Patent Application
20100226612
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a receptacle and a plug for an optical connector assembly, more particularly to an optical connector assembly with simple structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
In information technology, Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a serial bus standard to interface devices. USB can connect computer peripherals such as computer mouse, keyboards, PDAs, gamepads and joysticks, scanners, digital cameras, printers, personal media players, and flash drives. For many of those devices, USB has become the standard connection method and is used widely.
The design of USB is standardized by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), an industry standards body incorporating leading companies from the computer and electronics industries. As of 2006, the USB specification was at version 2.0. While the current USB 2.0 version has a top data-transfer rate of 480 megabits per second which does not efficiently meet requirement of data transmission speed for optical drives such as DVD, Blue-ray and HD DVD. As of 2008, the USB 3.0 specification was released and was standardized by the USB-IF at the end of 2008. The USB 3.0 specification is available from website: http://www.usb.org/home. The USB 3.0 version adds two pairs of differential signal contacts and a power contact than USB 2.0 version for increasing transmission speed thereof.
However, the USB 3.0 version has a complex structure by adding the two pairs of the differential signal contacts to USB 2.0 version, USB 3.0 connector would be produced difficultly.
According to one aspect of the present invention, an optical receptacle comprises: an insulative housing having a body portion, a tongue portion extending forwardly from the body portion, a pair of passageways extending through the tongue portion and the body portion, and a receiving cavity below the passageways, the body portion defining a front face, a rear face opposite to the front face, an upper face and a lower face opposite to the upper face; a pair of power contacts received in the passageways respectively, each power contacts defining a contacting portion extending to the tongue portion, a soldering portion and a retaining portion connecting with the contacting portion and the soldering portion; an optical fiber component retained in the receiving cavity and being exposed to exterior through the front face.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an optical plug for connecting an optical receptacle comprises: an insulative housing having a body portion, a tongue plate extending forwardly from the body portion, the tongue plate defining a pair of passageways and a receiving space extending therethrough; a pair of power terminals retained in the passageways, each power terminal having a contacting portion extending to the tongue plate; and an optical fiber component retained in the receiving space.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Reference will be made to the drawing figures to describe the present invention in detail, wherein depicted elements are not necessarily shown to scale and wherein like or similar elements are designated by same or similar reference numeral through the several views and same or similar terminology.
Referring to
The insulative housing 1 has a body portion 11 and a tongue portion 12 extending forwardly from the body portion 11. The body portion 11 has a front face 110, a rear face 111 opposite to the front face 110, an upper face 112 and a lower face 113 opposite to the upper face 112. The tongue portion 12 is thinner than the body portion 11 and has an upper surface 121 and a lower surface 122 opposite to the upper surface 121. A geometric profile of the tongue portion 12 is substantially same as that of a standard USB 2.0 A type receptacle (not shown) for allowing the use of existing molds of USB 2.0 receptacle in high volume production. The tongue portion 12 defines a pair of passageways 123 extending through the body portion 11 for positioning the power contacts 2. The passageways 123 are recessed from two sides of the lower surface 122 and extend along a front-to-back direction. The body portion 11 defines a receiving cavity 114 extending inwardly from the front face 110 and extending through the body portion 11, a receiving space 115 extending inwardly from the rear face 111, and a middle room 116 communicating with the receiving cavity 114 and the receiving space 115. The body portion 11 has a stop surface 117 at a front end of the middle room 116.
The receiving cavity 114 is smaller than the middle room 116 in a height direction and a width direction of the insulative housing 1, and the middle room 16 is smaller than the receiving space 115 in the width direction. The receiving cavity 114 is located between the passageways 123, and spaced apart from the passageways 123 in the height direction and the width direction, such that the two passageways 123 and the receiving cavity 114 are arranged at vertices of an imaginary triangle. The body portion 11 defines a retaining slot 118 below the receiving cavity 114 for fixing the metal shell 4. The retaining slot 118 extends along the width direction.
The power contacts 2 are made of copper and are received in the passageways 123 respectively. Each power contacts 2 has a contacting portion 21, a soldering portion 23 and a retaining portion 22 connecting with the contacting portion 21 and the soldering portion 23. The contacting portion 21 extends to the tongue portion 12 and out of the lower surface 122. The soldering portion 23 extends downwardly from the retaining portion 22 and extends beyond the insulative housing 1.
The optical fiber component 3 comprises a lens 30 and a pair of optical fibers 33 retained therein in the embodiment of present invention, wherein the optical fibers 33 are made of glasses. However, in other embodiment, the optical fiber component can just comprises a pair of optical fibers which are made of plastic, and without lens. The lens 30 in the present invention can be made of glass or transparent plastic, and has a base portion 31 and a mating portion 32 extending forwardly from the base portion 31. The mating portion 32 is received in the receiving cavity 114 and exposed to exterior through the front face 10. A front side surface of the mating portion 32 is coplanar with the front face 110 of the body portion 11. The base portion 31 is received in the middle room 116 and abuts against the stop surface 117 for preventing the base portion 31 from moving forwardly. The lens 30 defines a pair of channels 321 extending inwardly from a rear end thereof. The channel 321 does not extend through a front end of the mating portion 32 and forms a convex or concave mirror 34 at a front end thereof. The optical fibers 33 are received in the channels 321 respectively and extend outside the rear face 111.
The optical fibers 33 mate with the lens 34 and extend rearward of the lens 34. The optical fibers 33 are aligned with the mirrors 34 respectively along the front-to-back direction. The optical receptacle 100 defines an offset manner between the mating portion 32 and the tongue portion 12 in the front-to-back direction and the height direction. The optical fibers 33 are located between two power contacts 2 and spaced apart from the power contacts 2 in the height direction and the width direction.
The metal shell 4 comprises a pair of opposed top wall 41 and lower wall 42, a pair of opposed side walls 43 and a rear wall 44 bending downwardly from the top wall 41. A rear side of the lower wall 42 is positioned at the retaining slot 118. The top wall 41 and side walls 43 cover the upper face 112 and side faces of the insulative housing 1 respectively. The optical receptacle 100 defines a room between the metal shell 4 and the tongue portion 12 for receiving the optical plug 600. A geometric profile of the room is substantially same as that of the standard USB 2.0 A type receptacle. The room comprises an upper room 51 between the upper surface 121 of the tongue portion 12 and the top wall 41, and a lower room 52 between the lower surface 122 of the tongue portion 12 and the lower wall 42. The upper room 51 is smaller than the lower room 52. The contacting portions 21 of the power contacts 2 and the front end of the mating portion 32 are exposed to the lower room 52. The top wall 41 and lower wall 42 each has a pair of spring arms 45 extending into the upper room 51 and lower room 52 respectively. Each side wall 43 has a pair of mounting legs 46 extending downwardly for positioning the optical receptacle 100 on a circuit board (not shown).
Referring to
The insulative housing 6 has a body portion 61 and a tongue plate 62 extending forwardly from the body portion 61. The tongue plate 62 defines a pair of passageways 621 and a receiving space 622 extending therethrough. The passageways 621 are recessed from an upper surface of the tongue plate 62 and extend through the body portion 61. The receiving space 622 extends through the tongue plate 62 in a height direction of the insulative housing 6, and extends through the insulative housing 6 in a front-to-back direction of the insulative housing 6. The receiving space 622 is located at a middle portion of the tongue plate 62 and divides the tongue plate 62 to a left portion 623 and a right portion 624. The passageways 621 are arranged on the left and right portion 623, 624 respectively.
The power terminals 7 are retained in the passageways 621 respectively. Each power terminal 7 has a contacting portion 71 extending to the tongue plate 62, a retaining portion 72 engaging with the passageway 621, and a tail portion 73 extending into the cable end 90. The contacting portions 71 of two power terminals 7 extend to the left and right portions 623, 624 respectively.
The optical fiber component 8 comprises a lens 81 received in the receiving space 622 and a pair of optical fibers 82 mounted thereon in the embodiment of present invention, wherein the optical fibers 82 are made of glasses. However, in other embodiment, the optical fiber component can just comprises a pair of optical fibers which are made of plastic, and without lens. The lens 81 in the present invention can be made of glass or transparent plastic. The lens 81 defines a pair of channels 84 extending inwardly from a rear end thereof. The channel 84 does not extend through a front end of the lens 81 and forms a convex or concave mirror 83 at a front end thereof. The optical fibers 82 mate with the lens 81 and extend rearward of the lens 81. The optical fibers 82 are aligned with the mirrors 83 respectively along a front-to-rear direction. The optical fibers 82 are partially located between the contacting portions 71 and spaced apart from the contacting portions 71 in the height direction.
The lens 81 has a front portion 811 sandwiched by the left and right portions 623, 624 and a rear portion 812 retained in the body portion 61. A front side surface of the front portion 811 and the front end of the tongue plate 62 are substantially located at a common plane, and an upper surface of the tongue plate 62 and a top face of the front portion 811 are arranged in a common plane too. A geometric profile of an assembly of the tongue plate 62 and the front portion 811 is substantially same as that of a standard USB 2.0 A type plug (not shown) for allowing the use of existing molds of USB 2.0 plug in high volume production. The tongue plate 61 and the front portion 811 are received in the lower room 52 when the optical plug 600 is inserted into the optical receptacle 100.
The plug metal shell 9 surrounds the tongue plate 62 and forms a receiving room 91 between the plug metal shell 9 and the assembly of the tongue plate 62 and the front portion 811. A geometric profile of the receiving room 91 is substantially same as that of the standard USB 2.0 A type plug. The plug metal shell 9 has a pair of opposed upper wall 92 and lower wall 93. The upper wall 92 and lower wall 93 each defines a pair of openings 94 for locking with the spring arms 45 of the optical receptacle 100.
Referring to
One feature of the invention is to have the electrical transmission lines and the optical transmission lines offset from each other not only in a vertical direction perpendicular to the mating/un-mating direction but also the transverse direction perpendicular to both said vertical direction and said mating/un-mating direction. This offset arrangement may allow completeness/strength of each housing unit 1 or 30 of the connector 100 for holding the corresponding power contacts 2 or the optical fiber components 33, or the housing unit 6, 81 of the connector 600 for holding the corresponding power contacts 7 or the optical fiber component 82.
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 broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed. For example, the tongue portion is extended in its length or is arranged on a reverse side thereof opposite to the supporting side with other contacts but still holding the contacts with an arrangement indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
