WO2024094079A1 - Outer conductor contact element - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed in the present application is an outer conductor contact element, comprising an outer conductor base in a cylindrical shape. A front end of the outer conductor base extends outwards to form at least two pairs of contact leaf springs arranged opposite each other, wherein front ends of at least one pair of contact leaf springs continue to extend outwards to form a closed connection portion; and at least one pair of contact leaf springs are in the shape of a cantilever, which is not connected to the connection portion. In the present application, two common forms of an existing outer conductor contact element are integrated, such that the plug force of the outer conductor contact element can be significantly reduced while satisfying the requirement of firm connection, and thus the present application has a strong practicability and has a good application prospect.

Description

An outer conductor contact element

Related Applications

This application claims priority to Chinese patent application No. 202222896594.1 filed on November 1, 2022, and cites the contents disclosed in the above patent application as part of this application.

Technical Field

The present application relates to the technical field of connector contacts, and in particular to an outer conductor contact element.

Background technique

At present, the outer conductor contact elements of the connector generally have the following two forms: the first form is that a plurality of contact spring sheets are extended from the front end of the outer conductor base, and the contact spring sheets are connected with the mating connector through the protruding points on the contact spring sheets to achieve mechanical and electrical connection. This arrangement is prone to the problem of unreliable connection after multiple plugging and unplugging, which will have a great impact on the stability of the connector; the second form is that a connecting portion is further extended from the front end of the plurality of contact spring sheets to prevent the outer conductor contact element from being easily unreliable after multiple plugging and unplugging. However, due to the existence of the connecting portion, this arrangement will inevitably cause the outer conductor contact element to have a large plugging and unplugging force when plugging and unplugging, which is inconvenient to use and may even damage the internal structure of the connector when plugging and unplugging.

It should be noted that the above introduction to the background technology is only for the convenience of providing a clear and complete description of the technical solutions of the present application and facilitating the understanding of those skilled in the art. It cannot be considered that the above technical solutions are well known to those skilled in the art simply because these solutions are described in the background technology section of the present application.

Summary of the invention

In view of this, the purpose of the present application is to provide an outer conductor contact element to solve the problems of the existing outer conductor contact elements, such as loose connection and large insertion and extraction force.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the technical solution adopted in the present application is: an outer conductor contact element, comprising a cylindrical outer conductor base, the front end of the outer conductor base extends outward to form at least two pairs of contact spring pieces arranged oppositely, and the front end of at least one pair of the contact spring pieces continues to extend outward to form a closed connecting portion; at least one pair of the contact spring pieces is in a cantilever shape that is not connected to the connecting portion.

In some embodiments, the connecting portion is annular, and the connecting portion, the outer conductor base, and a cylindrical structure defined by at least two pairs of oppositely arranged contact spring sheets are coaxially arranged.

In some embodiments, the contact spring sheet is bent outwardly and/or inwardly to form a protrusion for electrical connection.

In some embodiments, the diameter of the circumscribed circle where the protrusions are located is greater than the diameter of the outer circumference of the connecting portion.

In some embodiments, the protrusions are arched, and the highest points of the protrusions form contact areas.

In some embodiments, the contact area is a curved surface.

In some embodiments, the protrusions arranged on the cantilevered contact spring piece and the contact spring piece connected to the connecting portion are offset by a predetermined distance in the axial direction of the outer conductor base.

In some embodiments, the protrusions provided on the contact spring piece connected to the connecting portion are distributed at the front end of the protrusions provided on the contact spring piece in a cantilever shape.

In some embodiments, the number of the cantilevered contact spring pieces and the contact spring pieces connected to the connecting portion is the same, and the contact spring pieces are spaced apart in the circumferential direction of the outer conductor base.

In some embodiments, the outer conductor contact element is formed by integrally stamping and bending a metal plate, and engagement grooves are formed at opposite ends of the metal plate.

Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effect of the present application is that the present application combines two commonly used forms of existing outer conductor contact elements together, and can significantly reduce the insertion and removal force of the outer conductor contact element while ensuring a reliable connection, and has strong practicality and good application prospects.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the application and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the application.

FIG1 is a schematic structural diagram of an outer conductor contact element provided by the present application;

FIG2 is a front view of the outer conductor contact element shown in FIG1;

FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a state in which a protrusion provided on the first contact spring sheet first contacts an outer conductor of a mating connector in an embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a state in which the outer conductor contact element is fully inserted into the mating connector in the embodiment.

The following are marked in the figure:
10. Outer conductor base;
20, contact spring piece; 201, convex point; 202, contact area; 203, first contact spring piece;
204, second contact spring piece;
30. Connecting portion; 40. Engaging groove; 50. Predetermined distance; 60. Mating connector.

Detailed ways

Various exemplary embodiments of the present application will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that unless otherwise specifically stated, the relative arrangement of components and steps, numerical expressions and numerical values set forth in these embodiments do not limit the scope of the present application.

The following description of at least one exemplary embodiment is merely illustrative in nature and is in no way intended to limit the present application, its application, or uses.

Technologies, methods, and equipment known to ordinary technicians in the relevant art may not be discussed in detail, but where appropriate, the technologies, methods, and equipment should be considered as part of the specification.

In all examples shown and discussed herein, any specific values should be interpreted as merely exemplary and not limiting. Therefore, other examples of the exemplary embodiments may have different values.

At present, the outer conductor contact elements of the connector generally have the following two forms: the first form is that a plurality of contact spring sheets are extended from the front end of the outer conductor base, and the contact spring sheets are connected with the mating connector through the protruding points on the contact spring sheets to achieve mechanical and electrical connection. This arrangement is prone to the problem of unreliable connection after multiple plugging and unplugging, which will have a great impact on the stability of the connector; the second form is that a connecting portion is further extended from the front end of the plurality of contact spring sheets to prevent the outer conductor contact element from being easily unreliable after multiple plugging and unplugging. However, due to the existence of the connecting portion, this arrangement will inevitably cause the outer conductor contact element to have a large plugging and unplugging force when plugging and unplugging, which is inconvenient to use and may even damage the internal structure of the connector when plugging and unplugging.

The present application provides an outer conductor contact element, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, comprising a cylindrical outer conductor base 10, the front end of the outer conductor base 10 extends outward to form at least two pairs of contact spring pieces 20 arranged opposite to each other, wherein the front end of at least one pair of contact spring pieces 20 continues to extend outward to form a closed connecting portion 30, and the contact spring pieces 20 connected to the connecting portion 30 are defined as first contact spring pieces 203 below; at least one pair of contact spring pieces 20 are cantilevered and not connected to the connecting portion 30, and the contact spring pieces 20 in the cantilevered shape are defined as second contact spring pieces 204 below.

The contact spring sheet 20 is bent outwardly and/or inwardly to form a protrusion 201 for electrical connection. In the present application, it is preferred to bend outwardly to form the protrusion 201, and the diameter of the circumscribed circle where the protrusion 201 is located is larger than the diameter of the outer circumference of the connecting portion 30 to achieve signal transmission. When the outer conductor contact element of the present application is inserted into the mating connector 60, the protrusion 201 set on the contact spring sheet 20 is deformed radially inwardly and forms a stable mechanical and electrical connection with the mating connector 60 to achieve signal transmission.

The present application combines two commonly used forms of existing outer conductor contact elements together, and can significantly reduce the insertion and extraction force of the outer conductor contact element while ensuring a reliable connection. It has strong practicality and good application prospects.

In one embodiment, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the protrusion 201 is arched, and the highest point of the protrusion 201 forms a contact area 202. When the outer conductor contact element of the present application is fully inserted into the mating connector 60, the contact area 202 is in close contact with the inner wall of the outer conductor of the mating connector 60. The contact area 202 is preferably set to an arc surface to achieve a stable signal transmission function.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1 , the connecting portion 30 is annular, and the connecting portion 30 , the outer conductor base 10 , and a cylindrical structure defined by at least two pairs of oppositely arranged contact spring pieces 20 are coaxially arranged and have the same inner diameter.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2 , the protrusions 201 provided on the second contact spring piece 204 and the first contact spring piece 203 are offset by a predetermined distance 50 in the axial direction of the outer conductor base 10. In other words, the protrusions 201 on the second contact spring piece 204 and the protrusions 201 on the first contact spring piece 203 are not located on the same circumferential line, but are located on two circumferential lines respectively, and the distance between the two circumferential lines in the axial direction of the outer conductor base 10 is a distance 50.

In this embodiment, the convex points 201 provided on the first contact spring piece 203 are preferentially distributed at the front end of the convex points 201 provided on the second contact spring piece 204. When the outer conductor contact element of the present application is inserted into the mating connector 60, the convex points 201 provided on the first contact spring piece 203 first contact the outer conductor of the mating connector 60. At this time, the convex points 201 provided on the second contact spring piece 204 have not yet contacted the outer conductor of the mating connector 60, and the insertion and extraction force is relatively small. For details, please refer to FIG. 3. The outer conductor contact element of the present application is continuously inserted axially, and the convex points provided on the second contact spring piece 204 begin to contact the outer conductor of the mating connector 60. At this time, the convex points 201 provided on the first contact spring piece 203 are in contact with the outer conductor of the mating connector 60. 01 has been installed in the outer conductor of the mating connector 60 and is slidingly connected with the inner wall of the outer conductor of the mating connector 60. The plug-in and pull-out force required for the initial insertion has been significantly reduced. Moreover, as mentioned above, the contact area 202 formed by the protrusions 201 set on the first contact spring piece 203 is set to an arc surface, which can also reduce the influence of the first contact spring piece 203 on the plug-in and pull-out force to a certain extent. In summary, setting the protrusions 201 on different contact spring pieces 20 to be offset by a predetermined distance 50 can significantly reduce the plug-in and pull-out force when the outer conductor contact element of the present application is inserted into the mating connector 60. For a schematic diagram of the state when the outer conductor contact elements of the present application are all inserted into the mating connector 60, please refer to Figure 4.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 , the number of the second contact spring pieces 204 and the first contact spring pieces 203 are the same, and they are staggered and spaced apart in the circumferential direction of the outer conductor base 10 , which not only has good aesthetics, but also has good connection strength.

Furthermore, the outer conductor contact element of the present application is formed by integrally stamping and bending a metal plate, and coupling grooves 40 are formed at opposite ends of the metal plate. In order to improve the strength of the outer conductor contact element after bending, the coupling grooves 40 can be set as dovetail grooves that fit each other. The setting of the stamping structure can significantly reduce the manufacturing cost of the outer conductor contact element.

Although some specific embodiments of the present application have been described in detail by way of example, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the above examples are only for illustration, not for limiting the scope of the present application. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the above embodiments may be modified without departing from the scope and spirit of the present application. The scope of the present application is defined by the appended claims.

Claims (10)

An outer conductor contact element comprises an outer conductor base in a cylindrical shape, the front end of the outer conductor base extends outward to form at least two pairs of contact spring pieces arranged opposite to each other, and is characterized in that: The front ends of at least one pair of the contact spring pieces continue to extend outward to form a closed connection portion; At least one pair of contact spring pieces is in a cantilever shape not connected to the connecting portion. The outer conductor contact element according to claim 1 is characterized in that the connecting portion is annular, and the connecting portion, the outer conductor base, and a cylindrical structure defined by at least two pairs of oppositely arranged contact spring sheets are coaxially arranged. The outer conductor contact element according to claim 1, characterized in that: the contact spring sheet is bent outwardly and/or inwardly to form a protrusion for electrical connection. The outer conductor contact element according to claim 3 is characterized in that the diameter of the circumscribed circle where the protrusion is located is larger than the diameter of the outer circumference of the connecting portion. The outer conductor contact element according to claim 3 is characterized in that the protrusion is arched, and the highest point of the protrusion forms a contact area. The outer conductor contact element according to claim 5, characterized in that the contact area is an arc-shaped surface. The outer conductor contact element according to claim 3 is characterized in that the protrusions arranged on the cantilevered contact spring piece and the contact spring piece connected to the connecting portion are offset by a predetermined distance in the axial direction of the outer conductor base. The outer conductor contact element according to claim 7 is characterized in that the protrusions provided on the contact spring piece connected to the connecting portion are distributed at the front end of the protrusions provided on the contact spring piece in a cantilever shape. An outer conductor contact element according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the cantilevered contact spring pieces and the contact spring pieces connected to the connecting portion are the same in number and are spaced apart in the circumferential direction of the outer conductor base. The outer conductor contact element according to claim 1 is characterized in that the outer conductor contact element is formed by integrally punching and bending a metal plate, and engagement grooves are formed at opposite ends of the metal plate.