Internally Sealed Plug Connector With Compressed Contact Seals
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing plug connectors face challenges in maintaining permanent water tightness due to difficulties in coordinating materials for sealing, with known solutions like seals and clamping attachments being inadequate.
Innovation Solution
A seal is associated with each pin or contact socket, surrounded by a compression element that compresses the seal, ensuring secure sealing through a semicylindrical design and a latch element for fixing the compression element, which maintains the seal's compression.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a seal is inserted into the cable jacket to seal the housing, then water tightness is improved, but material coordination difficulty increases and permanent longitudinal water tightness cannot be ensured
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing function is segmented into multiple independent seals, with each contact pin or contact socket having its own dedicated seal. This divides the sealing task into manageable units, each ensuring water tightness for its specific contact element, thereby achieving reliable overall sealing without complex material coordination across a single large seal.
Solution Approach 2:
Each seal is locally adapted to surround and seal its specific contact pin or contact socket individually. This local sealing approach ensures that each contact element is protected independently, allowing for precise material matching at each local sealing point rather than requiring uniform material coordination across the entire connector.
2Ease of manufacture
If compression elements and clamping attachments are used to secure contacts, then assembly is simplified, but sealing effectiveness deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The compression element performs dual functions: it mechanically secures the seal in position and simultaneously applies compression force to maintain sealing effectiveness. This merging of positioning and sealing functions into a single component achieves both easy assembly and reliable sealing without requiring separate clamping attachments.
Solution Approach 2:
The compression element enables dynamic adjustment of compression force on the seals. By changing the compression parameter, the system can ensure adequate sealing pressure while maintaining ease of assembly, allowing the seal to deform appropriately to maintain water tightness throughout the product lifecycle.
3Reliability
If seals are compressed to ensure water tightness, then sealing reliability is improved, but the risk of material coordination failure increases
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the sealing system into multiple individual seals, each seal can be designed with materials specifically suited for its local conditions and compression requirements. This reduces the risk of overall system failure due to material incompatibility, as each segmented seal can be optimized independently.
Solution Approach 2:
The compression element provides beforehand cushioning by pre-compressing the seals to their optimal sealing state during assembly. This pre-compression ensures that the seals are already in their most effective sealing configuration before the product is put into service, cushioning against future material coordination failures due to thermal expansion, vibration, or wear.
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 provides a reliable and permanent water-tight seal by compressing seals around the pins or contact sockets, preventing moisture ingress and ensuring secure assembly and disassembly.
Implementation Method 1
each compression element (4) is inserted in a chamber (13) of the pin or socket housing (3), and the seals (1) are designed such that they can be compressed
Implementation Method 2
The seals (1) are approximately cylindrical and made of an elastically yielding or deformable material
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a plug connection, comprising at least one pin contact (2) and/or at least one socket contact, which is connected to a cable and to a pin housing (3) or socket housing, wherein: the pin contacts (2) or socket contacts are scaled in the pin housing (3) or socket housing and are fastened to prevent longitudinal movement; each pin contact (2) or socket contact is assigned a scaling element (1), which surrounds the pin contact (2) or socket contact in question; each sealing element (1) is inserted in a recess of the pin housing (3) or socket housing; and the scaling elements (1) can be braced.