Abstract:
A hermaphroditic connector is provided having a housing with a rear end configured to receive a cable. A socket is provided on the front end of the housing and extends forwardly therefrom. The socket includes a shroud and a socket tongue formed on the housing and defining a pocket opening onto a front face of the socket. The shroud and socket tongue are configured to mate with another hermaphroditic connector having a similar shape. The socket includes at least one blocking member in the opening in the front face to interfere with foreign objects that may inadvertently come into contact with the enclosed conductive member. The blocking member may include ribs and/or beveled corner inserts provided in the pocket and extending at least partially along the length of the socket. A contact is held within the pocket and is configured to join a power, signal or ground cable. The bottom surface of the socket includes one or more grooves and/or chamfered edges configured to align with ribs and/or beveled corner cutouts on a mating connector. In accordance with at least one embodiment, the socket includes a shroud and a socket tongue that are staggered with the length of the shroud being greater than the length of the socket tongue in order to exclude foreign objects without interfering with mating of connectors.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention generally relates to a power connector configured to block foreign objects from being inserted into the mating area of the connector. 
     In the past, genderless or hermaphroditic power connectors have been proposed, wherein mating connector halves have a common shape, yet are matable with one another. To mate genderless connector halves, they are simply inverted 180 degrees with respect to one another before being joined. Exemplary genderless connectors are shown in FIG. 1 at reference numerals  10  and  12 . The connectors  10 ,  12  receive a pair of cables  18  and  18 ′ in the rear ends, respectively. Connecting ends  14  and  14 ′ are formed to define a lower pocket portion including close ended cable terminal receiving pockets  20 ,  20 ′ and  22 ,  22 ′ and an upper socket portion including open ended inverted U-shaped sockets  24 ,  24 ′ and  26 ,  26 ′. The sockets  24 ,  24 ′ and  26 ,  26 ′ are adapted to snugly receive pockets  20 ′,  20  and  22 ′,  22 , respectively. Central partition walls  28 ,  28 ′ extend from the periphery of the connectors  10 ,  12  to define and separate the sockets  24 ,  24 ′ and  26 ,  26 ′. A complimentary slot  30 ,  30 ′ is formed between the pockets  20 ,  20 ′ and  22 ,  22 ′. The slot  30 ,  30 ′ receives the central wall  28 ,  28 ′ when connectors  10 ,  12  are longitudinally engaged with one another. 
     Conventional hermaphroditic power connectors have also been proposed with keying ribs and strengthening ribs formed in the sockets  24 ,  24 ′ and  26 ,  26 ′ and/or on the outside of the pockets  20 ,  20 ′ and  22 ,  22 ′. The keying ribs ensure that only connectors of similar power and intended for similar applications are joined with one another. The strengthening ribs add support to the sockets  24 ,  24 ′ and  26 ,  26 ′. 
     However, conventional genderless power connectors have experienced certain limitations. In particular, the open sockets  24 ,  24 ′ and  26 ,  26 ′ permit foreign objects, such as a finger, tools and the like, to be inserted. The foreign objects may contact the cable terminals  16  which may in turn deliver a high current or high voltage shock to a person or create a large arc with a metallic foreign object. 
     A need remains for an improved genderless or hermaphroditic connector that prevents foreign objects from being inserted into open sockets of the connector. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A hermaphroditic connector is provided having a housing with a rear end configured to receive a cable. A socket is provided on the front end of the housing and extends forwardly from the housing. The socket includes a shroud and a socket tongue formed separate or integral with one another. The connector includes a pocket that opens onto a front face of the socket. The shroud and socket tongue are configured to mate with another hermaphroditic or genderless connector having a similar shape. The socket includes at least one blocking member, such as a beveled corner insert or rib extending at least partially along a length of an interior surface of the pocket. The blocking member interferes with foreign objects that may inadvertently come into contact with the open face of the socket. A contact is held within the pocket and is configured to join a power, signal or ground cable. The socket tongue includes one or more grooves or chamfers configured to interpose with respective ribs or beveled corner inserts on a mating connector. 
     In accordance with at least one embodiment, the length of the shroud is greater than the length of the socket tongue in order that the front face of the shroud projects beyond a lead end of the socket tongue to exclude foreign objects without interfering with mating of connectors. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional genderless power connector. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates an isometric view of a genderless connector formed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 illustrates a bottom isometric view of a contact held within a genderless connector formed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 illustrates a top isometric view of the contact of FIG.  3 . 
     FIG. 5 illustrates a side sectional view of the connector of FIG. 2 taken along line  5 — 5 . 
     FIG. 6 illustrates a side view of a connector formed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 7 illustrates a top sectional view of the connector of FIG. 6 taken along line  7 — 7  in FIG.  6 . 
     FIG. 8 illustrates a top isometric view of a connector formed in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 9 illustrates an isometric view of a connector formed in accordance with an alternative embodiment. 
    
    
     The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of certain embodiments of the present invention, will be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings, certain embodiments. It should be understood, however, that the present invention is not limited to the arrangements and instrumentality shown in the attached drawings. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     FIG. 2 illustrates a genderless or hermaphroditic connector  100  formed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The connector  100  includes a body portion  102  with a rear end  104  configured to receive contacts  150  terminated to power cables (denoted in dashed lines  106 ). A front end  108  of the body portion  102  joins a socket  115  that includes a shroud  120  and a socket tongue  114 . The body portion  102  includes a bottom surface  110  configured to be mounted to a board or chassis, such as with a bolt and nut. The bottom surface  110  includes standoffs  112  configured to space the connector  100  above the structure to which the connector  100  is mounted. Standoffs  112  maintain a desired spacing between the structure, to which the connector  100  is mounted, and the socket tongue  114  to permit joining with a mating connector  100 . 
     The socket tongue  114  extends, forward from the front end  108  by a predetermined distance and terminates at lead end  116 . The socket tongue  114  includes side surfaces  118 . The shroud  120  includes sidewalls  124  that are molded integrally with the socket tongue  114  at support segments  126 . Optionally, support segments  126  may be removed entirely such that the shroud  120  and socket tongue  114  are completely spaced apart from one another and are separately suspended from the body portion  102 . A top wall  128  of the shroud  120  extends between the sidewalls  124  to enclose pockets  130 . While two pockets  130  are shown, optionally a single pocket or more than two pockets  130  may be provided depending upon the number of cables  106  to be accommodated. The pockets  130  open onto a front face  132  of the shroud  120  which mates with a corresponding socket tongue  114  on a mating (inverted) hermaphroditic connector  100 . The thickness of the top wall  128  can be varied to strengthen the shroud  120  to prevent bowing of the top wall  128 . The height of the standoffs  112  can be varied depending upon the thickness of the top wall  128  to space connector  100  off of a mounting surface and accommodate an increased thickness of top wall  128 . 
     The shroud  120  includes a central partition wall  134  extending parallel to the sidewalls  124  and dividing the shroud  120  into pockets  130  aligned side by side and in alignment with separate power cables  106 . The shroud  120  further includes ribs  136  provided in the pockets  130 . The ribs  136  extend parallel to one another from the front face  132  into the pockets  130  along at least a portion of the length of the connector  100 . The ribs  136  project downward from the bottom surface  138  of the top wall  128 . 
     The socket tongue  114  includes a bottom surface  140  having grooves  142  extending parallel to one another and extending rearward from the lead end  116  of the socket tongue  114 . The grooves  142  and ribs  136  are configured to interpose with one another when the socket tongues  114  on one connector  100  are joined within corresponding pockets  130  on an inverted mating connector  100 . The grooves  142  extend to the front end  108  of the body portion  102 , in order that, when mating connectors  100  are joined, the front faces  132  abut against front ends  108 . The ribs  136  reduce an overall interior envelope of each pocket  130  formed by interior surfaces of the top wall  128 , side walls  124  and socket tongue  114 . The overall dimensions of the interior envelope are somewhat dependent on the power conveying capacity of the connector  100 . More specifically, as the power capacity increases, the cable size and contact size similarly increase. As the size of the contact  150  increases, the interior envelope of each pocket  130  also increases. Ribs  136  enable the functional interior envelope of each pocket  130  to remain large, while the unobstructed height  127  is reduced. This prevents large foreign objects from being easily inserted into the pockets  130 . 
     The pockets  130  have a height  125  extending from the bottom surface  138  of the top wall  128  to the top surface  139  of the socket tongue  114 . The ribs  136  extend downward from the top wall  128  by a height  137  into the pockets  130 . The ribs  136  have bottom edges  135  that are spaced a height  127  above the top surface  139  of the socket tongue  114 . The height  127  represents a height of an unobstructed portion of the pocket  130 . 
     The height  137  of ribs  136  is at least approximately one-fourth (and may be one-third) of the height  125  of the pocket  130 , thereby leaving the height  127  of the unobstructed portion to be approximately three-fourths or two-thirds of the height  125  of the pocket  130 . Optionally, the height  137  of the ribs  136  may be extended further down into the pocket  130 , such as to equal one-half of the height  125 . If extended in this manner, the height  127  of the unobstructed portion would only be one-half of the height  125  of the pocket  130 . 
     By way of example only, the height  125  of the pocket  130  may be approximately 9 mm, while the height  137  of the ribs  136  may be approximately 2 mm and the height  127  of the unobstructed portion may be approximately 7 mm. 
     The socket tongue  114  also includes a central channel  144  cut therein and configured to align with the central partition wall  134  on a mating connector  100 . The central partition wall  134  and central channel  144  may be used as a keying feature, wherein connectors  100  used in varying applications within a common system are provided with different sized or configured central partition walls  134  and central channels  144 . 
     FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate an exemplary contact  150  that may be attached to a power cable  106  and inserted into the connector  100 . The contact  150  includes a main body  152  extending along the length of the contact  150 . The main body  152  includes at its rear end a crimp barrel  154  of open or closed design. A power, signal or ground cable may be inserted into a gap  156  in the crimp barrel  154  which is then folded to frictionally grip the cable. Optionally, the crimp barrel  154  and main body  152  may be formed with cable gripping features  158  such as ribs or recessed grooves cut laterally across the contact  150  to facilitate gripping of the cable. The main body  152  also includes a pair of wings  160  located along the sides at an intermediate point along the length of the contact  150 . The wings  160  extend upward from the main body  152  and are positioned to engage a corresponding feature (discussed below) within the connector  100  to prevent the contact  150  from being inadvertently loaded too far forward into the connector  100 . The lead end of the main body  152  of the contact  150  is bent to form a hook portion  162  and to provide a contact surface  164  beyond the hook portion  162 . Contact surfaces  164  on joining contacts  150  mate with one another. The hook portion  162  engages a mating feature (explained below) within the connector  100  to resist removal of the contact  150  from the rear end  104  of the connector  100 : 
     FIG. 5 illustrates a side sectional view taken along line  5 — 5  in FIG. 2 of a connector  100  with a contact  150  loaded therein. The contact  150  is loaded through an opening  105  in the rear end  104  of the body portion  102 . The contact  150  is pressed forward into the pocket  130  until wings  160  abut against an intermediate wall  170  formed on the interior of each pocket  130 . The wall  170  extends downward from the bottom surface  138  of the top wall  128  of the shroud  120 . The intermediate wall  170  extends across a width of the pockets  130  and is spaced a predetermined distance from the front face  132  to properly locate the contact surface  164  of the contact  150  within the pocket  130 . 
     During contact loading, the hook portion  162  on the contact  150  is slid forward under the intermediate wall  170  until latching with a spring  172  that holds the contact  150  in place. The spring  172  has a rear end  174  fixed to a recessed area within the body portion  102  of the connector  100 , for example by heat staking. Once the rear end  174  of the spring  172  is secured in place, an outer end  176  is biased upward into the pocket  130  toward the front face  132 . When the contact  150  is loaded, the hook portion  162  snaps over the outer end  176  of the spring  172 . Optionally, a notched portion  166  may be punched in the contact  150  to form a ledge that engages the outer end  176  of the spring  172  to prevent the contact  150  from being inadvertently pulled rearward out of the pocket  130 . 
     Optionally, the contact may be formed with a split or forked main body (not shown) to form a pair of hook portions separated by a gap. The gap would receive a rib formed on the top surface of the socket tongue and extending upward through the contact. The rib would also extend forward beyond the contact surface to prevent foreign objects from touching the contact. 
     FIG. 6 illustrates a side view of the connector  100  to further explain the relation between the shroud  120  and the socket tongue  114 . The shroud  120  extends forward from the body portion  102  of the connector  100  by a distance greater than the length of the socket tongue  114  to form a staggered or stepped profile for the socket  115 . The staggered profile locates the front face  132  on the shroud  120  beyond the lead end  116  on the socket tongue  114 . Staggering the front face  132  of the shroud  120  with respect to the socket tongue  114  in the manner illustrated in FIG. 6, in combination with the ribs  136  in FIG. 2, prevents foreign objects from being easily inserted into the pockets  130 . Optionally, the front face  132  need not be staggered with respect to the lead end  116  depending upon the size and length of the contacts  150 . 
     The socket tongue  114  also includes tapered pins  178  extending forwardly from the lead end  116 . Each tapered pin  178  is received within a corresponding hole  180  (FIG. 5) formed in the intermediate wall  170  in the pocket  130 . The taper pins  178  in conjunction with the staggered profile of the shroud  120  increase the clearance to the contact  150  from the exterior of the connector  100 . 
     FIG. 7 illustrates a top sectional view of a connector  100  taken along line  7 — 7  in FIG.  6 . In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 7, the contacts  150  are loaded. FIG. 7 better illustrates the tapered pins  178  to extend beyond the outer ends  176  on the contacts  150 . Also, the contacts  150  need not only convey power, but instead may represent signal contacts carrying data or ground contacts. FIG. 7 also better illustrates the abutting relation afforded between wings  160  and the intermediate wall  170  to properly locate the contacts  150  within the connector  100  along the length of the pockets  130 . The holes  180  through intermediate walls  170  are also shown in FIG.  7  and are aligned to receive corresponding tapered pins  178  on a mating connector  100 . 
     FIG. 8 illustrates a connector  200  formed in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the present invention. The connector  200  includes a body portion  202  having a rear end  204  to receive cables. A hole  205  is provided through the body portion  202  to receive a bolt and nut to secure the connector  200  to a board or chassis structure. The body portion  202  includes a front end  208  having a socket tongue  214  extending therefrom, along with a socket  220 . The socket  220  includes a front face  232 , while the socket tongue  214  includes a lead end  216 . The socket  220  includes a top wall  228  and side walls  224  that cooperate with the socket tongue  214  to define pockets  230 . Each pocket  230  includes diagonal ribs  237  extending into the corresponding pocket  230  from a corner at the point of intersection between the top wall  228  and side wall  224 . Diagonal ribs  237  also extend inward into corresponding pockets  230  from the intersection of the top wall  228  and the central partition wall  234 . Central ribs  236  are also provided and extend downward from the top wall  228  into the pockets  230 . Optionally, ribs may be provided on the interior surfaces of the side walls  224  and/or on the interior surfaces of the central partition wall  234  and directed to extend into the pockets  230 . 
     The bottom surface  240  of the tongue  214  includes cut away portions including a central groove  242  and diagonal grooves  243  configured to align with the central and diagonal ribs  236  and  237 , respectively, when corresponding connectors  200  are joined. 
     Optionally, the connector  100 ,  200  may be a right angle connector with the shroud  120 ,  220  and socket tongue  114 ,  214  directed in a direction oriented at a right angle to the rear end  104 ,  204  receiving the cable. In a right angle configuration, the body portion  102 ,  202  and contact  150 ,  250  would be bent at a right angle. Optionally, the configurations of ribs  136 ,  236 ,  237  and grooves  142 ,  242 ,  243  may be reversed such that the interior surfaces of one or more sides of the pockets  130 ,  230  may include grooves  142 ,  242 ,  243  and the bottom of the socket tongues  114 ,  214  may include ribs  136 ,  236 ,  237 . 
     FIG. 9 illustrates a connector  300  formed in accordance with an alternative embodiment. The connector  300  includes a body portion  302  and a socket  315  formed on a front end  308  of the body portion  302 . The socket  315  includes a shroud  320  and a socket tongue  314  formed integral with one another. The socket tongue  314  retains contacts  350 . The socket tongue  314  and shroud  320  are formed in a non-staggered relation such that a front edge  321  of the shroud  320  and a front edge  313  of the socket tongue  314  are formed coplanar with one another. The socket  315  includes a pocket  330  opening onto the front face  332 . 
     Beveled corner inserts  336  are formed in opposite corners of the shroud  320  where sidewalls  324  join the top wall  328 . The beveled corner inserts  336  fill in a portion of the pocket  330  to reduce the size of the opening at the front face  332 . The socket tongue  314  is formed with chamfered edges  342  to remove portions of the socket tongue  314 . When the connector  300  is mated with a similarly shaped connector, beveled corner inserts  336  slide along the chamfered edges  342  of the mating connectors  300 . 
     In addition, and optionally, a central partition wall  334  may be provided with beveled sides  335  flared outward from one another also to fill in a portion of the pocket  330 . A central channel  344  is formed with chamfered edges  345  to receive the beveled sides  335  of the central partition wall  334 . 
     The pocket  330  has a height  325  from the bottom surface of the top wall  328  to the top surface  339  of the socket tongue  314 . The central partition wall  334 , as well as the beveled sides  335  and corner inserts  336 , have a height  337 . The height  327  of the unobstructed portion of the pocket  330  from the top surface  339  of the socket tongue  314  to the bottom surface  331  of the partition wall  334  is reduced by a desired amount in order to prevent finger and/or probe access. 
     The ribs  136  and  236 , beveled sides  335  and corner inserts  336  prevent insertion into the pockets  130 ,  230  and  330  of foreign objects of a predetermined shape. 
     While the invention has been described with reference to certain embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted 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 its scope. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.