Electrical connectors – Preformed panel circuit arrangement – e.g. – pcb – icm – dip,... – Distinct contact secured to panel circuit
Utility Patent
1997-12-03
2001-01-02
Abrams, Neil (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
Preformed panel circuit arrangement, e.g., pcb, icm, dip,...
Distinct contact secured to panel circuit
C439S751000
Utility Patent
active
06168441
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention concerns a contact element for insertion and fastening in through-contacted boreholes, which are provided in a printed circuit board or similar contact carriers for uptake of such contact elements, whereby the contact element has a fastening region provided for insertion in the borehole, a connection region lying opposite this fastening region, for connecting, for example, a plug, and a base region lying between the two.
Such known contact elements may be formed in two parts, so that they may consist of different materials that are optimally adapted to the respective purpose of application. Thus, for example, contact springs are provided in the connection region of such a contact element, and these springs must consist of a material that has sufficient spring properties in order to hold the plug to be attached thereon. On the other hand, however, the fastening region provided for inserting into the borehole of the printed circuit board will consist of a material that is excellently suitable for contacting the electrically conducting material provided in the borehole of the printed circuit board and particularly for conducting high current loads.
For this reason, in the case of this known contact element, a base region is provided in which the fastening region on the one hand and the connecting region on the other hand can be joined together.
As described in DE-GM Utility Model 92 18 128.7, these known contact elements are formed as posts in their fastening region, which has a press-in segment that can be taken up by a through-contacted printed-circuit-board uptake of a printed circuit board. The uptake of the printed circuit board is thus shaped as a socket of metal, whose hardness is different when compared to the hardened press-in segment of the post. These known contact elements also have another threaded segment connecting thereon for the press-in segment on the post, and this threaded segment projects from the printed circuit board and a nut can be screwed on it. With the intermediate placement of a washer, the contact element can be securely fastened onto the printed circuit board.
A disadvantage in this known contact element is the fact that the fastening process on the printed circuit board not only consists of the fact that the contact element is inserted in the uptake of the printed circuit board, designed, for example, as a borehole, but also a metal socket is to be provided in the uptake of the printed circuit board, and further, the lock-nut with washer must be placed on and fastened after the contact element is inserted.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The task of the present invention is to improve the known contact element extensively such that the arrangement of a lock-nut with washer and also the special arrangement of a metal socket in the uptake of the printed circuit board are not necessary, but rather the contact element can be inserted in a simple way with its fastening region in boreholes of different diameter provided in the printed circuit board of variable thickness, whereby the electrical contact of the contact element with the electrically conducting surfaces of the printed circuit board in the region of the uptake of the printed circuit board, i.e., the borehole, is produced immediately and completely, without these contact surfaces being plastically deformed and for the rest, the fastening region will be made relatively short in design.
This task is resolved in a contact element of the type named initially by the fact that the fastening region is formed as a pin, which has a collar at a distance from the base region, which collar forms an application surface on the printed circuit board or the contact carrier and such that the pin has a slot-shaped cutout proceeding from the base region of the contact element up to its free end.
This particular design of the fastening region as a pin provided with a slot, which pin has a collar provided at a distance from the base region of the contact element, which collar is applied against the printed circuit board, assures that the contact element is not inserted over the complete length of the pin, thus up to the base region, for example, when it is inserted by machine, into the borehole provided in the printed circuit board, but rather only up to lengths reaching to the collar. It is a prerequisite that the diameter of the pin in this fastening region is larger than the diameter of the borehole provided in the printed circuit board, so that the pin formed in at least two parts can be easily pressed through the slot-shaped cutout and develops, with suitable selection of an appropriate material, an elastic spring force that holds the contact element in the borehole and at the same time also produces electrical contact with the electrical contact surfaces of the printed circuit board in or at this borehole, whereby also another electrical contact surface is produced by the collar applied on the printed circuit board, which collar also axially aligns the contact element.
It is advantageous if the slot-shaped cutout is formed in the shape of a cross and the pin is thus made of four parts.
This particular design of the pin assures a still more flexible and more optimal insertion of the pin parts into the borehole provided in the printed circuit board, which also assures a perfect contact in such boreholes, which are not formed in a completely cylindrical manner.
The same is true also for the case when the pin loses its originally precise rotation-symmetric form in the production of the cutout, so that the pin parts are well applied to the inner wall of the borehole, so that a perfect current flow is assured.
In another advantageous embodiment, the pin is shaped on its free end in a truncated-cone shape, whereby the edges produced at the end and the edges found in the transition to the fastening region are rounded.
By this special design of the tip region of the pin, the latter finds its way also without great resistance into the borehole provided in the printed circuit board, even if it is not aligned precisely centrally on the borehole or is axially tipped, for example, when the fitting of a printed circuit board with such contact elements is conducted by machine.
In another embodiment of the contact element according to the invention, the pin has at least two different diameters in its insertion region connected directly to the collar and extending up to approximately the truncated-cone-shaped end.
This embodiment assures that one and the same contact element can be inserted into boreholes of different diameter.
Advantageously, the segment of the insertion region with the smaller diameter is connected directly to the collar, and the segment of the insertion region with the larger diameter is further connected thereon, whereby the transition between the two diameter regions is smooth and not step-shaped and whereby it is also assured that the impression force remains relatively constant.
The arrangement of insertion regions having different diameters in the above-described sequence assures that if the pin is inserted into a borehole having a smaller diameter, it projects with its entire insertion region into the through-contacted borehole up to the stop on the collar and thus also with a smaller diameter of the borehole, the entire insertion region contributes to fixing the contact element in the borehole of the printed circuit board.
Advantageously, the pin has on the front side of its truncated-cone-shaped tip region a borehole, which increases the distance of the parts of the pin projecting through the slot from one another, so that the latter do not come into contact, if the contact element is inserted with its pin into a narrower borehole. This design protects the parts of the pin from a plastic deformation.
In another embodiment according to the invention, the diameter of the pin is shaped differently in its region between the collar on the one hand and the base region of the contact element on the other hand, when compared with its diameter in the insertion region.
The
Abrams Neil
Cummings & Lockwood
FCT Electronic GmbH
Patel T C
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