Patent Application
20210083440
The present invention is directed to a connector assembly which has an over-molded housing and a method of manufacturing the assembly. In particular, the invention is directed to a coaxial connector assembly which has a one piece over-molded housing with a dielectric and nose cone and a method of manufacturing the coaxial connector assembly.
Coaxial connectors have been used to electrically connect various signal transmission devices. A typical coaxial connector socket includes a generally cylindrical external ground contact surrounding an inner signal contact pin. The ground contact and the signal contact are held together by a dielectric housing. An open end of the cylindrical ground contact defines a receptacle or socket for receiving a mating coaxial plug connector. Terminal leads are provided at a rear or terminating end of the coaxial connector socket, with the terminal leads extending outwardly for connection to a connecting device such as a printed circuit board.
A problem with known coaxial connectors is that they are disproportionately expensive to manufacture and assemble. It would, therefore, be beneficial to provide a connector assembly, and in particular, a coaxial connector assembly which reduces the cost of manufacture and assembly, while providing for a proper electrical connection.
An embodiment is directed to a coaxial connector assembly having an outer ground contact and a one piece over-molded housing. The outer ground contact has an outer contact socket portion and an outer contact termination portion. The outer contact termination portion has openings which extend through a wall of the outer contact termination portion. The one piece over-molded housing has a nose cone portion, an inner dielectric portion and transition portions which extend between the nose cone portion and the inner dielectric portion. The nose cone portion is positioned outside of the outer contact termination portion. The inner dielectric portion positioned inside of the outer contact termination portion. The transition portions extend from the nose cone portion, through the openings, to the inner dielectric portion. The positioning of the transition portions in the openings securely mounts the outer grounding contact to the housing.
An embodiment is directed to a method of assembling a coaxial connector. The method including: forming an outer contact of the coaxial connector on a carrier strip, the outer contact having openings extending through a wall of the outer contact; and over-molding a housing onto the outer contact while the outer contact is on the carrier strip, the material of the housing flowing through the openings of the outer contact to securely mount the outer contact to the housing.
An embodiment is directed to a method of assembling a connector. The method including: forming a contact of the connector on a carrier strip, the contact having openings extending through a wall of the contact; and over-molding a housing onto the contact while the contact is on the carrier strip, the material of the housing flowing through the openings of the contact to securely mount the contact to the housing.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following more detailed description of the preferred embodiment, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.
The description of illustrative embodiments according to principles of the present invention is intended to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings, which are to be considered part of the entire written description. In the description of embodiments of the invention disclosed herein, any reference to direction or orientation is merely intended for convenience of description and is not intended in any way to limit the scope of the present invention. Relative terms such as “lower,” “upper,” “horizontal,” “vertical,” “above,” “below,” “up,” “down,” “top” and “bottom” as well as derivative thereof (e.g., “horizontally,” “downwardly,” “upwardly,” etc.) should be construed to refer to the orientation as then described or as shown in the drawing under discussion. These relative terms are for convenience of description only and do not require that the apparatus be constructed or operated in a particular orientation unless explicitly indicated as such. Terms such as “attached,” “affixed,” “connected,” “coupled,” “interconnected,” and similar refer to a relationship wherein structures are secured or attached to one another either directly or indirectly through intervening structures, as well as both movable or rigid attachments or relationships, unless expressly described otherwise.
Moreover, the features and benefits of the invention are illustrated by reference to the preferred embodiments. Accordingly, the invention expressly should not be limited to such embodiments illustrating some possible non-limiting combination of features that may exist alone or in other combinations of features, the scope of the invention being defined by the claims appended hereto.
As shown in
The outer contact 12 is a ground contact. As shown in
In the illustrative embodiment shown, four ground contacts 24 are provided which are configured to make electrical engagement with grounding areas of a substrate (not shown). In the illustrative embodiment shown, the ground contacts 24 are configured to be inserted into through holes of the substrate, however, the ground contacts may also be configured to be surface mounted on the substrate. Alternate numbers of ground contacts 24 may be provided.
As shown in
The center contact 14 is a signal contact. Referring to
The mating portion 40 extends into the socket portion 20 of the outer contact 12 for mating with the a complementary coaxial connector plug (not shown). The termination portion 44 extends from the mounting portion 42 in a direction away from the mating portion 40. The termination portion 44 is configured to make electrical engagement with signal traces or areas of a substrate (not shown). In the illustrative embodiment shown, the termination portion 44 is configured to be inserted into a through hole of the substrate, however, the termination portion 44 may also be configured to be surface mounted on the substrate.
Projections or barbs 46 are provided on the mounting portion 42. In one embodiment, a barb 46 has a ramp portion 47 and a surface portion 49. The surface portion 49 is perpendicular or approximately perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the center contact 14. The ramp portion 47 and the surface portion 49 meet a point 51. The barbs 46 are configured to engage the housing 16 to secure and retain the center contact 14 in position relative to the housing 16 and relative to the outer contact 12, as will be more fully described.
As shown in
Keying ribs 66 may optionally be provided on the cylindrical socket portion 60 of the housing 16 to properly align the complementary coaxial connector plug with the coaxial connector assembly 10. A locking nose or projection 68 may also optionally be provided to cooperate with the complementary coaxial connector plug to secure the complementary coaxial connector plug to the coaxial connector assembly 10.
As shown in
The nose cone portion 60 is positioned outside of the termination portion 22 of the outer contact 12. The dielectric inner portion 61 is positioned inside of the termination portion 22 of the outer contact 12. The dielectric inner portion 61 has a center contact receiving opening 78 which extends through the dielectric inner portion 61 along a longitudinal axis of the dielectric inner portion 61 and a longitudinal axis of the coaxial connector assembly 10. The transition portions 76 extend from the nose cone portion 60 through the openings 26 and to the dielectric inner portion 61.
As shown in
With the outer contact 12 properly formed and retained on the carrier strip 80, the housing 16 is over-molded onto the outer contacts 12 and is formed into the configuration described above, with the nose cone portion 60 and the dielectric inner portion 61. As the housing 16 is over-molded over the outer contact 12, the material of the housing 16 flows through the openings 26 and hardens or cures when properly positioned. In so doing, the outer contact 12 is securely fixed in the housing 16.
During the over-molding, molten material of the housing 16 flows through the openings 26 in the outer contacts 12, as represented by the arrows A in
Consequently, the present invention eliminates the need to develop and manufacture intricate assembly features, such as, but not limited to, latches, to join the housing 16 to the outer contact 12. In addition, as the housing 16 and outer contact 12 are integrally joined by over-molding, the risk of the housing 16 and/or outer contact 12 cracking, disassembling, or becoming loose during use are significantly reduced as compared to known coaxial connectors, thereby significantly reducing failures of the coaxial connectors 10. The need for tolerance control is also reduced by the present invention. As known coaxial connectors require more individual components to be assembled, each component must be precisely manufactured within specified tolerances to ensure proper assembly. In contrast, as the present invention is over-molded, cumulative tolerance concerns are eliminated.
With the housing 16 properly over-molded onto the outer contact 12, and the assembled housing 16 and outer contact 12 retained on the carrier strip 80, the center contact 14 is inserted through a rear surface 84 of the housing 16 into the center contact receiving opening 78, as shown in
In an alternative embodiment, the center contact 14 may be positioned in the outer contact 12 and retained in position relative thereto prior to the housing 16 being over-molded. In this embodiment, the housing 16 is over-molded around the outer contact 12 as described above and the dielectric inner portion 61 of the housing 16 is over-molded over the center contact 14 to retain the center contact 14 in the dielectric inner portion 61 of the housing 16 and in the outer contact 12.
With the outer contact 12, center contact 14 and housing 16 properly assembled, the coaxial connector 10 is removed from the carrier strip 80 and the retention strip 82 is removed from the coaxial connector 10.
Although the connector assembly and method are described with respect to the illustrative coaxial connector assembly, the method of over-molding the housing on the contact while the contact is attached to the carrier strip as described above can be used with other types of contacts and other types of connector assemblies.
While the invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the accompanying claims. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be used with many modifications of structure, arrangement, proportions, sizes, materials and components and otherwise used in the practice of the invention, which are particularly adapted to specific environments and operative requirements without departing from the principles of the present invention. The presently disclosed embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being defined by the appended claims, and not limited to the foregoing description or embodiments.
