The present invention relates generally to an electrical plug/cable connector for use with an upstanding type receptacle connector, and particularly to a low profile plug/cable connector for use with such upstanding type receptacle connector.
U.S. Pat. No. 10,381,767 discloses an electrical connector assembly including a corrugated plate that is shaped to make contact with tails of ground contacts thereof. The corrugated plate provides shielding in the vicinity of tails of signal contacts for radiation emanating from or incident on signal wires of cables from an upper direction and a similar corrugated plate may be attached from below, effectively providing shielding on both sides of the signal wires and the signal contact tails. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0366017 discloses a cable assembly including a cable module having a ground shield, wherein the ground shield has a ground plate held in a housing thereof and plural ground blades located between adjacent cable wires. The ground blades are configured to be electrically connected to the ground plate that extends over the tops of the cable wires.
A cable connector comprises: an insulative housing comprising a base with opposite upper and lower sides in a vertical direction, a mating portion extending downwardly from the lower side, and an upper platform and a lower platform formed around the upper side and each extending along a longitudinal direction which is perpendicular to the vertical direction, the upper platform and the lower platform spaced from each other in both the vertical direction and a transverse direction which is perpendicular to the vertical direction and the longitudinal direction; first and second rows of contacts disposed in the insulative housing and each row arranged along the longitudinal direction with corresponding contacting sections exposed upon the mating portion and corresponding connecting sections, the connecting sections of the first row being exposed upon the lower platform at a same level in the vertical direction, and the connecting sections of the second row being exposed upon the upper platform at a same level in the vertical direction, each row of contacts comprising a plurality of differential-pair contacts and grounding contacts alternately arranged with each other in the longitudinal direction; upper and lower rows of wires located above the insulative housing in the vertical direction, each wire comprising an inner conductor, an inner insulator, a metallic braiding layer and an outer insulator sequentially arranged with one another; and a metallic upper grounding bracket and a metallic lower grounding bracket located at different levels in the vertical direction and respectively mounted upon the upper platform and the lower platform, each of the upper grounding bracket and the lower grounding bracket including a plurality of bulged sections and a plurality of tails alternately arranged with each other in the longitudinal direction, wherein the inner conductors of the wires are mechanically and electrically connected to the connecting sections of the differential-pair contacts, the braiding layers of the wires are sandwiched between the bulged sections and the insulative housing in the vertical direction, and the tails are mechanically and electrically connected to the connecting sections of the grounding contacts.
Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe the preferred embodiment of the present invention in detail.
Referring to
The contact module assembly 100 includes an insulative housing 130 with two rows of contacts integrally formed therewithin by insert-molding to form a contact module wherein each row extends in a longitudinal direction. The housing 130 includes a base 130a (as best shown in
Similarly, in the second row of contacts 180, each differential-pair contact/grounding contact includes a contacting section 1842/1822 exposed upon the mating tongue 132, a connecting section 1841/1821 exposed upon the upper platform 133, and a retaining section (not labeled) therebetween with barbs thereon for embedment within the base. The connecting sections 1721/1741 of the contacts 170 in first row are essentially located at a same level with the connecting sections 1821/1841 of the contacts 180 in the second row, and extend away from each other in a transverse direction perpendicular to both the longitudinal direction and the vertical direction. Each of the upper platform 133 and the lower platform 131 includes a plurality of ribs 138 and a plurality of recesses 136 alternatively arranged with each other along the longitudinal direction. Two positioning posts 134 are formed on two opposite ends of the upper platform 133 and the lower platform 131. The connecting sections of the first row and the second row of contacts are located at a same level in the upright direction. The connecting sections of the first row of contacts 170 bend toward the lower platform in the transverse direction and located between the lower platform and the upper platform in the transverse direction. The connecting sections of the second row of contacts bend away from the upper platform in the transverse direction. The upper platform 133 is located between the connecting sections of the first row and the second row of contacts.
Upper and lower rows of horizontal wires 200 extending along the same transverse direction, are respectively mounted upon the upper platform 133 and the lower platform 131 to respectively mechanically and electrically connect to the connecting sections of the corresponding contacts. Each wire 200 includes an inner conductor 202, an inner insulator 204, the metallic braiding layer 206 and the outer insulative jacket 208 sequentially arranged with one another wherein the inner conductor 202 is mechanically and electrically connected to the connecting section 1741, 1841 of the differential-pair contacts in the contacts 170, 180. The braiding layers 206 are received in the recess 136 and the inner conductors 2020 are directly disposed on the connecting sections of the of the differential-pair contacts.
A metallic lower/first grounding bracket 150 and a metallic upper/second grounding bracket 160 both extending along the longitudinal direction, are respectively secured to the lower platform 131 and the upper platform 133 to respectively hold the corresponding lower row and upper rows of horizontal wires 200.
The lower grounding bracket 150 includes a plurality of abutment seats 156 and a plurality of bulged sections 154 alternatively arranged with each other in the longitudinal direction, wherein the abutment seats 156 are seated upon the corresponding ribs 138 while the bulged sections 154 are spaced from the recesses 136 in the vertical direction to respectively retain the corresponding lower row of wires 200a (as best shown in
Similarly, The upper/second grounding bracket 160 includes a plurality of abutment seats 166 and a plurality of bulged sections 164 alternatively arranged with each other in the longitudinal direction, wherein the abutment seats 166 are seated upon the corresponding ribs 138 while the bulged sections 164 are spaced from the recesses 136 in the vertical direction to respectively retain the corresponding upper row of wires 200b (as best shown in
The feature of the invention includes a structure arrangement with the connecting sections 1721/1741 and 1821/1841 of the inner row contacts 170 and the outer row contacts 180 located in the same level while the housing 130 forms a lower platform 131 to cooperate with the lower grounding bracket 150 to mechanically and electrically connect the lower row of horizontal wires 200, and an upper platform 133 to cooperate with the upper grounding bracket 160 to mechanically and electrically connect the upper row of horizontal wires 200, so as to achieve a low profile plug/cable connector efficiently. After mating with the upright receptacle connector, the total height may be only 11.03 mm above the PCB. In addition, as clearly shown in
During manufacturing, the wires are firstly positioned upon the platforms to have the inner conductors positioned upon the connecting sections of the corresponding differential-pair contacts, the grounding bracket is successively positioned upon the platforms and the wires to have the bulged sections hold the exposed braiding layers of the corresponding wires and have the tails positioned upon the connecting sections of the corresponding grounding contacts, and finally securing the connecting sections with the inner conductors of the wires and/or the tails of the grounding bracket via a hot bar head extending upwardly through the open slot from a bottom side. The bulged sections of the grounding bracket are optimally secured to the corresponding braiding layer via solder material injected into the corresponding holes in the bulged sections.
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 the benefit of, and priority to, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/153,107, filed Feb. 24, 2021, the contents of which is incorporated entirely herein by reference.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20220271454 A1 | Aug 2022 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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63153107 | Feb 2021 | US |