Abstract:
A connector with a built-in substrate includes an insulating housing, and a terminal and a substrate, which are secured in the insulating housing. The insulating housing has a substrate mounting section to mount the substrate in the insulating housing, and a terminal mounting section to mount a terminal. The direction of mounting the substrate in the substrate mounting section is same as that of mounting the terminal in the terminal mounting section. According to this invention, there is provided a connector with a built-in substrate, in which the substrate has various functions and can be easily mounted in a connector. In addition, the connector can be easily manufactured, and is comprised of less components.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a connector with a built-in substrate and its assembling method.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     In order to eliminate static electricity, prevent radiation noise, or for other purposes, a substrate having specific function may be provided in a connector. As a method to provide such substrate in a connector, for example, a substrate can be provided by superimposing it onto the outer portion of the connector as disclosed in Unexamined Japan Patent Application Publication H8-106958, or a substrate can be built in the connector as disclosed in Unexamined Japan Patent Application Publication H8-273766. Especially the latter patent publication discloses a connector with a built-in substrate, in which the substrate is built in the connector by attaching the substrate to a bottom plate from the upper side, then placing a housing over the substrate on the bottom plate from the upper side, and securing the substrate onto the bottom plate. 
    References Cited:    
 
         [0006]     Unexamined Japan Patent Application Publication H8-106958  
         [0007]     Unexamined Japan Patent Application Publication H8-273766  
         [0008]     As disclosed in the former patent publication, however, if the substrate is simply superimposed over the outer portion of the connector, it is very difficult to securely contact the substrate to the connector, and complicated constitution is required for connecting the substrate outside of the connector with the terminal in the connector. On the other hand, in the method disclosed in the latter patent publication, since the bottom plate is required in addition to the housing, the number of components has to be increased, and a complicated manufacturing process, like attaching the substrate to the bottom plate and then placing the housing over the substrate, is required.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]     Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a connector with a built-in substrate, which has a substrate having various functions, can be easily manufactured, and requires less number of components.  
         [0010]     It is another object of the invention to provide a method for assembling such connector.  
         [0011]     According to the invention, there is provided a connector with a built-in substrate, which comprises an insulating housing, a terminal and a substrate which are secured in the insulating housing. In this invention, the insulating housing is featured by having a substrate mounting section to mount the substrate in the housing, and a terminal mounting section to mount the terminal in the housing. The mounting direction of the substrate in the substrate mounting section is same as that of the terminal in the terminal mounting section.  
         [0012]     In the above connector, a positioning member for positioning the substrate in the substrate mounting section when the substrate is mounted in the substrate mounting section can be provided in the substrate mounting section. The positioning member can be a press-in rib, which is provided along the mounting direction of the substrate so that the substrate is pressed in and secured in the insulating housing being pushed by the substrate when the substrate is mounted in the substrate mounting section. An elastic bar having a free end can be formed at a part of the terminal, such that the elastic bar is bent toward the substrate so as to contact with the substrate, which is mounted in the substrate mounting section, when the terminal is mounted in the terminal mounting section.  
         [0013]     The above-described connector can be comprised of two substrates and a plurality of terminals. In this case, at least some of the terminals can be arranged between the two substrates, and contact with one of the substrates. Alternatively, the connector can be comprised of one substrate and a plurality of terminals. In this case, the plurality of terminals can be arranged above or below the substrate, and contact with the substrate at the upper or lower surface of the substrate. In the above connectors, the substrate can be a varistor array. In addition, this connector can have a metallic shell that covers the insulating housing, and the varistor array can be electrically connected to the metallic shell by contacting a part of the metallic shell protruding inside of the substrate mounting section with the varistor array when the varistor array is mounted in the substrate mounting section.  
         [0014]     In this invention, the method for assembling the connector with a built-in substrate, which has an insulting housing, the terminal and substrate that are secured to the housing, is featured by that the mounting direction of the substrate in the substrate mounting section provided in the insulating housing is same as the mounting direction of the terminals in the terminal mounting section provided in the insulating housing.  
         [0015]     According to the invention, there is provided a connector with a built-in substrate, which can be easily assembled and requires less number of components. In addition, the method for assembling such connector is also provided. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0016]      FIG. 1  is a perspective upper view of the connector with a built-in varistor according to the first embodiment of the invention.  
         [0017]      FIG. 2  is a side view of the connector with a built-in varistor of  FIG. 1 .  
         [0018]      FIG. 3  is a sectional view taken along line A-A of  FIG. 1 .  
         [0019]      FIG. 4  is a sectional view of the connector taken along line A-A of  FIG. 1  after the varistor array is secured in the connector.  
         [0020]      FIG. 5  is a sectional view of the connector of  FIG. 1  after the terminals are secured therein.  
         [0021]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the connector with a built-in varistor, which is viewed from the fitting direction to the counter connector.  
         [0022]      FIG. 7  is a sectional view illustrating the connector before fitting to the counter connector.  
         [0023]      FIG. 8  is a sectional view illustrating the connector after fitting to the counter connector.  
         [0024]      FIG. 9  is a perspective upper view of the connector with a built-in varistor according to the second embodiment of this invention.  
         [0025]      FIG. 10  is a side view of the connector with a built-in varistor of  FIG. 9 .  
         [0026]      FIG. 11  is a sectional view taken along line B-B of  FIG. 9 .  
         [0027]      FIG. 12  is a sectional view of the connector taken along line B-B of  FIG. 9  after the varistor is secured therein.  
         [0028]      FIG. 13  is a sectional view of the connector taken along line B-B of  FIG. 9  after the terminals are secured therein. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0029]     Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. As a preferred embodiment of this invention, a connector with a built-in varistor, which has a varistor array (substrate) will be described as an example. The varistor array is formed so as to have a plurality of pads by printing metal patterns on a aluminum substrate. When current larger than specified amount flows to the pads, excess current flows outside by the varistor array. For example, if such connector with a built-in varistor is used in a mobile notebook computer or a cellular phone, which is easily touched by the user, it can be prevented that the internal IC is destroyed by undesired current, such as static electricity caused by the user.  
         [0030]     Here, the connector with a built-in varistor described below shows an example of the connector with a built-in substrate of this invention. The connector with a built-in substrate of this invention can be applied for various connectors. For example, if a condenser substrate is used as the substrate in place of the varistor array, a connector with a built-in substrate, which has an additional function of preventing radiation noise, can be provided. Therefore, this invention is not limited to the connector with a built-in varistor.  
         [0031]     In  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the connector with a built-in varistor  1  is comprised of a insulating housing  11  made of a resin or from other materials, a metallic shell  13  that covers the outer surfaces of the insulating housing  11 , two varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B and a plurality (two types) of terminals  7 A and  7 B, which are provided inside the insulating housing  11 . Here, in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B and the terminals  7 A and  7 B are not secured in the insulating housing  11 .  
         [0032]     In order to further show the inner structure of the connector with a built-in varistor, sectional views of the connector with a built-in varistor are illustrated in  FIGS. 3-5 . The metallic shell  13  is secured onto the insulating housing in advance before the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B and the terminals  7 A and  7 B are mounted in the insulating housing  11 . By attaching the metallic shell  13  to the insulating housing  11 , the mechanical strength of the insulating housing can be improved, and the connector can be protected from electromagnetic interference. Furthermore, since the metallic shell  13  will be connected to the varistor array  5 A and  5 B, current flowed from the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B can be connected to ground.  
         [0033]     Four soldering sections  15  (only two soldering sections are shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 ) which extend outward of the metallic shell  13  are provided at lower portions of the side surfaces of the metallic shell  13 . The metallic shell  13  is secured and mounted on a circuit board via the soldering sections  15  and connected to ground. The soldering sections  15  can be formed by bending as illustrated in  FIG. 1 , or can be formed without bending.  
         [0034]     In order to contact the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B with the metallic shell  13 , two pairs of elastic contact sections  19 A and  19 B are provided on the left and right side surfaces of the metallic shell  13  at the height level of the slits  33 A and  33 B of the insulating housing  11 . Those elastic contact sections  19 A and  19 B are formed by cutting a part of the metallic shell  13 , and bending to form V-shape toward the inside of the metallic shell  13 . As a result, when the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B are mounted in the insulating housing  11 , to which the metallic shell  13  is attached, each pair of the elastic contact sections  19 A and  19 B can respectively elastically contact with the ground pads  53 A and  53 B on the side surfaces of the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B. Accordingly, the metallic shell  13  and the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B are electrically connected to each other. In addition, the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B are connected to ground via the metallic shell  13 .  
         [0035]     An elastic pressing sections  21  are symmetrically provided at left and right portions of the upper surface of the metallic shell. Those elastic pressing sections  21  are formed by cutting out a part of the upper surface of the metallic shell, and bending a portion formed by the cutting downward toward the inside of the metallic shell  13 . When the connector of this invention  1  is fitted to the counter connector  1 A (illustrated in  FIGS. 7 and 8 , which will be described later), those elastic pressing sections  21  presses the upper surface of the counter connector  1  and maintain the fitting.  
         [0036]     Elastic catching sections  23  are symmetrically provided at left and right portions of the bottom surface of the metallic shell  13  (illustrated  FIGS. 3-5  and  6 ). Those elastic engaging sections  23  are formed by cutting a part of the lower surface of the metallic shell  13 , and bending the portion formed by cutting upward toward the inside of the metallic shell  13 . When the connector  1  of this invention is fitted to the counter connector  1 A (illustrated in  FIGS. 7 and 8 , which will be described later), those elastic catching sections  23  are fitted in the fitting holes  24  provided on the bottom surface of the counter connector, and maintain the fitting to the counter connector.  
         [0037]     The insulating housing  11  is comprised of an intermediate arranging plate  25  provided at the middle height level of the insulating housing  11 , an upper housing  27  and a lower housing  29 , which are respectively provided above and below the intermediate arranging plate  25 . The intermediate arranging plate  25  is provided so as to extend from the direction of mounting the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B and the terminals  7 A and  7 B toward the rear portion inside the insulating housing  11 . The upper housing  27  and the lower housing  29  are provided only near front portion of the insulating housing  11 . Cylindrical protrusions  31  for positioning the connector  1  to a circuit board (not illustrated) protrude from the bottom surface of the insulating housing  11 .  
         [0038]     The varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B are mounted in the gaps  32 A and  32 B, which are respectively formed between the intermediate arranging plate  25  and the upper housing  27  of the insulating housing  11  and between the intermediate arranging plate  25  and the lower housing  29 . By using two varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B, the terminals can be arranged at narrower pitch than when only one varistor array is used. The varistor arrays have same shape, and have a plurality of pads arranged in a row along the longitudinal direction on each side. Here, in the figure, only pads of the varistor array  5 A are illustrated.  
         [0039]     In order to guide the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B into the insulating housing  11 , two sets of slits  33 A and  33 B are provided in the insulating housing  11 . Those slits  33 A and  33 B are formed so as to extend from the left and right protruded portions, which protrude slightly forward than the front center of the insulating housing  11 , towards the rear portion in the insulating housing  11 . With those slits  33 A and  33 B, the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B are guided into the insulating housing  11 . Inclined sections  42  are provided near the opening of the slits  33 A and  33 B, so that the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B can be smoothly guided in the slits  33 A and  33 B. The slits  33 A and  33 B extend to middle parts of the upper housing  27  and the lower housing  29 , and stopping sections  39 A and  39 B are provided at the ends of the slits  33 A and  33 B.  
         [0040]     In order to secure the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B into specified positions in the insulating housing, positioning members are provided before the stopping sections  39 A and  39 B. As the positioning members, press-in ribs (see  FIGS. 3 and 4 ) are used in this embodiment. The press-in ribs  41 A and  41 B are provided along the direction of mounting the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B symmetrically at left and right portions of the lower surface of the upper housing  27 , and symmetrically at left and right portions of the upper surface of the lower housing  29 . Those press-in ribs are provided so as to extend from the front center portion toward the rear portion of the insulating housing  11 . Those press-in ribs  41 A and  41 B can be provided at the slits  33 A and  33 B. While pressing the press-in rib  41 A and  41 B, each varistor array  5 A and  5 B is pressed into the insulating housing  11 , and secured therein. By providing those press-in ribs  41 A and  41 B, additional member for securing the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B in the insulating housing  11  is not necessary. When the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B are pressed in the insulating housing  11 , the upper varistor array  5 A is secured therein being pressed downward by the press-in rib  41 A provided at the upper housing  27 . On the other hand, the lower varistor array  5 B is secured being pressed upward by the press-in rib  41 B provided at the lower housing  29 . By pressing those varistor arrays in this way, the connection to the terminals  7 A and  7 B can be effectively ensured.  
         [0041]     After mounting the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B, the terminals  7 A and  7 B are mounted in the insulating housing  11 . The direction to mount the terminals  7 A and  7 B into the insulating housing  11  is same as that to mount the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B into the insulating housing  11 . Therefore, those mounting processes can be done very easily.  
         [0042]     The terminals  7 A and  7 B are mounted using the grooves provided on the intermediate arranging plate  25  and the lower housing  29  of the insulating housing  11 . The upper surface and the lower surface of the intermediate arranging plate  25  have a plurality of horizontal terminal grooves  43 A and  43 B in the extending direction of the intermediate arranging plate  25 . The front side of the lower housing  29  has a plurality of vertical terminal grooves  45  in the vertical direction. The horizontal terminal grooves  43 A on the upper surface of the intermediate arranging plate  25  and the horizontal terminal grooves  43 B on the lower surface of the intermediate arranging plate  25  are staggered by half pitch of the width of the terminals with respect to each other. Accordingly, when the terminals are mounted in the terminal grooves and aligned, the terminals  7 A aligned on the upper surface and the terminals  7 B aligned on the lower surface are also staggered with respect to each other.  
         [0043]     The terminals  7 A and  7 B mounted in the insulating housing  11  are grouped into two types. One is first terminals, which are aligned by the horizontal terminal grooves on the upper surface of the intermediate arranging plate  25 , and the other is second terminals, which are aligned by the vertical terminal grooves  43  on the lower surface of the intermediate arranging plate  25 . Each of those terminals is comprised of an extending section  71 A or  71 B, arranging section  72 A or  72 B to be arranged in the vertical arranging groove, and a soldering section  73 A or  73 B to be connected to the circuit board. The length of the extending section  71 A or  71 B is generally same as that of the intermediate arranging plate  25 . When the first terminals  7 A and the second terminals  7 B are mounted in the insulating housing  11 , the ends of extending sections  71 A and  71 B reach substantially same position as the end  26  of the intermediate arranging plate  25  of the insulating housing  11 . The length of the arranging section  72 A of each first terminal  7 A is set slightly longer than that of the arranging sections of each second terminal. Those terminals  7 A and  7 B can be pressed in the horizontal terminal grooves by the press-in protrusions  74 A and  74 B provided at the extending section  71 A and  71 B, and then secured therein.  
         [0044]     In order to securely contact the first and the second terminals  7 A and  7 B with the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B in the insulating housing  11 , the base portions of the extending sections  71 A and  71 B of the first terminals  7 A and the second terminals  7 B are split into two portions. One of the split portions is formed as an elastic bar  75 A or  75 B that has a free end in a direction opposite to the inserting direction to the insulating housing  11 . The elastic bar of the first terminal  7 A is formed by bending upward so as to securely contact with the varistor array  5 A mounted at the upper portion of the insulating housing  11 . On the other hand, the elastic bar  75 B of the second terminal  7 B is formed by bending downward so as to securely contact with the varistor array mounted in the lower portion of the insulating housing  11 .  
         [0045]     When the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B and the terminals  7 A and  7 B are mounted in the insulating housing  11 , each pad of each varistor array  5 A or  5 B elastically contacts one-to-one to each elastic bar  75 A or  75 B of each terminal  7 A or  7 B. Those elastic contacts are securely made by pressing the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B toward the terminals  7 A and  7 B, and bending the elastic bars  75 A and  75 B of the terminals  7 A and  7 B toward the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B, as described above.  
         [0046]      FIG. 6  is a perspective upper view of the connector with a built-in varistor  1  of this invention, which is viewed from the fitting direction to the counter connector.  FIGS. 7 and 8  illustrate the method of fitting the connector to the counter connector, which is similar to the method illustrated in  FIGS. 3-5 .  FIG. 7  shows the connector before fitting to the counter connector, and  FIG. 8  shows the connector after fitting to the counter connector. Here,  FIGS. 6-8  are different from  FIG. 1 , and illustrate the connector after it is completely assembled.  
         [0047]     As apparent from those figures, the intermediate arranging plate  25  and the terminals  7 A and  7 B arranged on the upper and lower surfaces of the intermediate arranging plate  25  extend to rear middle portion of the metallic shell  13 . The connector of this invention is fitted to the counter connector  1 A from the side opposite to the side for mounting the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B and the terminals  7 A and  7 B into the insulating housing  11 . The fitting direction (the direction of Arrow A in the figure) is parallel to the direction of mounting the varistor arrays  5 A and  5 B and the terminals  7 A and  7 B into the insulating housing  11 . When the curved contact sections  81 A and  81 B of the terminals  8 A and  8 B of the counter connector  1 A reach the terminals  7 A and  7 B of this invention by fitting the connector to the counter connector, the terminals  7 A and  7 B of this invention contact with the terminals  8 A and  8 B of the counter connector  1 A being elastically clamped between the two terminals  8 A and  8 B. In addition, when the counter connector  1 A is inserted into the connector  1  of this invention for some degree, the counter connector  1 A is clamped between the elastic pressing section  21  and the elastic engaging section  23 , which are provided on the connector  1  of this invention. Once the counter connector  1 A is completely fitted to the connector  1 A of this invention, the elastic engaging section  23  of the connector  1  of this invention is clicked in the fitting hole  24  provided on the metallic shell  13  of the counter connector  1 A, and the engagement is maintained.  
         [0048]     Referring now to  FIGS. 9-13 , the second embodiment of this invention will be described below.  FIGS. 9-13  respectively correspond to  FIGS. 1-5 , which illustrate the first embodiment described above. Hereinafter, the difference of the second embodiment from the first embodiment will be mainly described. Here, members similar to those in the first embodiment, it is denoted by putting an apostrophe (&#39;) after the reference numerals, and detailed explanation will be omitted.  
         [0049]     The difference between the first embodiment and the second embodiment is that only one varistor array is used in the second embodiment, while two varistor arrays are used in the first embodiment. Since only one varistor array is used in this embodiment, the varistor array  5 ′ has pads on the both sides to contact with the terminals  7 A′ and  7 B′. In addition, since only one varistor is provided, only one set of slits  33 ′ is provided for mounting the varistor array  5 ′ into the insulating housing  11 ′, and only one set of elastic contact sections  19 ′ is provided on the metallic shell  13 ′.  
         [0050]     The insulating housing  11 ′ is comprised of the intermediate arranging plate  25 ′ provided at the middle height level of the insulating housing  11 ′, and the upper housing  27 ′ and the lower housing  29 ′, which are respectively provided above and below the intermediate arranging plate  25 ′, as main elements. Therefore, in the second embodiment, the varistor array  5 ′ is mounted in the gap formed between the upper housing  27 ′ and the lower housing  29 ′. In other words, the varistor array  5 ′ is mounted in the insulating housing at the same height level as that of the intermediate arranging plate  25 ′. As fully illustrated in  FIG. 12 , the varistor array mounted in the gap  31  is continuously connected to the intermediate arranging plate, which is positioned at rear portion in the insulating housing  11 ′.  
         [0051]     The terminals  7 A′ and  7 B′ are mounted in the insulating housing using the grooves provided on the intermediate arranging plate  25 ′ and the upper housing  27 ′ for the terminals  7 A′ and the grooves provided on the intermediate arranging plate  25 ′ and the lower housing  29 ′ for the terminals  7 B′. More specifically, in the second embodiment, in addition to the horizontal terminal grooves  43 A′ and  43 B′ provided on the upper and the lower surfaces of the intermediate arranging plate  25 ′, another horizontal grooves  44 A and  44 B are provided on the lower surface of the upper housing  27 ′ and the upper surface of the lower housing  29 ′, respectively. The horizontal terminal grooves  43 A′ and  44 A, which are respectively provided on the upper surface of the intermediate arranging plate  25 ′ and the lower surface of the upper housing  27 ′, are continuously connected to each other. Similarly, the horizontal grooves  43 B′ and  44 B, which are respectively provided on the lower surface of the intermediate arranging plate  25 ′ and the upper surface of the lower housing  29 ′, are continuously connected to each other. In order to enable smooth mounting of the terminals  7 A′ and  7 B′ into the horizontal terminal grooves  44 A and  44 B of the upper housing  27 ′ and the lower housing  29 ′, a deeper slot is provided along the middle portion of each horizontal terminal grooves  44 A or  44 B.  
         [0052]     The press-in ribs  41 A′ and  41 B′ are provided symmetrically at left and right portion on the lower surface of the upper housing  27 ′ and symmetrically at left and right portions on the upper surface of the lower housing  29 ′, along the mounting direction of the varistor array  5 ′. As a result, when the varistor array  5 ′ is mounted between the upper housing  27 ′ and the lower housing  29 ′, the varistor array  5 ′ receives generally equal amount of force from the upper housing  27 ′ and the lower housing  29 ′. Therefore, the varistor array  5 ′ is secured at the intermediate position of the insulating housing  11 ′, i.e. at substantially same height level as that of the intermediate arranging plate  25 ′. By securing the varistor array  5 ′ at such position, it can securely contact with all the upper and lower terminals  7 A′ and  7 B′.  
         [0053]     As easily understood, alterations or variations of this invention can be made by a person skilled in the art. For example, the number of substrates is not limited to one or two, but three or more substrates can be used in the connector. Therefore, it should be understood that all those alterations and variations are included in the scope of this invention. This invention can be widely used in a connector with a built-in substrate.