The present invention relates generally to an electrical connector having the corresponding contact module equipped with grounding bars. This invention is an improvement to provisional application 63/134,557 filed on Jan. 6, 2021 which is an improvement of provisional application 63/053,611 filed on Jul. 18, 2020.
U.S. Pat. No. 11,043,780 discloses an electrical connector comprising an insulative housing and a contact module received in the insulative housing. The contact module comprises an upper module comprising a first contact module and a second contact module disposed below the first contact module, and a lower module comprising a third contact module and a fourth contact module disposed between the second contact module and the third contact module. The first contact module having a plurality first contacts having a length longer than a length of contacts of the second, the third, the forth contact modules. Therefor, the impedance of the first contacts may be too high to affect the high speed signal transmitting.
An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector having improved impedance.
The electrical connector includes a contact module received within an insulative housing which has a plurality of passageways therein. The contact module includes an upper contact unit and a lower contacts unit stacked with each other. Each of the upper contact unit and the lower contact unit includes a front/outer contact part and a rear/inner contact part each including a plurality of side by side arranged contacts integrally formed with a plurality of plastic tie bars at different positions via insert-molding. The contacts include a plurality of differential pair signal contacts and a plurality of grounding contacts alternately arranged with each other along a transverse direction. Each plastic tie bar includes an insulative primary part integrally formed with all contacts via a first insert-molding process, and a conductive secondary part integrally formed with the primary part and the grounding contacts via a second insert-molding process after the first insert-molding process. A pair of metallic plates are located on two opposite sides of the upper contact unit and the lower contact unit of the contact module, and forms a plurality of holes to receive therein the corresponding holding lugs formed on two opposite ends of the corresponding tie bars, respectively, so as to secure the whole contact module together. An insulative front cover is downwardly, along a vertical direction, assembled into a front region of the housing and includes a plurality of blades extending into the corresponding passageways of the housing and confronting the mating sections of the corresponding contacts of the front/outer contact part of the upper contact unit. An insulative rear cover is associated with the contact module to be forwardly, along a front-to-back direction, inserted into the housing.
According to the present invention, the electrical connector comprises an insulative front cover assembled into a front region of the housing. Therefore, the impedance of the contacts is reduced.
Other advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present disclosure.
Referring to
The upper front/outer contact part 130 includes a plurality of contacts 132 integrally formed with a plurality of transversely extending plastic tie bars 135 via insert-molding. Each plastic tie bar 135 includes an insulative primary part 134 and a conductive secondary part 136. Similarly, the upper rear/inner contact part 140 includes a plurality of contacts 142 integrally formed with a plurality of transversely extending plastic tie bars 145 via insert-molding and each plastic tie bar 145 includes an insulative primary part 144 and a conductive secondary part 146; the lower front/outer contact part 160 includes a plurality of contacts 162 integrally formed with a plurality transversely extending plastic tie bars 165 via insert-molding and each plastic tie bar includes an insulative primary part 164 and a conductive secondary part 166; the lower rear/inner contact part includes a plurality of contacts 152 integrally formed with a plurality of transversely extending plastic tie bars 155 via insert-molding and each plastic tie bar 155 includes an insulative primary part 154 and a conductive secondary part 156.
Each group of the contacts 132, 142, 152 and 162 includes a plurality of differential-pair signal contacts and a plurality of grounding contacts alternately arranged with each other in the transverse direction. Each contact 132, 142, 152 and 162 includes a front deflectable contacting section 171, a rear soldering section 173 and a retaining section 172. Understandably, the grounding contacts are further joined together by the corresponding conductive secondary part.
A pair of metallic side plates 180 are located by two opposite sides of the upper contact unit 122 and the lower contact unit 124 of the contact module 120, respectively. Each side plate 180 forms a plurality of holes 182 therein. Correspondingly, each plastic bar 135, 145, 155 and 165 includes a pair of positioning protrusions or holding lugs P at two opposite ends to be received within the corresponding holes 182, respectively, so as to secure the whole contact module 120 together. Each side plate 180 forms a notch 184 aligned with the contact sections 171 of the contacts 142 and those of the contacts 152 in the transverse direction. Notably, as shown in
A front region of the housing 110 forms a mating slot 111, and upper and lower rows of passageways 112 located by two sides of the mating slot 111 in the vertical direction wherein the upper row of passageways 112 respectively receive the contacting sections 171 of the contacts 132, and the lower row of passageways 112 respectively receive the contacting sections 171 of the contacts 162.
A rear region of the housing 110 forms a pair of upper channels 113 and a pair of lower channels 114 in two opposite side walls 115. Correspondingly, the positioning protrusions P are arranged in upper and lower rows to be respectively received within the upper channels 113 and the lower channels 114. Therefore, the assembled contact module 120 can be forwardly, along the front-to-back direction, inserted into the housing 110 from the rear side. The housing 110 further includes a plurality of recesses 116 (only one shown in
An insulative front cover 200 is downwardly assembled upon the front region of the housing 110, and includes an elongated main body 202 with a pair of engagement sections or mounting ears 204 at two opposite ends in the transverse direction, and a plurality of blades 206 received within the corresponding passageways 112 to reduce impedance of the contacts 132. In this manner, the impedance of the contacts 132 is reduced by 2-5 ohms. The front region of the housing 110 forms a pair of recessions 117 to receive the corresponding engagement sections 206 in an interference fit. An insulative rear cover 250 includes a slot 252 extending in the transverse direction to receive one plastic tie bar 135 therein, and a pair of guiding ribs 254 having front ends 256 received within the locking slots 118 in the upper channel 113, and a bump section 258 received within the locking space 119 in the upper channel 113. Therefore, the rear cover 250 is designedly associated with the contact module 120 to be commonly forwardly, along the front-to-back direction, inserted into the housing 110 from the rear side of the housing 110.
In addition to the features disclosed in the aforementioned front cover 200 and rear cover 250, another feature of the front cover 200 is to have the corresponding blades 206 configured to be compliant with the curved resilient contacting section 171. Therefore, the front cover 200 is assembled to the housing 110 only after the contact module 120 has been assembled into the housing 110. Notably, compared with the aforementioned previous provisional application 63/134,557, the invention further provides the front cover 200 to not only mechanically shield the inside contacts for dust or touching prevention, but also electrically efficiently lower the impedance therearound. Understandably, in the instant embodiment the front cover 200 shield the contacting sections 171 of the contacts 132. Alternately, an additional front cover can be used to shield the contacting sections 171 of the contacts 162.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is not to be construed as being limited thereto. Various alterations and modifications can be made to the embodiments without in any way departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.
This application claims priority to U.S. Application No. 63/200,957, filed Apr. 6, 2021, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
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