The invention relates to an electrical connector system, in particular for airbag ignition systems, which is sealed against e.g. moisture and/or dust.
Electrical connectors for airbag ignition systems usually comprise a squib connector or plug connector and a squib holder or socket into which the squib connector can be inserted. The squib holder is usually provided with contact pins and belongs to the airbag ignition system. The squib connector in turn is connected to the airbag control system. Usually, the squib holder is a standardized element and designed and produced by a different manufacturer than the squib connector. The connector system consisting of a squib connector and a squib holder often further comprises a so-called retainer, which can be inserted into the squib holder, i.e. the socket. When the squib holder is a standardised element the retainer may serve as an adapter for the squib connector, such that identical squib connectors may be used with different squib holders, provided that a matching retainer is provided between squib holder and connector. Further, the retainer often contributes to a shorting function, to short circuit the pins of the squib holder when no electrical connection is established.
Document EP 1 130 692 A2 discloses an electrical connection system consisting of a squib connector, a squib holder and a shorting insert which is attached in the squib holder and which is adapted to receive a plug-in portion of the squib connector. However, the connector system according to EP '692 comprises no sealing members, such that the connector system disclosed is highly susceptible for intruding moisture or dust, which could effect the electrical connection, leading to potentially fatal malfunctions of the airbag system.
Prior art document WO 2006/068229 A1 tries to solve this problem by providing a ring shaped sealing member around the plug-in projection of the squib connector. When the squib connector is inserted into a corresponding squib holder, the sealing member contacts the upper rim of the mating holder, thereby establishing a sealed electrical connection. However, the upper surface of the mating holder is not defined in the standards, as it is the case for parts of the inner walls of the socket and the bottom of the same. Thus, the sealing effect provided by the solution of WO 2006/068229 A1 requires that the sealing member is adapted to the different upper surfaces of the various squib holders or sockets available. Thus, the sealing members have to be particularly designed for the various squib sockets necessitating a larger amount of different sealing members, thus increasing costs and complexity of the connector systems.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a connector system, which reduces or minimizes the above described problems and disadvantages and which leads to a secure sealing in connector systems comprising a retainer.
The above problem is solved by an electrical connector system according to claim 1.
The electrical connector system according to the invention is in particular suited for airbag ignition systems. It comprises a first connector, often referred to as squib connector, provided with a plug-portion, and comprises further a retainer adapted to act together with the plug-portion. The retainer comprises a sleeve portion, which is adapted to be arranged in a mating connector socket, often referred to as squib holder, and which sleeve portion is adapted to receive at least a part of the plug-portion of the first connector therein. To provide for a reliable sealing of the connector system, the system further comprises a first sealing member adapted to provide a sealing between the sleeve portion of the retainer and the inner walls of a mating connector socket. This is in particular advantageous when the inner walls of the mating connector socket, i.e. the squib holder, have a standardized size and shape as it is often the case. In this way it is possible to produce retainers, which are shaped on the outside to match with certain standardized mating connector sockets and which have their interior adapted to receive the plug-portions of certain squib connectors. In other words: the outer shape and thus the sealing elements of the retainer can be standardized matching the standardized connector sockets.
The connector system further comprises a second sealing member, which is adapted to be arranged between the retainer and the first connector to provide a sealing between retainer and first connector. In other words, the first sealing member provides e.g. a sealing between the outer walls of the sleeve portion and the inner walls of the mating connector socket and the second sealing member provides a sealing for example between the inner walls of the sleeve portion of the retainer and the outer walls of the plug-portion of the squib connector.
In one aspect of the invention the plug portion of the squib connector is provided with at least one resilient latching arm and the sleeve portion is provided in its interior with at least one corresponding latching recess, so that the plug portion can be latched inside of the sleeve portion. Most preferably, the plug portion is provided with two latching arms arranged symmetrically on two opposing sides of the plug portion and the sleeve is provided with corresponding recesses. To provide for a particular effective sealing, it is advantageous that the sleeve portion is dimensioned such that when it is arranged inside of a mating connector socket it extends from the bottom of the socket to essentially at least the outer rim of the socket, without any openings allowing the intrusion of e.g. moisture to the interior of the retainer respectively the retainer sleeve. In an advantageous embodiment the sleeve portion is further provided with fixing means on its outside walls, which are adapted to allow fastening of the sleeve portion inside the mating connector socket. This may for example be accomplished by means of resilient protrusions which may snap-fit into a corresponding recess or groove provided in the inner walls of the connector socket. However, also resilient latching arms may be provided on the sleeve portion, which latch into corresponding latching recesses provided in inner walls of the connector socket.
In an advantageous embodiment, the retainer sleeve is essentially cylindrical, i.e. it has in essentially cylindrical outer surface, and the first sealing member is an o-ring. The first sealing member may thus be arranged between the cylindrical outer wall of the retainer sleeve and the preferably cylindrical inner wall of the connector socket. In this case, it is advantageous, that the outer wall of the cylindrical retainer is provided with a circumferential sealing groove, to receive and hold the o-ring. This sealing groove facilitates the assembly of the electrical connector system, since it prevents the o-ring from getting lost.
In an embodiment, the second sealing member has essentially a u-shaped cross section and the retainer has a circular protruding rim, which extends into the inside of the u-shape, and wherein the sealing member is fitted such onto the protruding rim, that when the plug portion is inserted into the sleeve portion of the retainer at least one face of the u-shaped sealing member engages the first connector. With any of the above described embodiments, it is in particular advantageous, if the sealing of the connector systems is adapted to prevent dust and/or moisture from reaching the electrical connection, when first connector is connected with a mating connector socket. The invention provides particular advantages in the case of standardized mating connector sockets, because the retainer may serve as an adapter between the socket and the first connector respectively the plug portion of the first connector. With the invention it is possible to design retainer with a standardized outer shape having standardized sealing members, which provide a perfect sealing between the retainer and the standardized mating connector socket.
An advantage of particular embodiments of the invention is that the construction of the invention allows for the elastic force exerted by the first and second sealing members to act in a direction essentially perpendicular to the insertion direction of retainer and plug portion. Therefore, the assembly of retainer and plug portion, i.e. the plug-in process, is not hampered by the sealing members and at the same time, since the sealing members do not produce any substantial force acting against the insertion direction, the fixing of the different parts of the connector system with each other is not weakened over time by the sealing.
In the following, the invention is described exemplarily with reference to the enclosed figures, in which:
Now referring to
A first sealing member 30 is provided on the outer wall of the retainer sleeve close to the bottom of the same and provides a sealing between the outer wall of the retainer and the inner wall 53 of the connector socket. A second sealing member 40 is provided between a sealing surface of the first connector 10 and an outer rim 22 of the retainer. As the skilled person will note upon considering the embodiment shown in
As can best be seen from
In
In
Advantageously the plug portion 11 has projections 15, located at the proximity of the bottom portion of plug portion and which when connector 10 is inserted into the retainer 20 provide for a supplementary sustaining at the retainer sleeve inner diameter, ensuring the pressure of first sealing member 30,31 against inner wall 53. Further those projections allow advantageously an easier positioning of first connector 10 when introducing into the retainer with socket 50.
In
In all embodiments of the invention, the first and second sealing members are preferably symmetrical ring like members, since this provides a particularly reliable sealing action. In
Advantageously, in the embodiments shown in
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/IB2007/055377 | 10/22/2007 | WO | 00 | 6/25/2010 |