned in radial directions, then connection area is increased, but alignment precision with plug contacts becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The socket incorporates self-aligning features such as tapered guide surfaces or cam mechanisms that automatically adjust the angular position of the plug during insertion. The radial arrangement of contact members works with these self-aligning mechanisms to ensure that even with variations in manufacturing precision, the contacts automatically find their correct alignment positions, maintaining both large connection area and precise alignment.
Solution Approach 2:
The radial arrangement of electrical contact members uses asymmetric positioning and shaping of the cavities and apertures. Each contact member's cavity is asymmetrically oriented to guide the corresponding plug contact into the correct radial position. This asymmetric design compensates for manufacturing tolerances and ensures precise alignment while maintaining the benefits of radial distribution for increased connection area.
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
The solution effectively achieves electrical continuity, masks contacts when not in use, provides seal-tightness, prevents access to contacts during use, and allows easy disconnection without mechanical stress, ensuring protection and efficient operation.
Implementation Method 1
a magnetic effect, an electrical connection is made between the socket and the plug when the two elements are bonded via the magnetic effect
Implementation Method 2
The coils are controlled using a control sequence configured to guide the plug toward the center of the pedestal
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a radially connected socket, which comprises:a body,first electrical contact members, which are housed in said body and translatable in the same plane, called the connection plane, each in a distinct radial direction,a first magnetic architecture capable of ensuring bonding, via a magnetic effect, of an electrical plug,means for driving rotation of said first magnetic architecture on itself about an axis, called the principal axis (A), perpendicular to said connection plane, which are arranged to make it assume a plurality of distinct angular positions about said principal axis (A), each distinct angular position being aligned in a distinct radial direction with each contact member of said first electrical contact members,first actuating means arranged to move each electrical contact member of said first electrical contact members in its radial direction.