Step-Shaped Screw Brake for Plug-and-Socket Connector
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electrical plug-and-socket connectors with screw-type clamping connections for stranded conductors lack effective mechanisms to prevent loss of clamping screws during transport and ensure secure fastening and easy assembly.
Innovation Solution
A step-shaped screw brake mechanism is introduced, featuring a screw channel with varying internal widths and strategically placed strips that provide increasing resistance as the screw is inserted, ensuring a fixed screw-in depth for secure clamping and preventing loosening, while allowing for multiple screw cycles and compatibility with various screwdrivers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If strips are applied over the entire length of the circular cylindrical opening, then the clamping screw is secured against loss during transport, but the screw head experiences excessive friction and difficult insertion
Solution Approach 1:
The screw channel is divided into two distinct sections: a first section with strips for screw retention and a second section without strips for easy insertion. This segmentation allows each section to fulfill its specific function without interfering with the other, resolving the contradiction between screw retention and ease of insertion.
Solution Approach 2:
The strips are applied selectively only in the first section of the screw channel, not throughout the entire length. This local application ensures that the strips provide retention functionality where needed while leaving the second section strip-free to reduce friction during screw insertion and removal.
2Reliability
If strips are applied to secure the clamping screw, then the screw cannot be lost during transport, but the screw becomes difficult to remove and reuse
Solution Approach 1:
The screw channel is segmented into a first section with strips for security and a second section without strips for easy removal. This allows the screw to be securely held during transport while enabling straightforward removal and reuse when needed for repairs or reconfiguration.
Solution Approach 2:
Strips are applied locally only in the first section of the screw channel, creating a zone of high friction for security while maintaining a strip-free zone in the second section that allows easy screw removal and reuse, thus resolving the contradiction between security and ease of repair.
3Manufacturing precision
If a fixed screw-in depth is achieved through the step-shaped brake, then secure clamping is ensured, but the assembly process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The step-shaped brake creates a localized geometric feature within the screw channel that provides a predetermined stopping position. This local structural modification ensures precise screw-in depth control without requiring complex additional mechanisms, balancing manufacturing precision with acceptable device 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
The solution provides enhanced protection against screw loss, ensures secure clamping of stranded conductors, reduces assembly time, and allows for a greater number of screw cycles with minimal impact on tightening torque, while accommodating different screwdriver sizes and materials for efficient demoulding.
Implementation Method 1
a clamping screw to be inserted in the screw channel for the purpose of fastening the connecting stranded conductor in the insertion opening of the contact insert is subjected to a first, lesser resistance at the strip/strips of the first inside width, and is subjected to a second, greater resistance at the strip/strips of the second inside width
Data Source
AI summary
An improved electrical plug-and-socket connectors with screw-type clamping connections has a step-shaped screw brake for protecting against loss of the clamping screw of connecting stranded conductors of electrical components having as the clamping mode a screw-type clamping connection. The screw brake has one, two or more strips. The plug-and-socket connector has a screw-type connection, having an insulating part, arranged to accommodate at least one contact insert. The contact insert has a substantially cylindrical shape and comprises a contact portion for electrical/mechanical connection to an oppositely shaped contact piece of a matched plug-and-socket connector at a first end of the contact insert. It further comprises an insertion opening for at least one connecting stranded conductor at a second end of the contact insert, there opening in the insertion opening a screw hole which is oriented substantially transversely relative to the central longitudinal axis thereof and comprises an internal thread. The insulating part has a screw channel which is substantially in alignment with the screw hole when a contact insert is accommodated in the insulating part. The screw channel has at least one step. The inside width of the screw channel reduces from a first, greater dimension towards a second, lesser dimension in the direction towards the screw hole of the insertion opening. The screw channel has one or more strips which are oriented substantially coaxially relative to its central longitudinal axis of the and which are so dimensioned that a clamping screw to be inserted in the screw channel fastening the connecting stranded conductor in the insertion opening of the contact insert is subjected to a first, lesser resistance at the strip/strips of the first inside width, and is subjected to a second, greater resistance at the strip/strips of the second inside width.