The invention relates to an electrical connection structure, and more particularly to a float-type connecting module and a float-type docking device having the module.
Docking devices include a connector provided on a circuit board and a pluggable device, wherein the pluggable device includes a dock connector, and a user is only required to align the dock connector with a port of the connector. However, current docking devices suffer from the following issues that need to be overcome.
1. When the connector and the circuit board are both provided in a housing, if a slot provided on the housing is not precisely aligned with the port of the connector, even if the connector and the dock connector are only one in quantity, it is impossible or difficult for the dock connector of the pluggable device to be docked to the port of the connector through the slot on the housing.
2. In response to the issue that a transmission speed of docking devices cannot be effectively increased, the inventor of the application plans to simultaneously configure a plurality of (two or more) dock connectors on a pluggable device in order to increase the transmission speed, and to correspondingly simultaneously configure a plurality of (two or more) connectors on a circuit board. Thus, although the object of increasing the transmission speed is achieved, another issue of precise alignment respectively required between the connectors and the dock connectors is resulted.
Therefore, it is a task of the inventor of the present invention to provide an invention in which a connector is allowed to correspondingly float along with plugging of a dock connector.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a float-type connecting module and a float-type docking device having the module, which allow a connector to correspondingly float along with the plugging of a dock connector, thus simultaneously resolving the issues of precise alignment required between a slot on a housing and a port of the connector and precise alignment respectively required between connectors and dock connectors.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a float-type connecting module, including: a position limiting structure, provided at a hard circuit board; at least one flexible circuit board; and at least one connector, electrically connected to the hard circuit board through the at least one flexible circuit board, and floating in the position limiting structure.
The present invention further provides a float-type dock connecting device, including: a pluggable device, including at least one dock connector; and a float-type connecting module. The float-type connecting module includes: a position limiting structure, provided at a hard circuit board; at least one flexible circuit board; and at least one connector, for electrically docking to the at least one dock connector, electrically connected to the hard circuit board through the at least one flexible circuit board, and floating in the position limiting structure.
Compared to the prior art, the present invention achieves following effects. Given that one dock connector is correspondingly plugged with a port of at least one connector, the at least one connector is allowed to correspondingly float in the position limiting structure along with the plugging of the at least one dock connector, thus guiding and aligning the at least one connector to be precisely docked with the at least one dock connector, thereby simultaneously resolving the issues of precise alignment required between a slot on a housing and the port of the connector and precise alignment respectively required between connectors and dock connectors.
Details and technical contents of the present invention are given with the accompanying drawings below. It should be noted that these drawings are for reference and illustration purposes, and are not to be construed as limitations to the present invention.
Referring to
The position limiting structure 1 is provided at a hard circuit board P, in a way that the connector 3 is limited to float in the position limiting structure 1. The hard circuit board P may be a main circuit board provided in an electronic product (not shown), or may be an independent miniature circuit board or a sub circuit board electrically connected to a main circuit board; the present invention is not limited to the above examples.
The present invention does not limit the position limiting structure 1 to a specific structure, and any structure providing a sliding groove 12 for the connector 3 or the stiffening element 4 to float therein can be used. In other words, the position limiting structure 1 may include a sliding groove 12 formed from any structure, and preferably further includes a frame 11 that is provided on the hard circuit board P. A space encircled by the frame 11 forms the sliding groove 12.
The connector 3 is electrically connected to the hard circuit board P through the flexible circuit board 2. More specifically, the connector 3 and the hard circuit board P are electrically connected to two ends of the flexible circuit board 2, respectively, so as to shift the connector 3 when a force is applied thereon through the flexibility of the flexible circuit board 2 to further allow the connector 3 to float in the position limiting structure 1.
Clearance fit is adopted between the stiffening element 4 and the frame 11 of the position limiting structure 1; that is, a margin for both horizontal and vertical floating movements is preserved between the stiffening element 4 and the frame 11, such that the connector 3 is allowed to float in the position limiting structure 1 through the stiffening element 4. The stiffening element 4 is an object having an opposite property to the flexibility of the flexible circuit board 2, e.g., a hard board (as shown in
The quantities of the flexible circuit board 2, the connector 3, the stiffening element 4 and the dock connector 8 may be one or plural (two or more), and is not limited by the present invention.
In other embodiments that are not depicted by the drawings, the quantities of the flexible circuit board 2, the connector 3, the stiffening element 4 and the dock connector 8 are one, with associated details given below.
As shown in
In the embodiment shown in the drawings, the quantities of the flexible circuit board 2, the connector 3, the stiffening element 4 and the dock connector 8 are two as an example, with associated details given below.
The flexible circuit boards 2 are electrically connected between the connectors 3 and the hard circuit board P, respectively, allowing the connectors 3 to respectively float in the position limiting structure 1 through the stiffening elements 4, respectively. Thus, two stiffening elements 4 are arranged side by side and are slidably connected in the sliding groove 12 to generate a side-by-side direction D1 (referring to
More specifically, as shown in
The connector 3 may be simultaneously electrically connected to the stiffening element 4 and the one end 25 of the flexible circuit board 2 such that the three are mutually fixed, as shown in the drawings. Alternatively, the connector 3 may be first electrically connected to the one end 25 of the flexible circuit board 2, and then the stiffening element 4 is adhered and fixed to the same end 25 (not shown) of the flexible circuit board 2; further, the stiffening element 4 and the flexible circuit board 2 are not electrically connected.
As shown in
Preferably, the frame 11 may be provided with, at a position corresponding to the port of each connector 3, a guiding hole 111, which is in a bell-mouth shape having an outer large aperture that gradually narrows from the exterior towards the interior to an inner small aperture, accordingly allowing each dock connector 8 to be smoothly guided to the port of each corresponding connector 3.
Further, the foregoing connector 3 may be any electrical connector, and the present invention does not limit the type of the connector 3. In this embodiment, a USB Type-C socket connector is given as an example, and the dock connector 8 is then a USB Type-C plug connector, so as to have a better transmission speed on the basis of the USB Type-C interface used. Vice versa, the connector 3 may be a USB Type-C plug connector, and the dock connector 8 may be a USB Type-C socket connector. Further, the flexible circuit boards 2 may be independent units (not shown), or may have the one end 25 separated from another while the other end 26 integrally connected to another; the present invention does not limited the flexible circuit board 2 to be in a specific form.
In other embodiments not depicted in the drawings, the quantities of the connector 3, the stiffening element 4 and the dock connector 8 may still be two, and only the quantity of the flexible circuit board 2 is modified to be one. In the above situation, even if only one flexible circuit board 2 is adhered and fixed with two connectors 2, due to the flexibility of the flexible circuit board 2, the pre-flexed flexible circuit board 2 may be placed in the sliding groove 12, such that the two connectors 3 are allowed to float close to each other (the flexible circuit board 2 is to be bent to a greater extent), and also float away from each other (the pre-flexed part of the flexible circuit board 2 is to be relatively stretched). Further, the two connectors 3 may be a first plug connector and a first socket connector, respectively, and the two dock connectors 8 may be a second socket connector and a second plug connector respectively corresponding to the connectors 3.
In conclusion, the float-type connecting module and the float-type docking device having the module of the present invention achieve the expected application objects and thus resolve the issues of the prior art, and are novel and involve an inventive step that comply to the criteria for a patent application. Therefore, a patent application is filed accordingly, and the granting to patent rights after thorough examination is respectively requested so as to protect rights of the inventor.
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