Split-Jaw Crimp Tooling for Terminal Release and Flash Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional terminal crimping machines face issues such as flashing and terminal spring back, which degrade the integrity of the crimp and make it difficult to release the terminal from the crimp tooling, leading to potential machine shutdowns and damage.
Innovation Solution
A crimp assembly with split-jaw crimp tooling and a crimper frame that includes abutment surfaces and deflection stops, allowing the crimper jaws to splay apart and deflect outward during the crimping process, reducing clearance and preventing flashing, while enabling easy release of the terminal by translating the jaws out of the jaw mount chamber.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If the lead-in radius and crimp angle are reduced to reduce clearance between crimp tooling and anvil, then flashing is reduced, but the terminal does not release from the crimp tooling
Solution Approach 1:
The crimp tooling is divided into multiple segments or jaws that can move independently. The split-jaw design allows the jaws to splay apart after crimping, creating clearance for terminal release while maintaining tight clearance during the actual crimping operation to prevent flashing.
Solution Approach 2:
The crimp tooling transitions from a static design to a dynamic one where the jaws can change their relative positions. During crimping, the jaws maintain close clearance to the anvil, but after crimping they can splay outward to provide release clearance, adapting to different phases of the operation.
2Ease of operation
If the anvil is made narrower to allow clearance between anvil and crimp tooling, then the crimping process can proceed, but flashing occurs when clearances are large
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than using a fixed narrow anvil, the invention uses dynamic crimp tooling that adjusts its clearance to the anvil. The split-jaw design allows the tooling to close in on the anvil during crimping to eliminate flashing, while maintaining the ability to splay open for terminal release.
3Ease of operation
If conventional crimp tooling is used with standard lead-in radius and crimp angle, then terminal release is possible, but flashing and crimp shear occur
Solution Approach 1:
The conventional single-piece crimp tooling is segmented into multiple jaws that can move independently. This segmentation allows the jaws to maintain tight clearance during crimping for reliable crimping without flashing, then splay apart for terminal release.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the geometric parameters of the crimp tooling, specifically the lead-in radius and crimp angle, and makes them variable through the split-jaw mechanism. This allows optimization of these parameters for preventing flashing while maintaining terminal release capability through jaw movement.
4Reliability
If the crimp tooling applies sufficient force to prevent flashing, then crimp integrity improves, but terminal spring back increases
Solution Approach 1:
The dynamic split-jaw design allows the crimping force to be applied more precisely and uniformly. The jaws can close in on the terminal with controlled force to prevent flashing, then release uniformly to minimize spring back, improving both crimp integrity and terminal stability.
Data Source
AI summary
A crimp assembly for a terminal crimping machine that crimps a terminal to a wire includes a crimper frame having opposed ends and a longitudinal axis extending between the opposed ends. The crimper frame has a jaw mount chamber therein being open at one of the ends of the crimper frame. The crimper tame has abutment surfaces defining portions of the jaw mount chamber. Crimp tooling is held within the jaw mount chamber. The crimp tooling has terminal engagement surfaces configured to engage the terminal to form a wire crimp during a crimping process. The crimp tooling has outer surfaces, wherein the abutment surfaces of the crimper frame engage the outer surfaces of the crimp tooling during the crimp process to move the crimp tooling in a first direction generally along the longitudinal axis and in a second direction transverse to the first direction. Optionally, the crimp tooling may constitute split-jaw crimp fooling having a pair of crimper jaws movable with respect to one another.