TWI801993B - Modular connection device - Google Patents

Abstract

A modular connection device includes a first connection module, a second connection module and a transmission cable. The first connection module includes a first insulating base and a plurality of first connectors. The first connectors are embedded in the first insulating base and used for plugging in a plurality of second connectors of a circuit board. The second connection module includes a second insulating base and a plurality of third connectors. The third connectors are embedded in the second insulating base and used for plugging in at least one fourth connector of at least one electronic component. The transmission cable includes a plurality of transmission lines and a covering tube. The plurality of transmission lines are electrically connected to the first connector and the third connector, respectively. The covering tube is used for covering the transmission line between the first insulating base and the second insulating base, so as to integrate the transmission line into a transmission cable.

Description

Modular connection device

The present invention relates to a modular connection device, in particular to a modular connection device for electrically connecting at least one fourth connector of an electronic component to a circuit board by using a plurality of transmission lines.

Generally speaking, in common computers or servers and other mainframes, there are usually multiple sets of connectors on the mainboard for users to install various devices on the mainboard. However, due to the limited space in the mainframe, other than direct In addition to the way of plug-in installation, there are more devices that connect the connectors on the motherboard and the connectors on the devices through transmission lines, so as to effectively utilize the space configuration in the host.

When there are multiple connectors on the motherboard that need to be connected to multiple connectors on another device, and the arrangement of the two is inconsistent, or they cannot be connected in parallel, most of them use multiple transmission lines for one-to-one connection. Therefore, the actual operation is very labor-intensive and cost-intensive, and it is easy for the operator to rework due to docking errors, or in order to avoid docking errors, it is necessary to design corresponding labels or instructions on the docking connector, which will also increase additional costs. . In addition, for devices that are connected separately using multiple connectors, it will take more time during maintenance due to the complicated disassembly and assembly, which will relatively increase the maintenance cost, and may even occur again during the disassembly and assembly process. Docking error problem.

Please refer to the first figure, the first figure is a schematic plan view showing the server mainframe of the prior art. As shown in the first figure, a server host PA100 includes a casing PA1, a circuit board PA2, a plurality of electronic components PA3 (only one is marked in the figure), and a plurality of transmission lines PA4.

The casing PA1 has a bracket PA11. The circuit board PA2 is installed in the casing PA1 and has a plurality of first connectors PA21. A plurality of electronic components PA3 are respectively fixed on the bracket PA11 and have a second connector PA31 respectively. Wherein, because the arrangement of the second connector PA31 and the first connector PA21 of the plurality of electronic components PA3 is inconsistent, the first connector PA21 and the second connector PA31 need to be electrically connected through a plurality of transmission lines PA4 respectively, It is very time-consuming and labor-intensive, and since the specifications of the first connector PA21 and other connectors on the circuit board PA2 are usually the same, it is easy to insert the transmission line PA4 into a terminal not used to connect the electronic component PA3 in actual operation. Other problems with the first connector PA21.

In view of the prior art, in order to connect multiple connectors on the mainboard to multiple connectors on a device with different arrangements, they can only be connected separately through multiple transmission lines, which is laborious, time-consuming and error-prone. Therefore, the main purpose of the present invention is to provide a modular connection device that can quickly assemble a plurality of connectors that are not aligned with each other, thereby avoiding assembly errors and labor-intensive and time-consuming problems.

In order to solve the problems of the prior art, the necessary technical means adopted by the present invention is to provide a modular connection device, which is used to electrically connect at least one electronic component to a circuit board, and the modular connection device includes a first A connection module, a second connection module and a transmission cable.

The first connection module includes a first insulating base and a plurality of first connectors. A plurality of first connectors are embedded in the first insulating base and used for plugging in a plurality of second connectors of the circuit board.

The second connection module includes a second insulating base and a plurality of third connectors. A plurality of third connectors are embedded in the second insulating base, and are used for insertion of at least one fourth connector of the at least one electronic component.

The transmission cable includes a plurality of transmission lines and a covering tube. The plurality of transmission lines are respectively electrically connected to the first connectors and the third connectors. The cladding tube wraps the transmission lines between the first insulating base and the second insulating base, so as to integrate the transmission lines into the transmission cable.

In an auxiliary technical means derived from the above necessary technical means, the first insulating base further has a supporting and fixing structure, and the supporting and fixing structure is used for fastening connection to the circuit board.

Preferably, the first insulating base further has a base body, and the supporting and fixing structure is integrally connected to the base body. Wherein, the base body has a first surface, and the first connectors are respectively exposed from the first surface. In addition, the base body further has a second surface opposite to the first surface, and the transmission lines respectively extend from the second surface.

In an auxiliary technical means derived from the above necessary technical means, the second insulating base has a plurality of installation spaces, and the third connectors are respectively arranged in the installation spaces.

In an auxiliary technical means derived from the above necessary technical means, the second insulating base is a fan assembly frame.

In an auxiliary technical means derived from the above necessary technical means, the second insulating base has a plurality of installation spaces, and the third connectors are respectively arranged in the installation spaces. Preferably, each of the installation spaces is a fan installation space.

The modular connection device provided by the present invention uses the first connector of the first connection module to be electrically connected to a plurality of second connectors on the circuit board correspondingly, and uses the second connection module to provide multiple The third connector is electrically connected to at least one fourth connector of the electronic component, and then the first connector and the third connector are electrically connected through a transmission cable, so that the electronic component can pass through the module provided by the present invention. The modular connection device is conveniently installed on the circuit board, which effectively reduces assembly difficulty and increases assembly efficiency, and thus relatively reduces assembly cost.

The specific embodiments adopted by the present invention will be further described by the following embodiments and drawings.

Please refer to the second figure to the fourth figure, the second figure is a schematic diagram showing the plane exploded view of electronic components connected to the host through the modular connection device of the present invention; the second figure A is an enlarged schematic diagram of circle A in the second figure ; The third figure is a three-dimensional exploded view showing electronic components connected to the host through the modular connection device of the present invention; schematic diagram.

As shown in the second figure to the fourth figure, a modular connection device 100 includes two first connection modules 1 and 1', a second connection module 2 and two transmission cables 3 (only one is marked in the figure) .

The first connection module 1 includes a first insulating base 11 and four first connectors 12 (only one is marked in the figure). The first insulating base 11 includes a base body 111 and a supporting and fixing structure 112 . The base body 111 has a first surface 1111 and a second surface 1112 opposite to each other. The supporting and fixing structure 112 is integrally connected to the side of the base body 111 . The four first connectors 12 are respectively embedded in the first insulating base 11 and exposed from the first surface 1111 . In addition, since the first connection module 1 ′ has the same structure as the first connection module 1 , no more details are given here.

The second connection module 2 includes a second insulating base 21 and eight third connectors 22 (only one is marked in the figure). The second insulating base 21 has two installation spaces S (only one is marked in the figure), so that two electronic components 200 (only one is marked in the figure) are accommodated in the two installation spaces S respectively. In this embodiment, the second insulating base 21 is a fan assembly frame, and the installation space S is a fan installation space. In addition, each electronic component 200 includes four electronic components 201 interconnected with each other, and each electronic component 201 has a fourth connector 2011 .

Eight third connectors 22 are embedded in the second insulating base 21, and are respectively arranged in the installation space S, so that when the electronic component 200 enters the installation space S, the fourth connector 2011 can be plugged in correspondingly. The third connector 22 further enables the electronic component 200 to be installed on the second connection module 2 .

The transmission cable 3 includes four transmission lines 31 (only one is marked in the figure) and a cladding tube 32 . The four transmission lines 31 are respectively electrically connected to the four first connectors 12 and the four third connectors 22, which means that the two ends of each transmission line 31 are electrically connected to the first connector 12 and the third connector 22 respectively. . The covering tube 32 covers the four transmission lines 31 between the first insulating base 11 and the second insulating base 21 , so as to integrate the four transmission lines 31 into a transmission cable 3 . By analogy, another transmission cable (not shown) is also electrically connected to the four first connectors 12 and the four third connectors 22 respectively, but since its structure is the same as that of the transmission cable 3, it is I won't go into details here.

Based on the above, in this embodiment, the second connection module 2 is detachably assembled to a casing 301 of a host 300; wherein, the host 300 also includes a circuit board 302, and the circuit board 302 is installed In the casing 301 , and the circuit board 302 includes a plurality of second connectors 3021 (only one is marked in the figure), the above four first connectors 12 are used to be plugged into the plurality of second connectors 3021 .

On the other hand, the first connection modules 1 and 1' are respectively used to be installed on the circuit board 302. Taking the first connection module 1 as an example, the four first connectors 12 are respectively connected by being arranged on the base body 111. Corresponding to four second connectors 3021 among the plurality of second connectors 3021 . When the first connection module 1 is installed on the circuit board 302 through the insertion of the first connector 12 and the second connector 3021 , the first connection module 1 can also be locked on the circuit board 302 through the supporting and fixing structure 112 , and the base body 111 can also be supported accordingly, so that the first connection module 1 can be more stably installed on the circuit board 302 .

After the first connection modules 1 and 1' are installed on the circuit board 302, since the transmission cable 3 is electrically connected to the plurality of first connectors 12 of the first connection module 1 and the second connection through a plurality of transmission lines 31, respectively. The plurality of third connectors 22 of the module 2, so the plurality of fourth connectors 2011 installed on the electronic components 200 of the second connection module 2 can be electrically connected to the circuit board 302 through the modular connection device, Thereby, even if the arrangement pitch of the second connector 3021 is inconsistent with the arrangement pitch of the fourth connector 2011, the electronic component 200 can be quickly installed on the circuit board 302 through the modular connection device 100 of this embodiment, which is very convenience.

In addition, since the plurality of first connectors 12 of the first connection module 1 are respectively fixed to the first insulating base 11 corresponding to the plurality of second connectors 3021 , the user can easily connect the plurality of first connectors The connector 12 is synchronously docked with a plurality of second connectors 3021; similarly, a plurality of third connectors 22 are respectively corresponding to a plurality of fourth connectors 2011 and fixed on the second insulating base 21, so users can easily The multiple fourth connectors 2011 are synchronously docked with the multiple third connectors 22 .

It should be noted that, in this embodiment, although the eight third connectors 22 included in the second connection module 2 are arranged in two rows of four and arranged on the second insulating base 21, the second A connection module 1 is to electrically connect the two third connectors 22 located in the front row of the second insulating base 21 with the two third connectors 22 in the rear row on the same side through the transmission cable 3, opposite, the first The connection module 1 ′ is also electrically connected to the two third connectors 22 on the other side of the front row of the second insulating base 21 and the two third connectors 22 on the same side of the rear row through another transmission cable 3 . However, in other embodiments, it is not limited thereto, and the first connection modules 1 may also be electrically connected to the third connectors 22 in the same row, while the first connection modules 1' are respectively electrically connected to the other row. The third connector 22.

Please continue to refer to the fifth figure. The fifth figure is an exploded plan view showing another electronic component connected to the host through another modular connection device of the present invention. As shown in the first figure to the fifth figure, the present invention further provides a modular connection device 100a in another preferred embodiment, and the modular connection device 100a is compared with the modular connection device 100 by A second connection module 2a replaces the second connection module 2 of the modular connection device 100, and the second connection module 2a replaces one of the original plurality of third connectors 22 with a different size The third connector 22a; thereby, when an electronic component 200a includes three above-mentioned electronic parts 201 and an electronic part 202 with different sizes, it can be installed by the corresponding modular connection device 100a fixed on the host 300.

To sum up, compared with the prior art, in order to connect multiple connectors on the motherboard to multiple connectors with different arrangements on a device, only multiple transmission lines can be used to connect them separately, which results in laborious and time-consuming And error-prone problem; the modular connection device provided by the present invention uses the first connector of the first connection module to be electrically connected to a plurality of second connectors on the circuit board correspondingly, and uses the second The connection module provides a plurality of third connectors to be electrically connected to at least one fourth connector of the electronic component, and then electrically connects the first connector and the third connector through a transmission cable, so that the electronic component can be connected via The modular connection device provided by the present invention is conveniently installed on the circuit board, which effectively reduces assembly difficulty and increases assembly efficiency, and thus relatively reduces assembly cost.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the modular connection device of the present invention can be applied to a server, and the server can be used for artificial intelligence (English: Artificial Intelligence, AI for short) computing, edge computing (Edge Computing), It can also be used as a 5G server, cloud server or Internet of Vehicles server.

Through the above detailed description of the preferred embodiments, it is hoped that the characteristics and spirit of the present invention can be described more clearly, and the scope of the present invention is not limited by the preferred embodiments disclosed above. On the contrary, the intention is to cover various changes and equivalent arrangements within the scope of the claimed patent scope of the present invention.

PA100: server host PA1: Chassis PA11: Bracket PA2: circuit board PA21: First connector PA3: Electronic components PA31: Second connector PA4: transmission line 100,100a: Modular connection device 1,1': the first connection module 11: The first insulating base 111: base body 1111: the first side 1112: the second side 112: Supporting fixed structure 12: First connector 2,2a: Second connection module 21: Second insulating base 22,22a: The third connector 3: Transmission cable 31: Transmission line 32: cladding tube 200,200a: electronic components 201,202: electronic parts 2011: Fourth Connector 300: Host 301: Chassis 302: circuit board 3021:Second connector S: installation space

The first figure is a schematic plan view showing a server host in the prior art; The second figure is an exploded plan view showing electronic components connected to the host through the modular connection device of the present invention; The second picture A is an enlarged schematic diagram of circle A in the second picture; The third figure is a three-dimensional exploded view showing electronic components connected to the host through the modular connection device of the present invention; Figure 4 is a perspective view showing electronic components connected to the host through the modular connection device of the present invention; and The fifth figure is an exploded plan view showing another electronic component connected to the host through another modular connection device of the present invention.

100: Modular connection device 1,1': the first connection module 11: The first insulating base 111: base body 1112: the second side 112: Supporting fixed structure 12: First connector 2: The second connection module 21: Second insulating base 22: Third connector 3: Transmission cable 32: cladding tube 200: Electronic components 201:Electronic parts 2011: Fourth Connector 300: Host 301: Chassis 302: circuit board 3021:Second connector S: installation space

Claims (8)

A modular connection device is used to electrically connect at least one electronic component to a circuit board, the modular connection device includes: A first connection module, comprising: a first insulating base; and A plurality of first connectors are embedded in the first insulating base and used for plugging into a plurality of second connectors of the circuit board; A second connection module, comprising: a second insulating base; and A plurality of third connectors are embedded in the second insulating base, and are used for inserting at least one fourth connector of the at least one electronic component; and A transmission cable, comprising: A plurality of transmission lines are respectively electrically connected to the first connectors and the third connectors; and A covering tube is used to cover the transmission lines between the first insulating base and the second insulating base, so as to integrate the transmission lines into the transmission cable. The modular connection device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first insulating base further has a supporting and fixing structure, and the supporting and fixing structure is used for fastening and connecting to the circuit board. The modular connection device according to claim 2, wherein the first insulating base further has a base body, and the supporting and fixing structure is integrally connected to the base body. The modular connection device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the base body has a first surface, and the first connectors are respectively exposed from the first surface. The modular connection device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the base body has a second surface opposite to the first surface, and the transmission lines are respectively extended from the second surface. The modular connection device according to claim 1, wherein the second insulating base is a fan assembly frame. The modular connection device according to claim 1, wherein the second insulating base has a plurality of installation spaces, and the third connectors are respectively arranged in the installation spaces. The modular connection device according to claim 7, wherein each of the installation spaces is a fan installation space.

Images