Patent Application
20160087362
The present invention relates generally to electrical connectors, and more particularly to wire-to-board connectors.
It has been estimated that the market for wearable devices in the sports and health sectors will grow to nearly 170 million devices by 2017—an annual growth rate of 41 percent. In wearable devices, size is critical for user comfort. However, there is a scarcity of suitably small interconnection elements, of the sort that may be used for a miniaturized external port, such as a headset, speaker, data or charging port, or to connect multiple body worn units together. Radio transmission can be used as wire replacement for data exchange, but it increases power consumption, leading to a need for larger batteries, especially when mesh networking protocols must be implemented (as is the case with Bluetooth), thus imposing a limit on miniaturization.
Many commercially available miniaturized connectors such as those sold by Molex, such as their wire-to-board micro miniature interconnects, are meant to be used inside electronic devices, and not as an outside interconnect. Their size makes them very fragile, and not suited to being handled directly by a consumer. Most of these types of connectors, for example the PicoBlade, have a structurally fragile wire-to-connector junction on the wire side. They will eventually fail by repeated use, or if the wire is pulled accidentally.
Developing a custom connector is a difficult and expensive process, because, given the sizes, there is no reliable way of predicting the “feel” and strength of a particular configuration, until expensive tooling is created and the design is tested. Finalizing a design requires multiple iterations and production of costly tooling. Designing for small sizes is also quite demanding as the artifacts introduced by manufacturing processes, such as excess material, constitute a significant fraction of the volume or area of the product. Due to complexity, costs and time involved, custom miniature connector design cannot normally be part of the R&D cycle of a new consumer product.
The connector system of the invention enables a cable to be connected to a miniaturized electronic device. The connector system is sufficiently small to be used in a highly miniaturized body worn (wearable) device, and is sufficiently stable and sturdy to be handled directly by a consumer, thus enabling creation of wearable consumer products having multiple interconnected parts. The connector system of the invention is also useful in aerospace applications wherein components must be interconnected within a very small space.
One general aspect of the invention is a connector system for establishing electrical connection between an electrical cable and a printed circuit board, and for establishing mechanical connection between the electrical cable and a case having the printed circuit board contained therein. The connector system includes a male connector having a non-conductive male body capable of being manually gripped; and a plurality of conductive pins supported by the non-conductive male body, each conductive pin being connectable to a wire of an electrical cable; a female connector having a non-conductive female body having a plurality of conductive receptacles, each conductive receptacle being capable of receiving a conductive pin, and being capable of removably capturing each conductive pin, the nonconductive female body being trappable within a wall of a case having the printed circuit board contained therein; and a plurality of conductors, each conductor extending from each respective conductive receptacle, each conductor capable of being soldered to a metallic pad of the printed circuit board.
In some embodiments, each conductive pin of the male connector is longer than the non-conductive female body of a respective conductive receptacle and extends beyond the non-conductive female body when the conductive pin is inserted into the respective conductive receptacle of the female connector. In further embodiments, each conductive pin of the male connector is at least 4 mm long.
In some embodiments, when the male connector is inserted into the female connector, the non-conductive male body of the male connector abuts the wall of the case.
In some embodiments, the non-conductive male body of the male connector has one or more auxiliary extrusions so as to prevent bending of the conductive pins during handing of the male connector.
In some embodiments, the non-conductive male body of the male connector is a plastic or rubber body encapsulating part of the conductive pins.
In some embodiments, the non-conductive female body of the female connector is affixed in abutting relationship with an edge of the circuit board.
In some embodiments, an outer surface of the non-conductive female body of the female connector is flush with the outer surface of the wall of the case.
In some embodiments, the printed circuit board is mechanically stabilized within the case by being trapped by other components contained entirely within the case.
In some embodiments, each conductive pin of the male connector is connected to a wire of the electrical cable via a solder joint.
Another general aspect of the invention is a connector system for establishing electrical connection between an electrical cable and a printed circuit board, and for establishing mechanical connection between the electrical cable and a case having the printed circuit board contained therein. This connector system includes: a male connector having: a non-conductive male body capable of being manually gripped; and a plurality of conductive pins supported by the nonconductive male body, the non-conductive male body being formed by overmolding so as to encapsulate a portion of each conductive pin, each conductive pin being connected to a wire of the electrical cable via a solder joint; a female connector having: a non-conductive female body having a plurality of conductive receptacles, each conductive receptacle being capable of receiving a conductive pin, and being capable of removably capturing each conductive pin, the non-conductive female body being trappable within a wall of a case having the printed circuit board contained therein; and a plurality of conductors, each conductor extending from each respective conductive receptacle, each conductor capable of being soldered to a metallic pad of the printed circuit board.
In some embodiments, each conductive pin of the male connector is longer than the non-conductive female body of a respective conductive receptacle and extends beyond the non-conductive female body when the conductive pin is inserted into the respective conductive receptacle of the female connector.
In some embodiments, each conductive pin of the male connector is at least 4 mm long.
In some embodiments, when the male connector is inserted into the female connector, the non-conductive male body of the male connector abuts the wall of the case.
In some embodiments, the non-conductive male body of the male connector has one or more auxiliary extrusions so as to prevent bending of the conductive pins during handing of the male connector.
In some embodiments, the non-conductive male body of the male connector is a plastic or rubber body encapsulating part of the conductive pins.
In some embodiments, the non-conductive female body of the female connector is affixed in abutting relationship with an edge of the circuit board.
In some embodiments, wherein an outer surface of the non-conductive female body of the female connector is flush with the outer surface of the wall of the case.
In some embodiments, the printed circuit board is mechanically stabilized within the case by being trapped by other components contained entirely within the case.
In some embodiments, a length each conductive receptacle of the nonconductive female body is at least 1.5 mm.
The invention will be more fully understood by reference to the detailed description, in conjunction with the following figures, wherein:
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Other modifications and implementations will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as claimed. Accordingly, the above description is not intended to limit the invention except as indicated in the following claims.
