Electrical connectors – Preformed panel circuit arrangement – e.g. – pcb – icm – dip,... – Distinct contact secured to panel circuit
Reexamination Certificate
2003-12-01
2004-12-28
Le, Thanh-Tam (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
Preformed panel circuit arrangement, e.g., pcb, icm, dip,...
Distinct contact secured to panel circuit
C439S943000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06835074
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a jig for press-fitting terminals of a connector such as a press fit connector into a substrate such as a printed circuit board, and a press-fitting apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional arrangement is described with reference to
FIGS. 10A through 1C
.
FIGS. 10A and 10B
illustrate press-fitting of a press fit connector into a substrate, specifically,
FIG. 10A
illustrating the press-fitting on front view, and
FIG. 10B
illustrating the press-fitting on side view. It should be noted that the hollow arrows in
FIGS. 10A and 10B
indicate the directions along which respective components are assembled together in the press-fitting.
FIGS. 11A through 11C
show a detailed construction of a conventional jig, specifically,
FIG. 11A
being a plan view of the jig,
FIG. 11B
being a cross section view taken along the line XIB—XIB in
FIG. 11A
, and
FIG. 11C
being a cross sectional view taken along the line XIC—XIC in FIG.
11
A.
Heretofore, the so-called press fit connector (PFC) has been widely used as a connector that accomplishes easy connection by press-fitting terminals into a substrate without soldering. Also, a method of press-fitting terminals into a substrate has been known, as shown in
FIGS. 10A and 10B
, for example. According to the known press-fitting method, a number of bent-up terminals
512
of a press fit connector
510
are press fitted into a printed circuit board
530
by inserting the terminals
512
extending from a housing
511
of the press fit connector
510
into holding grooves
522
formed in a widthwise direction of a jig
520
while rendering bottom surfaces of respective flanges
512
b
of the terminals
512
in contact with a top surface
521
of the jig
520
, and by press-fitting respective top end portions of the terminals into respective connection holes
531
of the printed circuit board
530
. The top end portion of each terminal
512
has a resilient projection
512
a
. Indicated at
550
is another jig to support the printed circuit board
530
on the top. The jig
550
is formed with holes
551
corresponding to the connection holes
531
of the printed circuit board
530
. The respective top ends of the terminals
512
come into the holes
551
to be thereby protected when the press-fitting is carried out.
As shown in
FIG. 10A through 11B
, the jig
520
is formed with the holding grooves
522
only in the widthwise direction. Accordingly, the terminals
512
can be securely positioned in the-widthwise direction of the jig
520
owing to the holding grooves
522
arranged in the widthwise direction. However, it will be seen to be difficult or impossible to position the terminals
512
in the back and forth direction of the connector jig
520
because no constraint is provided in the back and forth direction of the jig
520
.
To accurately insert the respective terminals
512
into the connection holes
531
of the printed circuit board
530
, accordingly, the respective terminals
512
are required to be positioned relative to the corresponding connection holes
531
of the printed circuit board
530
not only in the widthwise direction of the jig
520
but also in the back and forth direction of the jig
520
. For this reason, as shown in
FIGS. 10A and 10B
, an alignment plate
540
is used to align the respective terminals
512
in the back and forth direction by permitting the respective terminals
512
to pass through holes
541
formed in the alignment plate
540
. This manner is adopted in connection of terminals with the so-called pin connector, in which the respective terminals are bonded to a substrate by soldering, as shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 6-224597 and 10-41026.
In the above arrangement, the alignment plate
540
is a separate component from the housing
511
of the press fit connector
510
, which consequently causes the increased time and cost in connection of a connector with a printed circuit board.
Further, the alignment plate
540
is not removed even after the press fit connector
510
is assembled. Accordingly, there have been the following problems. The terminals of the press fit connector mounted on an automotive vehicle receive vibrations resulting from the alignment plate
540
or excessive thermal expansion/compression forces resulting from differences in the chemical/physical material properties between the alignment plate
540
and other components of the connector
510
, resulting in a likelihood that the resilient projections
512
a
of the respective terminals
512
come off from the connection holes
531
of the printed circuit board
530
without external force. In the case of a pin connector bonded to a printed circuit board by soldering, also, it is highly likely that an excessive force is exerted to the soldered part, which may result in a crack. Thus, the connector may lose its mechanical precision or reliability due to these drawbacks. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-41026 proposes an improved alignment plate to eliminate these drawbacks. However, even such improved alignment plate cannot eliminate the additional production cost of an alignment plate.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a connector terminal jig and press-fitting apparatus which are free from the problems residing in the prior art.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a connector terminal jig and press-fitting apparatus which enable press-fitting of connector terminals into a substrate at a reduced cost and with improved reliability without use of an alignment plate.
According to an aspect of the invention, a jig is adapted for holding terminals provided on a connector. The terminals each have a horizontal part extending in a horizontal direction from a main body of the connector and a vertical part extending in a vertical direction and connected with the horizontal part at a lower portion, and a flange at an upper portion of the vertical part. The jig is provided with widthwise positioning grooves formed in a connector main body and arrayed in a widthwise direction of the main body for holding the horizontal part and a lower portion of the vertical part of each terminal; and back and forth positioning grooves formed in the main body and arrayed in a back and forth direction of the main body for holding the flange of each terminal.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon reading of the following detailed description along with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4550962 (1985-11-01), Czeschka
patent: 5400502 (1995-03-01), Ota et al.
patent: 5453016 (1995-09-01), Clark et al.
patent: 5980271 (1999-11-01), MacDougall et al.
patent: 6062877 (2000-05-01), Makino et al.
patent: 6319023 (2001-11-01), Goto et al.
patent: 6719573 (2004-04-01), Koehler et al.
patent: A 6-224597 (1994-08-01), None
patent: A 10-41026 (1998-02-01), None
Autonetworks Technologies Ltd.
Le Thanh-Tam
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
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