The present invention relates in general to a connector assembly for establishing a blind connection between an electrical device and a panel, and more specifically to a floating connector block contained in an aperture on a panel having a means for movably locating the floating connector block at the theoretical center of the aperture.
This application is related to copending application Ser. No. 161,067, filed Feb. 26, 1988, now abandoned entitled "BLIND MATE SHIELDED INPUT/OUTPUT CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY", incorporated herein by reference. The prior application discloses a connector assembly useful in the robotic assembly of electrical components to an instrument panel or other panel in an automobile. A receptacle module is mounted in an aperture on a carrier panel so that the receptacle module can move in any direction within the plane of the panel. Flanges project from the receptacle module disposed on opposite sides of the carrier panel in order to retain the receptacle module within the aperture and to accept insertion and removal forces of connection.
The angular orientation of the receptacle module connector terminals substantially coincides with a direction perpendicular to the carrier panel. The panel must then be in reasonably precise relationship with the direction in which the electrical component is robotically inserted. However, it is sometimes difficult to accomplish such precise alignment in an automobile instrument panel or other panel. Also, the receptacle module tends to rest at the bottom of the aperture. Thus, even though the receptacle is free to move within the plane of the aperture, its length of travel in the downward vertical direction is depleted even before interconnection is attempted. Therefore, the acceptable error in initial alignment does not allow the inserted part to be lower than the receptacle. It would be desirable to increase the tolerable positional error to improve the manufacturability of instrument panels by robotics.