CN115566475A - Wet plug connector and butt joint method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a wet plug connector and a butt joint method thereof, belonging to the technical field of underwater connectors, wherein the wet plug connector comprises a male head assembly and a female head assembly which are oppositely arranged; the male head assembly comprises a male head shell and a male head guide shell, the male head shell is connected with the underwater connection box, and the male head guide shell is sleeved on the periphery of the male head shell and is fixedly connected with the male head shell; the female head assembly comprises a female head shell and a connecting cylinder, the female head shell and the male head shell are arranged oppositely, and a female head limiting table is arranged on the periphery of the female head shell; female first shell periphery is located to the connecting cylinder cover, the laminating of connecting cylinder inner wall and female first spacing platform to and female first shell outer wall between form annular interval space. When female first subassembly and public first subassembly butt joint, public first shell first end butt in female spacing platform. The wet-plug connector provided by the invention can guide the butt joint process of the male head assembly and the female head assembly so as to prevent the clamping phenomenon, and has the advantages of high butt joint efficiency, high butt joint precision and good butt joint effect.

Description

Wet plug connector and butt joint method thereof

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of underwater connectors, and particularly relates to a wet plug connector and a butt joint method thereof.

Background

The underwater wet plugging connector is used as a node for signal and power transmission, can realize transmission of optical signals, electric signals and electric energy and mechanical connection, and is one of important parts for ensuring normal work of the underwater connection box. At present, underwater wet plugging and unplugging connectors are widely applied to seabed observation networks, ocean drilling platforms, underwater robots and various ocean towing equipment.

In recent years, with the construction implementation of projects such as a national submarine science observation network and the like, the demand of underwater wet-plug connectors is increasing, and with the construction depth of ocean projects in the ocean, the requirements of performances such as the butt joint accuracy and the connection firmness of the underwater wet-plug connectors are also stricter. In practical use, the underwater wet plugging and unplugging connector needs to be butted and separated for many times, the butting and the separation are completed in a complex underwater environment, once the butting precision of the underwater wet plugging and unplugging connector is not enough or the connection is not firm, the normal work of the underwater connection box is directly influenced, and the underwater connection box has high maintenance cost and is inconvenient to maintain in the deep water environment due to the complex underwater environment. The butt joint and the separation of the underwater wet plug connector are realized by a remote control unmanned submersible vehicle (ROV robot for short), although the ROV robot has high automation and intelligence degrees, when the deviation or the clamping phenomenon occurs in the underwater wet plug connector, the ROV robot still cannot be operated as manually and flexibly. Therefore, the existing underwater wet plugging connector cannot well meet the actual needs of people.

Disclosure of Invention

Aiming at the defects in the prior art, the invention provides the wet plug connector and the butt joint method thereof, which are used for guiding and positioning the butt joint process of the male head assembly and the female head assembly of the wet plug connector, preventing the phenomenon of jamming in the butt joint process and facilitating the butt joint of the wet plug connector.

The invention provides a wet-plug connector, comprising:

a male component, comprising:

the male shell is provided with a first end and a second end, the first end of the male shell is an open end, and the second end of the male shell is connected with the underwater connection box;

the male head guide shell is of a structure with openings at two ends, the male head guide shell is sleeved on the periphery of the male head shell, one end of the male head guide shell extends towards the first end of the male head shell and exceeds the first end of the male head shell, and the other end of the male head guide shell is arranged towards the direction close to the second end of the male head shell and is fixedly connected with the male head shell; an annular chamfer is formed in the inner wall of one end, away from the second end of the male shell, of the male guide shell so as to increase the size of an opening at the extending end of the male guide shell;

female first subassembly, it sets up with public first subassembly relatively, and female first subassembly includes:

the female shell is provided with a first end and a second end, the second end of the female shell is an opening end, and the second end of the female shell is opposite to the first end of the male shell; a female head limiting table is arranged on the periphery of the female head shell;

the connecting cylinder is sleeved on the periphery of the female head shell, the inner wall of the connecting cylinder is attached to the female head limiting table, and an annular space is formed between the inner wall of the connecting cylinder and the outer wall of the female head shell; the two ends of the connecting cylinder are arranged in one-to-one correspondence with the first end and the second end of the female shell, one end of the connecting cylinder, which corresponds to the second end of the female shell, extends beyond the second end of the female shell, and the inner wall of one end of the connecting cylinder, which extends beyond the second end of the female shell, is provided with an annular chamfer so as to increase the opening size of one end of the connecting cylinder, which faces the male component, and the annular chamfer angle of the connecting cylinder is smaller than that of the male guide shell;

wherein, when female first subassembly and public first subassembly butt joint, public first shell first end butt in female first spacing platform and lie in annular interval space.

According to the technical scheme, the male head guide shell is arranged, the male head guide shell is used for limiting the connecting position of the female head shell and the male head shell, the female head shell is positioned, and the female head shell is guided to be in butt joint with the male head shell; the connecting cylinder is arranged, and the connecting position of the female head shell and the male head shell is secondarily positioned by the connecting cylinder; the annular chamfer is arranged on the male head guide shell to increase the size of the opening of the guide shell and prevent the male head guide shell from limiting the range of the connecting position of the female head shell and the male head shell too little so that the female head shell and the male head shell are difficult to position; through set up annular chamfer at the connecting cylinder to increase connecting cylinder opening size, prevent that the connecting cylinder from too big to the range of shrinkage limit of female first shell and public first shell hookup location scope, lead to female first shell and public first shell card to be other.

In some embodiments, the male assembly further comprises a male housing sleeve, the male housing sleeve is sleeved on the periphery of the male housing, the periphery of the male housing is provided with a male first limiting table, and the male housing sleeve abuts against the male first limiting table; when female first subassembly and public first subassembly butt joint, public first shell sleeve is kept away from the first spacing platform's of public head one end and female spacing platform butt joint.

In some embodiments, the female assembly further comprises a locking assembly, the locking assembly comprising a locking link and a locking hook, the locking link being parallel to the female housing and the locking link being fixedly connected to the female stop; the locking hook is in an inverted triangle structure and is fixedly connected to one end, far away from the female head limiting table, of the locking connecting rod and arranged facing the outer wall of the female head shell; when the female head assembly is in butt joint with the male head assembly, the lock hook is clamped with the first limiting table of the male head.

In some embodiments, the connecting cylinder is provided with an avoiding groove extending along the longitudinal direction of the connecting cylinder, the locking connecting rod is positioned in the avoiding groove, and the avoiding groove is internally provided with an unlocking block for unlocking the latch hook from being clamped with the first limiting table of the male head.

In some embodiments, the lock hook is connected with an indicating assembly for displaying whether the lock hook is locked in place, the indicating assembly comprises an indicating connecting rod and an indicating valve, one end of the indicating connecting rod is connected with the lock hook, and the indicating valve is arranged at one end of the indicating connecting rod, which is far away from the lock hook; the indication connecting rod and the locking connecting rod are arranged at an angle, a female guide shell is fixedly sleeved on the periphery of the connecting cylinder, the indication connecting rod is rotatably connected with the female guide shell through a connecting shaft, a hole matched with the indication valve is formed in the female guide shell, and when the lock hook is connected with a first male limiting table in a clamping mode, the indication valve protrudes from the hole.

In some of these embodiments, the male housing sleeve is provided with a guide post, the connector barrel is provided with a guide slot extending along the axis of the connector barrel, and one end of the guide slot facing the second end of the female housing is an open end to circumferentially position the connection position of the female housing and the male housing.

In some of these embodiments, a grip is also included, the grip being fixedly attached to the connector barrel and the grip being located at the closed end of the female housing.

Besides, the invention also provides a butt joint method of the wet plug connector, which is used for butt joint of the wet plug connector and comprises the following steps:

primary positioning: moving the female head assembly to the first end of the male head shell, and enabling the second end of the female head shell to be close to one end, extending towards the first end of the male head shell, of the male head guide shell so as to initially position the butt joint position of the female head shell and the male head shell by utilizing the opening at the extending end of the male head guide shell;

secondary positioning: the connecting cylinder is close to the male shell sleeve, and the male shell sleeve can extend into one end of the connecting cylinder, which faces the male assembly, so that the butt joint position of the female shell and the male shell is secondarily positioned by the connecting cylinder;

circumferential positioning: rotating the female shell along the axis of the male shell until the guide post corresponds to the guide groove, so that the guide post can slide along the guide groove towards the direction close to the female shell;

preliminary butt joint: moving the female shell towards the direction close to the male shell, and enabling the sleeve of the male shell to extend into the gap;

butt joint and locking: when public first shell sleeve move to with the spacing platform butt of female head, latch hook and the first spacing platform joint of public head to accomplish the butt joint locking of female first shell and public first casing.

In some embodiments, in the moving process of the female shell towards the direction close to the male shell, the lock hook is always abutted against the outer wall of the sleeve of the male shell, and the indicating valve retracts from the yielding hole until the lock hook is clamped with the first limiting table of the male shell, and protrudes out of the yielding hole.

In some embodiments, the underwater docking is performed by using an underwater robot, and the underwater robot drives the female head assembly to move through the gripper so as to complete the docking locking of the female head assembly and the male head assembly.

Based on the technical scheme, the wet-plug connector in the embodiment of the invention can guide the butt joint process of the male head assembly and the female head assembly so as to prevent the clamping phenomenon, and the butt joint efficiency, the butt joint precision and the butt joint effect of the male head assembly and the female head assembly are high.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the invention without limiting the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wet-mate connector according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a female housing and a male housing of an embodiment of a wet-mate connector according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a male plug assembly according to an embodiment of the wet-mate connector of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a male plug assembly in one embodiment of the wet-mate connector of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a male housing according to an embodiment of the wet-mate connector of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a locking assembly for locking a mating female housing to a mating male housing in an embodiment of a wet-mate connector according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a female housing according to an embodiment of the wet-mate connector of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a female connector assembly according to an embodiment of the wet-mate connector of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of the female housing and locking assembly of one embodiment of the wet-pluggable connector of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of the female connector assembly assembled with the cable jacket in an embodiment of the wet-connect/disconnect connector of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a connector barrel according to an embodiment of the wet-mate connector of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of a male component and a female component of an embodiment of the wet pluggable connector according to the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a schematic view of an unassembled male and female lead housing of an embodiment of a wet-mate connector according to the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a schematic view of a wet-mate electrical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention in a circumferentially positioned, unmated configuration;

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of a wet-mate connector according to an embodiment of the present invention during a mating process;

FIG. 16 is a schematic view of a wet-pluggable connector according to an embodiment of the present invention in a mated state;

FIG. 17 is a schematic view of a retainer ring according to an embodiment of the wet pluggable connector of the present invention;

fig. 18 is a schematic view of the assembly of the retainer ring and the connector barrel of an embodiment of the wet pluggable connector of the present invention.

In the figure:

1. a gripper; 2. a female component; 3. a male component; 4. a support; 5. a cable housing; 6. a locking assembly; 7. an indicating component;

21. a female housing; 22. a connecting cylinder; 23. a female guide shell; 211. a female head limiting table; 221. a connecting portion; 222. an avoidance groove; 223. a guide groove; 224. unlocking the block;

234. a limiting ring; 2341. a notch; 231. a projection; 232. a hole of abdication; 233. a connecting shaft;

31. a male housing; 32. a male housing sleeve; 33. a male guide housing; 34. a guide post; 311. a male first limit table; 312. a male second limit table; 313. a male ring groove; 331. a groove;

51. a seal ring;

61. a locking link; 62. a latch hook; 63. a ball screw;

71. an indicator valve; 72. an indication link.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. It is to be understood that the described embodiments are merely some embodiments of the invention, and not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments of the present invention without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

In the description of the present invention, it is to be understood that the terms "central," "lateral," "longitudinal," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," and the like are used in the orientations and positional relationships indicated in the drawings for convenience in describing the present invention and for simplicity in description, and are not intended to indicate or imply that the referenced devices or elements must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and are therefore not to be considered limiting.

The terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature.

In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, e.g., as meaning either a fixed connection, a removable connection, or an integral connection; they may be connected directly or indirectly through intervening media, or they may be interconnected between two elements. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood in a specific case to those of ordinary skill in the art.

As shown in fig. 1-3, in an exemplary embodiment of the wet pluggable connector of the present invention, the wet pluggable connector includes a male connector 3 and a female connector 2, the male connector 3 is disposed opposite to the female connector 2, the male connector 3 is connected to an underwater connection box through a bracket 4, an equipment cable passes through the inside of the bracket 4 and is connected to the male connector 3, the female connector 2 is connected to an external cable, and the female connector 2 can be plugged into the male connector 3 under an external force. The male assembly 3 comprises a male housing 31 and a male guide shell 33, the male housing 31 is used for connecting with the female assembly 2 to form a connection cavity, so that the equipment cable and the external cable can perform signal transmission in the connection cavity, the male housing 31 has a first end and a second end, the first end of the male housing 31 is an open end, and the second end of the male housing 31 is connected with the bracket 4; the male head guide shell 33 is used for roughly positioning the butt joint position of the female head assembly 2 preliminarily and guiding the male head shell 31 to be in butt joint, the male head guide shell 33 is of a structure with openings at two ends, the male head guide shell 33 is sleeved on the periphery of the male head shell 31, one end of the male head guide shell 33 extends towards the first end of the male head shell 31 and exceeds the first end of the male head shell 31, and the other end of the male head guide shell 33 extends towards the second end of the male head shell 31 and is fixedly connected with the male head shell 33; public first guide shell 33 has seted up annular chamfer towards the inner wall that public first shell 31 extends one end to the public first guide shell 33 of increase extends the opening size of one end, thereby is convenient for carry out preliminary location to female first subassembly 2. As shown in fig. 2, 6 and 7, the female connector assembly 2 includes a female connector housing 21 and a connector 22, the female connector housing 21 is used for being abutted with the male connector housing 31 and forming a connection cavity so that the device cable and the external cable can perform signal transmission in the connection cavity, the female connector housing 21 has a first end and a second end, the second end of the female connector housing 21 is an open end, and the second end of the female connector housing 21 is arranged opposite to the first end of the male connector housing 31; a female limiting table 211 is arranged on the periphery of the female shell 21 to limit the connection position of the female shell 21 and the male shell 31; the connecting cylinder 22 is sleeved on the periphery of the female head shell 21, the inner wall of the connecting cylinder 22 is attached to the female head limiting table 211, and an annular space is formed between the inner wall of the connecting cylinder 22 and the outer wall of the female head shell 21; connecting cylinder 22 is used for guiding female shell 21 and butt joint with public first shell 31, and the both ends of connecting cylinder 22 and the first end and the second end one-to-one setting of female shell 21, and the one end that connecting cylinder 22 and female shell 21 second end correspond extends and surpasss the second end of female shell 21 to the annular chamfer has been seted up to the one end inner wall that connecting cylinder 22 and female shell 21 second end correspond, with the open size of the one end of increase connecting cylinder 22 towards public first subassembly 3. When female first subassembly 2 docks with public first subassembly 3, public first shell 31 first end butt is in female spacing platform 211 to the partial lateral wall of public first shell 31 is located the annular interval space, and connecting cylinder 22 is located public first guide shell 33 inboard. It should be noted that the angle of the annular chamfer of the connecting cylinder 22 is smaller than the angle of the annular chamfer of the male guiding shell 33, so that the butt joint position of the male assembly 3 and the female assembly 2 can be gradually reduced in the butt joint process of the male assembly 3 and the female assembly 2; it is further noted that the end of the connector barrel 22 extending beyond the second end of the female housing 21 is disposed toward the male component 3.

In order to prevent the male shell 31 and the female shell 21 from being damaged by rigid collision in the butt joint process, as shown in fig. 2-5, the male component 3 further includes a male shell sleeve 32, the male shell sleeve 32 is sleeved on the periphery of the male shell 31, a male first limit table 311 is arranged on the periphery of the male shell 31, and the male shell sleeve 32 abuts against the male first limit table 311 and is fixedly connected with the male shell 31; when the female assembly 2 is butted with the male assembly 3, one end of the male housing sleeve 32, which is far away from the first male limiting table 311, is butted with the female limiting table 211; it should be noted that, one end of the male housing sleeve 32 away from the male first limiting table 311 is aligned with or slightly longer than the first end of the male housing 31; it should be further noted that the male shell 31 is further provided with a male second limiting table 312, a male annular groove 313 is formed in the periphery of the second end of the male shell 31, the support 4 abuts against the male second limiting table 312, and a support sealing ring is connected in the male annular groove 313 to prevent seawater from entering the underwater connection box from a connection gap between the support 4 and the male shell 31; in addition, the male guide shell 33, the male housing 31 and the bracket 4 are fixedly connected to each other by a connector such as a screw.

In order to increase the firmness of the connection between the female head assembly 2 and the male head assembly 3 after the butt joint, as shown in fig. 6 and 9, the female head assembly 2 further comprises a locking assembly 6, the locking assembly 6 comprises a locking link 61 and a locking hook 62, the locking link 61 is parallel to the female head housing 21, and one end of the locking link 61 is fixedly connected to the female head limit table 211; the locking hook 62 is in an inverted triangle structure, the locking hook 62 is fixedly connected to one end of the locking connecting rod 61 far away from the female head limiting table 211, and the locking hook 62 is arranged facing the outer wall of the female head shell 21; when the female head assembly 2 is butted with the male head assembly 3, the latch hook 62 is clamped with the first male head limiting table 311. It should be noted that, the latch hooks 62 and the latch link 61 are integrally formed, the number of the latch assemblies 6 is preferably two, the two latch assemblies 6 are symmetrically arranged, and since the latch hooks 62 are in an inverted triangle structure, the linear distance between the two latch hooks 62 is changed, and the linear distance between the two latch hooks 62 is increased as the distance from the latch hook 62 to the male housing 31 is reduced; when female first subassembly 2 and public first subassembly 3 butt joint, public first shell 31 stretches into in the annular interval space, and the distance between two latch hooks 62 increases under public first shell 31's effect to two latch hooks 62 and the mutual butt of public first shell 31, when public first shell sleeve 32 and the spacing platform 211 butt of female head, latch hook 62 joint in the first spacing platform 311 of public head, the straight-line distance between two latch hooks 62 resumes original length, so that public first shell 31 and female first shell 21 can be firm in an organic whole.

As the connecting cylinder 22 and the male guide shell 33 are arranged on the outer sides of the male shell 31 and the female shell 21, and when the male shell 31 and the female shell 21 are butted, under the blocking action of the connecting cylinder 22 and the male guide shell 33, and the like, whether the male shell 31 and the female shell 21 are connected in place and locked cannot be visually seen, the latch hook 62 is connected with the indicating assembly 7 for displaying whether the male shell is locked in place, as shown in fig. 6-11, the indicating assembly 7 comprises the indicating connecting rod 72 and the indicating valve 71, one end of the indicating connecting rod 72 is connected with the latch hook 62, and the indicating valve 71 is arranged at one end of the indicating connecting rod 72 away from the latch hook 62; one side of the locking hook 62, which is far away from the female shell 21, is connected with a ball screw 63, the locking hook 62 is connected with an indicating connecting rod 72 through the ball screw 63, and an angle exists between the indicating connecting rod 72 and the locking connecting rod 61; the fixed cover of periphery of connecting cylinder 22 is equipped with female first guide shell 23, and instruction connecting rod 72 rotates with female first guide shell 23 through connecting axle 233 and is connected, and female first guide shell 23 is equipped with the hole 232 of stepping down with the cooperation of indicating valve 71, and when latch hook 62 and the first spacing platform 311 joint of public head, indicating valve 71 is followed and is stepped down in the hole 232 and salient. It should be noted that, the outer periphery of the female guide shell 23 is provided with a protruding portion 231, the relief hole 232 is opened on the outer wall of the protruding portion 231, and the inside of the protruding portion 231 is a cavity to accommodate the retracted indicating valve 71; meanwhile, the male guide shell 33 is provided with a groove 331 corresponding to the protrusion 231, and when the latch hook 62 is latched with the first male limiting table 311, the protrusion 231 is matched with the groove 331 to indicate that the male housing 31 and the female housing 21 are connected in place. As shown in fig. 14, when no external force acts on the latch hook 62, the latch hook 62 is in an original state, and the indicating link 72 is disposed at an angle to the latch hook 62, so that the indicating valve 71 can protrude from the abdicating hole 232; as shown in fig. 15, when the male housing 31 is sleeved on the periphery of the female housing 21 and extends into the annular gap, the latch hook 62 rotates in a direction away from the female housing 21 under the action of the male housing 31, and one end of the indicating link 72 close to the latch hook 62 also rotates in a direction away from the female housing 21, because the indicating link 72 is rotatably connected to the female guiding housing 23 through the connecting shaft 233, one end of the indicating link 72 far from the latch hook 62 rotates in a direction close to the female housing 21, so that the indicating valve 71 originally protruding out of the avoiding hole 232 is retracted into the cavity of the protruding part 231; as shown in fig. 16, when the male housing 31 is completely abutted with the female housing 21 and the latch hook 62 is engaged with the first male limiting table 311, the latch hook 62 returns to the original state, so that the end of the indicating link 72 close to the latch hook 62 rotates toward the direction close to the female housing 21, the end of the indicating link 72 far from the latch hook 62 rotates toward the direction far from the female housing 21, and the indicating valve 71 retracted into the cavity of the protruding part 231 protrudes from the abdicating hole 232, thereby indicating whether the locking of the female housing 21 and the male housing 31 is completed. It should also be noted that the exterior color of the indicator valve 71 is preferably bright yellow for easy viewing. In addition, it should be noted that the connecting cylinder 22 is provided with an avoiding groove 222 extending along the longitudinal direction thereof, and the locking link 61 is located in the avoiding groove 222 to prevent the connecting sleeve from interfering with the locking hook 62 to drive the indicating link 72 to move.

In order to separate the locked connector, as shown in fig. 11, the connecting cylinder 22 is connected to an unlocking block 224 which can contact the locking hook 62 and be locked with the first male limiting table 311, the unlocking block 224 is disposed opposite to the locking hook 62, the locking hook 62 is in an inverted triangle structure, the unlocking block 224 is in a triangle or wedge structure and is matched with the barb 62, the unlocking block 224 is disposed in the avoiding groove 222 and is integrally formed with the outer edge sidewall of the avoiding groove 222, when the locking of the female housing 21 and the male housing 31 needs to be released, the connecting cylinder 22 is pulled reversely, the unlocking block 224 and the locking hook 62 interact with each other, under the action of the unlocking block 224, the distance between the two locking hooks 62 is increased, so that the locking hook 62 cannot be locked with the first male limiting table 311, and the locking of the female housing 21 and the male housing 31 is released. It should be noted that, when the connecting cylinder 22 is pulled reversely, the connecting cylinder 22 and the female housing 21 will move relatively, because the female housing 21 is connected with the male housing 31, and because the connecting cylinder 22 is provided with the avoiding groove 222, the cylinder part of the connecting cylinder 22 will not interfere with the locking hook 62, the locking link 61 and the indicating component 7 when the connecting cylinder 22 moves reversely; it should also be noted that the end of the locking link 61 that is connected to the female housing 21 is engaged with the end of the escape slot 222 that is distal from the lock block 224.

In order to facilitate the operation of the female connector assembly 2, as shown in fig. 11 and 13, the wet-pluggable connector further comprises a hand grip 1, the hand grip 1 is fixedly connected to the connecting cylinder 22 and located at the closed end of the female housing 21, the connecting cylinder 22 is provided with a connecting portion 221 for connecting the hand grip 1, the connecting portion 221 is a structure with at least one open end, and the hand grip 1 is inserted into the opening of the connecting portion 221 and fixed by a connecting member such as a screw; it should be noted that the gripper 1 is used for facilitating the connection between the female head assembly 2 and the male head assembly 1 by the ROV underwater machine; it should be noted that the connecting portion 221 of the connecting cylinder 22 is disposed corresponding to the protruding portion 231 of the female guide shell 23, and the connecting portion 221 of the connecting cylinder 22 is located in the cavity of the protruding portion 231 of the female guide shell 23.

In order to increase the sealing performance of the female head assembly 2 on the connection cable, as shown in fig. 1 and 10, the first end of the female head housing 21 is connected with the cable housing 5, the cable housing 5 abuts against one end of the female head limiting table 211 far away from the connecting cylinder 22, and the cable housing 5 is detachably connected with the female head housing 21 through a connecting piece such as a screw; it should be noted that the female limiting table 211 is preferably located between the first end and the second end of the female housing 21, so that the female housing 21 and the connecting cylinder 22 may form two annular spacing gaps, and the cable housing 5 and the male housing 31 are respectively located in the corresponding annular spacing gaps; further, a packing 51 is provided between the cable case 5 and the connecting cylinder 22.

In order to circumferentially position the butt joint of the male housing 31 and the female housing 21, as shown in fig. 13, the male housing sleeve 32 is provided with a guide column 34, the connecting cylinder 22 is provided with a guide groove 223 extending along the axial direction of the connecting cylinder 22, one end of the guide groove 223 facing the second end of the female housing 21 is an open end, when the male housing 31 and the female housing 21 are in butt joint, the guide column 34 moves along the guide groove 223 to circumferentially position the connection position of the female housing 21 and the male housing 31; it should be noted that, a certain distance exists between the guide post 34 and one end of the male housing sleeve 32, which is abutted against the female limiting table 211; it should be further noted that, as shown in fig. 17 and fig. 18, one end of the connection cylinder 22 facing the second end of the female housing 21 is connected to an annular limiting ring 234, an inner wall of the limiting ring 234 is also provided with an annular chamfer, the annular chamfer of the limiting ring 234 has the same angle as the annular chamfer of the connection cylinder 22 and is matched with the annular chamfer, the limiting ring 234 is provided with a notch 2341 corresponding to the guide groove 223, the size of the notch 2341 is larger than the outer diameter of the guide column 34, so as to increase the circumferential connection deviation between the female housing 21 and the male housing 31, and the limiting ring 234 is detachably connected to the connection cylinder 22, so as to prevent the guide column 34 from damaging the connection cylinder 22 due to the positioning error when the male housing 31 is butted with the female housing 21.

In the above-mentioned wet plug connector, the internal diameter of each part is from big to little in proper order: the male head guide shell 33, the female head guide shell 23, the connecting cylinder 22, the male head shell sleeve 32, the male head shell 31 and the female head shell 21.

The working principle of the wet plug connector is as follows: the female limiting table 211 abuts against the male housing sleeve 32, the latch hook 62 locks the male first limiting table 311, the female housing 21 and the male housing 31 are locked with each other, the indicating valve 71 changes along with the distance between the latch hook 62 and the female housing 21 to indicate the locking state of the female housing 21 and the male housing 31, when the locking of the female housing 21 and the male housing 31 needs to be released, the connecting cylinder 22 is pulled reversely, and the latch hook 62 is separated from the male first limiting table 311 by the unlocking block 234 to release the locking of the female housing 21 and the male housing 31.

Above-mentioned wet plug connector can guide the butt joint process of public first subassembly 3 and female first subassembly 2 to prevent the card phenomenon of distinguishing, and public first subassembly 3 docks efficiently, the butt joint precision is high and the butt joint is effectual with female first subassembly 2.

Based on the wet plug connector, the invention also provides a butt joint method of the wet plug connector, which is to butt joint the wet plug connector. The butt joint method of the wet-plug connector comprises the following steps:

primary positioning: the female head assembly 2 moves to the first end of the male housing 31 and the second end of the female head housing 21 is close to the extension end of the male guide shell 33, so as to initially position the butt joint position of the female head assembly 2 by using the opening of the extension end of the male guide shell 33; it should be noted that, when the female head assembly 2 is butted with the male head assembly 3, it is ideal that the axis of the female head assembly 2 is collinear with the axis of the male head assembly 3, in the actual butt joint, there is an axis deviation between the axis of the female head assembly 2 and the axis of the male head assembly 3, and the axis deviation may cause the female head assembly 2 to be stuck with the male head assembly 3, as shown in fig. 12, the butt joint position of the female head assembly 2 and the male head assembly 3 is limited within a large range by the male head guide shell 33, that is, the axis of the female head assembly 2 and the axis of the male head assembly 3 are limited within a certain angle range.

Secondary positioning: the connecting cylinder 22 is close to the male shell sleeve 32, and the male shell sleeve 32 extends into one end of the connecting cylinder 22 facing the male component 3, so that the male shell 31 is secondarily positioned by using the connecting cylinder 22; as shown in fig. 12, the male guide shell 33 limits the angle between the axis of the female component 2 and the axis of the male component 3 to a larger angle range, and the connecting cylinder 22 continues to limit the angle between the axis of the female component 2 and the axis of the male component 3, and limits the angle between the axis of the female component 2 and the axis of the male component 3 to a smaller angle range;

circumferential positioning: the female housing 21 is rotated along the axis of the male housing 31 until the guide posts 34 correspond to the guide grooves 223, so that the guide posts 34 can slide along the guide grooves 223 in a direction approaching the female housing 21.

Preliminary butt joint: the male housing sleeve 32 is extended into the clearance gap and moved in a direction close to the female limit stop 211.

Butt joint and locking: when the male housing sleeve 32 moves to abut against the female limiting table 211, the locking hook 62 is locked with the male first limiting table 311 to complete the butt locking of the female housing 21 and the male housing 31.

It should be noted that, during the movement of the male housing sleeve 32, the latch hook 62 is always abutted against the outer wall of the male housing sleeve 32, and the indicating valve 71 retracts from the abdicating hole 232; when the latch hook 62 is engaged with the male first stopper 311, the indicating valve 71 protrudes out of the relief hole 232. In practical use, the wet plugging and unplugging connector is subjected to underwater butt joint by using an underwater robot, and the underwater robot drives the female head assembly 2 to move through the gripper 1 so as to complete butt joint and locking of the female head assembly 2 and the male head assembly 3.

The above-mentioned mating method of the wet-pluggable connector will be described in detail by taking an example in which the inner wall of the extending end of the male lead housing 33 is chamfered at an annular angle of 30 ° and the inner wall of the retainer ring 234 facing the male member 3 is chamfered at an annular angle of 5 °.

The butt joint method of the wet plug connector comprises the following steps:

s1, the underwater robot drives the female head assembly 2 to move towards the direction close to the male head assembly 3 through the gripper 1, one end, not connected with a cable, of the female head assembly 2 is opposite to the first end of the male head shell 31, the female head assembly 2 is located through an opening, far away from one end of the support 4, of the male head guide shell 33, the connection position of the female head assembly 2 and the male head assembly 3 is limited within the deviation of +/-30 degrees of the axis of the male head shell 31, and the female head assembly 2 is located for the first time.

S2, the limiting ring 234 is close to the male shell sleeve 32, the male shell sleeve 32 extends into one end, facing the male component 3, of the connecting cylinder 22, so that the male shell 31 is positioned for the second time by utilizing the limiting ring 234, and the connecting position of the female shell 21 and the male shell 31 is limited within the deviation of +/-5 degrees of the axis of the male shell 31.

S3, the female shell 21 is rotated along the axis of the male shell 31 until the guide column 34 corresponds to the guide groove 223, so that the guide column 34 can slide towards the female shell 21 along the guide groove 223 to circumferentially position the connection position of the female shell 21 and the male shell 31.

S4, the male shell sleeve 32 extends into the gap and moves in the direction close to the female limiting table 211; the guide post 34 also enters the guide groove 223 through the notch 2341 of the stopper 234 and then moves along the guide groove 223 in a direction approaching the female stopper 211 to perform the preliminary mating of the female housing 21 with the male housing 31, at which time the indicator valve 71 is retracted from the escape hole 232 into the cavity of the projection 231.

S5, when the male shell sleeve 32 moves to abut against the female limiting table 211, the locking hook 62 is clamped with the male first limiting table 311 to complete the abutting locking of the female shell 21 and the male shell, and at the moment, the indicating valve 71 in the cavity of the retraction protruding part 231 protrudes from the abdicating hole 232.

It should be noted that, when the wet plug connector separates the female connector assembly 2 from the male connector assembly 3, the connecting cylinder 22 is pulled reversely by the hand grip 1, the connecting cylinder 22 and the unlocking block 224 disposed on the connecting cylinder 22 move in a direction away from the male connector assembly 3, and the locking hook 62 is locked with the first male limiting table 311, so the female connector housing 21 and the locking hook 62 are connected with the male connector assembly 3, and along with the reverse movement of the unlocking block 224, the unlocking block 224 contacts with the locking hook 62, because the unlocking block 224 is in a wedge-shaped structure, along with the reverse movement of the unlocking block 224, the distance between the two locking hooks 62 (i.e. the distance between the locking hook 62 and the first male limiting table 311) gradually increases, when the locking hook 62 is not in contact with the first male limiting table 311, the locking hook 62 moves reversely with the unlocking block 224 under the action of the unlocking block 224, and the female connector housing 21 connected with the locking hook 62 also moves reversely, so that the locking of the female connector housing 21 and the male connector housing 31 is released, and the female connector assembly 2 and the male connector assembly 3 are separated; it should be further noted that the female guide shell 23, the connecting cylinder 22 and the gripper 1 are fixedly connected into a whole, and the three move synchronously all the time; when the female head assembly 2 is butted with the male head assembly 3, since the end of the locking link 61 connected with the female head housing 21 is engaged with the end of the avoiding groove 222 far from the unlocking block 224, the locking link 61 and the female head housing 21 connected with the locking link 61 move in the direction of approaching the male head assembly 3 along with the connecting cylinder 22 under the action of the connecting cylinder 22.

The butt joint method of the wet-plug connector is simple and easy to operate, the butt joint effect of the female head assembly 2 and the male head assembly 3 is good, the butt joint efficiency is high, and the firmness after butt joint is high.

Finally, it should be noted that: the embodiments in the present description are described in a progressive manner, each embodiment focuses on differences from other embodiments, and the same and similar parts among the embodiments are referred to each other.

The above examples are only intended to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention and not to limit it; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will understand that: modifications to the specific embodiments of the invention or equivalent substitutions for parts of the technical features may be made; without departing from the spirit of the present invention, it is intended to cover all aspects of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims (10)

1. A wet-pluggable connector, comprising:

a male component, comprising:

the underwater plug connector comprises a male plug shell, a male plug and a female plug, wherein the male plug shell is provided with a first end and a second end, the first end of the male plug shell is an open end, and the second end of the male plug shell is connected with an underwater connection box;

the male head guide shell is of a structure with openings at two ends, the male head guide shell is sleeved on the periphery of the male head shell, one end of the male head guide shell extends towards the first end of the male head shell and exceeds the first end of the male head shell, and the other end of the male head guide shell is arranged towards the direction close to the second end of the male head shell and is fixedly connected with the male head shell; an annular chamfer is formed in the inner wall of one end, away from the second end of the male head shell, of the male head guide shell so as to increase the size of an opening at the extending end of the male head guide shell;

female first subassembly, its with public first subassembly sets up relatively, female first subassembly includes:

the female shell is provided with a first end and a second end, the second end of the female shell is an opening end, and the second end of the female shell is opposite to the first end of the male shell; a female head limiting table is arranged on the periphery of the female head shell;

the connecting cylinder is sleeved on the periphery of the female head shell, the inner wall of the connecting cylinder is attached to the female head limiting table, and an annular space is formed between the inner wall of the connecting cylinder and the outer wall of the female head shell; the two ends of the connecting cylinder are arranged in one-to-one correspondence with the first end and the second end of the female shell, one end of the connecting cylinder, corresponding to the second end of the female shell, extends beyond the second end of the female shell, an annular chamfer is formed in the inner wall of one end, extending beyond the second end of the female shell, of the connecting cylinder, so that the size of an opening, facing the male component, of one end of the connecting cylinder is increased, and the annular chamfer angle of the connecting cylinder is smaller than that of the male guide shell;

when the female head assembly is in butt joint with the male head assembly, the first end of the male head shell abuts against the female head limiting table and is located in the annular interval gap.

2. The wet-pluggable connector of claim 1, wherein the male plug assembly further comprises a male plug housing sleeve, the male plug housing sleeve is sleeved on the outer periphery of the male plug housing, a male plug first limiting table is arranged on the outer periphery of the male plug housing, and the male plug housing sleeve abuts against the male plug first limiting table; when female first subassembly with when public first subassembly butt joint, public first shell sleeve is kept away from the first spacing platform of public head one end with female spacing platform butt joint.

3. The wet-pluggable connector of claim 2, wherein the female assembly further comprises a locking assembly including a locking link and a locking hook, the locking link being parallel to the female housing and the locking link being fixedly connected to the female retention stage; the locking hook is of an inverted triangular structure and is fixedly connected to one end, far away from the female head limiting table, of the locking connecting rod and arranged facing the outer wall of the female head shell; when the female head assembly is in butt joint with the male head assembly, the lock hook is in clamping connection with the first male head limiting table.

4. The wet-pluggable connector of claim 3, wherein the connecting cylinder is provided with an avoiding groove extending along a longitudinal direction thereof, the locking link is located in the avoiding groove, and an unlocking block for unlocking the latch hook from the first male-end limiting table is arranged in the avoiding groove.

5. The wet-pluggable connector as recited in claim 3, wherein the latch hook is connected with an indicating assembly for indicating whether the latch hook is locked in place, the indicating assembly comprises an indicating connecting rod and an indicating valve, one end of the indicating connecting rod is connected with the latch hook, and the indicating valve is arranged at one end of the indicating connecting rod, which is far away from the latch hook; instruct the connecting rod with the locking connecting rod is the angle setting, the fixed cover in periphery of connecting cylinder is equipped with female first guide shell, instruct the connecting rod pass through the connecting axle with female first guide shell rotates to be connected, female first guide shell be equipped with instruct valve complex hole of stepping down, work as the latch hook with during public first spacing platform joint, instruct the valve to follow protrusion in the hole of stepping down.

6. The wet pluggable connector of claim 1, wherein the male housing sleeve is provided with a guiding post, the connecting cylinder is provided with a guiding slot extending along the axis of the connecting cylinder, and one end of the guiding slot facing the second end of the female housing is an opening end for circumferentially positioning the connection position of the female housing and the male housing.

7. The wet-pluggable connector of any one of claims 1-6, further comprising a grip fixedly connected to the connector barrel and located at the closed end of the female housing.

8. The method of mating wet-pluggable connectors according to claim 7, comprising the steps of:

primary positioning: moving the female head assembly to the first end of the male head shell, and enabling the second end of the female head shell to be close to one end, extending towards the first end of the male head shell, of the male head guide shell, so as to preliminarily position the butt joint position of the female head shell and the male head shell by utilizing the opening at the extending end of the male head guide shell;

secondary positioning: the connecting cylinder is close to the male shell sleeve, and the male shell sleeve can extend into one end, facing the male assembly, of the connecting cylinder, so that the butt joint position of the female shell and the male shell is secondarily positioned by using the connecting cylinder;

circumferential positioning: rotating the female shell along the axis of the male shell until the guide column corresponds to the guide groove, so that the guide column can slide towards the direction close to the female shell along the guide groove;

preliminary butt joint: moving the female housing in a direction towards the male housing and causing the male housing sleeve to extend into the clearance gap;

butt joint and locking: when public first shell sleeve move to with when female first spacing platform butt joint, the latch hook with public first spacing platform joint is in order to accomplish female first shell with the butt joint locking of public first casing.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein during the movement of the female housing toward the direction close to the male housing, the latch hook is always abutted against the outer wall of the sleeve of the male housing, and the indicating valve retracts from the abdicating hole until the latch hook is engaged with the first limit table of the male housing, and the indicating valve protrudes from the abdicating hole.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the underwater docking is performed by an underwater robot, and the underwater robot drives the female connector assembly to move by the gripper, so as to complete the docking locking between the female connector assembly and the male connector assembly.

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