Sliding Power Connector With Offset Contact Fingers to Reduce Wear
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sliding power connectors face reliability issues due to wear and tear, especially when the drawer in an equipment rack is frequently opened and closed, leading to reduced operational cycles and potential power disruptions.
Innovation Solution
A sliding power connector design featuring an insulative housing with offset contact fingers and tabs that preload and protect the contact fingers, creating shallower wear tracks and extending the effective sliding range while maintaining a power connection, thereby enhancing reliability and flexibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the drawer is frequently opened and closed, then accessibility is improved, but wear on the bus bar surfaces increases
Solution Approach 1:
The contact fingers are segmented into multiple individual fingers rather than a single solid contact. This segmentation allows each finger to independently deflect and distribute wear across multiple contact points on the bus bar, reducing wear depth at any single location while maintaining electrical contact during drawer movement.
Solution Approach 2:
The contact fingers are designed with specific material properties and geometric parameters (flexibility, spring force, contact pressure) that allow them to deflect and adapt to wear on the bus bar surface. This parameter optimization enables the connector to maintain reliable electrical contact even as the bus bar surface degrades from repeated sliding operations.
2Ease of operation
If contact fingers are made more flexible to maintain contact during sliding, then ease of operation is improved, but contact fingers may become overstressed
Solution Approach 1:
The housing includes pre-formed tabs that apply preliminary support and positioning to the contact fingers before the drawer is even assembled or operated. These tabs are strategically positioned to provide mechanical reinforcement at critical stress points, pre-loading the contact fingers in a controlled manner that prevents excessive stress during operation while maintaining the necessary flexibility for electrical contact.
Solution Approach 2:
The tabs in the housing act as intermediary structural elements between the rigid housing and the flexible contact fingers. These tabs transfer and distribute mechanical stresses, providing support to the contact fingers where they are most vulnerable to overstressing while allowing them to maintain their flexibility for electrical contact during drawer sliding.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the sliding range is extended to accommodate full drawer travel, then adaptability is improved, but wear tracks deepen and reliability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple contact fingers are arranged along the sliding direction, with each finger engaging at a different position on the bus bar. This segmentation of the contact interface along the travel path distributes the wear across multiple locations and reduces the depth of wear tracks at any single location, enabling the connector to maintain reliable contact throughout the full drawer sliding range.
Solution Approach 2:
The contact fingers are offset from each other in the sliding direction, creating a staggered arrangement that distributes wear across multiple positions along the bus bar. This spatial distribution in the sliding dimension transforms the wear pattern from a single deep track to multiple shallower tracks, extending the operational life while maintaining full sliding range adaptability.
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 increases the operational cycles of the drawer and maintains a stable power connection by distributing wear evenly across multiple tracks, reducing wear on the bus bar surfaces and preventing overstressing of the contact fingers.
Implementation Method 1
The tab may press against the distal ends of the at least the portion of the plurality of contact fingers such that the distal ends of the contact fingers are offset in a direction opposite the first direction from their rest states, whereby the tabs pre-load the contact fingers
Implementation Method 2
The contact surfaces of the plurality of contact fingers of the first power connector terminal may be positioned to make wear tracks on a bus bar sliding in the track that are interspersed with and offset, in a direction perpendicular to the sliding direction, from wear tracks on the bus bar made by the contact surfaces of the plurality of contact fingers of the second power connector terminal
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic assembly with a sliding power connector mounted on a first substrate. The connector has tracks and terminals with contact fingers. A bus bar may be aligned by the tracks such that contact surfaces on the contact fingers press against contact surfaces on the bus bar. The electronic system may be implemented as a rack, and the electronic assembly may be or include a printed circuit board on which the power connector terminals are mounted. The printed circuit board may slide in and out of the rack while power is supplied from the bus bar to components on the printed circuit board. High reliability may be provided by one or more tabs on the housing that increase mating force of the contact fingers and/or prevent damage to the contact fingers from overstress. The contact fingers may be positioned to increase the lifetime of the system.