Patent Application
20100159744
1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to a shielded connector, particularly a D-Sub connector, comprising an electrically insulating base body that serves as a carrier for electric contacts, a metallic shielding element with a peripheral flange and two electrically conductive lateral fastening elements, wherein the base body features a mounting surface, as well as two openings that end in this mounting surface and extend through the base body.
Connectors of this type are mounted on circuit boards and serve for the electrically shielded transmission of electric signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
DE 20 2006 015 908 U1 describes a D-Sub connector with a base element, a shielding element, at least one lateral element and at least one mounting element. The mounting element serves for fastening the connector on a housing and/or for fastening a corresponding connector. The lateral element features at least one fixing element that fixes the mounting element in the mounted state of the connector.
It is furthermore disclosed that the lateral element contains at least one contact spring that is positioned in a contact spring recess in the base body in the mounted state of the lateral element. The lateral element including the contact spring is electrically conductive, wherein the contact spring contacts the shielding element in the mounted state.
It is furthermore disclosed that the lateral element features a soldering pad for being soldered to a circuit board. The shielding element preferably features a tab that engages into a tab recess provided in the base element in the mounted state. During the assembly, the tab is bent in the tab recess such that the shielding element is non-positively connected to the base element.
Connectors of this type consist of a relatively large number of different components and their manufacture requires a complicated assembly.
The invention therefore is based on the objective of disclosing a connector, particularly a D-Sub connector, that consists of the fewest different components possible and can be manufactured in a mechanized and highly cost-efficient fashion, wherein said connector still provides sufficient shielding against interfering electric fields.
This objective is attained in that a recess is respectively arranged in the mounting surface around each of the two openings, wherein this recess features a collar on its inner side, and in that the fastening elements respectively feature a window that is formed by a frame, wherein the frame is designed for being positively fitted into the respective recess.
One significant advantage of the invention can be seen in that an inventive connector can be assembled in a mechanized fashion. Such a connector can be cost-efficiently manufactured because it advantageously consists of only three different components such that the manufacture of the components required for the connector is also simplified.
The connector features a rectangular base body of an insulating material with two lateral surfaces and two end faces. The end faces contain additional to recesses that serve for fitting one respective fastening element in a gapless fashion.
The fastening element is realized in the form of a press-bent part and features a window that is formed by a frame.
In addition, a section of the fastening element is realized in the form of a U-shaped holding device. This holding device serves for fitting the fastening element into the appropriate additional recess in the corresponding end face. On its two ends, the holding device also features two arms that are angled relative to the holding device. These two arms adjoin the side of the base body that lies opposite of the mounting surface.
The holding device may contain an integral base pin for electrically contacting a ground contact of the circuit board.
A shielding element that is required for the shielding of the connector and largely encompasses the base element is provided with a peripheral flange. The longitudinal sides of this flange contain integral tabs.
These tabs are provided for non-positively connecting the shielding element to the fastening element by bending these tabs. However, the tabs also serve for producing an electrically conductive connection between the shielding element and the fastening element in the bent state.
Another advantage of the invention is that the connector has a high stability against tensile, compressive and torsional forces, particularly in the installed state, despite its simple manufacture.
In addition, a precise coplanarity of electric contacts provided on the underside of the base body is produced when the connector is mounted on the circuit board. This is achieved due to the fact that the electric contacts initially are not completely inserted into the base body, wherein the electric contacts are only inserted into the base body by the respectively required distance during the mounting on the circuit board. This is particularly important with respect to soldering the connector on a SMT circuit board. In this technique, the base pin for electrically contacting a ground contact of a circuit board is not used for mechanical reasons.
One preferred exemplary embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the drawings and described in greater detail below. The figures show:
A D-Sub connector comprises a shielding element 1 that is illustrated in
The shielding element 1 illustrated in
The base body 2 illustrated in
The fastening elements 3 are illustrated individually in
A groove 35 is provided on the lower edge of the window 31. This groove 35 defines a bending edge for bending the fastening element 3 such that the frame 32 of the fastening element 3 attached to the base body 2 can be positively fitted into the appropriate recess 23 by means of the aforementioned bending. The fastening element 3 therefore can be fixed on the base body 2 with the aid of the U-shaped holding device 33, namely its frame 32 and the arms 34.
In addition, the fastening elements 3 respectively feature a base pin 36. This base pin 36 is provided for contacting the fastening elements 3 with a ground contact of the circuit board.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 2008 016 738.8 | Dec 2008 | DE | national |
