Patent Publication Number: US-10777929-B2

Title: Electrical connector and method making the same

Description:
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     The invention is related to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical connector with the corresponding contacts each having an upper linking part operated with a first assembling tool and a lower linking part operated with a second assembling tool so as to have each contact reliably retained in the corresponding passageway via a sequential assembling procedure. 
     DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ARTS 
     As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 9,142,932, the electrical connector includes an insulative housing with a plurality of passageways therein, and a plurality of contacts respectively retained in the corresponding passageways with the corresponding contacting sections extending above the top surface of the housing. Understandably, the contacts are required to be assembled or inserted into the corresponding passageways via a contact carrier having a linking part which each contact is originally linked to and successively removed from after the contact has been inserted into the corresponding passageway in the final/correct position. In other words, during assembling the contact carrier is initially held by an assembling tool to simultaneously push the same row contacts into the corresponding passageways to reach their final/correct position and is successively removed from the contacts by breaking away from the corresponding linking parts of such contacts via simultaneously back-and-forth swinging about connecting edges of the linking parts. Because the resilient contacting sections of the contacts are required to be exposed above the top surface of the housing, the contacts are required to be downwardly assembled into the corresponding passageways via the carrier which is linked on the linking part of the contacts above the top surface of the housing. Understandably, the linking edge of the linking part is essentially flush with the top surface of the housing for facilitating such a back-and-forth swinging. It is because on one hand the linking part of the contact which is linked to the carrier, is not expected to be significantly exposed above the top surface of the housing after the carrier is removed therefrom, and on the other hand it is impossible to efficiently back and forth swing the carrier if the lining edges of the linking parts are relatively located below the top surface of the housing. 
     Anyhow, because the pitch of the neighboring contacts in matrix in the housing becomes smaller and smaller, it is relatively difficult to efficiently back and forth swing the carrier without interfering with the neighboring resilient contacting sections, thus resulting in damage of the contacting sections of the contacts possibly. It is especially true when the linking edges of the linking parts are located close to the top surface of the housing. 
     It is desired to provide a new design for the contact of the connector which may be reliably assembled into the corresponding passageways via a plural sequential hybrid processes instead of the single pushing process used by the traditional connector. 
     SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     To achieve the above desired purpose, an electrical connector includes an insulative housing having opposite top and bottom surfaces thereof and formed with a plurality of passageways arranged in matrix and extending through both the top surface and bottom surface in the vertical direction, and a plurality of contacts assembled and retained in the corresponding passageways, respectively. Each contact has a main body, a secondary body sidewardly connected to and angled with the main body in a top view. A resilient contacting section upwardly extends from an upper portion of the main body and above the top surface of the housing for contacting an electronic package having the pads thereon, and a soldering section extends from a lower portion of the secondary body around the bottom surface of the housing for mounting to a printed circuit board. The main body includes an upper linking part originally linked to an upper carrier, and the secondary body includes a lower linking part which is originally linked to a lower carrier. The main body includes retaining structures for retaining the contact within the passageways without moving. 
     During assembling the contacts into the corresponding passageways, the crossbar of the lower carrier should be removed firstly so only the discrete linking legs of the first carrier remain to connect to the corresponding lower linking parts of the corresponding contacts. Via an upper assembling tool applied upon the upper carrier to bring about a downward pushing effect, the contacts commonly linked by the same upper carrier, are simultaneously inserted downwardly into the corresponding passageways from the top surface of the housing to an initial upper position. The upper carrier including the crossbar and the lining legs, is successively removed from the corresponding upper linking parts of the contacts via an operation of back and forth swinging. A lower assembling tool is further applied upon the lower linking parts of the contacts to bring about a downward pulling effect so as to move the contacts from the initial upper positions to a final lower positions. Finally, the linking legs of the lower carrier are removed from the lower linking parts of the corresponding contacts via another operation of back and forth swinging. 
     Compared with the traditional contact design which only has one upper linking part to connect to one upper carrier and assembled into the corresponding passageway with one pushing effect and one breaking operation, the contact of the instant invention has one upper linking part originally connected to one upper carrier and one lower linking part originally connected to one lower carrier with one pushing effect, one pulling effect and two breaking operation. Understandably, via this arrangement, the contacts may be easily and correctly inserted into the corresponding passageways in the correct positions without potentially damaging the corresponding neighboring contacting sections because the operation of back-and-forth bending/breaking/swinging of the upper carrier is done in a relatively sufficient space, i.e., the contacts being located in the initial upper positions where the linking edges of the corresponding upper linking parts is relatively far from the top surface of the housing. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an electrical connector of the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is another perspective view of the electrical connector of FIG.  1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is another exploded perspective view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the contacts in the same row of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1  wherein both the upper carrier and the lower carrier are not removed from the corresponding contacts; 
         FIG. 6  is an enlarged perspective view of a portion of the contact of the electrical connector of  FIG. 5 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the contacts of the electrical connector of  FIG. 5  wherein the cross bar of the lower carrier is removed from the linking legs of the lower carrier; 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view of a portion of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1  wherein the contacts are assembled into the corresponding passageways in the initial upper positions; 
         FIG. 9  is a perspective view of the portion of the electrical connector of  FIG. 8  wherein the upper carrier is removed from the contacts; 
         FIG. 10  is a perspective view of the portion of the electrical connector of the  FIG. 9  wherein the contacts are moved to the final lower positions and 
         FIG. 11  is a perspective view of the portion of the electrical connector of the  FIG. 9  wherein the linking legs of the lower carrier are removed from the contacts. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to  FIGS. 1-11 , an electrical connector  100  for connecting an electronic package, i.e., a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and a PCB (printed circuit board), includes an insulative housing  10  and a plurality of contacts  20  therein. 
     The housing  10 , which is not completely shown for easy illustration of the internal structures, forms opposite top surface  15  and bottom surface  16  and a plurality of passageways  11  extending through both the top surface  15  and the bottom surface  16  in the vertical direction for receiving the contacts  20  therein. A plurality of standoffs  12  are formed on the top surface  15  corresponding to one side of the corresponding passageways  11 , respectively. Each passageway  11  further communicates with a first side groove  13  adjacent to the corresponding standoff  12 , and a second side groove  111  opposite to the first side groove  13 . 
     The contacts  20  are arranged in matrix. Each contact  20  includes a main body  21  and a secondary body  22  sidewardly connected and angled with the main body  21  in a top view, a spring section  24  connected to an upper portion of the main body  21 , a resilient contacting section  23  extending upwardly and obliquely from the spring section  24 , and a soldering/tail section  25  downwardly extending from a lower portion of the secondary body  22  with a solder ball thereon for soldering to the printed circuit board. Both the main body  21  and the secondary body  22  are received within the corresponding passageway  11 . Both the spring section  24  and the contacting section  23  extend above the top surface  15 . 
     The spring section  24  forms a narrow slot  241 , and is wider than the contacting section  23 . The width of the main body  21  is larger than that of the contacting section  23  while being smaller than that of the spring section  24 . The narrow slot  241  of the spring section  24  is located proximate the stress concentration area so as to lower the impedance by adjusting the dimension and the position of the narrow slot. A first retention tab  212  is formed on one lateral side edge of the main body  21  and located within an opening  221  formed by the secondary body  22 , and a second retention tab  213  is formed on the other lateral side edge of the main body  21  opposite to the first retention tab  212  in a transverse direction. Both the first retention tab  212  and the second retention tab  213  are coplanar with the main body  21  for stabilization of the contact  20 . After assembled, the first retention tab  212  is received within the second side groove  111 . 
     Each row of contacts  20  are originally/initially linked together with a lower/first carrier  201  linking to a lower/first linking part  211  located on a bottom portion of the main body  21 , and an upper/second carrier  202  linking to an upper/second linking part  242  located on a top portion of the main body  21  beside the spring section  24 . A V-shape recess  203  is formed in the border between the lower carrier  201  and the lower linking part  222  for easy breaking thereabouts so as to form a tapered end  2110  of the first linking part  211 . In this embodiment, the spring section  24  is located above a linking edge bordered between the upper linking part  242  and the upper carrier  202 . The spring section  24  forms therein a slot (not labeled) aligned with the contacting section  23  along the extension direction. 
     When the contact  20  is fully assembled within the corresponding passageways  11 , the upper linking part  242  is received within the corresponding first side groove  13  securely. Understandably, the retention between the upper linking part  242  and the housing  10  may not only enhance the stability of the contact  20  in the passageway  11  but also allow easy separation between the upper linking part  242  and the upper carrier  202  if such a separation occurs after the contact  20  is completely assembled within the passageway  11 . 
     The method of making the connector  100  is as follows: (i) providing an insulative housing  10 ; (ii) removing the transversely extending crossbar of the lower carrier  201  with the respective remaining posts  2011  which are respectively linked with the lower linking parts  211  of the contacts  20 ; (iii) downwardly assembling/pushing the contacts  20  into the corresponding passageways  11  via applying a downwardly force upon the upper carrier  202  until the contacts  20  reach the predetermined upper position wherein the upper linking part  242  of each contact  20  is located above the top surface  15 , and the remaining posts  2011  are not completely exposed below the bottom surface  16  but corresponding upper portions of those remaining posts  2011  are still located within the corresponding passageway  11 ; (iv) removing the upper carrier  202  from the upper linking parts  242  of the corresponding contacts  20 ; (v) holding the respective remaining posts  2011  by a tool to pull the contacts  20  downwardly to reach the final/lower position in the corresponding passageways  11  wherein the upper linking part  242  is snugly received within the corresponding first side groove  13  securely, and the respective remaining posts  2011  are essentially fully exposed under the bottom surface  16  for easy breaking; and removing the respective remaining posts  2011  from the corresponding lower linking parts  211  to finalize assembling of the whole connector  100 . 
     As mentioned before, the traditional contacts are basically linked to only one carrier with one step insertion/pushing for assembling the contact into the corresponding passageway. The drawback of such a traditional design is the difficulties for removing the carrier from the linking parts of the contacts without damaging or interfering with the neighboring contacting sections of the contacts due to the limited space thereabouts in a fine pitch arrangement. Differently the instant invention uses two opposite carriers respectively linked/operated at opposite upper/lower sides of the contact, thus providing the sufficient space above the top surface of the housing for easy removal of the upper carrier from the upper linking parts of the contacts. The upper carrier and the lower carrier respectively linked to the opposite upper linking part and lower linking part of the contact, is the main feature of the invention. In addition, the invention using two steps assembling, i.e., the initial/upper position and the final/lower position of the contact, is another feature of the invention wherein the upper carrier is removed when the contacts are located at the upper positions with regard to the housing. Because of the remaining posts which does not exist in the traditional design, the contacts can be moved from the upper/initial position to the lower/final position by another tool applied on such remaining posts, and then those respective remaining posts can be easily removed from the corresponding lower linking part around the bottom surface of the housing because no significantly extending part of the contact is located beside the lower linking part to be damaged due to the bending operation of removing the remaining posts. In brief, through the two carriers structure, variability of the contact design is increased, and further through the two steps assembling method, manufacturability of the fine pitch connector is increased, advantageously. 
     While a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present disclosure has been shown and described, equivalent modifications and changes known to persons skilled in the art according to the spirit of the present disclosure are considered within the scope of the present disclosure as described in the appended claims. For example, to efficiently holding of the remaining post, the contour of the remaining post can be of an upside-down T configuration instead of the straight type. Also, in this embodiment because of the final pitch arrangement of the contacts, the upper linking part  242  should be offset from the junction  209  in the vertical direction for no interference therebetween for the two neighboring contacts. In addition, in this embodiment, the soldering section  25  extends from the secondary body  22  and the first linking part  211  is located on a bottom portion of the main body  21 . Alternately, the soldering section  25  extends from the main body  21  while the first linking part  211  is located on the bottom portion of the secondary body  22 . Similarly, the upper linking part  242  can be located on an upper portion of the secondary body  22  instead of the main body  21 . Also, the retention tabs  212 ,  213  may be formed on the secondary body  22  instead of the main body  21 . Generally speaking, the main body  21  and the secondary body  22  can be deemed as one body portion extending in two planes angled with each other. In this embodiment, the lower carrier  201  originally includes the transversely extending crossbar integrating the corresponding remaining posts  2011  together. Understandably, the transversely extending crossbar may stabilize the respective contacts during stamping and forming the respective contacts. Anyhow, in an alternate inferior embodiment, the lower carrier  201  may include only the posts  2011  linked to the corresponding lower linking part  211  without the transversely extending crossbar when the whole contact assembly is formed so as to allow such a contact assembly to be directly assembled into the corresponding passageways  11  without additional step of removing the transversely extending crossbar of the lower carrier. From a technical viewpoint, the upper linking part and the lower linking part are preferred to be formed on the body portion where the retention tabs are located for achieving the efficient mechanical force arrangement. In this embodiment, both the upper carrier and the lower carrier are originally unitarily formed with the contacts for easy and efficient forming the whole contact assembly. Alternately, the upper carrier may be discrete from the contacts with an attachable manner if the contacting section is enlarged and the material of the contacts and that of the upper carrier may interfere with each other.