This application claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application No. 202120565228.0 filed on Mar. 19, 2021 in the State Intellectual Property Office of China, the whole disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a connector and a connector assembly comprising the connector.
In the prior art, in order to realize the rapid electrical connection between cables or between cable and electrical equipment, plug connector and socket connector suitable for rapid mating are usually adopted. Usually, the cable is pre installed on the plug connector and the socket connector is pre installed on the electrical equipment. When the plug connector and the socket connector are mated together, the electrical connection between the cable and the electrical equipment is realized.
In the prior art, different types or functions of electrical equipments, such as motors with different powers, need to use different types of cables. In order to identify and distinguish the electrical equipments, it is usually necessary to form identification features (or referred as codes) on the plug connector, the socket connector and the electrical equipment, so as to prevent the electrical equipment from being connected with a mismatched cable whose type is not correct.
However, in the prior art, the identification features are usually directly formed on the outer housings of the plug connector and the socket connector. Therefore, when it is necessary to change the identification features on the plug connector and the socket connector, the whole outer housings of the plug connector and the socket connector must be replaced, which has high cost and is very inconvenient to use.
The present invention has been made to overcome or alleviate at least one aspect of the above mentioned disadvantages.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector, comprising: a housing; and a terminal position holder detachably mounted on an end of the housing. A mating feature adapted to mate with a corresponding mating connector is formed on the terminal position holder, so that the connector is adapted to mate with the corresponding mating connector.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the connector comprises a plurality of connectors, at least one of the shape, size, number and position of the mating features of the plurality of connectors is different.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, except for the mating feature, other features of the plurality of connectors are exactly the same.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, except for the terminal position holder, other parts of the plurality of connectors are identical and interchangeable.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the terminal position holder is cylindrical and includes a cylindrical wall and an outer end wall at the outer end of the cylindrical wall; the outer end wall is formed with a terminal through hole to allow a terminal of the mating connector to be inserted.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the terminal position holder has a positioning notch formed on the cylindrical wall, the housing has a protrusion package for installing a first detection connector, and the protrusion package is positioned in the positioning notch; the mating feature is a mating protrusion projecting radially outward from the outer surface of the cylindrical wall, and an area where the mating protrusion is located is opposite to the positioning notch in a radial direction of the cylindrical wall.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an arc-shaped positioning protrusion is respectively formed on the outer surface of both sides in the horizontal direction of the cylindrical wall, and the arc-shaped positioning protrusions are opposite to each other in the radial direction of the cylindrical wall; the outer peripheral surfaces of the arc positioning protrusion, the mating feature and the protrusion package are adapted to contact an inner wall surface of an outer housing of the mating connector to position the connector.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, at least one opening is formed on the cylindrical wall of the terminal position holder, and a protrusion adapted to be snapped into the opening is formed on the housing of the connector.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, when the terminal position holder is mounted on the housing of the connector, the outer end wall of the terminal position holder rests against an end face of the housing of the connector.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a positioning slot is formed on the outside of the outer end wall of the terminal position holder to mate with a positioning convex structure formed on the terminal of the mating connector.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the positioning slot is communicated with the terminal through hole formed on the outer end wall of the terminal position holder.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the connector further comprises a terminal fixedly installed in the housing.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector assembly comprising the above connector and a mating connector mated with the connector.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the mating connector comprises an inner housing, the inner housing is provided with a first mating feature adapted to mate with a corresponding electrical equipment.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the inner housing of the mating connector is also provided with a second mating feature adapted to mate with the mating feature of the connector.
In the above exemplary embodiments according to the present invention, when it is necessary to change the identification feature on the connector, only the terminal position holder needs to be replaced without replacing the whole housing. Therefore, the cost is low and the use is very convenient.
The above and other features of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described hereinafter in detail with reference to the attached drawings, wherein the like reference numerals refer to the like elements. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiment set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that the present disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.
In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent, however, that one or more embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are schematically shown in order to simplify the drawing.
According to a general concept of the present invention, there is provided a connector, comprising: a housing; and a terminal position holder detachably mounted on an end of the housing. A mating feature adapted to mate with a corresponding mating connector is formed on the terminal position holder, so that the connector is adapted to mate with the corresponding mating connector.
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Some embodiments of the aforementioned mating connector 20 and the connector 10 will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
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In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the connector 10 may comprise a plurality of connectors 10 with different identification features. For example, at least one of the shape, size, number and position of the mating features 131a of the plurality of connectors 10 is different. In this way, the plurality of connectors 10 can be identified and distinguished by the mating features 131a formed on them.
In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, other structural features of the plurality of connectors 10 are exactly the same except for the mating features 131a. In this way, the manufacturing cost of the connectors 10 can be reduced.
In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, other parts of the plurality of connectors 10 are all identical except for the terminal position holder 130, so that other parts of the plurality of connectors 10 can be interchangeable. In this way, not only the manufacturing cost of the plurality of connectors 10 can be reduced, but also the universality between the plurality of connectors 10 can be improved.
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In the process of inserting the connector 10 into the mating connector 20, the first detection connector and the second detection connector are electrically connected together after the terminals 120 and 220 of the connector 10 and the mating connector 20 are in electrical contact, so as to connect a detection circuit (not shown). After the detection circuit is connected, a control device (not shown) turns on the power supply connected to the cable 1, so that the live plug-in of the connector 10 and the mating connector 20 can be avoided, so that no arc will be generated.
In addition, in the process of pulling out the connector 10 from the mating connector 20, the first detection connector and the second detection connector have been electrically separated before the terminals 120 and 220 of the connector 10 and the mating connector 20 are electrically separated, so as to disconnect the detection circuit in advance. After the detection circuit is disconnected, the control device immediately turns off the power supply connected to the cable 1, so as to ensure that the connector 10 and mating connector 20 are separated without electricity and arc.
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In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the mating connector 20 may also include an insulation helmet (not shown). The insulation helmet can be sleeved on the end of the first connection end of the terminal 220 of the mating connector 20 to prevent human fingers from contacting the first connection end, so as to improve the use safety.
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Note that the present invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiment. For example, in another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the first mating feature 231a on the mating connector 20 may include at least one first mating slot, and the at least one first mating slot on the mating connector 20 can only mate with at least one first mating protrusion formed on the corresponding electrical equipment, so that the mating connector can only be installed on the corresponding electrical equipment.
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Note that the invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiment. For example, in another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the second mating feature 231b on the mating connector 20 includes at least one second mating protrusion, and the at least one second mating protrusion on the mating connector 20 can only mate with at least one second mating slot formed on the corresponding connector 10. Thus, the mating connector 20 can only be matched with the corresponding connector 10.
In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the mating connector 20 may comprise a plurality of mating connectors 20 with different identification features. For example, at least one of the shape, size, number and position of the first mating features 231a on the plurality of mating connectors 20 is different, and at least one of the shape, size, number and position of the second mating feature 231b on the plurality of mating connectors 20 is also different. In this way, the plurality of mating connectors 20 can be identified and distinguished by the first mating features 231a and the second mating features 231b formed on them.
In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, other structural features of the plurality of mating connectors 20 are identical except for the first mating features 231a and the second mating features 231b. In this way, the manufacturing cost of the plurality of mating connectors 20 can be reduced.
In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, other parts of the plurality of mating connectors 20 are identical except for the first half housing 231, so that other parts of the plurality of mating connectors 20 may be interchangeable. In this way, not only the manufacturing cost of the plurality of mating connectors 20 can be reduced, but also the universality between the plurality of mating connectors 20 can be improved.
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It should be appreciated for those skilled in this art that the above embodiments are intended to be illustrated, and not restrictive. For example, many modifications may be made to the above embodiments by those skilled in this art, and various features described in different embodiments may be freely combined with each other without conflicting in configuration or principle.
Although several exemplary embodiments have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes or modifications may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the disclosure, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.
As used herein, an element recited in the singular and proceeded with the word “a” or “an” should be understood as not excluding plural of said elements or steps, unless such exclusion is explicitly stated. Furthermore, references to “one embodiment” of the present invention are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features. Moreover, unless explicitly stated to the contrary, embodiments “comprising” or “having” an element or a plurality of elements having a particular property may include additional such elements not having that property.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202120565228.0 | Mar 2021 | CN | national |
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