Electrical connectors – Preformed panel circuit arrangement – e.g. – pcb – icm – dip,... – With provision to conduct electricity from panel circuit to...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-14
2002-10-15
Paumen, Gary (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
Preformed panel circuit arrangement, e.g., pcb, icm, dip,...
With provision to conduct electricity from panel circuit to...
C439S862000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06464512
ABSTRACT:
This application is based on an application No. 282751 filed in Japan on Sep. 18, 2000, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an apparatus provided with spring-loaded contacts that can reliably make electrical connection with terminals of electrical equipment attached in a detachable fashion.
There are various combinations of apparatus with electrical equipment attached in a detachable fashion. For example, a DVD player may be attached to in a detachable fashion to a power supply housing batteries to supply power to the DVD player. Here, the power supply is the apparatus and the DVD player is the electrical equipment. Apparatus and electrical equipment, which attach in a detachable fashion, make electrical connection via spring-loaded contacts as described, for example, in Japanese Patent Application HEI-7-19949 (1995). Spring-loaded contacts are provided with flexible arm segments and these flexible arm segments resiliently press connection segments against electrical equipment terminals to prevent contact failure. However, even with this configuration, contact failure problems cannot be solved in an ideal fashion. In particular, the probability of contact failure increases as time of use increases.
The probability of contact failure can be significantly reduced by making contact to a single terminal with a plurality of spring-loaded contacts For example, if the probability of one contact failing after a given time of use is {fraction (1/100)}, the probability of contact failure for two redundant contacts is significantly reduced at {fraction (1/100)}×{fraction (1/100)}={fraction (1/10000)}. Further, in the case where a contact supplies high current, a plurality of contacts can divide up that current for supply. This has the characteristic that effective contact resistance and the voltage drop across the contacts can be reduced.
FIG. 1
shows a plurality of spring-loaded contacts
104
connected to terminals. The spring-loaded contacts
104
of this figure are provided with a first spring-loaded contact
104
A and a second spring-loaded contact
104
B to connect with two terminals of the electrical equipment. The first and second spring-loaded contacts
104
A,
104
B are provided with connection segments
104
a
to connect with terminals, attachment segments
104
b
to attach to the board or substrate, and flexible arm segments
104
c
between the attachment segments
104
b
and the connection segments
104
a.
The spring-loaded contacts
104
of
FIG. 1
are oriented in opposition with connection segments
104
a
of the first and second spring-loaded contacts
104
A,
104
B in close proximity. Specifically, the flexible arm segments
104
c
of the first and second spring-loaded contacts
104
A,
104
B are disposed on both sides of the connection segments
104
a.
When the connection segments
104
a
of the first and second spring-loaded contacts
104
A,
104
B are pushed down by electrical equipment terminals, they move in the directions indicated by the arrows A and B of FIG.
1
. Specifically, the connection segments
104
a
of the first and second spring-loaded contacts
104
A,
104
B incline and move towards each other as they are pushed down. Both connection segments
104
a
do not move in parallel in the same direction as they are pushed down. Connection segments which do not move in the same direction will have excessive force applied to one side or the other when electrical equipment is attached, and both connection segments cannot connect to terminals in an ideal fashion. For example, when electrical equipment is attached in the direction indicated by the arrows a or b of
FIG. 1
, the first spring-loaded contact
104
A bends smoothly, but the second spring-loaded contact
104
B cannot bend smoothly. This is because the second spring-loaded contact
104
B bends in the direction indicated by arrow B, but does not move in the direction of electrical equipment attachment. Therefore, this system has the drawback that the second spring-loaded contact
104
B can be damaged and contact failure can occur easily.
This problem can be solved by orienting the first and second spring-loaded contacts in the same direction. For example, as shown in
FIG. 2
, the connection segments
204
a
of the first spring-loaded contact
204
A and the second spring-loaded contact
204
B can be disposed in the same manner at the right ends of the spring-loaded contacts. However, spring-loaded contacts
204
arranged in this fashion result in shorter flexible arm segments
204
c
for the second spring-loaded contact
204
B and thus a shorter bending stroke. This problem can be solved by widening the distance between the connection segments
204
a
of the first and second spring-loaded contacts
204
A,
204
B. However, since the distance between the connection segments of the first and second spring-loaded contacts is determined by the distance between electrical equipment terminals, that distance cannot be widened indefinitely. This is because the terminals of almost all electrical equipment are disposed in close proximity to one another. Therefore, two connection segments which connect to closely spaced terminals must be disposed close to one another. Consequently, spring-loaded contacts configured as shown in
FIG. 2
have the drawback that the spring-loaded contact with the short bending stroke cannot press smoothly against a terminal for electrical connection and can be easily damaged.
The present invention was developed to solve these problems. Thus it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an apparatus with spring-loaded contacts which can make stable connection to closely spaced terminals and radically reduce contact failure over long time periods. The above and further objects and features of the invention will more fully be apparent from the following detailed description with accompanying drawings.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The apparatus with spring-loaded contacts of the present invention is provided with spring-loaded contacts to resiliently press against, and make electrical connection to terminals of electrical equipment attached in a detachable fashion. These spring-loaded contacts are provided with a first spring-loaded contact and a second spring-loaded contact disposed close to one another. The first and second spring-loaded contacts are provided with connection segments which connect with electrical equipment terminals, attachment segments which attach to the board or substrate, and flexible arm segments between the attachment segments and the connection segments. The flexible arm segments can bend to resiliently press the connection segments against electrical equipment terminals. The first spring-loaded contact and the second spring-loaded contact are each provided with a pair of connection segments disposed in close proximity. The pair of flexible arm segments connected to the pair of connection segments on the first spring-loaded contact has a widened region where the flexible arm segments extend towards the connection segments of the second spring-loaded contact. Part of the second spring-loaded contact is disposed within the widened region of the first spring-loaded contact.
The first and second spring-loaded contacts can be made the same shape. Further, the flexible arm segments of the first and second spring-loaded contacts can be oriented to extend in the same direction.
A spring-loaded contact with two connection segments can be formed from a single strand of flexible wire material or from two strands of flexible wire material. The spring-loaded contacts can be mounted in holders to retain them in fixed positions.
An apparatus with spring-loaded contacts configured as described above is characterized by the capability to make stable connection to closely spaced terminals and to radically reduce contact failure over long time periods. This is because the first and second spring-loaded contacts, which are provided with connection segments that connect with terminals,
McCamey Ann M
Paumen Gary
Sanyo Electric Co,. Ltd.
Wenderoth , Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
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