As an indispensable component in electronic equipment, connectors undertake the important task of current and signal transmission. In the connector, the conductor spring, claw spring, wire spring, crown spring and torsion spring and other spring components play a vital role. These spring elements not only have different structures and characteristics, but also are widely used in a variety of fields, ensuring the reliability and stability of the connector in a variety of complex environments. The characteristics and applications of these spring elements are described in detail in this paper.

Blade spring: simple structure, strong bearing capacity

A leaf spring is a thin sheet spring, usually made of spring steel or stainless steel. Its simple structure is curved by one or more planes, which enables the blade spring to play an excellent performance in a limited space. The advantage of blade springs is that they can withstand high pressure and high loads while taking up less space, making them ideal for use in compact Spaces.

Blade springs are widely used in automobiles, industrial machinery, medical equipment and electronic equipment. For example, in the automotive industry, leaf springs are often used in the opening and closing mechanisms of parts such as doors and hoods to ensure that these parts can work smoothly and reliably. In addition, in medical equipment, blade springs are also often used in various surgical instruments and auxiliary devices to provide reliable help for medical work.

Leaf spring connectors, also known as chip power connectors or chip connectors, are another important form of application. This connector has the characteristics of low contact resistance, large carrying current, small insertion and withdrawal force, super anti-misinsertion and dynamic contact reliability. The number of power end and signal end can be adjusted according to customer requirements, plug connection methods are solder-free crimping and welding plate, which can replace the rectangular connector on the market at present, with lower cost and easy to use. Leaf spring connectors are mainly used in board-to-board connection of printed circuit power interface, UPS power interface and server and other fields, because of the characteristics of the use of molding materials, with high temperature resistance, pressure resistance, chemical resistance, fire resistance, arc resistance and insulation characteristics.

Claw spring: many contact points, soft insertion and removal

The jack of the spring claw structure is mainly composed of the jack matrix and the reed of the claw spring. The base of the jack is cylindrical, and the claw reed is installed in the contact port. The reed can be fixed in the cylinder by its own elasticity, or it can be forced into the cylinder. The elasticity of the reed depends on the width, number, arc size and reed material of the elastic claw.

When the plug is inserted into the jack, the reed bends so that its contact port is in contact with the plug, thus achieving an electrical connection. The spring claw structure jack has the characteristics of multiple contact points, soft insertion and removal and high mechanical life. More contact points can improve the reliability of electrical connections, soft insertion and removal can avoid plug and jack damage, high mechanical life is suitable for frequent insertion and removal occasions.

The spring claw jack is widely used in the aviation plug of small and medium-sized connectors, suitable for φ0.40mm-φ3mm jack, and the contact life can reach more than 1000 times. In addition, it can also be applied to electronic equipment, communication equipment, automotive electronics and other fields. The spring claw jack is a compact and flexible connector suitable for a variety of applications requiring high reliability and frequent insertion and removal.

Wire spring: low contact resistance, long service life

Wire spring jack, full name of single leaf rotary hyperboloid wire spring jack, is a highly reliable jack assembly used in electrical connector products. The hole is arranged by a plurality of elastic gold-plated or silver-plated metal wires according to the straight bus of the single-blade rotary hyperboloid, and forms an Angle with the inner straight bus. When the pin is inserted into the wire spring hole, the wire spring wire will undergo elastic deformation in both radial and axial directions, and the pin will contact with multiple independent wire spring wires in the wire spring hole at the same time to form multiple independent current paths.

The wire spring jack has the characteristics of low contact resistance and stability, small insertion and withdrawal force, low contact wear, long insertion and withdrawal life and high reliability. When the aviation socket is inserted, these elastic metal wires will be tightly surrounded around the socket, resulting in multi-wire contact, and a pair of needle eyes can be used as several pairs of general needles and holes in parallel. The insertion and removal process is relatively soft, which can reduce the wear of the contact part, and the insertion and removal times can reach more than 5000 times. In strong vibration and shock environments, the wire spring jack can maintain high reliability of electrical contact, and the instantaneous break time is less than 1μs.

Wire spring jack is mainly used for connectors with various key equipment, such as aerospace, weapons and equipment, medical equipment, automotive electronic testing, railway rolling stock, electronic communications, intelligent equipment, petroleum, chemical industry, exploration and other fields. According to different needs and application scenarios, wire spring jacks may have some special designs and improvements. For example, the close-wound hyperboloid wire spring jack adopts a special assembly method, and dozens or even hundreds of high-elastic wire spring wires are tightly wound along the inner wall of the matrix hole one by one. It has the characteristics of extremely low contact resistance, small volume, soft inserting and pulling force, vibration resistance, impact resistance, long inserting and pulling life, etc., and its instantaneous breaking time is less than 1μs in the case of high vibration and impact resistance. Excellent performance in signal fidelity and high current transmission.

Crown spring: many contacts, strong current carrying performance

A crown spring is a conical spring, usually made of round steel wire. Its structure is more complex, wrapped by multiple spirals, and the high end is different from the basic diameter. The advantage of crown springs is that they can withstand high loads and pressures and are suitable for applications where compression motion needs to be supported and controlled. Crown springs are commonly used in industrial machinery, automotive, aerospace and medical equipment.

In the field of connectors, the crown spring structure is one of the commonly used contact forms for automotive battery connectors. Compared with the 4 contacts of the cross slotted structure, the main rod of the crown spring structure has 12 contacts, and the 360° matching can effectively solve the problems of easy fracture and deformation of the cross slotted structure. At the same time, the contact conductor of the crown spring structure is copper, compared with the brass conductor, the current carrying performance has been significantly improved. The crown spring structure is made of highly elastic beryllium copper material, so that the shape variable is less, the performance attenuation in the life cycle is small, and the connection can be maintained stable under high frequency vibration conditions, without the risk of transient break, and the seismic life is long.

The application of crown spring structure is not limited to automotive battery connectors, but can also be extended to other connectors requiring high reliability and high-frequency vibration conditions. For example, in aerospace and medical equipment, the crown spring structure provides stable connections and reliable power to ensure the normal operation of the equipment.

Torsion spring: strong elastic strength, widely used

Torsion spring is a cylindrical spring, usually made of round steel wire. Its structure is relatively complex and consists of two or more helix wraps. The advantage of torsion springs is that they can withstand torsional and compressive stresses and are suitable for applications where rotation and compression movements need to be supported and controlled. Torsion springs are commonly used in car doors, furniture, toys, industrial machinery and electronic equipment.

The elastic strength of the torsion spring comes from the physical characteristics and geometric shape of its material. Material selection (such as stainless steel, alloy steel, etc.) and reasonable structural design can ensure that the torsion spring maintains stable elastic properties and durability in long-term use. The manufacturing process of torsion spring, including heat treatment, surface treatment, etc., also has an important impact on its performance. Reasonable heat treatment can improve the elastic limit and fatigue strength of the material, and good surface treatment can enhance the corrosion resistance and service life of the torsion spring.

In the automotive industry, torsion springs are often used in the opening and closing mechanisms of doors, hoods, seats and other components to ensure that these components can work smoothly and reliably. In electronic equipment, torsion springs are often used in the fixing and locking of connectors, as well as in the triggering mechanism of buttons and switches, to provide necessary support for the stable operation of the equipment. In the field of medical devices, torsion springs are used in various surgical instruments, rehabilitation equipment and auxiliary devices to provide reliable help for medical work.