Back to results
US 7,780,486 B2Granted
Electrical connectors and mating connector assemblies
AssigneeSealco Commercial Vehicle Products, Inc.
InventorsZia Yavari, Dale Dwayne Emerson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electrical connector includes a terminal body defining at least two openings therein. Electrical terminals positioned in each of the at least two openings defined by the terminal body include respective crimp sections that extend beyond an end of the terminal body. A separator fin attached to the end of the terminal body extends beyond the crimp sections of the electrical terminals and is located between the at least two openings in the terminal body so that the separator fin defines a structure that is closed on an inner side to physically separate the crimp sections of the electrical terminals and open on an outer side so that the crimp sections of the electrical terminals are exposed.
Claims13
An electrical connector, comprising:
- a terminal body, said terminal body defining at least two openings therein;
- electrical terminals each positioned in each of the at least two openings defined by said terminal body, each of said electrical terminals having at least a crimp section that extends beyond an end of said terminal body;
- and
- at least one separator fin extending from the end of said terminal body beyond the crimp sections of the electrical terminals, said separator fin being located between the at least two openings so that said separator fin defines a structure that is closed on an inner side to physically separate the crimp sections of the electrical terminals and open on an outer side so that the crimp sections of the electrical terminals are exposed;
- wherein the at least two openings in said terminal body comprise at least a center opening and a plurality of perimeter openings arranged around the center opening when viewed with respect to the end of said terminal body, and wherein the at least one separator fin comprises three separator fins, each of which separator fins extends from the end of said terminal body so that a separator fin is located between adjacent ones of the perimeter openings in said terminal body, said separator fins being joined together so that they define a central opening that is generally aligned with the center opening defined in said terminal body, said separator fins extending generally radially outwardly from the central opening so that any two adjacent separator fins define the structure having the closed inner side and the open outer side;
- and
- wherein each of the openings in said terminal body further comprises a tapered portion and wherein each of said electrical terminals comprises a tapered section sized to engage the tapered portion provided in the openings.
4 more elements
A mating electrical connector pair, comprising:
- a first terminal body, said first terminal body defining at least two openings therein;
- first type of electrical terminals each positioned in each of the at least two openings defined by said first terminal body, each of said first type of electrical terminals having at least a crimp section that extends beyond an end of said first terminal body;
- at least one separator fin attached to the end of said first terminal body beyond the crimp sections of said first type of electrical terminals, said separator fin being located between the at least two openings so that said separator fin defines a structure that is closed on an inner side to physically separate the crimp sections of said first type of electrical terminals and open on an outer side so that the crimp sections of said first type of electrical terminals are exposed;
- a second terminal body, said second terminal body defining at least two openings therein;
- and
- a second type of electrical terminal positioned in each of the at least two openings defined by said second terminal body, said second type of electrical terminal being releasably engageable with said first type of electrical terminal;
- wherein said at least one of said three separator fins has at least one notched section therein, sleeve material flowing into and engaging said at least one notched section in said separator fin during the molding process, the engagement of the at least one notched section and the sleeve material securely bonding said sleeve and said terminal body together.
4 more elements
An electrical connector, comprising:
- a terminal body, said terminal body defining at least two openings therein;
- electrical terminals each positioned in each of the at least two openings defined by said terminal body, each of said electrical terminals having at least a crimp section that extends beyond an end of said terminal body;
- an electrical conductor electrically connected to the crimp section of each of said electrical terminals;
- at least one separator fin extending from the end of said terminal body beyond the crimp sections of the electrical terminals, said separator fin being located between the at least two openings so that said separator fin defines a structure that is closed on an inner side to physically separate the crimp sections of the electrical terminals and open on an outer side so that the crimp sections of the electrical terminals are exposed, said separator fin having at least one notched section therein;
- and
- a sleeve formed around said terminal body by a molding process so that said sleeve encapsulates at least a portion of said terminal body and at least a portion of said at least one separator fin, sleeve material flowing into and engaging the at least one notched section in said at least one separator fin during the molding process, the engagement of the at least one notched section and the sleeve material securely bonding together said sleeve and said terminal body.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.