Electrical connector with power contacts designed to handle instantaneous inrush current

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector with power contacts designed to handle instantaneous inrush current.

2. Description of Related Art

Serial ATA connectors in accordance with Serial ATA specification are widely used in desktops currently for transmitting signals from motherboard to HDD or transmitting power from power supply of the computer to the HDD, or transmitting signals or power between outer HDD to the computer. When the Serial ATA connectors used in external applications, current designs usually are single connector comprising signal and grounding contacts for signal transmission or single connector comprising power contacts for voltage power transmission. However, in some applications, the connector transmitting signals needs to be combined with power transmission. Thus, an additional power connector is no longer needed. The actual status is that there is no such a connector complying with such demands.

Related connectors including power contacts can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,255,607 issued on Dec. 6, 2007, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/893,074 (which has been allowed by Examiner, but not yet issued), and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/998,771 (which is currently pending before USPTO), all of which are assigned to the same assignee as the current application. These power contacts have no ability to handle the instantaneous inrush or surge current through the power contacts.

An electrical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises an insulative housing including a mating tongue exposed in a mating port, and three type contacts. The mating tongue has a front face thereof. The three type contacts include two power contacts being on two opposite side regions of the mating tongue, three signal ground contacts located between the two power contacts, two pairs of signal contacts each located between the corresponding two adjacent signal ground contacts. One of the two power contacts extends much closer to the front face of the mating tongue than the other of the two power contacts. The arrangement of two different-lengths has the ability to handle the instantaneous inrush current through the former power contact, i.e. the pre-charge power pin.

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.

FIG. 1 is an exploded, perspective view of an electrical connector assembly in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an assembled, perspective view of the electrical connector assembly of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing two sets of contacts being at an initial mating position, the two sets of contacts respectively belonging to two mated electrical connectors of the electrical connector assembly of FIG. 1 ; and

FIG. 4 is a side view of the two sets of contacts of FIG. 3 .

Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe the present invention in detail.

Referring to FIGS. 1-2 in conjunction with FIGS. 3-4 , an electrical connector assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes a first connector 1 having an insulative body and a plurality of terminals 11 assembled onto the insulative body, and a second connector 2 for mating with the first connector 1 . An insulative housing of the second connector 2 is designed to have two side guiding grooves 21 on opposite side walls thereof to engage two corresponding ribs 12 formed on the first connector 1 to guide insertion of the first connector 1 to achieve the mating function. In addition, the second connector 2 is mounted on a printed circuit board 3 , which is provided with another four holes 30 for additional contacts, including two power contacts together with two power ground contacts, as described below.

The second connector 2 , named as an e-SATA connector, includes the insulative housing having a mating tongue 20 exposed in a mating portion 23 defined by a shell 230 of the second connector 2 . The shell 230 of the second e-SATA connector 2 is the same to that of a current SATA connector. The mating tongue 20 defines a front face 200 thereof. In this embodiment as shown in FIGS. 3-4 , there are three type contacts commonly disposed on a same face of the mating tongue 20 , including two pairs of signal contacts 205 , three signal ground contacts 206 and two power contacts 201 and 203 . This configuration changes no much of the structure of the current SATA connector but may alter dimension of a tongue of the current SATA connector. Two power contacts 201 and 203 are located on two opposite side regions of the mating tongue 20 . The three signal ground contacts 206 , for pairs of signal contacts 205 to ground, are located between the two power contacts 201 and 203 , and the two pairs of signal contacts 205 each is located between the corresponding two adjacent signal ground contacts 206 , with the two power contacts 201 and 203 being widest among the three type contacts. The three type contacts are symmetrically arranged with one another with regard to a middle signal ground contact 206 . It should be noted that the front power contact 201 , normally named as a pre-charge power pin, is longer than the rear power contact 203 , normally as +12V power pin. In other words, the front power contact 201 extends much closer to the front face 200 of the mating tongue 20 or a mating face of the second connector than the rear power contact 203 . Referring particularly to FIG. 3 , the two different-lengths power contacts 201 and 203 are arranged such that the first connector 1 and the second connector 2 mate at an initial position where the front power contact 201 is first electrically engaged by a corresponding terminal of the first connector 1 while the rear power contact 203 is not electrically engaged at that mating position. At that position, the signal ground contacts 206 and the power ground contacts 207 are also electrically engaged to effect the ground function. The first electrical engagement of the front power contact has the ability to handle the instantaneous inrush current through the front power contact 201 , i.e. the pre-charge power pin.

Referring particularly to FIG. 4 , the second connector 2 further includes two power ground contacts 207 , associated with the two power contacts 201 and 203 and for the power contacts 201 and 203 to ground, located at another plane different from that of the power contacts 201 and 203 , the signal contacts 205 and the signal ground contacts 206 , which are commonly disposed on the same face of the mating tongue 20 . In this embodiment, the two power ground contacts 207 are located below the face of the mating tongue 20 . Two groups of ground contacts, including the signal ground contacts 206 associated with the signal contacts 205 and the power ground contacts 207 associated with the power contacts 201 and 203 , are set to take on the respective currents on the signal contacts 205 and the power contacts 201 , 203 , which may avoid the current interference from the signal contacts 205 and the power contacts if one type of ground contacts, commonly belonging to the power contacts and the signal contacts, was applied.

While the two power contacts 201 and 203 being set on a same plane with the signal contacts 205 and the signal ground contacts 206 are preferred in this embodiment, the power contacts 201 and 203 can be also adopted to be set on another plane different from the signal contacts 205 and the signal ground contacts 206 .

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.