1. A terminal crimping device comprising:
a crimp tooling comprising an anvil and a ram movable toward the anvil, a crimp zone being defined between the anvil and the ram configured to receive a wire and a terminal configured to be crimped to the wire by the crimp tooling;
an ultrasonic transducer coupled to at least one of the anvil and the ram, the ultrasonic transducer receiving acoustic signals sent through the wire and terminal; and
a crimp quality module receiving signals from the ultrasonic transducer, the crimp quality module determining a crimp height of the terminal based on the acoustic signal received by the ultrasonic transducer.
2. The terminal crimping device of claim 1, wherein the crimp height is determined when the ram separates from the terminal.
3. The terminal crimping device of claim 1, wherein the crimp height is determined based upon a transmission time of the acoustic signal from an ultrasonic transmitting transducer to the ultrasonic receiving transducer.
4. The terminal crimping device of claim 1, wherein the crimp height is determined based upon a speed of sound transmission coefficient of the terminal and the wire.
5. The terminal crimping device of claim 4, wherein the speed of sound transmission coefficient is determined by a calibration module, the speed of sound transmission coefficient being specific to the materials of the terminal and the wire.
6. The terminal crimping device of claim 1, further comprising an ultrasonic transmitting transducer coupled to at least one of the anvil and the ram, the ultrasonic transmitting transducer generating acoustic signals transmitted through the terminal and wire and transmitted through at least one of the anvil and the ram, the acoustic signals being received at the ultrasonic receiving transducer.
7. The terminal crimping device of claim 1, wherein the crimp quality module generates a crimp profile based upon the received acoustic signals, the crimp quality module determining a crimp quality based on at least one profile characteristic of the crimp profile.
8. The terminal crimping device of claim 1, further comprising a linear position module determining a position of at least one of the anvil and the ram, the crimp quality module determining the crimp height of the terminal based on a position of at least one of the anvil and the ram.
9. The terminal crimping device of claim 9, wherein the linear position module determines a separation distance between the anvil and the ram corresponding to a crimp height of the terminal, the crimp quality module determining the time of separation between the terminal and the ram, the crimp quality module determining the crimp height at the time of separation.
10. The terminal crimping device of claim 1, further comprising a force detection module determining a force applied to the terminal by the crimp tooling, the crimp quality module determining a crimp quality based on the crimp height and the force.
11. The terminal crimping device of claim 1, further comprising multiple ultrasonic transducers at least one of transmitting and receiving acoustic signals, the crimp quality module receiving signals from the ultrasonic transducers, the crimp quality module being configured to determine a shape of the crimped terminal based upon the received signals from the ultrasonic transducers.
12. A terminal crimping device comprising:
a crimp tooling comprising an anvil and a ram movable toward the anvil, a crimp zone being defined between the anvil and the ram configured to receive a wire and a terminal configured to be crimped to the wire by the crimp tooling;
an ultrasonic transducer coupled to at least one of the anvil and the ram, the ultrasonic transducer receiving acoustic signals sent through the wire and terminal;
a crimp quality module receiving signals from the ultrasonic transducer; and
a calibration module coupled to the crimp quality module and receiving signals from the crimp quality module, the calibration module determining a speed of sound transmission coefficient through the materials of the wire and terminal based on a measured crimp height of the terminal.
13. The terminal crimping device of claim 12, wherein the crimp quality module determines a crimp height of a second terminal based on the speed of sound of transmission coefficient through the materials of the wire and the terminal determined by the calibration module and based on the acoustic signal received by the ultrasonic transducer through the second terminal.
14. The terminal crimping device of claim 12, wherein the crimp quality module determines a crimp height of subsequent crimps based on a time of acoustic signal transmission through the terminal and wire and based on the speed of sound of transmission coefficient through the materials of the wire and the terminal determined by the calibration module.
15. A method of determining a crimp height of a crimped terminal, the method comprising:
ultrasonically coupling an ultrasonic transducer to crimp tooling of a terminal crimping device;
receiving acoustic signals at the ultrasonic transducer sent through a wire and terminal crimped by the crimp tooling; and
determining a crimp height of the terminal based on the acoustic signal received by the ultrasonic transducer.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein said determining a crimp height of the terminal comprises determining a time of acoustic signal transmission through the wire and terminal.
17. The method of claim 15, further comprising determining a speed of sound of transmission coefficient through the wire and the terminal to calibrate a crimp quality module, said determining a crimp height of the terminal being based on the speed of sound of transmission coefficient.
18. The method of claim 15, wherein said determining a crimp height of the terminal comprises determining a crimp height at a moment of separation of the crimp tooling from the terminal.
19. The method of claim 15, wherein said determining a crimp height of the terminal comprises determining a crimp height based upon a transmission time of the acoustic signal through the terminal and wire and based upon a speed of sound transmission coefficient of the terminal and wire.
20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:
coupling an ultrasound transducer to a ram of the crimp tooling;
coupling an ultrasound transducer to an anvil of the crimp tooling; and
transmitting acoustic signals between the ultrasound transducers through the terminal and wire;
said determining a crimp height of the terminal comprises determining a transmit time of the acoustic signals through the terminal and the wire.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An electrical connector comprising:
an insulative housing defining at least one passageway;
a conductive contact inserted into the passageway in an insertion direction and received in the passageway, and including:
a base portion;
a securing portion formed on the base portion; wherein
the securing portion defines a recess indented in a side edge region thereof so as to be able to be fully filled by material of the housing; wherein
said recess is formed among a front acute angular barb thereof and a rear laterally extending portion along the insertion direction and a transitional portion connected therebetween; wherein
the rear laterally extending portion is dimensioned larger than the front barb in a lateral direction perpendicular to said insertion direction; and
an acute angle is formed by and between the front barb and the transitional portion, outwardly facing said recess; wherein
the front barb includes an outer edge section extending in a parallel manner along the insertion direction, and said acute angle is formed by an inner edge section of the front barb and a direction opposite to said insertion direction and further including pair of extending portions perpendicularly extending from two opposite sides of the rear laterally extending portion and directly confronting said recess in said insertion.
2. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein said transitional portion defines a length along the insertion direction and a width in said transverse direction, said length being smaller than said width.
3. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transitional portion defines an edge facing said recess and extending in said insertion direction.
4. An electrical connector comprising;
an insulative housing defining at least one passageway;
a conductive contact inserted into the passageway in an insertion direction and received in the passageway, and including:
a base portion;
a securing portion formed on the base portion; wherein
the securing portion defines a recess indented in a side edge section thereof so as to be able to be fully filled by material of the housing; wherein
said recess is formed among a front acute angular barb and a rear laterally extending portion along the insertion direction and a transitional portion connected therebetween; wherein
the rear laterally extending portion is dimensioned larger than the front barb in a lateral direction perpendicular to said insertion direction; and
an acute angle is formed by and between an inner edge of the barb and a direction opposite to the insertion direction, outwardly facing said recess; wherein
the barb further includes an outer edge extending in a parallel manner along the insertion direction.
5. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 4, wherein the transitional portion defines a side edge facing the recess and extending along said insertion direction and further including pair of extending portions perpendicularly extending from two opposite sides of the rear laterally extending portion and directly confronting said recess in said insertion.
6. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 4, wherein said transitional portion defines a length along the insertion direction and a width in said lateral direction, said length being smaller than said width.