Electrical connectors – With supporting means for coupling part – Coupling part or mating part extending into panel opening
Reexamination Certificate
2003-05-19
2004-05-11
Ta, Tho D. (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With supporting means for coupling part
Coupling part or mating part extending into panel opening
C439S567000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06733334
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a connector structure for a power supply apparatus, and more particularly is directed to a connector structure of a circuit board for a power supply apparatus.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
The power supply apparatus is mainly designed for rectifying and converting commercially available power into direct current (DC) power to power a power-receiving device. FIG.
1
(
a
) and FIG.
1
(
b
) respectively show an exploded view and an elevation view of a conventional power supply apparatus. The conventional power supply apparatus basically consists of an upper housing
1
and a lower housing
2
. A space is defined between the upper housing
1
and the lower housing
2
for accommodating a circuit board
3
therein. A connector
4
and other necessary electronic elements
30
required by the power supply apparatus are mounted on the circuit board
3
. A first concave
11
and a second concave (not shown) are respectively provided on the front side and the rear side of the upper housing
1
. A third concave
21
and a fourth concave
22
respectively opposite to the first concave
11
and the second concave are respectively provided on the front side and the rear side of the lower housing
2
. When the upper housing
1
and the lower housing
2
are jointed together, the first concave
11
and the third concave
21
forms a rabbet for infixing the connector
4
therein to receive external AC power. The circuitry mounted on the circuit board
3
rectify the AC power into DC power and supply the rectified DC power to power-receiving appliances such as printers, radios and modems through electric wires.
Referring to FIG.
2
(
a
) to FIG.
2
(
d
). The connector
4
basically includes an insulating housing
40
and two conductive terminals
42
. The conductive terminals
42
are located in the through-holes inside the housing
40
and pass through the apertures on the backside of the housing (not shown) to create pins
41
. Two supporting rods
43
are formed at the bottom
402
of the housing
40
. Both the supporting rods
43
and the housing
40
are integrally formed by plastic injection molding technique. The two sides
431
of the supporting rod
43
respectively extends downwards from the bottom
402
of the housing
40
for a distance h and stretches out transversely to form a protruding member
433
with a protruding plane
432
. The maximum transversal length d1 of the protruding member
433
is slightly larger than the width d2 of the pinhole
32
, and the length h that the supporting rod
43
extends downwards from the housing bottom
402
is slightly larger than the thickness T of the circuit board
3
. Because the supporting rod
43
is made up of a plasticity material with an inherent elasticity, the protruding member
433
can pass through the pinhole
32
of the circuit board
3
by exerting an external force thereto until the protruding plane props against the bottom of the circuit board
3
. The connector
4
can be fixed to the circuit board
3
accordingly.
Referring back to FIG.
1
(
a
), the connector
4
and the circuit board
3
are connected in such a way that the two metal pins
41
are inserted into the corresponding pinhole
31
on the circuit board
3
. Subsequently the protruding member
433
of the supporting rod
43
passes through the pinhole
32
on the circuit board
3
and is adequately positioned. Finally the metal pins
41
are fixed to the circuit board
3
by welding technique.
However, though the above-described way for fixing the connector
4
to the circuit board
3
can allow the connector
4
to be mounted on the circuit board
3
steadily, taking a circuit board with a thickness of 1.6 millimeter and a circuit board with a thickness of 1.2 millimeter as examples, two types of connectors each of which is of different extension length h for the supporting rod are required to fulfill the demands of matching with the circuit boards of different thickness. That signifies that two different molds are needed to manufacture the connector. Therefore the manufacturing cost for the connector will increase substantially and the amount of connectors of different specifications is not likely to be determined in advance, which causes a difficulty in the material management operation.
Since a connector structure for holding circuit boards of different thickness is needed, an improved connector structure comprising an insulating housing, at least two conductive terminals, and at least one supporting rod was proposed in the previous application bearing on the Ser. No. 10/015,345 and filed on Dec. 12, 2001. The proposed connector structure is characterized by that the two sides of the supporting rod respectively extends downwards for a first length and a second length and stretches out to form a protruding member with a first protruding plane and a second protruding plane, wherein the first length is slightly larger than a thickness of a first circuit board and the second length is slightly larger than a thickness of a second circuit board, such that when the protruding member passes through a first pinhole on the first circuit board, the first protruding plane props against a bottom of the first circuit board, and when the protruding member passes through a second pinhole on the second circuit board, the second protruding plane props against a bottom of the second circuit board. However, the important features that the first length is larger than the second length, the thickness of the first circuit board is larger than the second circuit board, the supporting rods are in pillared shape and without any slot or aperture, and the first protruding plane and the second protruding plane are substantially perpendicular to the supporting rods are not defined clearly in the claims but are illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification of the above-mentioned previous application. Therefore, the present invention with clearly defined claims regarding the above mentioned features is proposed as a CIP application to clarify all the ambiguities in the claims of the parent application.
In the invention of Bendorf et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,123,580), a board lock disposed within the receiving aperture of an electrical connector for holding the connector on a thinner circuit board as well as on a thicker circuit board is proposed. The board lock includes a body having a connector engaging portion and two cantilever beams extending from opposite transverse edges. The inner edges of the beams define a slot in between that extends into an enlarged aperture in the center of the body. Each of the outer edges of the beams includes a protrusion and further includes a latching portion at the leading end. By locating the two latches at slightly different distances from the bottom of the housing of the connector the board lock can accommodate tolerance variations in the thickness of the board. Certain noticeable features of Bendorf et al. are that the two cantilever beams of the board lock are going through the same pinhole of the circuit board, only the portion of one latch that is beyond the width of its protrusion is engaged with the bottom surface of a circuit board, and the other latch is either remained in the pinhole for the thicker circuit board case or is spaced from the circuit board for the thinner circuit board case. But due to the following unique features of the present invention that the two supporting rods are in pillared shape without any slot or aperture employed and are aligned in parallel, each of the two supporting rods goes through a different pinholes respectively, the two first (second) protruding latches with one protruding latch from each supporting rod are both propped against the bottom surface of the circuit board and are substantially perpendicular to the supporting rods, and one first (second) protruding latch is stretched to the right and the other first (second) protruding latch is stretched to the left respectively, the connector could be hold to the circuit board more firmly t
Delta Electronics
Pate & Pierce & Baird
Ta Tho D.
LandOfFree
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