Two-Piece Connector Housing Segmentation for Warping Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
The trend towards miniaturization of electronic devices leads to connector housings with reduced structural reliability due to thin walls that can warp or bow, making it difficult to insert terminal assemblies in a controlled manner, especially when trying to maintain a hollow interior cavity to support multiple wafers.
Innovation Solution
A connector housing design featuring two interlocking sections with irregularly shaped mating edges and channels/rails that reduce the thickness of the housing while preventing warping, allowing for mass insertion of wafers and improved positional control through the use of registration lugs and notches.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the housing walls are made thin to reduce device size, then the device can be miniaturized, but the housing walls warp or bow making it difficult to insert terminal assemblies
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is divided into two separate sections that are joined together. This segmentation allows each section to be optimized independently - they can provide sufficient structural support to prevent warping while keeping individual wall thicknesses minimal, thus enabling device miniaturization without sacrificing structural stability during wafer insertion
Solution Approach 2:
The housing sections incorporate localized structural features such as ribs, gussets, or reinforced areas at critical locations where warping is most likely to occur. This allows thin walls in non-critical areas for miniaturization while providing enhanced stiffness locally to prevent warping and enable reliable terminal assembly insertion
2Reliability
If the housing walls are made thick to prevent warping, then the housing structural reliability is improved, but the device size increases
Solution Approach 1:
By splitting the housing into two sections, the overall structure achieves the structural reliability of thick walls through the combined effect of multiple sections and their joining mechanism, while each individual section can maintain thinner walls, resulting in a more compact overall device size
Solution Approach 2:
The two-section housing design adds a dimensional aspect to structural support - rather than relying solely on wall thickness in one dimension, the design uses the spatial arrangement and connection of two separate sections to distribute and manage structural loads, achieving reliability without increased volume
3Ease of operation
If tolerances are provided to allow wafer insertion with thin walls, then wafer insertion becomes possible, but the position of wafers with respect to the housing becomes difficult to control
Solution Approach 1:
The housing sections incorporate pre-formed registration features such as lugs, notches, or positioning pins that are created during the molding process. These features establish precise wafer positions before insertion occurs, enabling easy wafer insertion into the thin-walled housing while maintaining accurate positional control through the pre-established mechanical registration points
Data Source
AI summary
A connector includes a housing that is formed of a first and second section (the two sections which may be interlocking pieces) and has a hollow interior that is filled with a set of terminals. The housing pieces have a complementary engagement rail and channel that allows the two sections to be joined together in a structurally acceptable manner.