Electrical connector and electrical connector assembly for connection to a circuit board with zero insertion force

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11043763-B2
Application number	US-202016867792-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 6, 2020
Priority date	May 7, 2019
Publication date	Jun 22, 2021
Grant date	Jun 22, 2021

Abstract

An electrical connector and an electrical connector assembly are provided. The electrical connector assembly includes: a mating assembly including a support plate and multiple insertion portions provided on the support plate and protruding downward out of the support plate; and an electrical connector. The electrical connector includes: a substrate, provided with multiple accommodating holes running through the substrate vertically; and multiple terminals accommodated in the accommodating holes. Each terminal has a base and two clamping portions configured to clamp a corresponding insertion portion. The two clamping portions are located in front of the base. A top end of the base is lower than top ends of the two clamping portions. When the two clamping portions jointly clamp the corresponding insertion portion, a portion of the corresponding insertion portion lower than the top ends of the clamping portions is located right above the base of an adjacent terminal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrical connector, configured to be electrically connected to a mating component having a plurality of insertion portions, the electrical connector comprising:
a substrate, provided with a plurality of accommodating holes running through the substrate vertically; and
a plurality of terminals, correspondingly accommodated in the accommodating holes, wherein each of the terminals has:
a base,
two connecting portions formed by extending upward from the base,
two guide portions and two clamping portions, a gap between the two guide portions is greater than a gap between the two clamping portions, the guide portions are respectively connected to the connecting portions, the clamping portions are respectively formed by extending forward from the guide portions, the two clamping portions are configured to clamp a corresponding insertion portion of the insertion portions,
wherein after the corresponding insertion portion is inserted downward between the two guide portions, the guide portions guide the corresponding insertion portion to move forward to the clamping portions, a top end of the base is lower than top ends of the clamping portions, an accommodating space is formed right above the base and located behind the guide portions, a height of the accommodating space is between the top ends of the clamping portions and the top end of the base, and when the corresponding insertion portion is jointly clamped by the two clamping portions, a portion of the corresponding insertion portion lower than the top ends of the clamping portions partially protrudes forward from the clamping portions and is accommodated in the accommodating space of an adjacent front terminal.

2. The electrical connector according to claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a circuit board, the base extends downward to form at least one fixing portion fixed to the accommodating hole, at least one leading portion is formed by extending obliquely downward from the fixing portion and protrudes out of the accommodating hole to be soldered to a main circuit board, the base is located outside the substrate, and a front end of each of the clamping portions passes forward beyond the fixing portion.

3. The electrical connector according to claim 2 , wherein two fixing portions are provided, a first through slot is formed between front sides of the two fixing portions, and a second through slot is formed between rear sides of the two fixing portions.

4. The electrical connector according to claim 2 , wherein two leading portions are provided separately, a first opening is formed between front sides of the two leading portions, and a second opening is formed between rear sides of the two leading portions.

5. The electrical connector according to claim 1 , wherein the terminals further comprise a plurality of ground terminals, a lower surface of the substrate has a shielding layer, an inner wall of each of the accommodating holes is insulating, each of the ground terminals is soldered to a main circuit board by a solder, and the solder connects each of the ground terminals and the shielding layer.

6. The electrical connector according to claim 1 , wherein each of the insertion portions is ball-shaped, a distance between the two clamping portions of each of the terminals gradually decreases upward from a bottom thereof, and a position where the two clamping portions clamp the corresponding insertion portion is higher than a virtual horizontal center line of the corresponding insertion portion.

7. An electrical connector assembly, comprising:
a mating component, comprising a support plate and a plurality of insertion portions provided on the support plate and protruding downward out of the support plate; and
an electrical connector, configured for the insertion portions to insert downward therein, wherein the electrical connector comprises:
a substrate, provided with a plurality of accommodating holes running through the substrate vertically; and
a plurality of terminals, accommodated in the accommodating holes, wherein each of the terminals has a base and two clamping portions configured to clamp a corresponding insertion portion of the insertion portions, the two clamping portions are located in front of the base, a top end of the base is lower than top ends of the two clamping portions, and when the corresponding insertion portion is jointly clamped by the two clamping portions, a portion of the corresponding insertion portion lower than the top ends of the clamping portions is located right above the base of an adjacent terminal.

8. The electrical connector assembly according to claim 7 , wherein two connecting portions extend upward from the base, two guide portions are respectively formed by extending backward from the two clamping portions to guide the insertion portions to move forward, a distance between the two clamping portions is less than a distance between the two guide portions, the guide portions are connected to the connecting portions, and a front end of each of the clamping portions passes forward beyond the connecting portions.

9. The electrical connector assembly according to claim 8 , wherein each of the insertion portions is ball-shaped and is made of copper.

10. The electrical connector assembly according to claim 9 , wherein the distance between two clamping portions of each of the terminals gradually decreases upward from a bottom thereof, and a position where the two clamping portions clamp the corresponding insertion portion is higher than a virtual horizontal center line of the corresponding insertion portion.

11. The electrical connector assembly according to claim 7 , wherein an upper surface of the support plate has a plurality of soldering regions to be correspondingly soldered with a plurality of conductors of a chip module, and a distance between two adjacent ones of the insertion portions is greater than a distance between two adjacent ones of the conductors.

12. The electrical connector assembly according to claim 7 , wherein the substrate is a circuit board, the base extends downward to form at least one fixing portion fixed to the accommodating hole, at least one leading portion is formed by extending obliquely downward from the fixing portion and protrudes out of the accommodating hole to be soldered to a main circuit board, the base is located outside the substrate, and a front end of each of the clamping portions passes forward beyond the fixing portion.

13. The electrical connector assembly according to claim 12 , wherein two fixing portions are provided, a first opening is formed between front sides of the two fixing portions, and a second opening is formed between rear sides of the two fixing portions.

14. The electrical connector assembly according to claim 12 , wherein two leading portions are provided separately, a first opening is formed between front sides of the two leading portions, and a second opening is formed between rear sides of the two leading portions.

15. The electrical connector assembly according to claim 7 , wherein the terminals further comprise a plurality of ground terminals, each of an upper surface of the substrate and a lower surface of the support plate respectively has a shielding layer, and each of the ground terminals is electrically connected to the shielding layers.

16. The electrical connector assembly according to claim 7 , wherein the support plate is provided with a stopped portion, a stopping portion is located in front of the stopped portion, and the stopping portion stops the stopped portion forward.

Assignees

• Lotes Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jin Zuo Feng

Classifications

• H01R12/7076

  for connection between PCB and component, e.g. display · CPC title

• H01R2107/00

  Four or more poles · CPC title

• H01R13/6581

  Shield structure · CPC title

• H01R13/111

  co-operating with pins having a circular transverse section · CPC title

• H01R12/58 Primary

  terminals for insertion into holes · CPC title