Electrical connector

Details Electrical connector Electrical connector

2001-05-15

2002-09-10

Paumen, Gary F. (Department: 2833)

Electrical connectors

Preformed panel circuit arrangement, e.g., pcb, icm, dip,...

With provision to conduct electricity from panel circuit to...

C439S108000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06447304

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector for electrically connecting two discrete electrical systems, such as two printed circuit boards and in which connecting ends of a contact perform robust wiping displacement over conductive pads formed on the printed circuit board thereby ensuring reliable electrical connection thereof.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Electrical connection between two terminals is generally facilitated by normal force exerted from one terminal to the other. However, since surface of the terminal could be contaminated by dust or oxidation, it is preferable to generate a wiping displacement between two terminals during mating. With the wiping displacement between the terminals, dust or oxidation on the terminal could be wiped out, thereby ensuring reliable electrical connection between two mated terminals.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,396 issued to Matsuoka on Sep. 13, 1993 discloses an arrangement for electrical connector in which contact
9
is obliquely arranged and which may provide a wiping displacement between contact
9
and element
4
. However, Matsuoka's device is too complicated to implement.
In Matsuoka device, element
11
is insert molded within element
1
, while contact
9
is moveably arranged within the element
11
. The contact
9
includes a pair of arms
8
which can be deformed when the contact
9
is pushed downwardly by element
4
. As stated above, the Matsuoka device is too complicated to be implemented in the socket connector for used with a CPU. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,022 discloses another oblique arrangement of the contacts in the connector housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,389 issued to Hashiguchi on Oct. 13, 1998, discloses an electrical connector to be used between a printed circuit board and a LSI (Large Scale Integration) circuit of the type which is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication (B) No. 13191/1995 (hereinafter referred to as the '191 Publication). Since the '191 device can not provide enough wiping displacement between the contacting end and a corresponding conductive pad, Hashiguchi (the '389 patent) then provides an improvement on the arrangement of the contact such that a contact end thereof may perform an effective wiping displacement over a corresponding pad to ensure an effective electrical connection.
As shown in
FIGS. 9A
,
9
B and
9
C, the contact
20
is arranged in a passageway formed vertically in the housing
10
. The contact
20
includes an extension
24
having a free end
24
b.
Theoretically, when contact end
23
a
is depressed by the element
200
, contact end
24
b
will displace from its original position. It is understandable that Hashiguchi device is better than the '191 device as the extension
24
displace more than that of the '191 device. However, since the contact
20
is vertically arranged within the passageway, it is unlikely that the contact end
23
a
to perform a wiping displacement with respect to the corresponding element
200
. Understandably, Hashiguchi solves only portion of the problem encountered by the '191.
On the other hand, even the extension
24
is arranged obliquely, the wiping displacement conducted by the contact end
24
b
is still not enough since before the contact end
24
b
is moved when the portion
23
a
is moved vertically down, there is a deformation incurred in portion
21
a.
Accordingly, Hashiguchi still leaves an opening for further improvement.
By the way, Hashiguchi does not meet the requirement since only the contact end
24
b
displaces a short distance over a conductive pad, while the contact end
23
does not displace when it is contacting with corresponding conductive pad.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an objective of this invention to provide an electrical connector in which a contact is moveably and obliquely arranged within a passageway of a housing thereof, thereby providing effective wiping displacement over corresponding conductive pads by both ends of the contact thereof.
In order to achieve the objective set forth, an electrical system in accordance with comprises a first electrical device including a first substrate having at least a first conductive pad formed thereon. A second electrical device includes a second substrate having at least a second conductive pad formed thereon. An electrical device is arranged between first and second electrical devices for electrically connecting the first and second conductive pads of the first and second electrical devices. The electrical device includes a housing defining at least a passageway extending between first and second surfaces. At least an electrical contact is moveably installed within the passageway which contacting ends extending beyond the surfaces, wherein upon connecting the first and second electrical devices, the electrical contact is moved by the first electrical device such that the contacting ends of the contact displace and wipe over the conductive pads of the electrical devices.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, an electrical connector in accordance with the present invention comprises a housing having first and second surfaces and forming at least a contact support therein. At least an electrical contact is moveably attached to the support and having a first contacting end extending beyond the first surface for driving the contact to move along the support upon mating with an electrical device.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5244396 (1993-09-01), Matsuoka
patent: 5324305 (1994-06-01), Ahmad et al.
patent: 5791912 (1998-08-01), Riechelmann et al.
patent: 5820389 (1998-10-01), Hashiguchi
patent: 5899755 (1999-05-01), Kline
patent: 6083022 (2000-07-01), Walkup
patent: 6176707 (2001-01-01), Neidich et al.

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