Electrical connectors – With insulation other than conductor sheath – Plural-contact coupling part
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-21
2003-10-28
Feild, Lynn (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With insulation other than conductor sheath
Plural-contact coupling part
C439S717000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06638114
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a connector for industrial computers, and more particularly to a sectional connector substituting for conventional PC104 and PC104 PLUS industrial computer connectors, so that such conventional connectors may be formed by assembling a main connector having two rows of pins and at least two sub-connectors each having one row of pins through coupling means correspondingly provided on the main connector and the sub-connectors. The number of the sub-connectors in the sectional connector may change depending on actual need in designing the industrial computer, and easy and firm connecting and soldering of the pins to a printed circuit board row by row is possible with the sectional connector.
Computer-related technologies have been prosperously developed in the world. Computer manufacturers keep researching, developing and improving various kinds of computer-related components, from a simple screw to a high-power central processing unit (CPU), in attempts to upgrade the quality of computers and reduce the manufacturing cost to be competitive in the international markets.
Computers are usually differently designed to meet actual needs in different fields. For example, an industrial computer requires a CPU that needs not to operate at high speed but to work stably in compliance with preset steps to achieve a projected productivity. The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) has established some basic standards for industrial computers and connectors for connecting buses. The main purposes of these standards for connectors are to enable automatic permutation, stack, and employment of connectors in computer designs and to reduce number of coupling elements in the motherboard.
A connector corresponding to PC104 specification is typically used to connect general buses and is an assembly of a connector having total 64 pins in two rows and a connector having total 40 pins in two rows. A connector corresponding to PC104 PLUS specification is typically used to connect high-speed Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) buses and is an assembly of a connector having total 64 pins in two rows, a connector having total 40 pins in two rows, and a connector having total 120 pins in four rows. When the conventional PC104 or PC104 PLUS connector assembled from at least two connectors is inserted onto a printed circuit (PC) board, the numerous pins in so many rows cause difficulty in soldering the pins to the PC board to result in high labor and time costs, making the PC104 and PC104 PLUS connectors not economical for use.
FIG. 1
is a partially sectioned side view showing the soldering of a conventional connector
1
having pins
11
in four rows to a PC board
2
. As shown in
FIG. 1
, the connector
1
is connected to the PC board
2
by extending the pins
11
through holes
21
on the PC board
2
and then spot soldering each joint of the pin
11
and the hole
21
with a solder iron (not shown) and tin solder
3
. It is most preferable the tin solder molten around each hole
21
finally forms a volcanic shape, so as to avoid poor contact between the hole
21
and the pin
11
due to cold or hollow soldering. However, it is obviously a time and labor consuming and highly difficult technical work to spot solder pins
11
in more than two rows. For example, the connector
1
has total 64 pins in four rows. It is easy to solder the pins
11
in two outer rows but not the pins
11
in two inner rows. A solder iron might be too thick to pass clearances among the pins
11
to perform the soldering. Moreover, the solder iron in high temperature would very possibly adversely affect the tin solder
3
that has been previously soldered around the holes
21
to cause cold and hollow soldering and/or short circuit between two pins
11
.
To overcome the problem of difficult spot soldering on the connector
1
having a plurality of pins
11
in too many rows, there is developed a soldering tin sheet
4
having a plurality of through holes
41
corresponding to the pins
11
of the connector
1
to replace the spot soldering. As can be seen in
FIG. 2
, the pins
11
of the connector
1
are extended through the holes
41
on the soldering tin sheet
4
and the holes
21
on the PC board
2
, and a hot blast heater (not shown) is used to blow at the soldering tin sheet
4
to and fro, so that the soldering tin sheet
4
melts at joints of the pins
11
and the holes
21
. For a PC board
2
having surface-mounting devices (SMD), such tin-melting with a hot blast heater over a large area tends to cause not only cold soldering, hollow soldering, and short circuit between pins
11
, but also undesired melting of tin solder at initially soldered electronic devices. When the molten tin solder at the previously soldered electronic devices become set again, it would result in the problems of cold soldering, hollow soldering, and short circuit between pins.
As shown in
FIG. 4
, the connector
1
has a bottom recess
12
in which the pins
11
are provided. The recess
12
defines a space between the connector
1
and the PC board
2
. For the pins
11
and the holes
21
to fully connect at their joints, a layer of tin solder
3
is applied on the surface of the PC board
2
facing the recess
12
, and a washer
5
as shown in
FIG. 3
is mounted around each pin
11
in the recess
12
, and finally, a hot blast heater is used to blow at the tin solder layer
3
to and fro, so that the tin solder
3
melts at the joints of the holes
21
and the pins
11
. As mentioned above, such melting of tin solder over a large area tends to result in serious cold soldering, hollow soldering, and short circuit between pins, particularly in an invisible space. Thus, the problems existing in the conventional connector
1
are not overcome at all.
In
FIGS. 5
,
6
and
7
, there is shown another type of conventional connector
1
, pins
11
of which have a uniform width at all portions except for a small length at roots of the pins
11
that is wider than other portions. When the another type of conventional connector
1
is inserted onto the PC board
2
by extending the pins
11
through the holes
21
, the widened roots of the pins
11
are stopped before the holes
21
and must be forced into the holes
21
by applying a pressure on the connector
1
, so that the connector
1
is completely tightly associated with the PC board
2
. It is known that the connector
1
is used to detachably connect buses. The above-described manner of forcing the connector
1
onto the PC board
2
would possibly cause undesired separation of the buses from the connector
1
.
It is therefore desirable to develop an improved connector to substitute for the conventional PC104 and PC104 PLUS industrial computer connectors to solve the problems in soldering the pins of the connectors to the PC board.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a sectional connector substituting for conventional PC104 and PC104 PLUS industrial computer connectors to enable easy and firm connecting and soldering of pins of the connector to a PC board.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sectional connector for industrial computer that includes a main connector and a plurality of sub-connectors, the number of which is dependent on actual needs in designing industrial computers, connected to one another through coupling means provided on contact surfaces between two adjacent main connector and sub-connector or two adjacent sub-connectors.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a sectional connector for industrial computer that has completely even and smooth outer surfaces after being assembled from at least a main connector and a sub-connector.
To achieve the above and other objects, the sectional connector of the present invention mainly includes a main connector having pins in two rows, one or more first sub-connector having pins in one row, and a second sub-connector having pins in one row, sequentially connected throug
Feild Lynn
Le Thanh-Tam
LandOfFree
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