The present invention relates to an electrical connector comprising an insulative housing, a center conductor secured to the insulative housing, and a metallic shell secured to the insulative housing and surrounding the center conductor, wherein the metallic shell includes a sleeve having a lower part secured to the insulative housing and an upper part provided with features for reliably mating to a corresponding shell of a complementary electrical connector. The application relates to a copending application with the same inventor and the same filing date and a title of SEAMLESS METALLIC OUTER SHELL OF AN ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR HAVING INWARD BULGES.
Taiwan Patent No. 388157 discloses an electrical connector comprising an insulative housing, a center conductor (2) secured to the insulative housing, and a metallic shell secured to the insulative housing and surrounding the center conductor, wherein an upper part of the metallic shell includes a plurality of spring flaps and the metallic shell is so formed as to have a seam. China Patent No. 204045745 discloses a multi-lobe contact elastic arm terminal that is formed by a drawing operation to have low height and small dimension while achieving multi-point elastic contact during mating with a complementary pin terminal.
An electrical connector comprises: an insulative housing having a base; a center conductor secured to the insulative housing; and a metallic shell secured to the insulative housing and surrounding the center conductor, the metallic shell including a sleeve having a lower part secured to the base of the insulative housing and an upper part extending upwardly beyond the base of the insulative housing; wherein the upper part includes a plurality of curvilinear flaps coplanar with the lower part of the sleeve and a plurality of springy flaps interposed between adjacent curvilinear flaps and extending upwardly beyond the plurality of curvilinear flaps.
Referring to
The insulative housing 1 includes a base 11. The base 11 has a top end face 110 and a bottom end face 111. The center conductor 2 has a main portion 21, a contact portion 22 extending upward from the main portion 21 beyond the top end face 110 of the base 11, and a soldering portion 23 extending horizontally outwardly from the main portion 21. The metallic shell 3 includes a sleeve 31 surrounding the center conductor 2 and a plurality of soldering legs 32. The soldering legs 32 include a pair of first legs 321 and a second leg 322.
The sleeve 31 has a lower part 311 secured to the base 11 of the insulative housing 1 and an upper part 312 extending upwardly beyond the top end face 110 of the base 11. The upper part 312 includes a plurality of curvilinear flaps 3121 coplanar with the lower part 311 of the sleeve 31 and a plurality of springy flaps 3122 interposed between adjacent curvilinear flaps 3121 and extending upwardly beyond the plurality of curvilinear flaps 3121. Each curvilinear flap 3121 is chamfered at an upper inner edge thereof. Respective notches 3123 are formed between the plurality of curvilinear flaps 3121 and springy flaps 3122. The springy flaps 3122 with corresponding outward and upward divergent structures guide insertion and mating of a complementary electrical connector and provide a desired retaining force. The curvilinear flaps 3121 are sufficiently rigid to not easily deform and cooperate with the springy flaps 3122 to reliably retain the complementary electrical connector. The sleeve 31 of the metallic shell 3 is formed as a seamless structure by a metal drawing process to have an increased structural strength. The sleeve 31 of the metallic shell 3 may also be formed metallurgically to have a seamless body.
Specifically, each springy flap 3122 has an upper guiding edge 3125 flaring outwardly and a lower bulged portion 3124 bent inwardly, compared to the curvilinear flap 3121. The guiding edge 3125 is leveled higher than the curvilinear flap 3121 while the bulged portion 3124 is leveled lower than the curvilinear flap 3121. The base 11 has slots 112 extending through the top and bottom end faces 110 and 111 and aligned with the springy flaps 3122 to accommodate movement of the latter. The upper part 312 has a transition portion 313 where the plurality of curvilinear flaps 3121 and springy flaps 3122 extend upwardly.
The insulative housing 1 has a post 12 extending upward from the base 11. The post 12 has a hole 121 through its top surface 120 and the contact portion 22 of the center conductor 2 is positioned in the hole 121. The upper part 312 surrounds the post 12 to define a groove 313. The contact portion 22 has a pair of arms 221 enclosed by the post 12. The main portion 21 has a planar portion 211 and two opposite first and second vertical portions 212 and 213. The pair of arms 221 extend from the other two opposite sides of the planar portion 211. The vertical portions 212 and 213 are embedded in the base 11 and the soldering portion 23 exposes outside the bottom end face 111 of the base 11. The portion 23 has a pair of notches 231 for reliable bonding with the base 11.
Understandably, the metallic shell 3 is made via drawing from sheet metal so as to have the sleeve 31 seamless wherein a bottom edge of the sleeve 31 is embedded within the base 11 except the soldering legs 32. As shown in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201921747784.9 | Oct 2019 | CN | national |
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Number | Date | Country |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20210119367 A1 | Apr 2021 | US |