Patent ID: 12237629

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described hereinafter in detail with reference to the attached drawings, wherein the like reference numerals refer to the like elements. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiment set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that the present disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent, however, that one or more embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are schematically shown in order to simplify the drawing.

FIG.1shows a schematic diagram of electrically connecting a bus bar20to cables30,31using a connector100according to an embodiment of the present invention. One end of the connector100(i.e., a connecting channel120described below) is inserted into an interface21of the bus bar20so as to be electrically connected to the bus bar20, and an opposite end of the connector100is connected to respective one ends of the two cables30,31. As shown inFIG.1, a housing110of the connector100is marked with “+” and “−” signs, and the cable30connected with a side of the connector100which is adjacent to the “+” sign is a positive cable30, while the cable31connected with another side of the connector100which is adjacent to the “−” sign is a negative cable31. Respective opposite ends of the two cables30,31are respectively electrically connected to a positive electrode plate50and a negative electrode plate60through respective connection terminals40, the positive electrode plate50and the negative electrode plate60are connected to other parts (not shown) of an electrical equipment, and are separated apart from each other by an insulating plate70located therebetween. As such, a relatively large current conducted from the bus bar20is conducted to other parts of the electrical equipment through the connector100, the cables30,31and the electrode plates50,60, so as to form a closed circuit.

Hereinafter, the structure of the connector100according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference toFIGS.2to5.

The connector100comprises a housing110, power terminals130, two grounding terminals140, an auxiliary support member150and a mating plate160. The housing110has a first side wall121, a second side wall122, and a connecting channel120between the first side wall121and the second side wall122, and the connecting channel120extends longitudinally so as to be plugged into the bus bar20. The housing110also has two shoulders111, which are located on two opposite sides of the connecting channel120and extend from the first side wall121and the second side wall122in respective extending directions away from the connecting channel120respectively. In this embodiment, one of the shoulders111extends substantially perpendicular to a respective one of the first side wall121and the second side wall122, and the other one of the shoulders111extends substantially perpendicular to the other one of the first side wall121and the second side wall122. The mating plate160is generally made of copper. The two shoulders111are provided with threaded holes112, respectively, so as to fix a main body161of the mating plate160to the two shoulders111and the main body161is provided with an opening1611through which the connecting channel120passes, so as to facilitate assembling the mating plate160onto the connector100. Two wings162of the mating plate160extend longitudinally from the main body161in respective lengthwise directions away from the connecting channel120, respectively, so as to connect to a ground wire (not shown) in the electrical equipment, and the two wings162are provided with a plurality of perforations1621for heat dissipation and are located outside the two cables30,31respectively (seeFIG.1), so that heat generated when a relatively large current passes through the two cables30,31dissipates through the plurality of perforations1621in the two wings162.

In this embodiment, the connector100comprises two grounding terminals140located outside the connecting channel120, respectively. Each of the grounding terminals140is in a form of a substantially “L” shape, and a part of each of the grounding terminal140(i.e., first fingers141described below) may be disposed on the first side wall121or the second side wall122of the connecting channel120, and the other part (i.e., fixing fingers142described below) of each of the grounding terminal140may be provided on each of the two shoulders111.

In this embodiment, the connector100comprises two power terminals130electrically connected to the positive cable30and the negative cable31respectively, and each of the power terminals130has an electrical connecting component131disposed inside the connecting channel120. The electrical connecting component131may be used for electrically connecting with the bus bar20to be plugged, and two electrical connecting components131are arranged to be spaced apart from each other on the first side wall121and the second side wall122of the connecting channel120respectively, as shown inFIGS.2to3.

Therefore, the power terminals130are spaced apart from the grounding terminals140by the connecting channel120, which greatly reduces or even eliminates a risk of short circuit of the power terminals130in some cases, and thus improves safety performance of the connector100and the electrical equipment comprising the connector100.

As shown inFIGS.2to6, each of the grounding terminals140located outside the connecting channel120has at least one first finger141which is elastic, which protrudes away from the connecting channel120and is bent so as to reliably abut in the bus bar20when the connecting channel120is plugged into the bus bar20, which also facilitates plugging the connector100detachably into the bus bar20in a reliable and stable manner. In order to enhance such reliable and stable insertion, the auxiliary support member150is used to cooperate with the at least one first finger141so as to provide an auxiliary support to the at least one first finger141, and the auxiliary support member150will be described in detail below. When the connecting channel120passes through the opening1611of the mating plate160, due to manufacturing tolerance or assembly error of the mating plate160or the housing110of the connector100, the connecting channel120may be offset relative to the opening1611of the mating plate160. However, due to this structural arrangement, the offset will not affect a reliable abutment of the at least one first finger141in the bus bar20, thus avoiding the problem of insufficient elastic force provided by the grounding terminals140in the existence of the offset. Although three first fingers141are specifically shown here, this is not limitative, and specific number of the first fingers141may be set as appropriate.

As described above, in order to enhance respective elastic forces provided by the at least one first finger141, then, as shown inFIGS.2to5, the connector100further comprises the auxiliary support member150, which comprises a first auxiliary arm151, a fixing part152, and a connecting component153. The first auxiliary arm151has substantially the same curvature as the first fingers141, extends transversely to the first fingers141and is located between the first fingers141and one of the first side wall121and the second side wall122. Therefore, when the first fingers141are inserted into the bus bar20, the first auxiliary arm151prevents the first fingers141from being compressed and deformed into respective shapes having a smaller curvature, so as to ensure the curvature of the first fingers141and a reliable elastic force provided by the first fingers141. The auxiliary support member150is formed independently from the grounding terminal140. The grounding terminals140are generally made of copper. The auxiliary support member150is made of stainless steel, which effectively prevents the first auxiliary arm151from losing elasticity due to stress relief at relatively high temperatures.

As shown inFIGS.4to5, the fixing part152is fixed onto respective grounding terminal140on a side of the grounding terminal140opposite to (i.e., facing away from) the connecting channel120by a suitable method (for example, welding, bonding, etc.), and each of two connecting components153extends from the fixing part152through a gap between two adjacent first fingers141to the first auxiliary arm151.

As described above, in order to facilitate fixing the grounding terminals140to respective shoulders111, each of the grounding terminals140further has two fixing fingers142, and each of the two fixing fingers142is fixed, by respective first plug-in parts144protruding therefrom, to a respective shoulder111. In order to enhance the abutment between the grounding terminal140and the mating plate160and in turn improving a grounding performance of the grounding terminal140, each of the grounding terminals140also has two second fingers143which are elastic, which are located between the two fixing fingers142and extend obliquely from a plane defined by the two fixing fingers142, so that when the two fixing fingers142and the two second fingers143are sandwiched between the respective shoulder111and the main body161of the mating plate160, the second fingers143reliably abuts against the mating plate160so as to ensure reliable contact between each of the grounding terminals140and the mating plate160. In order to further facilitate fixing each of the grounding terminals140to the respective shoulder111, a second plug-in part145is arranged between respective roots1431of the two second fingers143and protrudes from between the roots1431, for being plugged into the respective shoulder111. In the embodiment of the present application, both the first plug-in parts144and the second plug-in part145are all set into the shape of a tuning fork, however, they may also be set into other suitable shapes according to actual needs. In the present application, the specific number of the first plug-in parts144and the second plug-in part145may not be restrictive.

By this fixing method of the grounding terminals140and the substantially “L”-shaped structure of the grounding terminals140, each of the grounding terminals140is basically abutted against the respective shoulder111of the housing110of the connector100and a respective surface of the connecting channel120(seeFIGS.2and3), facilitating installation of the grounding terminals140onto the connector100in a limited space, saving installation space for the grounding terminals140, and providing convenience for installation of other components.

FIG.6shows another embodiment of the grounding terminal140, and for the sake of clarity, the auxiliary support member150is omitted in this embodiment. The only difference between the embodiment shown inFIG.6and the embodiment shown inFIG.4lies in that the grounding terminal140inFIG.6is also provided with a second auxiliary arm146, which is connected between the two fixing fingers142and is located between the respective shoulder111and the second fingers143and projects curvedly towards the second fingers143. Free ends of the second auxiliary arm146may be oriented toward roots1431of the second fingers143. The second auxiliary arm146is configured to prevent the second fingers143from being pressed against the respective shoulder111, which further ensures that the second fingers143may be reliably abut against the main body161of the mating plate160.

As shown inFIGS.1to3, at the opposite ends of the connector100, portions132of the two power terminals130exposed outside the housing110are fixed to respective cables30,31by bolts1321respectively, and thus are in direct electrical contact with the cables30,31, respectively.

In addition, those areas in which it is believed that those of ordinary skill in the art are familiar, have not been described herein in order not to unnecessarily obscure the invention described. Accordingly, it has to be understood that the invention is not to be limited by the specific illustrative embodiments, but only by the scope of the appended claims.

It should be appreciated for those skilled in this art that the above embodiments are intended to be illustrated, and not restrictive. For example, many modifications may be made to the above embodiments by those skilled in this art, and various features described in different embodiments may be freely combined with each other without conflicting in configuration or principle.

Although several exemplary embodiments have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes or modifications may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the disclosure, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.

As used herein, an element recited in the singular and proceeded with the word “a” or “an” should be understood as not excluding plural of the elements or steps, unless such exclusion is explicitly stated. Furthermore, references to “one embodiment” of the present disclosure are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features. Moreover, unless explicitly stated to the contrary, embodiments “comprising” or “having” an element or a plurality of elements having a particular property may include additional such elements not having that property.