Patent Application
20090305536
The present invention relates generally to an electrical connector. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electrical connector including a plug connector and a receptacle connector having a lever mechanism to apply a mechanically assisted mating and un-mating force.
Electrical connectors typically include a plug connector having a plug housing containing pin contacts mated to a receptacle connector having a receptacle housing containing socket contacts. The plug housing and the receptacle housing are physically engaged, which physically and electrically connects the pin and socket contacts, forming an electrical connection. In many applications, a large number of pin and corresponding socket contacts are necessary, resulting in a large normal force required to mate the plug and receptacle connectors.
Additionally, this type of connector is typically sealed and may include both signal terminals and power terminals to be included in a single assembly. This arrangement may further increase the force necessary to mate the electrical connectors forming the assembly.
Furthermore, this type of connector may be used in cases where one of the connectors is fixed and accessibility by the other movable connector is limited. This type of arrangement often exists, for example, in the automotive industry. In order to save space, the movable connector housing may be mostly received in the fixed connector housing, causing the disengagement of the moveable connector from the fixed housing to be difficult.
In order to resolve these problems, cam slides have been used to increase the force available to mate and disengage two electrical connectors. For example, an electrical connector using a cam slide to apply mating force is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,164 B1, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The cam slide is arranged on the movable connector and must be displaced in a direction transverse to the direction of engagement during operation. However, this arrangement requires additional space transverse to the mating direction for operation, and may require high operational forces to complete the assisted mating engagement.
Therefore, there is an unmet need to provide a connector having a mating assist mechanism for facilitating mating to another electrical connector having minimal space and applied force requirements.
One embodiment of the present invention relates to an electrical connector including a receptacle connector and a plug connector. The receptacle connector includes a receptacle housing including an insertion portion, at least one cam follower disposed on the insertion portion, and a fixed housing. The plug connector includes a plug housing, a lever attached to the plug housing, an inner housing disposed within the plug housing, a terminal position assurance member disposed around a portion of the inner housing, and a wire cover attached to the plug housing. The lever is configured to engage the at least one cam follower when rotated to either assist in inserting or in removing the insertion portion of the receptacle connector from the plug housing.
Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a method of mating an electrical connector including the steps of providing a receptacle connector including a receptacle housing including an insertion portion, at least one cam follower disposed on the insertion portion, and a fixed housing, and providing a plug connector including a plug housing, a lever attached to the plug housing in a open position, an inner housing disposed within the plug housing, a terminal position assurance member disposed around a portion of the inner housing, and a wire cover attached to the plug housing. The lever is configured to engage at least one cam follower to either assist in inserting or removing the insertion portion of the receptacle connector from the plug housing when rotated. The method further includes partially inserting the insertion portion of the receptacle connector into the plug housing to a partial inserted position, and fully inserting the insertion portion of the receptacle connector into the plug housing by rotating the lever from an open position to a closed position thereby assisting the mating force by a mechanical force resulting from the camming action between the lever and the at least one cam follower to form a fully mated electrical connector.
Further aspects of the method and system are disclosed herein. The features as discussed above, as well as other features and advantages of the present invention will be appreciated and understood by those skilled in the art from the following detailed description and drawings.
Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.
The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.
As shown in
The receptacle fixed housing 213 further includes snap latches 124 for attachment to a substrate (not shown). In another embodiment, the fixed housing 213 may include additional and/or other attachment and alignment structures to securely assemble the receptacle connector 110 to the substrate.
The receptacle housing insertion portion 204 includes a receptacle housing insertion portion outer surface 203 having cam followers 202 disposed thereon (a cam follower is present, but not shown, on the opposite side of the receptacle housing insertion portion 204).
As further shown in
The plug connector 120 is shown in greater detail in
The wire seal 304 includes a plurality of plug conductor through-holes for receiving the plurality of plug conductors (not shown), which are correspondingly terminated to the plurality of plug contacts (not shown) disposed within the inner housing 306. The wire seal 304 provides an environmental seal between the plurality of plug conductors (not shown) and the inner housing 306. The wire seal 304 may be formed of an elastomeric material such as rubber, an elastomeric polymer or other similar material.
The inner housing 306 includes an inner housing base portion 352 and a plug contact support portion 354. The inner housing base portion 352 includes tabs 114 for securely assembling the inner housing 306 within the plug housing 102. In another embodiment, the inner housing 306 may contain protrusions, recesses or other fastening features configured to be engaged by corresponding assembly features within the plug housing 102 to securely assemble the inner housing 306 thereto.
The inner housing plug contact support portion 354 is configured to contain a plurality of plug contacts (not shown) therein. The inner housing plug contact support portion 354 includes cavities 307 that provide access to the plurality of plug contacts by the corresponding plurality of receptacle contacts (not shown) of the receptacle connector 110. The plurality of plug contacts may be a plurality of socket contacts configured to mate with the plurality of receptacle contacts (not shown). In another embodiment, the plurality of plug contacts may be pins, blades, sockets, springs or other electrical contacts that correspondingly mate with the plurality of receptacle contacts. The inner housing plug contact support portion includes tabs 210.
The mating seal 308 is disposed around the plug contact support portion 354 and abuts the inner housing base portion 352. The mating seal 304 provides an environmental seal between the inner housing 306 and the TPA member 310. The mating seal 308 may be formed of an elastomeric material such as rubber, an elastomeric polymer or other similar material.
The inner housing plug contact support portion 354 of the inner housing 306 is received within the TPA member 310. The TPA member 310 is configured to assure that the plurality of plug contacts (not shown) are properly received in the inner housing 306, as would be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art. The TPA member 310 includes openings 311 configured to receive the plurality of receptacle contacts (not shown). The TPA member 310 further includes slots 324 for receiving tabs 210 of the inner housing 306 for securely assembling the TPA member 310 thereto. In another embodiment, the TPA member 310 may have protrusions, recesses, slots or other fastener structure corresponding to engaging fastener structure in the inner housing 306 for securely assembling the TPA member 310 thereto.
In another embodiment, the inner housing 306 may be omitted and the structure thereof may be included in the plug housing 102. In another embodiment, the wire seal 304 may be omitted. In another embodiment, the mating seal 308 may be omitted. In another embodiment, the inner housing 306 and the TPA member 310 may be combined into a single member (not shown) not requiring the mating seal 308.
The lever 112 includes side arms 410. The lever 112 further includes a cross member 411 interconnecting the side arms 410. Side arms 410 include an outer surface 412 and an inner surface 414. The outer surface 412 includes pins 113 disposed thereon (a pins is present, but not shown, on the opposite outer surface). The inner surface includes a recess 416. The recess 416 includes a lever insertion engaging surface 116 and a lever ejection engaging surface 117. In this exemplary embodiment, the recess 416 includes an outer surface 412. In another embodiment, the recess 416 may have no outer surface 412.
As can be further seen in
As can be seen in
As can be seen in
The receptacle connector 110 and the plug connector 120 are mated by receiving the receptacle housing insertion portion 204 into the plug housing 102. The receptacle housing insertion portion 204 is shown partially inserted into the plug housing 102 in
At the position where the receptacle housing insertion portion 204 has been manually inserted into the plug housing 102 to contact the lever ejection engaging surface 117 and the cam follower 202, the lever 112 may be rotated from open position A to closed position B (
The electrical connector 100 may be unmated by rotating the lever 112 from closed position B as shown in
While the invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.
