The present invention relates to an electrical contact for use within an electrical connector, and particularly to the contact having multiple transmission paths.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,882,296 discloses the contact having the retaining section located in a middle vertical plane, a pair of outer contacting arms extending from an outer vertical plane, and a pair of inner contacting arms extending from an inner vertical plane, wherein the outer vertical plane and the inner vertical plane are parallel to each other and both are perpendicular to the middle vertical plane, and the outer contacting arms are deflected to contact the corresponding inner contacting arms, respectively, during operation. On one hand, because the inner contacting arm extends along the same direction with the outer contacting arm, it takes more space, thus hindering miniaturization of the connector design; on the other hand, because the middle vertical plane is essentially immovable, the inner contacting arm may be relatively rigid when shortening the inner contacting arm for miniaturization, thus being unwelcome for coupling between the outer contacting arm and the inner contacting arm.
Therefore, it is desired to provide an electrical contact with a shortened dimension of the inner contacting arm along the extending direction of the outer contacting arm while still maintaining the desired resiliency of the inner contacting arm thereof for proper coupling between the outer contacting arm and the inner contacting arm.
To achieve the above object, an electrical contact for connecting a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a PCB (Printed Circuit Board), includes a retention section of an outer part and an extension section of an inner part parallel to each other and linked to each other via a transverse bridge located in another vertical plane perpendicular to both the retention section and the extension section. An upper contacting arm extends, toward the extension section, from an upper end of the retention section with an upper mating apex and an upper abutment tip region, and a lower contacting arm extends, toward the extension, from a lower end of the retention section with a lower mating apex and a lower abutment tip region. An upper abutment tab upwardly and obliquely extends from an upper end of the extension section toward the retention section and adapted to be coupled with the upper abutment tip region when the upper contacting arm is downwardly depressed by the CPU, and a lower abutment tab downwardly and obliquely extends from the lower end of the extension section toward the retention section and adapted to be coupled with the lower abutment tip region when the lower contacting arm is upwardly depressed by the PCB. Because the abutment tab of the inner part extends toward the outer part, thus minimizing the dimension of the contact along the extending direction of the contacting arm. Because the bridge may provide the inner part with more resiliency, the coupling between the abutment tip region of the outer part and the abutment tab of the inner part may be properly implemented.
Other advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Referring to
When the upper mating apex 12 is spaced from the CPU and the lower mating apex 22 is spaced from the PCB, the upper abutment tip region 13 is spaced from the upper abutment tab 31 and the lower abutment tip region 23 is spaced from the lower abutment tab 32. When the connector is sandwiched between the CPU and the PCB, the upper mating apex is downwardly depressed by the CPU to have the upper abutment tip region 13 downwardly abut against the upper abutment tab 31, and the lower mating apex is upwardly depressed by the PCB to have the lower abutment tip region 23 upwardly abut against the lower abutment tab 32.
Because the upper abutment tip region 13 forms a curved configuration 131 and the upper abutment tab 31 forms a tapered structure 311, the coupling between the upper abutment tip region 13 and the upper abutment tab 31 is essentially guidable and smooth. Similarly, the lower abutment tip region 23 forms a curved configuration 231 and the lower abutment tab 32 forms a tapered structure 321 to facilitate coupling therebetween. Understandably, coupling between the abutment tip region 13, 23 and the abutment tab 31, 32 may provide not only additional resistance force mechanically but also additional transmission path electrically for the contact when the contact is sandwiched between the CPU and the PCB. Notably, the abutment tab 31, 32 extends toward the retention section 10 may keep the minimized dimension of the whole contact structure in the extending direction of the contacting arm 11, 21. Moreover, the bridge 40 may provide the inner part, i.e., the extension section 30 and the associated abutment tab 31, 32, with more resiliency. This is the reason why the abutment tab 31, 32 of the inner part may be allowed to be relatively short, compared with the traditional spring arm design disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 9,882,296. In this embodiment, the retention section 10 and the extension section 30 are respectively located in two vertical planes parallel to each other while the bridge 40 is located in another vertical plane perpendicular to both the retention section 10 and the extension section 30. The retention section 10 includes a retaining tab 43 in a coplanar manner for retaining the whole contact 100 in the connector housing (not shown). The bridge 40 includes an upward protrusion 41 for linking to the contact carrier (not shown) for assembling the contact into the connector housing (not shown). The bridge 40 further forms an opening corresponding to the retaining tab 43.
Referring to
In both the embodiments, the abutment tip region and the corresponding abutment tab are not coupled with each other when the contacting arm is not mated with either the CPU or the PCB. Alternately, the coupling may occur before the contact is mated with either the CPU or the PCB to have the contacting arm in a preloaded manner. The abutment tip region 13, 23 defines an outward spoon configuration while the abutment tip region 53, 63 defines an inward spoon configuration differently.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is not to be construed as being limited thereto. Various alterations and modifications can be made to the embodiments without in any way departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201922386971.5 | Dec 2019 | CN | national |
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