BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE 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:
FIG. 1 is an exploded, perspective view of a cable assembly according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1, but viewed from another aspect;
FIG. 3 is an assembled view of the cable assembly shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is an amplificatory, partial view of the cable assembly shown in FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is an assembled view of a cable assembly according to a second embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is an amplificatory, partial view of the cable assembly shown in FIG. 5; and
FIG. 7 is an assembled view of the cable assembly according to the first embodiment of the present invention, which shows a solder bar soldered onto a plurality of wires.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIGS. 1-7, a cable assembly 100, 100′ according to the present invention comprises a printed circuit board (PCB) 2, a plurality of wires 4 physically and electrically connecting with the PCB 2 and wire management boards 3, 3′ to position the wires 4.
FIGS. 1-4 show a cable assembly 100 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 5-6 show another cable assembly 100′ according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
The manufacturing process of the cable assembly 100, 100′ is as follows.
Provide a PCB 2. Please referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the PCB 2 includes an upper surface 21 defining a plurality of conductive pads 23 on the rear portion thereof, and a lower surface 22 opposite to the upper surface 21. All the conductive pads 23 are arranged in a single line and electrically connect with the wires 4. Three pairs of small-size receiving holes 24 lie in front of the conductive pads 23 to assemble the wire management boards 3, 3′ onto the PCB 2. A conductive grounding strip 25 stands behind the conductive pads 23 and on the right side of the PCB 2. The PCB 2 has a pair of large-size retention holes 26 to hold the PCB 2 on a laptop or other electric devices. A front end (not shown) of the PCB 2 is formed with a plurality of golden fingers and inserted into and electrically connects with a connector socket of a LCD panel of the laptop or other electric devices. Some conductive pathways (not shown) formed in inner layers or on the upper and lower surfaces 21, 22 of the PCB 2 connect the conductive pads 23 and the conductive grounding strip 25 with the golden fingers, and further with the connector socket.
Provide a plurality of wires 4, please referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 4 and FIG. 6. Each wire 4 comprises an inner conductor 41 and an insulation layer 42 covering the conductor 41. Thereinto, some are micro coaxial cables 4a (FIG. 1) used for signal transmission, the others for power transmission. Each coaxial cable 4a further includes a shielding layer 43 covering the insulation layer 42 and an outer jacket layer 44 in the outermost thereof. The coaxial cable' inner conductors are thinner than the other's. The inner conductors 41 and the shielding layers 43 are respectively soldered onto the conductive pads 23 and the conductive grounding strip 25.
Provide at least one wire management board 3, 3′. Each wire management board 3, 3′ is made of plastic material and installed on the upper surface 21 of the PCB 2. In both the first and second embodiments according to the present invention, because too many wires 4 need to be managed and a too long wire management board is difficult to make, there are three discrete wire management boards 3, 3′. Of course, to replace the three wire management boards by a single one doesn't affect the function and effectiveness of the invention. A pair of protruding posts 31 are formed at opposite sides of the bottom surface of each wire management board 3, 3′ to interferentially engage with the receiving holes 24 of the PCB 2 in order to fix the wire management board 3, 3′ on the PCB 2. Each wire management board 3, 3′ has a rectangular base and defines in the rear portion thereof a plurality of wire management slot 32, 32′ to align and accommodate front ends of the wires 4. In the first embodiment, referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, each wire management slot 32 is rectangular, and runs through the top and bottom surfaces in the vertical direction to communicate with the PCB 2 and outside, and opens back in the front-to-rear direction to insert the wires 4 into the wire management slot 32 from the rear-to-front direction. The conductive pads 23 are respective under the corresponding wire management slots 32 so that the inner conductors 41 received in the wire management slots 32 stand on and electrically connect with the corresponding conductive pads 23. The wire management boards 3 with wire management slots 32 can effectively reduce the difficulty of wires array, reduce production time and cost. Moreover, even if the inner conductors 41 received in the wire management slots 32 may still swing, it can prevent solder bridge by the wire management boards 3.
FIGS. 5 and 6 provide another wire management boards 3′. The wire management slots 32′ formed in the wire management boards 3′ provide an additional function of fixing wires 4, compared with the ones 32 shown in FIGS. 1 to 4. Each wire management slot 32′ is rectangular, and runs through the top and bottom surfaces in the vertical direction to communicate with the PCB 2 and outside, and opens back in the front and rear direction. The height of the wire management slots 32′ in the vertical direction are roughly equal to the diameter of the wider wire 4. Thus, when inserted into the wire management slots 32′, the front ends of the wider wires 4 are held between top walls 321′ formed on the wire management slots 32′ and the conductive pads 23. As having small size, the micro coaxial cables 4a received in the wire management slots 32′ are allowed to move a little to prevent from breaking. Each wire management slot 32′ defines through the top wall 321′ a guiding cut 33′ to guide the wire 4 into the wire management slot 32′. Each guiding cut 33′ is trapeziform so to prevent the wire 4 in the wire management slot 32′ from moving back.
Assemble the wire management boards 3, 3′ onto the PCB 2 with the wire management slots 32, 32′ aligning with the corresponding conductive pads 23.
Position the wires 4 in the corresponding wire management slots 32, 32′ and on the corresponding conductive pads 23.
Please referring to FIGS. 4 and 6, the rear portions of the conductive pads 23 are exposed outside of the wire management slots 32, 32′ along the front-to-back direction, and the rear portions of the bare inner conductors 41 extend backwards beyond the wire management slots 32, 32′ and stand on and electrically connect the conductive pads 23.
Put a solder bar 5 onto the rear portions of the bare inner conductors 41, referring to FIG. 7. Then solder the bare inner conductors 41 on the conductive pads 23 by the means of hot bar soldering. In this process, you'd better use a tool to prevent the melted tin from soldering on the adjacent wires 4.
Solder all the shielding layers 43 on the conductive grounding strip 25. Thus, the entire manufacturing process is complete.
Please note that the wire management boards 3, 3′ may be removed after the wires 4 are soldered. Of course, in some applications, you may also retain these wire management boards 3, 3′.
It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous, characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set fourth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosed is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of number, shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
Patent Application
20080064254
