TWI851281B - Electric connector - Google Patents

Abstract

An electric connector is disclosed and comprises a casing and a plurality of terminals, the casing has an accommodating space, and the plurality of terminals are arranged in the accommodating space, wherein each terminal has a main body, an upper arm and a lower arm, and the upper arm and the lower arm are symmetrically connected to the main body, the upper arm and the lower arm each have a free end, a first contact portion and a second contact portion, and the first contact portion is disposed at the free end.

Description

Electrical connector

This case relates to an electrical connector, particularly an electrical connector whose terminals have multiple contacts.

Electrical connectors are widely used in electronic devices in today's society as interfaces for power and signal transmission. However, with the development of technology, in order to cope with different types, models, and brands of electronic devices, electrical connectors of various specifications and standards have developed vigorously. For example, the most commonly used mainstream connection interface is the Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector set. Users can plug peripheral devices with USB male plugs, such as mice, external hard drives, power banks, etc., into electronic devices with USB female sockets to achieve electrical connection between peripheral devices and pad devices, and then transmit power and signals, so that peripheral devices can produce various different effects.

With the increase in transmission volume, transmission rate and performance requirements, USB has launched a high-speed TYPE-C specification electrical connector set. Its appearance size is smaller than that of the traditional USB interface, but it can support higher power charging and power supply capabilities, and has a faster transmission speed. In addition, it can support front and back plugging, so that users no longer need to distinguish the front and back, and it is more suitable for modern electronic devices that pursue lightness and thinness.

In the commonly used USB TYPE-C electrical connector set, since the interface size of the connection is relatively small and the connection terminal of the male and female ends inside has only one set of contact points, the contact area is limited. Therefore, when it is charged, it is easy to cause excessive temperature rise, making it difficult to increase the charging current value, and thus affecting the charging performance. Figure 1 is a male electrical connector 1 of the known USB TYPE-C electrical connector. As shown in the figure, the male electrical connector 1 has a housing 10 and a plurality of terminals 11. The housing 10 has a receiving space 100, and the plurality of terminals 11 are arranged in the receiving space 100. This known terminal 11 has upper and lower arms 12a, 12b. When the male electrical connector 1 is connected to another female electrical connector (not shown), the electrical connection is mainly formed by the contact portions 11a, 11b provided on the ends of the upper arm 12a and the lower arm 12b of each terminal 11 correspondingly clamping the contact terminals (not shown) in the female electrical connector. However, as mentioned above, since the terminal 11 of the male electrical connector 1 is only clamped and contacts the contact terminal in the female electrical connector through this single set of contact parts 11a, 11b, during the long-term plug-in and unplug process, the contact terminal in the female electrical connector is easily damaged by friction due to the stress of the repeated contact of this single set of contact parts 11a, 11b. In addition, since it is only electrically connected through a single set of contact parts 11a, 11b, the contact area is limited, resulting in high contact impedance, which in turn makes it difficult to increase the rated current value.

Therefore, how to develop an electrical connector that can improve the problems encountered by the above-mentioned existing technologies is indeed one of the important issues.

One of the purposes of this case is to provide an electrical connector, in particular a USB TYPE-C electrical connector for charging, by providing two or more sets of contact parts on the terminals of the electrical connector to increase the contact area between each other, thereby reducing the temperature rise during charging, improving the current tolerance, and thus improving the charging current value and charging performance.

Another purpose of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector, in particular a USB TYPE-C electrical connector for charging, which includes a plurality of terminals, and each terminal has an upper arm and a lower arm. By adjusting the length and thickness ratio of the first elastic part and the second elastic part of the upper arm and the lower arm, the required clamping and contact force can be adjusted to reduce the wear of the tongue piece connected thereto, thereby increasing the service life of the product.

According to the concept of this case, this case provides an electrical connector, including: a housing having a storage space; and a plurality of terminals disposed in the storage space, wherein each terminal has a body, an upper arm and a lower arm, the upper arm and the lower arm are symmetrical to each other and connected to the body, the upper arm and the lower arm each have a free end, a first contact portion and a second contact portion, and the first contact portion is disposed at the free end.

According to the concept of this case, each upper arm and each lower arm are connected to the main body through a connecting end, and each upper arm and each lower arm are inclined from the connecting end to the free end.

According to the concept of this case, the distance between the first contact portion of the upper arm and the first contact portion of the lower arm is smaller than the distance between the second contact portion of the upper arm and the second contact portion of the lower arm.

According to the concept of this case, each upper arm and each lower arm has a first elastic part and a second elastic part, the first contact part is arranged at the free end of the first elastic part, and the second contact part is arranged at the connection between the first elastic part and the second elastic part.

According to the concept of this case, the first elastic part is a strip elastic structure.

According to the concept of this case, the first elastic part is an arc-shaped elastic structure.

According to the concept of this case, the thickness of the second elastic part is greater than or equal to the thickness of the first elastic part.

According to the concept of this case, the length of the second elastic part is greater than the length of the first elastic part.

According to the concept of this case, each upper arm and each lower arm has a third contact portion, and the third contact portion is disposed on the first elastic portion.

According to the concept of this case, the first contact part, the second contact part and the third contact part are all convex parts.

1: Learn about electrical connectors

10: Shell

100: Storage space

11: Terminals

11a, 11b: Contact part

12a: Upper arm

12b: Lower arm

2, 3: Electrical connector

20: Shell

200: Storage space

21, 41, 51, 61, 71: terminals

22: Body

23, 42, 52, 62, 72: Upper arm

230, 240: Free end

231, 241: Connection terminal

232: Lower surface of upper arm

233, 243, 420, 520, 620, 720: first elastic part

234, 244, 421, 521, 621, 721: Second elastic part

24, 43, 53, 63, 73: Lower arm

242: Upper surface of lower arm

25a, 25b, 44, 54, 64, 74: first contact part

26a, 26b, 45, 55, 65, 75: Second contact part

30: Tongue

300: Upper surface of tongue

301: Lower surface of tongue

31: Contact terminal

L1: Length of the first elastic part

L2: Length of the second elastic part

T1: Thickness of the first elastic part

T2: Thickness of the second elastic part

D1: The distance from the first contact point of the upper arm to the first contact point of the lower arm

D2: The distance from the second contact part of the upper arm to the second contact part of the lower arm

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the exploded structure of a conventional male electrical connector.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the exploded structure of the electrical connector of the preferred embodiment of this case.

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the side view of the terminal of the electrical connector shown in Figure 2.

Figure 4A is a schematic diagram showing the connection between the terminal of the electrical connector of the preferred embodiment of the present invention and the connection end of another electrical connector.

Figure 4B is a partial enlargement of Figure 4A.

Figures 5A to 5D are schematic diagrams of the terminal structures of the electrical connectors of the second to fifth preferred embodiments of the present invention.

Some typical embodiments that embody the features and advantages of this case will be described in detail in the following description. It should be understood that this case can have various variations in different forms, all of which do not deviate from the scope of this case, and the descriptions and diagrams therein are essentially for illustrative purposes rather than limiting this case.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the exploded structure of the electrical connector of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the electrical connector 2 is a universal serial bus (USB) connector, and in particular, a USB TYPE-C electrical connector. As shown in FIG. 2, the electrical connector 2 of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is mainly a male end electrical connector, including: a housing 20 and a plurality of terminals 21. The housing 20 has a receiving space 200. The plurality of terminals 21 are correspondingly arranged in the receiving space 200 of the housing 20. Among them, each terminal 21 has a body 22, an upper arm 23 and a lower arm 24, and the upper arm 23 and the lower arm 24 are mutually symmetrical structures and are both connected to the body 22. As shown in the figure, the upper arm 23 and the lower arm 24 respectively have free ends 230, 240, first contact portions 25a, 25b and second contact portions 26a, 26b, and the first contact portions 25a, 25b are disposed at the free ends 230, 240. In some embodiments, the plurality of terminals 21 are made of a metal material having elasticity, but not limited thereto.

In this embodiment, the upper arm 23 of the terminal 21 has a free end 230 and a connecting end 231, which are correspondingly arranged at two opposite ends of the upper arm 23 and connected to the body 22 through the connecting end 231; similarly, the lower arm 24 also has a corresponding free end 240 and a connecting end 241, and is connected to the body 22 through the connecting end 241. And, in this embodiment, each upper arm 23 and each lower arm 24 are inclined from their connecting ends 231, 241 toward the free ends 230, 240. Among them, the first contact portion 25a and the second contact portion 26a of the upper arm 23 are arranged at the lower surface 232 of the upper arm 23, and the first contact portion 25a is arranged at the free end 230. The first contact portion 25b and the second contact portion 26b of the lower arm 24 are disposed on the upper surface 242 of the lower arm 24, and the first contact portion 25b is also disposed at the free end 240. In some embodiments, the first contact portion 25a and the second contact portion 26a of the upper arm 23 are disposed at positions corresponding to the first contact portion 25b and the second contact portion 26b of the lower arm 24, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In this way, when the electrical connector 2 of this embodiment is connected to another electrical connector 3 (as shown in Figures 4A and 4B), the first contact portion 25a and the second contact portion 26a disposed on the lower surface 232 of the upper arm 23 and the first contact portion 25b and the second contact portion 26b disposed on the upper surface 242 of the lower arm 24 correspond to the upper surface 300 and the lower surface 301 of the tongue 30 of the electrical connector 3, thereby forming an electrical connection.

Please refer to Figure 2 and Figure 3 at the same time. Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the side view of the terminal of the electrical connector shown in Figure 2. In this embodiment, the upper arm 23 and the lower arm 24 of the terminal 21 are elastic arm structures with the same structure and symmetrically arranged. As shown in FIG. 3 , the upper arm 23 has a first elastic portion 233 and a second elastic portion 234. In other words, in this embodiment, the movable portion of the upper arm 23 can be divided into the first elastic portion 233 connected to the free end 230 and the second elastic portion 234 connected to the connecting end 231, and the first contact portion 25a disposed on the lower surface 232 of the upper arm 23 is located at the free end 230 of the first elastic portion 233, and the second contact portion 26a is correspondingly disposed at the connection between the first elastic portion 233 and the second elastic portion 234. Similarly, the lower arm 24 also has a first elastic portion 243 and a second elastic portion 244 symmetrically arranged with the upper arm 23, and the first contact portion 25b arranged on the upper surface 242 of the lower arm 24 is also located at the free end 240 of the first elastic portion 243, and the second contact portion 26b is also arranged correspondingly at the connection between the first elastic portion 243 and the second elastic portion 244.

As mentioned above, the upper arm 23 is inclined from its connecting end 231 toward the free end 230, so in this embodiment, the distance D1 between the first contact portion 25a of the upper arm 23 and the first contact portion 25b of the lower arm 24 is smaller than the distance D2 between the second contact portion 26a of the upper arm 23 and the second contact portion 26b of the lower arm 24. In some embodiments, the thickness T2 of the second elastic portion 234, 244 of the upper arm 23 and the lower arm 24 may be, but is not limited to, greater than or equal to the thickness T1 of the first elastic portion 233, 243. In other embodiments, the length L2 of the second elastic portion 234, 244 of the upper arm 23 and the lower arm 24 is greater than the length L1 of the first elastic portion 233, 243, but is not limited thereto. In this embodiment, by gradually reducing the thickness or length from the second elastic part 234, 244 to the first elastic part 233, 243, the clamping and contact force of the first contact part 25a, 25b disposed at the free end 230, 240 and the second contact part 26a, 26b disposed at the connection between the first elastic part 233, 243 and the second elastic part 234, 244 can be adjusted and distributed, so as to achieve multi-point clamping contact, thereby increasing the contact area, reducing impedance and improving the rated current value. However, the ratio of the length and thickness of the first elastic part 233, 243 and the second elastic part 234, 244 can be changed according to the actual application situation.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, in addition to the two sets of first contact portions 25a, 25b and second contact portions 26a, 26b, the terminal 21 may also be provided with a third contact portion (not shown) in response to actual needs. These first contact portions 25a, 25b, the second contact portions 26a, 26b, and the third contact portion are all convex portions, and their appearance may be, but is not limited to, an arc-shaped convex portion structure. Furthermore, the position of the third contact portion can be set at the first elastic portion 233, 243, that is, between the two sets of first contact portions 25a, 25b and second contact portions 26a, 26b, and the number and position of the third contact portion are not limited thereto and can be changed according to actual conditions to meet the requirements of multi-point contact.

Please refer to Figure 4A and Figure 4B at the same time. Figure 4A is a schematic diagram of the terminal of the electrical connector of the preferred embodiment of the present invention and the connecting end of another electrical connector. Figure 4B is a partial enlarged view of Figure 4A. As shown in Figures 4A and 4B, the electrical connector 2 of the present embodiment and another electrical connector 3 are connected to each other, and in order to more clearly view the state of the internal connection between the electrical connector 2 and the electrical connector 3, the housing 20 of the electrical connector 2 and the housing of the electrical connector 3 are briefly shown here. In the present embodiment, the electrical connector 2 is a male-end electrical connector. When it is correspondingly connected to the female-end electrical connector 3, in response to the pushing force of the user, the tongue 30 in the female-end electrical connector 3 is displaced parallel to the plurality of terminals 21 of the electrical connector 2, and first pushes against the free ends 230 and 240 of the arms 23 and the lower arms 24 of the plurality of terminals 21, so that they elastically displace upward and downward respectively in response to the pushing force, and the tongue 30 continues to displace parallelly, thereby making the upper arms 23 and the lower arms 24 of the plurality of terminals 21 correspondingly clamped on the upper surface 300 and the lower surface 301 of the tongue 30 in the female-end electrical connector 3. At the same time, the first contact portion 25a and the second contact portion 26a disposed on the lower surface 232 of the upper arm 23 are in contact with the contact terminal 31 disposed on the upper surface 300 of the tongue piece 30, and are electrically connected. Similarly, the first contact portion 25b and the second contact portion 26b disposed on the upper surface 242 of the lower arm 24 are in contact with the contact terminal 31 disposed on the lower surface 301 of the tongue piece 30, and are electrically connected. Thus, in this embodiment, when the two electrical connectors 2 and 3 are plugged into each other, the multiple terminals 21 of the electrical connector 2 can be electrically connected to the contact terminals 31 of the electrical connector 3 through more than two sets of first contact parts 25a, 25b and second contact parts 26a, 26b. This multi-point clamping method can not only effectively increase the overall clamping force, making it more stable after plugging, but also increase the contact area between each other, thereby reducing impedance and improving current tolerance, so as to improve the charging current value and charging performance. In addition, due to the increase in contact area, the contact pressure of each contact point is reduced, so that the friction wear on the tongue 30 can also be reduced, thereby increasing the service life of the product.

Please refer to Figures 5A to 5D. Figures 5A to 5D are schematic diagrams of the terminal structure of the electrical connector of the second to fifth preferred embodiments of the present invention. As shown in Figures 5A to 5B, the structures of the terminals 41, 51, 61, and 71 of these four embodiments are basically similar to those of the aforementioned embodiments, and they all have upper arms 42, 52, 62, and 72, lower arms 43, 53, 63, and 73, first elastic portions 420, 520, 620, and 720, second elastic portions 421, 521, 621, and 721, first contact portions 44, 54, 64, and 74, and second contact portions 45, 55, 65, and 75, and their arrangement positions are also similar to those of the aforementioned embodiments, so they will not be described in detail. However, in these four embodiments, the thickness and length ratios of the first elastic portion 420, 520, 620, 720 and the second elastic portion 421, 521, 621, 721 are slightly different. In addition, in some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 5A, the first elastic portion 420 may be, but not limited to, a strip-shaped elastic structure. In other embodiments, as shown in FIG. 5B, the first elastic portion 520 may also be, but not limited to, an arc-shaped elastic structure. In addition, the appearance of the first contact portion 44, 54, 64, 74 and/or the second contact portion 45, 55, 65, 75 may also be slightly adjusted, and it may be not only a circular arc-shaped convex portion structure, but also a slightly triangular or trapezoidal convex portion structure. In other words, the length and thickness ratio of the first elastic parts 420, 520, 620, 720 and the second elastic parts 421, 521, 621, 721, or the appearance or location of the first contact parts 44, 54, 64, 74 and the second contact parts 45, 55, 65, 75 can be changed according to the actual operation conditions, so as to adjust the required clamping and contact force.

In summary, this case provides an electrical connector, and the electrical connector of this case is a USB TYPE-C electrical connector for charging. By setting more than two sets of contact parts on the terminals of the electrical connector, the contact area between each other can be increased, thereby reducing the temperature rise when the rated current passes/charges, improving the current tolerance, and thus improving the charging current value and charging performance. In addition, the length and thickness ratio of the first elastic part and the second elastic part of the upper arm and lower arm of the terminals can be adjusted to the required clamping and contact force, thereby reducing the wear of the tongue piece connected thereto and increasing the service life of the product.

This case can be modified in various ways by people familiar with this technology, but it will not deviate from the scope of protection of the attached patent application.

2: Electrical connector

20: Shell

200: Storage space

21: Terminals

22: Body

23: Upper arm

230, 240: Free end

231, 241: Connection terminal

232: Lower surface of upper arm

24: Lower arm

242: Upper surface of lower arm

25a, 25b: first contact part

26a, 26b: Second contact part

Claims (8)

An electrical connector comprises: a housing having a housing space; and a plurality of terminals disposed in the housing space, wherein each terminal has a body, an upper arm and a lower arm, the upper arm and the lower arm are symmetrical to each other and are both connected to the body, the upper arm and the lower arm each have a free end, a first elastic portion, a first contact portion, a second elastic portion and a second contact portion, and the first contact portion is disposed at the free end of the first elastic portion, the second contact portion is disposed at a connection between the first elastic portion and the second elastic portion, and the thickness of the second elastic portion is greater than the thickness of the first elastic portion. An electrical connector as described in claim 1, wherein each of the upper arms and each of the lower arms are connected to the body via a connecting end, and each of the upper arms and each of the lower arms are inclined from the connecting end toward the free end. An electrical connector as described in claim 1, wherein the distance between the first contact portion of the upper arm and the first contact portion of the lower arm is smaller than the distance between the second contact portion of the upper arm and the second contact portion of the lower arm. An electrical connector as described in claim 1, wherein the first elastic portion is a strip-shaped elastic structure. An electrical connector as described in claim 1, wherein the first elastic portion is an arc-shaped elastic structure. An electrical connector as described in claim 1, wherein the length of the second elastic portion is greater than the length of the first elastic portion. An electrical connector as described in claim 1, wherein each of the upper arms and each of the lower arms has a third contact portion, and the third contact portion is disposed on the first elastic portion. An electrical connector as described in claim 7, wherein the first contact portion, the second contact portion and the third contact portion are all convex portions.

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