CN114665323B

CN114665323B - Floating connector and floating socket for satellite in-orbit docking

Info

Publication number: CN114665323B
Application number: CN202210168060.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王建雨; 刘育强; 张磊; 郭建设; 陈杰
Original assignee: China Aviation Optical Electrical Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: China Aviation Optical Electrical Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-02-23
Filing date: 2022-02-23
Publication date: 2023-09-26
Anticipated expiration: 2042-02-23
Also published as: CN114665323A

Abstract

The invention relates to a floating connector and a floating socket for satellite on-orbit butt joint, wherein the floating connector comprises a plug and a socket with front ends inserted in opposite directions, and the plug comprises a guide pin shell with a guide conical surface at the front end and a jack part assembled in the guide pin shell; the socket comprises a square disc shell and a floating sleeve which is suspended in the square disc shell through an inclined ring spring, and a contact pin part is arranged in the floating sleeve; the floating sleeve front end is also provided with an inner chamfer with an insertion guiding function, the guide pin shell and the floating sleeve are matched through a concave-convex structure to realize preliminary alignment during insertion, and meanwhile, the floating sleeve is deformed through the inclined ring spring to realize the adjustment of the gesture in the square disc shell, so that the contact pin component and the jack component are aligned and inserted. The invention realizes the multi-degree-of-freedom movable function of the floating sleeve in the connector socket through the inclined ring spring, and can still realize the smooth insertion of the plug socket when the central axes of the plug socket are not coincident and within a certain deviation range.

Description

Floating connector and floating socket for satellite in-orbit docking

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of connectors, and particularly relates to a floating connector for satellite in-orbit docking.

Background

Most of traditional spacecraft designs are disposable designs, are developed and designed for a single task generally, have no function expansion performance, mainly depend on the high-reliability design of satellites, and under normal conditions, part of spacecraft can still work normally when a preset task is completed or the service life of the spacecraft is up to the end, but due to lack of function expansion and later maintenance, space garbage or any crash of the spacecraft is often only reduced, so that the launching cost is reduced, satellites gradually move to miniaturization and modularization development, and simultaneously in-orbit service technology is introduced, so that later maintenance is realized.

The interface of the on-orbit maintenance docking satellite at present adopts a rod-cone structure mostly, the positioning is realized through the rod-cone structure, the connector interface adopting the structure cannot be plugged in place when the deviation occurs, meanwhile, the connector interface adopting the structure is often large in size, the weight of a single interface is heavy, on one hand, precious space in the satellite is occupied, and on the other hand, the consumption of part of fuel is wasted.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the above problems, the invention provides a floating connector for satellite in-orbit docking with a novel structure, which can still realize the smooth plugging of a plug and a socket when the central axes of the plug and the socket are not coincident and within a certain deviation range, thereby realizing the connection of an electrical interface between the small-sized satellite docking under the assistance of a space manipulator.

The aim and the technical problems of the invention are realized by adopting the following technical proposal. According to the invention, the floating connector for satellite on-orbit docking comprises a plug and a socket, wherein the plug and the socket are inserted in the front end of the plug, and the plug comprises a guide pin shell with a guide conical surface at the front end and a jack component assembled in the guide pin shell; the socket comprises a square disc shell and a floating sleeve which is suspended in the square disc shell through an inclined ring spring, and a contact pin component is arranged in the floating sleeve; the front end of the floating sleeve is also provided with an inner chamfer with an insertion guiding function, the guide pin shell and the floating sleeve are matched through a concave-convex structure to realize preliminary alignment during insertion, and meanwhile, the floating sleeve is deformed through the inclined ring spring to realize the adjustment of the gesture in the square disc shell, so that the alignment insertion of the contact pin component and the jack component is realized.

The aim and the technical problems of the invention can be further realized by adopting the following technical measures.

The floating connector for satellite on-orbit butt joint is characterized in that the periphery of the floating sleeve is also fixed with a centering spring with one side being opened, and two sides of the opening are tightly pressed on the contact surfaces of the centering springs at two sides of the guide structure in the square disc shell, so that the elastic force for keeping the floating sleeve at the centering position is provided, and the automatic centering of the floating sleeve and the limitation of the floating angle are realized.

The above-mentioned floating connector for satellite on-orbit butt joint, wherein the centering spring is contacted with the contact surface of the centering spring through the elastic contact parts at the two sides of the opening of the centering spring, and the elastic contact parts always keep elastic contact with the contact surface of the centering spring in the whole floating stroke of the floating sleeve.

In the above floating connector for satellite on-orbit docking, the elastic contact part is an arc surface formed by outwards bending two sides of the opening of the centering spring.

The above-mentioned floating connector for satellite on-orbit butt joint, wherein the concave-convex structure comprises a guiding groove which is positioned at the periphery of the front end of the guide pin shell and extends along the axial direction and a guiding key which is positioned at the inner side of the front end of the floating sleeve, and the front end of the guiding groove extends to the guiding conical surface of the front end of the guide pin shell.

In the above floating connector for satellite on-orbit docking, the front end of the guiding groove is of an arc flaring structure extending smoothly to two sides, and the front end wall of the guiding groove is of an arc inclined plane so as to facilitate the entry of the guiding key.

The above-mentioned satellite in-orbit butt joint is with floating connector, wherein jack part detachable fix in the guide pin casing, the contact pin part detachable fix in floating sleeve to satisfy contact pin part and jack part's change demand.

The above-mentioned satellite is with floating connector, its characterized in that: the square disk shell is characterized in that an axial floating spring used for meeting axial floating between the square disk shell and the floating sleeve is further arranged between the square disk shell and the floating sleeve.

The floating sleeve is blocked at two sides of the stepped hole on the square disc shell through the shaft shoulder and the shaft retainer ring assembled on the periphery of the floating sleeve, so that the axial limit of the floating sleeve and the shaft retainer ring is realized.

The floating connector for satellite on-orbit butt joint is characterized in that the axial floating spring is positioned between the shaft shoulder and the stepped hole on the square disc shell.

Compared with the prior art, the invention has obvious advantages and beneficial effects. By means of the technical scheme, the invention can achieve quite technical progress and practicability, has wide industrial application value, and has at least the following advantages:

1. when the central axes of the plug and the socket are not coincident and within a certain deviation range, the smooth insertion of the plug and the socket can still be realized.

2. The radial deformation capability of the bevel ring spring is fully utilized, and radial support is provided for the floating sleeve.

3. Under the action of the centering spring, the automatic centering capability of the floating sleeve can be realized.

4. The ability of the floating sleeve to axially deform can be further enhanced by adding a resilient member between the floating sleeve and the receptacle housing.

5. The guide groove of the guide pin shell is matched with the clamping nail of the floating sleeve, so that the relative position relation between the plug and the socket can be determined.

6. The guide pin shape is combined with the plug, so that internal current transmission can be realized while the guide pin shape is guided, and the space is saved.

7. The connector designs the plug shell into a guide pin structure, so that the integral design of the guide pin and the jack realizes the reduction of the size of the whole connector, and the multi-degree-of-freedom movable function of the floating sleeve in the connector socket is realized through two side-by-side inclined ring springs and a centering spring.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a pre-plugging state of a floating connector for satellite in-orbit docking according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a plug structure of a floating connector for satellite in-orbit docking according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a floating connector pin housing for satellite in-orbit docking in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the floating connector receptacle for satellite in-orbit docking according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of a floating connector receptacle for satellite in-orbit docking according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view of a floating connector receptacle for satellite in-orbit docking in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a floating connector receptacle square tray housing for satellite in-orbit docking in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a floating connector receptacle floating sleeve for satellite in-orbit docking according to the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a partial cross-sectional view of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of a centering spring;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a pin;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of a canted coil spring;

fig. 13 is a schematic view of a pin structure.

[ Main element symbols description ]

1: plug

2: socket

3: guide pin housing

4: jack component

5: tail accessory

6: positioning claw

7: guide groove

8: flange plate

9: square tray shell

10: floating sleeve

11: pin component

12: inclined ring spring

13: centering spring

14: shaft retainer ring

15: guide key

16: insulating pressing plate

17: wire sealing body

18: positioning spring

19: guide groove

20: centering spring contact surface

21: insulation body

22: contact pin

23: positioning hole

24: positioning groove

25: centering spring fixing hole

26: staple mounting hole

27: elastic contact part

28: guide pin

29: shaft shoulder

30: protrusions

31: stepped surface

Detailed Description

In order to further describe the technical means and effects adopted by the invention to achieve the preset aim, the following detailed description refers to the specific implementation, structure, characteristics and effects of the floating connector for satellite on-orbit docking according to the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings and the preferred embodiments.

Referring to fig. 1-13, which are schematic structural diagrams of parts of a floating connector for in-orbit docking of satellites according to the present invention, the floating connector includes a plug 1 and a socket 2 with opposite front ends, wherein the plug 1 and the socket 2 are respectively installed at an interface of two satellite devices, the plug 1 and the socket 2 are plugged by an external power device, and the socket 2 is of a floating structure in order to eliminate the influence of deviation in production, manufacturing and assembly on the plugging process.

In order to ensure smooth insertion of the plug and the socket, after the socket is fixed with the mounting panel, the pin module inside the socket has certain radial floating capacity, so that two inclined ring springs are adopted, the inclined ring springs can provide radial deformation, the pin module can be ensured to be in the central position under the condition of no stress, and after the guide pin plug is inserted, the pin module can perform radial adjustment action as required so as to ensure smooth insertion of the contact pair.

The radial floating function is realized between the contact pin module and the socket shell through the bevel ring spring, but when the insulator in the contact pin module is subjected to external force deflection acting force, the insulator is difficult to restore to the initial position, so that the centering spring is added, two sides of the opening of the centering spring are uniformly arranged on two sides of the guide key, the contact pin module and the two sides of the guide groove are simultaneously contacted, and certain pre-pressure is provided, so that the whole jack part can be always in the middle position when the whole jack part is not subjected to external force.

The structure of the plug 1 and the socket 2 according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings and the embodiments.

The front end of the plug 1 is in a guide pin structure, and the plug 1 comprises a guide pin housing 3, a jack component 4 fixed in the guide pin housing 3 and a tail accessory 5 fixed at the tail of the guide pin housing 3. In the embodiment of the invention, the jack component 4 is positioned in the guide pin shell 3 through the positioning claw 6, and the jack of the jack component 4 can realize stable transmission of current after being matched with the corresponding pin at the socket end.

The front end of the guide pin shell 3 is a conical surface with a guiding function, the guide pin shell 3 can provide support for other parts, and the guide pin shell 3 is made of a nonmetallic material and has an insulation and pressure-proof function. The guide pin shell 3 is also provided with a flange 8, and the flange 8 is provided with a flange mounting hole for realizing connection between the plug 1 and an external device.

The periphery of the front end of the guide pin shell 3 is also provided with a guide groove 7 which is matched with a guide key 15 in the socket to guide the plug 1 and the socket 2 in the plugging process, and the guide groove 7 is matched with the guide key 15 to realize preliminary alignment before plugging of the contact pin and the jack. The front end of the guide groove 7 extends at least to the end of the guide tapered surface of the front end of the guide pin housing 3. Preferably, the front end of the guide groove 7 is an arc-shaped flaring structure which smoothly extends to two sides so as to facilitate the entry of the guide key 15. In the embodiment of the present invention, the groove wall at the front end of the guiding groove 7 is an arc inclined surface extending to the conical surface. The guide key 15 is a staple.

The socket 2 comprises a square disc shell 9 and a floating sleeve 10 which is assembled in the square disc shell 9 in a floating mode through an inclined ring spring 12, a pin component 11 is fixed in the floating sleeve 10, the pin component 11 comprises a pin 22 and an insulator 21, the rear end of the pin 22 is fixed in the insulator 21 through a positioning claw 6, the insulator 21 is pressed in the floating sleeve 10 by an insulating pressing plate 16, the insulating pressing plate 16 is fixed in the floating sleeve 10 through a positioning spring 18, and the tail of the pin 21 is sealed with the floating sleeve through a wire sealing body 17. In the embodiment of the present invention, the pin 21 is a 12-gauge crimping pin, which is mainly used for current transmission, and a user can crimp a suitable wire according to needs, and can take out and replace the wire according to needs.

In the embodiment of the invention, two inclined ring springs 12 are respectively positioned in two positioning grooves 24 axially distributed in the square disk shell 9, the inclined ring springs 12 can radially support the floating sleeve 10, and the function of radial elastic support in 360 degrees can be realized, namely, the inclined ring springs have radial elastic deformation capacity, so that the floating capacity of the floating sleeve can be ensured.

The outer periphery of the floating sleeve 10 is also fixed with a centering spring 13 with an opening at one side, two sides of the opening of the centering spring 13 are provided with elastic contact parts 27 which are in pre-pressing fit with the centering spring contact surfaces 20 extending along the radial directions at two sides of the guide groove 19 in the square disc shell 9, and the elastic contact parts 27 are always pressed on the two centering spring contact surfaces 20 of the guide groove 19 and slide along the centering spring contact surfaces 20 when the floating spring 10 radially floats. In the embodiment of the present invention, the elastic contact portion 27 is an arc surface formed by bending the portions of the two sides of the opening of the centering spring 13 outwards. In other embodiments of the present invention, the guiding groove 19 may be other guiding structures such as a protruding key.

The floating sleeve 10 is provided with an internal chamfer at the front end to facilitate guiding during insertion of the pin housing at the plug end. The guide key 15 is a staple fixed at the front end of the floating sleeve.

The rotational angle limitation of the floating sleeve 10 is restrained by precompression of the centering springs 13 fixed thereto and the two side planes of the guide groove 19 of the socket square housing 9. The circular arc surfaces of the centering springs 13 can move relatively on the two side planes of the guide groove 19 when the floating sleeve 10 moves in the radial direction. When the floating sleeve 10 is not rotated, both sides of the guide groove 19 are subjected to the pre-compression force of the centering spring, and the whole is in the force balance position. Under the action of external force, after the floating sleeve 10 rotates along the central shaft by a certain angle, the balance between the two side forces of the guide groove 19 is broken, and one side force is large and the other side force is small. When the external force applied to the floating sleeve 10 is removed, the floating sleeve 10 is returned to the force balance position by the centering spring force 13.

In the embodiment of the present invention, centering spring 13 is secured to pontoon sleeve 10 by guide pins 28, guide pins 28 being interference fitted into centering spring securing holes 25 on floating sleeve 10.

The floating sleeve 10 is blocked at two sides of the stepped hole on the square disc shell 9 through the shaft shoulder 29 and the shaft retainer ring 14 on the floating sleeve, so that the axial limit of the floating sleeve and the stepped hole is realized. The floating sleeve 10 realizes axial limit between the floating sleeve and the square disc shell through the cooperation of the shaft shoulder 29 and the corresponding stop surface in the square disc shell. Specifically, the square disk housing is blocked on the rear end face of the shaft shoulder 29 of the floating sleeve 10 by the bulge 30 in the square disk housing, and the outer ring of the shaft retainer ring 14 fixed in the peripheral groove of the floating sleeve 10 is blocked on the step surface 31 on the square disk housing 9.

In another embodiment of the present invention, an axial floating spring is further provided between the shoulder 29 and the square disk housing inner protrusion 30 to realize axial floating between the floating sleeve 10 and the square disk housing. At this time, both circular arc surfaces of the centering spring 13 are always in elastic contact with both side surfaces of the guide groove 19 in the axial floating stroke of the floating sleeve 10.

In other embodiments of the present invention, the axial floating spring for realizing the axial floating between the square disk housing 9 and the floating sleeve is located at other positions, and in the axial floating stroke of the floating sleeve 10, the two circular arc surfaces of the centering spring 13 are always in elastic contact with the two side surfaces of the guide groove 19.

In order to realize the preliminary positioning of the socket when the socket is connected with external equipment, the square disk shell 9 is also provided with a positioning hole 23 with one open side. The square disk shell 9 is also provided with a plurality of fixing through holes.

The square disk shell is mainly responsible for fixing the socket, not only provides an accommodating space for the bevel ring spring, but also provides initial pre-compression for the centering spring. The floating sleeve is provided with suspension support in the radial direction by the inclined ring spring, and the inclined ring spring has radial elastic deformation capacity, so that the floating capacity of the floating sleeve can be ensured. When the floating sleeve is positioned in the socket, the centering spring fixed on the guide structure restrains the rotating position of the floating sleeve along the central axis, the radial position of the floating sleeve is limited by the inclined ring spring, and the axial position of the floating sleeve is restrained at two sides of the stepped hole of the square disc shell by the shaft shoulder of the sleeve and the shaft retainer ring.

The front end of the plug is in a conical shape, and the chamfer designed on the orifice of the floating sleeve of the socket can play a role in initial guiding. The guide groove on the plug guide pin shell and the clamp pin on the floating socket can realize the initial position correction function of the plug and the socket through the initial guide function, when the floating sleeve is greatly deviated and stressed, the force is transmitted to the two inclined ring springs, the inclined ring springs deform under the action of external force, the posture of the floating sleeve changes along with the deformation, and the smooth insertion of the contact pin and the jack in the next step is facilitated.

The invention can also realize the axial floating function by adding a spring between the floating sleeve and the floating socket shell, and the function belongs to the full-force protection category of the connector.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and any simple modification, equivalent changes and modification made to the above-mentioned embodiments according to the technical matters of the present invention can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. The utility model provides a satellite is floating connector for on-orbit butt joint which includes front end to plug and socket, its characterized in that: wherein the plug includes a guide pin housing having a guide tapered surface at a front end thereof and a jack member fitted in the guide pin housing; the socket comprises a square disc shell and a floating sleeve which is suspended in the square disc shell through at least two inclined ring springs, and a contact pin component is arranged in the floating sleeve; the front end of the floating sleeve is also provided with an inner chamfer with an insertion guiding function, the guide pin shell and the floating sleeve are also subjected to preliminary alignment during insertion through the cooperation of a concave-convex structure, and meanwhile, the floating sleeve is subjected to posture adjustment in the square disc shell through deformation of the inclined ring spring, so that the contact pin component and the jack component are aligned and inserted;

the periphery of the floating sleeve is also fixed with a centering spring with one side being opened, and two sides of the opening are tightly pressed on the contact surfaces of the centering springs at two sides of the guide structure in the square disc shell, so that the elastic force for keeping the floating sleeve at the centering position is provided.

2. The floating connector for satellite in-orbit docking according to claim 1, wherein: the centering spring is contacted with the contact surface of the centering spring through elastic contact parts at two sides of the opening of the centering spring, and the elastic contact parts always keep elastic contact with the contact surface of the centering spring in the whole floating stroke of the floating sleeve.

3. The floating connector for satellite in-orbit docking according to claim 2, wherein: the elastic contact part is an arc surface formed by outwards bending two sides of the opening of the centering spring.

4. The floating connector for satellite in-orbit docking according to claim 1, wherein: the concave-convex structure comprises a guide groove and a guide key, wherein the guide groove is arranged on the periphery of the front end of the guide pin shell and extends along the axial direction, the guide key is arranged on the inner side of the front end of the floating sleeve, and the front end of the guide groove extends to the guide conical surface of the front end of the guide pin shell.

5. The floating connector for satellite in-orbit docking according to claim 4, wherein: the front end of the guide groove is of an arc flaring structure which smoothly extends to two sides, and the front end wall body of the guide groove is of an arc inclined plane.

6. The floating connector for satellite in-orbit docking according to claim 1, wherein: wherein the jack component is detachably fixed in the guide pin shell, and the contact pin component is detachably fixed in the floating sleeve.

7. The floating connector for satellite in-orbit docking according to claim 1, wherein: the square disk shell is characterized in that an axial floating spring used for meeting axial floating between the square disk shell and the floating sleeve is further arranged between the square disk shell and the floating sleeve.

8. The floating connector for satellite in-orbit docking according to claim 7, wherein: the floating sleeve is blocked at two sides of the stepped hole on the square disc shell through the shaft shoulder and the shaft check ring assembled at the periphery of the floating sleeve, so that the axial limit of the floating sleeve and the shaft check ring is realized.

9. The floating connector for satellite in-orbit docking according to claim 8, wherein: the axial floating spring is positioned between the shaft shoulder and the stepped hole on the square disc shell.

10. A floating socket, characterized by: a receptacle in a floating connector according to any one of claims 1 to 9.