Electrical connector assembly

Details Electrical connector assembly Electrical connector assembly

1999-11-23

2001-02-06

Paumen, Gary F. (Department: 2833)

Electrical connectors

Including or for use with tape cable

With mating connection region formed by bared cable

Reexamination Certificate

active

06183291

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electrical connector assembly which is used to make connections with PC cards which accommodate memory cards or hard disk drives.
BACKGROUND
The electrical connector assembly shown in
FIG. 8
is a conventional electrical connector assembly disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 8-264240. Electrical connector assembly
100
is equipped with a housing
107
comprising an upper housing
101
and lower housing
102
, the upper and lower housings
101
,
102
are fastened together by metal plates
105
,
106
, plural rows of electrical terminals
103
,
104
protrude from respective wall surfaces
101
a,
102
a
of the upper housing
101
and lower housing
102
, a flexible printed circuit
110
, the ends of which are electrically connected to the respective terminals
103
,
104
, and which has numerous conductive paths
111
on a surface thereof, and a slider member
120
which is inserted between the ends of the flexible printed circuit
110
that is bent into a U-shape and connected to the terminals
103
,
104
.
Meanwhile, a mating connector
130
, which is engaged with the electrical connector assembly
100
, comprises a housing
131
having a recess
132
that accommodates the flexible printed circuit
110
of the electrical connector assembly
100
together with the slider member
120
, and a plurality of electrical contacts
133
, which are disposed inside the recess
132
of the housing
131
, and which electrically engage the conductive paths
111
of the flexible printed circuit
110
.
The slider
120
is equipped with an insertion member
121
, which is inserted between the ends of the flexible printed circuit
110
, and operating members
122
, which are formed substantially perpendicular to the insertion member
121
and which have substantially flat planes. In order to cause the conductive paths
111
of the flexible printed circuit
110
to engage the contacts
133
, housing
107
is held and the flexible printed circuit
110
is inserted into the recess
132
, after which the operating members
122
of the slider member
120
are moved downward so that electrical engagement is achieved between conductive paths
111
and electrical contacts
133
.
However, in electrical connector assembly
100
, the slider member
120
is merely passed through the flexible printed circuit
110
, both ends of which are attached to the wall surfaces
101
a,
102
a
of the housing
107
, and it is not supported with respect to the housing
107
by members other than the flexible printed circuit
110
. As a result, the slider member
120
can also move in directions other than the direction of insertion into the mating connector
130
, and it is therefore unstable. Consequently, the following problem arises: i. e., when the flexible printed circuit
110
is inserted into the recess
1332
of the mating connector
130
, the flexible printed circuit
110
is unstable, and therefore varies in position within mating connector
130
thereby affecting the electrical connections between conductive paths
111
and electrical contacts
133
.
SUMMARY
European Patent Application EP-A-0720254 shows another flexible printed circuit connector which utilizes a spacer plate. This connector is configured to provide flexible circuit connectors from one printed circuit board to a second printed circuit board. Another design is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,750. In this connector, a flexible printed circuit is secured to a circuit board and strengthened by a plate which is mounted between two brackets.
These designs, however, all have limitations which make their configurations undesirable for certain applications. Accordingly, the present invention provides an electrical connector assembly in which a slide member can be securely supported with respect to a housing, so that variation in the position of a flexible printed circuit when the slider member and the flexible printed circuit are inserted into a mating connector can be obviated.
The electrical connector assembly of the present invention comprises a housing which has plural rows of electrical terminals protruding from a wall, a flexible printed circuit both ends of which are connected to the electrical terminals of the housing and which has a plurality of conductive paths forced on a surface thereof, a slider member which is inserted between the ends of the flexible printed circuit, and is inserted together with the flexible printed circuit between rows of electrical contacts of a mating connector so that the conductive paths are caused to engage the electrical contacts, and supporting members are attached to the housing, which regulate the movement of the slider member in directions other than the direction of insertion into the mating connector.
Furthermore, it is desirable that rectangular openings, which extend in the direction of insertion into the mating connector, be provided in the supporting members, and that substantially L-shaped supporting sections, which are inserted into the rectangular openings, be located on the slider member.
Moreover, a much greater effect is obtained if each of the supporting members has an upper clamping member formed by being bent from an upper end of a base portion and a pair of lower clamping members formed by being bent from both sides of a lower end of the base portion, so that the clamping members clamp the housing from above and below, the lower clamping members are placed on a surface of an auxiliary circuit board, and the upper clamping member has a threaded section into which an attachment screw, which passes through the auxiliary circuit board, along the pair of lower clamping members and the housing, is received.
An electrical connector assembly for matable engagement with electrical contacts of a matable electrical connector comprises an electrical connector including a housing having electrical terminals extending outwardly from a wall thereof, a flexible printed circuit having conductive paths on a surface thereof and both ends electrically connected to respective electrical terminals, and a slide member is inserted between the flexible printed circuit, wherein supporting members are mounted onto the housing of the electrical connector, and supporting sections on the slider member are mounted to the supporting members so that the flexible printed circuit and the slider member can be inserted into the matable electrical connector with the conductive paths on the flexible printed circuit electrically engaging the electrical contacts of the matable electrical connector.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3149897 (1964-09-01), Martineck
patent: 3897130 (1975-07-01), Donnelly et al.
patent: 5354214 (1994-10-01), Aso et al.
patent: 5474468 (1995-12-01), Chishima et al.
patent: 5562487 (1996-10-01), Ii et al.
patent: 5639260 (1997-06-01), McHugh
patent: 5688143 (1997-11-01), McHugh et al.
patent: 5690510 (1997-11-01), Chishima
patent: 5967831 (1999-10-01), Yamada et al.

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