Patent Application
20140134866
1. Field of Invention
The present invention is directed to an attachable and removable protective rugged hood assembly comprising an intermateable pair of attachable and removable rugged hood portions that can convert a standard electrical connector to a rugged connector for harsh conditions and rugged environments and to a method of use.
2. Description of Related Art
Other hoods that are used to make a connector more durable or rugged, in particular cable hoods, cannot be slipped on or off before and after mounting. Such hoods are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,460,230 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,148,928. Thus, there is a need in the art for an improved and versatile hood for electrical connectors.
The present invention is an attachable and removable protective rugged hood assembly for an electrical connector and a method of use. The rugged hood assembly comprises a male connector hood portion and a mating, female connector hood portion. The hood portions contain apertures through which the electrical connector passes during installation. The rugged hood assembly can be installed and removed before or after the mounting of the connector to a board. The present invention allows the use of otherwise standard electrical connectors in harsh conditions, such as in military equipment, and also provides electromagnetic interference (“EMI”) shielding.
The apparatus of the invention is further described and explained in relation to the following figures of the drawing wherein:
As shown in
Male connector hood portion 102 and female connector portion 104 can be any shape that corresponds to and allows them to fit over male connector 106 and female connector 108. As shown in
Rugged hood assembly 100 can be installed before or after mounting an electrical connector to a board, such as a printed circuit (“PCB”) board. Rugged hood assembly 100 can be quickly and easily attached to or removed from the connector. Attaching and detaching can be accomplished, for example, by slipping the hood on or off of the connector after removing the fasteners. Rugged hood assembly 100 serves to protect the connector from harsh environments and physical damage due to rough handling, which may be encountered when using military equipment. Thus, the installation of rugged hood assembly 100 allows otherwise standard electrical connectors to conform to more stringent environmental conditions without the necessity of re-manufacture. Additionally, rugged hood assembly 100 provides electromagnetic interference (“EMI”) shielding once installed. EMI can disrupt signals and degrade signal quality, and EMI shielding can help prevent such disruptions and signal degradation. Additional advantages of rugged hood assembly 100 include the ability to upgrade installed electrical connectors in the field without disassembling the connector from the PCB. Disassembly of the connector from the PCB is an expensive and risky operation because of the potential for damaging the PCB during disassembly and reassembly processes, including desoldering the original connector and resoldering a new connector. Rugged hood assembly 100 also provides additional structural integrity to reduce damage from vibration and debris.
The present invention can provide cost savings by allowing a manufacturer to benefit from economies of scale. Instead of investing in capital equipment designed to produce both standard connectors without metal shells and rugged electrical connectors with integral metal shells, a manufacturer can simply invest in one type of capital equipment for the production of standard electrical connectors, plus the minimal capital investment required to manufacture the rugged metal shells. A subset of the standard connectors can be transformed into rugged connectors by simply installing rugged hood assembly 100 of the present invention, which can be installed even after the mounting of the connector to a board.
To install rugged hood assembly 100, a user would place and fit male connector hood portion 102 over male connector 106 in such a manner as to cause male connector 106 to pass through male connector aperture 110, and would then cause guide posts 116 to pass through fastener apertures 114. Similarly, a user would place and fit female connector hood portion 104 over female connector 108 in such a manner as to cause female connector 108 to pass through female connector aperture 112, and would then cause guide sockets 118 to pass through fastener apertures 114. Then, a fastening structure, such as fastener 120, can be passed through each of the two guide pins 116 and each of the two guide sockets 118. After securing male connector hood portion 102 to male connector 106 and securing female connector hood portion 104 to female connector 108, the now-hooded electrical connectors can be mated together as they normally would.
To uninstall or remove rugged hood assembly 100, a user would first disconnect the two hooded portions from each other. Then, a user would remove any fastening structure, such as fastener 120, from each of the two guide posts 116 and each of the two guide sockets 118. Subsequently, guide posts 116 are removed by passing them through fastener apertures 114, and male connector hood portion 102 can be pulled off of male connector 106 in such a manner as to cause male connector 106 to pass through male connector aperture 110. Similarly, guide sockets 118 are removed by passing them through fastener apertures 114, and female connector hood portion 104 can be pulled off of female connector 108 in such a manner as to cause female connector 108 to pass through female connector aperture 112. With rugged hood assembly 100 removed, male connector 106 and female connector 108 could then be used as conventional electrical connectors.
When installed, rugged hood assembly 100 allows electrical connectors to be used in harsh or rugged environments. Such harsh environments often involve increased exposure to harmful factors such as debris, forceful impacts, heat, or inclement weather. These types of environments can be encountered in military or outdoor field situations.
First board 122 and second board 124 can be made of plastic, glass-epoxy, or any other suitable material that is capable of being molded or processed by standard PCB manufacturing processes and used as a mounting platform for an electrical connector. First board 122 and second board 124 can be printed circuit boards. A vertical board-mounted embodiment is described here, but rugged hood assembly 100 could be adapted to other types of connectors, such as cable connectors, right-angle mount, or straddle-mount connectors. Male connector hood portion 102 and female connector hood portion 104 can be constructed using metal or any other suitable material, including sturdy or durable materials that are capable of being molded.
