Electrical connector with flexible printed circuits
AssigneeFoxconn Interconnect Technology Limited
InventorsXiang Xiao, Wei Zhong, Jian-Kuang Zhu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electrical connector including an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts retained in the housing. The housing forms a mating surface for mating with an electronic part, and a supporting/mounting surface on which an FPC is seated. The contact includes a contacting section exposed upon the mating surface, a soldering section extending through the FPC, and a connecting section between the contacting section and the soldering section. A metallic shell is attached upon the housing, facing the FPC direction in the vertical direction to restrict movement of the FPC in a vertical direction.
Claims20
An electrical connector assembly comprising:
- an insulative housing defining a main body defining a supporting surface thereon, and a mating section extending forwardly in a front-to-back direction from the main body with a mating surface thereon;
- at least one alignment post extending from the supporting surface
- a plurality of contacts retained in the housing, each of said contacts including a front contacting section exposed upon the mating surface, a rear soldering section extending beyond the supporting surface, and a connecting section located between the contacting section and the soldering section;
- an FPC (Flexible Printed Circuits) positioned upon the supporting surface and soldered to the soldering sections of the contacts;
- and
- a metallic shell attached upon the housing;
- wherein
- the alignment post extends through the FPC for preventing movement of the FPC with regard to the housing in said front-to-back direction;
- and
- the shell confronts the FPC in a vertical direction perpendicular to said front-to-back direction to restrict movement of the FPC with regard to the housing in the vertical direction.
The electrical connector assembly as claimed in clam 1, wherein the mating section is oblique to the main body.
A method of making an electrical connector assembly comprising steps of:
- (1) providing an insulative housing with a main body having a mating surface thereon, and a mating section extending forwardly, in a front-to-back direction, from the main body with a supporting surface thereon;
- (2) assembling a plurality of contacts into the housing with corresponding contacting sections exposed upon the mating surface and the soldering section exposed upon the supporting surface;
- (3) positioning an FPC (Flexible Printed Circuits) upon the supporting surface in a vertical direction perpendicular to said front-to-back direction;
- (4) soldering the soldering sections to the FPC;
- and
- (5) attached a metallic shell to the housing;
- wherein said shell includes a part confronts the FPC in the vertical direction for restricting movement of the FPC relative to the housing in the vertical direction.
An electrical connector comprising:
- an insulative housing defining a main body defining a supporting surface thereon for positioning an FPC (Flexible Printed Circuits) thereon, and a mating section extending forwardly in a front-to-back direction from the main body with a mating surface thereon;
- at least one alignment post extending from the supporting surface
- a plurality of contacts retained in the housing, each of said contacts including a front contacting section exposed upon the mating surface, a rear soldering section extending beyond the supporting surface, and a connecting section located between the contacting section and the soldering section;
- and
- a metallic shell attached upon the housing and having a frame structure surrounding the housing;
- wherein
- the housing is configured to allow the contacts to be assembled into the housing only from the mating surface rearwardly from the front-to-back direction.
The electrical connector as claimed in clam 15, wherein said housing forms a passageway large enough to allow the soldering section of the contact to be bent toward the supporting surface after the contact is inserted into the housing from the mating surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.