This invention generally relates to the art of electrical connectors and, particularly, to an electrical connector assembly which includes a header connector mounted on one side of a printed circuit board for mating, through the board, with a second connector on an opposite side of the board.
Electrical connectors are mounted on printed circuit boards in a wide variety of applications. In some instances, an electrical connector simply is mounted to a surface of the printed circuit board, and the connector includes a plurality of terminals having tail portions for connection, as by soldering, to appropriate circuit traces on the board. In other applications, the electrical connector not only is mounted to a surface on one side of the circuit board, but the connector mates through the board with a second connector on an opposite side of the board. Typically, with such “through mating” connector assemblies, a “blind” mating situation occurs because a user or operator can neither see nor feel one of the connectors on a side of the circuit board opposite the location of the user. In such blind mating assemblies, one of the connectors typically has a guide post insertable into a guide hole in the other connector for guiding the connectors into mating alignment to facilitate the blind mating process.
Various problems occur in designing blind-mating, through-board connector assemblies as described above. One problem concerns the length of the guide posts which typically are on the blind mating connector. It is highly desirable to reduce the length of the guide posts as much as possible to prevent stubbing, breakage or the like. In addition, the guide posts often extend completely through the printed circuit board and beyond a rear side of the board-mounted connector on the opposite side of the board. Conserving space behind the connector for other electronic components is critical in some miniaturized situations and, again, reducing the length of the guide posts is not only desirable but quite important. The present invention is directed to solving these various problems.
An object, therefore, of the invention is to provide a new and improved connector assembly for mating through a printed circuit board.
In the exemplary embodiment of the invention, an electrical connector is provided for mounting on a printed circuit board which includes a mounting surface, an opposite mating surface, a locating hole and a terminal-receiving aperture. The connector includes a dielectric housing having a front board-mounting face for mounting against the mounting surface of the printed circuit board. At least one terminal-receiving passage in the housing has a front opening in the front board-mounting face of the housing, with the front opening alignable with the terminal-receiving aperture in the printed circuit board. An alignment boss projects from the front board-mounting face of the housing and is insertable into the locating hole in the printed circuit board. The alignment boss has a guide hole for receiving a guide post from a complementary mating connector at the mating surface of the printed circuit board. A conductive terminal is mounted on the housing and includes a tail portion outside the housing for connection to an appropriate circuit trace on the printed circuit board. The terminal includes a contact portion inside the terminal-receiving passage of the housing for engaging an appropriate terminal of the complementary mating connector.
According to one aspect of the invention, the alignment boss projects through the locating hole in the printed circuit board from the mounting surface of the board to a location generally flush with the mating surface of the board. The guide hole of the alignment boss has a flared mouth to facilitate inserting the guide post of the complementary mating connector into the guide hole.
According to another aspect of the invention, the dielectric housing is elongated and includes a pair of the alignment bosses near opposite ends of the elongated housing, the bosses being insertable into a pair of spaced locating holes in the printed circuit board. A row of the terminal-receiving passages are provided in the housing, the row extending in a direction between the pair of alignment bosses. A plurality of the conductive terminals are mounted on the housing, with the terminals having contact portions in the plurality of terminal-receiving passages. The row of passages are aligned with an elongated slot in the printed circuit board.
A further feature of the invention includes at least one flexible latch arm on the connector housing engageable in a latch opening in the printed circuit board.
The invention contemplates a connector assembly which includes the electrical connector described above in combination with a printed circuit board having the mounting surface, the opposite mating surface, the locating hole and the terminal-receiving aperture therethrough. The invention also contemplates an assembly which includes the electrical connector described above, in combination with the mating connector having one or more guide posts.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.
The features of this invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention, together with its objects and the advantages thereof, may be best understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals identify like elements in the figures and in which:
Referring to the drawings in greater detail, and first to
Referring to
Referring to
Still referring to
A plurality of conductive terminals, generally designated 44 (
When mating connector 16 is mated with header connector 14 as represented by double-headed arrow “A” (
It should be understood that guide posts 54 must be inserted into the guide holes of the header connector before terminal pins 52 are inserted into passages 34 of the header connector, so that the posts precisely align the terminal pins with the passages to prevent the terminal pins from stubbing on the housing of the header connector. In the prior art, this means that guide posts 54 should be longer than the terminal pins so that the guide posts “mate” before the terminal pins “mate”. However, it should be noted in
It will be understood that the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or central characteristics thereof. The present examples and embodiments, therefore, are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and the invention is not to be limited to the details given herein.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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5169322 | Frantz et al. | Dec 1992 | A |
5340319 | Enomoto et al. | Aug 1994 | A |
5629839 | Woychik | May 1997 | A |
5634810 | Niitsu et al. | Jun 1997 | A |
6004140 | Kato et al. | Dec 1999 | A |
6176738 | Consoli et al. | Jan 2001 | B1 |
6315606 | Hwang | Nov 2001 | B1 |
6358075 | Tischner | Mar 2002 | B1 |
6592401 | Gardner et al. | Jul 2003 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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1 035 759 | Sep 2000 | EP |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20050239317 A1 | Oct 2005 | US |