Patent Grant
10431937
This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 107116096, filed on May 11, 2018. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
The invention relates to an electric connector.
Electric connectors are connecting devices for being connected to electrical wires, circuit boards, and other electronic components through electrical transmission and are widely applied to a variety of electronic devices, such as computers, notebook computers, mobile phones, etc. General connectors are designed according to the various specifications and regulations of circuit lines, and one connector can only be connected to one line of a specific type. Various types of transmission lines are required to be included in one single electronic device so as to satisfy the demand for multifunction of the electronic products, and thus, multiple electric connectors are disposed in one electronic device most of the time.
Nevertheless, during the manufacturing process of an electronic device, the electric connectors are required to be individually soldered to a circuit board, and that much time is required when manufacturing the electronic product. More importantly, as the electronic devices are designed to be thin and lightweight, insufficient space for the connectors to be disposed in the electronic device may be provided, and therefore, how to overcome such problem is an important issue in this field for those having ordinary skill in the art.
The invention provides an electric connector in which a wiring manner required by an electrical connecting member is changed, and that a space occupied by the electric connector in the electronic device is reduced.
In an embodiment of the invention, an electric connector suited for an electronic device is provided. The electric connector includes a body, a plurality of terminals, and an electrical connecting member. The body is suited to be disposed in the electronic device, and the body has at least one receiving area located on at least one of a top portion and a bottom portion of an exterior of the body. The terminals are disposed in the body, and an external electric connector is suited to be butted to the body along a first axis to be electrically connected to the terminals. One end of the electrical connecting member is located at the receiving area to be electrically connected to the terminals, and another end of the electrical connecting member extends out of the receiving area along a second axis to be electrically connected to the electronic device, wherein the first axis is different from the second axis.
To sum up, in the electric connector, the receiving area is disposed on at least one of the top portion and the bottom portion of the exterior of the body. When the electrical connecting member is electrically connected between the electronic device and the terminals of the electric connector, one end of the electrical connecting member is located in the receiving area and is electrically connected to the terminals, and another end of the electrical connecting member extends out of the receiving area along the second axis. An external electric connector is butted to the body of the electric connector along the first axis, and the first axis is different from the second axis. In this way, a wiring direction of the electrical connecting member on the body of the electric connector is changed, and that the dimension of the electric connector along the first axis is effectively reduced. The space occupied by the electric connector in the electronic device is reduced, and therefore, applications of the electric connector are further expanded.
To make the aforementioned more comprehensible, several embodiments accompanied with drawings are described in detail as follows.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.
Further, the body 110 has at least one receiving area located on at least one of a top portion and a bottom portion of an exterior of the body 110. In this embodiment, a top portion S1 and a bottom portion S2 of the exterior of the body 110 are exemplified as having a receiving area R1 and a receiving area R2, respectively. Nevertheless, how the receiving areas are disposed is not limited. In the embodiments that are not shown, the receiving areas may also be disposed only at the top portion of the body or only at the bottom portion of the body. In this embodiment, the receiving area R1 located at the top portion S1 may be regarded as being located directly above the terminals 120, and the receiving area R2 located at the bottom portion S2 may be regarded as being located directly below the terminals 120. In this way, the terminals 120 located in the body 110 are substantially located between the receiving area R1 and the receiving area R2.
Further, a pair of electrical connecting members 130A and 130B corresponding to the receiving areas R1 and R2 are illustrated in this embodiment. The electrical connecting member 130A is taken as an example herein. One end of the electrical connecting member 130A is located in the receiving area R1, and another end of the electrical connecting member 130A extends out of the receiving area R1 and extends to and is electrically connected to the control module 300 of the electronic device 10. As such, the terminals 120 are electrically conducted to the control module 300 through the electrical connecting member 130A and the electrical connecting member 130B. Similarly, one single electrical connecting member may correspond to one single receiving area as well in the embodiments that are not shown.
Note that for the electric connector 100, the external electric connector 20 is butted to the body 110 along a first axis X1 to be electrically connected to the terminals 120. In order to effectively change an external dimension of the electric connector 100 to fit into an internal space of the casing 200 of the electronic device 10, one end of the electrical connecting member 130A and one end of the electrical connecting member 130B of this embodiment are respectively disposed in the receiving area R1 and the receiving area R2 and are soldered to the terminals 120. Moreover, another end of the electrical connecting member 130A and another end of the electrical connecting member 130B are respectively extend out of the receiving area R1 and the receiving area R2 along a second axis X2, wherein the first axis X1 is different from the second axis X2. In other words, a wiring manner provided by the prior art to be performed to the electric connector 100 is changed by the electrical connecting member 130A and the electrical connecting member 130B of this embodiment. That is, the receiving area R1 and the receiving area R2 are adopted instead to act as areas in which electrical connecting members 130A and 130B and the terminals 120 are electrically connected to (soldered to) each other, and the electrical connecting members 130A and 130B are also changed to extend out of the receiving area R1 and the receiving area R2 from a lateral side S5 of the body 110. In this way, a length of the electric connector 100 along the first axis X1 may be effectively reduced.
Further, the body 110 has a front side S3 and a rear side S4 opposite to each other. The external electric connector 20 is inserted into the body 110 from the front side S3 along the first axis X1. That is, the front side S3, the receiving area R1, the receiving area R2, and the rear side S4 are arranged and disposed along the first axis X1. Unlike the front side S3, the receiving area R1, the receiving area R2, and the rear side S4, the lateral side S5 is not arranged and disposed along the first axis X1 and is located at the second axis X2 instead. In this embodiment, the first axis X1 is substantially orthogonal to the second axis X2.
Further, the electric connector 100 further includes a shielding member 140 assembled to the rear side S4 of the body 110. A material of the shielding member 140 is, for example, metal. The shielding member 140 is thus configured for shielding electromagnetic noise which may be generated by the terminals 120, the electrical connecting member 130A, or the electrical connecting member 130B. With reference to
Since the electric connector 100 and the input module 400 are correspondingly disposed, the shielding member 140 is disposed in the rear of the rear side S4 of the body 110 and can be shielded between the input module 400 and the electrical connecting member 130A and the electrical connecting member 130B (and the terminals 120). In this way, the terminals 120, the electrical connecting member 130A, and the electrical connecting member 130B are located at the same side of the shielding member 140.
In addition,
Further, with reference to
Besides, a material of an outer surface of the body 110 is metal, and that a grounding area 112 is differentiated. When a plurality of wires of the electrical connecting member 130A and the electrical connecting member 130B are disposed in the receiving area R1 and the receiving area R2, the at least one grounding portion of the electrical connecting member 130A and the at least one grounding portion of the electrical connecting member 130B (a grounding portion 131 and a grounding portion 132 are illustrated herein as an example) are soldered to the grounding area 112 of the body 110, such that the electrical connecting member 130A and the electrical connecting member 130B are grounded.
In view of the foregoing, in the embodiments of the invention, the receiving area is disposed on at least one of the top portion and the bottom portion of the exterior of the body in the electric connector. When the electrical connecting member is electrically connected between the electronic device and the terminals of the electric connector, one end of the electrical connecting member is located in the receiving area and is electrically connected to the terminals, and another end of the electrical connecting member extends out of the receiving area along the second axis. The external electric connector is butted to the body of the electric connector along the first axis, and the first axis is different from the second axis.
Further, since the input module is disposed at the rear side of the electric connector, in order to allow the thickness of the casing of the electronic device to be maintained to be thin, the electrical connecting member can no longer be accordingly disposed in the space of the rear side of the electric connector because the space is occupied by the input module. A wiring direction of the electrical connecting member on the body of the electric connector is thus changed, and that the dimension of the electric connector along the first axis is effectively reduced. In this way, the space occupied by the electric connector in the electronic device is reduced, and therefore, applications of the electric connector are further expanded.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the disclosure covers modifications and variations provided that they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 107116096 A | May 2018 | TW | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5234358 | Polgar | Aug 1993 | A |
| 6155884 | Sugiyama | Dec 2000 | A |
| 6830488 | Bush | Dec 2004 | B2 |
