Snap-lock packing element and assembly thereof for a contact assembly

A contact assembly made from a plurality of packing elements, each packing element comprising a plurality of packing elements;

• each packing element comprising:
• a lattice packing element of material having a first major face and an opposed major face, a first side with a first side edge and an opposed second side with a second side edge, a first end with a first end edge and an opposed second end with a second end edge;
• a plurality of corrugations, each having a length formed in the major faces extending at least partially from the first side toward the second side, each corrugation having a peak and a valley joined by angled side walls, the peak having a first peak face corresponding to the first major face and a second peak face opposed to the first peak face and corresponding to the second major face, the valley having a first valley face corresponding to the first major face and a second valley face opposed to the first valley face and corresponding to the second major face;
• at least some of the peaks having at least one post member formed on and extending from the first peak face in a direction away from the first major face and at least some of the valleys having at least one segmented truncated dome member formed on and extending from the second valley face toward the first valley face, the post member of a peak being alignable with the segmented truncated dome member of an adjacent valley in an adjacent packing element when one packing element is rotated 180° around an axis perpendicular to the major faces of the packing element compared to the adjacent packing element to form a contact assembly from the packing elements;
• the post member comprising a plurality of angled legs spaced from each other extending from the first peak face to a cap, the cap having a top face, side edges and undercut bottom edges between the legs;
• the segmented truncated dome member having a central opening surrounded by a plurality of spaced dome segments formed by angled protrusions extending from the second valley face toward the first valley face, each of the angled protrusions of the segmented truncated dome member having a top edge, the plurality of the dome segments being equal to a number of spaces between the angled legs of the post member, the angled protrusions of the segmented truncated dome member having locations corresponding to locations of the spaces between the legs of the post member;
• the legs of the post member having a length sufficient for the post member and its cap to extend through the central opening of the segmented truncated dome member of an adjacent packing element when appropriately aligned therewith to such an extent that the undercut bottom edges of the cap may bear against the top edges of the angled protrusions of an aligned segmented truncated dome member of an adjacent packing element in a snap-lock manner to retain the adjacent packing elements together as a contact assembly such that a force needed to separate a post member inserted into a segmented truncated dome member in the snap-lock manner is so great that the material forming at least one of the post member, the segmented truncated dome member or the packing element will fail to the extent that a contact assembly made using the packing elements would not be functional;
• wherein each packing element is aligned with an adjacent packing element by being rotated 180° around an axis perpendicular to the major faces of the packing element compared to the adjacent packing element, the adjacent packing elements being attached to each other when at least some of the post members of one packing element are inserted into aligned dome members of the adjacent packing element and retained together in a snap-lock manner to form the contact assembly.

A method of making a contact assembly comprising a plurality of packing elements, the method comprising:

• (a) providing a plurality of packing elements, each packing element comprising:
• a lattice packing element of material having a first major face and an opposed major face, a first side with a first side edge and an opposed second side with a second side edge, a first end with a first end edge and an opposed second end with a second end edge;
• a plurality of corrugations, each having a length formed in the major faces extending at least partially from the first side toward the second side, each corrugation having a peak and a valley joined by angled side walls, the peak having a first peak face corresponding to the first major face and a second peak face opposed to the first peak face and corresponding to the second major face, the valley having a first valley face corresponding to the first major face and a second valley face opposed to the first valley face and corresponding to the second major face;
• at least some of the peaks having at least one post member formed on and extending from the first peak face in a direction away from the first major face and at least some of the valleys having at least one segmented truncated dome member formed on and extending from the second valley face toward the first valley face, the post member of a peak being alignable with the segmented truncated dome member of an adjacent valley in an adjacent packing element when one packing element is rotated 180° around an axis perpendicular to the major faces of the packing element compared to the adjacent packing element to form a contact assembly from the packing elements;
• the post member comprising a plurality of angled legs spaced from each other extending from the first peak face to a cap, the cap having a top face, side edges and undercut bottom edges between the legs;
• the segmented truncated dome member having a central opening surrounded by a plurality of spaced dome segments formed by angled protrusions extending from the second valley face toward the first valley face, each of the angled protrusions of the segmented truncated dome member having a top edge, the plurality of the dome segments being equal to a number of spaces between the angled legs of the post member, the angled protrusions of the segmented truncated dome member having locations corresponding to locations of the spaces between the legs of the post member;
• the legs of the post member having a length sufficient for the post member and its cap to extend through the central opening of the segmented truncated dome member of an adjacent packing element when appropriately aligned therewith to such an extent that the undercut bottom edges of the cap may bear against the top edges of the angled protrusions of an aligned segmented truncated dome member of an adjacent packing element in a snap-lock manner to retain the adjacent packing elements together as a contact assembly such that a force needed to separate a post member inserted into a segmented truncated dome member in the snap-lock manner is so great that the material forming at least one of the post member, the segmented truncated dome member or the packing element will fail to the extent that a contact assembly made using the packing elements would not be functional;
• the method further comprising:
• (b) aligning the packing elements such that adjacent packing elements are rotated 180° around an axis perpendicular to the major faces with respect to the adjacent packing elements;
• and
• (c) inserting at least some of the post members of one packing element into aligned dome members of the adjacent packing element whereby the post members inserted into aligned dome members are retained together in a snap-lock manner, thereby forming the contact assembly.