Anti mistake insertion design refers to the effective avoidance of possible insertion errors during the connector insertion and closing process through the structural design of the product. This design is also commonly referred to as "foolproof design". The phenomenon of incorrect insertion can be mainly divided into two categories: one is that although the male and female heads match, the insertion angle is incorrect, and the other is that the male and female heads do not match at all. In response to this issue, the industry usually adopts three methods to achieve error prevention of connectors: error correction design, error prevention design, and fault-tolerant design.
1、 Error Correction Design
Error correction design is the process of promptly correcting errors through a series of mechanisms, in order to mitigate or eliminate their negative impact, without completely avoiding operator errors. Taking the computer audio interface as an example, when the user accidentally inserts the microphone plug into the headphone jack, the system will immediately pop up a prompt message asking the user if they are sure to use the headphones. This design enables users of handheld microphones to quickly recognize operational errors and take corresponding measures to correct them, achieving the goal of error correction.
2、 Error proof design
Error prevention design is a structural design that prevents erroneous operations from being completed, ensuring that the operation that users can smoothly complete is the correct operation. For example, the trapezoidal design of the HDMI connector interface: When a user attempts to insert the connector in the wrong direction, due to the limitation of the interface shape, the connector will not be able to be inserted smoothly, effectively avoiding the occurrence of wrong insertion. Compared to error correction design, error prevention design is usually more reliable, but in certain specific situations, when error prevention design is difficult to implement, error correction design becomes an important supplementary means.
3、 Fault tolerant design
Fault tolerant design means that no matter how the user operates, it will not affect the normal use of the product. Referring to the USB Type-C connector is a fault-tolerant design, which has the characteristic of normal operation in both forward and reverse insertion, greatly simplifying the user's operation process. However, fault-tolerant design requires higher research and development technology requirements and production costs. Therefore, in practical applications, although fault-tolerant design has many advantages, connectors with error prevention design as the main focus still occupy the mainstream position in the market.
In summary, error correction design, error prevention design, and fault-tolerant design each have their own characteristics and applicable scenarios. In practical applications, appropriate design strategies should be selected based on specific needs and conditions to achieve the best effect of preventing wrong insertion of connectors.
