Delphi Technologies, Inc.

Aptiv Technologies Limited

Sivakumar Niranjan

Rangarajan Sundarakrishnamachari

John D Schneider

Bart N Caldwell

Velmurugan Kandasamy

Sudhakar Subramanian

Rathnakumar Ramaswamy

David J Deckant

An illustrative example embodiment of a connector includes a terminal configured to establish an electrically conductive connection with another component and a shroud surrounding the terminal. The shroud includes a first sidewall and a second sidewall that is transverse to the first sidewall. The first sidewall and the second sidewall have a sidewall dimension in a direction parallel to a longitudinal axis of the terminal. The shroud includes a first transition between the first sidewall and the second sidewall in the form of a hollow cylindrical sector having a first angular measurement of more than 90 degrees. The transition has a transition dimension that is less than the sidewall dimension.

Connector shroud configuration

An electrical connector-assembly includes a first-housing and a second-housing. The first-housing has first-walls that include opposed gear-racks extending beyond an outer-surface. The opposed gear-racks are configured to engage a mate-assist device. The first-walls include opposed locking-fins extending beyond the outer-surface. The opposed locking-fins have first-fins and second-fins. The second-housing includes the mate-assist device which is moveable from an unlocked-position to a locked-position and is pivotable about the lateral-axis. The mate-assist device has gear-teeth configured to engage the opposed gear-racks of the first-housing. The second-housing has a skirt configured to slideably engage the outer-surface of the first-housing. The skirt includes flex-locks configured to engage the first-fins and retain the second-housing in a prestage-position. When the mate-assist device is moved from the unlocked-position to the locked-position, the second-housing is moved from the prestage-position to a seated-position, whereby the flex-locks engage the second-fins, thereby inhibiting a movement between the second-housing and the first-housing.

Electrical connector with high vibration resistant locks

A connector assembly includes a first-connector-housing, an inner-housing, a terminal-stabilizer, and a second-connector-housing. The inner-housing is disposed within a cavity defined by the first-connector-housing. The inner-housing includes a pair of opposed flexible-locks moveable from a locked-position to an unlocked-position. The terminal-stabilizer is disposed within the cavity and movable from a pre-stage-position to a seated-position. The terminal-stabilizer defines a pair of stops configured to engage ends of the opposed flexible-locks when the opposed flexible-locks are in the locked-position. The second-connector-housing includes a pair of unlocking-features configured to move the pair of opposed flexible-locks from the locked-position to the unlocked-position. When the second-connector-housing is mated with the first-connector-housing the pair of unlocking-features move the pair of opposed flexible-locks to the unlocked-position, whereby the pair of stops on the terminal-stabilizer move past the pair of opposed flexible-locks and the second-connector-housing moves the terminal-stabilizer from the pre-stage-position to the seated-position.

Connector assembly with terminal-stabilizer

An electrical connector includes a first-housing, a second-housing, and a connector-position-assurance (CPA) device. The first-housing has two parallel actuation-ribs extending from an outer-surface of the first-housing. The actuation-ribs are aligned parallel to a longitudinal mating-axis of the electrical connector. The second-housing is configured to mate with the first-housing and includes two opposing lugs projecting from a top-surface of the second-housing. The CPA device is slideably mounted to the second-housing and is moveable from a pre-stage-position to a latched-position. The CPA device includes two parallel latching-arms that engage the lugs. The latching-arms are in a relaxed-state when in the pre-stage-position. The actuation-ribs disengage the latching-arms from the lugs when the first-housing is mated with the second-housing. This enables the CPA device to be moved from the pre-stage-position to the latched-position. The latching-arms return to the relaxed-state when in the CPA device is in the latched-position.

Electrical connector with position assurance device

An electrical connector includes a first-housing, a second-housing, a slideable-skirt, and a terminal-lock. The second-housing is configured to mate with the first-housing along a longitudinal-mating-axis. The second-housing defines a slot in a top-side of the second-housing extending along a lateral-axis orthogonal to the longitudinal-mating-axis. The slideable-skirt is mounted to the second-housing and is moveable from a pre-stage position to a seated-position along the longitudinal-mating-axis. The slideable-skirt overlays a portion of a perimeter of the second-housing and defines cam-slots on a first-side and a second-side of the slideable-skirt. The terminal-lock is disposed within the slot and is moveable from a terminal insertion position to a locking position. The terminal-lock includes cam-posts extending from a first-end and a second-end of the terminal-lock disposed within the cam-slots. The terminal-lock moves from the terminal insertion position to the locking position as the slideable-skirt is moved from the pre-stage position to the seated-position.

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Tamil Nadu, India

Sivakumar Niranjan