Cable connector assembly with wire management member

1. Field of the Invention

This invention generally relates to a cable connector assembly, and more particularly, to a cable connector assembly with a wire management member for a PCB and wires thereof.

2. Description of the Prior Art

U.S. Pat. No. 6,685,501 B1 discloses a high speed cable connector including a cover, a base and a cable assembly mounted between the cover and the base. The cable assembly includes a cable consisting of a plurality of lines. Each line has a signal pair and a ground conductor. The signal pair includes a pair of upper and lower signal conductors. The ground conductors are soldered to shielding plates. The shielding plates are soldered to top and bottom faces of a rear end of a printed circuit board (PCB). The upper and lower signal conductors of each signal pair are soldered to the top and bottom faces of the rear end of the PCB, respectively, and located between two neighboring shielding plates, whereby cross-talk and interference between two neighboring signal pairs can be effectively suppressed and reduced. The PCB has a front end electrically connecting with contacts for electrically engaging with a complementary connector. However, it is very complicated to solder so many shielding plates onto the PCB.

Hence, an improved cable connector assembly is desired to overcome the above problems.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a cable connector assembly with a wire management member for a PCB.

In order to attain the object above, a cable connector assembly according to the present invention comprises an insulator, a PCB and a wire management member. The insulator comprises a front side, a rear side, a plurality of terminal passages between the front side and the rear side, and a plurality of terminals respectively mounted in the terminal passages, each of the terminals has a tail extended out of the rear side of the insulator. The PCB is located behind the insulator and comprises a plurality of first conductive pads which connect with the corresponding terminals and a plurality of second conductive pads which is soldered to a plurality of wires, the first conductive pads electrically connect with the corresponding second conductive pads. The wire management member is held by the insulator, and defines a plurality of wire management grooves above the PCB and adjacent to the second conductive pads, the wire management grooves receives the corresponding wires for enabling the wires to be respectively soldered to the second conductive pads.

In order to attain the object above, a cable connector assembly according to the present invention comprises an insulator, a PCB and a wire management member. The insulator comprises a front side, a rear side, a plurality of terminal passages between the front side and the rear side, a cavity opening rearwards, and a plurality of terminals respectively mounted in the terminal passages, each of the terminals has a tail extended out of said rear side of the insulator. The PCB is located behind the insulator and comprises a top surface and a bottom surface, the top surface has a plurality of first conductive pads which are soldered to the corresponding terminals, the bottom surface has a plurality of second conductive pads which is soldered to a plurality of wires, the first conductive pads electrically connects with the corresponding second conductive pads. The wire management member comprises a projection and a plurality of wire management grooves extending rearwards from the projection, the projection is received in the cavity to hold the wire management member on the insulator, the wire management grooves are located on the bottom surface of the PCB and adjacent to the second conductive pads, the wire management grooves receives the corresponding wires for enabling the wires to be respectively soldered to the second conductive pads.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

The features of this invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention, together with its objects and the advantages thereof, may be best understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals identify like elements in the figures and in which:

FIG. 1 is an assembled view of a cable assembly according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an assembled view before a casing is assembly onto the cable connector assembly;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 , but viewed from another aspect;

FIG. 4 is an partial view of the cable assembly shown in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 , but viewed from another aspect;

FIG. 6 is an exploded, perspective view of the cable assembly shown in FIG. 1 ; and

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 , but viewed from another aspect.

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Please referring to FIGS. 1 through 7 , a cable connector assembly 100 in accordance with the present invention includes an insulator 2 , a plurality of conductive terminals 3 held in the insulator 2 , a PCB (printed circuit board) 5 lying behind the insulator 2 and electrically communicating with the terminals 3 , a wire management member 4 mounted on the rear end of the insulator 2 and used for managing wires, and a plurality of wires soldered on the PCB 5 to electrically connect the corresponding terminals 3 .

Please refer to FIGS. 1 , 6 and 7 . The insulator 2 includes a base 21 , a tongue portion 22 extending forwards from the base 21 , and a pair of guiding posts 23 at the edges of the tongue portion 22 . A plurality of terminal passages 24 are defined through the base 21 and the tongue portion 22 to accommodate conductive terminals 3 . A plurality of cavities 25 are formed below and contiguous with the corresponding terminal passages 24 . In the tongue portion 22 there are a pair of L-shaped receiving spaces 26 a , 26 b used for receiving a complementary connector. The pair of L-shaped receiving spaces 26 a , 26 b communicates with the corresponding terminal passages 24 and cavities 25 in order to expose the terminals 3 in the receiving spaces 26 a , 26 b.

Please refer to FIGS. 1 , 4 and 6 . Each conductive terminal 3 includes an elastic contact portion 31 in the front thereof, a middle portion 32 extending backwards from the elastic contact portion 31 , a tail 33 at the rear end thereof. The elastic contact portion 31 is wider than the terminal passage 24 in a vertical direction, so only in help of the cavity 25 the terminal 3 is able to extend into the insulator 3 . The middle portion 32 forms two pairs of forks (not labeled) to hold the terminal 3 in the insulator 2 and hold the terminal 3 and the wire management member 4 together. The tail 33 extends beyond the base 21 and is soldered onto the PCB 5 .

Please refer to FIGS. 6 and 7 , a plurality of first conductive pads 51 are formed in the front of the top surface of the PCB 5 and used for electrical connection with the tail 33 of the conductive terminals 3 . A plurality of second conductive pads 52 are formed on the bottom surface of the PCB 5 and used for electrical connection with the corresponding wires. There is a third conductive pad 53 behind the second conductive pads 52 for grounding. A rectangular cave 54 is defined in the front of the PCB 5 and opens forwards.

Please refer to FIGS. 2 through 7 . The wire management member 4 is made of insulative material and includes a baffle board 41 , a wire management board 42 extending backwards from the baffle board 41 and a plurality of projection rods 43 extending forwards from the baffle board 41 . The baffle board 41 is rectangular, and defines front and rear surfaces and a plurality of terminal slots 411 through the front and rear surfaces. The terminal slots 411 communicates with the corresponding terminal passages 24 of the insulator 2 so that the tail 33 of the conductive terminals 3 can extend through the baffle board 41 to connect with the PCB 5 . The through holes 411 and the corresponding conductive terminals 3 cooperate closely to prevent melted plastic or melted solder from extending to the elastic contact portion 31 . One pair of the forks of the terminal 3 engage with the terminal slots 411 to make them together. The projection rods 43 are below the terminal slots 411 , and inserted into the corresponding cavities 25 to hold the wire management member 4 on the insulator 2 . Front portions of the projection rods 43 are narrower to guide the projection rods 43 .

The wire management board 42 is generally in the same surface, and has a rectangular base and defines in the rear portion thereof a plurality of wire management grooves 421 to align and accommodate front ends of the wires. Each wire management groove 421 is rectangular, and runs through the top and bottom surfaces in the vertical direction to communicate with the PCB 2 and outside, and opens back in the front-to-rear direction to insert the wires into the wire management grooves 421 from the rear-to-front direction. The second conductive pads 52 are respective under the corresponding wire management grooves 421 so that conductive cores 64 of the wires which are received in the wire management grooves 421 stand on and electrically connect with the corresponding second conductive pads 52 . The wire management board 42 with wire management grooves 421 can effectively reduce the difficulty of wires array, reduce production time and cost. Moreover, even if the conductive cores 64 received in the wire management grooves 421 may still swing, it can prevent solder bridge by the wire management board 42 .

A protruding tab 44 extends backwards from the baffle board 41 and connects with the upper surface of the wire management board 42 . In assembly, the rectangular cave 54 of the PCB 5 receives the protruding tab 44 to prevent the PCB from mis-engaging.

Please referring to FIGS. 3 and 6 , a pair of U-shaped grooves 27 extend backwards from lateral sides of the base 21 to accommodate the front end of the PCB 5 . A convex rib 271 is formed on the inner surface of each U-shaped groove to interfere with the PCB 5 .

The wires comprise a plurality of power wires (not shown in the Figures) with a large size for power transmission, and a plurality of signal wires 6 with small size for signal transmission. Each power wire is composed of an outer jacket at the outmost thereof, and a conductive core at the innermost thereof. Each signal wire 6 is composed of an outer jacket 61 at the outmost thereof, a grounding layer 62 formed below the outer jacket 61 , a pair of inner insulative layers 63 formed below the grounding layer 62 , and a pair of conductive cores 64 at the innermost thereof. The grounding layer is a metal braid layer. The outer jacket 61 of each signal wire 6 is stripped off at a front end thereof to expose the grounding layer 62 as being a grounding segment of the wire 6 . The grounding segment of each signal wire 40 b is then respectively soldered with the third conductive pad 53 of the PCB 5 . Each signal wire 6 in part is further stripped off to expose the conductive cores 64 as being a signal segment which extends into the wire-receiving passageways 421 for electrically connecting corresponding second conductive pad 52 . Finally, an insulative casing 7 (shown in FIG. 1 ) is formed by molding to cover the insulator 2 , the PCB 5 and the wire management member 4 .

It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous, characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set fourth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosed is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of number, 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.