Adjustable Electrical Connector With Segmented Contact Wafers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electrical connectors are not adaptable in length, making them unsuitable for different complementary connectors, which limits their versatility in connecting with various Central Processing Units.
Innovation Solution
The electrical connector features a metal shell with a receiving cavity and contact wafers that can be assembled in varying quantities, each comprising an insulative housing with extending portions forming a mating cavity, allowing for adjustable length to accommodate different connectors, and includes terminals and a shielding plate to reduce crosstalk.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If the insulative housing is formed with one piece, then the structural integrity is improved, but the adaptability to different connector lengths deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The insulative housing is divided into a first insulative housing and a second insulative housing that can be assembled together. This segmentation allows the connector to be configured in different lengths by selectively assembling one or both housing portions, thereby maintaining structural integrity while achieving adaptability to different connector lengths.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the contact wafers are assembled together along transverse direction, then the versatility for different complementary connectors is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The contact wafer is segmented into multiple contact sections arranged along the transverse direction, with each contact section having independent contacting portions. This allows different numbers of contact wafers to be assembled together to create connectors of different lengths and configurations, achieving versatility while maintaining manageable device complexity through modular design.
Solution Approach 2:
The contact wafer design with multiple contact sections and the insulative housing with corresponding cavities create a universal structure that can accommodate different numbers of contact wafers (one, two, or more), enabling the same basic design to serve multiple connector length requirements and different complementary connectors.
Data Source
AI summary
An electrical connector includes a metal shell defining a receiving cavity along a front-to-back direction and a number of contact wafers retained in the receiving cavity and assembled together along a transverse direction perpendicular to the front-to-back direction. The contact wafers define a mating cavity along the transverse direction. Each of the contact wafers includes an insulative housing and a number of terminals. The insulative housing includes a main body portion and a pair of extending portions extending forwardly therefrom. The pair of extending portions form an insertion opening along the front-to-back direction. The main body portion is thicker than the extending portions along the transverse direction. Each of terminals has a contacting section extending forwardly from the main body portion and spaced from the extending portion along the transverse direction.