In the near future an increasing demands of communication over wide distances, especially for example between continents will be needed. Hence, infrastructures, like sea cables and connectors linking sea cables, that are located and operated error proof in harsh environments, like subsea, will be essential. State of the art connectors use for example a male pin and a female socket to enable connection. To mate these parts subsea the male pin must pass through a seal of the female socket without allowing water from the sea into the connector internals. It is known to deploy e.g. a spring loaded shuttle piston that fits intimately with a tip of the male pin (receptacle pin) and is driven back through the seals during the mate. When the connector is de-mated, the spring maintains contact between the male pin (receptacle) and the shuttle piston thus preventing water transmission through the seal. This solution requires a spring with a significantly high spring rate to prevent accidental compression of the spring. Thus, it is mostly dependent on spring force compression. The high spring rate means that the force significantly increases during the mate. Moreover, there is a high risk of a premature separation of the male pin and the shuttle piston, especially during the de-mate or partial mate/de-mate due to that the return spring is at is weakest at the early stage of the mate. A spring loaded shuttle pin also drives the length of the connector, causing it to be longer than might be possible with alternative means of keeping water out of the connector. Such an arrangement is, for example, known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,929,404 B2.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds