Electrical connectors – Preformed panel circuit arrangement – e.g. – pcb – icm – dip,... – With provision to conduct electricity from panel circuit to...
Reexamination Certificate
2002-10-21
2004-11-16
Le, Thanh-Tam (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
Preformed panel circuit arrangement, e.g., pcb, icm, dip,...
With provision to conduct electricity from panel circuit to...
Reexamination Certificate
active
06817868
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, especially, to an intermediate board electrical connector to connect connectors arranged at right angles to each other. This intermediate board electrical connector is referred to as a right angle connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
The connector of this type is known, for example, by a disclosure in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-6823. As illustrated in
FIG. 5
, in this publicly known connector
50
, a plurality of circuit boards
52
are inserted and arranged in a rectangular pipe housing
51
so as to be parallel to each other. Each circuit board
52
has its front edge located in the front opening of the housing, while its back portion protrudes from the backside of the housing
51
and has its bottom edge at the same level as the lower surface of the housing. Line patterns or conductors
53
A,
53
B,
53
C,
53
D are provided on a surface of the circuit board
52
by printed wiring. Those line patterns respectively connect to connection sections
54
A,
54
B,
54
C,
54
D at the front edge of the circuit board
52
, while those line patterns respectively connect to leg-shaped connection sections
55
A,
55
B,
55
C,
55
D at the bottom edge of the circuit board
52
.
At the time of use, the connection sections
55
A,
55
B,
55
C,
55
D are connected with their corresponding circuit sections on a circuit board (not illustrated) via soldering or the like. The connector to be connected (not illustrated) is first brought to engage, and then connected with the connection sections
54
A,
54
B,
54
C,
54
D. By doing this, the circuit board connects with the other connector, which is located vertically to the circuit board, via the connector
50
. For using this connector
50
for high-speed transmission, however, delay of signal is occurred due to the different transmission path lengths of line patterns
53
A,
53
B, and
53
C,
53
D.
To provide such right angle connector which has same transmission path length, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-85938 suggests the one as illustrated in the accompanied figure, FIG.
6
. The connector illustrated in
FIG. 6
has a plurality of parallel contacts
63
, which connect to carriers
61
,
62
which are parallel to each other. After covering both surfaces of those contacts
63
with a flexible thin insulating sheet material
64
, the contacts
63
and the insulating sheet material are bent along a 45° line
65
with respect to the contacts
63
, and overlaid. Thereafter, the contacts
63
are supported by an L-shape molded supporting material between the sheet material
64
and the carriers
61
,
62
. Then, the carriers
61
,
62
are separated from the contacts
63
at the positions
66
,
67
. By doing this, all the contacts have same length, and are L-shaped so as to form the right angle connector.
Even in the connector of
FIG. 6
, however, there are some problems. First, since the thin insulating material is selected for its bending, even the prepared connector still has low rigidity and is difficult to handle. Also, since the contact is formed by bending, the contact could be broken during a process or use. The process of preparing the contacts is troublesome because it includes process of adhering them to an insulating sheet and bending them together with the insulating sheet, and even it further includes a mold forming process. Although both surfaces of each contact are covered with the insulating sheet, it is still not preferable for its electrical properties to have a partially overlapping structure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an intermediate board electrical connector which can be easily prepared, easily handled, and is superior in electrical properties.
On the intermediate board electrical connector of the present invention, a plurality of connection sections are provided on at least one side of a circuit board, such that the connection sections are arranged with specified intervals along two straight edges, which are not parallel to each other. Those connection sections along one edge are connected to the corresponding connection sections along the other edge via line patterns or conductors, and the contact sections along each edge can be respectively connected with other connector.
In the present invention, the intermediate board electrical connector is featured by having same length of line patterns. According to the present invention of such constitution, since the plurality of line patterns of the intermediate board electrical connector has same length, the transmission path lengths between the corresponding connection sections are all the same; therefore it is ideal for high-speed transmission. In the present invention, the two straight edges, which are not parallel to each other, can be substantially vertical to each other. In many cases, two connectors are connected in substantially vertical positions. Also, one of the two straight edges is made to protrude outward than the other straight edge, so that the connector has a widthwise part and lengthwise part. According to this structure, the device, in which the connector is used, can be made small, especially it can be made to be lower-profile.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4200347 (1980-04-01), Sinclair et al.
patent: 5522727 (1996-06-01), Saito et al.
patent: 5924899 (1999-07-01), Paagman
patent: 6123554 (2000-09-01), Ortega et al.
patent: 6171115 (2001-01-01), Mickievicz et al.
patent: 6338631 (2002-01-01), Hashimoto et al.
patent: 6517360 (2003-02-01), Cohen
patent: 6655966 (2003-12-01), Rothermel et al.
patent: 0644628 (1995-03-01), None
patent: 7-6823 (1995-01-01), None
patent: 7-85938 (1995-03-01), None
patent: 07085938 (1995-03-01), None
Arai Tatsuya
Matsuo Tsutomu
Hirose Electric Co. Ltd.
Le Thanh-Tam
Takeuchi & Takeuchi
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