US 2017/0250498 A1Published application

Water resistant connector assembly

AssigneeMolex Incorporated

InventorsRonald C. Hodge, Ishwarappa Ganamukhi, Dennis W. Berek, Michael Bean

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A water resistant connector assembly includes first and second connectors. Each connector has a housing and a water resistant seal. Each connector is formed in a two-shot operation with the housing being formed of polypropylene and the seal being formed of a thermoplastic elastomer. The seal of one of the connectors has a portion that is provided on an outer surface thereof and has ribs which fold over in a direction opposite a water ingression direction when the second connector is connected to the first convector, thereby creating a seal between the connectors when they are connected. The seals of each of the connectors are also provided at terminal/wire insertion areas, and these seals ensure proper insertion of the terminal/wires. These seals may further include strain relief portions to provide resistance to angularity of the wire.

Claims24

Dependent claims

A water resistant connector comprising:

a housing which extends from a forward surface to a rearward surface, the housing defining a seal accommodation chamber which is open to the rearward surface of the housing, the housing further defining at least one terminal accommodation chamber which is in communication with the seal accommodation chamber and which extends forward toward the forward surface of the housing;
and
a first water resistant seal positioned in the seal accommodation chamber and chemically bonded to the housing, the first water resistant seal having a rearward surface which is generally flush with the rearward surface of the housing, the first water resistant seal having at least one through hole provided therethrough, the at least one through hole being in alignment with the at least one terminal accommodation chamber of the housing, the first water resistant seal providing at least one rib which extends into the at least one through hole, the at least one rib configured to seal against a wire inserted therethrough in order to resist an ingress of water to the at least one terminal accommodation chamber via the at least one through hole of the first water resistant seal.

A water resistant connector assembly comprising:

a first connector having a first housing and a first water resistant seal, the first housing having a forward surface and a rearward surface, the first housing having at least one terminal accommodation chamber for housing a first terminal, the first water resistant seal chemically bonded to an outer surface of the first housing proximate to the forward surface thereof, the first water resistant seal having at least one rib extending outwardly therefrom;
and
a second connector having a second housing, the second housing having a forward surface and a rearward surface, the second housing having at least one terminal accommodation chamber for housing a second terminal, the second terminal configured to be electrically connected to the first, terminal;
wherein the at least one rib is configured to fold over in a direction opposite a water ingression direction when the second connector is connected to the first connector, wherein the folding over of the at least one rib against the second connector resists an ingress of water to the at least one terminal accommodation chambers of the first and second housings via the connection of the first connector to the second connector.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/507,875Filed 2 Oct 2015
Priority: 6 Oct 2014
Published: 31 Aug 2017
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification4 codes

H01R 13/5221
Sealing means between coupling parts, e.g. interfacial seal: having cable sealing means
H01R 13/5208
Sealing means between cable and housing, e.g. grommet: having at least two cable receiving openings
H01R 13/639
Means for facilitating engagement or disengagement of coupling parts or for holding them in engagement: additional means for holding or locking…
H01R
Electrically-conductive connections

Family

Application62/060,382Us provisional application · filed 6 Oct 2014
US 10,128,609 B2Related patent
US 2017/0250498 A1This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

Timeline

Citations

Open elsewhere

Building an agent or pulling many patents? Use the API or MCP server instead of scraping pages. Get an API key