The present disclosure relates to a cable connector and a combination thereof for connecting flexible flat cables (FFC) or flexible print circuits (FPC), and more particularly to a full-shielding cable connector and a combination thereof capable of improving electromagnetic interference (EMI) resistance.
Flexible flat cables (FFC) or flexible print circuits (FPC) are hereinafter both referred to as “cable” for the sake of brevity. Cables have been widely used in transmitting large quantities of data. In order to improve electromagnetic interference (EMI) resistance, a metal foil is usually adhered to an outer surface of a cable shielding layer. Since the shielding layer does not have a grounding circuit that is electrically contacted with the cable, an additional grounding process is required to ground the metal foil. Such additional grounding process is not only time-consuming, but also incurs high cost. Furthermore, this method does not ensure that the metal foil has a common ground with the shielding layer, a shell, and the grounding terminal of the cable.
In addition, another conventional method is to add the grounding terminal to the connector so that the grounding terminal is in contact with the shielding layer of the cable, and the entire cable is surrounded by the shielding layer. This method transfers costs to the manufacturer of the connector. In addition, in this method, only one side of the shielding layer is in contact with the grounding terminal of the connector, leading to a longer grounding passageway of the other side of the shielding layer on the cable.
Furthermore, in order to save space or use space effectively, when a conventional cable is electrically connected to a circuit board, the cable is parallel to the circuit board. Therefore, when a cable is installed to a cable connector on the circuit board, the cable is inserted into the cable connector along a direction parallel to the circuit board. This method of installing the cable by arranging the cable to the circuit board in an adjoining manner is not only difficult to implement, but also prone to cause a deviation of an insertion angle during installation and result in an erroneous installation.
Therefore, how an improved structural design can be provided to ensure the EMI resistance of the cable, so that the aforementioned shortcomings may be overcome, has become an important issue in this technical field.
In response to the above-referenced technical inadequacies, the present disclosure provides a full-shielding cable connector and a cable plug thereof.
In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a full-shielding cable connector that is electrically connected to a circuit board. The full-shielding cable connector includes an insulated body, a plurality of terminals, a metal frame, a shielding conductive body, and a pull rod. The insulated body has a plurality of terminal slots formed along a first direction. The plurality of terminals is respectively received in the plurality of terminal slots, each of the plurality of terminals has a contact portion and a soldering portion, and the soldering portion is extended from the contact portion. The metal frame is fixed to the insulated body, and the metal frame has a plurality of pins so as to be electrically connected to the circuit board. The shielding conductive body is detachably assembled to the insulated body and is arranged above the metal frame, and the shielding conductive body has a cable entrance such that when a front end of a cable enters the shielding conductive body through the cable entrance, an upper shielding layer and a lower shielding layer of the cable are electrically connected to the shielding conductive body. The pull rod is rotatably connected to the shielding conductive body, and when the pull rod is rotated to a fastened position, the pull rod is fastened to the insulated body and so the shielding conductive body is fastened to the insulated body. When the shielding conductive body is assembled to the insulated body, the shielding conductive body is in physical contact with the metal frame.
In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a cable plug that is detachably assembled to a full-shielding cable connector that includes an insulated body and a metal frame, and the insulated body receives a plurality of terminals. The cable plug includes a shielding conductive body and a pull rod. The shielding conductive body is detachably assembled to the insulated body and arranged above the metal frame. The shielding conductive body has a front portion, a shielding top wall, and a pair of shielding side walls. The front portion, the shielding top wall, and the pair of shielding side walls have a cable receiving chamber formed therebetween. A cable entrance is formed on the front portion and contacts a bottom surface of the cable inserted therein, and the shielding top wall has a plurality of elastic arms formed thereon and extended inward into the cable receiving chamber such that the plurality of elastic arms contact a top surface of the cable. The pull rod is rotated with respect to the shielding conductive body. When the pull rod is rotated to a fastened position, the shielding conductive body is fastened to the insulated body. When the shielding conductive body is assembled to the insulated body, the front portion of the shielding conductive body is in physical contact with the metal frame.
In yet another aspect, the present disclosure provides a full-shielding cable connector that is electrically connected to a circuit board. The full-shielding cable connector includes a cable socket and a shielding conductive body. The cable socket includes an insulated body and a metal frame, and the insulated body receives a plurality of terminals. The shielding conductive body is detachably assembled to the cable socket, and the shielding conductive body includes a cable fixing portion to fix a cable inserted therein in place along a first direction. The cable socket has at least one guiding installation portion, and the shielding conductive body has at least one guided portion. When the shielding conductive body is assembled to the cable socket, the at least one guided portion, limited by the corresponding guiding installation portion, slides along a second direction for a predetermined distance. The second direction is perpendicular to the first direction.
Therefore, by the shielding conductive body and the metal frame being in physical contact with the shielding layers of the top surface and the bottom surface of the cable, the full-shielding cable connector of the present disclosure allows a good electrical connection between the cable and the grounding circuit of the circuit board, and achieves a full-shielding function that provides resistance against electromagnetic interference (EMI). The cable does not need to be additionally covered by extra metal foil, and the connector does not need additional grounding terminals to be in contact with the cable.
These and other aspects of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description of the embodiment taken in conjunction with the following drawings and their captions, although variations and modifications therein may be affected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.
The present disclosure will become more fully understood from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.
The present disclosure is more particularly described in the following examples that are intended as illustrative only since numerous modifications and variations therein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Like numbers in the drawings indicate like components throughout the views. As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, the meaning of “a”, “an”, and “the” includes plural reference, and the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on”. Titles or subtitles can be used herein for the convenience of a reader, which shall have no influence on the scope of the present disclosure.
The terms used herein generally have their ordinary meanings in the art. In the case of conflict, the present document, including any definitions given herein, will prevail. The same thing can be expressed in more than one way. Alternative language and synonyms can be used for any term(s) discussed herein, and no special significance is to be placed upon whether a term is elaborated or discussed herein. A recital of one or more synonyms does not exclude the use of other synonyms. The use of examples anywhere in this specification including examples of any terms is illustrative only, and in no way limits the scope and meaning of the present disclosure or of any exemplified term. Likewise, the present disclosure is not limited to various embodiments given herein. Numbering terms such as “first”, “second” or “third” can be used to describe various components, signals or the like, which are for distinguishing one component/signal from another one only, and are not intended to, nor should be construed to impose any substantive limitations on the components, signals or the like.
Referring to
The insulated body 10 of the present embodiment has a main portion 11 and a pair of shoulder portions 12, the pair of shoulder portions 12 are respectively connected to two opposite sides of the main portion 11, and the main portion 11 has a plurality of terminal slots 110 formed along a first direction. The first direction is a longitudinal direction of the cable 9, which is also a direction of the X-axis in the figures.
The plurality of terminals 20 are respectively received in the plurality of terminal slots 110, each of the plurality of terminals 20 has a contact portion 21 and a soldering portion 22, and the soldering portion 22 is extended from the contact portion 21. The terminals 20 are fixed in the terminal slots 110 in an interfering manner. For the sake of brevity in description, a direction in which the soldering portion 22 extends along is defined as a forward direction, and the contact portion 21 is positioned at a rear side of the soldering portion 22. The soldering portion 22 is fixed to a corresponding soldering pad on the circuit board P by soldering.
Referring to
A detailed structure of the metal frame 30 is as follows. As shown in
The shielding conductive body 50 of the current embodiment is detachably assembled to the insulated body 10 and positioned above the metal frame 30. Referring to
The cable 9 of the current embodiment is, for example, a single layered flexible flat cable (FFC). Referring to
The front end of the cable 9 may be covered by a covering plate 94 for strengthening a structural rigidity of the front end of the cable 9, so that the front end of the cable 9 is less prone to deformation. In a preferable embodiment, the upper shielding layer 91a entirely covers a top surface of the cable 9, and a top surface of a front end of the upper shielding layer 91a has a covering plate 94 thereon, which is electrically conductive. The elastic arms 512 of the shielding conductive body 50 are in contact with the covering plate 94. The lower shielding layer 91b entirely covers a bottom surface of the cable 9, and the front portion 53 of the shielding conductive body 50 is in contact with the lower shielding layer 91b. The upper shielding layer 91a and the lower shielding layer 91b may be made of a metal foil, such as an aluminum foil that respectively covers upon the top surface and the bottom surface of the cable 9. The covering plate 94 may be fixed to the shielding conductive body 50 by soldering. However, the covering plate 94 of the cable 9 may be omitted to allow the elastic arms 512 of the shielding conductive body 50 to be in direct contact with the top surface of the front end of the upper shielding layer 91a.
In the current embodiment, the pull rod 60 is arranged to facilitate convenient assembly and removal of the shielding conductive body 50. Referring to
Detailed processes of fixing the metal frame 30 and the insulated body 10 are as follows. Referring to
Referring to
In addition, a rear end of the metal frame 30 is fastened to a rear end of the insulated body 10, wherein the main portion 11 of the insulated body 10 has a plurality of second fastening protrusions 114. The plurality of second fastening protrusions 114 are positioned at a rear side of the terminal slots 110. Specifically, the plurality of second fastening protrusions 114 are formed at a rear edge of the main portion 11. The rear wall 34 of the metal frame 30 has a plurality of second fastening hooks 342, and the plurality of second fastening protrusions 114 of the insulated body 10 are respectively fastened to the plurality of second fastening hooks 342 of the metal frame 30. The second fastening hooks 342 of the present embodiment are also in a shape of a rectangular frame, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Referring to
Detailed processes of assembling the shielding conductive body 50 and the insulated body 10 are as follows. Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Detailed processes of assembling the cable 9 to the cable socket of the present embodiment are as follows. Firstly, the cable 9 is assembled to the shielding conductive body 50. Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Finally, referring to
In this embodiment, to remove the cable 9 from the cable socket, as illustrated in
Referring to
In conclusion, one of the advantages of the present disclosure is that, in the full-shielding cable connector of the present disclosure, the cable does not require an additional grounding process to ground the covering metal foil, and the connector does not need additional grounding terminals to be in contact with the cable. By the shielding conductive body 50 and/or the metal frame 30 being in physical contact with the shielding layers of the top surface and the bottom surface of the cable 9, the present disclosure allows a good electrical connection between the cable and the grounding circuit of the circuit board, and achieves a full-shielding function that provides resistance against EMI.
Another advantage of the present disclosure is that, the cable is perpendicular to the direction of the Z-axis of the circuit board, and is inserted from top to bottom into the cable connector. In addition, a simple pull rod 60 is used to fix the cable to the cable connector. Therefore, an installation process of the cable is simplified and the correctness of the installation is ensured.
The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the disclosure has been presented only for the purposes of illustration and description and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching.
The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the disclosure and their practical application so as to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the disclosure and various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains without departing from its spirit and scope.
This application claims priority to the U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/872,366, filed on Jul. 10, 2019, which application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Some references, which may include patents, patent applications and various publications, may be cited and discussed in the description of this disclosure. The citation and/or discussion of such references is provided merely to clarify the description of the present disclosure and is not an admission that any such reference is “prior art” to the disclosure described herein. All references cited and discussed in this specification are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties and to the same extent as if each reference was individually incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
62872366 | Jul 2019 | US |