Patent Application
20230163513
This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 2021229177005 filed Nov. 25, 2021, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present disclosure relates to the technical field of connectors and, in particular, to a terminal position assurance and a connector.
A terminal position assurance (TPA) is used for the secondary locking of terminals in a connector, and the terminal position assurance is fixed on a socket of the connector.
In the related art, the terminal position assurance adopts a single-row snap design, that is to say, the terminal position assurance is designed with merely one group of snaps, resulting in the poor stability of the terminal position assurance fixed in the socket. During the transportation and transshipment of the connector, the terminal position assurance is easy to loosen and fall off. As a result, the terminal position assurance is easy to separate from the socket, resulting in that the normal use of the terminal position assurance is affected and potential safety hazards may also be caused in severe cases.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to design the terminal position assurance which can be stably fixed on the socket.
The present disclosure provides a terminal position assurance and a connector. The terminal position assurance can be stably fixed on a socket, thereby ensuring the normal use of the terminal position assurance and reducing the possibility of potential safety hazards.
As conceived above, the present disclosure provides the technical solutions described below.
A terminal position assurance includes a positioning body, an upper-row snap, a limiting member, and a lower-row snap.
The positioning body extends along a first direction.
Two upper-row snaps are provided, fixedly connected to the positioning body separately, and disposed opposite to each other.
The limiting member is connected to one side of the positioning body and extends along a second direction which is perpendicular to the first direction.
Two lower-row snaps are provided, fixedly connected to the limiting member separately, and disposed opposite to each other. The two lower-row snaps extend along the second direction.
In an embodiment, the upper-row snap extends along the first direction and has a semi-circular cross-section, and a planar side surface of the upper-row snap is fixedly connected to the positioning body.
In an embodiment, the positioning body includes two positioning blocks disposed opposite to each other, and each positioning block extends along the first direction and is fixedly connected to a respective upper-row snap.
In an embodiment, the positioning body further includes a connection block connected between the two positioning blocks.
In an embodiment, the limiting member is connected to the middle of the positioning body, and the upper-row snap is fixedly connected to one end of the positioning body.
In an embodiment, the two lower-row snaps are respectively connected to two ends of the limiting member in a third direction which is perpendicular to the first direction and the second direction separately.
In an embodiment, the lower-row snap includes a connection rod portion and a hook portion connected to one end of the connection rod portion, the hook portion on one connection rod portion extends towards the other connection rod portion, and the other end of the connection rod portion is fixedly connected to the limiting member.
In an embodiment, the terminal position assurance is an integrally formed structure.
A connector includes a socket and any terminal position assurance described above, where the upper-row snap and the lower-row snap of the terminal position assurance snap into the socket separately.
In an embodiment, the socket includes a first block, a second block, and a third block, the second block is connected to one side of the first block in the second direction, fixing snap grooves are respectively disposed on two sides of the second block in the third direction, the two upper-row snaps snap into two fixing snap grooves respectively, the third block is connected to the other side of the first block in the second direction, fixing hook grooves are disposed on parts of two sides of the third block in the third direction, and the two lower-row snaps are hooked in the fixing hook grooves respectively.
In an embodiment, two pre-locking snap grooves are further respectively disposed on the two sides of the second block in the third direction, each pre-locking snap groove is located on the side of a respective fixing snap groove facing away from the first block, and the two upper-row snaps are capable of snapping into the two pre-locking snap grooves respectively.
Two Pre-locking hook grooves are further respectively disposed on the two sides of the third block in the third direction, each of the pre-locking hook grooves is located on the side of a respective fixing hook groove facing towards the first block, the two lower-row snaps are capable of being hooked in the pre-locking hook grooves respectively.
To make the solved technical problems, adopted technical solutions, and achieved technical effects of the present disclosure more apparent, the technical solutions of the present disclosure are further described hereinafter in conjunction with drawings and embodiments. It is to be understood that the embodiments described herein are intended to merely illustrate and not to limit the present disclosure. Additionally, it is to be noted that for ease of description, merely a part, not all, related to the present disclosure is illustrated in the drawings.
In the description of the present disclosure, unless otherwise expressly specified and limited, terms “connected to each other”, “connected”, and “fixed” are to be understood in a broad sense. For example, the term “connected” may refer to “fixedly connected”, “detachably connected”, or “integrated”, may refer to “mechanically connected” or “electrically connected”, may refer to “directly connected to each other” or “indirectly connected to each other via an intermediary”, or may refer to “internally connected between two components” or “an interactive relationship between two components”. For those of ordinary skill in the art, specific meanings of the preceding terms in the present disclosure may be understood based on specific situations.
In the present disclosure, unless otherwise expressly specified and limited, when a first feature is described as “on” or “below” a second feature, the first feature and the second feature may be in direct contact or be in contact via another feature between the two features instead of being in direct contact. Moreover, when the first feature is described as “on”, “above”, or “over” the second feature, the first feature is right on, above, or over the second feature, the first feature is obliquely on, above, or over the second feature, or the first feature is simply at a higher level than the second feature. When the first feature is described as “under”, “below” or “underneath” the second feature, the first feature is right under, below or underneath the second feature, the first feature is obliquely under, below or underneath the second feature, or the first feature is simply at a lower level than the second feature.
In the description of the embodiment, orientations or position relations indicated by terms such as “upper”, “lower”, “right”, and the like are based on orientations or position relations shown in the drawings. These orientations or position relations are intended merely to facilitate and simplify the description of the present disclosure, and not to indicate or imply that a device or element referred to must have such specific orientations or must be configured or operated in such specific orientations. Therefore, these orientations or position relations are not to be construed as limiting the present disclosure. In addition, the terms “first” and “second” are used merely to distinguish between descriptions and have no special meaning.
This embodiment provides a terminal position assurance which can be stably fixed on a socket and does not easily loosen or fall off, thereby ensuring the normal use of the terminal position assurance.
As shown in
The positioning body 1 extends along a first direction Z. Two upper-row snaps 2 are provided, fixedly connected to the positioning body 1 separately, and disposed opposite to each other. Each upper-row snap 2 can snap into a fixing snap groove 1021 of a socket 10 and the two upper-row snaps 2 can snap onto the socket 10 at the same time so that the terminal position assurance 20 can be positioned on the socket 10.
With continued reference to
Two lower-row snaps 4 are provided, fixedly connected to the limiting member 3 separately, and disposed opposite to each other. The two lower-row snaps 4 extend along the second direction Y. Each lower-row snap 4 is configured to snap into a fixing hook groove 1031 of the socket 10 so as to assist the upper-row snap 2 in making the terminal position assurance 20 snap onto the socket 10. It is to be noted that the upper-row snaps 2 and the lower-row snaps 4 each limit the terminal position assurance 20 in the second direction Y, and the upper-row snaps 2 and the lower-row snaps 4 can also limit the terminal position assurance 20 in the third direction X, where the third direction X is perpendicular to the first direction Z and the second direction Y separately.
In the terminal position assurance 20 provided in this embodiment, the limiting member 3 is provided so that the terminal position assurance 20 can be limited on the socket 10 in the first direction Z. In addition, the upper-row snap 2 and the lower-row snap 4 are provided so that the terminal position assurance 20 can be limited on the socket 10 in the second direction Y and the third direction X. Thus, the terminal position assurance 20 is limited in multiple directions and the multiple limitations can reduce the probability of loosening and falling of the terminal position assurance 20 so that the terminal position assurance 20 can be stably fixed on the socket 10, thereby ensuring the normal use of the terminal position assurance 20 and reducing the possibility of potential safety hazards.
Optionally, as shown in
Further, as shown in
Further, the positioning body 1 also includes a connection block 12 connected between the two positioning blocks 11. The connection block is used for connecting the two positioning blocks 11 so as to define the distance between the two positioning blocks 11. In some embodiments, the connection block can snap into the inserting groove 104.
Optionally, with continued reference to
As shown in
Optionally, as shown in
In some embodiments, the terminal position assurance 20 is an integrally formed structure, that is, the positioning body 1, the upper-row snap 2, the limiting member 3, and the lower-row snap 4 can be formed in a single manufacturing process to have high strength and not easily break. In other embodiments, the terminal position assurance 20 may also be a split structure, which is not limited in this embodiment.
This embodiment provides a connector. As shown in
In the connector provided by this embodiment, the terminal position assurance 20 can be firmly fixed on the socket 10 so that the terminal position assurance 20 does not easily loosen or fall off during the transportation of the connector, thereby improving the reliability of the connector.
Optionally, as shown in
As shown in
Further, with continued reference to
Similarly, two pre-locking hook grooves 1032 are further respectively disposed on the two sides of the third block 103 in the third direction X. Each pre-locking hook groove 1032 is located on the side of a respective fixing hook groove 1031 facing towards the first block 101. The two lower-row snaps 4 can also be hooked in the two pre-locking hook grooves 1032 respectively so as to implement the pre-locking of the terminal position assurance 20.
The preceding embodiments illustrate only the basic principles and features of the present disclosure. The present disclosure is not limited to the preceding embodiments. Various modifications and variations may be made in the present disclosure without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. These modifications and variations fall within the scope of the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202122917700.5 | Nov 2021 | CN | national |
