Disclosure of Invention
The invention aims to provide an electric connector which can realize reliable and simple connection between a cable and an external circuit board and has a stable structure in the manufacturing process.
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an electrical connector, which is configured to be mounted on an external circuit board, and includes an insulating body and at least one conductive terminal, wherein the insulating body has at least one terminal groove, the conductive terminal is assembled and fixed in the terminal groove of the insulating body, and includes a pair of first connecting portions for connecting with the external circuit board, a second connecting portion for connecting with an external cable, and an intermediate connecting portion for connecting the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion, the intermediate connecting portion is connected to top ends of the pair of first connecting portions, one end of the second connecting portion is connected with the cable, the other end of the second connecting portion has a plurality of insertion portions extending downward, the intermediate connecting portion has a limiting groove for the insertion portions to extend into, at least a portion of the limiting groove and the corresponding insertion portion are respectively provided with a first interference portion and a second interference portion which are in interference fit with each other, the first interference part and the second interference part are positioned in an interference mode so that the intermediate connecting part and the second connecting part are fixed in an interference mode.
As a further improvement of the present invention, the intermediate connecting portion has two rows of the limiting grooves which are opposite to each other in the transverse direction and are arranged at intervals, and at least one of the limiting grooves in each row is provided with the first interference portion which is formed by protruding towards the center thereof.
As a further improvement of the present invention, the insertion portions are divided into two rows corresponding to the limiting grooves one to one, and at least one of the insertion portions in each row has the second interference portion positioned with the corresponding limiting groove.
As a further improvement of the present invention, the second interference portion is a snap groove formed by recessing one side of the insertion portion in the transverse direction.
As a further improvement of the present invention, the second connecting portion includes a crimping portion and a base portion connecting the crimping portion and the insertion portion, the base portion includes an inclined top portion and a pair of side portions extending downward from both sides of the inclined top portion in a transverse direction, the insertion portion extends downward from the corresponding side portions, and an included angle between the side portion and the inclined top portion is greater than 90 degrees, so that the insertion portion is disposed inclined with respect to a vertical direction and forms the second interference portion.
As a further improvement of the present invention, the intermediate connecting portion includes a limiting convex plate and a positioning piece stacked along a mounting direction in which the conductive terminal is mounted to the external circuit board, the limiting convex plate integrally connects top ends of the pair of first connecting portions, the positioning piece is a horizontally arranged plate-shaped structure, the limiting convex plate and the positioning piece both have the limiting groove penetrating through the limiting convex plate and the positioning piece along the mounting direction, and the limiting convex plate and the limiting groove on the positioning piece are respectively aligned along a height direction so as to allow the insertion portion of the second connecting portion to sequentially extend into the limiting convex plate and the positioning piece.
As a further improvement of the invention, the limit convex plate and the positioning sheet are respectively provided with a part of limit grooves which are provided with the first interference parts formed by protruding towards the centers of the limit grooves, and the first interference parts on the limit convex plate and the positioning sheet are respectively matched with the corresponding second interference parts.
As a further improvement of the present invention, the limiting groove on the limiting convex plate, in which the first interference portion is disposed, and the limiting groove on the positioning plate, in which the first interference portion is disposed, are disposed in a staggered manner.
As a further improvement of the present invention, only the limiting groove on the limiting convex plate has the first interference portion formed by protruding towards the center thereof, and the positioning piece is attached to the lower side of the limiting convex plate and welded integrally.
As a further improvement of the present invention, an extending direction of the first connecting portion coincides with a mounting direction in which the conductive terminal is mounted to an external circuit board, an extending direction of the intermediate connecting portion is perpendicular to the mounting direction, and the intermediate connecting portion connects end portions of the pair of first connecting portions located on the same side.
The invention has the beneficial effects that: the conductive terminal of the electric connector is provided with the first connecting part connected with the external circuit board and the second connecting part connected with the external cable, the reliable and simple connection between the cable and the external circuit board can be realized through the first connecting part and the second connecting part, and the second connecting part and the middle connecting part are prepositioned through the first interference part and the second interference part which are in interference fit with each other before welding, so that the mutual falling-off before welding is prevented, and the stability of an assembling structure in the manufacturing process can be ensured.
Detailed Description
The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to embodiments shown in the 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.
Referring to fig. 1 to 8, an electrical connector 100 according to a first embodiment of the present invention is shown, wherein the electrical connector 100 is configured to be mounted on an external circuit board (not shown), and has an insulative housing 11 and at least one conductive terminal 12. The insulating body 11 has at least one terminal slot 110, and the conductive terminal 12 is assembled and fixed in the terminal slot 110. In the illustrated embodiment of the present invention, the insulative housing 11 is assembled with two conductive terminals 12, but the number of the conductive terminals 12 and the corresponding terminal slots 110 is not limited thereto, and may be only one or more.
Referring to fig. 1 to fig. 3, the insulating body 11 has a body portion 112 and at least one positioning portion 113 protruding upward from a top surface of the body portion 112, the positioning portion 113 is provided with a positioning surface 1131 extending obliquely, and the positioning surface 1131 is disposed at a certain angle relative to a horizontal plane and is not perpendicular to the horizontal plane. In this embodiment, the two positioning portions 113 are respectively disposed on one side of the corresponding terminal groove 110 in the transverse direction, and the positioning surface 1131 is located on one side of the positioning portion 113 facing the terminal groove 110.
The main body 112 has a plurality of terminal slots 110 formed through the main body in the height direction, and in this embodiment, the number of the terminal slots 110 is four, and the terminal slots 110 are divided into two groups arranged side by side in the transverse direction, each group of the terminal slots 110 includes two terminal slots arranged side by side in the front-back direction and spaced apart from each other, and each terminal slot 110 is elongated in the transverse direction.
Referring to fig. 1 to 2 and 4 to 8, the conductive terminal 12 includes a pair of first connection portions 121 for connecting to an external circuit board, a second connection portion 122 for connecting to an external cable (not shown), and an intermediate connection portion 123 for connecting the first connection portion 121 and the second connection portion 122. The extending direction of the first connecting portion 121 is the same as the mounting direction of the conductive terminal 12 to the external circuit board, the extending direction of the intermediate connecting portion 123 is perpendicular to the mounting direction, and the intermediate connecting portion 123 connects the ends of the pair of first connecting portions 121 on the same side.
In the present embodiment, the conductive terminals 12 are mounted to the insulating body 11 along a height direction, that is, the mounting direction is the height direction, and the intermediate connecting portions 123 are connected to the top ends of the pair of first connecting portions 121.
In this embodiment, the intermediate connecting portion 123 extends in the front-rear direction so that the front end and the rear end of the intermediate connecting portion 123 are respectively connected to the top end of the corresponding first connecting portion 121, and the intermediate connecting portion 123 and the second connecting portion 122 have a positioning structure matched with each other.
The pair of first connecting portions 121 are spaced apart from each other in the front-rear direction, each of the first connecting portions 121 extends in the height direction, each of the first connecting portions 121 has a substrate 1211, at least one terminal pin 1212 extending downward from the substrate 1211, and a retaining portion 1213 bent and protruding from the substrate 1211, at least one of the first connecting portions 121 is inserted into the terminal groove 110, and the terminal pin 1212 is electrically connected to the external circuit board.
In this embodiment, each of the terminal pins 1212 has a mounting portion 1214 arched in the lateral direction toward both sides thereof, and the mounting portion 1214 is provided with a through hole 1215 extending therethrough in the front-rear direction, so as to form a fisheye structure for press-contacting to the circuit board. In other embodiments, the terminal pins 1212 may also be in-line solder pins.
The second connecting portion 122 has a first press-connecting portion 1221 and a second press-connecting portion 1222 connected to each other, the first press-connecting portion 1221 is clamped outside an insulating layer (not shown) of the cable to fasten and fix the cable, the second press-connecting portion 1222 is clamped outside a conductor of the cable to achieve an electrical connection, and the first press-connecting portion 1221 and the second press-connecting portion 1222 together constitute a press-connecting portion of the conductive terminal 12. In the embodiment, the overall extending direction of the second connecting portion 122 is not perpendicular to the horizontal plane but forms a certain angle with the horizontal plane.
In this embodiment, one end of the second connecting portion 122 is connected to the cable, and the other end has a plurality of inserting portions 1223 extending downward. The second connecting portion 122 further has a base 1225 connecting the crimping portion with the insertion portion 1223, the base 1225 includes an inclined top 1226 and a pair of side portions 1227 extending downward from both sides of the inclined top 1226 in the lateral direction, and the insertion portions 1223 extend downward from the corresponding side portions 1227.
The intermediate connecting portion 123 has a limiting groove 1231 into which the inserting portion 1223 extends, at least some of the limiting grooves 1231 and the corresponding inserting portions 1223 are respectively provided with a first interference portion 1232 and a second interference portion 1224, which are in interference fit with each other, and the first interference portion 1232 and the second interference portion 1224 are in interference positioning so as to enable the intermediate connecting portion 123 and the second connecting portion 122 to be in interference fixation.
The middle connection portion 123 has two rows of the limiting grooves 1231 opposite to each other in the transverse direction and arranged at intervals, and at least one of the limiting grooves 1231 in each row is provided with the first interference portion 1232 protruding toward the center thereof.
The insertion portions 1223 are divided into two rows corresponding to the limiting grooves 1231 one to one, and at least one insertion portion 1223 of each row of the insertion portions 1223 has the second interference portion 1224 located with the corresponding limiting groove 1231. As shown in fig. 5, in the present embodiment, the second interference portion 1224 is a snap groove formed on one side of the insertion portion 1223 in the transverse direction.
The middle connection portion 123 includes that follow the installation direction that conductive terminal 12 installed to the outside circuit board stacks up spacing flange 1233 and spacer 1234, spacing flange 1233 will the top of a pair of first connecting portion 121 is integrative links to each other, spacer 1234 is the platelike structure of horizontal setting, spacing flange 1233 and spacer 1234 all have the edge the installation direction is with its run through spacing groove 1231, just spacing groove 1231 on spacing flange 1233 and the spacer 1234 aligns respectively along the direction of height and sets up in order to supply the insert 1223 of second connecting portion 122 to stretch into in proper order.
In this embodiment, each of the position limiting convex plate 1233 and the positioning plate 1234 has a portion of the position limiting groove 1231 provided with the first interference portion 1232 formed to protrude toward the center thereof, and the first interference portions 1232 of the position limiting convex plate 1233 and the positioning plate 1234 are respectively matched with the corresponding second interference portions 1224.
The limiting groove 1231 of the first interference portion 1232 on the limiting convex plate 1233 and the limiting groove 1231 of the first interference portion 1232 on the positioning plate 1234 are arranged in a staggered manner.
During assembly, the insertion portion 1223 of the second connection portion 122 is inserted downward into the corresponding limiting groove 1231 of the limiting convex plate 1233, the second connection portion 122 and the limiting convex plate 1233 are positioned by the first and second interference portions 1232, 1224, the positioning piece 1234 connected with a material strap (not shown) is assembled and attached to the lower side of the limiting convex plate 1233, and the positioning piece 1234 is initially positioned by the first interference portion 1232 in part of the limiting groove 1231 and the second interference portion 1224 of the second connection portion 122, so as to ensure the stability of the assembly structure in subsequent processes and avoid deviation and dislocation to cause poor products. Solder paste is pasted in the limiting groove 1233 and then enters welding equipment, so that the inserting portion 1223 is welded in the limiting groove 1231. After the material belts connected to the positioning tabs 1234 and the limiting protruding plates 1233 are respectively broken off, the second connecting portions 122 of the conductive terminals 12 are connected to the cable, the first connecting portions 121 are assembled into the insulating body 11, and finally the terminal pins 1212 of the conductive terminals 12 are inserted into the through holes of the external circuit board and fixed thereto.
Referring to fig. 9 to 12, in the second embodiment of the electrical connector according to the present invention, the insulative housing 21 and the conductive terminal 22 of the electrical connector are substantially the same as those of the first embodiment, the conductive terminal 22 also has a first connecting portion 221, a second connecting portion 222 and an intermediate connecting portion 223, the intermediate connecting portion 223 includes a position-limiting convex plate 2233 and a positioning piece 2234 which are stacked, and the position-limiting convex plate 2233 and the positioning piece 2234 have a portion of a position-limiting groove 2231 having a first interference portion 2232 protruding toward the center thereof, and the first interference portions 2232 of the position-limiting convex plate 2233 and the positioning piece 2234 are respectively matched with the second interference portions 2224 of the second connecting portion 222.
The position-limiting convex plate 2233 is provided with a position-limiting groove 2231 of the first interference portion, and the position-limiting plate 2234 is provided with a position-limiting groove 2231 of the first interference portion 2232.
Similarly to the first embodiment, the second connection portion 222 includes a pressing portion and a base portion 2225 connecting the pressing portion and the insertion portion 2223, the base portion 2225 includes an inclined top portion 2226 and a pair of side portions 2227 extending downward from two sides of the inclined top portion 2226 in the transverse direction, the insertion portion 2223 extends downward from the corresponding side portions 2227, other same structures are not repeated herein, and differences between the two embodiments are mainly described below. In this embodiment, different from the first embodiment, an included angle between the side portion 2227 and the inclined top portion 2226 is greater than 90 degrees, so that the side portion 2227 is outward opened as viewed from the vertical direction, and the insertion portion 2223 is inclined from the vertical direction and is formed as a second interference portion 2224.
Please refer to fig. 13 and 14, which are schematic partial structural diagrams of the electrical connector according to the third and fourth embodiments of the present invention, wherein the composition and the assembly relationship of the electrical connector according to the third embodiment of the present invention are substantially the same as those of the first embodiment, and the composition and the assembly relationship of the electrical connector according to the fourth embodiment are substantially the same as those of the second embodiment.
Specifically, the insulating body and the conductive terminal of the electrical connector in the third embodiment are substantially the same as those in the first embodiment, and the second connecting portion of the conductive terminal has the same structure as the second connecting portion 122 in the first embodiment, that is, the second interference portion on the second connecting portion is also a fastening groove formed by recessing the insertion portion on one side in the transverse direction. Other similar structures are not repeated herein, and the difference between the electrical connector in the third embodiment and the first embodiment is shown in fig. 13:
in the embodiment shown in the third embodiment, only the limiting groove 3231 on the limiting convex plate 3233 has the first interference portion 3232 protruding toward the center thereof, the limiting groove 3231 on the positioning piece 3234 does not have the first interference portion, and the positioning piece 3234 is attached to the lower side of the limiting convex plate 3233 and welded integrally. In other embodiments, the limiting groove 3231 of the positioning plate 3234 may be provided with the first interference portion as in the first and second embodiments, and the positioning plate 3234 and the limiting convex plate 3233 are welded by the interference fit of the first interference portion and the insertion portion.
Specifically, the positioning plate 3234 may be directly welded to a predetermined welding area 3235 by spot welding on a surface thereof contacting with the limiting convex plate 3233, and further, in an interval area between two rows of limiting grooves 3231, so as to realize positioning and connection of the two; the positioning piece 3234 and the position-restricting convex plate 3233 may be positioned by forming a recessed land on the surface of the positioning piece 3234 or the position-restricting convex plate 3233 facing each other, and welding the positioning piece 3234 and the position-restricting convex plate 3233 in the recessed land, thereby fixing the intermediate connection portion including the positioning piece 3234 to the second connection portion.
The structure and assembly relationship of the insulating body and the conductive terminals of the electrical connector in the fourth embodiment are substantially the same as those of the second embodiment, and particularly, the structure of the second interference portion of the electrical connector in the fourth embodiment is the same as that of the second embodiment, and the insertion portion 4223 is formed as the second interference portion by utilizing the outward expansion of the side portion 4227; the difference between the electrical connector in the fourth embodiment and the second embodiment is shown in fig. 14: in the embodiment shown in fig. 14, the stopper groove 4231 on the positioning plate 4234 does not have a first interference portion protruding toward the center thereof, only the stopper groove 4231 on the positioning boss 4233 has a first interference portion 4232 protruding toward the center thereof, and the positioning plate 4234 is adhered to the lower side of the positioning boss 4233 and welded integrally. Similarly to the third embodiment, the positioning plate 4234 in the fourth embodiment is connected to the limit projection plate 4233 by spot welding, and is connected to the second connection portion. Similarly, in other embodiments, the stopper groove 4231 of the positioning plate 4234 may be provided with a first interference portion formed to protrude toward the center thereof so as to form an interference fit with the insertion portion 4223, and the positioning plate 4234 may be welded to the stopper boss 4233.
In each embodiment of the invention, the conductive terminals of the electric connector are provided with the first connecting part connected with the external circuit board and the second connecting part connected with the external cable, the reliable and simple connection between the cable and the external circuit board can be realized through the first connecting part and the second connecting part, and the second connecting part and the middle connecting part are pre-positioned through the first interference part and the second interference part which are in interference fit with each other before welding, so that the mutual falling off before welding is prevented, and the stability of an assembly structure in the manufacturing process can be ensured.
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.