Electrical connector

Abstract

This invention provides an electrical connector, including an insulating body, a plurality of terminals housed within the insulating body, and a pressing plate assembled on the insulating body. The insulating body has a bottom wall, a pair of side walls, and a rear end wall. A mating groove for accommodating a plug is formed between the bottom wall, side walls, and rear end wall. The pressing plate has a pivot groove and a pivot shaft located within the pivot groove. The terminals have an upper arm and a lower arm distributed vertically, both located above the mating groove. The lower arm has a contact protrusion that extends downward and presses against the plug. Compared with the prior art, this invention improves the terminal structure by using the top edge of the lower arm to support the pivot shaft while the bottom edge of the lower arm presses downward against the plug, achieving a press-fit contact. This forms an upper contact structure where both the upper and lower arms are located above the plug, improving the spatial layout in certain application scenarios and facilitating cable routing.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of electrical connections, and more particularly to an electrical connector. Background Technology

[0002] With the trend towards miniaturization and thinner designs in consumer electronics such as laptops, tablets, and mobile phones, the requirements for the design and manufacturing processes of their components are becoming increasingly stringent. As these products become thinner and lighter, their internal space becomes extremely limited, leading to a very dense layout of electrical components on the circuit board. Taking FPC flexible strip / flexible board connectors as an example, a certain amount of space needs to be reserved for wiring after they are installed on the circuit board; otherwise, it will be difficult to route the FPC flexible strip. Existing FPC connectors generally use a bottom-contact terminal structure, where the contact arm of the terminal is usually located below the FPC flexible strip. The FPC flexible strip is pressed down by a flipping operation of a pressure plate, causing the lower surface of the FPC flexible strip to make contact with the contact arm below. However, in some application scenarios, this bottom-contact terminal structure can easily cause inconvenience in wiring routing. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The technical problem solved by this invention is to provide an electrical connector to improve the problem of insufficient wiring space in certain application scenarios in the prior art.

[0004] To solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the present invention adopts the following technical solution: an electrical connector, comprising an insulating body, a plurality of terminals housed within the insulating body, and a switching plate assembled on the insulating body. The insulating body has a bottom wall, a pair of side walls, and a rear end wall. A mating groove for accommodating a plug is formed between the bottom wall, the side walls, and the rear end wall. The switching plate has a pivot groove and a pivot shaft located within the pivot groove. The terminals have an upper arm and a lower arm distributed vertically. The upper arm and the lower arm are both located above the mating groove. The lower arm has a contact protrusion that extends downward and presses against the plug.

[0005] Furthermore, a slit is formed between the lower arms to hold the pivot shaft, a receiving recess is formed on the top edge of the lower arm to accommodate the pivot shaft, and a contact protrusion is formed on the bottom edge of the lower arm.

[0006] Furthermore, the lower arm of the terminal is an elastic arm, and the lower arm supports the pivot shaft upward.

[0007] Furthermore, the terminal also has a one-piece main body and a support foot extending forward from the main body. The main body is vertically arranged and held in the rear end wall. The upper arm extends horizontally from back to front and has a straight top edge and a straight bottom edge. The support foot is completely received in the rear end wall and does not protrude into the insertion groove. The support foot is shorter than the upper arm and the lower arm, and the bottom edge of the support foot is pressed against the bottom wall.

[0008] Furthermore, the two ends of the pressure plate are provided with outwardly protruding convex shafts and locking parts located in front of the convex shafts. The side wall of the insulating body is provided with a groove for accommodating the convex shafts and a locking protrusion that engages with the locking part. The locking protrusion is located above the groove.

[0009] Furthermore, the electrical connector also includes a pair of fixing members, each fixing member having an elongated base, a flap protruding upward from the top edge of the base, and a mounting portion that bends outward from the bottom edge of the base. The flap protrudes into the groove to limit the rotation shaft.

[0010] Furthermore, the distance between the upper arm and the lower arm is less than the distance between the lower arm and the bottom wall.

[0011] Furthermore, the bottom wall of the insulating body is provided with a pair of upwardly protruding baffles on both sides and positioning holes located inside the baffles, and a fixing groove is formed between the baffles and the side wall.

[0012] Furthermore, the pressure plate has a top surface and a bottom surface. The top surface has a recessed portion that abuts against the rear end wall. The bottom surface has a pair of protruding locking protrusions that correspond to and cooperate with the positioning holes.

[0013] Furthermore, the positioning hole extends vertically through the bottom wall.

[0014] Compared with the prior art, the present invention improves the terminal structure by using the top edge of the lower arm of the terminal to support the pivot shaft while the bottom edge of the lower arm is pressed downward onto the connector to achieve press-fit contact, forming an upper contact structure in which both the upper and lower arms are located above the connector, thereby improving the spatial layout in certain application scenarios and making it easier to arrange the wiring. Attached Figure Description

[0015] Figure 1 This is a perspective view of the electrical connector of the present invention in the state of the flip plate being open.

[0016] Figure 2 This is a perspective view of the electrical connector described in this invention in the state where the pressure plate is closed.

[0017] Figure 3 This is an exploded perspective view of the electrical connector described in this invention.

[0018] Figure 4 This is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector described in this invention under two different operating states of the pressure plate.

[0019] Figure 5 This is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector described in this invention. Detailed Implementation

[0020] Please see Figures 1 to 5 As shown, the present invention provides an electrical connector 100, including an insulating body 10, a plurality of terminals 20 housed within the insulating body 10, a pair of fixing members 30 mounted at both ends of the insulating body 10, and a pressure plate 40 mounted on the insulating body 10. The insulating body 10 is used to insert a connector 200 (such as an FPC / FFC flexible board, flexible cable strip, or flexible circuit board), and the terminals 20 achieve electrical contact with the connector. The pressure plate 40 is opened and closed by a flipping operation, thereby achieving the pressing or releasing of the connector 200. The structure of each of the aforementioned components is described in detail below.

[0021] The insulating body 10 has a bottom wall 11, a pair of side walls 12, and a rear end wall 13. A insertion groove 14 is formed between the bottom wall, side walls 12, and rear end wall 13 to accommodate the insertion component. The bottom wall 11 has several parallel slots 110, a pair of positioning holes 111 on both sides of the slots 110, and a pair of baffles 112 outside the positioning holes 111. The slots 110 extend forward from the rear end wall 13 to the front edge of the bottom wall 11. The positioning holes 111 penetrate downwards through the bottom wall 11 for engagement with the pressure plate 40. The baffles 112 protrude upwards from the bottom wall 11 but are lower than the side walls 12. The baffles 112 are adjacent to the positioning holes 111 and block the outside of the positioning holes 111. The inner side of the baffles 112 forms the insertion area of ​​the insertion component 200, thus the baffles 112 have a certain limiting and guiding function. The sidewall 12 extends horizontally forward from both ends of the rear end wall 13, located outside the baffle wall 112. A fixing groove 15 for clamping the fixing member 30 is formed between the sidewall 12 and the baffle wall 112. The fixing groove 15 extends horizontally in the front-rear direction. In addition, the inner wall surface of the sidewall 12 is provided with a groove 120 facing the insertion groove 14 and a snap-fit ​​protrusion 121 above the groove 120. The groove 120 provides a certain space for the fixing member 30, allowing part of the fixing member 30 to extend into the groove 120. At the same time, the groove 120 is also used to install the pressure plate 40. The snap-fit ​​protrusion 121 protrudes inward from the inner wall surface of the sidewall 12 to hold the two sides of the pressure plate 40, thereby locking the pressure plate 40. The rear end wall 13 is connected between the pair of sidewalls 12 and is used to fix the plurality of terminals 20.

[0022] The pressure plate 40 extends longitudinally and is installed directly above the insertion slot 14. Both ends of the pressure plate 40 have outwardly protruding convex shafts 41 and locking parts 42 located in front of the convex shafts 41. The convex shafts 41 are used to engage with the grooves 120 on the side wall 12, thus effectively fixing and limiting the two ends of the pressure plate 40, ensuring stable flipping operation of the pressure plate 40. The locking parts 42 are used to engage with the latching protrusions 121. Optionally, the locking part 42 also protrudes outward from both ends of the pressure plate 40 and is adjacent to the front edge of the pressure plate 40, while the convex shaft 41 is located on the rear side of the pressure plate 40 and is adjacent to the rear edge of the pressure plate 40. Thus, the convex shaft 41 and the locking part 42 are distributed along the front and rear sides of the pressure plate 40, and are used to cooperate with the groove 120 and the snap-fit ​​protrusion 121 respectively, thereby realizing the installation and cooperation between the pressure plate 40 and the insulating body 10. In addition, the rear edge of the pressure plate 40 is formed with a plurality of pivot grooves 43 and a pivot shaft 44 located in the pivot grooves 43. The pivot grooves 43 extend vertically through the pressure plate 40 to accommodate the terminal 20. The pivot shaft 44 is used to cooperate with the terminal 20 and enable the pressure plate 40 to perform a flipping operation. Preferably, the pivot shaft 44 is cam-shaped, elliptical, or flat-round, so that it can change its height dimension in the vertical direction during the flipping process, thereby applying pressure to the terminal 20. It is worth mentioning that, in order to achieve good positioning, the top surface of the pressure plate 40 is provided with a recess 45, which is used to abut against the rear end wall 13 of the insulating body 10 in the flipped-open state. The bottom surface of the pressure plate 40 is provided with a pair of protruding locking protrusions 46. The locking protrusions 46 correspond to and cooperate with the positioning holes 111 on the bottom wall 11 of the insulating body 10. When the pressure plate 40 is in the closed state, the locking protrusions 46 pass through the slots (not shown) on both sides of the connector and protrude into the positioning holes 111, thereby limiting the connector 200 and preventing it from being dragged out of the connector slot 14.

[0023] The terminal 20 has a main body 21, an upper arm 22 and a lower arm 23 extending forward from the main body 21, and a welding arm 24 extending rearward from the main body 21. The main body 21 is sheet-shaped and vertically arranged, used to hold in the rear end wall 13 of the insulating body 10 to achieve a fixed and limiting function. The upper arm 22 extends horizontally from rear to front and has a straight top edge and a straight bottom edge. The top edge is held by the rear end wall 13. The upper arm 22 passes through the pivot groove 43 and is located above the pivot shaft 44 to limit the vertical direction of the pivot shaft 44. The lower arm 23 is located directly below the upper arm 22 and has a top edge and a bottom edge. The top edge of the lower arm 23 faces the upper arm 22 and has a downwardly recessed receiving recess 25 to accommodate the pivot shaft 44. The bottom edge of the lower arm 23 faces the bottom wall 11 of the insulating body 10 and has a downwardly protruding contact protrusion 26 to press against the connector 200. The lower arm 23 is a cantilever arm with no obstruction below it. A slit 27 is formed between the lower arm 23 and the upper arm 22, and the width of the slit 27 (i.e., the upper arm) is... The distance between the upper arm 22 and the lower arm 23 is less than the distance between the lower arm 23 and the bottom wall 11. The pivot shaft 44 is held in the slit 27 and located in the receiving recess 25. The upper arm 22 and the lower arm 23 are located above and below the pivot shaft 44, respectively. Due to the special shape of the pivot shaft 44, the gap between the upper arm 22 and the lower arm 23 will be opened by the pivot shaft 44 during the rotation of the pivot shaft 44, thereby forcing the lower arm 23 to press down to clamp the lower plug 200, so that the plug 200 can be firmly held in the plug groove 14. It is worth mentioning that, in order to increase the stability and reliability of the main body 21, the terminal 20 is also provided with a support foot 28 extending forward from the bottom of the main body 21. The bottom edge of the support foot 28 abuts against the bottom wall 11 to increase the contact area between the main body 21 and the bottom wall 11. The support foot 28 is shorter than the upper arm 22 and the lower arm 23. The support foot 28 is located inside the rear end wall 13 and does not protrude into the insertion groove 14.

[0024] The fastener 30 has an elongated base 31, a flap 32 protruding upward from the top edge of the base 31, and a mounting portion 33 that bends outward from the bottom edge of the base 31. The base 31 extends in the front-rear direction and is inserted into the fixing groove 15 to achieve fixed positioning with the insulating body 10. The flap 32 and the mounting portion 33 both bend and extend towards the same side of the base 31. The flap 32 protrudes from the base 31 into the fixing groove 15 and further protrudes into the groove 120 of the side wall 12 to block the convex shaft 41 of the pressure plate 40 in the forward direction, preventing the convex shaft 41 from sliding forward within the groove 120. The mounting portion 33 is used for soldering to a circuit board.

[0025] During use, the pressure plate 40 has two operating states: open and closed. It can be flipped between these two states. When the connector 200 is inserted into the connector slot 14, it can be flipped to the closed state, causing the lower arm 23 to press against the connector 200 and make contact. Conversely, when the connector 200 needs to be pulled out of the connector slot 14, the pressure plate 40 can be flipped to the open state. At this time, the lower arm 23 will release its pressure on the connector 200. Figure 4 As shown, the pivot shaft 44 is simultaneously subjected to interference clamping by the upper arm 22 and the lower arm 23 when the pressure plate 40 is closed, and the pivot shaft 44 only makes interference contact with the lower arm 23 when the pressure plate 40 is open.

[0026] In summary, this invention improves the structure of terminal 20 by using the top edge of the lower arm 23 of terminal 20 to support the pivot shaft 44 and using the bottom edge of the lower arm 23 to press downwards onto the connector 200 to achieve press-fit contact. This terminal 20 structure allows both the upper arm 22 and the lower arm 23 of terminal 20 to be located above the connector, forming an upper contact method to press against the connector 200 below. Compared with the prior art, this invention is more conducive to space optimization and, in some application scenarios, will be more conducive to the spatial arrangement of cabling.

[0027] The above description is merely the preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention in any way. Any modifications and variations made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention using the disclosed methods are all within the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. An electrical connector, comprising an insulating body, a plurality of terminals housed within the insulating body, and a switching plate assembled on the insulating body, wherein the insulating body has a bottom wall, a pair of side walls, and a rear end wall, and a mating groove for accommodating a mating member is formed between the bottom wall, the side walls, and the rear end wall; the switching plate has a pivot groove and a pivot shaft located within the pivot groove, characterized in that: The terminal has an upper arm and a lower arm distributed vertically, both of which are located above the insertion slot. The lower arm has a contact protrusion that protrudes downward and presses against the insertion piece. The terminal also has a one-piece body and a support leg extending forward from the body. The body is vertically arranged and held in the rear end wall. The upper arm extends horizontally from back to front and has a straight top edge and a straight bottom edge. The support leg is completely received in the rear end wall and does not protrude into the insertion slot. The support leg is shorter than the upper arm and the lower arm, and the bottom edge of the support leg presses against the bottom wall.

2. The electrical connector as described in claim 1, characterized in that: A slit is formed between the lower arms to hold the pivot shaft, a receiving recess is formed on the top edge of the lower arm to accommodate the pivot shaft, and a contact protrusion is formed on the bottom edge of the lower arm.

3. The electrical connector as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The lower arm of the terminal is an elastic arm, and the lower arm supports the pivot shaft upward.

4. The electrical connector as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The two ends of the pressure plate are provided with outward protruding convex shafts and locking parts located in front of the convex shafts. The side wall of the insulating body is provided with a groove for accommodating the convex shafts and a locking protrusion that engages with the locking part. The locking protrusion is located above the groove.

5. The electrical connector as described in claim 4, characterized in that: The electrical connector also includes a pair of fixing members, each fixing member having an elongated base, a flap protruding upward from the top edge of the base, and a mounting portion that bends outward from the bottom edge of the base. The flap protrudes into the groove to limit the convex shaft.

6. The electrical connector according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The distance between the upper arm and the lower arm is less than the distance between the lower arm and the bottom wall.

7. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that: The bottom wall of the insulating body is provided with a pair of upwardly protruding baffles on both sides and positioning holes located inside the baffles. A fixing groove is formed between the baffles and the side wall.

8. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 7, characterized in that: The pressure plate has a top surface and a bottom surface. The top surface has a recessed portion that abuts against the rear end wall. The bottom surface has a pair of protruding locking protrusions that correspond to and cooperate with the positioning holes.

9. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 8, characterized in that: The positioning hole extends vertically through the bottom wall.

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