Patent Application
20230369792
This patent application claims priority of a Chinese Patent Application No. 202210514349.1, filed on May 12, 2022 and titled “ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR, CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY, AND METHOD OF MAKING ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR”, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to an electrical connector, a connector assembly and a manufacturing method of the electrical connector, which belongs to a technical field of connectors.
A connector assembly in the related art typically includes an electrical connector (e.g., a plug connector) and a mating connector (e.g., a receptacle connector). The electrical connector generally includes a first insulating body, a built-in circuit board, a cable soldered to the built-in circuit board, and a second insulating body. A sub-assembly of the built-in circuit board and the cable is sandwiched between the first insulating body and the second insulating body.
As the requirements for miniaturization of electrical connectors are getting higher and higher, how to control the overall length of the first insulating body and the second insulating body after assembly is a very important issue. In addition, in the related art, in order to shorten the overall length as much as possible, the second insulating body is designed to press against the cable as much as possible, which greatly reduces the reliability of the electrical connector.
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a highly reliable electrical connector, a connector assembly and a method of making the electrical connector.
In order to achieve the above object, the present disclosure adopts the following technical solution: an electrical connector, including: a first insulating body including a main body portion and a mating space located at a front end of the main body portion; a conductive unit passing through the main body portion, the conductive unit including an insulating support member extending into the mating space, the insulating support member being provided with at least one conductive pad; a cable including a transverse portion fixed to the conductive unit and a longitudinal portion bent from the transverse portion; and a second insulating body assembled with the first insulating body, the second insulating body including a rear wall; wherein the electrical connector includes a filling cavity located between the main body portion and the rear wall in a front-rear direction, a connection position of the cable and the conductive unit is located in the filling cavity, the rear wall includes an opening communicating with the filling cavity and extending through the rear wall in the front-rear direction, at least part of the longitudinal portion of the cable corresponds to the opening; wherein the electrical connector further includes a filling block filled in the filling cavity, the filling block covers the connection position of the cable and the conductive unit, the filling block fills the opening to encapsulate the longitudinal portion corresponding to the opening within the electrical connector.
In order to achieve the above object, the present disclosure adopts the following technical solution: a connector assembly, including: a mating connector and the aforesaid electrical connector, the mating connector including: a mating insulating body including an insertion surface and an insertion slot extending through the insertion surface; at least one mating conductive terminal including an elastic mating arm extending into the insertion slot; and a metal shielding shell fixed to an outside of the mating insulating body; wherein when the electrical connector are mated with the mating connector, the mating insulating body is at least partially inserted into the mating space, the insulating support member of the conductive unit is at least partially inserted into the insertion slot, and the elastic mating arm is in contact with the at least one conductive pad.
In order to achieve the above object, the present disclosure adopts the following technical solution: a method of manufacturing the aforesaid electrical connector, the method including following steps: S1, providing the conductive unit and the cable, and soldering the cable to the conductive unit, the cable including a bent portion at a connection of the transverse portion and the longitudinal portion; S2, providing the first insulating body, and installing the conductive unit to the first insulating body; S3, providing the second insulating body, and assembling the second insulating body and the first insulating body; wherein the rear wall of the second insulating body includes an inner surface and an outer surface, the opening extends through the inner surface and the outer surface in the front-rear direction, the bent portion at least partially extends backwardly beyond the inner surface so as to extend into the opening; and S4, injecting an insulating material into the filling cavity to form the filling block, and the filling block filling the opening after solidification.
Compared with the prior art, the rear wall of the second insulating body of the present disclosure includes the opening which communicates with the filling cavity and extends through the rear wall along the front-rear direction. At least part of the longitudinal portion of the cable corresponds to the opening. With this arrangement, the compression of the cable by the rear wall can be reduced, thereby improving the reliability of the electrical connector.
Exemplary embodiments will be described in detail here, examples of which are shown in drawings. When referring to the drawings below, unless otherwise indicated, same numerals in different drawings represent the same or similar elements. The examples described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all embodiments consistent with this application. Rather, they are merely examples of devices and methods consistent with some aspects of the application as detailed in the appended claims.
The terminology used in this application is only for the purpose of describing particular embodiments, and is not intended to limit this application. The singular forms “a”, “said”, and “the” used in this application and the appended claims are also intended to include plural forms unless the context clearly indicates other meanings.
It should be understood that the terms “first”, “second” and similar words used in the specification and claims of this application do not represent any order, quantity or importance, but are only used to distinguish different components. Similarly, “an” or “a” and other similar words do not mean a quantity limit, but mean that there is at least one; “multiple” or “a plurality of” means two or more than two. Unless otherwise noted, “front”, “rear”, “lower” and/or “upper” and similar words are for ease of description only and are not limited to one location or one spatial orientation. Similar words such as “include” or “comprise” mean that elements or objects appear before “include” or “comprise” cover elements or objects listed after “include” or “comprise” and their equivalents, and do not exclude other elements or objects. The term “a plurality of” mentioned in the present disclosure includes two or more.
Hereinafter, some embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the case of no conflict, the following embodiments and features in the embodiments can be combined with each other.
Referring to
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Each mating conductive terminal 2 includes an elastic mating arm 21 extending into the insertion slot 10. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the mating conductive terminals 2 are disposed in upper and lower rows, that is, the elastic mating arms 21 are disposed in the upper and lower rows and extend into the insertion slot 10.
The metal shielding shell 3 includes an upper wall 31 located at an upper end of the top wall portion 12, a first side end wall 32 bent downwardly from one side of the upper wall 31, and a second side end wall 33 bent downwardly from another side of the upper wall 31. The mating connector 100 includes a receiving cavity 30 located between the upper wall 31 and the top wall portion 12 in the top-bottom direction. The upper wall 31 includes two locking holes 311 spaced apart from each other along the left-right direction for locking with the electrical connector 200. The first side end wall 32 corresponds to the first side wall portion 13. The second side end wall 33 corresponds to the second side wall portion 14. The top wall portion 12 and the first side end wall 32 are jointly provided with a first L-shaped positioning protrusion 341 extending beyond the insertion surface 11. The top wall portion 12 and the second side end wall 33 are jointly provided with a second L-shaped positioning protrusion 342 extending beyond the insertion surface 11. The first L-shaped positioning protrusion 341 and the second L-shaped positioning protrusion 342 are located at an upper-left corner and an upper-right corner of the metal shielding shell 3, respectively. The first L-shaped positioning protrusion 341 and the second L-shaped positioning protrusion 342 are configured to be inserted into the electrical connector 200 to achieve positioning.
Referring to
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The first side wall 41 and/or the second side wall 42 includes a rear surface 451, a groove 452 recessed backwardly through the rear surface 451, a locking block 453 extending outwardly into the groove 452, and a locking hole 454 extending backwardly through the rear surface 451. Each of the first side wall 41 and the second side wall 42 is provided with a first block 455, a second block 456 located below the first block 455, and a locking slot 457 located between the first block 455 and the second block 456 in the top-bottom direction. The locking slot 457 is configured for positioning the built-in circuit board 5.
The top wall 44 of the first insulating body 4 includes a rear end surface 441. The top wall 44 includes a mounting protrusion 442 extending backwardly from the rear end surface 441. The mounting protrusion 442 includes a mounting groove 4421 extending backwardly. The pull strap unlocking device 8 is installed in the installation slot 4421. In the illustrated embodiment of the present disclosure, the rear end surface 441 and the rear surface 451 are located in a same vertical plane. The mounting protrusion 442 has a plurality of first stepped surfaces 4422 located at a bottom of the mounting protrusion 442. By arranging the first stepped surfaces 4422 instead of a flat surface, a wall thickness at each position on the mounting protrusion 442 can be flexibly adjusted, thereby avoiding structural strength problems caused by the wall thickness being too thin.
Besides, the first insulating body 4 includes a first extension portion 461 extending from a top of the first side wall 41 and extending toward the second side wall 42, and a second extension portion 462 extending from a top of the second side wall 42 and extending toward the first side wall 41. In the embodiment shown in the present disclosure, the first extension portion 461 is perpendicular to the first side wall 41, the second extension portion 462 is perpendicular to the second side wall 42, and both the first extension portion 461 and the second extension portion 462 are located above the top wall 44 and at least partially overlap the top wall 44 in the top-bottom direction. Referring to
Referring to
In the embodiment shown in the present disclosure, a plurality of the cables 6 are provided and arranged in inner and outer layers. Each cable 6 is substantially L-shaped, wherein the cable 6 located on the outer layer includes a transverse portion 61 connected to the built-in circuit board 5, a longitudinal portion 62 bent from the transverse portion 61, and a bent portion 63 located at a connection of the transverse portion 61 and the longitudinal portion 62. The transverse portion 61 is configured for being soldered with the soldering pad 521, and the bent portion 63 is disposed adjacent to the transverse portion 61.
The second insulating body 7 includes a rear wall 71. The rear wall 71 includes an inner surface 711, an outer surface 712, and an opening 713 extending through the inner surface 711 and the outer surface 712 in the front-rear direction. The longitudinal portions 62 of the cables 6 located in the outer layer are arranged side by side in the left-right direction. A width of the opening 713 along the left-right direction is greater than or equal to a width occupied by the longitudinal portions 62 along the left-right direction. In other words, the longitudinal portions 62 of the cables 6 in the outer layer are completely exposed in the opening 713 in the left-right direction.
The second insulating body 7 further includes a protrusion 72 extending forwardly from the inner surface 711 of the rear wall 71. The protrusion 72 includes a locking groove 721. When the first insulating body 4 and the second insulating body 7 are assembled together, the protrusion 72 of the second insulating body 7 is received in the groove 452 of the first insulating body 4. The locking block 453 of the first insulating body 4 is locked in the locking groove 721 of the second insulating body 7. Besides, the second insulating body 7 further includes a hook portion 73 extending forwardly from the inner surface 711 of the rear wall 71. The hook portion 73 is locked in the locking hole 454.
The rear wall 71 includes a recessed groove 714 recessed from a top of the rear wall 71 and a second stepped surface 7141 located at a bottom of the recessed groove 714. When the first insulating body 4 and the second insulating body 7 are assembled together, the mounting protrusion 442 is clamped in the recessed groove 714 along the front-rear direction. The first stepped surface 4422 engages with the second stepped surface 7141. The inner surface 711 of the rear wall 71 engages with the rear end surface 441 of the first insulating body 4.
Referring to
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When the electrical connector 200 is mated with the mating connector 100, the mating insulating body 1 is at least partially inserted into the mating space 401, the insulating support member 51 of the built-in circuit board 5 is at least partially inserted into the insertion slot 10, and the elastic mating arm 21 is in contact with the conductive pad to achieve electrical conduction.
Referring to
The present disclosure also discloses a method for manufacturing the aforementioned electrical connector 200. The method includes the following steps:
Specifically, in the step S3, the rear wall 71 includes a sloping surface 715 exposed in the opening 713 and connected with the inner surface 711. The sloping surface 715 is inclined toward the direction toward the bent portion 63 so that the rear end surface 631 of the bent portion 63 extends into the opening 713.
Compared with the prior art, the rear wall 71 of the second insulating body 7 of the present disclosure includes the opening 713 which communicates with the filling cavity 48 and extends through the rear wall 71 along the front-rear direction. At least part of the longitudinal portion 62 of the cable 6 corresponds to the opening 713. With this arrangement, the compression of the cable 6 by the rear wall 71 can be reduced, thereby improving the reliability of the electrical connector 200.
The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the present disclosure and not to limit the technical solutions described in the present disclosure. The understanding of this specification should be based on those skilled in the art. Descriptions of directions, although they have been described in detail in the above-mentioned embodiments of the present disclosure, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications or equivalent substitutions can still be made to the application, and all technical solutions and improvements that do not depart from the spirit and scope of the application should be covered by the claims of the application.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202210514349.1 | May 2022 | CN | national |
