Waterproof Connector Water Guide Drainage Route
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle-side connectors have inefficient drainage routes that are excessively long, leading to poor drainage efficiency and increased size due to the need for large seals to accommodate the entire terminal accommodating portion.
Innovation Solution
A waterproof connector design featuring a water guide on the peripheral wall that directs water entering from the outside along the outer peripheral surface, discharging it to the outside while minimizing the drainage route and seal size, with the option to use existing components like a closing plate for retaining portions and potentially multiple water guides for enhanced efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a large rubber plug is used to seal the entire terminal accommodating portion, then waterproof sealing is achieved, but the connector size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing function is segmented from the terminal accommodating portion. Instead of sealing the entire terminal accommodating portion with a large rubber plug, the invention uses a smaller seal (56) that only seals the mounting hole (55) in the mounting plate (31). The terminal accommodating portion (32) penetrates through the mounting plate without requiring full encapsulation, thus achieving waterproofing with a minimized seal size.
2Reliability
If the drainage route extends through the vehicle interior side, then water can be discharged, but the drainage route becomes excessively long and drainage efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of directing water drainage toward the vehicle interior side (conventional approach), the invention inverts the drainage direction by providing water guides (54) on the outer peripheral side of the terminal accommodating portion (32). The water guides direct water along the outer peripheral surface of the peripheral wall (51) and discharge it to the vehicle exterior side through the mounting plate (31), thereby shortening the drainage route and improving drainage efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
A waterproof connector (10) includes a mounting plate (31) to be mounted to a body of a vehicle. A terminal accommodating portion (32) penetrates through the mounting plate (31) in a front-back direction and is configured to accommodate terminals (20) inside. A peripheral wall (51) is provided at an outer peripheral side of the terminal accommodating portion (32). Water guides (54) are provided on a rear end part of the peripheral wall (51) at positions aligned with the mounting plate (31) in the front-back direction and allow communication between outer and inner peripheral sides of the peripheral wall (51). Seals (56) are mounted into mounting holes (55) perforated to form the water guides (54). Retaining portions (61) are provided on rear sides of the seals (56) and are configured to retain the seals (56).