BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic connector assembly, and more particularly to a magnetic connector assembly which is able to be stably mated.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 7,311,526 issued on Dec. 25, 2007, discloses a magnetic connector including a plug and a receptacle relying on magnetic force to maintain contact. The plug and receptacle each defines at least one magnet and a magnetic element for attracting the magnets, which makes the plug can be combined with the receptacle by magnetic attraction so as to achieve the purpose of power supply. However, the mating effect between the plug and receptacle is not very well.
Therefore, an improved magnetic connector assembly is highly desired to meet overcome the requirement.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic connector assembly can ensure better effect of the terminals thereof and avoid disconnection caused by the insulative seat.
In order to achieve above-mentioned object, an electrical connector includes an insulative seat, a plurality of terminals fixed to the insulative seat and at least one magnetic element retained in the insulative seat. The insulative seat defines a vertical first mating surface and a mating portion extending forwardly from the first mating surface, the mating portion defines an inclined second mating surface. Each terminal defines a contacting portion disposed in the mating portion and a soldering portion extending outside of the insulative seat. The mating portion defines a shallow recess recessed from the second mating surface, and the contacting portion defines a free end exposed on the shallow recess and locating behind the second mating surface.
Other objects, 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.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a magnetic connector assembly in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is another perspective view of the magnetic connector assembly shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of an electrical connector of the magnetic connector assembly shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is another exploded perspective view of the electrical connector shown in FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of a mating connector of the magnetic connector assembly shown in FIG. 2; and
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the magnetic connector assembly take along the line 6-6 shown in FIG. 1.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe a preferred embodiment of the present invention in detail. Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a magnetic connector assembly is used to achieve power supply. The electrical connector assembly includes an electrical connector 1 used for mounting on a circuit board and a mating connector 2 connected to a cable 4, the electrical connector 1 is usually installed in a device (not shown), such as tablet PCs or laptops. The electrical connector 1 is mounted on a metallic shell 3 of the device and retracted within the outside of the shell 3 so that a receiving cavity 301 is formed between the shell 3 and the electrical connector 1, the receiving cavity 301 defines a foolproof inner wall and is used for exactly the mating connector inserted into, which can achieve the mating function in a single direction.
Referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the electrical connector 1 includes a longitudinal insulative seat 10, a plurality of terminals 20 fixed in the insulative seat 10 and a pair of magnets 30. The insulative seat 10 defines a first mating surface 110 and a mating portion 12 projecting forwardly from the first mating surface 110. The mating portion 12 defines a second mating surface 121 and a shallow recess 122 recessed from the second mating surface 121, the shallow recess 122 defines a third mating surface 1221 formed in an inner bottom surface thereof. The insulative seat 10 defines a plurality of terminal slots 123 running through the third mating surface 1221, which is used for receiving corresponding terminals in order to prevent the conductive terminals being damaged by external forces. The insulative seat 10 further defines a pair of retaining cavities 111 located on both sides of the mating portion 12 and running through the first mating surface 110 and the rear surface, the magnets 30 are closely received in the retaining cavities 111 and the front surface 31 of the magnet 30 is flush with the first mating surface 110, whereby the first mating surface 110 of the insulative seat 10 and the front surface 31 of the magnet 30 together form a mating surface of the electrical connector 1. The magnets 30 are located on both sides of the conductive terminals 20 so as to prevent the magnetic substance contacting the terminals when the magnetic substance is attracted to the device. The electrical connector 1 further defines a membrane 15 covering the mating surface 110 of the insulative seat 10 in order to prevent the insulative seat 10 from damaged and the magnets 30 when the electrical connector mated.
Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 6, each terminal 20 is a non-scalable terminal and defines a retaining portion 21 fixed in the insulative seat 10, a contacting portion 22 extending forwardly from the retaining portion 21 and a soldering portion 23 extending backwardly from the retaining portion 21. The contacting portion 21 defines a free end section 221 exposed within the shallow recess 121 of the mating portion 12, and the free end section 221 is located behind the second mating surface 121 while in front of the third mating surface 1221 so as to ensure better contacting effect of the terminals and avoid disconnection caused by the mating portion 12 of the insulative seat 10. The soldering portion 23 of the terminal 20 is extending outside of the insulative seat 10 from the terminal slot 123 and the soldering portion 23 is a flat shape by an eccentric extrusion process, which is conductive to the soldering between the terminals and the soldering plane of the flexible circuit board 5 of the device. While the rear side of the terminal slot 123 of the insulative seat 10 is disposed semicircular shape to form a semicircular terminals slot 1231, and the flat-shaped soldering portion 23 is accommodated in the semicircular terminals slot 1231, which effectively prevents the terminals rotating in the terminal slots 123. Moreover, the front surface 302 of the shell 3 and the second mating surface 121 are inclined, the third surface 1221 and the first surface are vertically disposed.
Referring to FIG. 5, the mating connector 2 is used for mating the electrical connector 1 and includes an insulative housing 40, a plurality of scalable terminals 50 fixed in the insulative housing 40, a magnetic element 60 and an insulative shell 70, wherein the magnetic element 60 is an integral structure and substantially rectangular shape. The insulative housing 40 defines a first engaging surface 401 and a plurality of terminal slots 41 running through the first engaging surface 401 and used for receiving the corresponding scalable terminals 50. Each scalable terminals 50 extends along a front-to-rear direction in the terminal slot 41 and defines a contacting end 51 projecting outside of the first engaging surface 401 of the insulative housing 40. The magnetic element 60 surrounds the outside of the insulating body 40 and defines a pair of protrusions 61 extending forwardly from both sides of the first engaging surface 401 of the insulative housing 40, the protrusion 61 is used for being received by the mating cavity 301 of the device. The front surface 71 of the insulative shell 70 is open to form a receiving space 72.
Referring to FIG. 6, the rear portions of the insulative housing 40 and the magnetic element 60 are received in the receiving space 72 of the insulative shell 70, and the front portion of the magnetic element 60 is projecting forwardly from the front surface 71 of the insulative shell 70 so that the protrusions 61 of the magnetic element 60 have a second engaging surface 611 to form a mating surface of the mating connector 2. In the preferred embodiment, the scalable terminals 50 of the mating connector 2 include a row of signal terminals 501 and a pair of grounding terminals 502 located both sides of signal terminals 501. In a free state, the front ends of the grounding terminals 502 are flush with the second engaging surface 611 and the front ends of the signal terminals 501 are retracted from the second engaging surface 611 of the protrusions 61, i.e., the front ends of the grounding terminals 502 are disposed in front of the front ends of the signal terminals 501.
When the electrical connector 1 is mated the mating connector 2, the grounding terminals 502 earlier than the signal terminals 501 of the mating connector 2 are contacting with terminals 20 of the electrical connector 1, thereby making the grounding terminals 502 can lead static electricity away before the signal terminals 501 contact with terminals 20 of the electrical connector 1, thus ensuring the security of the circuit system. Each scalable terminal 50 defines a connecting portion 52 protruding outside of the rear surface of the insulative housing 40 and connected to the conductive core wire of the cable 4. The second engaging surface 611 of the protrusions 61 is a vertical shape and the first engaging surface 411 of the insulative housing 40 is inclined, just to fit with the electrical connector.
The mating surface of the mating connector 2 includes having two opposite long sides 601, 602 and two opposite short sides 603, 604, the two short sides are connected to the two long sides and symmetrical to each other. One of the long sides 601 is connected to the two short sides to form a right angle respectively, and the other long side 602 is connected to the two short sides 603, 604 to form an arc chamfer, respectively. While the shell 3 of the device with the electrical connector 1 form a formation corresponding to the long sides and the short sides of the mating connector 2 so that the user can easily identify to prevent wrong insertion.
It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the board general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.