Patent Publication Number: US-6988900-B1

Title: Surface mount connector assembly

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present U.S. utility application is related to U.S. design applications entitled “SURFACE MOUNT CONNECTOR” and “SURFACE MOUNT CONNECTOR OF INDETERMINATE LENGTH”, both to the same inventor, which are incorporated herein by reference, and having been filed concurrently with the present application. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to the field of connectors and, more particularly, relates to the manner in which connectors are mounted on a printed wiring board during the manufacturing process. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Electronic devices typically include various types of electrical components such as receptacle-type connector assemblies which are installed during the manufacturing of the electronic device. Some of these receptacle-type connectors are sometimes referred to as a header having a plurality of electrical contacts or pins within. The header is configured to correspond with and retain a female socket which is, in turn, configured to receive the header&#39;s plurality of contact pins. Typically, connector pins are soldered to the printed wiring board (PWB) as shown in  FIG. 1  using a wave solder process where the PWB and any headers to be attached are passed through a bath of solder. Once the header is soldered to the PWB and the corresponding socket is to be connected, the cable such as a ribbon cable must extend from the side of the PWB having the header to the opposite side of the PWB which is undesirable. 
     Some other types of connectors, commonly referred to as surface mount connectors because they sit on only one side of the PWB, without contacts extending to the opposite side of the PWB as shown in  FIG. 2 , allow the ribbon cable to extend from only one side of the PWB. This configuration has been more desirable because the ribbon cable is not wrapped around the PWB from one side to the other. However, these known surface mount connectors are too tall to pass through the wave solder machine when being mounted to a single-sided PWB because of the addition height created by having the contacts extend between the PWB and the header. 
     Therefore, what is needed is a means to mount surface mount connectors to single-sided PWBs in a low-profile manner such that the PWB and the surface mount connectors to be mounted may pass through the solder wave machine without being obstructed. Moreover, the ribbon cable should preferably extend from only one side of the PWB. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DISCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a front view of a prior art connector mounted on a PWB receiving a corresponding socket-type connector where the contacts pass through to the opposite side of the PWB. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a front view of a prior art surface mounted connector on a PWB receiving a corresponding socket-type connector where the contacts do not pass through to the opposite side of the PWB. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a perspective view of one embodiment of a surface mount connector assembly of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a front view of one embodiment of the surface mount connector assembly of  FIG. 3  connected to only one side of the PWB according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a perspective view of one embodiment of an inner housing portion of the surface mount connector assembly of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates a perspective view of one embodiment of an outer housing portion of the surface mount connector assembly of the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  illustrates a perspective view of one embodiment of one of a plurality of electrical contacts of the surface mount connector assembly of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present invention will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like elements throughout the several figures, and in which an exemplary embodiment of the invention is shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, the embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. The present invention is described more fully hereinbelow. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a perspective view of one embodiment of a surface mount connector assembly  10  of the present invention. The surface mount connector assembly  10  is configured to receive and retain a corresponding socket connector  20  as shown in  FIG. 4 . The connector assembly  10  may be mounted to one side of a printed circuit board (PCB) or a printed wiring board (PWB)  24  without electrical contacts  30  ( FIG. 7 ) extending from one side of the PWB  24  to the other in order to solder the connector assembly to the PWB  24 . The surface mount connector assembly  10  is mounted in a low profile manner to facilitate the passing of the connector assembly  10  and the PWB  24  through the solder machine in an unobstructed manner. 
     The connector assembly  10 , in addition to electrical contacts  30 , further includes an inner housing portion  40 , as shown in  FIG. 5 , and an outer housing portion  50 , as shown in  FIG. 6 , which together define a body of the connector assembly  10 . The inner and outer housing portions  40 ,  50  are preferably made of Pollybutylene Terephalateor, commonly referred to as PBT (30% glass filled), with a UL rating of UL94V-0, or some other suitable material such as a heat resistant plastic. Each of the housing portions  40 ,  50  have side walls and a bottom to define a housing interior. 
     In order to assemble the surface mount connector assembly  10  of the present invention, the contacts  30 , shown in  FIG. 7 , are each received in an opening  60  in the bottom of the inner housing portion  40 . The inner housing portion  40  preferably includes two parallel and aligned rows of openings  60  where the openings  60  within each row are equally spaced from one another. Also, each opening  60  in one row of openings is aligned with an opening of the other row. 
     As best shown in  FIG. 5 , one side of the inner housing  40  includes a break  62  which extends preferably the full height of the side of the inner housing  40 . The break  62  in the side of the inner housing  40  may be referred to as a slot for receiving a tongue portion (not shown) of the corresponding socket connector once the connector assembly is fully assembled. Preferably, as best shown in  FIG. 3 , the inner and outer housing portions  40 ,  50  are keyed to one another such as with a protruding tongue portion  62  and a corresponding slot  64 . 
     The surface mount connector assembly  10  of the present invention may include any number of contacts  30  which are preferably shaped as shown in  FIG. 7 . In one embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 7 , each of the contacts  30  includes a pair of vertical portions  66  and  68 , which are spaced from one another, and a pair of horizontal portions  70  and  72 , which are also spaced from one another. The two vertical portions  66 ,  68  are preferably parallel to and aligned with one another. The two horizontal portions  70 ,  72  are also parallel to one another, but misaligned. The horizontal portion  70  is connected between the two vertical portions  66 ,  68  and an end of the other horizontal portion  72  is connected to the vertical portion  68  so that the horizontal portion  72  extends outward from the vertical portions  66 ,  68 . Therefore, portions  66 ,  68 ,  70  and  72  are connected to one another, in an alternating manner, and in series, to form a shape which turns back on itself. 
     The outer housing portion  50  includes a corresponding number of grooves  76 , as best shown in  FIG. 6 , to receive the contacts  30 . Each of the grooves  76  extend the full inside height of each of the opposite sides of the outer housing portion  50  as well as across the full inside width of the bottom of the outer housing portion  50  as best shown in  FIG. 6 . Preferably, the configuration of each of the grooves  76  corresponds to the configuration of each of the contacts  30 . As shown in  FIGS. 6 and 7 , the contacts  30  and grooves  76  have substantially rectangular cross-sections across their entire lengths. However, each may be shaped differently from one another so long that the contacts  30  may be received and retained within the inner and outer housing portions  40 ,  50  once nested with one another. 
     Once all of the contacts  30  are received within the openings  60 , the distal ends of the vertical portions  66  of the contacts  30  protruding from each of the openings  30  form two rows within the inner housing portion  40 . The horizontal portions  70  of the contacts extend across the exterior of the bottom of the inner housing portion  40 . The vertical portions  68  of one row of contacts  30  extend across the exterior of one side of the inner housing portion  40  and the vertical portions  68  of the other row of contacts  30  extend across the exterior of the other side of the inner housing portion  40 . The vertical portions  68  and horizontal portions  70  extending along the exterior of the inner housing portion  40  are accommodated by the grooves  76  when the inner and outer housing portions  40 ,  50  are nested with one another. The horizontal portions  72  of the contacts  30  extend outwardly from the edge of the inner housing portion  40  in a manner preferably substantially perpendicular to the sides of the inner housing portion  40  and parallel misaligned with the bottom of the inner housing portion  40 . Once the inner and outer housing portions  40 ,  50  are nested with one another, only the vertical portions  66  of the contacts  30  and the horizontal portions  72  of the contacts  30  are visible which will allow the distal ends of the horizontal portions  72  to be soldered to the PWB  24  and then the distal ends of the vertical portions  66  to be received in the corresponding socket connector. 
     Referring back to  FIG. 4 , the PWB  24  includes an opening or through-hole sized to receive the outer housing portion  50 , with the inner housing portion  40  nested within. Once received within the opening, the body of the surface mount connector  10  extends from one side of the PWB  24  to the other. The horizontal portions  72  of the electrical contacts  30  to be soldered to the PWB are on one side of the PWB  24  while the other horizontal portions  70  are on the opposite side of the PWB. The length of the two vertical portions  66 ,  68  of the electrical contacts  30  substantially pass through the thickness of the PWB  24 . Therefore, the difference in height in which the connector assembly  10  extends from the PWB  24  is diminished by an amount equal to the thickness of the PWB  24  which then allows the PWB  24  and the surface mounted connector assembly  10  to pass through the solder wave machine unobstructed. Moreover, as shown in  FIG. 4 , a cable such as a ribbon cable  80  would not be required to extend from one side of the PWB  24  to the other. 
     The foregoing has broadly outlined some of the more pertinent aspects and features of the present invention. These should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the invention. Other beneficial results can be obtained by applying the disclosed information in a different manner or by modifying the disclosed embodiments. Accordingly, other aspects and a more comprehensive understanding of the invention may be obtained by referring to the detailed description of the exemplary embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims.