Patent Publication Number: US-9425523-B2

Title: Electrical connector with contact pin shoulders

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of the filing date under 35 U.S.C. §119(a)-(d) of Chinese Patent Application No. 2012-20425093.9 filed on Aug. 24, 2012. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention generally relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly relates to an electrical connector with pins adapted to be inserted into pin receiving passageways in a circuit board in an interference fit manner. 
     BACKGROUND 
       FIG. 1  is an illustrative perspective view of a conventional electrical connector with pins adapted to be inserted into pin receiving passageways of a circuit board in an interference fit; and  FIG. 2  is a local enlarged view of a special contact holder of  FIG. 1  to hold and support pins of contacts of the electrical connector. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the electrical connector mainly comprises a body  10 , a plurality of contacts  20  received in the body  10 , and a contact holder  30  mounted on a terminal end surface of the body  10 . 
     The contact  20  has a pin to be inserted into a circuit board (not shown) at one end thereof and a contact portion to be elastically contacted with an electrical card (not shown) at the other end thereof. A part of the contact  20  between the pin and the contact portion is received in the body  10 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the pin of the contact  20  vertically extends beyond the body  10 , and the pin of the contact  20  has an enlarged base  20   a  received in a base receiving opening  30   a  of the contact holder  30  so that the pin of the contact  20  is stably held and supported by the contact holder  30  to effectively prevent the pin of the contact  20  from being deformed or bent during forcibly being inserted into the pin receiving passageway of the circuit board in an interference fit manner. 
     In the conventional electrical connector shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , the contact holder  30  separated from the body  10  must be additionally provided to specially hold and support the contacts  20 . As a result, the number of components of the electrical connector is increased, complicating the assembly work of the electrical connector, and increasing the cost of the electrical connector. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present invention has been made to overcome or alleviate at least one aspect of the above mentioned disadvantages. 
     Accordingly, it is therefore an object of the invention, among other objects, to provide an electrical connector having a body having a shoulder receiving recess formed in a terminal end wall, and a plurality of contacts positioned in the body. Each contact has a pin projecting from a terminal end of the body. Each pin has a base with a pair of protruding shoulders. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying figures, of which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a conventional electrical connector with pins adapted to be inserted into pin receiving passageways of a circuit board in an interference fit; 
         FIG. 2  is an enlarged view of a special contact holder of  FIG. 1  to hold and support pins of contacts of the electrical connector; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of an electrical connector with pins adapted to be forcibly inserted into pin receiving passageways of a circuit board in an interference fit; 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 3  when viewing from a terminal end of the electrical connector; 
         FIG. 5  is an enlarged view of a shoulder receiving recess formed in a body and a contact fitted in the shoulder receiving recess of the electrical connector of  FIG. 4 ; and 
         FIG. 6  is a terminal end view of a body of the electrical connector of  FIG. 4  when contacts are removed from the body. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Exemplary embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiment set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that the present disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. 
     As shown in  FIG. 3 , an electrical connector has a body  100  and a plurality of contacts  200  positioned in the body  100 . 
     In an exemplary embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 3 , the electrical connector comprises the body  100  and the plurality of contacts  200  received in the body  100 . Accordingly, the structure of the electrical connector is very simple, and can be easily manufactured compared to the conventional electrical connector disclosed in  FIG. 1 , for example, by directly molding the body  100  on the plurality of contacts  200  through overmolding. The body  100  may be made of a thermoplastic material adapted to be molded, and the contacts  200  may be made of a metal material, for example, steel, copper, or other suitable conducting materials. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , each of the contacts  200  has a pin  201  vertically projecting from the terminal end of the body  100  to be inserted into a pin receiving passageway in a circuit board (not shown). 
     As shown in  FIGS. 4-6 , the pin  201  has a base  200   b  with a pair of protruding shoulders  200   a , each shoulder  200   a  being disposed on opposite sides of the base  200   b . The shoulders  200   a  protrude in opposite directions away from each other, in a width direction of the pin  201 . The pair of shoulders  200   a  increases the bending strength of the pin  201 . 
     Although not shown, in another exemplary embodiment, the thickness of the pin  201  can be varied to further increase or decrease the bending strength of the pin  201 . For example, when the thickness of the pin  201  is increased the bending strength of the pin  201  is also increased. When the thickness of the pin  201  is decreased, the bending strength is also decreased. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 4-6 , a plurality of shoulder receiving recesses  100   a  are formed in a terminal end wall  100   b  of the body  100 . The shoulders  200   a  of the pin  201  are received in the shoulder receiving recesses  100   a  such that the shoulders  200   a  of the pin  201  are held and supported in the shoulder receiving recess  100   a . In this way, the pin  201  can be prevented from being deformed or bent during forcible insertion of the pin  201  of the contact  200  into the pin receiving passageway of the circuit board in an interference fit manner. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3-6 , the electrical connector is configured so that the pins  201  of the contacts  200  are held and supported by only shoulder receiving recesses  100   a  directly formed in the body  100  of the electrical connector, instead of by a special contact holder separated from the body  100 . That is, the electrical connector of the present invention is not additionally provided with a contact holder to specially hold and support the pins  201  of the contacts  200 . 
     Since the shoulders  200   a  of the pins  201  of the contacts  200  are held and supported by the shoulder receiving recesses  100   a  directly formed in the terminal end wall of the body  100 , the need for an additional contact holder for specially holding and supporting the pins of the contacts in the conventional electrical connector is eliminated. As a result, the number of components of the electrical connector is reduced, simplifying the assembly and decreasing the cost of the electrical connector. 
     In order to reliably hold and support the shoulder  200   a , in an exemplary embodiment, the shoulder  200   a  is tightly fitted in the shoulder receiving recess  100   a  to prevent the displacement of the pin  201  in the width direction or the thickness direction. However, in another embodiment, a small gap is positioned between the shoulder  200   a  and the shoulder receiving recess  100   a , so that the contact can be adjusted in a certain range to complement any manufacturing tolerances arising during the manufacture of the circuit board. In this way, the pins  201  can be more easily inserted into the pin receiving passageways of the circuit board. 
     In an exemplary embodiment shown in  FIGS. 3-6 , the shoulder  200   a  abuts against a terminal end surface  100   c  of the shoulder receiving recess  100   a . In this way, an external force for inserting the pins  201  of the electrical connector into the pin receiving passageways of the circuit board is transferred along a longitudinal axis to the inserted shoulder  200   a  directly by the terminal end surface  100   c  of the shoulder receiving recess  100   a . Since the external force is exerted along a longitudinal axis to the inserted shoulder  200   a , the pin  201  is prevented from being twisted and bent as a tangentially applied force would do to the pin  201 . 
     In an exemplary embodiment shown in  FIGS. 3-6 , the pin  201  has a flat shape. Further, the pin  201  has an eyelet portion  202  inserted into the pin receiving passageway of the circuit board in an interference fit manner. Accordingly, a reliable electrical connection can be achieved between the pin receiving passageway of the circuit board and the pin  201 . 
     In an exemplary embodiment, the pin  201  of the contact  200  is substantially perpendicular to the circuit board and inserted into the pin receiving passageway of the circuit board in a press fit manner. 
     In another exemplary embodiment, the electrical connector is a press fit connector for a memory bank. When the pin  201  is inserted into the pin receiving passageway of the circuit board and when the memory bank is inserted into the electrical connector, the memory bank is electrically connected to the circuit board through the electrical connector. 
     Although several exemplary embodiments have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes or modifications may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the disclosure, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents. 
     As used herein, an element recited in the singular and proceeded with the word “a” or “an” should be understood as not excluding plural of said elements or steps, unless such exclusion is explicitly stated. Furthermore, references to “one embodiment” of the present invention are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features. Moreover, unless explicitly stated to the contrary, embodiments “comprising” or “having” an element or a plurality of elements having a particular property may include additional such elements not having that property.