Spring-Contact Splice Terminal for Compact Automated Wire Joining
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current splice solutions for unshielded electric lines in vehicles require manual labor, leading to high production costs and bulky designs, especially for thin low-voltage lines that need to share electrical potential, necessitating a compact and automated manufacturing process.
Innovation Solution
A splice arrangement featuring a connection bolt with spring contacts and cable shoes, allowing for automated assembly, where the spring contacts are positioned at specific distances to accommodate multiple lines, reducing manual intervention and enabling a compact design by angular offsetting the connected lines, and a method involving a shrinking hood for encapsulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual work is used to connect conductors to a contact piece, then connection reliability is improved, but production cost increases and automation is not available
Solution Approach 1:
The cable shoe is designed with an integrated contact piece that automatically establishes electrical connection when the cable shoe is mounted on the connection bolt. The spring contact piece self-adjusts to make reliable contact without manual intervention, enabling automated assembly while maintaining connection reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The contact piece is merged with the cable shoe into a single integrated component. This eliminates the need for separate manual connection steps, as the cable shoe itself serves as the connection element when mounted on the connection bolt with spring contact pieces
2Reliability
If a splice for shielded lines with screen connection is used, then electrical potential sharing is improved, but installation space increases
Solution Approach 1:
The screen connection component is extracted and omitted from the design since unshielded lines do not have screens. The splice arrangement is simplified to only include conductor connection elements (cable shoes with contact pieces), reducing installation space while maintaining electrical potential sharing functionality for unshielded lines
Solution Approach 2:
The splice arrangement is optimized for local conditions of unshielded lines by providing only the necessary conductor connection features. The cable shoes and contact pieces are designed with dimensions appropriate for thin low-voltage conductors, minimizing installation space while ensuring proper electrical connection
3Use of energy by moving object
If the diameter of the conductor is decreased for low power lines, then power consumption is reduced, but the ratio of sheath thickness to conductor diameter increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cable shoe and contact piece dimensions are adjusted to match the smaller conductor diameter while maintaining adequate mechanical strength and electrical conductivity. The design accommodates the increased relative sheath thickness by optimizing the cable shoe internal diameter and contact piece contact area to ensure reliable connection despite the higher sheath-to-conductor ratio
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple cable shoes are mounted on a connection bolt, then connectivity for multiple lines is improved, but axial space increases
Solution Approach 1:
The spring contact pieces are arranged radially around the connection bolt shaft rather than only axially. This radial arrangement allows multiple cable shoes to be mounted on the same axial section of the connection bolt, reducing the overall axial length of the splice arrangement while maintaining connectivity for multiple lines
Data Source
AI summary
A splice arrangement for a plurality of electric lines is provided. Each electric line has a conductor, an insulating sheath, and a cable shoe fixed to one end of the respective conductor of each line. The splice arrangement has a connection bolt composed of a shaft and a head and is provided with at least one spring contact fixed to the shaft for engaging with one or several of the cable shoes to establish an electrical connection between the plurality of electric lines.