Relay Terminal Bus Bar Plating Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional relay terminals with elongated bus bars face challenges in post-plating processes due to exposed metal surfaces from pressing, making it difficult to perform plating on complex shapes and increasing production costs.
Innovation Solution
A relay terminal design featuring a bus bar with a flat-plate or bent-plate shape, where the press fit terminal is formed using a post-plating process and the bus bar using a pre-plating process, allowing for independent formation and easier plating on shear surfaces, and a second terminal connected to the bus bar with a plated layer on the press fit terminal's pressing surface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a pre-plating process is performed on bus bar with press fit terminals integrally formed, then the plating process can be easily performed on simple flat plate shape, but the pressing surfaces are formed as shear surfaces exposing metal base material surface requiring additional post-plating process
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the relay terminal into separate components: a bus bar and press fit terminals that are not integrally formed. This segmentation allows the bus bar to undergo pre-plating on its simple flat plate shape, while the press fit terminals can be separately plated on their pressing surfaces without being constrained by the bus bar's geometry, thereby eliminating the need for additional post-plating processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention performs plating on the bus bar before forming the final assembly, utilizing the pre-plating process on the simple flat plate shape of the bus bar. This preliminary plating action is sufficient because the press fit terminals are separately formed and plated, eliminating the need for subsequent post-plating operations on shear surfaces.
2Reliability
If post-plating process is performed on bus bar with press fit terminals integrally formed, then all exposed metal surfaces can be plated, but the complex three-dimensional shape with shear surfaces makes the plating process difficult and increases production cost
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the relay terminal into a bus bar and separately formed press fit terminals, the invention allows each component to be plated in its optimal configuration. The bus bar is plated in its simple flat plate shape, and the press fit terminals are plated separately, avoiding the difficulties of post-plating on complex three-dimensional shapes with shear surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention applies plating to different components at different stages: the bus bar receives plating on its simple flat plate shape, while the press fit terminals receive plating on their pressing surfaces. This localized approach to plating ensures complete rust-proofing coverage without the need for difficult post-plating processes on complex geometries.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the bus bar has an elongated shape to connect press fit terminal and second terminal, then the relative distance between through hole and device-side terminal can be covered, but the size of the assembly is enlarged making post-plating process more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The invention separates the bus bar from the press fit terminals, allowing the bus bar to be an elongated shape to accommodate various distances between through holes and device-side terminals. The press fit terminals are separately formed and plated, eliminating the difficulty of post-plating on the entire elongated assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention performs plating on the press fit terminals before assembling them to the elongated bus bar. This preliminary plating action on the separately formed terminals avoids the difficulty of post-plating on the complete elongated assembly, maintaining ease of manufacture while adapting to various distance requirements.
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
This configuration enables easy post-plating on press fit terminals even when the bus bar has an elongated shape, maintaining a compact size for the press fit terminal and allowing for efficient production with reduced production costs, while ensuring reliable electrical connections.
Implementation Method 1
a plated layer on a first metal base material of press fit terminal
Data Source
AI summary
A relay terminal includes: a bus bar having a flat-plate shape or a bent-plate shape; a press fit terminal having a flat-plate shape or a bent-plate shape, and connected to a one end portion of the bus bar in an extending direction of the bus bar, and having a pressing surface to be press-inserted into a through hole; and a second terminal connected to an another end portion of the bus bar in the extending direction of the bus bar, and being configured to be connected to a device terminal. The pressing surface has a plated layer on a first metal base material of the press fit terminal. A second metal base material of the bus bar is exposed on a side surface of the bus bar, the side surface extending along the extending direction of the bus bar.