CA1166327A

CA1166327A - Hybrid circuit connector

Info

Publication number: CA1166327A
Application number: CA000396714A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Stephen J. Macdonell
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
Priority date: 1982-02-22
Filing date: 1982-02-22
Publication date: 1984-04-24
Also published as: MX152267A; ES8402982A1; IT8223978A0; DE3241228C2; DE3241228A1; JPS58147982A; IT1155413B; JPS6322432B2; GB8304758D0; GB2115239B; ES517822A0; GB2115239A; FR2522205A1

Abstract

HYBRID CIRCUIT CONNECTOR

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
A hybrid circuit connector which is comprised of a frame for enclosing the periphery of a hybrid circuit substrate, a plurality of resilient contacts disposed along at least one inner side of the frame for making contact with cooperating contacts disposed along an edge of the hybrid circuit substrate, at least one lever rotatably pinned within a side of the frame for rotation about an axis parallel to the axis of the latter side. The lever has a jaw extending toward the interior of the frame. The jaw has a lower lip for supporting the bottom of the substrate, and an upper lip spaced approximately the thickness of the substrate above the lower lip. The upper lip has an inner extremity toward the interior of the frame at about the plane of the inside of the latter side of the frame, when the lever is at a predefined open position. Rotation of the lever to its closed position with a hybrid circuit substrate placed above the connector in contact with it causes the substrate to be pushed into position. Rotation of the lever to its open position forces the substrate out of the connector.

Description

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01 This invention relates to a connector for releasably 02 connecting a leadless hybrid circuit to a printed circuit board 03 or the like.
04 Hybrid circuits are usually fabricated on a ceramic 05 substrate, on which various conductors and resistors are 06 silk-screened, and to which integrated circuit chips are bonded.
07 Such hybrid circuits are usually interconnected in a system via a 08 printed circuit board, to which they are usually attached either 09 by soldering or via a connector. The hybrid circuit is usually leadlessr i.e., connections are made to it by soldering jumper 11 wires to bonding pads usually located in rows along its edges, or 12 alternatively, lt is plugged into a socket which contains spring 13 contacts which make electrical contact with connector contacts 1~ disposed along an edge.
It has been found that in a great many instances, the 16 use of plug-in hybrid circuits is more desirable than the use of 17 permanently connected or wired hybrid circuits. In the case of 18 failure or the requirement for servicing, the replacement of only lg the individual hybrid circuits is considerably less costly than the replacement of entire printed circuit boards on which a 21 plurality of hybrid circuits may be connected. This replacement 22 is facilitated by plug-in connection, rather than wired 23 connection.

2~1 Connectors for hybrid circuits have previously been provided which connect along one edge of the hybrid circui-t.
26 There are two types of these connectors, one type which requires 27 insertion orce, in which the terminals of the connector wipe the 28 hybrid circuit mating terminals as the hybrid circuit is 29 inserted, and the zero insertion force type which allows insertion oE the hybrid circuit into the connector, following 31 which pressure is applied by the mating terminals to make contact 32 and hold the hybrid circuit in position. In the forced entry 33 type of connector, the connector terminals on the hybrid circuit 34 must be thick and robust in order to withstand scraping of the connector terminals. In both -types of connector, however, the 36 hybrid is disposed at right angles to the printed circuit board.
37 This results in at least two problems, the first be~ng that more 38 terminals are often required, or a highly dense and complex ~`'''`' .

.

6 ~ 2 7 01 hybrid circuit, ~han can be accommodated along one edge of the 02 hybrid circuit~ Manual insertion of a second connector at -the 03 end of a flexible cable must be used to obtain connection along 04 the opposite edge of the hybrid circuit. The second problem is 05 that in a system utilizing a large number of printed circuit 06 boards, the width of the hybrid circuit extending outwardly from 07 the plane of the printed circuit board requires that each printed 08 circuit board must be spaced at least the height of the hybrid 09 circuit from the adjacent printed circuit board, thus obviating dense packing of the printed circuit boards on a rack.
11 The present invention is a hybrid circuit connector 12 which facilitates removable mounting of a hybrid circuit in a 13 plane adjacent and parallel to the plane o~ the printed circuit 14 board. The nature of the connector facilitates automatic connection to the hybrid circuit along at least two opposite 16 edges, and if desired, along at least major portions of the other 17 two opposite edges. Thus the profile of the printed circuit with 18 components mounted thereon is thin, allowing dense packing of 19 printed circuit boards in a frame. Further, due to the nature of the connector, virtually the entire E)erimeter of the hybrid 21 circuit can be used to provide connec:tion to the hybrid circuit, 22 obviating the requirement for auxiliary manually applied 23 connectors wired via cables to the pr.inted circuit board for 24 connection to another edge of the hybrid circuit, which would otherwise be required.
26 The hybrid circuit to be connected to the present 27 connector uses C clips preferably soldered to corresponding 28 connector pad lands on opposite sides of the substrate, to form 29 edge terminals on one side of which at least the hybrid circuit is connected.
31 It should be noted that since only a short contact 32 length, which i5 comparable to the thickness of the hybrid 33 circuit substrate makes contact with the connector contacts, once 34 the substrate is in position vibration and/or bumping could cause the substrate to become dislodged. However a lever or paîr of 36 levers are used to insert the hybrid circuit into the connector, 37 and once inserted, to form a lock in order to retain the hybrid 33 circuit reliably in contact position. The levers lock in their ' ~ ~ ~632~
01 closed positions, and in their open positions provide a pair of 02 jaws which grasp the hybrid circult and move the hybrid circuit 03 into the connector to make contact as the levers are turned 04 toward their closed positions.
05 As a result a connector is provided for retaining the 06 hybrid circuit connected and in parallel relationship with the 07 plane of the printed circuit board with security and reliability, 08 even during transportation during which it would be subject to 09 jarring and vibration. The hybrid circuit can be released from the connector merely by rotating the levers to their open 11 positions.
12 The invention in general is a hybrid circuit connector 13 comprising a frame for enclosing the periphery of a hybrid 14 circuit substrate, a plurality of resilient contacts disposed along at least one edge of the frame for making contact with 16 cooperating contacts along an edge of the hybrid circuit 17 substrate, and at least one lever rotatably pinned within one 18 side of the frame for rotation about an axis parallel to the axis 19 of the aforenoted one edge, the lever having a jaw extending toward the interior of the frame. The jaw has a lower lip for 21 supporting the bottom of the substrate, and an upper lip spaced 22 about the thickness of the substrate above the lower lip or 23 engaging the substrate therebetween, the upper lip having an 24 inner e~tremity toward the interior of the rrame at about the plane of the inside oE the one side of the frame, when the lever 2~ is at a predefined open position.
27 The jaw or jaws o~ the lever or oppositely disposed 28 levers engage the edge or opposi~e edges of the hybrid substrate 29 respectively as the levers are rotated from an open to a closed position, forcing the substrate into the connector~ which engages 31 ~he connector contacts by sliding contact with the coopPrating 32 contacts of the hybrid circuit. Once the levers are in their 33 closed positions, interfering protrusions and cooperating concave 34 depressions in the lever and frame sides retain the levers in position, thus holding the substrate in position in spite of 36 vibration, bouncing, etc.
37 Rotation of the lever or levers to their open position 38 forces the substrate out of the connector and out of contact ~ ~' fi ~ 2 7 01 engagement.
02 The lnven-tion more generally is a hybrid circuit 03 connector comprising a frame having a plurality of resilient 04 contacts disposed along at least one inner side -for making 05 contact with cooperating contacts disposed along an edge of the 06 hybrid circuit substrate, apparatus for forcing the hybrid 07 circuit substrate into the frame whereby the contacts along the 08 edge of the hybrid circuit make contact with said resilient 09 contacts, and apparatus for locking the substrate in its position within the frame.
11 A better understanding of the invention will be 12 obtained with reference to the detailed description below, with 13 reference to the following drawings:
14 Figure 1 is a partial section of a prior art form of hybrid substrate connector, 16 Figure 2 is a section of the present invention along 17 one axis, 18 Figures 3, 4 and 5 are a partial section, a partial 19 section and a full section respectively of the present invention along an axis orthogonal to that of Figure 2, showing the lever 21 in fully opened, partially opened, and fully closed positions, 22 Figure 6 is a detail, oE the lever in opened position, 23 Figure 7 is a detail of the lever in closed position, 24 and Figure 8 is a perspective of the invention.
26 Turning to Figure 1, an edge view of a prior art hybrid 27 connector is shown. A hybrid substrate 1 having silk-screened 28 resistors, conductors, etc., and bonded integrated circuits on 29 one side ~not shown) has a series of conrlector pads 2 adherent on at least one side. The hybrid substrate is inserted into a 31 connector 3 which is fixed to printed circuit board 4. The 32 connector includes a plurality of resilient contacts 5 which make 33 electrical connection with the substrate contact pads 2. It may 34 be seen that the hybrid substrate extends orthogonally to the plane of the printed circuit board 4. Consequently an adjacent 36 printed circuit board mounted in a rack cannot be located closer 37 than at least the width of the hybrid substrate, plus its 38 connector facility, plus some air gap for tolerance.

~, ) 3 2 7 01 Some hybrid substrates have a second row of contact 02 pads 2A disposed on its surface, to which a second connector 3A
03 can be connected, in order to increase the number of contact 04 points made available on the hybrid substrate for connection to 05 the circuit carried thereon. The connector 3A is connected to 06 the printed circuit board conductors via a bundle of wires 6 07 which must soldered both to the connector 3A and the printed 08 circuit board 4. While wiring of the printed circuit board is 09 often performed using automated techniques, the use of wires 6 and connector 3A oEten requires manual interference in the 11 process, and the re~uirement for slack in wire 6 results in its 12 movement during the transportation of the system, and can cause 13 breakage of the wires.
1~ Figure 2 is a sectional view along A-A of Figure 8 illustrating the present invention, but with a hybrid substrate 16 10 held within a preferably rectangular connector 11. The basic 17 orm of the connector is similar to a picture frame for enclosing 18 the hybrid substrate within the frame.
19 A plurality of resilient contacts 12 are held inwardly of preferably a pair of opposite inner sides of the connector, 21 for contacting corresponding contacts of the hybrid substrate 10 22 disposed along opposite edges thereof. The contacts are fixed to 23 the frame using conventional techniques.
24 Also shown in Figure 2 is a lever 13 which rotates about an axis extending between the sides of the connector frame 26 to which the contacts 12 are fixed.
27 Bonded for electrical contact to the circuit carried by 28 the substrate 10 are a plurality of C clips 14, which extend from 29 bonding pads 15 around the edges of the substrate to oppositely disposed bonding pads on the other side thereof. The C clips are 31 preferably soldered to the bonding pads, but the solder should be 32 restricted from wicking along the C clips at the edges of the 33 substrate in order not to interfere with their contacting 34 connector contacts 12.
While the shape of the C clips around the edges of the ~36 substrate can be slightly rounded to facilitate smooth engagement 37 with the connector contacts 12, it is preferred that they should 38 be flat along the edges of the substrate or cooperatively shaped . ~", `3 ~ ~

01 with the connector contacts in order to make maximum surface 02 contact therewith.
03 A prototype system used C clips for contacts on the 04 hybrid substrate fabricated of phosphor bronze~ coated with tin 05 lead solder plate.
06 Figures 3, 4 and S show partial and full sectional 07 views through the invention along section YY of Figure 2, at 08 right angles to the section shown in Figure 2, illustrating 09 operation of the lever inserting the hybrid substrate into position within the connector. A lever 16 is rotatably pinned by 11 means of pin 17 to a channel in the side of the connector.
12 (Preferably two similar levers are used at opposite sides of the ]3 frame,) In Figure 3 the lever 16 is shown in open position. It 1~ should be noted that a seat 18 of the lever has a portion which is parallel to the surface of the printed circuit board 4 and 16 rests thereon when in fully open position. In this position a 17 jaw in the lever has a lower lip 19 which is approximately level 18 with the top o~ the frame and extends inwardly of the frame, 19 upon which the substrate 10 rests prior to insertion into the connector. An upper lip 20 extends inwardly of the frame only 21 to the inner edge of the frame of the substrate, in order to 22 allow the edge of substrate 10 to pass without interference as it 23 is placed on lower lip 19.
24 In Figure 4, lever 16 has been rotated toward its closed position. The upper lip 20 makes contact with the upper 26 surface of hybrid substrate 10 as lever 16 rotates about pin 17.
27 At the same time the edge of substrate 10 is enveloped within the 28 jaw of lever 16.
29 In Figure 5 two opposite levers 16 are shown in their closed positions. The substrate 10 is now in the same position 31 as that shown in Figure 2, Figure 5 being a section at 90 32 thereto, however. Conse~uently connector contacts are not shown 33 along the left and right side edges of substrate 10 in Figure 5.
34 ~owever it should be noted that contacts could have been utilized on either or both sides of the levers. The substrate is seated 36 in position at which its contacts make contact with the resilient 37 connector contacts, the bottom of the substrate resting on the 38 lower lips of levers 16 and a lower ridge 21 stretching across '.

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01 the connector on both sides thereof having an upper surface at 02 the same height as the lower lip and positioned to support the 03 substrate along i-ts opposite sides.
04 If additional connector contacts are to be used along 05 the sides incorporating the levers, rather than ridges 21, posts 06 or other supports could be used.
07 In order to release the substrate, levers 16 are 08 rotated to their open position, the lower lips 19 pushing the 09 bottom of the substrate upwardly, thus releasing the substrate which had been spring wedged by the connector contacts within the 11 connector.
12 It should be noted that for the use of only a single 13 lever, an appropriate slot should be formed along one inner side 14 of the connector frame to accommodate and hold an edge of the substrate. The single lever is then used to insert the other 16 side and lock the substrate into position. It is noted however 17 that the two lever embodiment is preferred, in order to avoid 18 lateral movement as between adjacent connector and hybrid circuit 19 contacts which would occur when inserting the hybrid substrate initially into the slot.
21 The levers are locked into their closed positions in 22 order to retain the substrate reliably in contact with the 23 connector contacts in the presence of vibration, etc. According 24 to the preferred Eorm oE the lock, each lever has a protrusion or bump 22 on both sides thereof, which has sufficient width so as 26 to interfere with the adjacent edge of the connector side as the 27 levers rotate from open to closed positions.
28 Referring to Figures 6 and 7 which show details 29 thereof, lever 16 in Figure 6 is open and in Figure 7 is closed.
The adjacent edges of the sides o~ the connector contain slots 31 immediately adjacent the levers into which the protrusions 32 cooperatively fit, located opposite the protrusions or bumps when 33 the levers are in closed positions. Consequently as each lever 34 1~ is rotated from its open position toward its closed position, it first encounters interference between the adjacent edges of 36 the corresponding side to which it is pinned. ~nce it reaches 37 its closed position, the protrusion 22 fits into slot 23, which 3B substantially retains the lever in position. It has been found

3 2 7 01 that vibration of the substrate 10 against lever 16 is 02 insufficient to overcome the mechanical advantage resulting from 03 the position of lever 16~ and thus lever 16 retains the substrate 04 in position. In a prototype, Eor example, shock of 30g in any of 05 the three mutually perpendicular planes or by vibration thereof 06 at .5g from 5 to 100 hertz and 1.5g from 100 to 50n hertz did not 07 dislodge the substrate.
08 It is preferred that one corner of each substrate 09 should be chamfered, and a corresponding key should be used across the corner of the connector to facilitate matching and 11 orientation of the hybrid substrate during insertion.
12 In operation, the levers 16 are opened to the their 13 maximum position at which time their seats 18 rest against the 14 printed circuit board to which the connector is connected. The hybrid circuit is properly oriented, placed flat against the 16 connector and is supported by the lower lips of the levers. The 17 levers are then rotated toward their closed position, which 18 thereby force the hybrid circuit into engagement with the 19 connector. The levers are retained in that position, effectively locking the substrate into position by means of protrusions 22 21 engaged in slot 23.
22 A person understanding this invention may now conceive 23 of variations in design and other embodiments utilizing the 24 principles described herein. All are considered to be within the ~25 sphere and scope of the invention as defined in the claims 26 appended hereto.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A hybrid circuit connector comprising:
(a) a frame for enclosing the periphery of a hybrid circuit substrate, (b) a plurality of resilient contacts disposed along at least one inner side of the frame for making contact with cooperating contacts disposed along an edge of the hybrid circuit substrate, (c) at least one lever rotatably pinned within a slot in a side of the frame for rotation about an axis parallel to the axis of the latter side, said lever having a jaw extending toward the interior of the frame, the jaw having a lower lip for supporting the bottom of the substrate, and an upper lip spaced approximately the thickness of the substrate above the lower lip, for engaging the substrate between the lips, the upper lip having an inner extremity toward the interior of the frame at about the plane of the inside of said latter side of the frame, when the lever is at a predefined open position.

2. A hybrid circuit connector as defined in claim 1, in which the lever includes a plane surface approximately parallel with the bottom of the said latter side of the frame when the plane is at said open position, whereby upon mounting the frame on a supporting plane, the lever is inhibited from rotating further open than said open position.

3. A hybrid circuit connector as defined in claim 2, in which the lever includes at least one protrusion at a corresponding side adapted to interfere with an adjacent portion of said latter side of the frame as the lever is rotated from its open position, said adjacent portion having a concave region inwardly of the edges of said one side to accommodate said protrusion, whereby upon rotation of the lever from the open position toward the closed position, the protrusion is caused first to interfere and then to become enclosed by the concave region whereby the lever is substantially retained at said closed position with its lower lip at about the level of the bottom of the frame.

4. A hybrid circuit connector as defined in claim 1, 2 or 3 further including a hybrid circuit substrate, a plurality of electrically conductive lands comprising said cooperating contacts disposed along at least one edge thereof, a plurality of C clips extending from one side of the substrate to the other around said edge, each electrically connected to a corresponding land, the position and spacing of said clips corresponding to the position and spacing of said plurality of contacts.

5. A hybrid circuit connector as defined in claim 1, 2 or 3 further including a hybrid circuit substrate, a plurality of metal lands disposed on opposite sides of the substrate along at least one edge thereof, the lands on at least one side comprising said cooperating contacts, pairs of said lands being disposed in opposing positions on opposite sides of the substrate, a plurality of C clips each having its opposite ends bonded for electrical contact with a pair of opposite lands, and extending around the edge of the substrate, the position and spacing of said clips corresponding to the position and spacing of said plurality of contacts.

6. A hybrid circuit connector as defined in claim 1, 2 or 3 further including a hybrid circuit substrate, a plurality of metal lands disposed on opposite sides of the substrate along at least one edge thereof, the lands on at least one side comprising said cooperating contacts, pairs of said lands being disposed in opposite positions on opposite sides of the substrate, a plurality of C clips each having its opposite ends soldered to a pair of opposite lands, and extending around the edge of the substrate, the position and spacing of said clips corresponding to the position and spacing of said plurality of contacts.

7. A hybrid circuit connector comprising:
(a) a frame for enclosing the periphery of a hybrid circuit substrate, (b) a plurality of resilient contacts disposed along at least one inner side of the frame for making contact with cooperating contacts disposed along an edge of the hybrid circuit substrate, (c) means for forcing the hybrid circuit substrate into the frame whereby the contacts along the edge of the hybrid circuit make contact with said resilient contacts, and (d) means for locking the substrate in its position with the frame.

8. A hybrid circuit connector as defined in claim 7 in which the forcing means is comprised of at least one lever.