Electrical connector including variable resistance to reduce arcing

An electrical connector matable to and separable from a separate mating electrical connector, the electrical connector comprising;

• a main contact member;
• an auxiliary contact member;
• a variable resistive member connected between the main contact member and the auxiliary contact member, and
• disconnect means for discontinuously disconnecting first the main contact member and then the auxiliary contact member from terminal means in the mating electrical connector to reduce arcing when separation of the electrical connector from the mating electrical connector disconnects current through the electrical connector.

An electrical connector matable to and separable from a separate mating electrical connector, the electrical connector comprising:

• a main contact terminal including means for connecting the main contact terminal to an electrical conductor;
• an auxiliary contact terminal;
• and
• a resistive member connecting the auxiliary contact terminal to the main contact terminal, such that current passing through the auxiliary contact terminal also passes through the main contact terminal and the resistive member, the resistive member being characterized in that an increase in electrical resistance of the resistive member lags an inrush current through the resistive member, so that the resistive member carries a current approximately equal to the inrush current for a period of time referred to as a trip time, wherein the resistive member comprises a positive temperature coefficient resistive member;
• the electrical connector being configured to disconnect the main contact terminal from a mating electrical terminal in the separate mating electrical connector prior to disconnection of the auxiliary contact terminal from a mating electrical terminal in the mating electrical connector, the time to disconnect the main contact terminal by a distance sufficient such that an electrical arc cannot be sustained comprising a disconnect time, the disconnect time being less than the trip time so that arcing is prevented upon disconnection of the main contact terminal.

An electrical connector matable to and separable from a separate mating electrical connector, the electrical connector comprising:

• a main contact terminal;
• an auxiliary contact terminal;
• a switch comprising a positive temperature coefficient resistance member connected between the main contact terminal and the auxiliary contact terminal, the switch being characterized by a finite trip time to switch from a first relatively low resistance state to a second relatively higher resistance state;
• the electrical connector being configured so that the main contact terminal is separable from a mating terminal in the separate mating electrical connector in a disconnect time that is less than the trip time to reduce arcing when the main contact terminal is disconnected when current flows through the electrical connector and the separate mating electrical connector, disconnection of the auxiliary contact being delayed relative to disconnection of the main contact by a sufficient time so that both the main contact and the auxiliary contact can be disconnected without arcing.

An electrical connector that can be disconnected, without damage due to arcing, from a separable mating electrical connector while carrying electrical energy above an arcing threshold, the electrical connector comprising:

• a main contact matable with and unmatable from a mating contact in the mating electrical connector;
• at least one auxiliary contact;
• a positive temperature coefficient resistor between the main contact and the auxiliary contact;
• the main contact being separable from the mating contact before the auxiliary contact is disconnected from a circuit including the mating contact in the mating connector so that the resistance in the positive temperature coefficient resistor increases after disconnection of the main contact from the mating contact and prior to disconnection of the auxiliary contact from the circuit so that both the main contact and the auxiliary contact can be disconnected without arcing.

An electrical connector matable to and unmatable from a separate mating connector, the electrical connector comprising:

• a main contact;
• an auxiliary contact;
• a variable resistance positive temperature coefficient member between the main contact and the auxiliary contact;
• a first latch disengagable from the mating connector, to disconnect the main contact from mating terminal means in the mating connector;
• a second latch disengagable from the mating connector after the main contact has been disconnected from the mating terminal means, the auxiliary contact being disconnectable from a mating terminal means in the mating electrical connector upon disengagement of the second latch.

An electrical connector disconnectable from a separate mating electrical connector without arcing, the electrical connector comprising:

• main contact means and auxiliary contact means, each matable with and unmatable from mating terminal means in the mating electrical connector as the electrical connector is separated from the mating electrical connector;
• resistive means comprising positive temperature coefficient resistive means between the main contact means and the auxiliary contact means, the main contact means comprising a lower resistance path than a path through the resistive means and the auxiliary contact means;
• the electrical connector being configured so that, when the electrical connector is unmated and separated from the mating electrical connector, the main contact means is disconnected from the mating terminal means in the mating electrical connector before disconnection of the auxiliary contact means and the mating terminal means so that a current path through the auxiliary contact means and the resistive means to the mating terminal means remains intact after disconnection of the main contact means from the mating terminal means;
• the resistance through the resistive means and the auxiliary contact means being greater when the auxiliary contact means is disconnected from the mating terminal means than when the main contact means is disconnected from the mating terminal means so that arcing does not occur when the main contact means and the auxiliary contact means are sequentially disconnected from the mating terminal means.

An electrical connector matable to and separable from a separate mating electrical connector, the electrical connector comprising;

• a main contact member;
• an auxiliary contact member;
• a variable resistive member connected between the main contact member and the auxiliary contact member, wherein the variable resistive member comprises a positive temperature coefficient resistive member and
• disconnect means for disconnecting first the main contact member and then the auxiliary contact member in two stages to reduce arcing when disconnection of the electrical connector disconnects current through the electrical connector.