CN111934112B

CN111934112B - Electrical connector with improved contact arrangement

Info

Publication number: CN111934112B
Application number: CN201910392979.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 倪敏迪
Original assignee: Alltop Electronics Suzhou Co Ltd
Current assignee: Alltop Electronics Suzhou Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-05-13
Filing date: 2019-05-13
Publication date: 2022-09-06
Anticipated expiration: 2039-05-13
Also published as: CN111934112A

Abstract

The invention provides an electric connector, which comprises an insulating body, at least one conductive terminal and at least one abutting sheet, the insulating body is provided with a base part, a butt joint part, a mounting part and a terminal groove, each conductive terminal comprises a holding part, a plurality of contact arms which are formed by extending forwards from the holding part and are arranged along the width direction of the conductive terminal, and a protruding part which is formed by extending backwards from the holding part, a butting piece is butted against the non-butt joint side of the contact arm of the corresponding conductive terminal from the outer side, each butting piece is provided with a butting part which is positioned at the front end of the butting piece and is butted and contacted with the contact arm of the corresponding conductive terminal, each contact arm comprises a first arm part which extends forwards from the holding part along a first direction and a second arm part which extends forwards from the front end of the first arm part along a second direction opposite to the first direction, the abutting part abuts against the first arm part or the joint of the first arm part and the second arm part to be in surface contact with the first arm part or the joint of the first arm part and the second arm part. The electric connector can effectively prevent the conductive terminal from deforming at the conductive terminal.

Description

Electrical connector with improved contact arrangement

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an electrical connector.

Background

The conductive terminals of the conventional electrical connector are easily deformed after being inserted into the butting connector for a long time, so that the electrical contact is poor, and the conductive terminals of the conventional electrical connector are riveted and combined with the cable, so that the conductive terminals are long in length and are not beneficial to the miniaturization requirement of products.

In view of the above, there is a need for an improved electrical connector to solve the above problems.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide an electric connector which can effectively prevent a conductive terminal from deforming.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an electrical connector, which includes an insulating body, at least one conductive terminal and at least one holding piece, wherein the insulating body has a base portion, a butt-joint portion located at the front side of the base portion, an installation portion located at the rear side of the base portion, and at least one terminal slot penetrating the insulating body along the front-rear direction, each conductive terminal includes a holding portion fixed in the corresponding terminal slot of the insulating body, a plurality of contact arms extending forward from the holding portion and arranged along the width direction of the conductive terminal, and a protruding portion extending backward from the holding portion, the holding piece abuts against the non-butt side of the contact arm of the corresponding conductive terminal from the outside, each holding piece has an abutting portion located at the front end and abutting against and contacting the contact arm of the corresponding conductive terminal, the front end of each holding piece is a free end, and the holding piece has a plurality of free ends, The rear end is a fixed end, the front end of each contact arm is a free end, the rear end is a fixed end, so that the abutting piece and the contact arms extend in the same direction, each contact arm comprises a first arm part which extends forwards from the holding part and along a first direction and a second arm part which extends forwards from the front end of the first arm part and along a second direction opposite to the first direction, the abutting part abuts against the joint part of the first arm part or the first arm part and the second arm part to be in surface contact with the first arm part, the protruding part extends backwards and straightly along a direction parallel to the butting direction of the electric connector, the electric connector further comprises a connecting part connected with the protruding part, and the connecting part comprises a first connecting part which is arranged parallel to the protruding part to be connected with the connecting part and a second connecting part which is bent and extends from the first connecting part to be connected with a cable.

As a further improvement of the invention, the rear ends of the contact arms of each conductive terminal are connected with each other through the holding part, and the front ends are independent from each other to be in a cantilever shape.

As a further improvement of the present invention, each of the abutting pieces has at least one connecting arm formed by bending forward and backward from the rear end of the holding portion corresponding to the conductive terminal, and the abutting portion is connected to the front end of the connecting arm.

As a further improvement of the invention, the connecting arms and the holding part are connected by an arc-shaped bent part, and each connecting arm is provided with a rib part extending along the front-back direction.

As a further improvement of the present invention, a pair of the abutting pieces are integrally connected to each other by a joining wall to form an abutting member, the joining wall has a receiving slot penetrating the joining wall in the front-back direction, the abutting member is assembled to the outer sides of the pair of the conductive terminals from the back to the front, and the protruding portion is inserted into and penetrates through the receiving slot from the back.

As a further improvement of the present invention, at least one of the holding pieces has a buckling portion formed by bending toward the corresponding conductive terminal, and the buckling portion extends into a buckling groove formed on the conductive terminal to fixedly connect the holding piece with the corresponding conductive terminal.

As a further improvement of the invention, the protruding part is provided with at least one positioning hole, and the connecting piece is provided with a through hole aligned with the positioning hole along the height direction so as to insert a fastener or fill molten soldering tin and fix the protruding part and the connecting piece.

As a further development of the invention, the projecting portion and the connecting member are connected by means of ultrasonic welding with the surfaces in contact.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the electrical connector further has a rear cover assembled to the rear side of the insulating body from the rear to the front, and the rear cover has a plate portion, at least one pair of limiting arms formed by extending the front end surface of the plate portion forward, and at least one pair of retaining arms, the at least one pair of limiting arms are respectively disposed at two ends of the plate portion in the height direction and are inserted into corresponding limiting grooves disposed at the rear side of the insulating body forward, and the at least one pair of retaining arms are disposed between the limiting arms in the height direction.

The invention has the beneficial effects that: the electric connector provided by the invention is used for abutting and contacting the contact arm of the conductive terminal through the abutting piece positioned on the non-abutting side of the conductive terminal, so that the risks of deformation of the contact part and poor electrical contact caused by long-time matching of the conductive terminal and the abutting terminal are avoided, and thus, the deformation of the conductive terminal can be effectively prevented, and the plugging and unplugging force can be better controlled and adjusted.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective assembly view of a first preferred embodiment of the electrical connector of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a view of the electrical connector of fig. 1 from another perspective.

Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the electrical connector of fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a perspective assembly view of the terminal assembly of the electrical connector of fig. 3 connected to a cable.

Fig. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the terminal assembly and cable shown in fig. 4.

Fig. 6 to 7 are sectional views of the electrical connector shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 8 is a perspective assembly view of the terminal assembly of the second preferred embodiment of the electrical connector of the present invention when connected to a cable.

Fig. 9 is an exploded perspective view of the terminal assembly and cable shown in fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is a partial structural view of the third preferred embodiment of the electrical connector of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. The present invention is not limited to the embodiment, and structural, methodological, or functional changes made by one of ordinary skill in the art according to the embodiment are included in the scope of the present invention.

Fig. 1 to 10 show a preferred embodiment of an electrical connector according to the present invention, wherein fig. 1 to 7 show a first preferred embodiment of an electrical connector 100 according to the present invention, the electrical connector 100 includes an insulative housing 1, at least one conductive terminal 2 and at least one holding piece 3. For convenience of description, when the electrical connector 100 is described below, the mating end of the electrical connector 100 is regarded as a front end, and the other end opposite to the mating end is regarded as a rear end, that is, the front-rear direction is a mating direction of the electrical connector 100 and a mating component (not shown), and meanwhile, one direction perpendicular to the front-rear direction is defined as a transverse direction, and the other direction perpendicular to the front-rear direction is defined as a height direction.

Referring to fig. 1 to 3 in conjunction with fig. 6 and 7, the insulating housing 1 includes a base 11, a mating portion 12 located at a front side of the base 11, a mounting portion 13 located at a rear side of the base 11, and at least one terminal slot 14 penetrating through the mounting portion in a front-rear direction.

Specifically, in the illustrated embodiment of the present invention, the insulation body 1 has two pairs of the terminal grooves 14, and the two terminal grooves 14 in each pair are oppositely arranged in the height direction; in other embodiments of the present invention, the insulation body 1 may have only one pair of the terminal grooves 14.

The mounting portion 13 has at least one pair of limiting grooves 131 formed by being recessed forward from the rear end surface thereof, and the pair of limiting grooves 131 are recessed in the top and bottom surfaces of the mounting portion 13, respectively. In the illustrated embodiment of the present invention, the top and bottom surfaces of the mounting portion 13 are respectively provided with a pair of the limiting grooves 131; in other embodiments of the present invention, the top and bottom surfaces of the mounting portion 13 may also be respectively provided with one or more limiting grooves 131.

Referring to fig. 3 to 7, in the embodiment of the present invention, the conductive terminals 2 are arranged in pairs, and two conductive terminals 2 arranged oppositely form a terminal pair contacting with the same butt terminal (not shown) and are inserted into a pair of terminal slots 14 arranged oppositely; in other embodiments of the present invention, the conductive terminals 2 may also be independent from each other, i.e. not arranged in pairs.

Specifically, each of the conductive terminals 2 includes a holding portion 21 fixed in the corresponding terminal slot 14 of the insulating housing 1, a plurality of contact arms 22 formed by extending forward from the holding portion 21 and arranged along the width direction of the conductive terminal 2, and a protruding portion 23 formed by extending backward from the holding portion 21, and the abutting portion 3 abuts against the non-abutting side of the contact arm 22 corresponding to the conductive terminal 2 from the outside. In this embodiment, the width direction of the conductive terminals 2 is the same as the transverse direction of the electrical connector 100.

The holding portion 21 has a pair of positioning pieces 211 oppositely disposed on two sides of the holding portion 21 in the transverse direction, the positioning pieces 211 are formed by tearing from the holding portion 21, and the tail end portion of the positioning pieces located at the rear end of the positioning pieces abuts against the terminal groove 14 of the insulating body 1 to prevent the conductive terminal 1 from withdrawing.

The rear ends of the contact arms 22 of each of the conductive terminals 2 are connected to each other by the holding portion 21, and the front ends are independent from each other to be cantilevered. Further, each of the contact arms 22 includes a first arm portion 221 extending forward from the holding portion 21 and along a first direction, and a second arm portion 223 extending forward from a front end of the first arm portion 221 and along a second direction opposite to the first direction, such that the first arm portion 221 and the second arm portion 223 are connected to form a V shape, and an included angle between the first arm portion 221 and the second arm portion 223 is greater than 90 degrees.

Specifically, taking one terminal pair as an example, the first arm 221 of the conductive terminal 2 located on the upper side extends forward and downward obliquely, and the second arm 223 extends forward and upward obliquely from the front end of the first arm 221; the first arm 221 of the conductive terminal 2 located at the lower side extends obliquely forward and upward, and the second arm 223 extends obliquely downward forward and downward from the front end of the first arm 221.

Each of the contact arms 22 further has a first contact portion 224 located at the front side of the second arm portion 223, and the engagement between the first arm portion 221 and the second arm portion 223 is located at the butt-joint side to form a second contact portion, so that two contact points with different plugging depths are formed, thereby ensuring the reliability of electrical contact.

Each of the abutting pieces 3 has an abutting portion 31 located at the front end thereof and abutting against the contact arm 22 of the corresponding conductive terminal 2, and the abutting portion 31 abuts against the first arm portion 221 or the joint of the first arm portion 221 and the second arm portion 223 to be in surface contact therewith, so as to avoid the risk of deformation of the contact portion and poor electrical contact caused by long-time matching of the conductive terminal 2 with the abutting terminal, so that the deformation of the conductive terminal 2 can be effectively prevented, and the plugging force can be better controlled and adjusted.

Each holding piece 3 is provided with at least one connecting arm 32 formed by bending forwards and reversely from the rear end of the holding part 21 corresponding to the conductive terminal 2, and the abutting part 31 is connected with the front end of the connecting arm 32, so that the holding pieces 3 and the corresponding conductive terminals 2 are of a one-piece structure, and the material space of the conductive terminals 2 is utilized to arrange a rotary holding piece 3, thereby simplifying the mould and assembling steps; meanwhile, the deformation of the contact part of the conductive terminal and the influence on the signal conductivity caused by long-time matching with the butt-joint terminal can be avoided.

In the illustrated embodiment of the present invention, each of the holding pieces 3 has a pair of connecting arms 32 formed by bending forward and backward from the rear end of the holding portion 21 of the corresponding conductive terminal 2, and the protruding portion 23 is located between the pair of connecting arms 32 in the width direction of the conductive terminal 2. In other embodiments of the present invention, each of the abutting pieces 3 may also have one of the connecting arms 32 located on one side of the protruding portion 23 in the transverse direction or a plurality of the connecting arms 32 spaced apart in the transverse direction.

The connecting arms 32 are connected to the holding portion 21 by an arc-shaped bending portion 24, and each connecting arm 32 has a rib 321 extending in the front-back direction, so as to increase the structural strength of the connecting arm 32, provide sufficient supporting force for the abutting portion 31, and avoid the situation that the abutting portion 31 cannot effectively press against the corresponding conductive terminal 2 due to insufficient strength.

The electrical connector 100 further has a connecting member 4 connected to the protruding portion 23, wherein the connecting member 4 has a first connecting portion 41 disposed parallel to the protruding portion 23 to be connected thereto and a second connecting portion 42 bent and extended from the first connecting portion 41 to be connected to the cable 5. In the present embodiment, the first connection portion 41 and the second connection portion 42 are both flat, and the second connection portion 42 is perpendicular to the first connection portion 41, so that the outgoing direction (i.e. the extending direction) of the cable 5 is perpendicular to the mating direction of the electrical connector 100, thereby effectively shortening the longitudinal (i.e. the front-back direction) lengths of the conductive terminal 2 and the electrical connector 100.

In addition, in the illustrated embodiment of the present invention, the conductive terminals 2, the connecting member 4 and the holding pieces 3 integrally connected with the corresponding conductive terminals 2 together constitute the terminal assembly of the present invention.

Specifically, the protruding portion 23 is provided with at least one positioning hole 231, and the connecting member 4 has a through hole 43 aligned in a height direction with the positioning hole 231 for inserting or melting the solder of the fastening member 7 and fixing the protruding portion 23 with the connecting member 4. In the present embodiment, the through hole 43 is disposed on the first connecting portion 41 and penetrates the first connecting portion 41 in the height direction.

Further, the protruding portion 23 and the connecting member 4 are connected by ultrasonic welding to contact surfaces.

In addition, referring to fig. 1 to fig. 3 and fig. 6 to fig. 7, the electrical connector 100 further has a rear cover 6 assembled to the rear side of the insulating body 1 from the rear to the front, and the rear cover 6 has a plate portion 61, at least one pair of limiting arms 62 and at least one pair of retaining arms 63 formed by extending from the front end surface of the plate portion 61 forward, the at least one pair of limiting arms 62 are respectively disposed at two ends of the plate portion 61 in the height direction and are inserted into corresponding limiting grooves 131 disposed at the rear side of the insulating body 1 forward, and the at least one pair of retaining arms 63 are disposed between the limiting arms 62 in the height direction.

Specifically, in this embodiment, the rear cover 6 is rectangular, the upper side and the lower side of the rear cover are respectively provided with a pair of the limiting arms 62, and the pair of the limiting arms 62 located on the same side are arranged at intervals along the transverse direction.

Referring to fig. 8 to 9, which are the second preferred embodiment of the electrical connector of the present invention, the basic structure and the assembly relationship of the electrical connector are the same as those of the first preferred embodiment, and are not repeated herein, but only differ in the terminal assembly, and the specific structure of the terminal assembly will be described below.

In the present embodiment, the terminal assembly also includes conductive terminals 2 ', a connecting member 4 ' and a holding piece 3 ', unlike the first preferred embodiment, the conductive terminals 2 ' and the corresponding holding pieces 3 ' are not integrally formed, but have a two-piece structure.

Specifically, the pair of holding pieces 3 'are integrally connected to each other by a connecting wall 34' to form a holding member, the connecting wall 34 'has a receiving groove 341' penetrating through it along the front-back direction, the holding member is assembled outside the pair of conductive terminals 2 'from back to front, and the protruding portion 23' of the conductive terminal 2 'is inserted backwards and passes through the receiving groove 341'.

Furthermore, at least one of the holding pieces 3 'has a buckling portion 35' bent toward the corresponding conductive terminal 2 ', and the buckling portion 35' extends into a buckling groove 201 'formed on the conductive terminal 2' to fixedly connect the holding piece 3 'with the corresponding conductive terminal 2'.

Specifically, in this embodiment, the latching grooves 201 'penetrate the conductive terminals 2' in the height direction, and each conductive terminal 2 'further has a pair of protruding pieces 202' respectively disposed on two sides of the conductive terminal in the transverse direction and located in the corresponding latching groove 201 ', in this embodiment, the rear ends of the protruding pieces 202' are free ends, and the protruding pieces 202 'disposed opposite to the two conductive terminals 2' in the same terminal pair are disposed to protrude toward each other so that the free ends thereof are close to each other.

Meanwhile, the conductive terminal 2 'further has a positioning protrusion 203' located between the protruding portion 23 'and the latching groove 201', the latching portion 35 'is bent to latch the positioning protrusion 203' of the conductive terminal 2 'therein, so as to prevent the abutting member and the conductive terminal 2' from generating relative displacement in the front-rear direction, and the free end of the latching portion 35 'extends into the corresponding latching groove 201'.

In addition, in this embodiment, the electrical connector has one connecting piece 4 ' connected to the same terminal pair, and the connecting piece 4 ' is U-shaped and has a first connecting portion 41 ' and a pair of second connecting portions 42 ' bent and extended from two sides of the first connecting portion 41 ' and disposed oppositely; of course, two connecting members 4 may be stacked and connected to the same terminal pair as in the first embodiment.

Please refer to fig. 10, which is a schematic diagram of a part of a structure of an electrical connector according to a third preferred embodiment of the present invention, wherein a basic structure and an assembly relationship of the electrical connector are the same as those of the second preferred embodiment, and are not described herein again, and the difference between the present embodiment and the second preferred embodiment is only the difference between a connection manner of a connecting element 4 "and a conductive terminal 2", specifically as follows:

the connecting member 4 "in this embodiment has a through hole aligned with the positioning hole 231" of the conductive terminal 2 "in the height direction, so that the protruding portion can be fixed to the connecting member by inserting the fastener and/or filling the melted solder, and the connecting member 4" and the conductive terminal 2 "are not connected by ultrasonic welding.

In addition, in the height direction, the connecting parts 4 ″ and the protruding parts 23 ″ of the conductive terminals 2 ″ are stacked and alternately arranged, and the connecting parts 4 ″ are provided with clamping sheets 45 ″ matched with the conductive terminals 2 ″.

Of course, the basic structure of the electrical connector in this embodiment may also be the same as that in the first preferred embodiment, and the difference is only the connection manner between the connecting member and the conductive terminal.

The electric connector provided by the invention is used for abutting and contacting the contact arm of the conductive terminal through the abutting piece positioned on the non-abutting side of the conductive terminal, so that the risks of deformation of the contact part and poor electrical contact caused by long-time matching of the conductive terminal and the abutting terminal are avoided, and thus, the deformation of the conductive terminal can be effectively prevented, and the plugging and unplugging force can be better controlled and adjusted.

Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An electric connector comprises an insulating body, at least one conductive terminal and at least one butting piece, wherein the insulating body is provided with a base part, a butting part positioned on the front side of the base part, an installation part positioned on the rear side of the base part and at least one terminal groove penetrating through the insulating body along the front-back direction, each conductive terminal comprises a holding part fixed in the corresponding terminal groove of the insulating body, a plurality of contact arms extending forwards from the holding part and arranged along the width direction of the conductive terminal and a protruding part extending backwards from the holding part, and the butting piece butts against the non-butting side of the contact arm corresponding to the conductive terminal from the outer side, and the electric connector is characterized in that: each abutting piece is provided with an abutting part which is positioned at the front end of the abutting piece and is in abutting contact with the contact arm of the corresponding conductive terminal, the front end of each abutting piece is a free end, the rear end of each abutting piece is a fixed end, the front end of each contact arm is a free end, the rear end of each contact arm is a fixed end, so that the abutting piece and the contact arms extend in the same direction, each contact arm comprises a first arm part and a second arm part, the first arm part extends forwards from the holding part and along the first direction, the second arm part extends forwards from the front end of the first arm part and along the second direction opposite to the first direction, the abutting part abuts against the joint part of the first arm part or the first arm part and the second arm part to be in surface contact with the first arm part or the second arm part, the protruding part extends backwards and straightly along the direction parallel to the abutting direction of the electric connector, the electric connector is further provided with a connecting part connected with the protruding part, and the connecting part is provided with a first connecting part which is arranged in parallel to the protruding part and bent and extends from the first connecting part A second connecting portion extending to be connected to the cable.

2. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein: the rear ends of the contact arms of each conductive terminal are connected with each other through the holding part, and the front ends of the contact arms are independent from each other to form a cantilever.

3. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein: each abutting piece is provided with at least one connecting arm formed by bending the rear end of the holding part corresponding to the conductive terminal forwards and reversely, and the abutting part is connected with the front end of the connecting arm.

4. The electrical connector of claim 3, wherein: the connecting arms are connected with the fixing part through arc-shaped bending parts, and each connecting arm is provided with a rib part extending along the front-back direction.

5. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein: the pair of abutting pieces are integrally connected with each other through a connecting wall to form an abutting piece together, the connecting wall is provided with a containing groove penetrating through the connecting wall along the front-back direction, the abutting piece is assembled on the outer sides of the pair of conductive terminals from back to front, and the protruding portion is inserted backwards and penetrates through the containing groove.

6. The electrical connector of claim 5, wherein: at least one of the abutting pieces is provided with a buckling part bent towards the corresponding conductive terminal, and the buckling part extends into a buckling groove formed in the conductive terminal so as to fixedly connect the abutting piece with the corresponding conductive terminal.

7. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein: the protruding part is provided with at least one positioning hole, and the connecting piece is provided with a through hole aligned with the positioning hole in the height direction so as to insert a fastener or fill molten soldering tin and fix the protruding part and the connecting piece.

8. The electrical connector of claim 7, wherein: the protruding part and the connecting piece are connected with the surfaces in contact through an ultrasonic welding mode.

9. The electrical connector of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein: the electric connector is also provided with a rear cover which is assembled at the rear side of the insulating body from back to front, the rear cover is provided with a plate body part, at least one pair of limiting arms and at least one pair of clamping arms, the limiting arms extend forwards from the front end surface of the plate body part to form the at least one pair of limiting arms, the at least one pair of limiting arms are respectively arranged at two ends of the plate body part in the height direction and are inserted forwards into corresponding limiting grooves arranged at the rear side of the insulating body, and the at least one pair of clamping arms are positioned between the limiting arms in the height direction.