Patent Publication Number: US-8109771-B2

Title: Electrical connector with improved contacts

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector with improved contacts which are assembled from a mating face of the electrical connector. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     U.S. Pat. No. 7,410,364 issued to Masanori Kishi on Aug. 12, 2008 discloses a conventional board-to-board connector. The board-to-board connector includes an insulative housing and a plurality of contacts assembled in the housing. Each contact defines a contacting portion located in a terminal receiving cavity of the housing and connecting with a contact of a mating electrical connector. The housing defines a plurality of nose portions above the terminal receiving cavities to prevent the contacts out of the housing due to a mating force between the board-to-board connector and the mating electrical connector. The contacts are inserted in the housing from opens of a bottom wall of the housing because of the stopping of the nose portions. Soldering portions of the contacts are soldered to a PCB (Print Circuit Board) and coated with a protective solute for soldering. The protective solute might flow into the housing from the opens. 
     In view of the above, a new electrical connector that overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages is desired. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector with improved contacts which are assembled from a mating face of the electrical connector. 
     To fulfill the above-mentioned object, an electrical connector comprises an insulative housing defining a receiving room having a bottom wall and a mating portion extending upward from an inner face of the bottom wall of the receiving room and a plurality of contacts received in the housing. The mating portion has a plurality of receiving passageways communicating with the receiving room and a plurality of nose portions are above the receiving passageways. Each contact defines an elastic portion, a soldering portion, and a fixing portion between the elastic portion and a soldering portion. The elastic portion includes a first contacting portion protruding from the nose portion in the receiving room, a second contacting portion extending from the fixing portion, and a connecting portion between two contacting portions and defining an arc portion extending in an upward-to-downward direction and under the nose portion. The arc portion defines a node extending far from the nose portion. 
     Other objects, 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 top perspective view of an electrical connector of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a bottom perspective view of the electrical connector; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a contact of the electrical connector; and 
         FIG. 4  is a cross sectional view of the electrical connector taken along line  4 - 4  in  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 5  is a cross sectional view showing an insertion process of contacts into an insulative housing. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION 
     Reference will now be made to the drawings to describe the present invention in detail. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-4 , an electrical connector  100  welding to a PCB (not shown) includes an insulative housing  1  and a plurality of contacts  2  assembled in the housing  1  wherein only one pair of contacts are illustrated in drawings for simplicity and others are omitted. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-2 , the housing  1  having an elongate configuration with a mating interface defines an upward mating face  11  and a mounting face  12  opposite to the mating face  11 . The housing  1  includes a pair of lengthwise sidewalls  13  and a pair of widthwise sidewalls  14  bridging the two lengthwise sidewalls  13 . The sidewalls  13 ,  14  and a bottom wall  17  jointly define a receiving room  15  thereamong. A mating portion  16  extends upward from an inner face of the bottom wall  17  and is located at a center of the receiving room  15  along the lengthwise direction. The mating portion  16  is configured with a rectangle manner parallel to the sidewalls, and defines a plurality of receiving passageways  161  across the housing  1  and symmetrically arranged along the mating portion  16 . A plurality of retaining passageways  131  for further retaining the contacts  2  are formed on outside faces of the lengthwise sidewalls  13 , which connect with receiving passageways  161 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3-4 , each contact  2  defines an elastic portion  21 , a soldering portion  25 , and a fixing portion  23  between the elastic portion  21  and the soldering portion  25  with barbs  231  on lateral sides thereof. The elastic portion  21  includes a first contacting portion  211  at a free distal end thereof, a second contacting portion  213  connected with the fixing portion  23 , and a connecting portion  215  between and jointing with the first contacting portion  211  and the second contacting portion  213 . The first contacting portion  211  and the second contacting portion  213  are symmetrically arranged along an imaginary line and contacting with two opposite sides of contacts of a mating electrical connector. The connecting portion  215  includes a first section  2151  substantially parallel extending from the second contacting portion  213  and a second section  2153  of an arc shaped connecting with the first section  2151  and the first contacting portion  211 , which bends upwards. The first contacting portion  211  and the second section  2153  of the connecting portion  215  are configured with a reverse  3 -shaped manner, i.e. a node  2155  of the second section  2153  deviates from an upright inside face of the receiving passageway  161 . The housing  1  further defines a nose portion  162  extending from the mating portion  16  toward the sidewall and above the receiving passageway  161 . The opening of the receiving room  15  is narrowed by the nose portion  162  extending toward the sidewall. The node  2155  is located away from the nose portion  162  to form a concavity so as to ensure a smooth insertion of the contact and avoid collision to the nose portion  162  when the contact is assembled into the housing  1  in a tilted and further rotated manner. The second section  2153  of the connecting portion  215  is just under the nose portion  162  and the first contacting portion  211  protrudes from the nose portion  162  into a receiving room to connect with the contact of the mating electrical connector. The fixing portion  23  and the second contacting portion  213  are configured with a reversed U-shaped manner. 
     Referring to  FIG. 5  showing an insertion process of the contacts  2  in the housing  1 , the elastic portions  21  of the contacts  2  are slantingly inserted in the receiving passageway  161  from the mating face  11  and the fixing portions  23  are located above the lengthwise wall  13 . Then, the fixing portions  23  are pushed downward and the first contacting portions  211  and the second sections  2153  shift upward as a result of levers work of the contacts  2  until the nodes  2155  abut against distal ends  1621  of the nose portions  162 . At that time the contacts  2  are in a substantial level location and lastly are pushed downwards so that the fixing portions  23  interfere with the retaining passageways  131  and the first contacting portions  21  and the connecting portions  215  are located in the receiving room  15  as shown in  FIG. 4 . 
     The soldering portion  25  extends from the fixing portion  23  and close to the lengthwise sidewall  13 . When the soldering portion  25  is welded to the PCB, the soldering portion  25  is coated with a protective solute for soldering. Most of the bottom wall  17  close to the lengthwise sidewalls  13  is closed so as to prevent the protective solute from inserting into the housing  1 . 
     When the electrical connector  100  is separated from the mating electrical connector, the contacts  2  are moved upward due to a retaining force between the contacts  2  and the contacts of the mating electrical connector. After the contacts  2  have been moved with a distance, the second section  213  is resisted on the nose portion  162  by the node  2155  to prevent the contacts  2  out of the housing  1 . 
     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.