Patent Application
20190296476
The present invention relates generally to an electrical connector, and more particularly to the electrical connector having a contact module embedded within a pair of over-molding covers.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,231,319 discloses an electrical connector provided with a metallic shell receiving a contact module therein while exposing the contacting sections of the contacts to an exterior. Because the gap between the shell and the contact module is inevitable that may jeopardize the mechanical and electrical performance of the connector, an insulative over-molding cover applied upon the contact module without any gap therebetween is an approach. Anyhow, a single over-molding cover to circumferentially cover the contact module may result in an uneven exterior surface thereof with a not good-looking appearance due to the positioning/core pins which are used to hold the contact module in position during the over-molded procedure.
An electrical connector with no gap between the shell and the contact module and a good-looking appearance is desired.
An object of the invention is to provide an electrical connector with a contact module enclosed within a pair of over-molding covers. The contact module includes one row of contacts retained in an insulator via an insert-molding process. Each cover includes a rear base part and a front tongue part extending forwardly from the base part. Each contact has a front contacting section exposed upon the tongue in a vertical direction, and a rear tail section exposed outside of the base. The contacts are exposed upon only one tongue part in the vertical direction.
Referring to
The insulator 3 includes a rear base 31 and a front extension 32 extending forwardly from the base 31. The base 31 forms two rows of through holes 311 and one row of positioning holes 312 located between those two rows of through holes in the front-to-back direction and in staggered manner with those through holes 311 with an offset. The positioning holes 312 are downwardly communicatively aligned with the retaining sections 23 of the corresponding contacts 2 in the vertical direction, respectively, and upwardly exposed to an exterior. On the other hand, the through holes 311 are located by two sides of the corresponding contacts 2 in the transverse direction for allowing/receiving the corresponding core pins of the mold (not shown) or the so-called bridges, which are originally formed between the neighboring contacts for assuring the correct positions of the contacts while being removed after the insert-molding process, to sidewardly hold the contacts during the insert-molding process. The blind holes 322 are provided by two sides of the contacting sections 21 of the corresponding contacts 2 as well as the through holes 311. The contacting sections 21 are upwardly exposed to an exterior in the vertical direction. A plurality of recesses 321 are formed in a front portion of the extension 32 and located under front regions of the contacting sections 21 of the corresponding contacts 2, respectively. A pair of alignment/blind holes 313 are formed in the base 31 of the insulator 3.
The housing 1 includes an upper cover 5 and a lower cover 6 respectively over-molded upon opposite upper portion and lower portion of the contact module 20. A molding line 7 is formed in a front face of the housing 1. The contact module 20 is essentially enclosed within the upper cover 5 while the contacting sections 21 are exposed upon the mating face 121 and the bottom surface of the insulator 3 is downwardly exposed toward the lower cover 6 so as to have the pair of alignment holes 313 receive the corresponding alignment posts 621 extending upwardly from the lower cover 6.
The upper cover 5 includes an upper base 51 and an upper tongue 52 extending forwardly from the upper base 51. The upper tongue 52 forms a recessed mating region 521 terminated at the front edge thereof. The contacting sections 21 are flush with an upper surface of the mating region 521. The upper base 51. Two pairs of downward cavities 53 are formed in a bottom face of the upper base 51 to respectively receive the corresponding two pairs of protrusions 63 upwardly extending from the lower cover 6. A plurality of filling columns 54 of the upper cover 5 fill the corresponding through holes 311 and the recesses 321 of the insulator 3, thus enhancing retention between the upper cover 5 and the insulator 3. Similarly, as well as the relation between the filling columns 54 of the upper cover 5 and the through holes 311 and the recesses 321 of the insulator 3, the minor filling columns 55 of the upper cover 5 respectively fill the corresponding blind holes 322 which are originally used to receive the corresponding core pins of the mold during insert-molding process of the contact module 20.
The lower cover 6 includes a lower base 61 and the lower tongue 62 forwardly extending from the lower base 61. No part of the contacts 2 are positioned within the lower cover 6. The upper base 51 and the lower base 61 commonly form the base 11, and the upper tongue 52 and the lower tongue 62 commonly form the tongue 12. The mating face 121 is same with the top face of the upper cover 5, and the supporting face 122 is same with the bottom face of the lower cover 6. The side faces 123 are curved. The upper cover 5 forms an upper notch 511 and the lower cover 6 forms a lower notch 611 to commonly form a notch 111 so as to receive the tail sections 22 of the contacts 2 therein. In this embodiment, the tail section 22 do not extend rearwardly beyond the rear end face 112 of the base 11.
In manufacturing, the contacts 2 are integrally formed within the insulator 3 to form a contact module 20 via an insert-molding process. The upper cover 5 is firstly over-molded upon the contact module 20, via a first molding process, to form a subassembly 9 wherein the contacting sections 21 are exposed upon the mating face 121, and at least a portion of the bottom face of the insulator 3 is downwardly exposed so as to expose the alignment holes 313 of the insulator 3 as well as the downward cavities 53 formed in a bottom face of the upper cover 5. The lower cover 6 is secondly over-molded upon the bottom side of the subassembly 9, via a second over-molding process, wherein the protrusions 63 fill the corresponding cavities 53, and the alignment posts 621 fill the corresponding alignment holes 313 for assuring securing among all the contact module 20, the upper cover 5 and the lower cover 6. In this embodiment, the upper cover 5 and the lower cover are essentially dimensioned similar to each other, and the upper cover 5 and the lower cover 6 respectively cover the upper face and the lower face of the contact module 20 except the contacting sections 21 of the contacts 2 which are exposed to an exterior around the top face of the upper cover 5, wherein the contact module 20 is essentially embedded within the upper cover 5 and the bottom face of the contact module 20 is flush with the bottom face of the upper cover 5. In addition, a rear face of the lower cover 6 is flush with a rear face of the insulator 3 while the front face of the insulator 3 is covered by the upper cover 5. Notably, in this embodiment, the definition of the terms of “upper” or “lower”, and “top” or “bottom” measured in the vertical direction are only relatively defined and can be switched, according to the viewer's position and angle.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201810246030.9 | Mar 2018 | CN | national |
