Electrical connector with improved contacts

An electrical connector includes an insulative housing defining a receiving room having a bottom wall and a mating portion extending upward from an inner face of the bottom wall of the receiving room and a plurality of contacts received in the housing. The mating portion has a plurality of receiving passageways communicating with the receiving room and a plurality of nose portions are above the receiving passageways. Each contact defines an elastic portion, a soldering portion, and a fixing portion between the elastic portion and a soldering portion. The elastic portion includes a first contacting portion protruding from the nose portion in the receiving room, a second contacting portion extending from the fixing portion, and a connecting portion between two contacting portions and defining an arc portion extending in an upward-to-downward direction and under the nose portion. The arc portion defines a node extending far from the nose portion.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector with improved contacts which are assembled from a mating face of the electrical connector.

2. Description of the Related Art

U.S. Pat. No. 7,410,364 issued to Masanori Kishi on Aug. 12, 2008 discloses a conventional board-to-board connector. The board-to-board connector includes an insulative housing and a plurality of contacts assembled in the housing. Each contact defines a contacting portion located in a terminal receiving cavity of the housing and connecting with a contact of a mating electrical connector. The housing defines a plurality of nose portions above the terminal receiving cavities to prevent the contacts out of the housing due to a mating force between the board-to-board connector and the mating electrical connector. The contacts are inserted in the housing from opens of a bottom wall of the housing because of the stopping of the nose portions. Soldering portions of the contacts are soldered to a PCB (Print Circuit Board) and coated with a protective solute for soldering. The protective solute might flow into the housing from the opens.

In view of the above, a new electrical connector that overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages is desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector with improved contacts which are assembled from a mating face of the electrical connector.

To fulfill the above-mentioned object, an electrical connector comprises an insulative housing defining a receiving room having a bottom wall and a mating portion extending upward from an inner face of the bottom wall of the receiving room and a plurality of contacts received in the housing. The mating portion has a plurality of receiving passageways communicating with the receiving room and a plurality of nose portions are above the receiving passageways. Each contact defines an elastic portion, a soldering portion, and a fixing portion between the elastic portion and a soldering portion. The elastic portion includes a first contacting portion protruding from the nose portion in the receiving room, a second contacting portion extending from the fixing portion, and a connecting portion between two contacting portions and defining an arc portion extending in an upward-to-downward direction and under the nose portion. The arc portion defines a node extending far from the nose portion.

Referring toFIGS. 1-4, an electrical connector100welding to a PCB (not shown) includes an insulative housing1and a plurality of contacts2assembled in the housing1wherein only one pair of contacts are illustrated in drawings for simplicity and others are omitted.

Referring toFIGS. 1-2, the housing1having an elongate configuration with a mating interface defines an upward mating face11and a mounting face12opposite to the mating face11. The housing1includes a pair of lengthwise sidewalls13and a pair of widthwise sidewalls14bridging the two lengthwise sidewalls13. The sidewalls13,14and a bottom wall17jointly define a receiving room15thereamong. A mating portion16extends upward from an inner face of the bottom wall17and is located at a center of the receiving room15along the lengthwise direction. The mating portion16is configured with a rectangle manner parallel to the sidewalls, and defines a plurality of receiving passageways161across the housing1and symmetrically arranged along the mating portion16. A plurality of retaining passageways131for further retaining the contacts2are formed on outside faces of the lengthwise sidewalls13, which connect with receiving passageways161.

Referring toFIGS. 3-4, each contact2defines an elastic portion21, a soldering portion25, and a fixing portion23between the elastic portion21and the soldering portion25with barbs231on lateral sides thereof. The elastic portion21includes a first contacting portion211at a free distal end thereof, a second contacting portion213connected with the fixing portion23, and a connecting portion215between and jointing with the first contacting portion211and the second contacting portion213. The first contacting portion211and the second contacting portion213are symmetrically arranged along an imaginary line and contacting with two opposite sides of contacts of a mating electrical connector. The connecting portion215includes a first section2151substantially parallel extending from the second contacting portion213and a second section2153of an arc shaped connecting with the first section2151and the first contacting portion211, which bends upwards. The first contacting portion211and the second section2153of the connecting portion215are configured with a reverse3-shaped manner, i.e. a node2155of the second section2153deviates from an upright inside face of the receiving passageway161. The housing1further defines a nose portion162extending from the mating portion16toward the sidewall and above the receiving passageway161. The opening of the receiving room15is narrowed by the nose portion162extending toward the sidewall. The node2155is located away from the nose portion162to form a concavity so as to ensure a smooth insertion of the contact and avoid collision to the nose portion162when the contact is assembled into the housing1in a tilted and further rotated manner. The second section2153of the connecting portion215is just under the nose portion162and the first contacting portion211protrudes from the nose portion162into a receiving room to connect with the contact of the mating electrical connector. The fixing portion23and the second contacting portion213are configured with a reversed U-shaped manner.

Referring toFIG. 5showing an insertion process of the contacts2in the housing1, the elastic portions21of the contacts2are slantingly inserted in the receiving passageway161from the mating face11and the fixing portions23are located above the lengthwise wall13. Then, the fixing portions23are pushed downward and the first contacting portions211and the second sections2153shift upward as a result of levers work of the contacts2until the nodes2155abut against distal ends1621of the nose portions162. At that time the contacts2are in a substantial level location and lastly are pushed downwards so that the fixing portions23interfere with the retaining passageways131and the first contacting portions21and the connecting portions215are located in the receiving room15as shown inFIG. 4.

The soldering portion25extends from the fixing portion23and close to the lengthwise sidewall13. When the soldering portion25is welded to the PCB, the soldering portion25is coated with a protective solute for soldering. Most of the bottom wall17close to the lengthwise sidewalls13is closed so as to prevent the protective solute from inserting into the housing1.

When the electrical connector100is separated from the mating electrical connector, the contacts2are moved upward due to a retaining force between the contacts2and the contacts of the mating electrical connector. After the contacts2have been moved with a distance, the second section213is resisted on the nose portion162by the node2155to prevent the contacts2out of the housing1.