Patent Publication Number: US-7581975-B1

Title: Flexible printed circuit connector

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to a flexible printed circuit connector. 
   2. The Related Art 
   A conventional flexible printed circuit connector includes an insulating housing, a plurality of terminals received in the insulating housing and an actuator. The insulating housing defines an insertion slot for receiving a flexible printed circuit (FPC). The actuator has a shaft portion pivotally mounted to the insulating housing. When the FPC is inserted into the flexible printed circuit connector, the actuator will rotate around the shaft portion to press against the FPC for establishing electrical connection between the terminals and the FPC. 
   However, because of the limitation of the conventional flexible printed circuit connector, the dimension and strength of the shaft portion is difficult to be enlarged, then the shaft portion of the actuator would likely to break off during the rotation of the actuator, and as a result, the flexible printed circuit connector will work at an unstable status. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   An object of the present invention is to provide a flexible printed circuit connector adapted for being electrically connected with an FPC stably. The flexible printed circuit connector includes a base insulator, a plurality of electrical terminals fixed in the base insulator and a slide insulator slidably mounted to the base insulator. The base insulator has a bottom board, a rear wall and two opposite sidewalls respectively extending upwardly from the bottom board. The rear wall defines plural receiving grooves. Each of the sidewalls defines a sliding recess at an outside thereof. The electrical terminals are mounted in the corresponding receiving grooves. Each of the electrical terminals has an elastic contact portion located above the bottom board for allowing the FPC to be inserted therebetween. The slide insulator has a cover and two flanks at two opposite sides of the cover. Each of the flanks defines a slide block at an inner side thereof for relatively sliding in the sliding recess. The cover is capable of pressing the elastic contact portions downwardly to make the elastic contact portions stably electrically connected with the FPC by a relative slide between the slide insulator and the base insulator. 
   As described above, by virtue of the slide blocks of the slide insulator relatively sliding in the sliding recesses of the base insulator, the cover is capable of pressing the elastic contact portions of the electrical terminals downwardly to make the elastic contact portions electrically connected with the FPC. Thus, the FPC is fixed between the elastic contact portions and the bottom board firmly, and therefore, the electrical connection between the flexible printed circuit connector and the FPC is stable. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following description of an embodiment thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, in which: 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a flexible printed circuit connector in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the flexible printed circuit connector; 
       FIG. 3  is another angle exploded view of the flexible printed circuit connector; 
       FIG. 4  shows a cross-sectional view of the flexible printed circuit connector in  FIG. 1  taken along line  4 - 4 ; 
       FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the flexible printed circuit connector and an FPC before the FPC is inserted thereinto; 
       FIG. 6  is an assembly view showing the FPC of  FIG. 5  inserted into the flexible printed circuit connector; 
       FIG. 7  is an assembly view of  FIG. 6  with a slide insulator of the flexible printed circuit connector; and 
       FIG. 8  shows a cross-sectional view of  FIG. 7  taken along line  8 - 8 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   With reference to  FIG. 1 , a flexible printed circuit connector  100  according to the invention includes a base insulator  10 , a pair of electrical terminals  20  fixed to the base insulator  10 , a pair of solder pads  30  (as shown in  FIG. 2 ) embedded into two opposite sides of the base insulator  10  and a slide insulator  40  slidably mounted to the base insulator  10 . 
   Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the base insulator  10  has a bottom board  11 , a rear wall  12  and two opposite sidewalls  13  respectively extending upwardly from the bottom board  11 . The rear wall  12  defines two receiving grooves  121  penetrating therethrough from front to rear for correspondingly fixing the electrical terminals  20 . Each of the sidewalls  13  defines an insertion cavity  131  extending rearward from a front end thereof for correspondingly receiving the solder pads  30  therein. Adjacent to the front end of each sidewall  13 , a substantially semi-spherical projection  132  protrudes outward from an outer side of the sidewall  13 . The base insulator  10  further defines a guide passage  133  at a rear end of each of the sidewalls  13  and a sliding recess  134  at a lower portion of each of the sidewalls  13 . The sliding recess  134  communicates with the guide passage  133 . 
   Each of the electrical terminals  20  has a substantially rectangular fixed portion  21 . A front end of the fixed portion  21  extends forward and downwardly then bends upwardly slightly to form an elastic contact portion  22 . A weld portion  23  bends downward and then extends rearward from a middle portion of a rear end of the fixed portion  21 . 
   The solder pad  30  is of a substantially inversed L-shaped structure. The slide insulator  40  has a cover  41  showing a substantially rectangular shape. Two opposite sides of the cover  41  extend downwardly and then extend rearward to form a flank  42  respectively. Each flank  42  is provided with an arc locking gap  421  at a front portion thereof and a slide block  422  at a lower portion of an inner side thereof. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1 to 4 , in assembly, the electrical terminals  20  are mounted to the base insulator  10 . The fixed portions  21  are received in the receiving grooves  121 . The elastic contact portions  22  are located above the bottom board  11  of the base insulator  10  for allowing a flexible printed circuit (FPC)  200  (see in  FIG. 5 ) to be inserted therebetween. The weld portions  23  are exposed out of the rear wall  12  for being soldered to a printed circuit board (not shown). The solder pads  30  are correspondingly embedded into the insertion cavities  131  of the sidewalls  13  for being soldered to the printed circuit board to further fix the flexible printed circuit connector  100  to the printed circuit board. 
   When the slide insulator  40  is to be assembled to the base insulator  10 , the slide blocks  422  are buckled into the guide passages  133  of the sidewalls  13  and then slide forward along the guide passages  133  to enter in the corresponding sliding recesses  134  to finish the assembly of the slide insulator  40 . In this case, the slide block  422  presses against a rear surface of the sliding recess  134 . The cover  41  is positioned above the elastic contact portions  22  of the electrical terminals  20  but not press them. 
     FIGS. 5 to 8  shows an insertion of the FPC  200  into the flexible printed circuit connector  100 . The FPC  200  defines two conductive pieces  201  at one end of a top surface thereof. Because the elastic contact portions  22  of the electrical terminals  20  are located above the bottom board  11  of the base insulator  10 , the FPC  200  can easy to be inserted therebetween, as shown in  FIG. 6 . Then pull the slide insulator  40  to slide the slide blocks  422  forward along the sliding recesses  134 . With the movement of the slide insulator  40 , the projections  132  of the sidewalls  13  are engaged with the locking gaps  421  of the flanks  42  when the slide insulator slides relatively to the base insulation to a position where the cover is capable of pressing the elastic contact portions stably, as shown in  FIG. 7 . In this case, the cover  41  of the slide insulator  40  presses the elastic contact portions  22  downwardly to make the elastic contact portions  22  electrically connected with the conductive pieces  201  of the FPC  200 , as shown in  FIG. 8 . Therefore, the FPC  200  is fixed between the elastic contact portions  22  and the bottom board  11  firmly, and the electrical connection between the elastic contact portions  22  and the conductive pieces  201  is stable. 
   As the above description, by virtue of the slide blocks  422  of the slide insulator  40  relatively sliding in the sliding recesses  134  of the base insulator  10 , the cover  41  is capable of pressing the elastic contact portions  22  of the electrical terminals  20  downwardly to make the elastic contact portions  22  electrically connected with the conductive pieces  201  of the FPC  200 . Thus, the FPC  200  is fixed between the elastic contact portions  22  and the bottom board firmly, and therefore, the electrical connection between the flexible printed circuit connector  100  and the FPC  200  is stable.