Floating connector

Abstract

An improved floating connector can be employed for, among other things, connecting a traction battery to the drive of an electrically-driven vehicle. The self-aligning floating connector can be used to mate connectors of the battery and the electric drive despite misalignment. The floating connector has a frame and a contact housing movable inside an aperture of the frame. The contact housing is rotatable about an axis that extends perpendicularly to the surface defined by the aperture. The essentially oval outer surface of the contact housing can cooperate with the aperture to provide a limit stop for the relative movement of the contact housing and the frame. The angular movement of the contact housing inside the aperture can be sterically constrained to limit the rotation of the contact housing relative to the frame to a pre-defined angular range. A system with a floating connector and a mating connector is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A floating connector comprising: a frame, and a contact housing that is movable inside an aperture of the frame in a surface defined by the aperture and that is rotatable about an axis that extends perpendicularly to the surface defined by the aperture, wherein the contact housing has an essentially cylindrical outer surface with the cylinder axis extending perpendicularly to the surface defined by the aperture, wherein the shape of the outer surface of the contact housing is essentially ovally cylindrical, and wherein the frame is mounted onto a support, a gap is provided between the frame and the support, which gap is open towards the aperture, and the contact housing is provided with a flange, which flange extends into the gap.

2. The floating connector according to claim 1, wherein the aperture has a non-circular shape, and the shape and size of the aperture and the shape and size of the contact housing's perimeter in the surface of the aperture limit to a pre-defined angular range the rotation of the contact housing relative to the frame about an axis that extends perpendicularly to the surface defined by the aperture.

3. A floating connector comprising: a frame, a contact housing that is movable inside an aperture of the frame in a surface defined by the aperture, wherein the frame is mounted onto a support, and one or more sliding contact(s) to establish a direct electrical contact between at least part of the contact housing and at least part of the support.

4. The floating connector according to claim 3, wherein a gap is present between the frame and the support, and wherein the gap is open towards the aperture, and the contact housing further comprises with a flange that extends into the gap.

5. The floating connector according to claim 3, wherein the contact housing comprises an electrically conductive shell and the sliding contact is electrically connected to the shell.

6. The floating connector according to claim 1, wherein the contact housing can move translationally in a surface defined by the frame.

7. The floating connector according to claim 1, wherein the surface defined by the frame is flat or a spherical segment.

8. The floating connector according to claim 1, further comprising an elastic bellow that extends between the frame and the contact housing.

9. The floating connector according to claim 8, wherein the elastic bellow biases the contact housing into a neutral position of the contact housing inside the aperture of the frame.

10. The floating connector according to claim 1, wherein the mating direction of the floating connector is perpendicular to the surface defined by the frame.

11. The floating connector according to claim 1, wherein the contact housing comprises at least one male contact and the contact housing further comprises an opening through which the male contact is accessible.

12. The floating connector according to claim 11, wherein the contact housing extends at least along the entire length of the male contact.

13. The floating connector according to claim 12, wherein the contact housing further comprises a conductive shell that extends at least along the entire length of the male contact.

14. A system comprising: a floating connector according to claim 1 and a mating connector that can be joined with the floating connector to establish an electrical contact, wherein the floating connector comprises a contact housing with an essentially cylindrical outer surface and the mating connector comprises a hollow contact enclosure that has an essentially cylindrical inner surface, and wherein the floating connector's contact housing and the mating connector's contact enclosure are shaped and arranged such that the contact housing is inserted into the contact enclosure when the floating connector and the mating connector are joined to establish an electrical contact.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the mating connector comprises female contacts and the floating connector comprises male contacts wherein the female contacts of the mating connector can mate with the male contacts of the floating connector.

16. The system according to claim 14, wherein the contact enclosure of the mating connector comprises an opening and the rim of the opening comprises a lead-in chamfer.

17. The floating connector according to claim 3, wherein the contact housing can move translationally in a surface defined by the frame.

18. The floating connector according to claim 3, wherein the surface defined by the frame is flat or a spherical segment.

19. The floating connector according to claim 3, further comprising an elastic bellow that extends between the frame and the contact housing.

20. The floating connector according to claim 19, wherein the elastic bellow biases the contact housing into a neutral position of the contact housing inside the aperture of the frame.

21. The floating connector according to claim 3, wherein the mating direction of the floating connector is perpendicular to the surface defined by the frame.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) In the following, further preferred embodiments of invention are illustrated by means of examples. The invention is not limited to these examples, however.

(2) The drawings schematically show:

(3) FIG. 1 A cross-sectional view of the floating connector according to the present invention;

(4) FIG. 2 A perspective view of the floating connector of FIG. 1 on the left and a mating connector on the right;

(5) FIG. 3 A perspective view of the mating connector of FIG. 2 on the left and the floating connector of FIGS. 1 and 2 on the right;

(6) FIG. 4 A cross-sectional view of the mating connector of FIGS. 2 and 3 on top of the floating connectors of FIGS. 1 to 3;

(7) FIG. 5 A partial cross-sectional view of the floating connector of the previous Figures indicating the location of a detail shown in FIG. 6; and

(8) FIG. 6 A detail view of the flange, the sliding contact and the bellow of the floating connector of the previous Figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

(9) In the following description of preferred embodiments of the invention, identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar components.

(10) An exemplary floating connector 1 according to the invention is shown in the Figures. It comprises a frame 2 with an aperture, in which a contact housing 3 is placed. The contact housing 3 is movable in a plane that is defined by the aperture of the housing 3. It can also be rotated about a central axis 4 of the housing 3, which extends perpendicularly to the surface defined by the frame 2 and coincides with the central axis of the ovally right cylindrical outer surface of the contact housing. As can be best seen in FIG. 3, the frame 2 and its aperture have a non-circular, more precisely oval shape similar to the oval shape of the outer surface of the contact housing 3. As a result, when the contact housing 3 is rotated from its neutral position by a certain amount—about 10° in the present example—in one direction, it touches the edge of the frame 2 that surrounds the aperture, thereby bringing the rotational movement to a halt. Thereby, in the present example rotation of the contact housing 3 inside the aperture is limited to a range of about 20°.

(11) As can best be seen in FIG. 1, the frame 2 is mounted onto an electrically conductive and grounded support 5. Moreover, the contact housing 3 comprises a flange 6 that extends into a gap formed between the frame 2 and the support 5. There is a circumferential bellow 7 that extends from the contact housing 3 to the frame 2. The bellow 7 is from VMQ silicon rubber.

(12) On the side of the contact housing 3, the inner side of the bellow 7 is attached to the flange 6 at 14, and on the side of the frame 2, the outer side of the bellow 7 is clamped between the flange 2 and the support 5. An oval blind 8 is provided that extends across the larger part of the aperture between the contact housing 3 and the frame 2. The blind 8 prevents the contact housing 3 from falling below the frame 2 when the floating connector 1 is not yet mounted onto the support 5. The blind 8 can also protect the bellow 7. In order to accommodate screws (three out of four can be seen in FIG. 3) for attaching the blind 8 to the contact housing 3, the otherwise oval contact housing 3 is provided with ears (not shown) that correspond to recesses (one such recess is hinted at near the top left screw in FIG. 3) in the otherwise oval frame.

(13) Once the floating connector 1 is mounted onto the support 5, due to the contact housing's 3 flange 6 being borne between the frame 2 and the support 5, the translational motion of the contact housing 3 is constrained to motions inside the plane defined by the frame 2. The elastic bellow 7 biases the contact housing into a neutral position that is at the centre of the aperture of the frame 2. In the neutral position, the contact housing's 3 outer surface is concentric with the aperture, and the central axis of the oval of the contact housing's 3 outer surface coincides with that of the oval of the aperture. If the contact housing 3 is moved by external forces in a position other than this neutral position, the bellow 7 drives the contact housing 3 back into the neutral position as soon as the external forces are removed.

(14) As can also be seen best in FIG. 1, the flange 6 is formed in one piece with a shell 9 of the contact housing 3. The shell 9 and the flange 6 are from an electrically conductive material such as aluminium and the flange 6 is provided with circumferential sliding contacts 10 that contact the surface of the support 5 that faces the flange 6. As the support 5 is grounded, the shell 9, via the sliding contacts 10 and the flange 6, is likewise grounded. In FIG. 6 a detail of the sliding contacts is shown.

(15) The sliding contacts 10 are a row of fingers formed on one long side of a flexible metal strip 11 by means of transverse slots on this long side of the strip 11. FIG. 6 shows three of these fingers. The cross section of the strip 11 is generally S-shaped. The first bend of the strip engages both sides of a circular web 12 provided in the flange 6. The second bend lies in a circular groove 13 provided in the flange 6, which groove 13 is adjacent to and concentric with the web 12. From the second bend the fingers extend out of the groove 13; they are elastically bent outwardly, thereby forming a third bend, and biased to press against the support 5. Moreover, a spacer 21 ensures that a uniform space is kept between the flange 6 and the support 5. The spacer is formed integrally with an insulating body of the contact housing 3.

(16) The contact housing 3 comprises two male power contact pins 15 that are accessible through an open base of the ovally cylindrical contact housing 3. The distal ends of the pins are provided with electrically non-conducting caps 16. As a result, the contact housing 3 and the caps 16 in combination can prevent a user from inadvertently touching the conductive parts of the pins 15. Moreover, there are several other contact pins (not shown) provided in the part of the contact housing between the two power contact pins 15. These other pins are shorter and can serve for inter alia the transmission of control signals.

(17) As can be best seen in FIG. 4, the mating connector 22 comprises two sockets 17 that correspond to the pins of the floating connector so that they can establish, via lamella baskets, an electrical contact when the mating connector 22 is mated with the floating connector 1. The mating connector 22 comprises an ovally hollow cylindrical contact enclosure 18 in which the sockets 17 are positioned. The contact enclosure 18 is a right cylinder and open at its base in order to render the sockets 17 accessible to the floating connector's 1 contact pins 15. The rim of the base of the mating connector's contact enclosure 18 is provided with a ring that has an inwards lead-in-chamfer 19. When the mating connector 22 and the floating connector 1 are combined, the chamfer 19 can apply a lateral force to the floating connector's 1 contact housing 3 in order to align the contact housing 3 with the mating connector 22 for mating. When the two connectors mate, the floating connector's 1 contact housing 3 is inserted into the mating connector's 22 contact enclosure 18.

(18) The mating connector 22 is also provided with a packing ring 20 that assists in preventing contaminating liquid or dirt particles to reach the inside of the floating connector 1 and the mating connector 22 from the outside. Thereby, the mating connector 22 and the floating connector 1 cooperate to keep contaminants outside the contact areas and the support 5.

(19) The features as described in the above description, claims and figures can be relevant individually or in any combination to realise the various embodiments of the invention.