WO2008120048A1

WO2008120048A1 - Electrical socket, connector assembly and method of manufacturing an electrical socket

Info

Publication number: WO2008120048A1
Application number: PCT/IB2007/052674
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dominique Rozet; Claude Casses; Laurent Tristani
Original assignee: Fci
Priority date: 2007-04-03
Filing date: 2007-04-03
Publication date: 2008-10-09

Abstract

The electrical power socket comprises a mating portion (2) for mating with a complementary power blade, the mating portion comprises a base face (6b) and an elastic solicitation member (8) urging the power blade in contact with the base face. A contacting pattern (14) is formed in the base face which comprises three distinct non-aligned contacting portions (13a, 13b, 13c) which protrude from the base face and together define a plane of contact with the power blade.

Description

ELECTRICAL SOCKET, CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING AN ELECTRICAL SOCKET

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

5 The invention relates to electrical power sockets and connector assemblies, and methods of manufacturing a power socket.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In particular, the invention relates to an0 electrical power socket comprising a mating portion for mating with a complementary power blade, the mating portion comprising a base face and an elastic solicitation member adapted to urge the power blade in contact with the base face . 5 In such connectors, it is important to define precisely the contact zone of the power socket with the mating blade. The contact area will be preferably large to ensure a good power transfer in the connector without localised over-heating. The contact zone will also define0 the insertion and the retention characteristics of the blade in the socket. It has therefore been known to define a contacting pattern in the base face in order to precisely define the contacting zone of the blade and socket. Such contacting patterns will for example comprise a plurality5 of elongate shapes which are to define a plurality of contacting lines between the socket and blade. Yet, studies have shown that these known contacting patterns are not necessarily as efficient in practice as under theory. A possible explanation might be that, in practice, not all0 the contacting zone of the socket really contacts the blade.

An aim of the invention is to provide a further improvement to known power sockets. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 5 To this aim, the invention provides an electrical power socket comprising a mating portion for mating with a complementary power blade, the mating portion comprising a base face and an elastic solicitation member adapted to urge the power blade in contact with the base face, wherein a contacting pattern is formed in the base face which comprises three distinct non-aligned contacting portions which protrude from the base face and together define a plane of contact with the power blade.

With these features, the contacting zone of the power socket is made more certain. This will be of interest for compensating connector manufacturing variability and/or aging.

According to a further aspect, the invention also relates to a method for manufacturing an electrical power socket comprising: forming a mating portion for mating with a complementary power blade, the mating portion comprising a base face and an elastic solicitation member adapted to urge the power blade in contact with the base face, forming a contacting pattern in the base face to comprise three distinct non-aligned contacting portions which protrude from the base face and together define a plane of contact with the power blade.

In some embodiments, one might also use one or more of the features as defined in the dependant claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will readily appear from the following description of one of its embodiments, provided as a non- limitative examples, and of the accompanying drawings. On the drawings :

Fig. 1 is a perspective top view of an electrical power socket,

Fig. 2 is a perspective bottom view of the socket of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a view corresponding to Fig. 1 for a power blade designed to mate with the socket of Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a planar view taken from inside the socket of Fig. 1, of the base face of the mating portion, - Fig. 5 is a planar view similar to Fig. 4, in the opposite direction, showing an elastic solicitation member,

Fig. 6 is a sectional view along line VI-VI on Fig. 1 of the power socket, and - Fig. 7 is a sectional view along line VII-VII of the socket of Fig. 1.

On the different Figures, the same reference signs designate like or similar elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Fig. 1 is a perspective top view of a power socket

1 before attachment to the end of a cable (shown in phantom lines on Fig. 1) . The socket 1 comprises a mating portion

2 for mating with a complementary power blade 3 which will be described in more details below with respect to Fig. 3. The socket 1 further comprises an attachment portion 4 for attaching the socket on the cable. This attachment will for example be performed by crimping legs 5 on the cable in a conventional manner which will therefore not be described in more details (see also Fig. 2) . The mating portion 2 mainly comprises a base body 6 or floor in the form of a metallic plate comprising an outer face 6a and an opposite inner face 6b which will be described in more details below with respect to Fig. 4.

The mating portion 2 comprises (see in particular Fig. 2) arms 7 extending from the base body to define, together with a base body, a housing for accommodating the complementary power blade. Each arm can for example be shaped to comprise a first portion 7a extending perpendicularly to the base body 6, a second portion 7b extending perpendicularly to the first portion, and facing the inner face 6b of the base body, a third portion 7c extending in the same plane as the second portion, sensibly to the back of the power socket following the insertion direction, and a fourth portion 7d extending perpendicularly from the third portion toward the base body 6.

The power socket, as described, is formed in an electrically conducting material such as, for example, a copper alloy, such as CuSnO.15. In the described example, the width of the receptacle for receiving the power blade is over 9 mm, and the spacing between the inner face 6b of the base body and the facing inner face of the second portion 7b of the arm is over 1 mm. Further, the socket material could be plated by an electrically conducting material such as tin (for example a 2.5 μm thick layer) . Other platings are possible such as a thin tin layer of about 1.5 μm over a thin nickel layer of thickness about 1.27 μm.

The mating portion 2 further comprises an elastic solicitation member 8 in the shape of an arcuate elastic plate which rests on the second portion 7b of the front arms and abuts on the fourth portion 7d of the back arms in order to prevent further movement of the solicitation member 8 to the back upon insertion of the complementary power blade. The solicitation member 8 is bent so that its intermediate portion 8a in between its front and back ends is closely facing the inner face 6b of the base body 6 before insertion of the complementary power blade.

The elastic solicitation member is made of an electrically conducting material such as a copper alloy. A suitable material is for example CuCrAgFeTiSi.

As can be seen on Fig. 3, the power blade 3 is of a similar conception to the power socket 1, and comprises an attachment portion 4 and an electrical blade-shaped contacting portion 9, sensibly flat, to be inserted into the mating portion 2 of the socket 1. The contacting portion 9 is for example 9.5 x 1.2 mm² large. It can be made of the same material as the base body 6.

The power blade comprises a retention feature 10 for mechanical retention of the blade onto the socket by cooperation with a complementary tab 11 of the elastic solicitation member 8 upon insertion.

As can be seen on Fig. 1, and more particularly in Fig. 4, the power socket comprises a contacting pattern 12 for defining the contact zone of the blade 3 and the socket 1. In the present example, the contacting pattern 12 is formed by three protrusions 13a, 13b, 13c, which protrude in the internal space of the socket from the inner face 6b of the base body. The protrusions 13a, 13b, 13c are formed for example by stamping to have the shape of a portion of a sphere. When inserted, the contacting portion 9, sensibly flat, of the blade 3 will be urged by the elastic solicitation member 8, in tangential contact with each of theses protrusions, which will therefore define a contacting plane of the power blade and the power socket. Conveniently, in order to define this plane, the three protrusions are not aligned, and could for example be equidistant from each other as shown on Fig. 4. It should also be noted that, for dimensional reasons, the left 13a and right 13b protrusions may be cut out as shown by an arrow 14 in proximity with the first portion 7a of the front arms 7.

In order to limit the localized heating at the power transfer at the contact zone of the two connectors, the radius of the portion of sphere will preferably be large. However, it should not be too large in order to provide for a good retention of the power blade 9 inside the socket. For the described geometry and materials, it has been shown that a radius of between 1 and 10 mm, and preferably between 1.35 and 5 mm provided a good compromise between heating and retention force.

As can be seen in particular on Fig. 5 and 6, the elastic solicitation member 8 might also comprise, in its intermediate portion 8a, a contacting pattern 14 for defining the contact of the elastic solicitation member 8 with the blade 3. As shown in the present example, this contacting pattern 14 will for example comprise two elongated protrusions 15 which extend along the insertion direction, and protrude from a face of the solicitation member which is oriented toward the inner face 6b of the base body. They are for example formed over the fourth portion 7d of the arms 7, of the mating portion 2.

For the power socket which has been described, studies show that, for the above described geometry and materials, a retention force of the complementary blade of above 9 Newtons can be obtained, at one protrusion 13a, 13b or 13c and that a overheating of less than 5 Celsius degrees is obtained for current up to 60 Amper flowing through the connector.

The power socket which has just been described will be manufactured by forming, bending, and stamping a metallic plate. In particular, the contacting pattern 12 in the base body could be formed by stamping. In the above described embodiment, the contacting pattern 12 comprising the three distinct non-aligned contacting portions was located on the base face, but in another embodiment the same kind of contacting pattern can be located on the power blade or both on the base face and on the power blade.

Claims

1. Electrical power socket comprising a mating portion (2) for mating with a complementary power blade, the mating portion comprising a base face (6b) and an elastic solicitation member (8) adapted to urge the power blade in contact with the base face, wherein a contacting pattern (12) is formed in the base face which comprises three distinct non-aligned contacting portions (13a, 13b, 13c) which protrude from the base face (6b) and together define a plane of contact with the power blade.

2. Electrical power socket according to claim 1 wherein the contacting portions (13a, 13b, 13c) are equidistant to each other.

3. Electrical power socket according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the contacting portions (13a, 13b, 13c) are identical .

4. Electrical power socket according to any preceding claim, wherein each contacting portion (13a, 13b,

13c) has the shape of a portion of a sphere of radius comprised between 1 and 10 millimetres, and preferably between 1.35 and 5 millimetres.

5. Electrical power socket according to any preceding claim sized to mate with a complementary power blade (3) comprising a contacting portion at least 9 millimetres wide and 1 millimetre thickness.

6. Electrical power socket according to any preceding claim wherein the elastic solicitation member (8) comprises a contacting face which faces the base face, and a contacting pattern (14) comprising contacting portions (15) which protrude from the contacting face and are adapted to contact with the power blade upon insertion.

7. Electrical power socket according to any preceding claim wherein said mating portion comprises a base body (6) comprising the base face, the base body being made of a copper alloy plated with tin.

8. Electrical power socket according to any preceding claim wherein the base face is substantially planar.

9. Electrical power blade comprising a mating portion (9) for mating with a complementary power socket, wherein a contacting pattern is formed in the mating portion (9) which comprises three distinct non- aligned contacting portions (13a, 13b, 13c) which protrude from the mating portion (9) and together define a plane of contact with the power socket..

10. Method for manufacturing an electrical power socket comprising: forming a mating portion (2) for mating with a complementary power blade, the mating portion comprising a base face and an elastic solicitation member (8) adapted to urge the power blade in contact with the base face, forming a contacting pattern (14) in the base face to comprise three distinct non-aligned contacting portions (13a, 13b, 13c) which protrude from the base face and together define a plane of contact with the power blade.

11. Method for manufacturing according to claim 10 wherein the contacting pattern (14) is formed by stamping.