The present invention relates to connectors for splicing together circuits in motor vehicles and in wire harnesses for motor vehicles. A splice is used when more than one device requires the same electrical signal or potential.
The typical method nowadays for making electrical splices in a vehicle involves the welding of individual wires to each other within the bundle of a wire harness. Splices are covered with various sealing means including heat shrink tubing and electrical tape in attempts to protect the splices from environmental conditions outside of the splice. In harsh environments, the sealing methods have been found to be ineffective, as moisture can work and wick its way through such tubing and electrical tape to the location of the weld thereby causing corrosion and eventual interruption of the circuit at the location of the weld.
One method to replace welded splices employs custom design blade connectors that mate to a "splice cap". The splice cap contains a bus bar that interconnects the wires connected to the blades of the connector. Another means for making splices includes custom designed junction boxes that contain internal layers of metal. These metal layers are used to interconnect (splice together) desired wires. Custom designed connectors and junction boxes, however, are costly, particularly when compared to a simple welded splice.
Solder splices are not generally used because of the fluxes that are required to make a soldered joint, i.e., a welded joint is simpler and cleaner.
Unsealed, multi-pin splice connectors have also been used by certain automobile manufacturers to electrically connect wires together. However, because these connectors are unsealed, they tend to suffer from the same corrosion problems as welded splices.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds