Power connector

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to a power connector for providing power between a motherboard and a daughter board.

2. Description of Prior Arts

The ever increasing density of components used in electronic packaging, such as those used for computers and the like, wrought by the development of integrated circuits, has created the need for power connectors to carry the power required by densely spaced logic and memory components. U.S. Pat. No. 5,158,471 teaches a power connector for interconnecting power between printed circuit boards includes plug and receptacle contacts, which are arranged adjacent to signal connector halves mounted on the circuit boards. Insulating housings of the plug and receptacle contacts are provided with the housing surrounding the receptacle contact to preclude accidental shorting as between multiple contacts. However, the insulating housing of the plug contacts is configured in an L-shape and the plug contacts are mainly exposed to the air such that signal transmission in the neighboring signal connector halves will be unavoidably influenced when there is power supplied with high voltage in the power connector.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,430, issued to Fujitsu Limited on May 1, 2001, discloses a power supply terminal assembly for supplying electric power to a back wiring board. The power supply terminal assembly includes a protective cover detachably attached on a dielectric terminal block via a pair of cover-fixing screws. The cover spaces the power supply terminal assembly from other connectors to provide a greater voltage rating. While, when a different voltage requirement is desired to be met, it is obvious that the construction of the power supply terminal assembly should be redesigned. Therefore, the manufacturing cost is increased.

Hence, a power connector for overcoming the above-mentioned defects of current art is highly desired.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a power connector with selectable covers which have different sizes to meet different voltage requirements.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a power connector assembly adapted for interconnecting two circuit boards includes a power plug and a power receptacle. The power plug has an insulating housing defining therethrough a plurality of channels, a plurality of plug contacts received in the channels, and a first and a second covers selectively attached on a rear side of the housing. Each cover comprises an upper portion and a rear portion extending perpendicularly from an edge of the upper portion. Opposite lateral sides of the rear portion each define thereon a cutout and an embossment adjacent to the cutout. The cutouts are configured to engage with protrusions formed on the rear side of the housing and the embossments are structured to be received in notches defined on the rear side besides the protrusions to thereby secure the cover on the housing. The widths of the two covers are different in order to meet different voltage rating requirements.

Other objects, 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.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1

is an exploded, perspective view of a power connector assembly including a power plug and a power receptacle;

FIG. 2

is an exploded perspective view of a power plug employing a first cover;

FIG. 3

is a partially assembled view of

FIG. 2

;

FIG. 4

is an assembled view of

FIG. 2

;

FIG. 5

is a back planar view of

FIG. 4

;

FIG. 6

is a partially exploded, perspective view of the power plug employing a second cover;

FIG. 7

is an assembled view of

FIG. 6

; and

FIG. 8

is a back planar view of FIG.

7

.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe the present invention in detail.

Referring to

FIG. 1

, a power connector assembly

100

for coupling a mother board (not shown) having a power supply to a daughter board (not shown) having power consuming components is shown. The power connector assembly

100

includes a power plug

1

and a power receptacle

2

mating with the power plug

1

.

As shown in

FIGS. 2-5

, the power plug

1

comprises an insulating housing

11

, a plurality of plug contacts

12

, and a first and a second covers

13

,

13

′ which can be selectively attached to a rear side of the housing

11

during different voltage applications. The insulating housing

11

defines thereon a plurality of channels

14

for receiving corresponding plug contacts

12

. Each plug contact

12

comprises a mating portion

121

, a bended blade

122

, and a plurality of connection pins

123

extending from an edge of the bended blade

122

along a perpendicular direction with respect to the corresponding mating portion

121

. The mating portion

121

is configured to electrically connect with receptacle contacts

22

of the power receptacle

2

, which will be described in detail hereinafter. The connection pins

123

are configured to be press-fitted in through-holes of a daughter board thereby providing power from a mother board, on which the power receptacle

2

is mounted, to the daughter board. The plug contacts

12

are parallelly arranged with the mating portions

121

being stacked along an up-to-down direction. The insulating housing

11

has a pair of protrusions

111

(see

FIG. 5

) oppositely formed on the rear side and a pair of notches

112

defined adjacent to the protrusions

111

. A recess (not labeled) is defined in the rear side of the housing

11

between the pair of protrusions

11

.

The first and the second covers

13

,

13

′ have similar configurations while the widths are different from each other due to different voltage rating requirements. The first cover

13

of the power plug

1

, includes an upper portion

131

and a rear portion

132

extending perpendicularly from an edge of the upper portion

131

. Two lateral sides of the rear portion

132

each define thereon a cutout

133

for engaging with corresponding protrusions

111

of the housing

111

and an embossment

134

adjacent to corresponding cutout

133

for received in corresponding notches

112

. A block

135

is formed on an inner side of the rear portion

132

for being received in corresponding recess to thereby secure the first cover

13

on the insulating housing

11

. Particularly referring to

FIGS. 4 and 5

, it can be readily seen that the width of the cover

13

is equal to the width of the housing

11

.

Turn to

FIG. 6

in conjunction with

FIGS. 7 and 8

, the power plug

1

employing the second cover

13

′ is shown. Similarly, the second cover

13

′ includes an upper portion

131

′ and a rear portion

132

′ extending perpendicularly from an edge of the upper portion

131

′. Two lateral sides of the rear portion

132

′ each define thereon a cutout

133

′ for engaging with corresponding protrusions

111

of the housing

11

and an embossment

134

′ adjacent to corresponding cutout

133

′. It can be easily seen that the two embossments

134

′ of the second cover

13

′ extend beyond the two opposite sides of the housing

11

different lengths. A block

135

′ is formed on an inner side of the rear portion

132

′ for being received in corresponding recess to thereby secure the second cover

13

′ on the insulating housing

11

. Compared with the first cover

13

, the second cover

13

′ has a larger size than the first cover

13

as well as the insulating housing

11

, so that the larger, second cover

13

′ can provide a greater voltage rating than the narrower, first cover

13

can provide.

It is well known that there are two factors that affect voltage, the spacing inside the connector and the distance between the two neighboring connectors. Clearly, when the housing remains unchanged, the narrower, first cover

13

disclosed in present invention can provide a predetermined voltage rating, while the wider, second cover

13

′ can provide a greater voltage rating than the narrow one. In an alternative embodiment, a third cover having a third size may be in use to meet a predetermined voltage rating requirement. In other words, the covers having different sizes can be selected to be assembled to the housing in order to meet different applications when a particular voltage rating is required. All of the covers can be made in the same mold so that the manufacturing cost is notably decreased. On the other hand, the covers with different sizes facilitate the connectors being positioned in the appropriate places where different voltage ratings are correspondingly required.

Continue to

FIGS. 1 and 2

, the power receptacle

2

comprises an insulating housing

21

and a plurality of receptacle contacts

22

received in the insulating housing

21

. Each receptacle contact

22

comprises a base portion

221

, a plurality of connection fingers (not shown) extending from a forward edge of the base portion

221

for electrically engaging with the mating portion

121

of the power plug

1

, and a plurality of connections tails

222

extending from a rearward edge of the base portion

221

for electrically engaging with the mother board.

It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.

Claims

1. A power connector for providing power between two circuits of circuit boards, comprising:an insulating housing; a number of parallel arranged, plug contacts received in said housing; and at least two covers selectively and detachably assembled to said housing, said at least two covers each comprising a first plate and a second plate extending perpendicularly to said first plate, said first and second plates covering a top and a rear of said housing, respectively; wherein a particular one of said at least two covers assembled to said housing has a width size different from the other one to meet a different voltage rating requirement wherein each contact being substantially extended between lateral walls of the housing in a width direction.
2. The power connector as described in claim 1, wherein said at least two covers each have a block formed on an inner side of said second plate and said housing defines a recess on the rear thereof for mechanically receiving said block.
3. The power connector as described in claim 2, wherein said at least two covers each define a pair of cutouts and embossments on opposite lateral sides thereof, and said housing defines a pair of protrusions and notches on the rear thereof for mechanically engaging with corresponding cutouts and embossments to thereby secure said covers on said housing.
4. The power connector as described in claim 3, wherein each of said plug contact comprises a horizontally extended, mating portion, a bended blade connected with said mating portion, and a number of connections pins extending downwards from an edge of said bended blade for press-fitted in holes of the circuit board.
5. The power connector as described in claim 4, wherein the width of one of said at least two covers is equal to that of said housing.

US Referenced Citations (1)

Number	Name	Date	Kind
5340320	Puerner	Aug 1994	A

Power connector

Information

Patent Number

Date Filed

Date Issued

Inventors

Original Assignees

Examiners

Agents

CPC

US Classifications

Field of Search

US

International Classifications

Abstract

Description

Claims

US Referenced Citations (1)