GB2217524A

GB2217524A - Electrical connector

Info

Publication number: GB2217524A
Application number: GB8808747A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Roger Cornelius Bannister; Geoffrey Francis Brooker; Barry Ronald Robbins
Original assignee: CRL
Current assignee: CRL
Priority date: 1988-04-13
Filing date: 1988-04-13
Publication date: 1989-10-25
Also published as: GB8808747D0

Abstract

An electrical connector for use in establishing electrical connections to conductors at an edge of a printed circuit board (100) or similar substrate comprises a plurality of housing modules (1) releasably secured together in a row, at least one of the modules carrying an electrical contact (3) having a first portion (3A) for engagement with a conductor on the printed circuit board and a second portion (3B) for connection to a wire. <IMAGE>

Description

ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR This invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical connector of the type known as an edge connector as used for establishing electrical connections to conductors at an edge of a printed circuit board or a similar substrate.

A difficulty which arises with known edge connectors is that they can only be economically produced by producing only connectors with particular numbers of ways, that is contacts for connection to a printed circuit board or similar substrate, and thus for certain applications it may be necessary to obtain a connector with too many ways and cut it to the required length or use a plurality of relatively short connectors. Further, the conductors on printed circuit boards for mating with such connectors can have either of two standard pitches, that is centre line spacing, namely 5.08 mm or 6.35 mm, and with known connectors there is no facility for altering the pitch of the contacts as required. Both these disadvantages mean that a large inventory of connectors must generally be retained for it to be certain that any particular connection requirement can be met.

According to this invention there is provided an electrical connector for use in establishing electrical connection to conductors at an edge of a printed circuit board or similar substrate, comprising a plurality of housing modules releasably secured together in a row, at least one of the housing modules carrying an electrical contact having a first portion accessible for engagement with a conductor at an edge of a printed circuit board or similar substrate and a second portion electrically connected to the first portion and adapted for connection of an electrical wire thereto.

Preferably the or each housing module carrying an electrical contact has an open face through which the electrical contact is mounted on the housing module and which is covered by an adjacent housing module or other member in the complete connector.

Preferably said other member is a plate member serving as an end cap for the complete connector or as a spacer between a pair of adjacent housing modules in the complete connector.

With the connector of this invention any combination and number of contact ways is possible by appropriate selection of the number of housing modules and their arrangement, and by the appropriate selection and location of plate members the pitch of the connector can be set as required.

Preferably at least one housing module does not carrying any electrical contact but provides a passageway giving, in use, access through the connector.

By the use of such a housing module access can be had through the connector, for example to the inside of an enclosure on which the connector is mounted for the purpose, for example, of tuning or adjusting equipment within the enclosure.

Each housing module can be formed with a pair of resilient reversely bent legs by which the module can be retained in an aperture in a mounting panel.

The connector can include one or more coding plugs each having a first end portion adapted for initial engagement in a slot in an edge of a printed circuit board or similar substrate and a second end portion for receipt and retention in a respective housing module when the connector is initially mated with the edge of the printed circuit board or similar substrate, whereby after initial mating the connector becomes coded by means of the plug or plugs.

An electrical connector according to this invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of the housing of the connector; Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view through a contact-carrying housing module of the connector mounted on a mounting panel; Figure 3 is an elevational view of a portion of an electrical contact of the connector; Figure 4 is an elevational view of the contact of Figure 3 at 900 to Figure 3; and Figure 5 is a perspective view of a coding plug for use with the connector.

Referring to the drawings, the connector to be described is for establishing electrical connections between conductors on a printed circuit board 100 (Fig. 5) forming part of electrical equipment in an enclosure having an apertured mounting plate 200 (Fig. 2) in an aperture in which the connector is mounted.

The connector comprises a plurality of housing modules 1, two being shown in Figure 1, each moulded from an electrically insulating plastics material, the modules 1 being secured together in a row by means of bosses 2 on the modules 1 being received in corresponding blind bores (not shown) in an adjacent module 1.

At least one 1A (nearest one in Fig. 1) of the modules carries an electrical contact 3 (Fig. 2) having a first portion 3A accessible for engagement with the board 100 and a second portion 3B electrically connected to the first portion 3A and adapted for connection to an electrical wire (not shown). Each module 1A carrying a contact 3 has an open face through which the contact 3 is mounted on the module 1A, and which is covered by an adjacent module 1A or 1B or a plate member 4 moulded from an electrically insulating plastics material and serving as an end cap for the connector (as shown in Fig. 1) or as a spacer between a pair of adjacent modules 1, in the complete connector.

At least one 1B of the modules does not carry any contact 3 but instead provides a passageway 5 giving access through the connector to the interior of the enclosure on which the connector is mounted.

Such passageway can be used, for example, for access for a screw driver or the like for the purpose of effecting adjustment of equipment in the enclosure.

It will be appreciated that although Figure 1 shows only two housing modules 1 and one plate member 4 serving as an end cap, by appropriate choice of the number and types of module 1 a connector of any desired length with a desired number of contacts 3 can be obtained, and that by locating plate members 4 between adjacent modules 1 the pitch of, that is the spacing between, adjacent contacts 3 can be set as required.

Referring now to Figures 3 and 4 in particular, the first portion 3A of each contact 3 is stamped and formed from resilient sheet metal, for example 0.4 mm thick phosphor bronze, to provide a pair of opposed resilient contact arms 6 for receipt of an edge of the printed circuit board 100 therebetween such that at least one of the arms 6 contacts an electrical conductor on the board 100. The arms 6 can be gold plated in conventional manner at least at the points thereon that contact the board 100. The first portion 3A also has an intermediate section 7 formed with a hole 8 which receives a boss on a module 1 to locate the contact 3 on the module 1.

Extending from the end of the intermediate portion 7 remote from the arms 6 is a resilient contact finger 9 having rigidity embossments 10 of conventional form, which finger 9 forms part of the second portion 3B of the contact 3.

Referring now to Figure 2 also, the second portion 3B of the contact 3 also comprises a collar 11 mounted in the module 1A to receive an end of an electrical wire (not shown). The contact finger 9 extends into the collar 11, and there is a screw 12 engaged in a threaded hole in the collar 11 and by which the contact finger 9 can be urged into engagement with an electrical wire received in the collar 11.

The use of such a wire-connecting second portion 3B for the contact 3 enables wires within a relatively wide size range to be connected to the connector. However, it will be appreciated that connectors according to the invention can otherwise have contacts with second portions providing other means of connection, for example wire wrap posts or tab connections.

As shown in Figure 2, each module 1 is formed with a pair of resilient reversely bent legs 13 by which the module 1 can be retained in the aperture in the mounting 1 panel 200, in known manner.

Referring now to Figure 5 also, the connector can include one or more coding plugs 14 each having a first end portion 14A adapted for initial engagement in a slot 101, in an edge of the board 100, and a second end portion 14B for receipt and retention in a respective housing module 1 when the connector is initially mated with the board 100, whereby after initial mating the connnector becomes coded by means of the plug or plugs 14 such that it can thereafter be mated only with a board having an appropriately positioned slot 101 or arrangement of slots 101 in its mating edge.

As shown in Figure 5, each coding plug 14 is an elongate member moulded from electrically insulating plastics material and providing two pairs of opposed outwardly facing channels 15 and 16 forming the four sides of the plug 14. The second end portion 14B of the plug 14 is slotted as at 17 to provide a pair of cantilever arms 18 resiliently depressible towards each other on initial mating of the connector, each cantilever arm 18 having a projection 19 at its free end in the channel 16 forming its outer surface, by which projections 19 the plug 14 becomes latched in the associated housing module 1 on initial mating of the connector. If required the plug or plugs 14 can be removed from a connector to enable it to be recoded.

Claims

1. An electrical connector for use in establishing electrical connections to conductors at an edge of a printed circuit board or similar substrate, comprising a plurality of housing modules releasably secured together in a row, at least one of the housing modules carrying an electrical contact having a first portion accessible for engagement with a conductor at an edge of a printed circuit board or similar substrate and a second portion electrically connected to the first portion and adapted for connection of an electrical wire thereto.

2. A connector as claimed in Claim 1, in which the or each housing module carrying an electrical contact has an open face through which the electrical contact is mounted on the housing module and which is covered by an adjacent housing module or other member in the complete connector.

3. A connector as claimed in Claim 2, in which said other member is a plate member serving as an end cap for the complete connector or as a spacer between a pair of adjacent housing modules in the complete connector.

4. A connector as claimed in any preceding claim, in which at least one housing module does not carry any electrical contact but provides a passageway giving, in use, access through the connector.

5. A connector as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the first portion of the or each electrical contact is stamped and formed from sheet metal to provide a pair of opposed resilient contact arms for receipt of an edge of a printed circuit board or similar substrate therebetween.

6. A connector as claimed in Claim 5, in which the first portion of the or each electrical contact also provides a resilient contact finger forming part of the second portion of the electrical contact, the second portion also comprising a collar adapted and arranged to receive an electrical wire, the contact finger extending into the collar, and a screw engaged in a threaded hole in the collar and by which the contact finger can be urged into enagement with an electrical wire received in the collar.

7. A connector as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the housing modules are secured together by means of bosses on the housing modules being received in corresponding bores in adjacent housing modules.

8. A connector as claimed in any preceding claim, in which each housing module is formed with a pair of resilient reversely bent legs by which the module can be retained in an aperture in a mounting panel.

9. A connector as claimed in any preceding claim, including one or more coding plugs each having a first end portion adapted for initial engagement in a slot in an edge of a printed circuit board or similar substrate and a second end portion for receipt and retention in a respective housing module when the connector is initially mated with the edge of the printed circuit board or similar substrate, whereby after initial mating the connector becomes coded by means of the plug or plugs.

10. A connector as claimed in Claim 9, in which the or each coding plug is an elongate member providing two pairs of opposed outwardly facing channels forming the four sides of the plug, the second end portion of the plug being slotted to provide a pair of cantilever arms resiliently depressible towards each other on initial mating of the connector, each cantilever arm having a projection at its free end in the channel forming its outer surface, by which projections the plug becomes latched in the associated housing module on initial mating of the connector.

11. A method of coding an electrical connector, comprising mounting one or more coding plugs on a member with which the connector is to be mated, and then mating the connector with the member such that the plug or plugs become secured to the connector and remain on the connector when unmated fro the member whereby the connector can subsequently be mated only with a member having the appropriate plug receiving capability.

12. A method as claimed in Claim 11, in which said member is a printed circuit board or similar substrate, the coding plug or plugs being mounted on the board or substrate by having a portion received in a slot in an edge of the board or substrate.