Electrical connector assembly having simplified receptacle terminals

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an electrical connector assembly, and more particularly to an electrical connector assembly having a plurality of simplified receptacle terminals.

2. Description of the Related Art

In the prior art, spring terminal connector assembly includes plug connector and receptacle connector mating with each other. The plug connector includes a plug housing and a plurality of spring terminals attached to the plug housing, and the receptacle connector includes a receptacle housing and a plurality of receptacle terminals retained in the receptacle housing. The spring terminal is generally processed to a shape corresponding to the spring terminal and assembled into the receptacle housing to math the spring terminal of the plug connector. However, the design of the connector assembly should spend high cost and have low productivity.

Therefore, an improved electrical connector assembly is highly desired to meet overcome the requirement.

An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector assembly having a plurality of simplified receptacle terminals easily to be assembled.

In order to achieve above-mentioned object, an electrical connector assembly includes an receptacle connector, the receptacle connector includes a first insulative housing defining a mating surface and a first side surface extending along a first direction. A plurality of first terminals are retained in the first insulative housing and each defines a contacting plate fixed to the first insulative housing and a welding portion extending outside of the first insulative housing. The first insulative housing defines a plurality of mating holes running through the mating surface, a part of the contacting plate is exposed in the mating hole to form a contacting portion.

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 a perspective view of an electrical connector assembly in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the electrical connector assembly shown in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 is another exploded perspective view of the electrical connector assembly shown in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 4 is a front view of a receptacle connector of the electrical connector assembly shown in FIG. 1 ; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-section view of the electrical connector assembly taken along line 5 - 5 of FIG. 1 .

Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe a preferred embodiment of the present invention in detail. Referring to FIG. 1 , an electrical connector assembly 100 in accordance with the present invention includes a receptacle connector 1 and a plug connector 2 mating with each other.

Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 , the receptacle connector 1 includes a first insulative housing 10 extending along a longitudinal direction and a plurality of first terminals 30 inserted in the first insulative housing 10 and arranged along the longitudinal direction, wherein the longitudinal direction is defined as a first direction and a transverse direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction is defined as a second direction. The first insulative housing 10 defines a mating surface 11 , a first side surface 13 located on a lateral side of the mating surface 11 and a plurality of circular mating holes 110 running through the mating surface 11 . The mating hole 110 defines a horn-shaped guiding edge 111 adjacent to the mating surface 11 and used for guiding the plug connector 2 inserted thereto. Each first terminal defines a contacting plate 31 fixed in the first insulative housing 10 , a welding portion 32 extending outside of the first insulative housing 10 and a connecting portion 33 connecting the contacting plate 31 and the welding portion 32 . The contacting plate 31 is disposed in the first insulative housing 10 with a part exposed in the mating hole 110 to be defined as a contacting portion, the connecting portion 33 and the welding portion 32 extend along the second direction.

Referring to FIG. 4 to FIG. 5 , the first insulative housing 10 defines a plurality of terminal slots 130 running through the first side surface 13 and a pair of protecting ribs 14 located on opposite sides of the first side surface 13 and extending along the second direction. The plurality of terminal slots 130 are arranged along the first direction and flush with each other, the width of the terminal slot 130 is greater than the diameter of the mating hole 110 in the first direction. The plurality of contacting plates 31 are inserted in corresponding terminal slots 130 and each contacting plate 31 defines a pair of guiding edges 311 and at least a pair of barbs 312 located on both sides of the contacting plate 31 in the second direction, the guiding edge 311 is used for guiding the contacting plate 31 to be inserted into the terminal slot 130 and the barb 312 makes it easy to fix the contacting 31 to the terminal slot 130 . The contacting plate 31 is lower than the mating surface 110 in a third direction perpendicular to both the first direction and the second direction which means that the contacting surface of the contacting plate 31 close in the bottom of the mating holes 110 . The pair of protecting ribs 14 locate on both sides of the welding portions 32 of the first terminals to prevent the welding portions of the first terminals from being damaged by improper operation.

Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 , the plug connector 2 includes a second insulative housing 20 extending along the first direction and a plurality of second terminals 40 attached to the second insulative housing 20 , the second insulative housing 20 defines an abutting surface 21 and a mounting surface opposite to each other. The second terminals 40 are elastic terminals and extend outside of the abutting surface 21 of the second insulative housing 20 , each second terminal 40 defines a tubular main portion 41 , a contacting portion 42 elasticity moving back-and-forth relative to the main portion 41 in the third direction and a soldering portion 43 located on the end of the main portion 41 . The contacting portion 42 of the second terminal projects outside of the mating surface 21 of the second insulative housing 20 and the soldering portion 43 extends outside of the mounting surface 22 of the second insulative housing 20 .

when the plug connector 2 mates with the receptacle connector 1 , the second terminals 40 of the plug connector 2 are guided into the mating holes 110 of the receptacle connector 1 via the guiding edges 111 of the mating holes 110 so as to elastically and electrically connect the contacting portions of the first terminals 30 of the receptacle connector 1 . It makes the connector assembly achieving electrically conduction while reduces the production and processing steps of the connector, thereby improving the productivity of the connector and reducing the manufacturing cost of the connector.

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 board general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.