Patent Application
20230208067
This application claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application No. 202111593109.7 filed on Dec. 23, 2021, the whole disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a connector for connecting a matching connector to a circuit board and a connector assembly comprising the same.
A connector used to attach a matching connector to a circuit board typically uses auxiliary cantilever(s) made of stainless steel to support power supply terminal(s). As a result, the connectors have relatively larger numbers of parts and thus require relatively larger numbers of molds to manufacture these parts. This results in relatively higher mold expenses. The auxiliary cantilevers are crimped and fixed to the power supply terminals, resulting in a more complicated assembly process of the connector. Ground terminals are constructed as roughly L-shaped for easily mounting to a housing of the connector. However, this results in relatively larger lateral dimensions of the housing and the connector, which is not conducive to large-scale connector integration. A cable is attached to one end of the housing, making it difficult to attach the connector directly to the circuit board. Existing connectors are incapable of establishing interconnections between a three-layer cascading bus bar and a circuit board.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a connector includes a housing, two power supply terminals and an insert inserted into the housing. The insert includes a base to which the two power supply terminals are mounted, and two support arms extending from the base. Free ends of the two support arms are positioned to support a respective power supply terminal.
The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying Figures, of which:
Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described hereinafter in detail with reference to the attached drawings, wherein the like reference numerals refer to the like elements. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiment set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that the present disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.
In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent, however, that one or more embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are schematically shown in order to simplify the drawing.
This disclosure provides a connector 100, which will be described below in an application of connecting a matching or mating connector 200 to a circuit board 300. However, the connector 100 of the disclosure is not limited to this and may be used for any suitable purpose.
The exemplary embodiment replaces auxiliary cantilevers made of stainless steel with the two support arms 142 integrally formed on the base 141 to support the connecting ends 121 of the power supply terminals 120 respectively. This not only reduces the number of parts, but also avoids crimping the stainless-steel auxiliary cantilevers to the connecting ends 121 of the power supply terminals 120 respectively, reducing the complexity of assembly process caused by crimping, and decreasing molds and associated costs for making the stainless-steel auxiliary cantilevers.
In addition, the two support arms 142 integrally formed on the base 141 are supported on the power supply terminals 120 respectively so that the two power supply terminals 120 are relatively fixedly positioned in a condition that the connector 100 is inserted into the matching connector 200. Thus, the problem of the prior art of, in the case of two separate auxiliary cantilevers, the two power supply terminals 120 and the auxiliary cantilevers crimped to them shifting relative to each other in a condition that the connector 100 is inserted into the matching connector 200 is avoided.
The housing 110 comprises an accommodating part 111 and two guide arms 112. The accommodating part 111 is configured to accommodate the base 141 inserted therein (see
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As the connector 100 is inserted into the matching connector 200, the intermediate arm 212 is inserted between the two support arms 142, and each of the support arms 142 and a respective one of the guide arms 112 are inserted between the intermediate arm 212 and a corresponding side wall 211. In this way, each of the matching power supply terminals 2121 is pressed against a respective one of the power supply terminals 120. Each of the matching ground terminals 2111 is pressed against a respective one of the ground terminals 130.
When the connector 100 is inserted into the matching connector 200, the bent finger of each of the detection terminals 150 also rests against a respective one of the matching power supply terminals 2121. A point of contact between the finger and the corresponding matching power supply terminal 2121 moves with the connector 100 being inserted into the matching connector 200. As a result, an electrical signal representative of the position of the contact point on the matching power supply terminal 2121 may be generated, and transmitted by the detection terminal 150 to a detection circuit arranged on the circuit board 300 to detect an insertion position of the connector 100 into the matching connector 200. This avoids an electrical instability caused by the connector 100 failing to be inserted in place into the matching connector 200, and potential damage to the terminals 120, 130 caused by the connector 100 being excessively inserted in the matching connector 200.
When the connector 100 is inserted into the matching connector 200, each of the guide arms 112 is inserted between the intermediate arm 212 and a respective one of the side arms 211. This guides the connector 100 to be inserted into the matching connector 200, and further supports the ground terminals 130 when the ground terminals 130 are pressed against the matching ground terminals 2111 respectively and the detection terminals 150 when the detection terminals 150 are pressed against the matching power supply terminals 2121 respectively. This arrangement prevents excessive deformation of the ground terminals 130 and the detection terminals 150 and ensures good contacts between the terminals 130, 2111 as well as good contact between the terminals 150, 2121.
The connector 100 and the connector assembly 1000 of the present disclosure facilitates an interconnection between a three-layer cascading bus bar (i.e., two side arms 211 each having the terminal 2111 and one intermediate arm 212 having two terminals 2121) and the circuit board 300.
Although the connector 100 in this disclosure is constructed as a straight connector, it should be understood by a skilled person in the field that the connector may also be constructed as an L-shaped bent connector, with one side of the L-shaped bent connector inserted to the circuit board 300 and the other side of the L-shaped bent connector inserted to the matching connector 200.
It should be appreciated for those skilled in this art that the above embodiments are intended to be illustrated, and not restrictive. For example, many modifications may be made to the above embodiments by those skilled in this art, and various features described in different embodiments may be freely combined with each other without conflicting in configuration or principle.
Although several exemplary embodiments have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes or modifications may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the disclosure, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.
As used herein, an element recited in the singular and proceeded with the word “a” or “an” should be understood as not excluding plural of said elements or steps, unless such exclusion is explicitly stated. Furthermore, references to “one embodiment” of the present disclosure are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features. Moreover, unless explicitly stated to the contrary, embodiments “comprising” or “having” an element or a plurality of elements having a particular property may include additional such elements not having that property.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202111593109.7 | Dec 2021 | CN | national |
