FLIPPABLE ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR
A receptacle connector includes an insulative housing defining a base and a mating tongue, with a widen and thicken step structure around a root thereof adjacent to the base; two rows of contacts disposed in the insulating housing with contacting sections exposed upon the mating tongue and mount tails out of the base; a metallic shield surrounding the mating tongue so as to define a mating cavity; and a metallic bracket attached the shield. The first wall of the shield defines a pair of spring tangs split therefrom and extending rearwards into the mating cavity, the second wall defines a pair of dimples protruding inwards the mating cavity for holding the plug connector. The bracket covers spring tangs and seals any opens defined on the first wall for keeping integrity therewith under EMI consideration.
This application is a continuation application of the co-pending application Ser. No. 14/695,065 filed Apr. 24, 2015 which is a continuation-in-part of the co-pending application Ser. No. 14/558,732 filed Dec. 3, 2014, and Ser. No. 14/688,993 filed Apr. 16, 2015, and the instant application further claims the benefit of, and priority to, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/002,934 filed May 26, 2014, No. 62/021,066 filed Jul. 4, 2014, No. 62/026,046 filed Jul. 18, 2014 and No. 62/035,472 filed Aug. 10, 2014, the contents of which are incorporated entirely herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to a flippable plug connector used with a receptacle connector.
2. Description of Related Art
In the previously filed provisional applications, the plug connector is “flippable” whereas we turn the plug over and it functions the same top and bottom. In order to be able to handle switching of the super speed signaling, a MUX (or SS switch) is built into the silicon. This can be costly and also cause some additional degredation in the super speed signals. Recently, a proposal for use with the future USB (Universal Serial Bus) was presented.
Hence, a new and simple electrical plug connector and the complementary receptacle connector are desired to improve those disclosed in the aforementioned proposal.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a receptacle connector for mounting to a printed circuit board, comprises an insulative housing defining a base with a mating tongue extending therefrom, the mating tongue defining a widen and thicken step structure around a root thereof adjacent to the base; two rows of contacts disposed in the insulating housing with contacting sections exposed upon the mating tongue and mount tails out of the base, the mating cavity and the contacts being arranged in a diagonally symmetrical arrangement; a metallic shield retained around the base and surrounding the mating tongue so as to define a mating cavity between the metallic shied and the mating tongue, the metallic shield including a first wall, a second wall opposite to the first wall and two opposite end walls integrally connecting with the first and second walls; and a metallic bracket attached to the first wall of the metallic shield. The first wall of the metallic shield defines a pair of spring tangs split therefrom and extending rearwards into the mating cavity, the second wall defines a pair of dimples protruding inwards the mating cavity for holding the plug connector, the metallic bracket covers spring tangs and seals any opens defined on the first wall for keeping integrity therewith under EMI consideration.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
The housing 52 is composed of the upper piece 70 and a lower piece 72 commonly sandwiching therebeween a middle piece 74 which forms the mating tongue 54. The upper row contacts 58 are associated with the upper piece 70, the lower row contacts 58 are associated with a lower piece 72 and the shielding plate 76 is associated with the middle piece 74 via an insert molding process wherein the contacting sections 60 of the upper row contacts 58 and those of the lower rows contacts 58 are seated upon opposite upper surface and lower surface of the mating tongue 54, respectively, as mentioned before. Understandably, the housing 52 and the associated contacts 58 may be deemed wholly as a so-called terminal module implying the terminals being integrally formed within an insulator. A rear portion of the step structure 62 is removed to have a front edge region 71 of the upper piece 70 and the front edge region 73 of the lower piece 72 sandwiched between the middle piece 74 and the loop structure 66 of the EMI collar 64 so as to enhance the strength during mating under some bending. In this embodiment, the shielding plate 76 defines an opening 77 and a thinner area 78 for both securing and impedance consideration, and further a pair of mounting legs 79 so as to efficiently separate the upper row contacts 58 and the lower row contacts 58 from each other wherein the upper row contacts 58 form the surface mount type tail sections while the lower row contacts 58 form the through hole type tail sections. In an alternate embodiment, the thinner area 78 may be totally removed from the shielding plate 76. The lower piece 72 includes a pair of mounting posts 80 receiving in the corresponding through hole for mounting the housing 52 to the printed circuit board 100. The lower piece 72 further forms a pair of recessions 49 to receive the corresponding retention tangs 37 of the shield 56.
In this embodiment, the middle piece 74 forms a pair of recesses 82 to respectively receive the corresponding protrusions 84 of the upper piece 70 and the lower piece 72 for securing the upper piece 70, the lower piece 72 and the middle piece 74 therebetween in a stacked manner wherein the upper piece 70 further include a pair of downward assembling poles 84 received in the corresponding alignment holes 86 of the middle piece 74, and the lower piece 72 further includes an upward assembling pole 85 received in the corresponding alignment holes 86 of the middle piece 74, and the lower piece 72 further forms a pair of upward locating posts 87 received within the corresponding recesses 89 in the upper piece 70. In this embodiment, the lower piece 72 defines a plurality of through holes 91 and 93 to receive the tail sections of the lower row contacts 58 and the mounting legs 79 of the shielding plate 76 to extend therethough as an alignment spacer. Notably, the shielding plate 76 forms a front edge section 69 extending forwardly beyond a front edge of the mating tongue 54 for anti-mismating consideration, and a pair of lateral edge sections 67 for locking with a latch 39 of the plug connector 10 (illustrated later). In brief, the shielding plate 76 is essentially multifunctional to perform shielding, grounding, reinforcing, anti-mis-mating and locking. A metallic bracket 95 is soldered under the shield 56 and forms a pair of supporting legs 97 mounted into the through hole 103 of the printed circuit board 100 for supporting the receptacle connector 50 within the notch 102 of the printed circuit board 100. The shield 56 further includes an upside-down U-shaped structure (not labeled) on a rear portion covering the rear portion of the housing 52 with a pair of mounting legs 55 received in the through holes 104 for mounting to the printed circuit board 100 and a pair of locking tabs 59 received in the recesses 99 of the upper piece 70 after the shield 56 is rearwardly assembled to the housing 52 in a front-to-back direction. Notably, the mounting leg 79 of the shielding plate 76 share the same through hole with the neighboring grounding contact tail for enhancing grounding effect.
Referring to
A metallic shielding plate 250 is insert molded within the housing 220 and between the two rows of the contacts 240 before the contacts 240 are inserted into the housing 220. The shielding plate 250 includes a first shielding portion 251 located between the contacts portions 248 of the upper and lower rows of contacts 240 and a second shielding portion 253 located between the tails 246 of the upper and lower rows of the contacts. The shielding plate 250 forms a pair of locking side edges 252 for locking with the internal latch of the corresponding plug, a pair of spring arms 254 located on two lateral sides thereof and in corresponding recesses 223 in opposite two lateral sides of the housing 220 to mechanically and electrically connect to the shield 210, and a pair of contacting regions 256 unitarily extending respectively from two opposite lateral sides of the shielding plate 250 in a folded/parallel manner and exposed upon the root portion 225 of the mating tongue 224 for coupling to the corresponding spring plates on the plug connector. Notably, the shielding plate 250 forms a plurality of through openings 258 to be filled with material of the housing 220 after the insert molding process for securing consideration.
The shield 210 forms a mating cavity 211 into which the mating tongue 224 forwardly extending, and a plurality of spring tangs 213 extending rearwards and a plurality of dimples 215 for holding the plug connector. A rear wall 217 unitarily extends from a rear edge of the shield 210 to cover the back of the housing 220 with two ears 219 locked to the two lateral sides of the shield 210 and surface mounting type tail 218. Notably, the shield 210 essentially constitutes a capsular form with two vertical side walls 260 for locking the corresponding ears 219 where a pair of horizontal mounting pads 262 are formed for surface mounting to the printed circuit board 150. The shield 210 includes a curved rear edge 268 rearwardly abuts against the base 222 of the housing 220. The bracket 212 is attached to the shield 210 via tabs 264 and mounted to the printed circuit board via mounting pads 266.
Different from the previous first embodiment, this second embodiment discloses the receptacle connector 200 completely mounted upon the printed circuit board 150 rather than partially sunk in the notch of the printed circuit board as shown in the previous embodiment. The contacts 240 are assembled into the corresponding passageways 226 rather than via an insert-molding process. On the other hand, the rear wall 217 may efficient block an EMI in the front-to-back direction. The tip 2481 of the contacting section 248 is inward formed and received in the recession 228 and partially protectively covered by the flange 270 above the recession 228 for superior protection without a risk of pup-up. Understandably, in this embodiment the housing 220 is restrained in the shield 210 via the rear wall 217 which forwardly abuts against a back side of the base 222 for blocking the rearward movement and via the rear edge 268 which rearward abuts against a forwardly facing vertical face of the base 222 for blocking the forward movement.
Referring to
A metallic shield 334 is attached to the front portion of the terminal module 310 to enclose the mating tongue 332 to form a mating cavity 333 wherein a continuously uninterrupted flared flange 336 is formed at the front edge of the shield 334 in front of the mating cavity 333 and plurality of through holes 338 are formed in the shield 334. The upper metallic bracket 340 is attached on an upper side of the shield 334 and the lower metallic bracket 342 is attached on a lower side of the shield 334. The upper bracket 340 includes an upper rear wall 341 to shield the upper rear upper portion of the terminal module 310 and the lower bracket 342 includes a lower rear wall 343 to shield the lower rear portion of the terminal module 310. The upper bracket 340 further includes a plurality of spring arms 345 with the engaging tips 346 extending through the corresponding through holes 338 into the mating cavity 333 for engagement with the plug connector. Similarly, the lower bracket 342 further includes a plurality of spring arms 347 with the engaging tips 348 extending through the corresponding through holes 338 into the mating cavity 333 for engagement with the plug connector. The feature of this embodiment is to provide the continuously uninterrupted flared flange on the front edge of the shield 334 not only to protectively hide the front edges of the upper bracket 340 and the lower bracket 342 but also provide superior shielding effect circumferentially, compared with the interrupted flared flange disclosed in the prior art.
It is also noted that because the fine pitch of the contacts of the receptacle connector, the traditional vias on the mother board are essentially unfit thereto, and the so-call micro vias are expected to be used for the fine pitch receptacle connector. Anyhow, the expense of the PCB construction using micro vias is twice the price as standard PCB's, and it is too expensive for the mother board size PCB's. An alternative way is presented here to have it done economically. Referring to
The shielding plate 6 defines a front shielding portion 7 embedded in the mating tongue 11 and disposed between the contacts portions 21 of the upper and lower rows of the contacts 2 and a rear shielding portion 8 disposed between the tails 22 of the upper and lower rows of the contacts. Tails 9 extend from the rear shielding portion 8 to be mounted on a printed circuit board. Please notes, the insulating base 15 is only form the base portion of the insulating housing, the mating tongue 11 is formed by the middle part 14, the contacting portions 21 of the contacts 2 are inserted in the terminal grooves defined on the mating tongue of the middle part.
Referring to
Referring to
However, the disclosure is illustrative only, changes may be made in detail, especially in matter of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention.
Claims
1. A receptacle connector for mounting to a printed circuit board, comprising:
- an insulative housing defining a base with a mating tongue extending therefrom, the mating tongue defining a widen and thicken step structure around a root thereof adjacent to the base;
- two rows of contacts disposed in the insulating housing with contacting sections exposed upon the mating tongue and mount tails out of the base, the mating cavity and the contacts being arranged in a diagonally symmetrical arrangement;
- a metallic shield retained around the base and surrounding the mating tongue so as to define a mating cavity between the metallic shied and the mating tongue, the metallic shield including a first wall, a second wall opposite to the first wall and two opposite end walls integrally connecting with the first and second walls; and
- a metallic bracket attached to the first wall of the metallic shield;
- wherein the first wall of the metallic shield defines a pair of spring tangs split therefrom and extending rearwards into the mating cavity, the second wall defines a pair of dimples protruding inwards the mating cavity for holding the plug connector, the metallic bracket covers spring tangs and seals any opens defined on the first wall for keeping integrity therewith under EMI consideration.
2. The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the end walls defines spring tangs split therefrom and extend rearwards into the mating cavity, and the metallic bracket includes a pair of endwalls covering the spring tangs and sealing corresponding opens on the endwalls.
3. The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the metallic bracket defines mounting tails extending from the endwalls thereof for mounting to the printed circuit board.
4. The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the metallic shield defines mounting tails extending from rear sides of the end walls thereof.
5. The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the metallic shield further includes a rear wall with two ears latched to two opposite end walls of the shield.
6. The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 6, wherein the rear wall of the metallic shield further defines mounting tails.
7. The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 1, comprising a shielding plate embedded in the insulating housing, wherein the shielding plate comprises a front horizontal portion in the mating tongue and the base and a rear vertical portion extending out of the base and between two rows of the mounting tails of the contacts.
8. The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein a front edge of the metallic shield is equipped with a plurality of flared flanges for easy insertion of the plug connector.
9. A vertical type receptacle connector for mounting on a printed circuit board, comprising:
- an insulative housing comprising a lower base and an upper mating tongue extending from the base;
- a metallic shield enclosing the insulative housing; and
- a metallic bracket surrounding an upper side of the metallic shell;
- wherein the shield forms a plurality of spring tangs via corresponding cutouts defined thereon, the metallic bracket covers and seals the spring tangs and the corresponding cutouts for keeping integrity therewith under EMI consideration.
10. The vertical type receptacle connector as claimed in claim 9, wherein a bottom portion of the metallic shield is split to outwardly extend and form a relative large gap exposing the insulating housing, a horizontal extension is unitarily formed on the bottom portion of the metallic shield to cover the gap mostly.
11. The vertical type receptacle connector as claimed in claim 9, wherein the metallic bracket is a one-piece ring.
12. A right angle type receptacle connector for mounting on a printed circuit boards, comprising:
- an insulative housing defining a rear base and a front mating tongue forwardly along a front-to-rear direction, the mating tongue defining a widen and thicken step structure around a root thereof adjacent to the rear base;
- a row of upper contacts and a row of lower contacts disposed in the insulating housing with contacting sections exposed upon the front mating tongue and mount tails from the rear base;
- a shielding plate embedded in the insulating housing; and
- a metallic shield retained around the base and surrounding the mating tongue so as to define a mating cavity between the metallic shied and the mating tongue, the mating cavity and the contacts being arranged in a diagonally symmetrical arrangement;
- wherein the shielding plate comprises a front horizontal portion located in the mating tongue and the base and between the contacting sections of the two rows of contacts, a rear vertical portion extending out of the base and between the mounting tails of the upper and lower contacts.
13. The right angle type receptacle connector as claimed in claim 12, wherein the shielding plate further defines two mounting tails extending from opposite lateral ends of the rear vertical portion thereof for mounting to the printed circuit board.
14. The right angle type receptacle connector as claimed in claim 12, wherein the shielding plate further defines a pair of spring arms extending from the front horizontal portion and goes across the rear base to mechanically and electrically connect to the metallic shield.
15. The right angle type receptacle connector as claimed in claim 12, wherein the shielding plate is manufactured with the insulating housing via an inserting mold process, and the upper and lower contacts are assembled into the insulating housing after the inserting mold process.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 19, 2016
Publication Date: Feb 9, 2017
Inventors: Terrance F. Little (Fullerton, CA), Chih-Pi Cheng (New Taipei), Chao-Chieh Chen (New Taipei), Chun-Chieh Yang (New Taipei), Hsueh-Lung Hsiao (New Taipei), Yuan Zhang (Rowland-Heights, CA), Wei-Hao Su (New Taipei), Stephen Sedio (Valley Center, CA), Ming-Ching Chen (New Taipei)
Application Number: 15/298,185