CN114079178B

CN114079178B - Electric connector

Info

Publication number: CN114079178B
Application number: CN202010796062.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张存东; 陈敏; 何佳; 刘开文
Original assignee: Molex Interconnect Chengdu Co Ltd; Molex LLC
Current assignee: Molex Interconnect Chengdu Co Ltd; Molex LLC
Priority date: 2020-08-10
Filing date: 2020-08-10
Publication date: 2023-08-29
Anticipated expiration: 2040-08-10
Also published as: CN114079178A; TWI763044B; TW202207549A

Abstract

An electrical connector includes a housing, a plurality of terminals, and a cover. The shell is provided with a first buckling structure. The terminals are disposed in the housing, each terminal having a fixing portion fixed to the housing, a tail portion extending downward from the fixing portion, and a surface soldering portion connected to a distal end of the tail portion and adapted to be soldered to a surface of the circuit board. The cover is arranged at the rear end of the shell, the cover is provided with a second buckling structure and a terminal cover part, the cover can move relative to the shell along the moving direction, the second buckling structure can be correspondingly buckled with the first buckling structure of the shell in two sections, so that the cover can be operated to stop at a pre-buckling position and a final buckling position, when the cover is at the pre-buckling position, the surface welding part of the terminal is exposed, and when the cover is at the final buckling position, the terminal cover part covers the tail part and the surface welding part of the terminal.

Description

Electric connector

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly, to an electrical connector with a cover.

Background

In recent years, chinese patent publication No. CN1166704a (corresponding to U.S. patent No. US5,971,774) discloses a connector for connecting printed circuit boards, the connector comprising a housing having a plurality of elongated conductive terminals extending therefrom in a first direction, a centering member being connected to the housing, the centering member being adapted to hold free ends of the terminals in a substantially fixed direction relative to the housing, wherein the centering member is movable in the first direction relative to the housing from a temporary position to a final position, the terminals being held tightly in the temporary position by the centering member and being held loosely in the final position by the centering member.

The centering element disclosed in this publication serves only to hold and position the free end of the terminal. The rear section of the terminal remains exposed. In some applications, the exposed tail portions of the terminals may become contaminated during manufacture or use, causing damage, degradation, poor contact, or disconnection of the terminals and solder joints.

Disclosure of Invention

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an electrical connector that ameliorates at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art.

Thus, in some embodiments, the electrical connector of the present invention includes a housing, a plurality of terminals, and a cover. The shell is provided with a first buckling structure. The terminals are arranged on the shell, and each terminal is provided with a fixing part fixed on the shell, a tail part extending downwards from the fixing part and a surface welding part connected to the tail end and used for being welded on the surface of a circuit board. The cover is arranged at the rear end of the shell, the cover is provided with a second buckling structure and a terminal cover part, the cover can move relative to the shell along a moving direction, the second buckling structure can be correspondingly buckled with the first buckling structure of the shell in a two-stage mode, so that the cover can be operated to stop at a pre-buckling position and a final buckling position, when the cover is at the pre-buckling position, the surface welding parts of the terminals are exposed, and when the cover is at the final buckling position, the terminal cover part covers the tail parts and the surface welding parts of the terminals.

In some embodiments, the first fastening structure is formed on the left and right sides of the housing, and the second fastening structure is formed on the left and right sides of the cover, and the cover can move from the pre-fastening position to the final fastening position from top to bottom along the moving direction.

In some embodiments, the housing further has two side extensions located at the left and right sides of the rear end and extending laterally outward, the cover further has two downward extensions located at the left and right sides and extending downward, the two side extensions correspondingly cooperate with the two downward extensions, the first fastening structure is formed at the two side extensions, and the second fastening structure is formed at the two downward extensions.

In some embodiments, the first fastening structure includes a first fastening block located above and a second fastening block located below, the first fastening block and the second fastening block are respectively formed on a front side and a rear side of the corresponding side extension portion, each lower extension portion has a front fastening strip and a rear fastening strip respectively corresponding to the front side and the rear side of the corresponding side extension portion, and the second fastening structure includes fastening holes formed on the front fastening strip and the rear fastening strip of the corresponding lower extension portion and used for fastening corresponding to the first fastening block and the second fastening block.

In some embodiments, each side extension of the housing has a guiding hole formed downward, and each lower extension of the cover further has a guiding block formed downward between the front fastening strip and the rear fastening strip, and the guiding block is slidably inserted into the guiding hole up and down, so that the cover can move from top to bottom along the moving direction.

In some embodiments, the first fastening pieces formed on the two side extensions are offset left and right and offset front and back, respectively, and the second fastening pieces formed on the two side extensions are offset left and right and offset front and back, respectively.

In some embodiments, the first fastening structure is formed on the left and right sides of the housing, and the second fastening structure is formed on the left and right sides of the cover, and the cover is movable from the pre-fastening position to the final-fastening position from the rear to the front in the moving direction.

In some embodiments, the housing further has two backward extending portions located at left and right sides of the rear end and extending rearward, the cover further has two side arm portions located at left and right sides, the two backward extending portions correspondingly cooperate with the two side arm portions, the first fastening structure is formed at the two backward extending portions, and the second fastening structure is formed at the two side arm portions.

In some embodiments, the first fastening structure includes a first fastening block located at the rear and a second fastening block located at the front, the first fastening block and the second fastening block are formed on the inner wall surface of the corresponding rear extension portion, and the second fastening structure includes a fastening block formed on the corresponding side arm portion and configured to fasten to the first fastening block and the second fastening block.

In some embodiments, the terminal cover portion has an upper wall, two side walls, a rear wall, and a receiving groove defined by the two side walls, the upper wall and the rear wall for at least partially receiving tail and surface welding portions of the plurality of terminals.

Before the electric connector is assembled, the cover can be combined with the second buckling structure through the first buckling structure and arranged on the shell, so that the conveying, storage, material preparation and on-line assembly of parts are facilitated. And, because the second fastening structure is a first fastening structure which is fastened to the housing in a two-stage manner, the cover can be operated to stop at the pre-fastening position and the final fastening position, and when the cover is positioned at the pre-fastening position, the surface welding parts of the terminals are exposed, so that the surface welding installation of the surface welding parts of the electric connector is facilitated. When the welding operation is completed, the cover can be pushed to the final buckling position, and the tail and surface welding parts of the terminals are covered by the covered terminal cover part. Therefore, after the electric connector is assembled, the cover can completely cover the tail parts and the surface welding parts of the terminals exposed at the rear end of the shell, so that pollution, damage, degradation, poor contact or open circuit of the terminals and welding joints are prevented.

Drawings

Other features and technical effects of the present invention will be clearly apparent in the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of an electrical connector of the present invention disposed on a circuit board, the cover being shown in a pre-snap position;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the first embodiment of FIG. 1 and the circuit board from another perspective;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1, showing the cover in a final snap-fit position;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the first embodiment of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is another cross-sectional view of the first embodiment of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the electrical connector of the present invention disposed on the circuit board, with the cover in the pre-snap position;

FIG. 8 is a top view of the second embodiment of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of FIG. 9 from another perspective;

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the second embodiment of FIG. 7;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 7, showing the cover in the final snap position; and

fig. 13 is a cross-sectional view of the second embodiment of fig. 12.

List of reference numerals

100. Electric connector shell

11. Butt joint part

12. Terminal mounting groove

121. Jack (Jack)

13. Terminal holding block

14. Side extension part

141. Guide hole

15. First fastening structure

151. First buckle block

152. Second buckle block

151' first fastening block

152' second button

16. Rear extension

161. Guide chute terminal

21. Fixing part

22. Contact portion

23. Tail part

24. Surface weld masking

31. Downward extension part

311. Front fastening strip

312. Rear fastening strip

313. Guide block

32. Second fastening structure

321. Fastening hole

321a first button hole

321b second button hole

322. Fastening block

33. Terminal cover part

331. Upper wall

332. Side wall

333. Rear wall

334. Accommodating groove

34. Side arm

35. Guide slide block

200. Circuit board

D1 In the front-rear direction

D2 Left-right direction

D3 In the up-down direction

Detailed Description

Before the present invention is described in detail, it should be noted that in the following description, like elements are denoted by the same reference numerals.

Referring to fig. 1 to 4, a first embodiment of the electrical connector 100 of the present invention is suitable for being disposed on a circuit board 200, and the circuit board 200 is, but not limited to, a flexible circuit board 200 in the present embodiment. The electrical connector 100 comprises a housing 1, a plurality of terminals 2, and a cover 3.

Referring to fig. 1 to 5, the housing 1 has a pair of engaging portions 11 located at the front end in a front-rear direction D1 (the direction of the arrow is forward and backward), and a terminal mounting groove 12 formed from the rear end forward, the terminal mounting groove 12 having a plurality of insertion holes 121 formed at the front end of the engaging portions 11, the plurality of insertion holes 121 being arranged at intervals in a left-right direction D2 (the direction of the arrow is rightward and backward and leftward) and being divided into two rows in a up-down direction D3 (the direction of the arrow is upward and backward and downward) in the first embodiment. The plurality of terminals 2 are disposed in the housing 1, each terminal 2 has a fixing portion 21 fixed to the housing 1, a contact portion 22 extending forward from the fixing portion 21 and corresponding to the plurality of insertion holes 121, a tail portion 23 extending downward from the fixing portion 21 in the up-down direction D3, and a surface soldering portion 24 connected to an end of the tail portion 23 for soldering to a circuit contact (not shown) on the surface of the circuit board 200. Specifically, the housing 1 further includes a terminal holding block 13 for assembling the plurality of terminals 2 at a rear stage of the terminal mounting groove 12 by fixing the plurality of terminals 2 to the housing 1. The fixing portions 21 of the plurality of terminals 2 may be formed with a configuration such as a barb and be tightly fixed to the terminal holding block 13 by the configuration; or the fixing portions 21 of the plurality of terminals 2 may be fixed to the terminal holding block 13 by insert molding.

Referring to fig. 1 and fig. 4 to 6, the cover 3 is disposed at the rear end of the housing 1, and in the first embodiment, the housing 1 further has two side protruding portions 14 located at the rear end and extending laterally outward along the left-right direction D2, and a first fastening structure 15 formed on the two side protruding portions 14 located at the left and right sides of the housing 1. The cover 3 includes two downward extending portions 31 extending downward from the left and right sides and corresponding to the two side extending portions 14, a second fastening structure 32 formed on the two downward extending portions 31, and a terminal cover portion 33. The cover 3 can move along a moving direction relative to the housing 1, and the second fastening structure 32 can be fastened to the first fastening structure 15 of the housing 1 correspondingly in two steps, so that the cover 3 can be operated to stop at a pre-fastening position and a final fastening position. When the cover 3 is in the pre-fastening position, the surface welding portions 24 of the plurality of terminals 2 are exposed; when the cover 3 is in the final snap-fit position, the terminal cover portion 33 covers the tail portions 23 and the surface solder portions 24 of the plurality of terminals 2. Specifically, in the first embodiment, the terminal cover 33 has an upper wall 331, two side walls 332 connected to the upper wall 331 and extending downward, a rear wall 333 connected to the upper wall 331 and connected to the two side walls 332, and a receiving groove 334 defined by the two side walls 332, the upper wall 331 and the rear wall 333 for at least partially receiving the tail portions 23 of the terminals 2 and the surface welding portion 24.

In detail, in the first embodiment, the direction of the moving direction is the up-down direction D3, and the cover 3 can move from the pre-fastening position to the final-fastening position from top to bottom along the moving direction. The first fastening structure 15 includes two first fastening blocks 151 located above and two second fastening blocks 152 located below, and the two first fastening blocks 151 and the two second fastening blocks 152 are respectively formed on the front side and the rear side of the corresponding side extension 14. Wherein the two first fastening blocks 151 respectively formed on the two side extensions 14 are staggered left and right and are staggered front and back, one of the two first fastening blocks 151 is formed on the front side surface of the right side extension 14, and the other is formed on the rear side surface of the left side extension 14; the two second fastening blocks 152 formed on the two side extensions 14 are staggered left and right and front and rear, respectively, one of the two second fastening blocks 152 is formed on the rear side of the right side extension 14, and the other is formed on the front side of the left side extension 14.

Each lower extension 31 has a front fastening strip 311 and a rear fastening strip 312 corresponding to the front and rear sides of the corresponding side extension 14. The second fastening structure 32 includes a plurality of fastening holes 321 formed on the front fastening strip 311 and the rear fastening strip 312 of the corresponding downward extension 31 and used for fastening the two first fastening blocks 151 and the two second fastening blocks 152. The plurality of buttonholes 321 includes two first buttonholes 321a corresponding to the two first buttonholes 151, and two second buttonholes 321b corresponding to the two second buttonholes 152. When the cover 3 is at the pre-fastening position, the two first fastening holes 321a are fastened to the two first fastening blocks 151, and the two second fastening holes 321b are not fastened to the two second fastening blocks 152, in detail, the bottom edges of the front fastening strip 311 and the rear fastening strip 312 with the second fastening holes 321b are capable of abutting against the two second fastening blocks 152, so that the cover 3 is stopped at the pre-fastening position; when the cover 3 moves from the pre-fastening position to the final fastening position, the two first fastening holes 321a are still fastened to the two first fastening blocks 151, and the two second fastening holes 321b are fastened to the two second fastening blocks 152, so that the cover 3 is stopped at the final fastening position. That is, the cover 3 can be preassembled to the housing 1 through the first fastening hole 321a and the two first fastening blocks 151. The cover 3 can be completely assembled to the housing 1 and stopped at the final fastening position by the second fastening hole 321b and the two second fastening blocks 152. In addition, the top surface of each side extension 14 of the housing 1 has a guiding hole 141 formed downward, each lower extension 31 of the cover 3 further has a guiding block 313 formed downward between the front fastening strip 311 and the rear fastening strip 312, and the guiding blocks 313 of the two lower extensions 31 are slidably inserted into the guiding holes 141 of the two side extensions 14 up and down, so that the cover 3 can move from top to bottom along the moving direction.

Generally, the cover 3 can be combined with the second fastening structure 32 by the first fastening structure 15 and the second fastening structure 32 to be disposed on the housing 1 before the electric connector 100 is assembled, which is beneficial to transporting, storing, preparing and assembling parts on line. In addition, since the second fastening structure 32 is correspondingly fastened to the first fastening structure 15 of the housing 1 in two steps, the cover 3 can be operated to stop at the pre-fastening position and the final fastening position, and when the cover 3 is located at the pre-fastening position, the surface welding portions 24 of the terminals 2 will be exposed, so as to facilitate surface welding and mounting of the surface welding portions 24 of the electrical connector 100 and the circuit contacts of the circuit board 200. When the soldering operation is completed, the cover 3 can be pushed to the final fastening position, and the terminal cover portion 33 of the cover 3 covers the tail portions 23 and the surface soldering portions 24 of the terminals 2. Therefore, after the electric connector 100 is assembled, the cover 3 of the present invention can completely cover the tail portions 23 and the surface welding portions 24 of the terminals 2 exposed at the rear end of the housing 1, so as to prevent pollution, damage, degradation, poor contact, or disconnection of the terminals 2 and the welding points.

Referring to fig. 7 to 10, a second embodiment of the electrical connector 100 of the present invention is different from the first embodiment in that the housing 1 further has two rear extensions 16 located at the left and right sides of the rear end and extending rearward, the cover 3 further has two side arms 34 located at the left and right sides and extending forward from the left and right edges of the rear wall 333, the two rear extensions 16 are correspondingly engaged with the two side arms 34, the first fastening structure 15 is formed at the two rear extensions 16 located at the left and right sides of the housing 1, and the second fastening structure 32 is formed at the two side arms 34 located at the left and right sides of the cover 3.

Referring to fig. 7 and 11 to 13, the direction of the moving direction is the front-rear direction D1, and the cover 3 can move from the pre-fastening position to the final-fastening position from the rear-front direction along the moving direction. The first fastening structure 15 includes two first fastening blocks 151 'located at the rear and two second fastening blocks 152' located at the front, the two first fastening blocks 151 'and the two second fastening blocks 152' are formed on the inner wall surfaces of the corresponding rear extensions 16, and the second fastening structure 32 includes fastening blocks 322 formed on the outer side surfaces of the corresponding side arm portions 34 and fastened to the two first fastening blocks 151 'and the two second fastening blocks 152' respectively.

The inner wall surface of each of the rear extensions 16 of the housing 1 is formed with a guide chute 161 extending in the front-rear direction D1 and opening rearward, and the cover 3 is also formed with two guide sliders 35 extending outward from the left and right side edges of the upper wall 331 and slidably inserted into the guide chute 161 of the two rear extensions 16 so that the cover 3 can move rearward and forward in the moving direction.

When the cover 3 is at the pre-fastening position, each fastening block 322 is fastened to the first fastening block 151' and located between the first fastening block 151' and the second fastening block 152', so that the cover 3 is stopped at the pre-fastening position; when the cover 3 moves from the pre-fastening position to the final fastening position, the two fastening blocks 322 are fastened to the two second fastening blocks 152' respectively, and the two guiding sliding blocks 35 can abut against the inner wall surfaces of the front ends of the two guiding sliding grooves 161, so that the cover 3 is stopped at the final fastening position.

In summary, before the electric connector 100 is assembled, the cover 3 can be combined with the second fastening structure 32 through the first fastening structure 15 to be disposed on the housing 1, which is beneficial to transporting, storing, preparing materials and assembling parts on line. In addition, since the second fastening structure 32 is correspondingly fastened to the first fastening structure 15 of the housing 1 in two steps, the cover 3 can be operated to stop at the pre-fastening position and the final fastening position, and when the cover 3 is located at the pre-fastening position, the surface welding portions 24 of the terminals 2 will be exposed, so as to facilitate the surface welding and mounting of the surface welding portions 24 of the electrical connector 100. When the soldering operation is completed, the cover 3 can be pushed to the final fastening position, and the terminal cover portion 33 of the cover 3 covers the tail portions 23 and the surface soldering portions 24 of the terminals 2. Therefore, after the electric connector 100 is assembled, the cover 3 of the present invention can completely cover the tail portions 23 and the surface welding portions 24 of the terminals 2 exposed at the rear end of the housing 1, so as to prevent pollution, damage, degradation, poor contact, or disconnection of the terminals 2 and the welding points.

However, the above-mentioned embodiments are merely examples of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the embodiments, but is intended to cover modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. An electrical connector, comprising:

a shell with a first fastening structure;

a plurality of terminals arranged on the shell, wherein each terminal is provided with a fixing part fixed on the shell, a tail part extending downwards from the fixing part and a surface welding part connected to the tail end and used for being welded on the surface of a circuit board; and

the cover is arranged at the rear end of the shell and provided with a second buckling structure and a terminal cover part, the cover can move relative to the shell along a moving direction, the second buckling structure can correspondingly buckle to the first buckling structure of the shell in a two-stage mode, so that the cover can be operated to stop at a pre-buckling position and a final buckling position, when the cover is at the pre-buckling position, the surface welding parts of the terminals are exposed, and when the cover is at the final buckling position, the terminal cover part covers the tail parts and the surface welding parts of the terminals;

the first buckling structure is formed on the left side and the right side of the shell, the second buckling structure is formed on the left side and the right side of the cover, and the cover can move from the pre-buckling position to the final buckling position from top to bottom along the moving direction;

the shell is also provided with two side extending parts which are positioned at the left side and the right side of the rear end and extend outwards laterally, the cover is also provided with two downward extending parts which are positioned at the left side and the right side and extend downwards, the two side extending parts are correspondingly matched with the two downward extending parts, the first fastening structure is formed at the two side extending parts, and the second fastening structure is formed at the two downward extending parts;

the first fastening structure comprises a first fastening block positioned above and a second fastening block positioned below, the first fastening block and the second fastening block are respectively formed on the front side surface and the rear side surface of the corresponding side extension part, each lower extension part is provided with a front fastening strip and a rear fastening strip which respectively correspond to the front side surface and the rear side surface of the corresponding side extension part, and the second fastening structure comprises a front fastening strip and a rear fastening strip which are formed on the corresponding lower extension part and fastening holes which are used for being fastened with the first fastening block and the second fastening block correspondingly.

2. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein each side extension of the housing has a downwardly formed guide hole, and each lower extension of the cover further has a downwardly formed guide block located between the front and rear fastening strips, the guide blocks being slidably inserted into the guide holes up and down to enable the cover to move from top to bottom along the moving direction.

3. The electrical connector of claim 2, wherein the first latching portions formed on the two side extensions are laterally offset and longitudinally offset, and the second latching portions formed on the two side extensions are laterally offset and longitudinally offset.

4. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the terminal cover has an upper wall, two side walls, a rear wall, and a receiving slot defined by the two side walls, the upper wall and the rear wall for at least partially receiving tail portions and surface solder portions of the plurality of terminals.

5. An electrical connector, comprising:

a shell with a first fastening structure;

the first buckling structure is formed on the left side and the right side of the shell, the second buckling structure is formed on the left side and the right side of the cover, and the cover can move from the pre-buckling position to the final buckling position from back to front along the moving direction;

the shell is also provided with two backward extending parts which are positioned at the left side and the right side of the rear end and extend backwards, the cover is also provided with two side arm parts which are positioned at the left side and the right side, the two backward extending parts are correspondingly matched with the two side arm parts, the first fastening structure is formed at the two backward extending parts, and the second fastening structure is formed at the two side arm parts;

the first buckling structure comprises a first buckling block positioned at the rear and a second buckling block positioned at the front, the first buckling block and the second buckling block are formed on the inner wall surface of the corresponding rear extension part, and the second buckling structure comprises buckling blocks which are formed on the corresponding side arm parts and are used for buckling the first buckling block and the second buckling block correspondingly.

6. The electrical connector of claim 5, wherein the terminal cover has an upper wall, two side walls, a rear wall, and a receiving slot defined by the two side walls, the upper wall and the rear wall for at least partially receiving tail portions and surface solder portions of the plurality of terminals.