Patent Application
20250226627
The present disclosure relates to a connector assembly and a busbar power connector.
At present, most busbar power connectors solve the heat dissipation problem of terminals by increasing the contact area. For example, crown springs are provided around the terminals to increase the surface area for heat exchange.
However, simply increasing the contact area is no longer able to withstand the heat energy generated by large currents (for example, current intensity greater than 200 amperes). When current flows through, the contact surface between a terminal of a busbar power connector and a corresponding terminal of the mating connector will generate a large amount of heat energy, causing the temperature around the contact surface of the terminal to rise rapidly, thereby reducing the conductive performance of the terminal.
Accordingly, how to provide a connector assembly and a busbar power connector to solve the aforementioned problems becomes an important issue to be solved by those in the industry.
An aspect of the disclosure is to provide a connector assembly and a busbar power connector that can efficiently solve the aforementioned problems.
According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a connector assembly includes a terminal module, a cable module, and a heat sink. The terminal module includes a conductive plate and a plurality of terminals. The terminals are coupled to the conductive plate. The cable module includes a plurality of cables. The cables are coupled to the conductive plate and electrically connected to the terminals via the conductive plate. The heat sink is thermally coupled to the conductive plate.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the terminals extend from an edge of the conductive plate. The heat sink is coupled to a surface of the conductive plate and located between the terminals and the cables.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the heat sink includes a plurality of fins extending away from the surface of the conductive plate.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the conductive plate and the fins are parts of a unitary structure.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the heat sink further includes a coupling plate. The coupling plate is connected to the fins and extends above the surface of the conductive plate. The cables include a first group and a second group. The first group of the cables is coupled to the conductive plate. The second group of the cables is coupled to the coupling plate and electrically connected to the terminals sequentially via the heat sink and the conductive plate.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the fins respectively have end surfaces at an end of the fins. The coupling plate is connected to and extends away from the end surfaces.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the heat sink further includes an extending plate. The extending plate is connected to the surface of the conductive plate, the end surfaces, and the coupling plate.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the coupling plate and the extending plate form an L-shaped structure.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the first group of the cables has connection ends coupled to the conductive plate. The second group of the cables has connection ends coupled to the coupling plate. The connection ends of the second group of the cables are located over the connection ends of the first group of the cables.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the heat sink includes a conductive base and a plurality of fins. The conductive base is coupled to the surface of the conductive plate. The fins are connected to the conductive base.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the conductive base is in contact with the surface of the conductive plate. The fins are connected to a side of the conductive base away from the conductive plate.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the connector assembly further includes a fastening member. The fastening member fastens the conductive base to the conductive plate.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the conductive plate and the conductive base are parts of a unitary structure.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the terminals include a first group and a second group. The conductive plate includes a first sub-layer and a second sub-layer. The first sub-layer is coupled to the first group of the terminals and the heat sink. The second sub-layer is coupled to a side of the first sub-layer away from the heat sink. The second group of the terminals is coupled to the second sub-layer. The first group and the second group of terminals are arranged linearly.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the first group and the second group of terminals are arranged in an alternating manner.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the connector assembly further includes a second heat sink. The second heat sink is thermally coupled to a side of the second sub-layer away from the first sub-layer.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the first sub-layer and the second sub-layer are sandwiched between the heat sink and the second heat sink.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the connector assembly further includes a fastening member. The fastening member passes through the first sub-layer and the second sub-layer and fastens the heat sink and the second heat sink.
According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a busbar power connector includes a housing and two sets of the connector assemblies. The connector assemblies are partially disposed in the housing.
In an embodiment of the disclosure, the housing includes a main portion and two plugging portions. The main portion has a first opening. The conductive plates of the two sets of the connector assemblies are accommodated in the main portion. The cable modules of the two sets of the connector assemblies extend out of the housing from the first opening. The plugging portions are connected to the main portion and respectively have two second openings facing each other. The terminals of one of the two sets of the connector assemblies expose out of the housing from one of the second openings. The terminals of another of the two sets of the connector assemblies expose out of the housing from another of the second openings.
Accordingly, in the connector assembly of the present disclosure, since the terminal module uses the conductive plate to be thermally coupled to the heat sink, the connector assembly can effectively solve the heat dissipation problem of the terminal module. In this way, the busbar power connector using the connector assembly is more suitable for high current applications. In addition, since two groups of the cables of the cable module are respectively coupled to the conductive plate and the coupling plate of the heat sink, the current transmitted by the terminals will be divided by the conductive plate and the heat sink. In this way, the heat generated by the current can be evenly distributed without being locally accumulated in the conductive plate or the heat sink, thereby improving the conductive performance of the connector assembly.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are by examples, and are intended to provide further explanation of the disclosure as claimed.
The disclosure can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the embodiment, with reference made to the accompanying drawings as follows:
Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts. However, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are merely representative for purposes of describing example embodiments, and thus may be embodied in many alternate forms and should not be construed as limited to only example embodiments set forth herein. Therefore, it should be understood that there is no intent to limit example embodiments to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, example embodiments are to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the disclosure.
Reference is made to
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In some embodiments, the conductive plate 211 and the conductive base 231 are parts of a unitary structure. In other words, the conductive plate 211 and the conductive base 231 may be made of a metal material by, for example, an extrusion process, but the disclosure is not limited thereto.
In some embodiments, the conductive base 231 of the heat sink 230 may be omitted while the fins 232 are retained. That is, the fins 232 may extend away from the surface 211a1 of the conductive plate 211. The conductive plate 211 and the fins 232 are parts of a unitary structure. In other words, the conductive plate 211 and the fins 232 may be made of a metal material by, for example, an extrusion process, but the disclosure is not limited thereto.
As shown in
With the structural configurations, the current transmitted by the terminals 212 will be divided by the conductive plate 211 and the heat sink 230. In this way, the heat generated by the current can be evenly distributed without being locally accumulated in the conductive plate 211 or the heat sink 230, thereby improving the conductive performance of the connector assembly 200.
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In some embodiments, as shown in
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In some other embodiments, screw 241 may sequentially pass through the heat sink 250, the second sub-layer 211b, the first sub-layer 211a, and the heat sink 230, and a head portion of the screw 241 abuts against a side of the heat sink 250 away from the second sub-layer 211b. Correspondingly, the nut 242 is fastened to the screw 241 and abuts against a side of the heat sink 230 away from the first sub-layer 211a.
According to the foregoing recitations of the embodiments of the disclosure, it can be seen that in the connector assembly of the present disclosure, since the terminal module uses the conductive plate to be thermally coupled to the heat sink, the connector assembly can effectively solve the heat dissipation problem of the terminal module. In this way, the busbar power connector using the connector assembly is more suitable for high current applications. In addition, since two groups of the cables of the cable module are respectively coupled to the conductive plate and the coupling plate of the heat sink, the current transmitted by the terminals will be divided by the conductive plate and the heat sink. In this way, the heat generated by the current can be evenly distributed without being locally accumulated in the conductive plate or the heat sink, thereby improving the conductive performance of the connector assembly.
Although the present disclosure has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims.
