Low profile microphone connector

A low profile microphone connector includes a dielectric housing and electrical terminals located in the housing. The housing has a generally cylindrical wall, a generally cylindrical microphone insertion cavity defined by the cylindrical wall, a supporting base formed at a lower portion of the cylindrical wall, and a plurality of ribs formed at an upper portion of the cylindrical wall. A PCB has a generally circular hole and a plurality of positioning slots defined along the periphery of the circular hole. In assembly, the cylindrical wall sinks into the circular hole of the PCB, the supporting base abuts against a bottom face of the PCB, and the ribs engage with the positioning slots to position the connector on the PCB. So the connector has a low profile over the PCB and reliably retained on the PCB.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This present invention relates to an electrical connector for mounting a microphone, such as a microphone of the disc type, and more specifically to a microphone connector mountable onto a printed circuit board (PCB) and having a low profile over the PCB.

2. The Related Art

Conventionally, in order to mount a microphone for a portable telephone set or the like, various mounting methods such as a method wherein a microphone itself is soldered to a printed circuit board or another method wherein a microphone is secured to a case of a body for the portable telephone set or the like and leads from the microphone are soldered to a printed circuit board are used to electrically connect the microphone and the printed circuit board to each other. Typical mounting structures and connecting methods are described below.

Referring toFIG. 7, a traditional microphone connector50comprises a housing5, a cave51defined by the housing5, a plurality of connecting terminals52located in the housing5, contacting portions521of the connecting terminals52projecting into the cave51, and solder portions522of the connecting terminals52extending outside the housing5. The microphone connector50is welded on a printed circuit board6by the solder portions522of the connecting terminals52. The microphone connector50accepts a microphone in the cave51.

In the conventional microphone unit mounting structures described above, the microphone connector50is held between the microphone and the printed circuit board6to establish electric connection between the microphone and the printed circuit board6. The microphone connector50and the microphone are totally retained over the printed circuit board6. However, reduction in height has proceeded with portable telephone sets or the like in recent years. Therefore, the height of the traditional microphone connector located on the printed circuit board needs to be decreased.

Accordingly, in order to reduce the thickness of the body of the portable telephone set, it is necessary to reduce the thickness of each of the parts such as the microphone connector. In other words, the conventional microphone unit mounting structures described above has a problem in that, from a restriction to the dimension of the sum of the thickness of the microphone and the thickness of the microphone connector and the printed circuit board, the thickness of the body cannot be reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to provide a low profile microphone connector comprising a dielectric housing and a plurality of electrical terminals. The dielectric housing has a generally cylindrical wall, a generally cylindrical microphone insertion cavity defined by the cylindrical wall, a top open end and a bottom end. A supporting base is formed at a lower portion of the cylindrical wall and extends outwardly. The supporting base has a supporting surface opposite to the bottom end for abutting against a bottom face of a printed circuit board (PCB). A plurality of ribs is formed at an upper portion of the cylindrical wall and outside the cylindrical wall for positioning the connector on the PCB. Each electrical terminal has a solder tail portion extending outside the dielectric housing from the supporting surface of the supporting base to be soldered to the PCB and a flexible contact portion projecting into the microphone insertion cavity for electrically engaging with a microphone which is inserted into the microphone insertion cavity through the top open end.

Another object of the invention is to provide an assembly of the low profile microphone connector and a printed circuit board (PCB). The printed circuit board has a generally circular hole and a plurality of positioning slots defined along the periphery of the circular hole. The cylindrical wall sinks into the circular hole of the PCB. The supporting surface of the supporting base abuts against a bottom face of the PCB, and the solder tail portions of the electrical terminals are soldered to the PCB. The ribs engage with the respective positioning slots to position the connector on the PCB. So the connector has a low profile over the PCB and reliably retained on the PCB.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

First referring toFIG. 1, a low profile microphone connector100according to the invention is shown. The microphone connector100comprises a dielectric housing10, two pieces of electrical terminals20, and three pieces of solder blades30.

The dielectric housing10has a generally cylindrical wall12, a generally cylindrical microphone insertion cavity13defined by the cylindrical wall12, a stop shoulder114in the bottom of the microphone insertion cavity13, a top open end14, a bottom end15, a supporting base11formed at a lower portion of the cylindrical wall12and extending outwardly, and three ribs121formed at an upper portion of the cylindrical wall12and outside the cylindrical wall12. The supporting base11has a supporting surface112opposite to the bottom end15. Preferably, the three ribs121are symmetrically distributed on the outer periphery of the cylindrical wall12. That is, the included angle of every two ribs121is sixty degrees.

Each of the electrical terminals20has a base21, a solder tail portion23extending from one end of the base21, and a flexible contact portion22extending from the other end of the base21. Each of the solder blades30has a body31and a solder part32.

Referring toFIG. 2, the electrical terminals20and the solder blades30are mounted in the supporting base11by insert molding. The solder tail portions23of the electrical terminals20and the solder parts32of the solder blades30extend outside the dielectric housing10from the supporting surface112of the supporting base11. The solder tail portions23and the solder parts32are flush with each other and are flush with the supporting surface112of the supporting base11. Preferably, the solder tail portions23and the solder parts32are symmetrically distributed. The flexible contact portions22of the electrical terminals20project into the microphone insertion cavity13.

Please refer toFIGS. 3–6. While the low profile microphone connector100mounts a microphone200, the microphone200is inserted into the microphone insertion cavity13of the dielectric housing10through the top open end14, and the flexible contact portions22of the two electrical terminals20prop up the bottom of the microphone200. A printed circuit board300used to assemble with the microphone connector100defines a circular hole301therein and three positioning slots303located along the periphery of the circular hole301. Preferably, the positioning slots303communicate with the circular hole301. In assembly, the cylindrical wall12of the insulating housing10sinks into the circular hole301of the PCB300, the supporting surface112of the supporting base11abuts against a bottom face of the PCB300so that the connector100is retained on the PCB300, and the ribs121engage with the respective positioning slots303to position the connector100on the PCB300. The solder tail portions23of the electrical terminals20and the solder parts32of the solder blades30located in the dielectric housing10are soldered to the PCB300by surface mounting technology (SMT). The solder blades30serve to strengthen the solder connection between the connector100and the PCB300.

Referring back toFIG. 3andFIG. 4again, the stop shoulder114is located in the bottom of the cylindrical microphone insertion cavity13and a little lower than the flexible contact portions22of the electrical terminals20. When the microphone200is inserted into the cylindrical microphone insertion cavity13, the stop shoulder114limits the insertion depth of the microphone200to prevent overstressing the flexible contact portions22of the electrical terminals20.

Referring toFIGS. 5 and 6again, as the cylindrical wall12of the microphone connector100sinks into the circular hole301of the PCB300, only the supporting base11is retained over the PCB300, so the microphone connector100has a lower profile over the PCB300.

The ribs121engage with the positioning slots303, so microphone connector100is positioned on the PCB300and is prevented from rotating in the circular hole301. Therefore, before soldering, the solder tail portions23and the solder parts32are prevented from offsetting their proper positions on the PCB300. Furthermore, the solder blades30strengthen the solder connection, so the microphone connector100is reliably retained on the PCB300.

An embodiment of the present invention has been discussed in detail. However, this embodiment is merely a specific example for clarifying the technical contents of the present invention and the present invention is not to be construed in a restricted sense as limited to this specific example. Thus, the spirit and scope of the present invention are limited only by the appended claims.