POWER TERMINAL FOR ARCLESS POWER CONNECTOR

• US 20180034198A1
• Filed: 07/27/2017
• Published: 02/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TE Connectivity Solutions GmbH (TE Connectivity Ltd. (United Kingdom))
• Original Assignee: TE Connectivity Corporation (TE Connectivity Ltd. (United Kingdom))
• Inventors: Lyon, Zachary Wood, Patterson, Jeremy Christian, Shocket, Abraham Louis
• Granted Patent: US 10,020,613 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/53 Bases or cases for heavy duty; Bases or cases for high voltage with means for preventing corona or arcing
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/6616 with resistor
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 2201/26 for vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 29/00 Coupling parts for selective co-operation with a counterpart in different ways to establish different circuits, e.g. for voltage selection, for series-parallel selection, programmable connectors
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 39/46 Auxiliary means for improving current transfer, or for reducing or preventing sparking or arcing
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 39/54 by use of impedance between brushes or segments

Abstract

A power terminal includes a terminal beam having a mating surface. A protective thermal coupler bridge is positioned adjacent the terminal beam having a bridge conductor, an insulating substrate and a bridge pad. The bridge pad has a mating surface. A variable resistive member is electrically coupled between the terminal beam and the bridge conductor to provide a shunt so that arcing does not occur when the power terminal is disconnected from the mating power terminal. The mating surface of the terminal beam is separable before the mating surface of the bridge pad is disconnected so that the resistance in the variable resistive member increases after disconnection of the main power terminal from the mating power terminal and prior to disconnection of the bridge pad from the mating power terminal to shunt the current through the bridge conductor and the variable resistive member during unmating.

Claims

1. A power terminal for an electrical connector configured to be mated with a mating power terminal of a mating electrical connector, the power terminal comprising:

a terminal beam configured to be electrically coupled to a power wire, the terminal beam having a mating surface configured to be mated with the mating power terminal;

a protective thermal coupler bridge positioned adjacent the terminal beam, the protective thermal coupler bridge having a bridge conductor, an insulating substrate and a bridge pad, the bridge conductor provided on the insulating substrate, the bridge pad provided on the insulating substrate and being electrically coupled to the bridge conductor, the bridge pad having a mating surface configured to be mated with the mating power terminal; and

a variable resistive member electrically coupled between the terminal beam and the bridge conductor, the variable resistive member providing a shunt so that arcing does not occur when the power terminal is disconnected from the mating power terminal of the mating electrical connector;

wherein the mating surface of the terminal beam is separable from the mating power terminal of the mating electrical connector before the mating surface of the bridge pad is disconnected from the mating power terminal of the mating electrical connector so that the resistance in the variable resistive member increases after disconnection of the main power terminal from the mating power terminal and prior to disconnection of the bridge pad from the mating power terminal to shunt the current through the bridge conductor and the variable resistive member during unmating.

2. The power terminal of claim 1, wherein the mating surface of the terminal beam is aligned with the mating surface of the bridge pad along a mating axis of the power terminal with the mating power terminal.

3. The power terminal of claim 1, wherein the insulating substrate is positioned between the bridge conductor and the terminal beam.

4. The power terminal of claim 1, wherein the variable resistive member is directly coupled to the bridge conductor.

5. The power terminal of claim 1, wherein the variable resistive member includes a variable resistive member contact including a spring beam spring biased against the terminal beam to electrically couple the variable resistive member and the terminal beam.

6. The power terminal of claim 1, wherein the terminal beam includes a pocket therethrough, the protective thermal coupler bridge being provided at a bottom of the pocket, the variable resistive member being received in the pocket to engage the protective thermal coupler bridge.

7. The power terminal of claim 1, wherein the protective thermal coupler bridge comprises a printed circuit board having at least one internal conductive layer defining the bridge conductor and at least one external conductive layer defining the bridge pad with at least one internal insulating layer defining the insulating substrate.

8. The power terminal of claim 1, wherein the bridge conductor and the bridge pad are plated layers on the insulating substrate.

9. The power terminal of claim 1, wherein the insulating substrate is a flexible polymeric film, the bridge conductor and the bridge pad being circuit layers applied directly on the flexible polymeric film.

10. The power terminal of claim 1, wherein the terminal beam is a first terminal beam, the power terminal further comprising a second terminal beam configured to be electrically coupled to the power wire, the second terminal beam having a mating surface configured to be mated with the mating power terminal, the protective thermal coupler bridge being positioned between the first and second terminal beams in a stacked arrangement to define a single blade configured to be received in the mating power terminal.

11. The power terminal of claim 10, wherein the first terminal beam has a front edge, the second terminal beam having a front edge offset along a mating axis such that the second terminal beam is separable from the mating power terminal of the mating electrical connector before the first terminal beam separates from the mating power terminal.

12. The power terminal of claim 1, wherein the terminal beam is a first terminal beam, the insulating substrate is a first insulating substrate and the bridge pad is a first bridge pad, the power terminal further comprising a second terminal beam configured to be electrically coupled to a the power wire, the second terminal beam having a mating surface configured to be mated with the mating power terminal, the protective thermal coupler bridge further comprising a second insulating substrate and a second bridge pad provided on the second insulating substrate forward of the second terminal beam, the first insulating substrate being positioned between and electrically isolating the first terminal beam and the bridge conductor, the second insulating substrate being positioned between and electrically isolating the second terminal beam and the bridge conductor.

13. The power terminal of claim 12, wherein the first terminal beam has a front edge positioned rearward of and separated from the first bridge pad by a first gap, the second terminal beam having a front edge positioned rearward of and separated from the second bridge pad by a second gap, the second gap being offset along a mating axis such that the second terminal beam is separable from the mating power terminal at the second gap while the first power terminal remains connected to the mating power terminal, the second bridge pad being connected to the mating power terminal while the first terminal beam is separated from the mating power terminal at the first gap.

14. The power terminal of claim 1, further comprising a dielectric cover covering the terminal beam and the protective thermal coupler bridge at the variable resistive member.

15. The power terminal of claim 1, wherein electrical resistance in the variable resistance member increases in response to increasing current to reduce the flow of current through the protective thermal coupler bridge before the protective thermal coupler bridge is disconnected from the mating power terminal of the mating electrical connector so that arcing does not occur when the terminal beam is disconnected initially causing an increase in the flow of current through the variable resistance member.

16. The power terminal of claim 1, wherein the variable resistance member comprises a conductive polymer member with conductive particles immersed in a nonconductive polymer, increased resistive heating causing the nonconductive polymer to expand to disrupt conductive paths formed by interconnected conductive particles.

17. The power terminal of claim 1, wherein the protective thermal coupler bridge is disconnected from the mating power terminal after a finite time interval from the disconnecting of the terminal beam from the mating power terminal of the mating electrical connector, the finite time interval being long enough for resistance in the variable resistive member to increase sufficiently to reduce the current through the protective thermal coupler bridge below an arcing threshold so that arcing does not occur upon disconnection of the protective thermal coupler bridge from the mating power terminal of the mating electrical connector.

18. The power terminal of claim 1, wherein the variable resistive member comprises a positive temperature coefficient resistive member characterized by a finite trip time to switch from a first relatively low resistance state to a second relatively higher resistance state.

19. The power terminal of claim 1, wherein the variable resistive member comprises a positive temperature coefficient resistive member, a resistance of the positive temperature coefficient resistor increases sufficiently rapidly between separation of the terminal beam and disconnection of the protective thermal coupler bridge so that the electrical energy flowing through the protective thermal coupler bridge is reduced below the arcing threshold after separation of the terminal beam and before disconnection of the protective thermal coupler bridge.

20. An electrical connector matable to and unmatable from a separable mating electrical connector, the electrical connector comprising:

a housing having a mating end and a wire end;

a power terminal received in and held by the housing, the power terminal being matable with and unmatable from a mating power terminal of the mating electrical connector, the power terminal comprising;

a terminal beam configured to be electrically coupled to a power wire extending from the wire end of the housing, the terminal beam having a mating surface configured to be mated with the mating power terminal;

a protective thermal coupler bridge positioned adjacent the terminal beam, the protective thermal coupler bridge having a bridge conductor, an insulating substrate and a bridge pad, the bridge conductor provided on the insulating substrate, the bridge pad provided on the insulating substrate and being electrically coupled to the bridge conductor, the bridge pad having a mating surface configured to be mated with the mating power terminal; and

a variable resistive member electrically coupled between the terminal beam and the bridge conductor, the variable resistive member providing a shunt so that arcing does not occur when the power terminal is disconnected from the mating power terminal of the mating electrical connector;

wherein the mating surface of the terminal beam is separable from the mating power terminal of the mating electrical connector before the mating surface of the bridge pad is disconnected from the mating power terminal of the mating electrical connector so that the resistance in the variable resistive member increases after disconnection of the main power terminal from the mating power terminal and prior to disconnection of the bridge pad from the mating power terminal to shunt the current through the bridge conductor and the variable resistive member during unmating.