Patent Publication Number: US-7717716-B2

Title: Pivoting printed board connector

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The invention pertains to a printed board connector for electrically contacting two parallel printed boards that comprises at least two plug modules realized in the form of a coaxial contact pair, wherein a pin contact is arranged in one plug module and a socket contact is arranged in the other plug module, and wherein the pin contact or socket contact is centrally held in an insulation element that is surrounded by an electrically conductive sleeve contact. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   A device of this type is required for mutually contacting two at least approximately parallel printed boards, wherein the design of the contact elements also makes it possible to compensate a misalignment or an offset between the positions of the plug modules and of the printed boards relative to one another to a certain degree. 
   EP 1 246 304 B1 discloses a coaxial connector, in which a center contact with a spherical head is contacted within a U-shaped spring contact such that it can be turned by a certain angle. 
   Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 5,980,290 discloses an electric coaxial connector with a movable contact, in which, however, only one of the two plug components is arranged in a movable fashion. 
   Known coaxial connectors of this type for directly contacting two printed boards typically feature two identical and rigid contact modules or even barrel-shaped spacer elements and therefore only able to conditionally compensate a shift or a misalignment between individual modules. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention consequently is based on the objective of realizing a device of the initially described type in such a way that the coaxial plug modules are realized in a self-catching fashion in order to compensate certain deviations between the positions of two printed boards and to also easily bridge different distances between the printed boards without a special spacer element. 
   This objective is attained in that a contact holder with a central opening is arranged on each of the printed boards, wherein a contact element with an integral spherical structure is fixed within said a central opening such that it is spaced apart from the contact holder, wherein the pin or socket contact features in an internal bore a spherical recess that mechanically and electrically contacts the integral spherical structure of the contact element, 
   wherein the electrically conductive sleeve contact features a slotted socket with a concavely shaped contact region that contacts a crowned ring formed into the central opening of the contact holder, and 
   wherein the recess of the pin contact and the integral spherical structure of the contact element, as well as the concave contact region within the crowned internal ring of the contact holder, make it possible to turn and tilt the sleeve contact within a certain axial range together with the pin or socket contact such that deviations between the positions of the plug modules on the two printed boards can be compensated. 
   The advantages attained with the invention can be seen, in particular, in that a coaxial plug module in the form of a printed board connector is disclosed that has an exceptionally simple design and is realized in the form of a pin or socket contact, wherein a ball-and-socket joint makes it possible to pivot the contacts by a certain amount that, however, is dependent on the spacing between the printed boards and lies at about ±5° if the boards are spaced apart by 6 mm. This makes it possible to compensate misalignments of about 0.5 mm between the plug modules on the two printed boards. 
   In this case, it should be noted that each of the two plug modules can be turned and pivoted about its mating axis. 
   In order to easily “catch” the respective mating plug module, the plug module equipped with the pin contact advantageously features a sleeve contact with a bell-shaped opening, into which the socket contact can be inserted with a crowned projection that is realized circumferentially for contacting purposes and arranged on its sleeve contact on the pin side. 
   It is furthermore advantageous that height differences between the plug modules of about 1.2 mm can be compensated without additional measures in the above-described instance. 
   Greater distances between the printed boards can be bridged with an extension of the plug module on the pin side such that no additional adapters are required for bridging the distance between the printed boards. Another aspect to be emphasized are the extremely small dimensions that merely require an area of 5×5 mm per plug module. 
   Although relatively expensive turning parts are required, this can be compensated with a number of identical components in the pin and socket contacts. It is furthermore possible to utilize such a plug combination for designing a multi-contact plug with an arrangement of several individual contacts. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     One embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the figures and described in greater detail below. The figures show: 
       FIG. 1   a  a perspective view of a pin contact; 
       FIG. 1   b  a perspective view of a socket contact; 
       FIG. 2   a  a perspective view of a sleeve contact realized with a funnel; 
       FIG. 2   b  a perspective view of a sleeve contact realized with a contact ring; 
       FIG. 3  a perspective view of an insulation element; 
       FIG. 4  a perspective view of a contact element; 
       FIG. 5   a  a perspective view of a contact holder with positioning pins; 
       FIG. 5   b  a sectional model of a contact holder for surface-mounting; 
       FIG. 6   a  a sectioned model of a mounted plug module; 
       FIG. 6   b  an enlarged detail for a structural variation of the plug module according to  FIG. 6   a;    
       FIG. 7   a  a perspective view of a mounted pin module; 
       FIG. 7   b  a perspective view of a mounted socket module; and 
       FIG. 8  two plug modules to be mated with printed board. 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIGS. 1   a ,  1   b  respectively show an internal contact of a coaxial plug module in the form of a pin contact and a socket contact of nearly identical design. The only difference is that the mating side of the socket contact  20  is realized in a pin-shaped fashion, but features a slotted socket  21  while the pin contact  10  features a closed pin  11 . 
   The mating regions of the pin  11  and the socket  21  respectively end at a shoulder  12 ,  22  that is followed by a slotted sleeve part  13 ,  23  with several radial projections  14 ,  24 . 
   Within the sleeve part  13 ,  23 , an axial bore  15 ,  25  is provided with a spherical recess  16 ,  26 , into which an integral spherical structure  41  of a contact element  40  subsequently engages during the installation. 
     FIG. 2   a  and  FIG. 2   b  show the sleeve contacts  30 ,  30 ′ of the coaxial printed board connector that represent the external contact of the coaxial plug module. 
   In this case,  FIG. 2   a  shows the sleeve contact  30  belonging to the pin contact and  FIG. 2   b  shows the sleeve contact  30 ′ belonging to the socket contact. 
   The two sleeve-shaped bodies respectively feature an identical slotted socket  31 , by means of which they are held in a contact holder  45  such that they can be turned and tilted, as well as a mating region  32  for being contacted with the respective mating connector. 
   The sleeve contact  30  features a funnel-shaped contact opening  35  while the sleeve contact  30 ′ features a mating region in the form of a slotted sleeve  33  that contains four slots  34  in this embodiment and is provided with a circumferential outer projection  36  of annular design in order to ensure an adequate contact in the funnel-shaped contact opening  35  of the sleeve contact  30 . 
   The interior of the slotted socket  31  of both sleeve contacts  30 ,  30 ′ is respectively provided with a convex ring  37  that engages into a concave external groove  52  of an insulation element  50  that also serves for fixing the inner pin contact  10  or the socket contact  20  within the outer sleeve contact  30 ,  30 ′. The slotted socket  31  features an outer contact region  38  of concave design that allows a certain pivoting motion within the contact holder  45  that features an opening  47  with a crowned ring  48  for this purpose. 
     FIG. 3  shows the insulation element  50  that consists of an insulating material and is realized circularly with a central opening  51 . The wall is provided with an external groove  52  of concave design. 
   The insulation element  50  accommodates the pin or socket contact  10 ,  20  in the opening  51  and keeps it spaced apart and insulated from the outer sleeve contact  30 ,  30 ′. 
     FIG. 4  shows the contact element  40  for being soldered on a printed board  5 . The contact element  40  produces the connection between the two internal contacts—pin and socket contacts  10 ,  20 —and the printed board  5 , wherein an integral spherical structure  41  is provided on a disk-shaped leg  42  in order to realize the contacting with the internal contacts. 
   On the opposite side of the integral spherical structure  41 , the leg  42  features a conical point  43  for being soldered on the printed board  5 . 
   During the mounting of the plug modules, the contact element  40  is arranged centrally within the opening  47  of the contact holder  45 , but spaced apart therefrom as shown in  FIG. 6 . 
   The contact holder  45  in  FIG. 5   a  is realized in the form of a flat, square element with integral positioning pins  46  that are arranged in its corner regions and serve for the primary transmission of the retention forces of the plug module to the printed board. A circumferential ring (between the positioning pins in this embodiment)—a soldering tag  49 —produces a shielding effect of the contact holder  45  for the contact element  40 . 
   In its central opening  47 , the contact holder  45  features an internal circumferential ring  48  of crowned design that serves for realizing the contacting with the inner concave contact region  38  of the sleeve contact  30 ,  30 ′. 
     FIG. 5   b  shows a central section through a variation of the contact holder  45  that features a contact holder  45 ′ that can be surface-mounted by means of soldering, namely directly on a printed board  5  without any positioning pins by means of the soldering tags  49 , and the interior of which features a concave ring  48 ′. 
     FIG. 6   a  shows a partially sectioned representation through a mated printed board connector. 
   This figure shows also a plug module  3  with a pin contact  10  that is fixed in the insulation element  50  such that it contacts the contact element  40 , wherein said plug module is surrounded by the sleeve contact  30  and movably held in the contact holder  45 . 
   It is obvious that a pivoting motion of the sleeve contact  30  can primarily be realized due to the spherical recess  16  of the pin contact  10  and the integral spherical structure  41  of the contact element  40  to be fixed on a printed board. 
   Furthermore the motion is simultaneously realized due to the concave contact region  38  of the slotted socket  31  within the crowned internal ring  48  of the contact holder  45 . 
   A variation thereof is illustrated in the form of a detail in  FIG. 6   b.  This figure shows the structural alterations of the external contacting between the contact holder  45 ′ and the slotted socket  31 ′ of the sleeve contact  30 ,  30 ′ which were already indicated in  FIG. 5   b . In this case, the contact region  38 ′ is realized convexly, i.e., in a barrel-shaped fashion, and movably held in the concave ring  48 ′ of the contact holder  45 . 
   The contact holder may also be optionally provided with positioning pins. 
     FIGS. 7   a  and  7   b  respectively show a mounted plug module  3  and  3 ′ with the contact holder  45  and its positioning pins  46 , the sleeve contacts  30 ,  30 ′ and the corresponding pin and socket contacts  10 ,  20 . 
     FIG. 8  shows two plug modules  3 ,  3 ′ to be mated that are respectively arranged on a printed board  5  with a slight lateral offset that still makes it possible to “catch” the mating region  32  of the sleeve contact  30 ′ in the funnel  35  of the sleeve contact  30 .