Patent Publication Number: US-9425522-B2

Title: Circuit board connector

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a connector, particularly to a circuit board connector that electronically connects two circuit boards and securely fixes ends of the circuit boards together. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     In electronic industries, each electronic device has a circuit board mounted inside. Length of the circuit board is limited by production technique of the circuit board. When a user needs a circuit board having a length exceeding a length limitation of the production technique of the circuit board, the user connects two circuit boards together to produce the circuit board having the length exceeding the length limitation. 
     With reference to  FIG. 6 , a circuit board  40  has multiple bond pads  41  and multiple electronic components  42 . The bond pads  41  are mounted on a top surface of the circuit board  40 . A method for connecting two circuit boards  40  is welding two ends of an electric wire  50  respectively on two bond pads  41  of two different circuit boards  40 . Therefore, the circuit boards  40  are electronically connected by the electric wire  50 . 
     The electric wire  50  electronically connecting the circuit boards  40  needs to be cut, striped, and welded manually. Manually cutting, stripping, and welding the electric wire  50  are complicated and quality control of the electric wire  50  is difficult. Further, the electric wire  50  cannot support the circuit boards  40 . The circuit boards  40  need to be mounted securely together by an adhesive or another method to prevent the circuit boards  40  from being separated. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An objective of the present invention is to provide a circuit board connector that electronically connects two circuit boards and securely fixes ends of the circuit boards together. 
     To achieve the foregoing objective, the circuit board connector comprises an insulative block and at least one electric connecting bar. The insulative block has a supporting surface. The at least one electric connecting bar is mounted through the insulative block and each electric connecting bar has two terminals bent to the supporting surface. Each of the terminals of the electric connecting bar has a bending part and a welding part, and the welding parts of the terminals are parallel to the supporting surface. 
     When the circuit boards are electronically connected and fixed by the circuit board connector, one of the terminals of the electric connecting bar is connected to the bond pad of one of the circuit boards and the other one of the terminals of the electric connecting bar is connected to the bond pad of the other one of the circuit boards. The terminals are separately welded on the bond pads of the circuit boards. Therefore, the circuit boards can be electronically connected together by the electric connecting bar of the circuit board connector and be fixed by the insulative block of the circuit board connector. The circuit board connector is welded on the bond pads of the circuit boards easier than manually welding an electric wire on the bond pads of the circuit boards. Further, since the electric connecting bar is mounted through the insulative block and only the terminals of the electric connecting bar are exposed out of the insulative block to electronically connect the circuit boards, the circuit board connector has good insulation characteristics for avoiding unexpected electronical connections between the circuit boards. 
     Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective schematic view of a first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a sectional schematic view of the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic view for using the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic view for using a second embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a sectional schematic view of the second embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic view for connecting two circuit boards in accordance of the prior art. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a first embodiment of a circuit board connector in accordance with the present invention may connect two circuit boards  30  together and comprises an insulative block  10  and at least one electric connecting bar  20 . 
     The insulative block  10  is electrically insulative, is a rectangular parallelepiped, and has a supporting surface  11  and two vertical surfaces  12 . The vertical surfaces  12  are parallel to each other, are perpendicular to the supporting surface  11 , and connect to the supporting surface  11 . 
     The at least one electric connecting bar  20  may be multiple in quantity. The multiple electric connecting bars  20  are parallel to one another at intervals and are mounted through the vertical surfaces  12  of the insulative block  10 . Each electric connecting bar  20  has two terminals  21 . The terminals  21  are L-shaped and are formed respectively on two opposite ends of the electric connecting bar  20 . Each of the terminals  21  has a bending part  211  and a welding part  212 . The bending parts  211  of the terminals  21  of the electric connecting bars  20  are located respectively close to the vertical surfaces  12 . The welding part  212  is formed on and protrudes perpendicularly from the bending part  211 , and is located close to the supporting surface  11 . Preferably, the welding part  212  is flush with the supporting surface  11 . 
     With further reference to  FIG. 3 , two adjacent ends of the circuit boards  30  are connected by the circuit board connector. Each circuit board  30  has multiple bond pads  31 . The bond pads  31  are mounted on a top surface of the circuit board  30  close to the adjacent ends of the circuit boards. Preferably, three bond pads  31  are mounted on each circuit board  30 , and the circuit board connector has three electric connecting bars  20  corresponding to the bond pads  31 . 
     When the circuit boards  30  need to be electronically connected to each other, the bond pads  31  of the circuit boards  30  are aligned. The welding parts  212  of the electric connecting bars  20  are respectively aimed at the bond pads  31  of the circuit boards  30 . The two welding parts  212  of each of the electric connecting bars  20  are respectively aimed at two of the bond pads  31  of the circuit boards  30  that are aligned. The supporting surface  11  of the insulative block  10  faces the adjacent ends of the circuit boards  30 . Therefore, the welding parts  212  of the electric connecting bars  20  can be welded on the bond pads  31  of the circuit boards  30 . The circuit boards  30  can be fixed and electronically connected together to form a larger circuit board that a user needs. 
     With further reference to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , a second embodiment of the circuit board connector in accordance with the present invention differs from the first embodiment in that the bending parts  211  of the terminals  21  of the second embodiment are mounted on the vertical surfaces  12  and the welding parts  212  of the terminals  21  are mounted on the supporting surface  11 . 
     When the circuit boards  30  need to be electronically connected to each other, the circuit board connector is mounted by a same way of the first embodiment. The welding parts  212  of the electric connecting bars  20  are separately targeted at the bond pads  31  of the circuit boards  30 . The two welding parts  212  of each of the electric connecting bars  20  are respectively aimed at two of the bond pads  31  of the circuit boards  30  that are aligned. The supporting surface  11  of the insulative block  10  faces the adjacent ends of the circuit boards  30 . 
     Since the welding parts  212  are sandwiched between the supporting surface  11  of the insulative block  10  and the bond pads  31  of the circuit boards  30 , the welding parts  212  cannot be inadvertently connected to other electronic components mounted on the circuit boards  30 . Therefore, short circuits of the electronic components of the circuit boards  30  can be avoided. 
     The user can easily make larger circuit boards as needed according to the first and the second embodiments of the present invention. The larger circuit boards do not need to be welded with electric wires for electronically connection with the circuit boards  30 . The circuit board connector can fix and electronically connect the circuit boards  30 . Furthermore, most parts of the electric connecting bars  20  are mounted and hidden in the insulative block  10 , and only the terminals  21  of the electric connecting bars  20  are revealed out of the insulative block  10  to electronically connect to the bond pads  31  of the circuit boards  30  for avoiding short circuits of the electronic components of the circuit boards  30 . 
     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. 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.