Patent Publication Number: US-9887495-B2

Title: Power connector

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. 201510819433.4, filed on Nov. 23, 2015. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to a power connector, and more particularly, to a micro power connector. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Known micro power connectors generally only have a positive power terminal and a negative power terminal, and do not have a ground terminal. However, in some cases, it is necessary to provide the ground terminal to improve electrical security. 
     When known micro power connectors have the ground terminal, an electrical gap between contacts of the ground terminal and the power terminals is decreased due to the size restriction of the micro power connector, which may result in an unsafe creepage distance. In a power connector operating under a voltage of 60V, for example, the safe creepage distance between the terminals should be up to 1.2 mm to ensure electrical security. Furthermore, if the ground terminal is directly disposed in an insulation body with the positive and negative power terminals, a volume of the whole micro power connector will be increased, preventing the micro power connector from being arranged in a narrow space in a high density. 
     SUMMARY 
     An object of the invention, among others, is to provide a micro power connector having a ground terminal which neither reduces a creepage distance between the terminals nor increases the volume of the micro power connector. The disclosed power connector has an insulation body, a ground terminal disposed on a side wall of the insulation body, and a power terminal disposed in the insulation body. The ground terminal has a resilient protrusion. A side surface of the power terminal has a recess facing the resilient protrusion, increasing a spacing between the resilient protrusion and the power terminal. 
    
    
     
       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 power connector according to the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of the power connector of  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 3  is a sectional view of the power connector of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     Embodiments of the present invention will be described hereinafter in detail with reference to the attached drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that the disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the invention to those skilled in the art. 
     A power connector  100  according to the invention is shown in  FIG. 1 . The power connector  100  is a micro power connector adapted to be arranged in a narrow space in a high density. The power connector  100  has an insulation body  150 , a pair of power terminals  110 ,  120 , and a pair of ground terminals  130 ,  140 . 
     The insulation body  150 , as shown in  FIGS. 1-3 , has a bottom wall and a top wall located opposite to each other in a height direction Z thereof, a pair of side walls located opposite to each other in a width direction X thereof, and a front end and a rear end located opposite to each other in a length direction Y thereof. 
     The pair of ground terminals  130 ,  140  are held on the pair of side walls of the insulation body  150 . The insulation body  150 , as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , has holing grooves  153  in the pair of side walls thereof, and the pair of ground terminals  130 ,  140  are held in the holing grooves  153  in the pair of side walls of the insulation body  150 . 
     The ground terminals  130 ,  140 , as shown in  FIG. 2 , each have resilient protrusions  133 ,  143 . The resilient protrusions  133 ,  143 , as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , protrude toward side surfaces of the respective power terminals  110 ,  120 . The resilient protrusions  133 ,  143  protrude into an insertion cavity  101  of the insulation body  150  formed at the front end through openings  154  formed in the side walls, respectively. The resilient protrusions  133 ,  143  electrically contact mating ground terminals of a mating electrical connector which have been inserted into the cavity  101 . 
     The pair of power terminals  110 ,  120  are held in the insulation body  150 . The power terminals  110 ,  120 , as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , have rigid contacts located in the cavity  101  of the insulation body  150 . The power terminals  110 ,  120  are adapted to electrically contact mating power terminals of the mating electrical connector. In order to electrically contact the rigid contacts of the power terminals  110 ,  120 , it would be necessary to provide the mating power terminals of the mating electrical connector with corresponding resilient electrical contacts. 
     The power terminals  110 ,  120 , as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , have recesses  113 ,  123  formed on side surfaces of the rigid contacts of the power terminals  110 ,  120 . The recesses  113 ,  123  face the resilient protrusions  133 ,  143  on the side surfaces thereof so as to increase spacings d corresponding to a creepage distance between the resilient protrusions  133 ,  143  and the respective power terminals  110 ,  120 . In this way, it is possible to ensure a sufficient creepage distance between the ground terminals  130 ,  140  and the power terminals  110 ,  120 . Each of the spacings d between the resilient protrusions  133 ,  143  and the recesses  113 ,  123  is equal to or greater than a distance between other portions of the ground terminals  130 ,  140  and other portions of the respective power terminals  110 ,  120 , as shown in  FIG. 3 . In an embodiment, each of the spacings d are equal to or greater than 1.2 mm. As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , recess surface profiles of the recesses  113 ,  123  substantially match protrusion surface profiles of the resilient protrusions  133 ,  143 . In an embodiment, both the recess surface profiles of the recesses  113 ,  123  and the protrusion surface profiles of the resilient protrusions  133 ,  143  are arc-shaped. 
     The power connector  100 , as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , further comprises a pair of insulation protection caps  161 ,  162  adapted to cover end portions  112 ,  122  of the rigid contacts of the pair of power terminals  110 ,  120  respectively. When the power connector  100  is not electrically connected with the mating electrical connector, the protection caps  161 ,  162  prevent a user from touching the end portions  112 ,  122  of the power terminals  110 ,  120 , thereby effectively avoiding an electric shock accident from occurring and improving the use security of the power connector  100 . 
     The power terminals  110 ,  120 , as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , have power terminal connecting pins  111 ,  121  extending from the rear end of the insulation body  150  and adapted to be electrically connected onto a circuit board. The ground terminals  130 ,  140  have ground terminal connecting pins  131 ,  141  extending from the bottom wall of the insulation body  150  and adapted to be electrically connected onto the circuit board. In an embodiment, the power terminal connecting pins  111 ,  121  and the ground terminal connecting pins  131 ,  141  are inserted into connection holes in the circuit board and welded onto the circuit board. 
     The insulation body  150 , as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , has a receiving groove  151  in the top wall thereof, and the receiving groove  151  is formed on a bottom wall thereof with a lock protrusion  152 . The lock protrusion  152  engages an elastic lock arm of the mating electrical connector inserted into the receiving groove  151  to lock the power connector  100  and the mating electrical connector together. 
     The power connector  100 , as shown in  FIG. 2 , may further comprise a signal detecting terminal  170  disposed in the insertion cavity  101  of the insulation body  150  and configured to detect a usage state of the power connector  100 . 
     Advantageously, according to the power connector  100  of the present invention, since the power terminals  110 ,  120  are formed with the recesses  113 ,  123  in side surfaces thereof, the creepage distances between the ground terminals  130 ,  140  and the respective power terminals  110 ,  120  are increased. Furthermore, since the ground terminals  130 ,  140  are disposed in the side walls of the insulation body  150 , the size of the power connector  100  will not be increased in width or height, and can still function as a micro power connector  100  arranged in a narrow space in a high density.