Machine case with improved electrical connector

• US 9,685,744 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2015
• Issued: 06/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Foxconn Interconnect Technology Limited (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Foxconn Interconnect Technology Limited (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Little, Terrance F., Chang, Chun-Yi, Sedio, Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): HYEON, HAE M
• Application Number:
  US14/942,975
• Publication Number:
  US 20160141814A1
• Time in Patent Office: 582 Days
• Field of Search: 439529, 439 91, 439591, 4397331, 439638, 439885
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/225 Connectors or couplings
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/405 Securing in non-demountable manner, e.g. moulding, riveting
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/73 Means for mounting coupling parts to apparatus or structures, e.g. to a wall
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 2201/12 for medicine and surgery

Abstract

An electrical connector for use within a machine case includes an insulator and a plurality of contacts. The insulator defines opposite top and bottom surfaces thereon in a vertical direction. The contacts are retained to the insulator via an insert molding process. Each of said contacts is stamped and bent from sheet metal and unitarily formed with an upper contacting section exposed upon the top surface, and a lower contacting sections exposed upon the bottom surface. Each of said upper contacting section and said lower contacting section extends along a longitudinal direction perpendicular to both said vertical direction and said transverse direction. Each of the upper contacting section and the lower contacting section is planar and stationary. One of said upper contacting section and said lower contacting section has an outer end exposed to an exterior for originally linking to a contact carrier.

Claims

1. An electrical connector for use within a machine case comprising:

an insulator defining opposite top and bottom surfaces thereon in a vertical direction;

a plurality of contacts retained to the insulator via an insert molding process and arranged along a transverse direction perpendicular to said vertical direction, each of said contacts stamped and bent from sheet metal and unitarily formed with an upper contacting section exposed upon the top surface, and a lower contacting sections exposed upon the bottom surface, each of said upper contacting section and said lower contacting section extending along a longitudinal direction perpendicular to both said vertical direction and said transverse direction;

wherein

each of the upper contacting section and the lower contacting section is planar and stationary;

wherein

one of said upper contacting section and said lower contacting section defines an outer end exposed to an exterior for originally linking to a contact carrier;

wherein

said some of the contacts are divided into at least two opposite groups, and the upper contacting sections in one group are offset away from those in the other group in said transverse direction in a symmetrical manner with regard to a centerline between said two groups.

2. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein said lower contacting section is longer than the upper contacting section in the longitudinal direction.

3. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein each contact of said two groups is of a folded type with a joint linking the upper contacting section and the lower contacting section, and said joint is embedded with the insulator and hidden from the exterior and narrower than either the upper contacting section and the lower contacting section in the transverse direction.

4. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein said outer ends extend from the respective upper contacting sections and are commonly connected to a printed circuit board with traces connecting/shorting the outer ends of the upper contacting sections of the selected contacts.

5. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 4, wherein the insulator has a flange structure extending therefrom with the printed circuit board supported on an upper surface thereof, said outer ends are positioned on said upper surface of the flange structure.

6. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the insulator defines a plurality of recesses formed on at least one of the top and bottom surfaces and located between the neighboring contacts.

7. A machine case comprising:

a base having a first deck station and a second deck station respectively located at two opposite ends of the base in a longitudinal direction;

a first contact module seated upon the first deck station and comprising a first insulator defining opposite first top and bottom surfaces thereon in a vertical direction, and a plurality of first contacts retained to the first insulator via a first insert molding process and arranged along a transverse direction perpendicular to said vertical direction and longitudinal direction;

each of said first contacts defining a first upper contacting section exposed upon the first top surface, and a first lower contacting section exposed upon the first bottom surface, each of said first upper contacting sections extending in a length along the longitudinal direction shorter than that of said lower contacting sections;

a second contact module seated upon the second deck station and comprising a second insulator defining opposite second top and bottom surfaces thereon in said vertical direction, and a plurality of second contacts retained to the second insulator via the first insert molding process and arranged along the transverse direction;

each of said second contacts defining a second upper contacting section exposed upon the second top surface, and a second lower contacting section exposed upon the second bottom surface, each of said second upper contacting sections extending in a length along the longitudinal direction shorter than that of said second lower contacting sections.

8. The machine case as claimed in claim 7, wherein the first and second contact modules are embedded into the first and second deck stations respectively via a second insert molding process.

9. The machine case as claimed in claim 8, wherein the first contacts are divided into two outer groups for originally linking to one contact carrier, and two inner groups arranged between the two outer groups for originally linking to another contact carrier;

the first upper contacting sections in one inner group are offset away from those in the other inner group in said transverse direction in a symmetrical manner with regard to a centerline between said two inner groups.

10. The machine case as claimed in claim 9, wherein each of said first contacts is of a folded type with a joint linking the first upper contacting section and the first lower contacting section and hidden within the insulator, said joint of each first contact in the two inner groups is narrower than either the first upper contacting section or the first lower contacting section in the transverse direction.

11. The machine case as claimed in claim 9, wherein the first upper contacting sections of the two outer groups are covered by material of the first deck station while the first upper contacting sections of the two inner groups and all of the first lower contacting sections are exposed to exterior.

12. The machine case as claimed in claim 8, wherein each of the first and second insulators defines a plurality of recesses on the respective first and second bottom surfaces and located between every adjacent two first and second contacts respectively, and the recesses are filled with the material of the first and second deck stations in the second inert molding process.

13. A machine case comprising:

a base having at least one deck station at one end along a longitudinal direction;

a contact module seated upon the deck station and comprising an insulator defining opposite top and bottom surfaces thereon in a vertical direction perpendicular to said longitudinal direction, a plurality of contacts embedded within the insulator via an insert molding process and arranged with one another along a transverse direction perpendicular to both said longitudinal direction and said vertical direction, each of said contacts having an upper contacting section exposed upon the top surface, and a lower contacting section exposed upon the bottom surface; and

a transitional printed circuit board intimated position upon the insulator;

wherein

some contacts having corresponding tail sections linked to the transitional printed circuit board and shorted together.

14. The machine case as claimed in claim 13, wherein the transitional printed circuit board is located along an elongated edge of the insulator extending in the transverse direction.

15. The machine case as claimed in claim 14, wherein said transitional printed circuit board is located on an outer side of the insulator in said longitudinal direction.

16. The machine case as claimed in claim 13, wherein the deck station forms a plurality of through holes extending in the vertical direction to expose the corresponding lower contacting sections, respectively.

17. The machine case as claimed in claim 13, wherein the tail sections of said contacts extend in the vertical direction through corresponding through holes in the transitional printed circuit board.

18. The machine case as claimed in claim 13, wherein the deck station forms a large post and a small post, and the transitional printed circuit board forms a large hole and a small hole respectively receiving said large post and said small post.

19. The machine case as claimed in claim 13, wherein in each contact, the upper contacting section and the lower contacting section are not only different from each other in length along the longitudinal direction but also offset from each other in the transverse direction.