Electrical connectors – Contact terminal
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-15
2001-10-09
Sircus, Brian (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
Contact terminal
C439S947000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06299492
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present application relates to electrical connectors.
Separable connectors are used in numerous electrical installations to carry signals and power between components. The most familiar examples of separable connector are used in numerous electrical plug and socket. More elaborate connectors are used to carry electrical power and signals between components of electronic equipment. For example, an electronic device such as a computer may include a main circuit board, commonly referred to as a “mother board”, and one or more additional circuit boards, commonly referred to as “daughter boards”. Each daughter board carries one connector, whereas the mother board carries the mating connectors. Each daughter board can be removed for service or upgrading by separating the connectors. Large electronic devices such as mainframe computers, computer networking hubs and industrial control installations often are built using a rack-mount system. In such a system the individual components are built on separate chassis. A large rack has slots which receive the chassis of the components in much the same way as the frame of a household dresser receives the individual drawer. Connectors mounted on the rack at the rear of the slots mate with connectors mounted on the individual components when the chassis are seated in the slots. The connectors on the rack are connected to one another as, for example by a large circuit board referred to as a “backplane”, so that when the components are seated in the slots, the components are connected to one another.
Connectors for use in these and other applications must meet several demanding requirements. Those elements of the connectors which conduct power to the connected devices must carry substantial currents, which can range up to 100 amperes or more. Because the amount of heat generated in the connector is proportional to the square of the current and proportional to the resistance in the connector, the resistance in the connector must be very low. Other elements of the connectors, which conduct low-power signals such as computer data signals between connected devices also should provide low-resistance, reliable connections.
The connectors should be easy to engage and disengage, and should compensate for misalignment between the mating connectors. For example, the connectors should still function properly even if the circuit boards or other components holding the connectors are imperfect, so that the connectors are slightly out of alignment with one another. Also, the mating parts of the connectors should continue to function properly even if the components holding the connectors move or warp during service, so that a connector tilts slightly with respect to the mating connector.
Connectors must be manufactured in an almost infinite variety of configurations to meet different design requirements including the number of circuits to be connected and the current carrying capacity of individual elements. Orientation of the connector adds additional variations. For example, some connectors designed for mounting on circuit boards are arranged so that the mating connector can be engaged by moving it downwardly from above the circuit board. Other connectors are arranged so that the mating connector can be engaged by moving it horizontally, in a plane parallel to the plane of the circuit board. Also, some connectors are arranged so that as the mating connectors are engaged, particular electrical circuits established by the individual elements of the connector are made in a predetermined order matched to the electrical requirements of the devices to be connected. The need to accommodate all of these variations greatly complicates the task of designing and manufacturing connectors at a reasonable cost.
All of these considerations, taken together, present a formidable challenge. Many attempts have been made heretofore to satisfy these requirements. However, despite all of the efforts of the art heretofore, there has been a substantial need for improvement in connector design.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention addresses these needs.
One aspect of the invention provides a connector including a housing having an entry face and a plurality of apertures open to the entry face, and a plurality of female contacts positioned within at least some of the apertures so that each such contact is associated with one of the apertures. Each female contact includes a contact body secured to the housing and one or more flexible cantilever beams having proximal ends connected to the contact body and distal ends remote from the contact body. The cantilever beams of the female contacts are arranged to engage a male contact element at contact points adjacent the distal ends of the cantilever beams. The female contacts associated with at least one of the apertures are “early-make” contacts with cantilever beams having distal ends and contact points adjacent the entry face and proximal ends remote from the entry face. The female contacts associated with at least one other aperture in the housing are “late-make” contacts with cantilever beams having distal ends and contact points remote from the entry face and proximal ends adjacent the entry face. When the connector is mated with a connector having male contact elements, the male contact elements enter the apertures of the housing. Because the contact points of the early-make contacts are disposed closer to the entry face than the contact points of the late-make contacts, the male contacts will engage the early-make contacts first, thereby making some of the electrical connections before others. The housing desirably has contact-mounting features associated with the apertures, and the contact bodies of the female contacts are engaged with these features of the housing.
The same connector may optionally include one or more male contacts having contact bodies and contact beams extending from the contact bodies. The contact bodies of the male contacts are disposed in one or more apertures of the housing and engaged with the contact mounting features associated with those apertures. The male contacts optionally can be provided in different lengths to provide early-make and late-make action with the mating connector. The apertures and contact-mounting features of the housing associated with the early-make female contacts, late-make female contacts and male contacts most preferably are identical with one another. Thus, the connector can be arranged to include any combination of early-make and late make female contacts and male contacts at different apertures, to meet different design requirements.
Most preferably, the female contacts are integral contacts having the cantilever beams formed integrally with the contact bodies. This provides a low-resistance current path from the cantilever beams to the contact bodies. Most preferably, the contacts have termination elements formed integrally with the contact bodies and projecting beyond the housing for engagement with a circuit board or other electrical components. The female contacts thus provide an integral, low-resistance current path free of joints from the contact points to the circuit board. Desirably, the contact body has a first thickness and at least a portion of each cantilever beam has a second thickness less than the first thickness.
According to a further aspect of the invention the contact bodies of the female contacts are generally planar, polygonal frames such as generally square frames. Each frame has sides extending at least partially around a central opening, the cantilever beams associated with each frame having their proximal ends connected to a proximal side of such frame and distal ends projecting across the central opening. The housing desirably defines contact-receiving slots in each said aperture, said frames being disposed in said slots. In a particularly preferred arrangement, each aperture in the housing has a central plane and the contact-receiving features of the housing at each aperture include slots disposed on opposite
Pierini John M.
Weaver Christopher
A. W. Industries, Incorporated
Lerner David Littenberg Krumholz & Mentlik LLP
Prasad Chandrika
Sircus Brian
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