Shielding Plate Retention Arms for Electrical Connector Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electrical connectors with shielding plates often suffer from poor retain force due to thin lateral sides, which can lead to damage during assembly and inadequate retention, resulting in instability between the shielding plate and the insulative housing.
Innovation Solution
The design includes a shielding plate with retention arms featuring face-to-face interference protrusions that engage with the insulative housing, providing a secure interference fit to prevent damage and enhance retention force, while maintaining the structural integrity of the housing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the shielding plate uses retention arms with interference fit on thin lateral sides of the insulative housing, then the assembly is simple, but the retain force is poor and the housing may be damaged
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a single-dimension interference fit (horizontal engagement only) to a multi-dimensional retention system by adding retention arms that extend in multiple directions. The retention arms engage with the insulative housing both horizontally and vertically, creating a three-dimensional retention structure that significantly improves retain force while maintaining assembly simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The shielding plate is segmented into multiple functional components: a body portion and multiple retention arms extending from it. This segmentation allows each retention arm to independently engage with the insulative housing at different locations, distributing the retention force across multiple contact points rather than concentrating it on thin lateral sides, thereby improving reliability without complicating the overall assembly.
2Ease of manufacture
If the shielding plate is assembled to the front insulator with thin lateral sides, then the assembly process is straightforward, but the shielding plate may easily damage the lateral sides resulting in poor retain force
Solution Approach 1:
The retention arms act as intermediary elements between the shielding plate body and the insulative housing. Instead of the shielding plate directly engaging with thin lateral sides, the retention arms serve as mediators that distribute engagement forces across broader contact areas on the insulative housing, preventing damage while maintaining straightforward assembly.
3Device complexity
If the shielding plate uses a simple retention structure, then the device complexity is low, but the stability between shielding plate and insulative housing is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the retention function with the shielding plate body by integrating retention arms that extend directly from the plate. This combination eliminates the need for separate retention mechanisms, keeping the overall structure simple while achieving enhanced stability through the multi-point engagement of the retention arms with the insulative housing.
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 ensures a stable and secure assembly of the shielding plate with the insulative housing, preventing damage and improving the retention force, thus enhancing the overall reliability and durability of the electrical connector.
Implementation Method 1
Each of the retention arms includes an interference protrusion fixed to the insulative housing. The interference protrusions are disposed in a face-to-face way to engage with a rear wall of the insulative housing so that the interference protrusions are retained tightly to insulative housing
Data Source
AI summary
An electrical connector includes an insulative housing defining a mating chamber opening forwardly along a front-to-back direction, a number of contacts retained to the insulative housing, and a shielding plate having a pair of latch arms located at two opposite lateral sides of the mating chamber. Each of the contacts includes a contact portion extending into the mating chamber. The shielding plate includes a pair of retention arms each including an interference protrusion engaged with the insulative housing by interference fit. The interference protrusions are disposed in a face-to-face way to engage with a rear wall of the insulative housing so that the interference protrusions are retained tightly to insulative housing and less likely to damage the insulative housing.