EP0617487B1 - Connector assembly especially for mobile telephone - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a connector device, consisting of a first and a second connector, in particular a device connector and a cable connector, in particular for a mobile phone, as can be found in the preamble of claim 1. Such Electrical connector has become known, for example, from DE-OS 25 25 639. It is used to connect two flat cables, which is why the terms "device plug" and "cable plug" are to be understood in the broadest sense as "first plug" and "second plug".

If such a plug-in connection is to be used, for example in connection with a mobile phone, it is not sufficient if the signal and the power supply are connected in an electrically conductive manner via the contact elements, rather one also has to make an electrically conductive connection of the antenna in the area of the connector device. This is not possible with the generic connector device. It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a plug-in connection device which makes it possible for not only the signal contacts and the power supply to be electrically connected when the two plugs are plugged together, namely the device plug and the cable plug, but also the incoming antenna line to the continuing. In addition, particular attention is paid to a particularly small construction and low weight when using the plug-in connection device in connection with a mobile phone, and that with as many contact elements as possible.

To solve this problem it is proposed in document GB-A-2 243 034 that the connector device is designed such that at least one coax contact is integrated in each connector housing. This means that you can connect the incoming or outgoing antenna cable to both the connector and the cable connector, and the connection between the connector and the cable connector has also created a continuous connection to the antenna.

Because in the manufacture of the two plugs of this connector device, as mentioned, attention must be paid to small size and light weight, the dimensions and thus the wall thickness are very small. On the other hand, however, the plug-in connection device should ensure a vibration-proof, mechanically somewhat robust connection of its two plugs, which of course should only be able to be plugged together in a known manner in a known manner. The electrical connection should not only be flawless and permanent in the area of the connecting elements, for example the signal contacts and the power supply contacts, but also in the area of the coax contacts.

In order to ensure this, the invention proposes that each coax contact be in the form of a sleeve Contacting his plug housing is inserted and that the contact is defined by the characterizing features of claim 1. This means that each coax contact in its connector housing takes on the exactly intended position and it also retains this when the two connectors are plugged in and loosened. Above all, you can use these two sleeve-shaped contacts of the two connector housings for easy and quick assembly of the two connectors. They not only represent an additional guide and centering aid, but also contribute to the fact that the device plug and the cable plug can only be plugged together in a single geometric assignment. Of course, this does not exclude that additional precautions are taken in this regard by appropriate shaping. Despite all this, this connector device can be produced in a quasi-miniaturized version without mechanical and electrical disadvantages.

According to this embodiment of the invention, each coax contact is latched, snapped or clamped in its contact. As the exemplary embodiment shows, one can, for example, snap one coax contact into its housing and clamp the other, whereby at least in the latter case an adhesive connection can also be provided.

The sleeve-shaped contact of the cable connector is thus attached to the central web of the housing, in particular integrally molded thereon. The latter is particularly useful because the housings of the two plugs are preferably plastic parts.

In particular, it is provided that the sleeve-shaped contact of the cable connector directly adjoins one of the narrow sides of the web. The web is thereby extended to a certain extent by this sleeve. This leads to a thickening of the web in this area.

According to one embodiment, the cable is not connected directly to the cable connector, but indirectly via the printed circuit board mentioned there. This is located at the base of a receptacle, for example a motor vehicle, the contact elements of the cable connector being connected and soldered to the corresponding connections on the printed circuit board using what is known as SMD technology. So if this recording in the motor vehicle or in a residential building or the like. is located, you can simply plug the mobile phone into this receptacle if necessary and all electrical connections are then made immediately.

If you take the mobile phone out of this holder, you can connect it with a cable that is located on a loose cable connector, the latter of course being of the same design as the cable connector of the holder.

Figur 1

eine Ansicht des Gerätesteckers mit angedeuteter, abgebrochen dargestellter Leiterplatte;

Figur 2

eine Vorderansicht des Gerätesteckers;

Figur 3

einen Schnitt gemäß der Linie III-III der Figur 2;

Figur 4

einen teilweise geführten Schnitt gemäß der Linie IV-IV der Figur 1;

Figur 5

einen teilweise entlang der Linie V-V geführten Schnitt der Figur 1;

Figur 6

eine Darstellung gemäß Figur 5 einer zweiten Ausführungsform der Erfindung;

Figur 7

in etwas größerem Maßstab eine Ansicht gemäß Figur 2 des Kabelsteckers;

Figur 8

einen Schnitt gemäß der Linie VIII-VIII der Figur 7;

Figur 9

einen Schnitt gemäß der Linie IX-IX der Figur 8;

Figur 10

eine Ansicht eines Kabels mit daran angebrachtem Kabelstecker;

Figur 11

in vergrößertem Maßstab perspektivisch eine zweite an einer Leiterplatte gehaltene Ausführungsform des Kabelsteckers;

Figur 12

etwas verkleinert einen Schnitt gemäß der Linie XII-XII der Figur 11 und

Figur 13

einen Schnitt gemäß der Linie XIII-XIII der Figur 12.

Further refinements of the invention, including the advantages and modes of operation resulting therefrom, result in connection with the drawing from the following description of exemplary embodiments. Here represent:

Figure 1

a view of the connector with indicated, broken circuit board;

Figure 2

a front view of the connector;

Figure 3

a section along the line III-III of Figure 2;

Figure 4

a partially guided section along the line IV-IV of Figure 1;

Figure 5

a section along the line VV of Figure 1;

Figure 6

a representation of Figure 5 of a second embodiment of the invention;

Figure 7

on a somewhat larger scale, a view according to Figure 2 of the cable connector;

Figure 8

a section along the line VIII-VIII of Figure 7;

Figure 9

a section along the line IX-IX of Figure 8;

Figure 10

a view of a cable with attached cable connector;

Figure 11

in perspective on an enlarged scale a second embodiment of the cable connector held on a circuit board;

Figure 12

somewhat reduced a section along the line XII-XII of Figure 11 and

Figure 13

a section along the line XIII-XIII of Figure 12.

The connector device according to the invention in the following exemplary embodiment consists of the device connector 1 and the cable connector 2. According to FIG. 1 and its designation, the connector is located in an electrical device, in particular a mobile phone, it expediently being flush with its housing 3 or, in contrast, being slightly set back inwards. It has contact elements 4 which are arranged in two rows in the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 2. In the special case, nine, in total eighteen, contact elements are provided in each row. Furthermore, it can be seen in particular from FIGS. 2 and 3 that, according to the invention, a coax contact 6 is integrated in the plug housing 5. It can be of known construction and is used to connect a coax cable 7. In the case of a mobile telephone, this coax contact 6 is used to connect the part of a coax cable 7 or antenna cable on the device side.

The cable connector 2 is provided with a number of contact elements 8 corresponding to the number of contact elements 4 of the device connector 1. These are also planned in two rows of nine. Figures 7 and 9 show that the contact elements 8 are located on a web 9 which is made in one piece with the connector housing 10 of the cable connector 2 from plastic. Furthermore, there is of course also a coax contact on the cable connector 2, which is designated by 11. It serves to connect the coax cable 7a.

The central web 9 of the cable connector 2 engages in a known manner in a housing receptacle 12 of the device connector 1, on the parallel longitudinal walls of which the contact elements 4 are located. In this way, the electrical contact between the mutually associated contact elements 4 and 8 is produced by plugging the device connector 1 and the cable connector 2 together.

The coax contact 6 is located in a sleeve-shaped housing receptacle 12 of the connector 1, which is made in one piece with the connector housing 5. On the cable connector 2, a sleeve-shaped contact is also provided and designated 14. The sleeve-shaped contact 13 of the connector 1 merges into the housing 12. The sleeve-shaped contact 14 of the cable connector 2 engages in this area when the two connectors are plugged together.

The coax contact 11 of the cable connector 2 is pressed into its sleeve-shaped contact receptacle 14, inserted or even simply pushed in and at least in the latter case is glued to the housing bore, for example in a central region 15.

Instead, according to FIG. 3, the coax contact 6, in particular in its central region 16, can be snapped or latched to the contact 13.

It can be seen from FIG. 7 that the sleeve-shaped contact receptacle 14 is attached to the side of the web 9 or is produced in one piece therewith and its diameter or its outer jacket is thicker than the thickness of the web 9.

A flat, sleeve-shaped housing part 17 of the connector housing 5 of the connector 1 has an essentially rectangular shape according to FIG. 2, but its two corners, which are lower in this figure, are replaced by inclined surfaces 18 and 19, respectively. The connector housing 10 of the cable connector 2 receiving this sleeve-shaped housing part 17 is provided on the inside with corresponding inclined surfaces 20 and 21. These sloping surface pairs 18, 19; 20, 21 ensure that the connector 1 and the cable connector 2 can only be plugged together in a single assignment. A further, this connection-secure plugging device is ensured by the two sleeve-shaped contact receptacles 13 and 14, which can only be plugged together when the inclined surfaces of the two housings 5 and 10 abut each other. However, it is not only the purpose of these sleeve-shaped contacts 13 and 14 to ensure the correct electrical connection of the coax cables 7 and 7a. Rather, this also supports or improves the centering when the connectors 1 and 2 are plugged together. The housing receptacle in which the web 9 is located, and which receives the flat, sleeve-shaped housing part 17 of the plug housing 5 is designated by 22.

According to FIGS. 5 and 6 in particular, the contact elements 4 of the device connector 1 are connected to the electrical conductors of the device or of the mobile telephone using so-called SMD technology, these being located on a printed circuit board 23 as shown in FIGS. 1 to 6. The circuit board 23 of FIG. 5 is provided with so-called pads only on its upper side, on which the free ends of the contact elements 4 rest and which to a certain extent represent the end points of the electrical conductors 24 of the circuit board or of the device or of the mobile telephone, which are symbolically drawn in FIG . In the exemplary embodiment in FIG. 6, there are electrical conductors or pads on both flat sides of the printed circuit board 23, which is why this printed circuit board is inserted between the two contact element groups, so that the contact elements 4 of the device connector 1 rest on both sides. Moreover, in this embodiment, the connector 1 is riveted to the circuit board 23 with the aid of two rivets 25 and 26.

According to FIG. 8, the connector housing 10 of the cable connector 2 is provided with a T-shaped housing extension 27, which engages in a formally adapted receptacle of a two-part connector end housing 28 in a manner that is not shown in detail, and thereby provides a fixed connection with this connector end housing guaranteed. The division plane of this end housing 28 runs parallel to the leaf plane according to FIG. 10.

In the exemplary embodiment in FIG. 11, the ends 29 of the contact elements 8 of the cable connector 2 which face away from the connector 1 and project beyond the connector housing 10 are bent toward the outer surfaces 30, 31 of the connector housing 10. This connector housing 10 is pluggably connected to a further printed circuit board 32 on which there are conductor tracks 33 or pads. In a manner not shown, this further circuit board 32 is attached, for example, to the base of a receptacle, for example, of a motor vehicle for the mobile phone. The conductor tracks 38 are electrically conductively connected to the coax cable 7a. In addition, the printed circuit board 32 and the connector housing 10 are coupled via two plug connections, a pin 34 of the one plug connection being shown in FIG. 11, which engages in a bore 35 in the printed circuit board 32, and the latter being shown broken open in FIG. 11 at this point . This connection can be designed so that it snaps or snaps into place. Press-in or hot stamping can also take place. After being plugged together, the bent ends 29 of the contact elements 8 and the pads or conductor tracks 33 of the printed circuit board 32 are soldered to one another in a known manner, such a solder joint 36 being shown in FIG. This training is Of course, this only makes sense if SMD technology is also used with regard to the coax cable 7, 7a or the coax contact 11. For this reason, the electrical connections in the form of bent tongues 37 are also guided to the outside and assigned to conductor tracks 38.

Claims (14)

1. A plug connection device comprising a first connector (1), in particular an appliance connector, and a second connector (2), in particular a cable connector, for example for a mobile telephone, wherein the first connector (1) comprises contact elements (4) which are arranged in rows and which on the one hand can be electricaly conductively connected to electric conductors (24) of an appliance or cable and on the other hand in each case to a contact element (8) of the second connector (2), wherein an electrically insulating housing (5, 10) of the first connector (1, 2) can be plugged into an electrically insulating housing (10, 5) of the other connector (2, 1) and wherein the receiving housing comprises a central rib (9) which engages into a housing receiver (12) of the plugged-in housing and on which the contact elements of the receiving housing are arranged, characterised in that in each connector housing (5, 10) there is provided at least one coaxial contact (6, 11) which can be inserted into a sleeve-like contact receiver (13, 14) of its connector housing (5, 10) and can be held therein by locking action, snap action or clamping action and that the sleeve-like contact receiver (13, 14) is arranged on the central rib (9), in particular is integrally moulded thereto, and that its outer diameter exceeds the thickness of the rib (9) so that the two connectors (1, 2) can be plugged together only in one single geometric assignment.
2. A device as claimed in Claim 1, characterised in that the contact elements (4) of a connector (1) are arranged as groups in two rows, wherein their free ends, which can be connected to the electric conductors (24) of an appliance, lie in a common plane, or that the contact elements (4) of the connector (1) are arranged as groups in two rows, wherein the free ends, which can be connected to the electric conductors (24) of the appliance, are arranged in two parallel planes, the distance between which corresponds approximately to the thickness of a first circuit board (23).
3. A device as claimed in Claim 1, characterised in that the free ends of the contact elements (4), which lie in a common plane, can be applied to a circuit board (23), wherein the contact elements (4) are connected to the electric conductors (24), in particular the so-called pads, of the first circuit board (23) in accordance with so-called SMD technology.
4. A device as claimed in Claim 1, characterised in that a first circuit board (23) is provided on both sides with so-called pads and it engages between the free ends of the groups of contact elements, wherein the contact elements (4) of said groups are connected to the electric conductors (24), in particular to the so-called pads, of the first circuit board (23) in accordance with so-called SMD technology.
5. A device as claimed in at least one of Claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the ends (29) of the contact elements (8) of the connector (2) which face away from a mating connector (1) and project beyond the housing (10) are bent over towards the outer surface (30, 31) of the housing (10) and form a SMD connection with a second circuit board (32).
6. A device as claimed in Claim 5, characterised in that the coaxial contact (11) of the connector (2) can also be electrically conductively connected to the second circuit board (32) via SMD technology.
7. A device as claimed in Claim 5 or 6, characterised in that the connector (2) and the second circuit board (32) can be mechanically coupled via preferably two pins (34), wherein in particular the two pins (34) are arranged on the connector (2) and the two receivers (35) therefor are arranged on the second circuit board (32).
8. A device as claimed in Claim 7, characterised in that the mechanical pins (34) are retained by snap action, locking action, impression or hot stamping.
9. A device as claimed in at least one of Claims 5 to 8, characterised in that the second circuit board (32) is arranged on the base of a receiver, for example in a motor vehicle, and the contact elements (8) of the connector (2) are connected and soldered to the corresponding terminals or conductor paths (38) of the second circuit board (32) in accordance with SMD technology.
10. A device as claimed in at least one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the sleeve-like contact receiver (14) of the connector (2) directly adjoins one of the narrow sides of the rib (9).
11. A device as claimed in at least one of Claims 1 to 10, characterised in that the sleeve-like contact receiver (13) of the plugged-in housing (5) of the first connector (1) opens into the housing receiver (12) for the rib (9).
12. A device as claimed in at least one of the preceding claims, characterised in that a sleeve-like housing member (17) of the plug-in housing (5) of the connector (1) substantially is of rectangular formation, wherein two of the four corners are externally replaced by sloping surfaces (18, 19), and that the receiving connector housing (10) is internally provided with corresponding sloping surfaces (20, 21) of its housing receiver (22).
13. A device as claimed in at least one of the preceding claims, characterised by two rivets (25, 26) or rivet bores on the housing (5) of the connector (1) for the connection thereof to a first circuit board (23).
14. A device as claimed in at least one of the preceding claims, characterised by an in particular T-shaped housing projection (27) of the connector (2) for engagement into a correspondingly shaped receiver of a preferably two-part connector end housing (28).

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