EP0866521B1 - Male connector for printed circuit board - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a male part of connector for printed circuit, comprising an insulating body containing at least one rod-shaped contact element, one of which end part constitutes a contact pin emerging at the end posterior of the body for the connection of the contact element by welding with a printed circuit and of which the other end part constitutes a pin coming out at the anterior end of the body in view of its connection by fitting with a contact socket of a female connector part.

On such male connector parts for circuits printed, sometimes we have to dismantle one or more contact elements, for example to replace elements damaged. For this purpose, there are known male parts allowing a disassembly of the contact elements backwards (commonly called "rear release") and male parts allowing disassembly forward contact elements (commonly known as "front release ").

The rear removable male parts have the disadvantage that it is necessary, to disassemble an element of contact on a male part connected to a printed circuit, unsolder the pins of all the contact elements of the male part, which also generally requires the use an unlocking tool inserted from the rear into the part connector male.

On the male parts allowing disassembly of the elements forward contact, it is certainly possible to only desolder the pin of the contact element that is to be removed, without touching the other contact elements and without removing the male part in its together, but then it is necessary to engage in the male part, from the front, an unlocking tool whose introduction risks however to cause damage, especially when each spindle is surrounded by a sealing means, for example under nipple shape, resulting in degradation of connector performance.

Another problem that arises for such male parts of connectors for printed circuits concerns the configuration of constituent elements of these connector parts, and in particular the configuration of insulating elements. Indeed, on the connectors known for printed circuits, it is not possible so far to use for the male parts the same insulating elements as for the male parts of simple connectors, and in particular of connectors usual of the type comprising a body of rigid insulating material receiving contact means which have contacts on the rear side females to receive end caps attached to the ends of conductors to connect.

In this regard, reference is made for example to the French patent FR-A-2575612 which proposes a process for manufacturing a electrical connection device, for example a connector, for electrical conductors comprising a contact tip and locking at their end to be connected. In the case of a connector, the latter comprises two conjugate parts, one male (with pins) and the other female (with sockets), each of which has a material body rigid insulation provided with housings or cavities for means of locking and contact means which comprise on the rear side socket-shaped female contacts for receiving the ferrules conductors and on the front side of the male contacts in the form of pins on the male part and female contacts in the shape of sockets on the female part, to cooperate with the female part and the male part, respectively. The body is closed on the back side by a closure part made of flexible insulating material which is molded directly into the body with through holes for the installation of locking means and contact means and for the introduction of the conductor ends to be connected.

For more details on conductor tips to connect and the way in which the end caps cooperate with the locking means and the contact means inside the body of the connection device, reference is made to the patent French FR-A-2 115 556.

To date, the insulating elements of these known connectors, and in particular the bodies or envelopes of these connectors, cannot be used as is for male parts connectors for printed circuits.

In these conditions, it is necessary so far to provide, for the male parts of connectors for printed circuits, the manufacture of elements in insulating material different from those mass produced for the male parts of connectors simple of the type defined above. Now, it would be desirable to be able to benefit, for the male parts of connectors for circuits advantages, offered by the mass production of insulating elements of the usual connectors, in order to obtain thus male parts of connectors for printed circuits which are of a reduced cost, which allow disassembly of the elements of contact, preferably disassembly forward, and on which the disassembly of a contact element does not degrade the connector performance.

The object of the present invention is to provide a male part connector for a printed circuit that meets these requirements.

The male connector part for a printed circuit, the present invention comprises an insulating body containing at least a rod-shaped contact element having a part end in the shape of a pin sticking out at the rear end of the body, for connection by welding with a printed circuit, and another pin-shaped end portion exiting at the end front of the body for its connection by interlocking with a contact socket of a female connector part. This part connector male includes, in combination, for each element contact with a groove, a retaining element designed to cooperate with retention effect in both axial directions with the groove of the contact element, the retention effect being surmountable at least in the rear-front direction, and a locking element immobilized in both axial directions in the body and designed to cooperate with said retaining element with locking effect in forward-backward direction to hold said retainer between itself and a stop secured to the body.

Thanks to the provision of this retaining element, the male part connector according to the invention can use an insulating body such that it is found on male parts of common simple connectors, as well as a locking element as also found on these male parts of common simple connectors, on which this locking element cooperates directly with a nozzle fixed to the end of a conductor to be connected and carrying a pin contact. On the male part for the following printed connector circuit the present invention, there is provided between this locking element known per se and the contact element which includes the contact pin and a contact pin, a retaining element on which this locking element and which in turn acts well defined on the contact element, i.e. with a retention effect in both axial directions, this retention effect being overcome at less in the rear-front direction to allow disassembly of the contact element forward, after desoldering of its pin from the printed circuit board.

Preferably, said locking element comprises means designed to be crossed in the rear-front direction, with latching effect, by the retaining element.

This allows the contact element and the element to be inserted. retained as a pre-assembled assembly, from the rear in the male connector part.

Said locking means of the locking element can advantageously include, in a manner known per se, minus an inclined locking tab.

The retainer may preferably include a closed ring-shaped part with at least two fingers opposing elastic bands protruding from this ring and designed to cooperate in both axial directions with retention effect with the throat of the contact element.

According to a preferred embodiment, the groove of the element contact and the elastic fingers of the retainer are shaped so that said fingers cooperate with said groove with a surmountable retention effect in the rear-front direction and cannot be overcome in the opposite direction.

For this purpose, the groove of the contact element can for example have two sides perpendicular to the axis of the contact element and the elastic fingers of the retaining element may include, to cooperate with said groove, a projecting inner part comprising, on the forward-facing side, a sidewall perpendicular to the axis and on the rear side a side inclined with respect to the axis of so as to form a clearance ramp.

la figure 1 est une coupe d'une partie mâle de connecteur pour circuit imprimé;

la figure 2 est une coupe à plus grande échelle, montrant un exemple préféré de conformation des doigts élastiques de l'élément de retenue et de la gorge de l'élément de contact.

With reference to the accompanying drawings, an illustrative and nonlimiting exemplary embodiment of a male connector part for a printed circuit according to the invention will be described below in more detail; on the drawings:

Figure 1 is a section of a male connector portion for a printed circuit;

Figure 2 is a section on a larger scale, showing a preferred example of conformation of the elastic fingers of the retaining element and the groove of the contact element.

The male connector part 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 is intended to cooperate with a female connector part 2 of which only the outline is partially sketched in the figure, insofar as the structure of this female part is outside the scope of the present invention. Just note on this subject that the female part 2 includes contact sockets for receiving pins male part contact 1.

The male part 1 is intended to be fixed to a printed circuit 3 and includes contact elements 4 in the form of rods metallic. The front end portion of each contact rod 4 constitutes a pin 5 for establishing a connection with a socket of the female part 2, while the end part rear 6 protrudes from connector part 1 backwards under the shape of a pin 6 passing through a hole in the printed circuit 3 and fixed in this hole by welding.

To maintain the contact elements 4, the male part of connector 1 comprises a body 7 of rigid insulating material, section for example quadrangular, circular or other. The body 7 has a plurality of demarcated cylindrical housings or cavities 8 each to the rear by an inner rim 9 and to the front by a front wall 10 joint reported pierced with holes 11 and provided externally of a set of sealing nipples 12 made of material flexible insulation. At the rear, the body 7 comprises an element of closure and sealing 13 of flexible insulating material which is example directly molded into the open rear end of the body 7. Element 13 has through holes 14 which are aligned with the housings 8 and have alternating sections 15 of small diameter and 16 sections of large diameter.

Each housing 8 of the body 7 contains a socket of lock 17, for example metallic, held between the wall front 10 and flange 9 and comprising several locking fins 18 tilted inwards, from back to front.

The male connector part as described so far comes from a structure known per se, for example from the patent French FR-A-2 575 612, according to which the fins of locking 18 of the sockets 17 serve to hold bits which are attached to the end of the conductors to be connected, these end caps are inserted into the connector part from the rear, through the holes passage 14 of the closure and sealing element 13 in material flexible insulator and carry at the front pins 5 intended to cooperate with sockets of the female connector part.

On the contrary, on the male connector part for circuit printed, according to the present invention, each locking sleeve 17 is intended to maintain, in the body 7, a contact element 4 the front end part of which is in the form of a pin 8 through a hole 11 in the front wall 10 and a sealing nipple 12 and the rear end portion of which is shaped as a through pin 6 a through hole 14 of the closure and sealing element 13 and a hole in the printed circuit 3, into which this pin is soldered.

To allow the disassembly forwards of the different contact elements 4, without requiring disassembly of the assembly of the male connector part 1 of the printed circuit 3, which would involve the desoldering of the pins 6 of all the contact elements 4, a retaining element 19 is provided, according to the invention, between each locking sleeve 17 and the contact element 4 corresponding.

The retaining element 19 comprises a shaped portion 20 closed ring and several elastic fingers 21 opposite, in the occurrence of four, exceeding this ring 20 axially. The element 19 can be for example metallic, in which case the elastic fingers 21 are produced from a part in the form of socket which extends the part 20 in the form of a closed ring and which is subdivided by slits crossed into four segments constituting the four fingers 21. This socket has internally, in the vicinity from its end remote from the ring 20, an inner rim having a inner diameter smaller than the diameter of the end portion front 5 in the form of a pin of the contact element 4. On the part in the shape of a cross split socket, this inner rim also slotted crosswise forms an internal projection 22 on each finger elastic 21.

The outer diameter of the closed ring-shaped part 20 being greater than the outside diameter of the socket-shaped part constituting the elastic fingers 21, a shoulder 23 is formed at the place of connection of the elastic fingers 21 to the ring 20.

The pin-shaped part 5 of the contact element 4 has a groove 24 of a width (along the axis of the element of contact 4) at least equal to the corresponding width of the projections 22 elastic fingers 21.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 2, the groove 24 has two sides 25 which are perpendicular to the axis of the contact element 4. The projection 22 comprises, on the side facing the front of the male connector part 1, a flank 26 which is perpendicular to the axis of the retainer 19 and on the opposite side a side 27 which is inclined in the form of a ramp relative to this axis.

The contact element 4 also has a cone of connection 28 forming a ramp between its rear part, moreover small diameter, forming the pin 6, and its anterior part, moreover large diameter, forming the spindle 5.

Finally, the male connector part 1 as described up to present is mounted in an outer casing 29 which is advantageously provided with means not shown for its mechanical connection with the printed circuit 3.

After manufacture by molding of the body 7 and installation of the closure element 13 in the rear end of the body 7, by example by direct molding of the element 13 in the body 7, we introduces the locking sleeves 17 into the housings 8 of the body 7 and the housings 8 are closed by fixing the front wall 10 fitted before or afterwards with its set of teats 12. Then we introduce, in the insulating part thus formed, by the side posterior, i.e. through the through holes 14 of the element closure 13, the various contact elements 4 beforehand provided with retaining elements 19, the inner projections 22 of the elastic fingers 21 of these elements 19 being snapped into the grooves 24 of the contact elements 4. This introduction from the rear which can advantageously be done with the use of a tool insertion type known per se is completed when the parts 20 in closed ring shape of the retaining elements 19 have passed the fins 18 and that these fins, engaged behind the shoulders 23, thus maintain the retaining elements 19 between themselves and the front wall 10 forming a stop.

The male connector part 1 thus equipped, and surrounded by its outer casing 29, can be connected to the printed circuit 3 by engagement and welding of the pins 6 of its contact elements 4 in the holes of the printed circuit 3.

In the event that one of the contact elements 4 must be replaced, just desolder the pin 6 of this contact element 4 of the printed circuit 3, without intervening on the other pins. After desoldering of this pin, it is possible, by exerting a traction on the corresponding pin 5, to disengage the contact element 4 from the retaining element 19, that is to say to release the projections 22 from the elastic fingers 21 of the corresponding retaining element 19 of the groove 24 of this contact element 4 and thus remove this element from contact 4 towards the front of connector part 1.

To set up a new contact element 4 in the male part 1 this element is introduced by its pin 6, from the side anterior, through the nipple 12 and the hole 11 of the front wall 10 in the retaining element 19 which preferably has on this side a flared entry, and the contact element 4 is inserted, inserting its pin 6 in the corresponding hole of the printed circuit 3, until the internal projections 22 of the elastic fingers 21 of the element retainer 19 snaps into the groove 24 of the contact element 4. In the embodiment of Figure 2, the depth is automatically limited by the contacting of the flank 26 of the projections 22 of the fingers 21 with the flank 25 of the groove 24.

It goes without saying that the embodiment illustrated and represented has been given as an indicative and non-limiting example and only many modifications and variants are possible within the framework of the invention.

Thus, the insulating body 7, instead of being manufactured separately of the front wall 10, could also be made in one piece with this wall, in which case the inner edges 9 delimiting the housing 8, at the rear could be replaced by an element of retention engaged from the posterior side in the body 7, after prior insertion of the locking sleeves 17 in the housings 8, and before placing the closure and sealing element 13 then ensuring the maintenance of this retaining element.

It would also be possible to consider the replacement of the locking sockets 17 added by equivalent means molded in one piece with the body 7.

The retaining elements 19 could also be produced differently, provided they can assume the same functions. The number of elastic fingers 21 could also be different from four, and the protrusions 22 of these fingers as well as the throat 24 of the contact elements 4 could have conformations different. In particular, the profiles of the projections 22 and of the groove 24 could be chosen different, for example in an arc, semicircle or with other shapes ensuring a retention effect in both axial directions, with the possibility of overcoming the effect of retention in both axial directions or with impossibility of crossing of this retention effect in the front-rear direction, as in the example shown, due to the conformation of the sides 25, 26 and 27 on the contact element 4 and the retainer 19.

Claims (6)

1. Male connector (1) for a printed circuit (3) comprising an insulating body (7) enclosing at least one contact element (4) in the form of a rod of which one end portion constitutes a contact tag (6) projecting from the rear end of the body (7) for connection of the contact element (4) to a printed circuit (3) by soldering and of which the other end portion constitutes a pin (5) for connection by fitting into a contact sleeve of a female connector (2), characterised by the fact that it comprises in combination, for each contact element (4) provided with a throat (24), a retaining element (19) designed to co-operate with a retaining action in both axial senses with the throat of the contact element (4), the retaining action being capable of being overcome at least in the forward direction and a securing element (17) held in both axial directions within the insulating body (7) and designed to co-operate with the said retaining element (19) with the effect of securing in the rearward direction for holding the said retaining element (19) between itself and an abutment (10) which is fixed to the body (7).
2. Male connector according to claim 1, characterised by the fact that the said securing element (17) comprises means (18) designed in such a way as to be passed over in the forward direction with a snap engagement by the retaining element (19).
3. Male connector according to claim 2, characterised by the fact that the said securing means of the securing element (17) comprise at least one inclined locking wing (18).
4. Male connector according to any one of the foregoing claims characterised by the fact that the retaining element (19) has a portion (20) of closed annular shape carrying at least two opposed resilient fingers (21) extending from this ring and designed to co-operate in both axial directions, with a retaining action, with the throat (24) of the contact element (4) .
5. Male connector according to claim 4, characterised by the fact that the throat (24) of the contact element (4) and the resilient fingers (21) of the retaining element (19) are matched in such a way that the said fingers co-operate with the said throat with a retaining action which is capable of being overcome in the forward direction and not overcome in the opposite direction.
6. Male connector according to claim 5, characterised by the fact that the throat of the contact element (4) has two flanks (25) perpendicular to the axis of the contact element (4) and the resilient fingers (21) of the retaining element (19) have, for co-operating with the said throat, an inward projection (22) having, on the face which is towards the front, a flank (26) perpendicular to the axis and on the rear face a flank (27) which is inclined with respect to the axis in such a way as to form a disengagement ramp.

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