Patent Application
20080105522
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and in particular to an electrical connector adapted for various terminals made of different materials, in order to increase the speed of transmission between components, to which the electrical connector connects.
2. Background of the Invention
A conventional socket for switching power usually includes an insulative housing, a sliding member and a plurality of terminals. The insulative housing has a foundation and a lid, and the terminals include movable conducts and orientation conducts. The orientation conducts include a first orientation pin and a second orientation pin. The orientation conducts are secured to the foundation and the movable conducts are arranged to the sliding member. The sliding member can slide right and left relative to the insulative housing on a plane surface. This arrangement makes the movable conducts and a flexible-using pin flexibly contact either the first or the second orientation pin in order to connect with a power source and switch. However, these three kinds of conducts or pins are generally made from copper alloy, such as phosphor bronze (which is cheap, with good flexibility but poor conductivity of about 20% IACS), special copper (with reasonable cost and reasonable conductivity of about 40%-60% IACS), or beryllium copper (with good conductivity of over 80% IACS but very expensive). Moreover, the total conductivity of beryllium copper is inadequate for improving the electronic performance of the connector.
Hence, an improvement over the prior art is desired to overcome the disadvantages thereof.
An objective according to the present invention is to provide an electrical connector, which could adequate to high speed of signal transmission between components due to the conductive nature of the terminals thereof.
To achieving this objective, the electrical connector according to the present invention includes an insulative housing, and a plurality of terminals arranged in the insulative housing. Each of the terminals has a first set and a second set of contacts. The first set of contacts is made of resilient materials, and the second set of contacts is made from red brass.
In comparison with the conventional technology, various materials for terminals are characterized in the present invention. One part of each terminal is made from red brass which has high conductivity, low flexibility and low cost, and the other part of each terminal is made from copper alloy, which has lower conductivity and higher flexibility than red brass. Therefore, the various materials assembled together in a single terminal increase the speed of transmission between the components, and broaden the application and make the electrical connector of present invention more useful.
To provide a further understanding of the invention, the following detailed description illustrates embodiments and examples of the invention. Examples of the more important features of the invention thus have been summarized rather broadly in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the contributions to the art may be appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter which will form the subject of the claims appended hereto.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings, wherein:
Referring to
The electrical connector of the present invention includes a plurality of units. In this embodiment, there are four units in the electrical connector. Each unit has the sliding member 2, the movable conduct 30 arranged in the sliding member 2, and the first and second orientation pins 31, 32 are contacted with lateral sides of the movable conduct 30 and arranged in the foundation 11.
The foundation 11 has a bed 110, a plurality of first receiving slots 111 formed on the bed 110, and a second receiving slot 112 for orientating and restraining the sliding member 2. The first receiving slots 111 contain the first and second orientation pins 31, 32. The sliding member 2 includes an operation portion 20, a ground 21 and a third receiving slot 22 formed on the ground 21 for containing the movable conducts 30.
The first orientation pin 31 is L shaped, it includes a holding member secured to the insulative housing 1, a first conduction portion 312 for electrically connecting with the electronic member, such as a printed circuit board (not shown in the figures), and a first touching portion 314 downwardly folded and extending from an end of the first conduction portion 312. The holding member includes a first holding portion 310 fixed in the corresponding first receiving slot 111. The first touching portion 314 is resilient and electrically connects with the movable conducts 30 of the second set of contacts. The structure of the second orientation pin 32 is similar to that of the first orientation pin 31, and the first and second orientation pins 31, 32 are arranged correspondingly. The second orientation pin 32 also includes a second holding portion 320, a second conduction portion 322, and a second touching portion 324 downwardly folded and extending from one end of the second conduction portion 322. The second touching portion 324 is resilient and electrically connects with the movable conducts 30 of the second set of contacts. The touching portions belong to the orientation conducts of the first set of contacts (the first touching portion 314 and the second touching portion 324) and can conduct to the movable conducts 30 of the second set of contacts and have a resilient movement in a vertical direction.
The movable conduct 30 of the second set of contacts is U-shaped, and is different from the L-shaped orientation conducts. The movable conduct 30 includes a fixing member secured to the insulative housing 1 and a base 300 conducting to the touching portions 314 and 324 of the first set of contacts. The base 300 and the touching portions 314 and 324 of the first set of contacts slide with each other. The fixing member includes two fixing portions 301 opposite to each other and secured to the third receiving slot 22 of the sliding member 2. The movable conducts 30 are relative to the orientation conducts and move rightwards and leftwards horizontally. During the movement of the movable conducts 30, the base 300 can flexibly contact with the touching portions 314 and 324, so that the base 300 and the selected one of the touching portions 314 and 324 can be connected to the power source or switch.
When the operation portion 20 is operated, the sliding member 2 driven by the operation portion 20 pushes the movable conducts 30 leftward, so as to resiliently connect to the first touching portion 314 of the first orientation pin 31 for conduction. Alternatively, the sliding member 2 can be moved by the operation portion 20 for removing the movable conducts 30 from the first orientation pin 31, so as to resiliently connect the movable conducts 30 with the second touching portion 324 of the second orientation pin 32. Similar to the operation processes, the sliding members 2 of the four units can be operated at the same time for various functions.
Referring to
The movable conducts 30 can be relative to the orientation conducts and move rightwards and leftwards horizontally. The movable conducts 30 include a first flexible touching portion 302 and a second flexible touching portion 303. The first and second flexible touching portions 302, 303 have a resilient upward movement in a vertical direction. When the sliding member 2 moves leftward, the sliding member 2 carries the first flexible touching portion 302 of the movable conduct 30 and the first touching portion 314 of the first orientation conduct 31 for electrical connection. When the sliding member 2 moves rightward, the sliding member 2 carries the first flexible touching portion 302 of the movable conducts 30 off the first orientation pin 31, so as to switch the second flexible touching portion 303 electrically connecting to the second touching portion 324 of the second orientation pin 32.
The goals of the second embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment and are therefore not described further in the detailed description of the second embodiment.
In comparison with the conventional technology, various materials of terminals are characterized in the present invention. One part of each terminal is made of red brass with high conductivity, low flexibility and a low cost. The other part of each terminal is made of copper alloy, which has lower conductivity and higher flexibility than red brass. Therefore, the various materials assembled together in a single terminal allow rapid transmission between components, so as to broaden their application.
It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the above description is only illustrative of specific embodiments and examples of the invention. The invention should therefore cover various modifications and variations made to the herein-described structure and operations of the invention, provided they fall within the scope of the invention as defined in the following appended claims.
