Electrical connectors – Including or for use with tape cable – With mating connection region formed by bared cable
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-24
2001-09-25
Bradley, Paula (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
Including or for use with tape cable
With mating connection region formed by bared cable
Reexamination Certificate
active
06293818
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electrical connector for connecting a flexible printed circuit to a rigid circuit board and, more particularly, to an electrical connector for joining a flexible printed circuit to a rigid circuit board when the connector is mounted within an opening of the circuit board.
DISCUSSION OF RELATED ART
In general, a connector is a connecting device for electrically joining wires, circuit boards and other circuit devices. The electrical connector in this specification is a device which is electrically joined to a printed circuit board of a small electronic apparatus, such as an LCD module of notebook computer or camcorder, and which receives a flexible printed circuit
FIG. 1
is an exploded perspective view showing a combination of a conventional electrical connector and printed circuit board, and
FIG. 2
is a cross-sectional view of the combination structure of FIG.
1
. Referring to
FIGS. 1 and 2
, conventional electrical connector
10
includes a connector housing
12
, a circuit connecting portion
14
formed in connector housing
12
, a plurality of connection terminals
16
arranged in circuit connecting portion
14
, a ground terminal
18
formed on each side of connector housing
12
, and a circuit fastener
20
rotatably mounted on connector housing
12
.
Connection terminals
16
electrically connect to connection terminals
32
of circuit board
30
and extend from an inside of circuit connecting portion
14
to the outside, terminating in surface mount portions. The lower surface of the surface mount portions of connection terminals
16
is coplanar with the lower surface of connector housing
12
. Ground terminal
18
grounds and fixes electrical connector
10
to circuit board
30
. Ground terminal
18
is joined to a ground circuit
34
of circuit board
30
by soldering. The lower surface of ground terminal
18
is also coplanar with the lower surface of connector housing
12
.
Circuit fastener
20
is rotatably mounted for up and down movement on connector housing
12
to retain flexible printed circuit
40
within electrical connector
10
. Electrical connector
10
is adapted to be mechanically and electrically fixed to one side of circuit board
30
. Connection terminals
16
and ground terminal
18
of electrical connector
10
are joined to connection traces
32
and ground circuit
34
, respectively, of circuit board
30
, by soldering. Flexible printed circuit
40
is adapted to be inserted into and retained in electrical connector
10
, which in turn is fixed to circuit board
30
.
In the conventional structure of the electrical connector and circuit board described above, the overall height or profile of the combined circuit board/connector structure is relatively large. This brings about difficulty in the use of space in small electronic appliances. Furthermore, since the ground terminal is located on a surface below the connector housing, it is difficult to solder to the ground circuit of the circuit board.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an electrical connector for joining flexible printed board to a rigid circuit board that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector for joining a flexible printed circuit to a circuit board, which minimizes the relative size of the electrical connector and circuit board combination, thereby maximizing the use of inner space of a small electronic device when the circuit board is placed inside the electronic device.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector for joining a flexible printed circuit to a rigid circuit board, in which a ground terminal of the electrical connector is more simply and reliably connected and fixed to a ground terminal of the circuit board.
To accomplish the objects of the present invention, there is provided an electrical connector for joining a flexible printed circuit to a rigid printed circuit board comprising a connector housing adapted to be mounted within an opening in the printed circuit board and including a circuit connecting portion for receiving the flexible printed circuit; a plurality of connection terminals mounted within the housing and terminating in surface mount portions wherein upper surfaces of the surface mount portions are adapted to make contact with corresponding circuit traces on a lower surface of the printed circuit board; a ground terminal extending outwardly from each side of the connector housing wherein the upper surface of the ground terminals are coplanar with the upper surfaces of the surface mount portions of the connection terminals; and a circuit fastener rotatably mounted for up and down movement on the connector housing adapted to secure the flexible printed circuit within the circuit connecting portion of the housing whereby, when the electrical connector is placed and fixed within the opening of the circuit board, the combined profile of the connector and circuit board assembly is reduced by the thickness of the circuit board as compared to the prior art connector/circuit board structure.
The apparatus may further include a ground tab extending downwardly from the end of the ground terminal.
The apparatus further includes a circuit guide formed on each side of the circuit connecting portion, for guiding the flexible printed circuit during insertion into the connector housing. The circuit guide has a slope formed at an edge of the front side thereof, the slope inclining toward inside of the circuit guide.
The apparatus may further include a means for maintaining the fastening state of the circuit fastener. This means includes locking protrusions formed at both sides of the circuit fastener, and locking projections formed at predetermined portions of the circuit guide adjacent to the locking protrusions.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5052936 (1991-10-01), Biechler et al.
patent: 5895278 (1999-04-01), Humphrey
patent: 6099346 (2000-08-01), Hashiguchi et al.
Kim Yong Soo
Shin Hee Seck
Bradley Paula
Caldwell Stacey E.
Molex Incorporated
Ore Shanetta D.
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