The present disclosure requires priorities of a Chinese Patent Application filed on Sep. 7, 2019 with Application No. 201921488178.X and an invention titled “FIRST CONNECTOR, SECOND CONNECTOR AND CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY”, and a Chinese Patent Application filed on Sep. 7, 2019 with Application No. 201921488179.4 and an invention titled “FIRST CONNECTOR, SECOND CONNECTOR AND CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY”, the entire contents of which are incorporated into this application herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a first connector, a second connector and a connector assembly, which can be applied to a technical field of high-speed electrical connectors.
An existing connector assembly usually includes a first connector and a second connector which are mated with each other. The first connector includes a first insulating body, a plurality of first terminals and a first metal shell. The second connector includes a second insulating body and a plurality of second terminals. The first insulating body is provided with a slot into which the first terminals protrude. The second insulating body is provided with a main body and a tongue plate protruding from the main body and used for being inserted into the slot. The second terminals are distributed on upper and lower surfaces of the tongue plate. In addition, in order to realize the locking of the connectors after insertion, the main body of the second insulating body is usually provided with a locking structure, and correspondingly the first metal shell is provided with a locking hole that corresponds to the locking structure. However, the locking structure and the tongue plate in the prior art do not overlap in a vertical direction. This design will make a length of the connector longer, which is not beneficial to reduce the size thereof.
Besides, in order to realize inserting and positioning of the two connectors, the first insulating body of the first connector is usually designed to be relatively wide. As a result, it is convenient to provide positioning grooves on two sides of the first insulating housing to be able to clamp two sides of a metal shell of the second connector. However, this design is also not beneficial to reduce the size of the first connector.
A purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a first connector, a second connector and a connector assembly which can be designed to be shorter in length.
In order to achieve the above purpose, the present disclosure discloses a first connector including a first insulating body, a first terminal module and a first shell shielding the first insulating body. The first insulating body includes a first top wall, a mating surface and a slot formed on the mating surface. The slot is adapted for receiving at least part of a second connector along a mating direction. The first terminal module includes a plurality of contact portions extending into the slot. The first shell includes an upper shell shielding the first top wall. The upper shell includes a locking plate for locking with the second connector. The first connector includes a receiving space provided between the first top wall and the locking plate for positioning the second connector. A width of the receiving space is narrower than a width of the slot along a width direction perpendicular to the mating direction.
The present disclosure also discloses a second connector including a second insulating body and a second terminal module. The second insulating body includes a main body, a tongue plate protruding from the main body and an extending portion protruding from the main body. The extending portion is located above the tongue plate. The extending portion and the tongue plate at least partially overlap along a vertical direction.
The present disclosure also discloses a connector assembly including a first connector and a second connector for mating with the first connector along a mating direction. The first connector includes a first insulating body, a first terminal module and a first shell shielding the first insulating body. The first insulating body includes a first top wall, a mating surface and a slot formed on the mating surface. The slot is adapted for receiving at least part of a second connector along a mating direction. The first terminal module includes a plurality of contact portions extending into the slot. The first shell includes an upper shell shielding the first top wall. The upper shell includes a locking plate for locking with the second connector. The first connector includes a receiving space provided between the first top wall and the locking plate for positioning the second connector. A width of the receiving space is narrower than a width of the slot along a width direction perpendicular to the mating direction. The second connector includes a second insulating body and a second terminal module. The second insulating body includes a main body, a tongue plate protruding from the main body and an extending portion protruding from the main body. The extending portion is located above the tongue plate. The extending portion and the tongue plate at least partially overlap along a vertical direction. When the first connector and the second connector are mated, the tongue plate is received in the slot, and the extending portion is received in the receiving space.
Compared with the prior art, the first connector of the present disclosure is provided with a receiving space between the first top wall and the locking plate for receiving the second connector. With this arrangement, a height of the first connector is well used while a length of the first connector along a front-rear direction is not additionally occupied, so that the length of the first connector can be designed to be shorter. Regarding the second connector of the present disclosure, a length thereof can be shortened by overlapping the extending portion with the tongue plate in the vertical direction. In addition, an overall length of the connector assembly according to the present disclosure can be shorten through the above designs.
Please refer to
Please refer to
The first insulating body 1 includes a mating surface 14 and a mounting surface 15 for mounting the first connector 100 to the printed circuit board 101. A slot 141 for receiving at least part of the second connector 200 is formed on the mating surface 14, and a mounting groove 151 for receiving the first terminal module 2 is formed on the mounting surface 15.
From a structural point of view, the first insulating body 1 generally includes a first top wall 11, a first bottom wall 12 and two first side walls 13 connecting the first top wall 11 and the first bottom wall 12. The slot 141 is enclosed by the first top wall 11, the first bottom wall 12 and the two first side walls 13. Both an inner side of the first top wall 11 and an inner side of the first bottom wall 12 are provided with a plurality of convex strips 121 arranged at intervals. A terminal groove 122 is formed between two adjacent convex strips 121. The first top wall 11 is further provided with two protrusions 112 adjacent to two sides thereof and a receiving space 113 between the two protrusions 112. Each protrusion 112 is provided with a notch 1121 on a front end surface thereof. In the illustrated embodiment of the present disclosure, the notch 1121 is of an inverted T shape, which includes a first notch 1122 at an upper end and a second notch 1123 at a lower end. The width of the first notch 1122 is smaller than the width of the second notch 1123 along a width direction perpendicular to the mating direction. In order to fix the first terminal module 2, the first top wall 11 and the first bottom wall 12 are further provided with a first slot 115 and a second slot 123, respectively. In addition, the two first side walls 13 are respectively provided with a retaining groove 131 located outside and used to mate with the first shell 3. The width of the receiving space 113 is smaller than the width of the slot 141 along the width direction perpendicular to the mating direction. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the width of the receiving space 113 is less than two thirds of the width of the slot 141.
The first terminal module 2 includes a first terminal unit 21, a second terminal unit 22, and a conductive plastic 23 clamped between the first terminal unit 21 and the second terminal unit 22. Referring to
The first terminal unit 21 is provided with a first insulator 211 and a plurality of first terminals 212 disposed in the first insulator 211. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first terminals 212 are insert-molded with the first insulator 211. The first insulator 211 is provided with a first locking block 2111 for mating with the first slot 115. From a structural point of view, each first terminal 212 includes a first fixing portion (not shown) disposed in the first insulator 211, a first contact portion 2122 extending forwardly from the first fixing portion, and a first welding portion 2123 bending and extending backwardly from the first fixing portion. From a functional point of view, the first terminals 212 include a plurality of signal terminals and a plurality of ground terminals. Two adjacent signal terminals are located between two ground terminals so as to form a group. The first terminals 212 include multiple groups of such signal terminals and ground terminals.
Similarly, the second terminal unit 22 is provided with a second insulator 221 and a plurality of second terminals 222 disposed in the second insulator 221. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the second terminals 222 are insert-molded with the second insulator 221. The second insulator 221 is provided with a second locking block (not shown) for mating with the second slot 123. From a structural point of view, each second terminal 222 includes a second fixing portion (not shown) disposed in the second insulator 221, a second contact portion 2222 extending forwardly from the second fixing portion, and a second welding portion 2223 bending and extending backwardly from the second fixing portion. From a functional point of view, the second terminals 222 include a plurality of signal terminals and a plurality of ground terminals. Two adjacent signal terminals are located between two ground terminals so as to form a group. The second terminals 222 include multiple groups of such signal terminals and ground terminals.
Please refer to
When the first terminal module 2 is completely inserted in the mounting groove 151 along a back-to-front direction, the first locking block 2111 and the second locking block are respectively locked in the first slot 115 and the mounting groove 151 to prevent the first terminal module 2 from exiting backwardly. At this time, the first contact portions 2122 and the second contact portions 2222 are respectively located in the corresponding terminal grooves 122 so as to protect the terminals. In addition, the first contact portions 2122 and the second contact portions 2222 extend toward each other and both protrude into the slot 141 for mating with the second connector 200.
The first shell 3 is substantially frame-shaped and sleeved on the first insulating body 1. The first shell 3 includes an upper shell 31 shielding the first top wall 11, a lower shell 32 covering the first bottom wall 12, and two side shells 33 connecting the upper shell 31 and the lower shell 32 and respectively shielding the two first side walls 13. The upper shell 31 covers the protrusions 112 and are supported by the protrusions 112. In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the upper shell 31, the lower shell 32 and the side shells 33 may be integrally formed as one piece.
The first connector 100 is provided with two guiding slots 114 for guiding the second connector 200 when inserted. The guiding slots 114 are used to cooperate with the second connector 200 to realize positioning when they are mated with each other. Please refer to
In addition, the upper shell 31 is provided with a locking plate 311 covering the receiving space 113, and the locking plate 311 is provided with at least one locking hole 3111. The upper shell 31 includes a first top surface 34 covering the guiding slots 114 and a second top surface 35 covering the receiving space 113. The first top surface 34 and the second top surface 35 are substantially flush with each other. This arrangement can reduce height of the first connector 100. In addition, the receiving space 113 overlaps the first contact portions 2122 and the second contact portions 2222 in a vertical direction. As a result a length of the first connector 100 along a front-rear direction is reduced. The upper shell 31 also includes a T-shaped bent portion 3112 formed by bending downwardly from the locking plate 311. The T-shaped bent portion 3112 is locked in the corresponding notch 1121 in order to prevent the first shell 3 from detaching from the first insulating housing 1 in an X direction and a Y direction (a horizontal direction). The side shells 33 are respectively provided with protruding tabs 331 buckled in the retaining grooves 131 to prevent the first shell 3 from being separated from the first insulating body 1 in a Z direction (the vertical direction).
Referring to
In the illustrated embodiment of the present disclosure, the second insulating body 4 includes a main body 41, a tongue plate 42 protruding from the main body 41, two guiding protrusions 43 protruding from two sides of the main body 41, and an extending portion 44 protruding from the main body 41 and located above the tongue plate 42. In the illustrated embodiment of the present disclosure, the tongue plate 42 is formed by a circuit board. The guiding protrusions 43 and the extending portion 44 are both integrally extended from the main body 41. Each guiding protrusion 43 is L-shaped in order to match the L-shaped guiding slot 114. A top surface 431 of the guiding protrusion 43 is flush with a top surface 411 of the main body 41 or lower than the top surface 411 of the main body 41, so that the guiding protrusions 43 are capable of mating with the guiding slots 114. Of course, in other embodiments, the guiding protrusions 43 may also have other shapes, or may be separated parts from the main body 41 while being assembled together. For example, the guiding protrusion 43 is a metal piece which is disposed in the main body 41 through a slot, or insert-molded with the main body 41.
In the illustrated embodiment of the present disclosure, the second terminal module 5 is of a flat shape and is distributed on upper and lower surfaces of the tongue plate 42. Combination of the second terminal module 5 and the tongue plate 42 can be a circuit board with contact pieces or golden fingers (PINs). The second terminal module 5 is electrically connected to the cables 201. An end of the extending portion 44 is provided with an inclined guiding surface 441 for guiding the extending portion 44 to be inserted into the receiving space 113 and two guiding slopes 442 located on two sides of the extending portion 44. The L-shaped guiding protrusions 43 are used for being inserted into the L-shaped guiding slots 114.
The extending portion 44 protrudes forwardly of the main body 41 to save space and reduce the length of the second connector 200 along the front-rear direction. In addition, the extending portion 44 and the tongue plate 42 at least overlap in the vertical direction to save space and reduce the length of the second connector 200 along the front-rear direction. In addition, the top surface of the second insulating body 4 is substantially flat so as to reduce the height of the second connector 200 along the vertical direction.
The locking piece 6 is fixed on the extending portion 44. A top surface of the locking piece 6 is substantially flush with a top surface of the main body 41 so as to reduce the height of the second connector 200. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the locking piece 6 is insert-molded with the extending portion 44. The locking piece 6 includes a locking portion 64 protruding upwardly. When the second connector 200 is mated with the first connector 100, the extending portion 44 is inserted into the receiving space 113. At this time, the locking portion 64 is locked in the locking hole 3111 so as to prevent the second connector 200 and the first connector 100 from loosening with respect to each other.
In the illustrated embodiment of the present disclosure, the locking piece 6 is made of sheet metal in order to increase the structural strength and reduce the overall height of the second connector 200. Please refer to
The pulling tab 7 is provided with a hook 71 extending through the upper through hole 611 and the lower through hole 621. The upper through hole 611 and the lower through hole 621 at least partially overlap in the vertical direction so as to increase the pulling force of the pulling tab 7. Please refer to
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It should be noted that terms beginning with “first”, “second” and “third” used in this disclosure are only for distinguishing names of elements and do not have any logical meaning, explicitly or implicitly.
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, such as “front”, “back”, “left”, “right”, “top” and “bottom”, 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 |
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201921488178.X | Sep 2019 | CN | national |
201921488179.4 | Sep 2019 | CN | national |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20210075159 A1 | Mar 2021 | US |