Patent Application
20220085530
This application claims the priority benefit of Chinese Patent Application No. 202021998470.9 filed on Sep. 14, 2020, the whole disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to electrical connectors, and more particularly, to electrical connectors and associated housings for attaching to printed circuit boards, for example.
Relevant electrical connectors according to the prior art typically comprise a housing and a conductive terminal installed within the housing. In order to install the connector on a circuit board, a bottom of the housing is formed with a plurality of pairs of legs or elastic clips adapted to be inserted into respective holes defined in the circuit board. In order to facilitate insertion, a lower end of the leg is usually formed with an elongated inclined surface for guiding the leg during an insertion operation. However, the guiding inclined surface creates a difficulty ensuring that the connector housing remains horizontal when inserting the leg into the hole of the circuit board. Thus, it is relatively easy to insert the connector in a misaligned or uneven orientation, resulting in the housing tilting in a length direction. Further, there is typically a gap in the width direction of the housing between the leg and the hole of the circuit board. As a result, the housing may also tilt in a width direction after the leg is inserted.
A connector according to an embodiment of the present disclosure comprises a housing having at least a pair of legs extending from a bottom thereof, and at least one conductive terminal arranged in the housing. Each of the legs includes a body connected to the bottom of the housing and extending downward in a height direction of the housing. A conical guide is connected to a lower end of the body of each leg for guiding the leg into a hole formed in a circuit board. A positioning end is connected to a lower end of the conical guide of each leg and includes a positioning surface extending in the height direction for contacting an inner wall of the hole.
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.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a connector includes a housing having a width direction and a length direction, and at least one conductive terminal provided in the housing. The housing has at least a pair of legs extending outward from its bottom. Each of the legs includes a body part connected to the bottom of the housing and extending downward along a height direction of the housing, and a conical guide part connected to a lower end of the body part to guide the leg into the hole formed in a circuit board. Each of the leg also includes a positioning end connected to a lower end of the conical guide part. The positioning end has a positioning surface adapted for contacting with an inner wall of the hole and extending along the height direction.
As shown in
The conical guide part 112 is shaped as a semi-cone with a conical guiding incline located on the outside thereof. The conical guiding incline is inclined moving vertically upwards in the height direction Z and toward the bottom of the housing 100. More specifically, the diameter of the conical guiding incline gradually increases from bottom to top, and the diameter of a lower portion of the conical guiding incline is equal to the diameter of the positioning surface of the positioning end 111. The conical guide part 112 further defines a horizontal positioning top surface 112a, the positioning top surface 112a abuts against a bottom surface of the circuit board 300 to prevent the leg 110 from being out of the hole 310 after the leg 110 is inserted into the hole 310 in the circuit board 300.
The body part 113 is semi-cylindrical in shape with a semi-cylindrical outer or exterior peripheral surface. The semi-cylindrical outer peripheral surface of the body part 113, the positioning surface of the positioning end 111 and the conical guiding incline of the conical guide part 112 have the same central axis extending in the height direction Z. The diameter of the semi-cylindrical outer peripheral surface of the body part 113 is smaller than the diameter of an upper portion of the conical guiding incline, but larger than the diameter of the lower portion of the conical guiding incline.
Each of the legs 110 also has a pair of positioning protrusions 114 formed on both sides of the body part 113, respectively and opposite in the width direction X. The pair of positioning protrusions 114 are adapted to interfere with the inner wall of the hole 310 in the circuit board 300, or a top surface thereof, for preventing the connector from tilting in the width direction X after the connector is installed on the circuit board 300.
As can be visualized from the figures, embodiments of the present disclosure prevent the housing 100 from tilting in the length direction when the leg 110 is inserted. Specifically, as shown in
Likewise, embodiments of the present disclosure prevent the housing 100 from tilting in the width direction when the leg 110 is inserted. As shown in
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202021998470.9 | Sep 2020 | CN | national |
