The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly, to a stretching strap unlock connector that can improve practicability and efficiency.
Connectors are connecting components and accessories for electrical signals, and the electronic devices translate and transmit the signal to each other through cables and connectors. That is to say, the connectors are the communicating bridges for the signals. The connectors are widely applied to cars and computer peripheral and communicating data applications, industries, military and aerospace industry, transportation, consumer electronics, medical treatments, instruments, commercial equipment and so on. Therefore, the connectors play an important role in many fields.
With the rapid development of industries and network information, the signal and data transmitting speed between devices is developing toward high speed. Therefore, high frequency electrical connectors have also been developed to increase transmission speed rates. Optical modules are one of the common high-frequency electrical connectors. Optical modules are optoelectronic devices for electrical-optical conversion. The transmitting end of the optical module converts electrical signals into optical signals, and the receiving end converts the optical signals into electrical signals. Optical modules can be divided into Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP), Gigabit Interface Converter (GBIC), Multimode Optical Transceiver (10 Gigabit Small Form Factor Pluggable, XFP), etc. The SFP optical module is a hot-inserting connector. Since SFP optical module is often plugged and unplugged, SFP optical module usually includes an unlock mechanism to increase convenience.
However, in the current technology, the number of components of the unlocking mechanism of the SFP optical module is large and complicated, thereby increasing the costs. Moreover, with the trend of miniaturization of electronic devices, the space around the connector is limited. Therefore, the user is difficult to touch the unlock components of the connector, thereby reducing the usability and convenience. In addition, the SFP optical module usually has an outer cover disposed on the outer case to protect and limit the unlock components. Although some SFP optical modules include an unlock mechanism designed with a pull-strap, the general SFP optical modules are disposed the outer cover on the outer case by the engagement between the protruding structure at the edge of the outer cover and the groove structure corresponding to the protruding structure at the bottom of the case. If the user pulls the strap with too much pulling force, the outer cover may fall off from the case under the influence of the pulling force, thereby reducing the practicability and efficiency. Furthermore, if the unlock components are lost due to the falling off of the outer cover, the unlock mechanism cannot operate, thereby increasing installation or maintenance times and reducing efficiency.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide a new connector to solve the problems of the prior art.
Therefore, the present invention provides a stretching strap unlock connector to solve the problems with the prior art.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the stretching strap unlock connector includes a socket and a plug configured to connect the socket. The socket includes a socket case and a fixing latch. The fixing latch is configured on the socket case and has a fixing hole. The plug includes a plug case, a strap and an upper cover. The plug case has an upper surface and a sidewall and includes a fixing component, an unlock structure and a fixing groove. The fixing component and the unlock groove are configured on the upper surface, and the fixing groove is configured on the sidewall. The fixing component is configured to buckle the fixing hole of the fixing latch to connect the plug with the socket. The strap is movably configured on the upper surface of the plug case. The strap includes an unlock structure configured in the unlock groove. The upper cover is configured on the plug case and includes an engaged structure. The engaged structure is configured to buckle in the fixing groove. When the strap is pulled along the upper surface, the unlock structure is detached from the unlock groove for lifting the fixing latch of the socket case to detach the fixing component of the plug case from the fixing hole of the fixing latch, and the upper cover is engaged to the plug case through the engaged structure and not move with the strap.
Wherein, the plug case includes a moving groove configured on the upper surface, and the strap includes a protruding structure matching with the moving groove. When the strap is pulled along the upper surface, the protruding structure is configured to contact and move in the moving groove.
Wherein, the plug includes a spring, the plug case includes a blocking structure, and the strap includes a hole. The spring and the blocking structure are configured in the hole, and two ends of the spring contact the blocking structure and an inner wall of the hole respectively. When the strap is pulled along the upper surface, the spring is compressed by the inner wall to generate an elastic recovery force, and the spring pulls the unlock structure back to the unlock groove according to the elastic recovery force.
Furthermore, the upper cover is configured to cover the spring, the blocking structure and the hole.
Wherein, the unlock structure is a bendable elastic component.
Wherein, the strap includes a strap main body, and the unlock structure is hinged on the strap main body.
Wherein, the shapes of the unlock structure and the unlock groove are trapezoidal.
Wherein, the shape of the unlock structure of the upper cover is corresponding to the shape of the unlock groove of the plug case.
Wherein, the plug case has a lower surface corresponding to the upper surface and includes a bottom fixing structure configured on the lower surface, the upper cover is configured to cover the upper cover and the sidewall of the plug case. The upper cover includes a hook structure configured to engage the bottom fixing structure.
Wherein, the engaged structure is buckled in the fixing groove by riveting.
In summary, the stretching strap unlock connector of the present invention can fix the upper cover on the plug case by riveting to ensure that the upper cover will not be detached from the plug case when the user pulls the pull strap to unlock the plug, thereby improving practicability, convenience and efficiency. Moreover, the stretching strap unlock connector of the present invention can fix the upper cover on the plug case by riveting to prevent other components from falling off, thereby reducing costs and improving efficiency. Furthermore, the stretching strap unlock connector of the present invention can include various rebound mechanisms of different unlock structures, to improve efficiency and convenience. In addition, the stretching strap unlock connector of present invention can also ensure that the strap only moves in one direction through the upper cover and the moving groove, thereby reducing costs and improving efficiency.
For the sake of the advantages, spirits and features of the present invention can be understood more easily and clearly, the detailed descriptions and discussions will be made later by way of the embodiments and with reference of the diagrams. It is worth noting that these embodiments are merely representative embodiments of the present invention, wherein the specific methods, devices, conditions, materials and the like are not limited to the embodiments of the present invention or corresponding embodiments. Moreover, the devices in the figures are only used to express their corresponding positions and are not drawing according to their actual proportion.
In the description of the present invention, it is to be understood that the orientations or positional relationships of the terms “longitudinal, lateral, upper, lower, front, rear, left, right, top, bottom, inner, outer” and the like are based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings. It is merely for the convenience of the description of the present invention and the description of the present invention, and is not intended to indicate or imply that the device or component referred to has a specific orientation, is constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as limitations of the invention.
In the description of this specification, the description with reference to the terms “a specific embodiment”, “another specific embodiment” or “parts of specific embodiments” etc. means that the specific feature, structure, material or feature described in conjunction with the embodiment include in at least one embodiment of the present invention. In this specification, the schematic representations of the above-mentioned terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Moreover, the described specific features, structures, materials or characteristics can be combined in any one or more embodiments in a suitable manner.
Please refer from
In practice, one end of the socket case 111 has an opening 1111, and the fixing latch 112 is configured on the socket case 111 close to the opening 1111. Furthermore, the fixing latch 112 is protruded inward from the inside wall of the socket case 111. The fixing component 1213 and the unlock groove 1214 are disposed on one end of the plug case 121, and the circuit board configured for connecting the socket 11 is disposed on the other end of the plug case 121. The fixing component 1213 is extended outward from the upper surface 1211A of the plug case 121, and the unlock groove 1214 is recessed inward from the upper surface 1211A of the plug case 121. The shape of the fixing component 1213 can be corresponding to that of the fixing hole 1121 of the fixing latch 112, and the shapes of the fixing component 1213 and the fixing hole 1121 can be design according to regulations. The strap main body 1221 has a first end 1222A and a second end 1222B, and the unlock structure 1224 is disposed on the first end 1222A of the strap main body 1221. The shape of the unlock structure 1224 can be corresponding to that of the unlock groove 1214 of the plug case 121. When the strap 122 of the plug 12 is assembled on the plug case 121, the strap 122 is disposed on the upper surface 1211A of the plug 121, and the unlock structure 1224 of the strap 122 is disposed in the unlock groove 1214 of the plug case 121. The second end 1222B of the strap 122 is extended from the end of the plug case 121. That is to say, the strap 122 and the plug case 121 are arranged in a straight line. Moreover, the strap 122 can moves along the upper surface 1211A. As shown in
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Moreover, in this embodiment, the upper cover 123 also can cover the aforementioned spring 124, blocking structure 1217 and hole 1227. Therefore, when the plug 12 is connected or detached from the socket 11, the upper cover 123 can limit the movement of the strap 122 and the spring 124 in Z-axis direction to ensure that the strap 122 and the spring 124 only move in one direction and to prevent the spring 124 from falling off, thereby decreasing the costs and improving efficiency.
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In this embodiment, the plug case 121 further includes a limit block 1219 configured on the upper surface 1211A, and the upper cover 123 further includes a limit slot 1239. When the upper cover 123 is disposed on the plug case 121, the limit slot 1239 contacts and resists against the limit block 1219. In practice, when the upper cover 123 moves along X-axis direction to dispose on the plug case 121, the limit block 1219 of the plug case 121 can resist against the limit slot 1239 of the upper cover 123 to prevent the upper cover 123 from moving +X-axis direction continuously. At this time, the engaged structure 1235 of the upper cover 123 is also engaged in the fixing groove 1215 of the plug case 121 to prevent the upper cover 123 from moving −X-axis direction. Furthermore, the hook structure 1238 of the upper cover 123 is also engaged with the bottom fixing structure 1218 of the plug case 121. Therefore, the stretching strap unlock connector of the present invention can securely dispose the upper cover on the plug case through a plurality of engaging and fixing mechanisms, to prevent the strap and other components from falling off, thereby improving practicability and reducing costs.
In addition to the aforementioned embodiments, the rebound mechanism of the unlock structure of the present invention also can be other types. In one embodiment, the unlock structure can be a bendable elastic component. In practice, the unlock structure can be a plastic component. When the plug is detached from the socket, the unlock structure moves along the inside wall of the unlock groove, and the unlock groove lifts the unlock structure up to protrudes from the upper surface, so that the unlock structure lifts the fixing latch to detach the fixing component from the fixing hole. Furthermore, after the plug is detached from the socket, the unlock structure can rebound into the unlock groove according to its own elastic force, thereby improving practicability, convenience and efficiency.
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In addition to the aforementioned embodiments, the fixing manner between the upper cover and the plug case of the plug also can be other types. Please refer to
In summary, the stretching strap unlock connector of the present invention can fix the upper cover on the plug case by riveting to ensure that the upper cover will not be detached from the plug case when the user pulls the pull strap to unlock the plug, thereby improving practicability, convenience and efficiency. Moreover, the stretching strap unlock connector of the present invention can fix the upper cover on the plug case by riveting to prevent other components from falling off, thereby reducing costs and improving efficiency. Furthermore, the stretching strap unlock connector of the present invention can include various rebound mechanisms of different unlock structures, to improve efficiency and convenience. In addition, the stretching strap unlock connector of present invention can also ensure that the strap only moves in one direction through the upper cover and the moving groove, thereby reducing costs and improving efficiency.
With the examples and explanations mentioned above, the features and spirits of the invention are hopefully well described. More importantly, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described herein. Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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110206433 | Jun 2021 | TW | national |