Electric Socket Controlled Insertion Forces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electrical sockets require specialized pins on plugs to differentiate between voluntary insertion and untimely extraction, which is not feasible without modifying the plug design.
Innovation Solution
The socket incorporates an actuating finger, a bistable slider, and a feeler that moves between advanced and retracted positions, controlling the retaining means to switch between active and inactive configurations, allowing easy plug insertion without additional pin features.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If retaining means are always in active configuration to prevent extraction, then plug retention is secure, but insertion becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The retaining means are designed to dynamically switch between active and inactive configurations based on operational needs. The slider mechanism allows the retaining means to be in active configuration during normal operation to secure the plug, and can be switched to inactive configuration during insertion to reduce resistance, resolving the contradiction between secure retention and easy insertion.
2Ease of operation
If retaining means are always in inactive configuration for easy insertion, then insertion is easy, but plug retention becomes insecure
Solution Approach 1:
The system prepares the retaining means in advance by having them default to an active configuration that provides secure retention. The mechanism allows for preliminary switching to inactive state only when needed for insertion, ensuring that retention is secure during normal operation while enabling easy insertion when required.
3Reliability
If specialized pins are added to plugs to differentiate voluntary insertion from untimely extraction, then extraction control is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of modifying the plug with specialized pins to control extraction, the invention inverts the approach by placing the control mechanism in the socket itself. The slider and retaining means are designed to respond to insertion force direction, automatically distinguishing between voluntary insertion (which triggers slider movement) and untimely extraction attempts (which are blocked by active retaining means), thereby improving extraction control without increasing plug complexity.
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 design enables secure plug retention without the need for modified pins, facilitating easy insertion and preventing involuntary extraction while allowing voluntary removal.
Implementation Method 1
each female contact being arranged in the base, being intended to receive a pin, and taking the form of a clamp adopting by default a tight configuration under the effect of an elastic stress
Implementation Method 2
the slider, in the inactive configuration of the retaining means, is elastically returned to a rest position
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The socket has female contacts (3) with a retaining unit placed in an active or inactive configuration and formed of a retractable hook and a corresponding stop. The hook retains the stop, in the active configuration, and maintains a slider, with respect to a base, in an armed position in which the contacts are placed in a spaced configuration, by retractors (61). A bistable slider (6) is returned elastically, in the inactive configuration, by springs (R) to a rest position in which the retractors are disengaged from the contacts and permit the contacts to adopt a locked configuration.