Patent Publication Number: US-8535067-B2

Title: Power connector with improved spacer and improved housing for securing contacts thereof

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to a power connector mounting on a printed circuit board (PCB). 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Nowdays, there are many ways to assembly a plurality of contacts into an insulating housing. In some typical connectors, the contacts are physically attached to the insulating housing. Or, the contacts are inserted molded within the insulating housing. When the contacts are assembled to the insulating housing by mechanical manner, interference-fit way is usually employed. However, the contacts, which are interference-fitted in the insulating housing, are easily displaced from those original positions and corresponding electronic performance will be damaged. 
     Hence, a power connector with improved structure to secure the contacts in original positions is needed. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a power connector mounting on a printed circuit board (PCB), comprises an insulating housing, a plurality of power contacts received in the housing and a pair of spacers attached to the insulating housing. The insulating housing extends along a transversal direction and defines a plurality of passageways extending therethrough along a front-to-back direction. The insulating housing has a front wall, an opposite rear wall, a pair of side walls and a bottom wall with the passageway extending through the front wall and the rear wall. The spacer is assembled to the pairs of power contacts with locking members thereon for holding the power contacts in positions with respect to the insulating housing. 
     The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The features of this invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention, together with its objects and the advantages thereof, may be best understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals identify like elements in the figures and in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a power connector in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded, perspective view of the power connector assembly shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is another perspective view of the power connector; 
         FIG. 4  is another exploded, perspective view of the power connector; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of an insulating housing of the power connector; 
         FIG. 6  is another perspective view of the insulating housing; 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view of power contacts of the power connector; and 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view of the spacer of the power connector. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe the embodiments of the present invention in detail. In the following description, the same drawing reference numerals are used for the same elements in different drawings. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-4 , a power connector  100 , which is mounting onto a printed circuit board (PCB, not shown), in accordance with the present invention comprises an insulating housing  10  extending along a transversal direction, a plurality of pairs of power contacts  20  assembled to the insulating housing  10 , and a pair of spacers  30  secure the pairs of power contacts  20  on the insulating housing  10 . 
     The insulating housing  10  includes a front wall  12 , a top wall  13 , a bottom wall  14 , a pair of side walls  15  and a rear wall  17  opposite to the front wall  12 . The front wall  12  provides a mating face  11  for mating with a complementary connector (not shown) and the rear wall  17  provides a rear face  18  opposite to the mating face  11 . In the preferred embodiment, one of the pair of side walls  15  defines a depression  151  thereof for anti-misplug purposes. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2  together with  FIGS. 5 and 6 , the insulating housing  10  defines a plurality of passageways  16  extending from the mating face  11  to the rear face  18 . Each passageway  16  includes a first passageway  161  and a second passageway  162  parallel to and communicating with the first passageway  161 . The first and the second passageways  161 ,  162  are formed for receiving corresponding power contacts  20 . Details will be given hereinafter. The passageway  16  comprises a front opening  163  opened from the mating face  11  of the front wall  12  and a rear opening  164  opened from the rear face  18  of the rear wall  17 . The front opening  163  has a different shape from that of the rear opening  164 . The passageway  16  comprises a pair of opposite cutouts  165  in the mating face  11  which are communicating with the front opening  163 . There are a plurality of channels  141  defined in the bottom wall  14  of the insulating housing  10 . The channels  141  extend partially inwards into the bottom wall  14  from a rear edge thereof and are opened from the rear wall  17 . The channel  141  communicates with the rear opening  164  of the corresponding passageway  16 . In the selected passageways  16 , a plurality of protrusions  123 ,  152  are formed in inside faces of the selected passageways, which will be engageable with the spacers  30 . Details will be given hereinafter. Each passageway  16  also provides a pair of stoppers  153  in opposite inside faces thereof. A plurality of positioning grooves  171  are defined in the rear wall  17 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 7 , each power contact  20  includes a flat main portion  21 , a contacting portion  22  and a tail portion  23  extending from opposite sides of the flat main portion  21 . The contacting portion  22  has a pair of contacting fingers with a groove  221  defined therebetween. The groove  221  is engaged with the stopper  153  for preventing a front-to-back movement of the power contact  20 . The tail portion  23  comprises a plurality of distal tails extending vertically to the contacting fingers  22 . Each power contact  20  defines a positioning slot  213  recessed from a rear edge of the main portion  21  thereof. The positioning slot  213  extends along a front-to-back direction and is positioned in a same line of the positioning grooves  171  of the insulating housing  10 . The power contact  20  also forms a plurality of barbs  212  on a top edge of the main portion  21  for inteference-fitting in the passageway  16 . 
     Together referring to  FIGS. 2-3  and  8 , the spacer  30  comprises an elongated main portion  31  and a pair of locking members  33  extending vertically from the main portion  31 . In the preferred embodiment, the locking members  33  of the spacer  30  are a pair of locking claws. The spacer  30  defines a slit  32  between the main portion  31  and the pair of locking claws  33  for providing the locking claws with resilience. The main portion  31  of the spacer  30  is inserted and received in the positioning slots  211  of the power contacts  20  and the positioning grooves  171  of the insulating housing  10 . The locking claws  33  engage with corresponding protrusions  123 ,  152  of the selected passageways  16 . Therefore, the spacer  30  secures the power contacts with respect to the insulating housing  10 . The spacer  30  has a surface coplanar with a surface of the rear wall  17  when the spacer  30  is assembled on the insulating housing  10  from a rear side thereof. As can be understood, the number of spacers  30  can be various according to different application environment. 
     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 disclosed is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of number, 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.