GB2301233A

GB2301233A - Female contact for mounting in circuit board

Info

Publication number: GB2301233A
Application number: GB9524227A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Magrina Francisco Nolla
Original assignee: Lear Automotive EEDS Spain SL
Current assignee: Lear Automotive EEDS Spain SL
Priority date: 1995-05-24
Filing date: 1995-11-27
Publication date: 1996-11-27
Anticipated expiration: 2015-11-27
Also published as: GB2301233B; PT9204U; GB9524227D0; ITUD950059V0; DE29516992U1; ES1031165U; SE9601932L; SE9601932D0; SE511240C2; IT239081Y1; ES1031165Y; FR2734666A3; ITUD950059U1; PT9204T; FR2734666B3

Abstract

A female contact member for mounting in a printed circuit board is formed from a single piece of metal and comprises a female contact 10, an intermediate zone 19, 21 and a pin 16 for mounting in a board. The intermediate zone is wedge shaped and formed so as to prevent dirt above the female contact from reaching the circuit board below the contact. The female contact is square section and contains contact springs 17 visible through inspection holes 18. Tabs 15 reinforce the female contact 10. The pin is formed by folding metal plate.

Description

FEMALE MEMBER FOR A PRINTED CIRCUIT This invention relates to a female member for a printed circuit.

In the field of printed circuits there exists a series of elements which are mounted thereon, such as low or average power female members. Such female members may be inserted, attached and then soldered on the conductive parts of the printed circuit and act as support and connecting element for the corresponding male terminals which are firmly connected with the ends of the corresponding conductive wires or other electronic units.

There exist various types of female printed circuit members, differing in form and in the manner of attachment to the printed circuit.

In general, this type of female member comprises two different parts, a lower part formed of one or more pins which may be inserted into the printed circuit, to be subsequently soldered there, and an opposing upper part formed of two metal strips which meet at the same point as where the male terminal is inserted and retained with great force by the metal strips.

The current tendency is for the various elements incorporated in printed circuits, to ensure perfect electrical connection, to act as a covering member against external agents, such as dust, dirt and grease which come to be deposited on the contacts as a consequence of incorporating the printed circuit in an automobile. It is therefore desirable to establish an arrangement in the female printed circuit members which makes it possible to prevent the external agents from prejudicing, with use, the perfect electrical connection between the upper part of the female printed circuit member and the male terminal applied between the strips which form the upper part.

Of another technical order, when the respective quality controls are incorporated into the corresponding process and production line, randomly selected components are ever more frequently subjected to appropriate testing to verify whether their technical specifications are those programmed.

For this reason, according to the invention, the female member, closed as will be seen below, should be constructed in such a way that permits, on the one hand, perfect protection of the contacts of the female member and the male terminal, at the same time as incorporating a circular window in one of its side portions for random quality control to verify the distance between the two metal strips between which is situated the male terminal.

The rear part of the female power member can be substantially rectangular parallelepiped in form, while the middle area thereof can be of regular tetrapyramidal form, from the lower face of which emerges the male terminal and of which the end is inserted into the corresponding printed circuit for subsequent soldering thereto.

In a preferred embodiment, the rear zone has an upper face and a lower face and two side faces, the upper and lower faces being extended by a plurality of bent ribs which, towards the inside, form a plurality of inclined planes between which is inserted the corresponding male terminal.

One of the side faces of the rear part comprises, in the vicinity of its smaller side face, a circular bore or window which permits quality control during the corresponding manufacturing process.

The upper face is reinforced by means of a plurality of upper ribs the function of which is to prevent the female member from opening as a consequence of the axial forces resulting from the introduction of a male terminal inside the inclined planes forming the electrical contact.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a female power member according to the invention; Figure 2 is a longitudinal section taken along the line 2-2 of Figure 4; Figure 3 is a side elevational view of the female printed circuit member.

Figure 4 is a plan view of the female power member; Figure 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Figure 4; and Figure 6 is a section taken on the line 6-6 of Figure 4.

One preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in Figure 1. The female printed circuit member 10 comprises a substantially rectangular parallelepiped rear zone, a regular tetrapyramidal middle zone and a front zone forming an insertion end 16.

The rear zone is formed of an upper face 11 and a lower face 12 parallel with each other and a right-hand lateral face 13 and left-hand lateral face 14.

The upper and lower faces 11 and 12 have extensions 17 which form contact planes and whose ends 17.1 are directed towards the faces 11 and 12.

The lateral face 14 is extended by a plurality of upper ribs 15 which form a right-angle with the face 14 and which press on the upper face 11 via upper recesses 20.

In the lateral face 13 there is formed a circular bore 18, the purpose of which is to act as an auxiliary element for checking the separation between contacts 17 continuously on the production line itself.

The central zone of the terminal 10 is in the form of a regular tetrapyramid and comprises a plurality of lateral faces formed by triangular ribs 19. This central zone of the female member 10 is extended to form an insertion pin 16 formed by means of a bent plate 16.1, as may be best seen from Figure 5.

The above-described construction forms a single unit 10 which is totally closed such that the male terminal, when assembled, in the outside of the corresponding cable or electronic module, is placed through the zone defined by the contacts 17, pressing these gently towards the upper face 11 and lower face 12 and catching in the end position in the corresponding upper recesses 20 and lower recesses 12.1, as may be seen in Figure 2.

On the other hand, as may be seen from Figure 4, the upper face 11 of the female member 10 is constructed in such a way that, in the zones adjoining the upper ribs 15 there are formed a plurality of recesses 20 which are covered by the ribs 15. The upper face 11 is therefore prevented, upon insertion of a male terminal into the contacts 17, from being displaced outwardly, despite the axial forces generated, these forces being offset by overlapping of the abovementioned ribs 15 and recesses 20.

The upper 11 and lower 12 faces of the rear part of the female member 10 extend forwards in inclined front planes 21 whose lateral faces bend to form the corresponding triangular edges 19 all of which may be seen from Figures 1, 2 and 3.

When the female printed circuit member 1 is used it is inserted by means of items normally used for inserting electrical and electronic components perpendicularly into a printed circuit by the front part, that is to say by the insertion pin 16, which normally passes through the printed circuit and is subsequently soldered to a conductive part thereof.

At the rear part the corresponding male terminal is inserted in such a way as to effect contact between an electrical conductor at the end of the male terminal and the corresponding conductive part of the printed circuit which has a predetermined function.

The fact that the connection zone formed by the contacts 17 is totally covered against the external effects not only of dust or dirt, oil and the like, but also against bumps which may occur during assembly of the automobile ensures great reliability of the female printed circuit member, owing to its totally closed rear zone. It is able, therefore, to have levels of safety and reliability wholly unknown hitherto and which greatly surpass the required values of one error per 100,000 female members manufactured, which is usually sufficient in the automobile sector.

The main feature of the closed form of the female member is that it must be robust if the forces which occur during mounting of the printed circuit board are' not to damage its structure.

The female printed circuit member according to the invention provides a simple, effective construction which may be put into practice very easily.

Claims

1. A female printed circuit member formed from a metal sheet or plate by pressing and bending to form a single body, the end or insertion pin of which is to be inserted into a printed circuit, while the other end is to receive a male terminal mounted on the end of a conventional electrical conductor or electronic unit, the female member 10 comprising three zones, a front zone or male terminal 16, a substantially regular tetrapyramidal middle zone and a parallelepiped rear zone which incorporates the corresponding quality control means as well as the means of compensating axial forces.

2. A female printed circuit member as claimed in Claim 1 in which the front zone of the female member is formed of a bent plate constituting an insertion pin.

3. A female printed circuit member as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 in which the middle zone of the female printed circuit member is formed by two larger faces which form inclined front plates as extensions of faces of the rear zone, while its lateral faces are formed by triangular ribs.

4. A female printed circuit member as claimed in any preceding claim in which the rear zone of the female member is substantially rectangular parallelepiped in form, with an upper face, a lower face and two lateral faces, the upper and lower faces being extended inwards by contacts in the manner of inclined planes which end in edges facing the faces.

5. A female printed circuit member as claimed in any preceding claim in which the quality control means of the female member are formed by circular bores provided in a lateral face of the middle zone.

6. A female printed circuit member as claimed in any preceding claim in which the force compensation means of the female printed circuit member are formed by upper ribs formed by extension of the lateral face and superposed on upper recesses effected on the upper face.

7. A female printed circuit member substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.