Patent Publication Number: US-7722363-B2

Title: Cable assembly with hooked contact

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention generally relates to a cable assembly, and more particularly to a cable assembly with hooked contacts connected wires and printed circuit board therebetween. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Nowadays, cable assemblies are widely used in an electronic equipment, especially for transmitting power, and the performance of the cable assembly directly impacts on the entire electronic equipment whether can normally run. 
     A typical cable assembly has a printed circuit board, a Light Emitting Diode (LED) attached on the printed circuit board, a supporter receiving the LED, a plurality of cables comprising positive wires and negative wires, a cylindrical mating member and an insulative shell enclosing the printed circuit board, the LED, the positive and negative wires, the supporter, the cylindrical mating member and cables partially. The LED is illuminated to indicate the work status of the cable assembly whether the power is on or off. Part of outer jackets of the positive and negative wires are stripped away to expose corresponding inner conductors outside, the inner conductors are soldered on the printed circuit board. However, the production process above mentioned is too much complicated. 
     Hence, it is desirable to have an improved structure to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a cable assembly with hooked contacts directly connected with wires and a printed circuit board. 
     In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a cable assembly in accordance with the present invention comprises a mating member, a printed circuit board, a cable and a pair of hooked contacts. The printed circuit board has an LED attached thereon and a pair of vias, the cable has a positive wire and a negative wire connected with the mating member. The hooked contacts are assembled in the vias, each contact defines a holding portion and a pair of legs retained in the vias, the holding portion has a plurality of barbs and encloses the corresponding wire, the barbs pierces outer jackets of the wires to electrically connect the contacts with inner conductors of the wires. 
     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 assembled view of a cable assembly in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the cable assembly; 
         FIG. 3  is a view similar to  FIG. 2 , but viewed from a different angle; 
         FIG. 4  is a partially assembled view of  FIG. 2 ; and 
         FIG. 5  is an another partially assembled view of  FIG. 2 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe the present invention in detail. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-2 , a cable assembly  100  made in accordance with the present invention comprises a printed circuit board  2 , a cable  6  with a positive wire  61  and a negative wire  62 , contacts  3  electrically connecting with the cable  6  and the printed circuit board  2 , a cylindrical mating member  4 , and an insulative shell  1  enclosing to the components mentioned formerly. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3  and in conjunction with  FIG. 2 , the insulative shell  1  has a bottom shell  11  and a top shell  12  combined each other to define a hollow therein. The bottom shell  11  defines a first cambered groove  111  recessed downwards, a first semicircular hole  113  in front end thereof, and a first cutout  114  in back end thereof. A pair of holes  112  is defined in lateral sides of front portion of the bottom shell  11 , and another pair of holes  112  is defined in lateral sides of rear portion thereof. The front pair of holes  112  is located in front of the first cambered groove  111 . 
     The top shell  12  is similar to the bottom shell  11 , and comprises a pair of block portions  120  formed on an upper inner surface thereof. Each block portion  120  has a ridge  1202 . Additionally, a through hole  1201  is defined in the outer periphery of the top shell  12  and located adjacent to the block portions  120 , the through hole  1201  extends through the top shell  12  along up-to-down direction. The top shell  12  defines a second cambered groove  121  in front-end aligning with the first cambered groove  111 , and a second semicircular hole  123  together with the first semicircular hole  113  to form a circular hole. Furthermore, the top shell  12  also has a second cutout  124  aligning with the first cutout  114  of the bottom shell  1 , and a plurality of posts  122  aligning with the corresponding holes  112  of the bottom shell  1 . The top shell  12  also forms four standoffs  125  spaced arranged thereon, and each standoff  125  defines a positioning cavity  1251  extending along the up-to-down direction, each positioning cavity  1251  is opposite to the adjacent one. 
     The printed circuit board  2  is of rectangular shape, and it defines a lower surface  21  and an upper surface  22 , a pair of soldering pads are arranged on the lower surface  21  in staggered relationship, two conductive vias  210 ,  211  are respectively defined in the corresponding soldering pads. The vias  210 ,  211  are offset from each other, and the conductive via  211  is closer to the rear edge of the printed circuit board  2  than the conductive via  210 . A Light Emitting Diode (LED)  23  and a resistance  24  are mounted on a front part of the upper surface  22 . 
     The contacts  3  as connecting members comprise a positive contact  31  and a negative contact  32 , the positive contact  31  and the negative contact  32  have the same shape as each other and are supported by the printed circuit board  2  oppositely. Each contact has a U-shaped holding portion  34  and a connecting portion  35  perpendicular to the holding portion  34 , the holding portion  34  defines a plurality of barbs  341  inside thereof to pierce outer jackets  610 ,  620  of the cable  6 , and to achieve electrical connection between the contacts  3  and inner conductors  611 ,  621 . The connecting portion  35  has a pair of legs  351  and a pair of latches  352  protruding from tip end of the legs  351  outwards. 
     The cylindrical mating member  4  comprises a hollowed mating section  41  in the front end, a polygonal flange  45  surrounding the cylindrical mating member  4 , a positive tube  42  located behind the polygonal flange  45  and contacting a inner wall  46  of the cylindrical mating member  4 , and a negative tube  43  located behind the polygonal flange  45  and isolated from the positive tube  42  by plastic layer  44 . The negative tube  43  is contacting with outer wall of the mating section  41  and has the same polarity with each other. However, in other alternative embodiment, the positive tube  42  and the inner wall  46  may be intergrally formed of one single piece structure, so do the negative tube  43  and the outer wall of the mating section  41 . 
     The supporter  5  has a flat base portion  51  with a depression  510  defined in a lower section thereof to receive the resistance  24  therein, and a notch  5101  is defined in a lateral side of the flat base portion  51  to communicate the depression  510  and an external. A transparent column  511  protrudes upwardly from the top surface of the base portion  51 . Additionally, the supporter  5  defines an I-shape extension portion  512  connected to back surface of the base portion  51 . The I-shape extension portion  512  is cooperating with the block portions  120  of the top shell  12 . 
     The cable  6  comprises a strain relief (not numbered) for stress release, a positive wire  61  and a negative wire  62  extending forwardly beyond the strain relief, and a middle wire  63  connecting a detective contact  63  located between the positive wire  61  and negative wire  62 . The positive wire  61  and negative wire  62  each respectively has inner conductor  611 ,  621 , part of the outer jackets  610 ,  620  are pierced by the contacts  3  to expose the inner conductor  611 ,  621 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3-5 , in assembling, the contacts  3  are assembled to the printed circuit board  2  with the pair of legs  351  of the positive contact  31  inserted in the same via  210 . The legs  351  of the positive contact  31  and the negative contact  32  are offset from each other, and the holding portions  34  of the positive contact  31  and the negative  32  are aligning with each other along a transverse direction, then the contacts  3  are soldered in the vias  210  of the printed circuit board  2 . The holding portions  34  enclose the positive wire  61  and the negative wire  62 , and the barbs  341  pierce the outer jackets  610 ,  620  to make the contacts  3  electrically connected with the inner conductors  611 ,  621 , and not need to strip away the outer jackets  610 ,  620  primarily. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-3 , the LED  23  is attached to the upper surface  22  of the printed circuit board  2 , as the contacts  3  are respectively soldered to the conductive vias  210 ,  211  on the soldering pads, the positive wire  61  and the negative wire  62  electrically connect with the LED  23  by the soldering pads, the conductive vias  210 ,  211 , and the printed circuit board  2 . Then the cylindrical mating member  4  is electrically connected with the cable  6 , the front end of the positive wire  61  is soldered to the positive tube  42 , the negative wire  62  is soldered to the negative tube  43  with front end, the detective contact  63  extends through an aperture (not shown) in the back end of the cylindrical mating member  4  and enters into the cavity of the cylindrical mating member  4 . 
     The supporter  5  is mounted to the block portions  120  with the I-shape extension portion  512  sliding along the ridge  1202  of the top shell  12 , and the transparent column  511  is received in the through hole  1201  to indicate the work status of the cable assembly  100 . Four corners of the printed circuit board  2  are located in the positioning cavities  1251  of the standoffs  125 , the resistance  24  is received in the depression  510 , the LED  23  is located in the notch  5101  of the depression  510  and spaced from the notch  5101 . The bottom shell  11  is assembled to the top shell  12 , the first cambered groove  111  of the bottom shell  11  cooperates with the second cambered groove  121  of the top shell  12  to receive the polygonal flange  45 . The posts  122  of the top shell  12  are respectively received in the relevant holes  112 , the first cutout  114  of the bottom shell  11  is cooperated with the second cutout  124  of the top shell  12  to receive the front part of the strain relief member of the cable  6 . Thus, the cable assembly  100  is assembled. 
     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.