CN115548772A - Electrical connector with improved contact arrangement - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides an electric connector which comprises a shell, a locking mechanism and an actuating component. The shell is provided with a wire outlet side, and a lead connected with the electric connection point is led out of the shell from the wire outlet side; the locking mechanism is movable relative to the housing to a locked position, in which the housing is fixed relative to the other connector, or an unlocked position, in which the housing is separable from the other connector. The actuating component comprises a rotating shaft and a handle, the handle is connected with the rotating shaft to drive the rotating shaft to rotate, the rotating shaft is provided with an actuating structure, the locking mechanism is enabled to be located at the locking position or the releasing position under the action of the actuating structure, and the poking end of the handle is kept at the outgoing line side in the moving process. The invention reduces the movement of the handle in the space between the two electrical connectors.

Description

Electrical connector with improved contact arrangement

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of connectors, in particular to an electric connector capable of reducing the moving space of a handle.

Background

When the electric connector is connected with the other connector to realize electric connection, the electrification of electric equipment is realized, and the power failure is realized after the electric connector is separated from the other connector. In some special places, it is necessary to stably maintain the electrical connection state when the electrical connector is connected to another connector, so that a locking structure is disposed on the electrical connector to lock the electrical connector to another connector.

The locking structure can move in a mode that the handle drives the rotating shaft to rotate, and the handle is similar to a lever mode, so that the force required to be applied by a user when the electric connector is locked or loosened can be reduced.

In the case of a large number of electrical devices, a plurality of other connectors are arranged in a row on the power strip for plugging a plurality of electrical connectors. The handle may protrude excessively from a space between the electrical connector and another adjacent electrical connector during rotation, so that a sufficient space needs to be reserved between the two electrical connectors for movement of the handle, the electrical connectors may not be arranged tightly enough, and the space occupied by the wire-plugging row is large.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, in order to solve one of the technical problems in the related art to a certain extent, it is necessary to provide an electrical connector that reduces the movement of a handle in a space between two electrical connectors.

An embodiment of the present invention provides an electrical connector for electrical connection with another connector adapted to be fitted, the electrical connector including:

a housing in which at least one electrical connection point electrically connectable to the other connector is housed, the housing having an outgoing side from which a wire connected to the electrical connection point is led out of the housing;

a locking mechanism movable relative to the housing to a locked position in which the housing is fixed relative to the other connector or an unlocked position in which the housing is separable from the other connector;

the actuating component comprises a rotating shaft and a handle, the handle is connected with the rotating shaft to drive the rotating shaft to rotate, the rotating shaft is provided with an actuating structure, the locking mechanism is enabled to be located at the locking position or the releasing position under the action of the actuating structure, and the poking end of the handle is kept at the outgoing line side in the moving process.

In the electrical connector provided by this embodiment, the handle drives the rotating shaft to rotate, and the actuating structure acts on the locking mechanism during the rotation of the rotating shaft, so that the locking mechanism is in the locking position or the releasing position. The wire outgoing side is used for leading out the wire, the wire needs to occupy the space of the wire outgoing side, and the electric connectors cannot be arranged at intervals along the wire outgoing side.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides an electrical connector for electrical connection with another connector adapted to be fitted, the electrical connector including:

a flat housing in which at least one electrical connection point electrically connectable to the other connector is housed;

a locking mechanism movable relative to the housing to a locked position in which the housing is fixed relative to the other connector or an unlocked position in which the housing is separable from the other connector;

actuating member, including pivot and handle, the handle with the pivot is connected in order to drive the pivot rotates, the face that the handle rotated swept with the virtual flat extension face of casing is parallel, the pivot has actuating structure, actuating structure is used for making locking mechanism is in locking position or the pine takes off the position.

The electrical connector provided in this embodiment is flat, and a plurality of electrical connectors are spaced apart from each other in a direction perpendicular to the flat direction. The handle drives the rotating shaft to rotate, and in the rotating process of the rotating shaft, the actuating structure acts on the locking mechanism, so that the locking mechanism is in a locking position or a releasing position, wherein a surface swept by the rotation of the handle is parallel to a virtual flat extending surface of the shell, so that the handle cannot move into a space between the two electric connectors, and the two electric connectors can be close to each other.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a first view angle of an electrical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a second perspective structural view of the electrical connector according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an electrical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention when the electrical connector is plugged into a socket row.

Fig. 4 is an exploded view of an electrical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a simplified schematic diagram of the engagement between the pushing member and the rotating shaft according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a simplified schematic diagram of the pusher of fig. 5 after being moved longitudinally rearward by a stroke.

Fig. 7 is a simplified schematic view of the pusher of fig. 6 after it has moved longitudinally rearward by a stroke.

Fig. 8 is a schematic view of the angle of rotation required to achieve the optimum state when only one first protrusion is provided on the rotating shaft.

Fig. 9 is a schematic view of the angle of rotation required to achieve the optimum state when two first protrusions are provided on the rotating shaft.

Fig. 10 is a schematic structural view of an actuating member according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The following detailed description will further illustrate the invention in conjunction with the above-described figures.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments of the present invention without any inventive step, are within the scope of the present invention. It is to be understood that the drawings are provided solely for the purposes of reference and illustration and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. The connection relationships shown in the drawings are for clarity of description only and do not limit the manner of connection.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic structural diagram of an electrical connector 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. For the description of the specific embodiment of the present invention, the lateral, longitudinal and vertical directions are respectively represented by X, Y and Z shown in FIG. 1 without limitation.

The electrical connector 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention is a male plug which can be electrically connected to another connector 200 which is a female plug. It is understood that in other embodiments, the electrical connector 100 may also be a female receptacle, and the mating connector is connected as a male plug.

The electrical connector 100 may be connected to a powered device and the other connector 200 may be connected to a power source. Referring to fig. 3, a plurality of other connectors 200 may be arranged on the wire strip 300 at intervals, and when the electrical connectors 100 are correspondingly plugged onto the wire strip 300, the plurality of electrical connectors 100 may be arranged at intervals along the vertical direction, and a certain space is provided between two adjacent electrical connectors 100.

With continued reference to fig. 1 and 2, the electrical connector 100 includes an insertion side S1 and an outlet side S2, the insertion side S1 being located at a longitudinally forward end and the outlet side S2 being located at a longitudinally rearward end. The inserting side S1 is one end inserted into another connector 200, and the outgoing side S2 is used for leading out the lead 102 connected with the electrical connection point 101 inside the electrical connector 100 to the outside.

Referring to fig. 4, the electrical connector 100 includes a housing 10, a locking mechanism 20, and an actuating member 30.

The housing 10 may be flat, and it is flattened in the vertical direction and extends on the virtual plane formed by the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, so that the electrical connector 100 is substantially flat. The front end of the casing 10 has an opening 103, the electrical connection point 101 is fixed in the casing 10, the rear end of the casing 10 is the wire outgoing side S2, the rear end of the casing 10 has a wire lead port 104, and the wire 102 is connected to the electrical connection point 101 and extends out of the casing 10 from the wire lead port 104.

The actuating member 30 is used to move the locking mechanism 20 into either the locked position or the unlocked position.

In the present embodiment, the locking mechanism 20 may include a pushing member 21 and a locking plate 22, and the locking plate 22 is connected to the housing 10. The pusher 21 has an imaginary longitudinal centre line a, the pusher 21 being longitudinally movable relative to the housing 10. The locking piece 22 can be deformed by pressing, and the pushing piece 21 presses the locking piece 22 to be deformed and pressed on the surface of the other connector 200 in the process of moving backwards and longitudinally, so that the effect of locking the electrical connector 100 and the other connector 200 is realized. After the locking piece 22 is released by moving the pushing piece 21 longitudinally forward, the locking piece 22 no longer presses the surface of the other connector 200, so that the electrical connector 100 can be separated from the other connector 200.

In other embodiments, the locking mechanism 20 may only include the pushing member 21, and the pushing member 21 forms a plug. In the process that the pushing element 21 moves forward longitudinally relative to the housing 10, the insertion sheet is inserted into a space between the electrical connector 100 and the other connector 200, and the insertion sheet increases the relative movement friction and the relative pressing force between the electrical connector 100 and the other connector 200, thereby achieving the locking effect. During the longitudinal movement of the pushing element 21 relative to the housing 10, the male tab is withdrawn from between the electrical connector 100 and the other connector 200 to reduce the friction and the pressure of the relative movement between the electrical connector 100 and the other connector 200, so that the electrical connector 100 can be separated from the other connector 200.

The actuating member 30 actuates the locking mechanism 20. Specifically, the actuating member 30 includes a rotating shaft 31 and a handle 32, the rotating shaft 31 is disposed in the housing 10 and connected to the housing 10, the rotating shaft 31 is disposed vertically, and the handle 32 is connected to the rotating shaft 31 to drive the rotating shaft 31 to rotate relative to the housing 10. The handle 32 may be integrally designed with the rotating shaft 31, and the virtual axis of the handle 32 is the same as the virtual axis B of the rotating shaft 31.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a simplified schematic diagram, which only includes the pushing element 21 and the rotating shaft 31. The rotating shaft 31 extends radially out of the actuating structure 301, and during the rotation of the rotating shaft 31, the actuating structure 301 acts on the pushing element 21, so as to place the locking mechanism 20 in the locking position or the releasing position.

Referring back to fig. 1, the outlet side S2 of the housing 10 has another movable opening 105, and the pulling end 321 of the handle 32 extends out of the housing 10 from the movable opening 105 to the outlet side S2. The handle 32 moves in the movable opening 105 during the rotation, and the pulling end 321 of the handle 32 is always kept on the outlet side S2 during the movement.

Since the wire 102 is led out from the wire outlet side S2, and the wire 102 itself needs to occupy the space of the wire outlet side S2, the handle 32 is disposed on the same side as the wire 102, the handle 32 and the wire 102 jointly occupy the space of the wire outlet side S2, the handle 32 moves on the wire outlet side S2, and the handle 32 does not move into the space between the two electrical connectors 100, so that the two electrical connectors 100 can be closer to each other when vertically and/or horizontally spaced, and more electrical connectors 100 can be arranged in the wire outlet row 300 with the same area. In addition, the movement of the handle 32 is not hindered by other electrical connectors 100, and the handle 32 is easier for the user to operate.

Further, with reference to fig. 5, the rear end of the pushing element 21 has an accommodating space 201, the rotating shaft 31 is located in the accommodating space 201, the pushing element 21 has a front plate 211 located in front of the rotating shaft 31, the pushing element 21 has a rear plate 212 located behind the rotating shaft 31, the front plate 211 and the rear plate 212 are connected by a longitudinal connecting plate 213, and the longitudinal connecting plate 213 is closely attached to the lateral side of the housing 10.

The actuating structure 301 can rotate clockwise or counterclockwise along with the rotating shaft 31, in a top view, the actuating structure 301 rotates counterclockwise to push the front plate 211, so that the pushing piece 21 moves forward longitudinally, and the actuating structure 301 rotates clockwise to push the rear plate 212, so that the pushing piece 21 moves backward longitudinally.

The transverse width of the interior of the electrical connector 100 is limited, the radius of the actuating structure 301 is limited by the space and is small, the rotation of the rotating shaft 31 by a unit angle makes the stroke of the longitudinal movement of the pushing member 21 small, and finally the locking force of the locking mechanism 20 is small, which easily causes the electrical connector 100 and another connector 200 to be loosened, and has a potential safety hazard. Especially when the electrical connector 100 is flat, the vertical height of the electrical connector 100 is more limited, and if the rotating shaft 31 is disposed transversely, not only the problem that the handle 32 moves to the space between two electrical connectors 100 is caused, but also the radius of the actuating structure 301 is further reduced.

In contrast, in the present embodiment, the virtual axis B of the rotating shaft 31 is located on one side in the lateral direction of the virtual longitudinal center line a of the pusher 21, that is, the virtual axis B is not located on the virtual longitudinal center line a. In fig. 5, the rotary shaft 31 is located on the lateral left side. The shaft 31 may be close to the longitudinal connecting plate 213 and spaced from the longitudinal connecting plate 213 only by a small distance. The actuation structure 301 extends in the direction of the other side of the virtual longitudinal centre line a. The radius of the actuating structure 301 can be effectively increased, the rotating shaft 31 rotates by a unit angle, the stroke of the actuating structure 301 for longitudinally moving the pushing piece 21 is larger, and the limited space inside the shell 10 is effectively utilized.

The actuating structure 301 includes a plurality of first protrusions 311 and a second protrusion 312. The second projection 312 moves the pusher 21 in the direction of the release position (longitudinally forward). In a top view, during the counterclockwise rotation of the rotating shaft 31, the second protrusion 312 acts on the front plate 211 to move the pushing member 21 longitudinally forward.

As shown in fig. 6 and 7, the first protrusions 311 sequentially act on the pusher 21 to move in the locking position direction (rearward in the longitudinal direction). The first protrusions 311 are sequentially spaced forward on the rotating shaft 31 in the clockwise direction, and during the clockwise rotation of the rotating shaft 31, the first protrusions 311 sequentially push the pushing member 21 to move toward the locking position (longitudinally backward).

In a specific embodiment example, the actuating structure 301 includes two first protrusions 311, during the process of pushing the pusher 21 to move longitudinally backward, the following first protrusion 311 first acts on the back plate 212 to displace the pusher 21 longitudinally backward by a certain stroke, for example, 2.5mm, the preceding first protrusion 311 takes over, and the following first protrusion 212 continues to act on the back plate 212 to displace the pusher 21 longitudinally backward by a certain stroke, for example, 1.5mm.

In the clockwise direction, the foremost first protrusion 311 has a retaining surface 3111, and when the foremost first protrusion 311 moves longitudinally rearward to the limit position by the pushing member 21, the rotating shaft 31 continues to rotate so that the retaining surface 3111 keeps contact with the rear plate 212, and the pushing member 21 is retained in the locking position.

The reason for this is that: when the pushing member 21 is kept at the locking position, if the contact point of the holding surface 3111 and the back plate 212 is aligned with the virtual axis B of the rotating shaft 31 substantially along the longitudinal direction, the holding surface 3111 and the back plate 212 are most stable, the handle 32 is not easily rotated clockwise by a small external force, and the locking effect is best. As shown in fig. 8, if one first protrusion 311 is provided, in order to bring first protrusion 311 to the above state, first protrusion 311 needs to be rotated clockwise by an angle M, and handle 32 needs to be rotated by the same angle M. As shown in the present embodiment, with reference to fig. 9, when the plurality of first protrusions 311 are provided, and the rotating shaft 31 is rotated clockwise by an angle N (it can be seen that N is smaller than M), the holding surface 3111 of the foremost first protrusion 311 is aligned with the virtual axis B of the rotating shaft 31 substantially longitudinally forward and backward, so that the rotation angle of the handle 32 can be effectively reduced by providing the plurality of first protrusions 311, the movable range of the toggle end 321 of the handle 32 can be further reduced, and the movable space of the handle 32 can be further reduced. In addition, the width of the outgoing side S2 of the electrical connector 100 is inherently small, and the reduction of the moving space of the handle 32 is also beneficial to the movement of the toggle end 321 of the handle 32 to ensure the locking mechanism 20 to lock and to keep the toggle end 321 on the outgoing side S2.

In the clockwise direction, the radial distance from the virtual axis B to the first convex portion 311 located at the front is smaller than the radial distance from the virtual axis B to the first convex portion 311 located at the rear.

As shown in fig. 5, the back plate 212 has a plurality of first contact surfaces 2121 and a second contact surface 2122. The plurality of first contact surfaces 2121 are for contacting with the corresponding first convex portions 311. The first contact surface 2121 for contacting the first convex portion 311 at the forefront is in contact with the second contact surface 2122, and the second contact surface 2122 is another holding surface provided on the rear plate 212 and is held in contact with the holding surface 3111.

The first contact surface 2121 for contacting the foremost first convex portion 311 is an inclined surface, and the inclined surface 2121 is inclined so that the longitudinal direction rear direction gradually becomes distant from the virtual axis B. When the corresponding first protrusion 311 abuts against the inclined surface 2121, as for the inclined surface 2121 relative to the plane, under the premise that the first protrusion 311 rotates by the same angle, the first protrusion 311 acts on the inclined surface 2121 to make the stroke of the longitudinal backward movement of the pushing element 21 greater than the stroke of the first protrusion 311 acting on the plane, that is, the inclined surface 2121 is beneficial to increasing the stroke of the longitudinal backward movement of the pushing element 21.

As shown in fig. 7, when the rotating shaft 31 rotates to the locking position, the inclined surface 2121 may also serve as a blocking surface for blocking the other first protrusion 311 from further rotating, and at this time, in the clockwise rotating direction, the contact point or contact surface where the holding surface 3111 and the back plate 212 are kept in contact may cross the longitudinal line C passing through the virtual axis B of the rotating shaft 31, when the pushing element 21 is to move forward (releasing direction) in the longitudinal direction, the acting force of the other first protrusion 311 and the inclined surface 2121, the acting force of the holding surface 3111 and the back plate 212, and the acting force of the pushing element 21 forward (releasing direction) in the longitudinal direction form a triangular structure, and the action of the other first protrusion 311 and the inclined surface 2121, and the acting force of the holding surface 3111 and the back plate 212 simultaneously limit the pushing element 21 from moving forward (releasing direction) in the longitudinal direction, thereby facilitating the pushing element 21 to be kept at the locking position.

Referring to fig. 10, the plurality of first protruding portions 311 may be distributed at different axial positions of the rotating shaft 31, the first protruding portion 311 located at the front is located at a vertically upper position, the first protruding portion 311 located at the rear is located at a vertically lower position, and correspondingly, the plurality of first abutting surfaces 2121 correspond to different vertical positions, so that the movement of the first protruding portion 311 by the rear plate 212 may be prevented from being hindered.

In another embodiment, the housing 10 of the electrical connector 100 is flat, and is flattened in the vertical direction and extends in an imaginary plane formed by the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, so that the electrical connector 100 is flat. The rotation shaft 31 is perpendicular to the virtual flat extension plane of the housing 10, the surface swept by the handle 32 when the handle 32 rotates is parallel to the virtual flat extension plane of the housing 10, the poke end 321 of the handle 32 can be located at the left side or the right side or the rear side of the housing 10, and the handle 32 does not move into the space between two electrical connectors 100 arranged at intervals of the vertical flat extension plane during the rotation process of the handle 32, so that the two electrical connectors 100 can be closer to each other.

The above description is intended to be illustrative of the preferred embodiment of the present invention and should not be taken as limiting the invention, but rather, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (10)

1. An electrical connector for electrical connection with a mating another connector, the electrical connector comprising:

a housing in which at least one electrical connection point electrically connectable to the other connector is housed, the housing having an outgoing side from which a wire connected to the electrical connection point is led out of the housing;

a locking mechanism movable relative to the housing to a locked position in which the housing is fixed relative to the other connector or an unlocked position in which the housing is separable from the other connector;

the actuating component comprises a rotating shaft and a handle, the handle is connected with the rotating shaft to drive the rotating shaft to rotate, the rotating shaft is provided with an actuating structure, the locking mechanism is enabled to be located at the locking position or the releasing position under the action of the actuating structure, and the poking end of the handle is kept at the outgoing line side in the moving process.

2. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the locking mechanism comprises a pushing member, the pushing member is pushed by the actuating structure to move longitudinally forward and backward, the rotating shaft is vertically disposed, the virtual axis of the rotating shaft is located on one side of the virtual longitudinal center line of the pushing member, and the actuating structure extends toward the other side of the virtual longitudinal center line of the pushing member.

3. The electrical connector of claim 2, wherein the pushing member comprises a front plate, a rear plate, and a longitudinal connecting plate, the front plate and the rear plate are connected by the longitudinal connecting plate, the pushing member pushes the front plate to move forward or pushes the rear plate to move backward by the actuating structure, and the rotating shaft is close to the longitudinal connecting plate.

4. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the locking mechanism includes a pushing member, the actuating structure includes a plurality of first protrusions, the first protrusions are sequentially spaced forward along a predetermined rotation direction, when the rotating shaft rotates in the predetermined rotation direction, the plurality of first protrusions sequentially push the pushing member respectively, so that the pushing member moves in the locking position direction, and the first protrusion at the front end of the predetermined direction has a holding surface for keeping contact with the pushing member to keep the pushing member at the locking position.

5. The electrical connector of claim 4, wherein, in the preset rotation direction, the radial distance from the virtual axis to the first convex part at the front is smaller than the radial distance from the virtual axis to the first convex part at the rear.

6. The electrical connector of claim 4, wherein the pushing member includes a plurality of first abutting surfaces for abutting against the corresponding first protrusions, a second abutting surface for engaging with the first abutting surface abutting against the first protrusion at the forefront, and a retaining surface for retaining the second abutting surface.

7. The electrical connector according to claim 6, wherein the first abutting surface for abutting against the first projecting portion at the forefront is an inclined surface that is inclined so as to be gradually distant from the virtual axis in a direction toward the lock position.

8. The electrical connector of claim 7, wherein the inclined surface further acts as a blocking surface, when the pushing member is in the locking position, the inclined surface blocks another first protrusion from further rotating, and when the retaining surface keeps contact with the pushing member to keep the pushing member in the locking position, a contact point or a contact surface of the retaining surface and the pushing member crosses a longitudinal line passing through a virtual axis of the rotating shaft in a preset rotating direction.

9. The electrical connector of claim 4, wherein when the holding surface is in contact with the pushing member to hold the pushing member in the locking position, the contact point of the holding surface with the pushing member or the contact surface is on the same longitudinal line with the virtual axis of the rotating shaft.

10. An electrical connector for electrical connection with a mating another connector, the electrical connector comprising:

a flat housing accommodating therein at least one electrical connection point electrically connectable to the other connector;

a locking mechanism movable relative to the housing to a locked position in which the housing is fixed relative to the other connector or an unlocked position in which the housing is separable from the other connector;

actuating member, including pivot and handle, the handle with the pivot is connected in order to drive the pivot rotates, the face that the handle rotated swept with the virtual flat extension face of casing is parallel, the pivot has actuating structure, actuating structure is used for making locking mechanism is in locking position or the pine takes off the position.

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