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EP-4557531-B1 - QUICK-LOCK CONNECTOR

EP4557531B1EP 4557531 B1EP4557531 B1EP 4557531B1EP-4557531-B1

Inventors

  • OU YANG, SHU-HUA
  • LEE, CHU-HSUEH

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20240301

Claims (6)

  1. A quick-lock connector suitable for a counterpart connector (100), the quick-lock connector (10) comprising: a connector body (1); a rotary sleeve (2), rotatably disposed around the connector body (1), and the rotary sleeve (2) comprising a latching structure (21) capable of latching the counterpart connector (100); a clockwork spring (3), nested between the connector body (1) and the rotary sleeve (2) for elastically supporting; a plurality of engaging bumps (5), extended from one of an outer periphery of the connector body (1) and an inner periphery of the rotary sleeve (2), one of the engaging bumps (5) comprising a first slope (51); and an annular bump (6), circumferentially extended on another one of the outer periphery of the connector body (1) and the inner periphery of the rotary sleeve (2), the annular bump (6) comprising multiple elongated trenches (61) extended along a circumferential direction thereof, multiple inserting openings (62) disposed at a side thereof and respectively communicated with the elongated trenches (61), and a ramp block (63) protruded from an inner bottom surface at one end of one of the elongated trenches (61) adjacent to the inserting opening (62), the ramp block (63) comprising a height thereof decreasing toward the inserting opening (62) so as to defined a second slope (631), wherein the engaging bumps (5) are allowed to move into the elongated trenches (61) through the inserting openings (62) respectively so as to be received in the elongated trenches (61) respectively and slidable along a circumferential direction of the annular bump (6); characterized in that the clockwork spring (3) is an elastic spiral strip (31) nested between the connector body (1) and the rotary sleeve (2), an end of the elastic spiral strip (31) is fixed to the connector body (1), and another end thereof is fixed to the rotary sleeve (2); and when the engaging bump (5) is in the inserting opening (62), the first slope (51) and the second slope (631) abut against each other to guide the engaging bump (5) to slide through the ramp block (63) first and then enter the elongated trench (61); when the engaging bump (5) is located in the elongated trench (61), the ramp block (63) stops between the elongated trench (61) and the inserting opening (62), so the engaging bump (5) and the ramp block (63) stop each other to use the ramp block (63) to limit the engaging bump (5) to be located in the elongated trench (61).
  2. The quick-lock connector of claim 1, wherein an annular groove (4) is defined on one of an outer periphery of the connector body (1) and an inner periphery of the rotary sleeve (2), the outer periphery of the connector body (1) is disposed with a first trough (12), the inner periphery of the rotary sleeve (2) is disposed with a second trough (22), and the elastic spiral strip (31) is embedded in the annular groove (4) and comprises one end bent to form a first folding end (32) embedded into the first trough (12) and another end bent to form a second folding end (33) embedded into the second trough (22).
  3. The quick-lock connector of claim 1, wherein the engaging bumps (5) are four in number and the elongated trenches (61) are four in number, the four engaging bumps (5) and the four elongated trenches (61) are arranged along the outer periphery of the connector body (1) and the inner periphery of the rotary sleeve (2) at regular intervals.
  4. The quick-lock connector of claim 1, wherein the connector body (1) comprises a connecting portion (11) at an end thereof, and the multiple engaging bumps (5) and the annular bump (6) are arranged between the connecting portion (11) and the clockwork spring (3).
  5. The quick-lock connector of claim 1, wherein the latching structure (21) comprises multiple latches (211) extended from an inner periphery of the rotary sleeve (2).
  6. The quick-lock connector of claim 5, wherein the latches (211) are four in number, and the four latches (211) are arranged along an inner periphery of the rotary sleeve (2) at regular intervals.

Description

BACKGROUND Technical Field The disclosure relates to a connector structure, particularly to a quick-lock connector. Related Art A connection of male and female heads of a related-art quick-lock connector has a convex structure and a concave structure disposed on rotary sleeves which are engaged with each other and has a spiral spring is used for returning the rotary sleeve, so that the rotary sleeve is pulled by the spiral spring and locked at a position where the convex structure is engaged with the concave structure. US 11 424 574 B1 provides a terminal electrical connector, which includes a terminal unit and a rotating cap. The terminal unit includes a terminal unit body, one or a plurality of electrical terminals provided inside the terminal unit body, and a torsion spring positioned on the terminal unit body. A limiting groove for limiting a pivotal stroke and a first positioning groove for positioning a first end of the torsion spring are provided on an outer peripheral side of the terminal unit body. The rotating cap includes a cap body, and one or a plurality of locking blocks provided on the cap body for locking on another terminal electrical connector. A sliding block and a second positioning groove are provided on an inner circumference of the cap body. The sliding block is used for limiting the pivotal stroke of the rotating cap relative to the terminal unit body, and the torsion spring is used for inertially returning the rotating cap to a position of a reset angle relative to the terminal unit body. US 6 203 349 B1 relates to an electrical connector with a locking mechanism which is to be locked to a counter electrical connector by insertedly connecting the connector to the counter electrical connector and then conducting a given rotating operation, and in which only a given rotation operation is required for enabling a locking state to be naturally canceled by a spring force. According to the present invention, irrespective of whether the electrical connector has a single pole or plural poles, the connectors can be connected and locked to each other without requiring an adjustment of a lock ring in the peripheral direction, only by determining the fitting position. In the electrical connector with a locking mechanism of the present invention, a lock ring at the initial position is positioned by fitting between a protruding portion disposed on a fitting portion, and a recess portion disposed in a lock ring fitted onto the fitting portion. When the lock ring is positioned by the fitting of the protruding portion and the recess portion, a fitting mechanism conducts the positioning operation and a connector is insertedly connected to the counter connector. Then, an outward projection of the counter electrical connector is fitted into a slot of the lock ring. The lock ring is always urged in the advancing direction by a spring member. However, the spiral spring of the above-mentioned quick-lock connector is arranged and installed along the circumferential direction of the rotary sleeve, so the spiral spring must be bent to form an arc shape in advance, and a guide mechanism should be additionally used for assembling the spiral spring on the rotary sleeve. However, it can easily detach from the rotary sleeve if a slightly improper force is applied to the spiral spring, this leads to the inconvenience of assembling to operators and a waste of labor. In view of this, the inventors have devoted themselves to the above-mentioned prior art, researched intensively and cooperated with the application of science to try to solve the above-mentioned problems. Finally, the invention which is reasonable and effective to overcome the above drawbacks is provided. SUMMARY The disclosure provides a quick-lock connector, which has a clockwork spring nested between the connector body and the rotary sleeve for elastically supporting so that it is easy for assembling and labor saving. In particular, the abovementioned problems are solved by a quick-lock connector according to appended claim 1. Advantageous embodiments are the subject of the dependent claims. Accordingly, the clockwork spring is an elastic spiral strip and therefore suitable for being installed in an annular space, so that the clockwork spring may be directly nested between the connector body and the rotary sleeve without being bent and deformed and an additional guiding mechanism. Thus, when assembling the quick-lock connector, the clockwork spring will not separate from the rotary sleeve due to an elastic return force caused by an improper force exerted on the clockwork spring, so that the assembling of the quick-lock connector is easy and labor saving. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an explode view of the quick-lock connector of the disclosure;FIG. 2 is another explode view of the quick-lock connector of the disclosure;FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional schematic view of the quick-lock connector of the disclosure;FIG. 4 is another cross-sectio