Patent Application
20130155634
This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application No. 201110425390.3, filed on Dec. 16, 2011, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to a fixing means for installing a plurality of output cables and a method thereof, and more particularly, to a fixing means for installing a plurality of output cables onto a circuit board and a method thereof.
In the electronic industry, it is common to connect various output cables to a circuit board. Such output cables are generally connectors for transferring voltage, current, signal and so forth from an electrical product (such as a power supply) to outside.
However, the conventional assembly method has some drawbacks below:
1) it needs to independently and respectively interpose the output cables for considerable times, so that assembling the output cables onto the circuit board is labor consuming;
2) for avoiding short circuit between different polarities, the ends of the output cables should be sleeved with a protective component such as a thermal shrink tube, which would consume more labor and materials;
3) in the event that the protection does not meet the operating requirements, it is possible to cause a risk of burning out the equipment;
4) due to the considerable times and complexity for interposing the plurality of output cables on the circuit board, it is difficult to implement an automatic installation.
5) during the transportation of the output cables, the terminal hooks are easy to deform, which might cause the output cables interposed on the circuit board to fall out when the circuit board is furnace welded.
Therefore, it is necessary to develop a novel fixing means for installing a plurality of output cables onto a circuit board and a method thereof so as to overcome the foregoing defects presented in the conventional assembly method.
In order to overcome one or more defects in the prior art, one object of the present application, in part, is to provide a fixing means for quickly installing a plurality of output cables in a firmly fix manner and a method thereof, so as to reduce the process of manually interposing the plurality of output cables onto the circuit board and easily implement.
In one aspect, the present invention provides a method for installing a plurality of output cables onto a circuit board, comprising steps of:
Providing (or supplied with) a fixing means that includes a fixing housing and interposing terminals, wherein the fixing housing is provided with a plurality of inserting through holes, and the inserting through holes are alignable with (located to correspond to) output cable receiving holes on the circuit board respectively;
providing the output cables, and fixing an output cable inserting end of at least one output cable, which will be inserted into one of the output cable receiving holes on the circuit board, together with one of the interposing terminals so as to form an electric connection therebetween;
inserting each of the interposing terminals connected with the output cables into the corresponding inserting through hole in the fixing housing and fixing each of the interposing terminals in place; and
installing the fixing means onto the circuit board, wherein each of the interposing terminals is inserted into the corresponding output cable receiving hole on the circuit board.
In some embodiments, the method may further comprise a step of: furnace welding the whole circuit board after each of the interposing terminals is inserted into the corresponding output cable receiving hole on the circuit board, so that the output cables can be fixed onto the circuit board in a manner of electrical connection.
In some other embodiments of the method, the interposing terminal may comprise a fixing portion for fixing the output cable inserting end(s) together with the interposing terminal in a manner of electrical connection, a protruding portion for protruding out of the fixing housing, and an intermediate portion between the fixing portion and the protruding portion.
In further some embodiments of the method, the interposing terminal may be fixed to the fixing housing via the intermediate portion thereof.
In further some other embodiments of the method, the intermediate portion of the interposing terminal may be provided with a locking mechanism for locking with a corresponding locking recess in the fixing housing so as to be positioned in place.
In still some embodiments of the method, the intermediate portion of the interposing terminal may be fixed into the corresponding inserting through hole in the fixing housing by means of interference fit.
In still some other embodiments of the method, the protruding portion of the interposing terminal may be provided with a locking mechanism for locking with the corresponding output cable receiving hole on the circuit board so that the interposing terminal may be fixed onto the circuit board.
In still some other embodiments of the method, in the step of installing the fixing means onto the circuit board, one or more fixing parts may be provided to fix the fixing means onto the circuit board.
In still some other embodiments of the method, the fixing part may be a fixing clip provided on a surface of the fixing housing facing the circuit board, and at least one fixing hole is provided at a corresponding position on the circuit board, so that the fixing means and the circuit board can be fixed together by the locking between the fixing clip and the fixing hole.
In still some other embodiments of the method, the fixing part may be a screwed connector, by which the fixing means can be fixed onto the circuit board.
In another aspect, the present invention further provides a fixing means for installing a plurality of output cables onto a circuit board, comprising:
a fixing housing provided with a plurality of inserting through holes, which are alignable with output cable receiving holes on the circuit board; and
interposing terminals, each of which is fixed together with output cable inserting end(s) of the output cable(s) to form an electric connection therebetween, then inserted into the corresponding inserting through hole in the fixing housing, and protruded out of the fixing housing;
wherein one end of each interposing terminal to be protruded out of the fixing housing may be used to interpose into the corresponding output cable receiving hole on the circuit board.
In some embodiments of the fixing means, the interposing terminal may comprise a fixing portion for fixing the output cable inserting end(s) together with the interposing terminal in a manner of electrical connection, a protruding portion for protruding out of the fixing housing, and an intermediate portion between the fixing portion and the protruding portion.
In some other embodiments of the fixing means, the interposing terminal may be fixed to the fixing housing via the intermediate portion.
In further some embodiments of the fixing means, the intermediate portion of the interposing terminal may be provided with a locking mechanism for locking with a corresponding locking recess in the fixing housing so as to be positioned in place.
In further some other embodiments of the fixing means, the intermediate portion of the interposing terminal may be fixed into the corresponding inserting through hole in the fixing housing by means of interference fit.
In still some embodiments of fixing means, the protruding portion of the interposing terminal may be provided with a locking mechanism for locking with the corresponding output cable receiving hole on the circuit board so that the interposing terminal can be fixed onto the circuit board.
In still some other embodiments of fixing means, the fixing means may be also provided with at least one fixing part, by which the fixing means can be fixed onto the circuit board.
In still some other embodiments of fixing means, the fixing part may be a fixing clip provided on a surface of the fixing housing facing the circuit board, and at least one fixing hole is provided at a corresponding position on the circuit board, so that the fixing means and the circuit board are fixed together by the locking between the fixing clip and the fixing hole.
In still some other embodiments of fixing means, the fixing part may be a screwed connector, by which the fixing means is fixed onto the circuit board.
By applying the conception of the present invention, the labor and material consume can be reduced greatly, the automatic assembling and processing of a plurality of output cables can be achieved, and short circuit incurred between the output cables with different polarities can be avoided effectively.
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the disclosure and together with the description serve to explain the principle of the disclosure.
The accompanying drawings are not intended to be drawn to scale. In the drawings, each identical or nearly identical component that is illustrated in various figures is represented by a like numeral. For purposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in every drawing.
In the drawings:
Reference will now be made in detail to a fixing means for installing a plurality of output cables according to the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
As shown in
To facilitate for illustration, the main structure of the interposing terminal 5 of the fixing means according to the present invention will be described in brief with reference to
In the fixing means for installing a plurality of output cables according to the present invention, the interposing terminal 5 can be fixed with the inserting end(s) of the output cable 6(s) in various manners.
For instance, in
In addition, in the fixing means for installing a plurality of output cables according to the present invention, the interposing terminal 5 and the fixing housing 1 can be fixed in various manners.
In
Hereinafter, the positioning between the fixing means for installing a plurality of output cables according to the present invention and the circuit board 3 will be described. According to the technical concept of the present invention, the fixing means and the circuit board 3 can be fixed with each other by various fixing parts.
As further shown in
Hereinafter, a method of installing a plurality of output cables onto a circuit board according to the present invention will be described in brief:
providing a fixing means, which comprises a fixing housing 1 provided with a plurality of inserting through holes 2 and interposing terminals 5, in which the inserting ends of the output cables 6 to be inserted into the output cable receiving holes 4 are fixed together with the interposing terminals 5 so as to form an electric connection;
subsequently, inserting and fixing the interposing terminals 5 connected with the output cables 6 into the corresponding inserting through holes 2 in the fixing housing 1 in place; and
after that, installing the fixing means onto the circuit board 3 so that the interposing terminals 5 could be directly inserted into the corresponding output cable receiving holes 4 on the circuit board 3 manually or automatically.
The aforementioned steps are illustrating, while different orders of the steps may be practicing as long as the output cables are installed onto a circuit board to form the structures described herein.
As described above, compared with the conventional method of installing a plurality of output cables, the fixing means for installing a plurality of output cables onto a circuit board and the method thereof according to the present invention, in part, have notable advantages below:
1) the labor cost is reduced greatly;
2) the protective materials such as the thermal shrink tube are saved, so that material cost is reduced;
3) the automatic assembling and processing of the plurality of output cables can be conveniently achieved;
4) the short circuit between the plurality of output cables of different polarities can be efficiently prevented; and
5) the reliability of the products is improved, and the invalidation of the product terminal due to extrusion during transportation is avoided.
The foregoing embodiments and advantages are merely exemplary and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention. This description is intended to be illustrative, and not to limit the scope of the claims. Many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The features, structures, methods, and other characteristics of the exemplary embodiments described herein may be combined in various manners to obtain additional and/or alternative exemplary embodiments.
As the present features may be embodied in several forms without departing from the characteristics thereof, it should also be understood that the above-described embodiments are not limited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within its scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore all changes and modifications that fall within the metes and bounds of the claims, or equivalents of such metes and bounds are therefore intended to be embraced by the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201110425390.3 | Dec 2011 | CN | national |
