Electrical connector having separate grounding pieces

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an electrical connector having an adequately configured grounding piece with respect to contacts thereof.

2. Description of Related Arts

China Patent No. 203859324, issued on Oct. 1, 2014, discloses an electrical connector having an insulative housing, an upper and lower rows of contacts in the insulative housing, a center grounding piece between the upper and lower rows of contacts, and an outer metallic shell. The grounding piece has a main body, a pair of side tabs bent from the main body, and a rear portion for engaging and therefore grounding to the outer shell. In the case that the tongue portion of the housing to which the contacts and the grounding piece are mounted is relatively thin and the desired high current is to be conducted by the contacts for quick charging, there is concern that the main body of the grounding piece might be situated too close to the contacts with a potential risk of shorting.

An electrical connector comprises an insulative housing having a base and a tongue; an upper and lower rows of contacts mounted in the insulative housing and exposed to the tongue; a shielding shell enclosing the insulative housing; and a pair of grounding pieces separated from each other and mounted in the insulative housing between the upper and lower rows of contacts, each grounding piece having a leg in contact with the shielding shell. The pair of grounding pieces are separated from each other so that the contacts other than grounding contacts are stayed away from the grounding pieces while the insulative housing is strong enough by the presence of the two separated grounding pieces. The thickness of the contact can be set within a range between 0.16 mm and 0.22 mm to deliver the high current for quick charging, compared with the traditional contact having a thickness of 0.15 mm approximately. In the invention, the traditional metallic shielding plate between two rows of contacts is intentionally eliminated while only leaving a pair of spaced grounding pieces on two opposite lateral side regions, thus assuring the thickened contacts will not be shorted with any metallic shielding/grounding part in the vertical direction.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electrical connector in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is another perspective view of the electrical connector of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the electrical connector of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the electrical connector of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 5 is a further exploded view of FIG. 4 ;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 but from a different perspective;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector of FIG. 1 taken along line 7 - 7 ;

FIG. 8(A) is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector of FIG. 3 taken along line 8 A- 8 A;

FIG. 8(B) is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector of FIG. 3 taken along line 8 B- 8 B;

FIG. 9 is a view showing relationship between an upper and lower rows of contacts and a pair of separated grounding pieces;

FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIG. 9 but from a different perspective;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a pair of separated grounding pieces according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view of the initial terminal module of the electrical connector of the first embodiment of FIG. 1 ; and

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector of FIG. 1 along line 13 - 13 to show no traditional shielding plate located between the upper row of contacts and the lower row of contacts wherein the thickness of the contacts is increased compared with that of the traditional contact.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 13 , an electrical connector defines at a front thereof an insertion space 500 for receiving a mating connector.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 13 , the electrical connector comprises an insulative housing 10 having a base 13 and a tongue (not labeled), a plurality of contacts 2 including an upper row of contacts 21 and a lower rows of contacts 22 mounted in the insulative housing 10 , a metallic element including a pair of grounding pieces 3 separated from each other and mounted in the insulative housing 10 between the upper/first and lower/second rows of contacts 21 and 22 , and an outer shielding shell 5 enclosing the insulative housing 10 . The electrical connector further comprises an upper and lower inner shells 41 and 42 and a sealing element 6 applied to a rear of the insulative housing 10 .

The insulative housing 10 is constructed of a first insert-molding 11 and a second insert-molding 16 wherein the first insert-molding 11 with the contacts 2 is regarded as the initial terminal module while the housing 10 with the contacts 2 is regarded as the complete terminal module.

The first insert-molding 11 is constructed of the base 13 and a first tongue portion 12 . The first tongue portion 12 has a front part 121 , a rear part 122 , and a plurality of holes through the front and rear parts 121 and 122 . The front part 121 has a pair of grooves 1212 at two opposite sides thereof and a pair of protrusions 1211 in front of the grooves 1212 . The base 13 includes a front wall 131 , a rear wall 132 , a front step 14 , a rear extension 15 , and a groove 151 generally between the wall 132 and the extension 15 where the sealing element 6 is formed. The rear part 122 is connected with the front step 14 . The second insert-molding 16 constitutes a second tongue portion 17 and has a front part 171 and a rear part 172 .

The first and second tongue portions 12 and 17 together form the tongue of the insulative housing 10 .

Each row of the upper/first and lower/second rows of contacts 21 and 22 include a pair of grounding contacts 23 , a pair of power contacts 24 , a pair of signal contacts 25 , and one detect contact 26 . The grounding contacts 23 of either the upper row of contacts 21 or the lower row of contacts 22 are arranged at two outermost positions, i.e., the opposite lateral sides of the housing 10 or the tongue, and respective power contacts 24 , signal contacts 25 , and detect contact 26 are arranged between associated pair of grounding contacts 23 . The contact 21 or 22 has a thickness of about 0.2 mm. Each contact 21 or 22 has a contact portion 27 , a securing portion 28 , and a tail portion 29 . The contact portion 27 has an embedded end 271 .

The pair of grounding pieces 3 are separated from each other and each has a securing portion 31 and a leg 33 extending rearwardly. The securing portion 31 has an abutment 312 extending sidewardly outward for latchable engagement with a deflectable latch of a plug connector mateable with the subject electrical connector.

The upper and lower inner shells 41 and 42 are conductive for grounding purpose and each shell includes a first main part 43 , a second main part 44 , a connection 45 , and a pair of securing parts 46 . The first and second main parts 43 and 44 are parallel to each other. The pair of securing parts 46 of the upper inner shell 41 are interlocked to the pair of securing parts 46 of the lower inner shell 42 .

The outer shielding shell 5 is also conductive and has a pair of grounding posts 54 . The outer shielding shell 5 is generally tubular and has an interior surface 51 , together the tongue of the insulative housing 10 , to form an insertion space 500 . The outer shielding shell 5 further has four lugs 52 on the interior surface 51 and a pair of stops 53 .

The upper and lower rows of contacts 21 and 22 and the grounding pieces 3 are insert molded with the insulative housing 10 in a generally known manner to expose the contact portions 27 to the tongue.

Each of the pair of grounding pieces 3 is aligned between a corresponding grounding contact 23 of the upper row of contacts 21 and a corresponding grounding contact 23 of the lower row of contacts 22 so that the grounding pieces are positioned away from the other contacts. The securing portion 31 of the grounding piece 3 is secured in the first tongue portion 12 and the base 13 while the leg 33 of the grounding piece 3 extends out of the rear wall 132 of the base 13 . The abutment 312 is exposed out of the protrusion 1211 and in the groove 1212 so that in use a grounding function can be achieved while the protrusion 1211 and the groove 1212 will not be damaged by an inserted mating connector.

The first main parts 43 of the upper and lower inner shells 41 and 42 enclose the rear part 122 of the first tongue portion 12 while the second main parts 44 of the upper and lower inner shells 41 and 42 enclose the base 13 .

The insulative housing 10 together with insert molded contacts 21 and 22 and grounding pieces 3 is mounted to the outer shielding shell 5 until the lugs 52 are abutted by the front wall 131 of the base 13 . It is noted that a front surface of the lug 52 is located forwardly of the front step 14 of the base 13 so that an over-inserted mating connector will push, if any, the lugs 52 instead of the front step 14 of the base 13 , thus preventing any potential damage to the insulative housing 10 . Moreover, the second main parts 44 of the upper and lower inner shells 41 and 42 are welded, and therefore grounded, to the interior surface 51 of the outer shielding shell 5 . The leg 33 of the grounding piece 3 extends out of the rear wall 132 of the base 13 through the sealing element 6 formed in the groove 151 within the outer shielding shell 5 . The outer shielding shell 5 is grounded to a printed circuit board to which the electrical connector is mounted by way of the grounding posts 54 .

In a first embodiment of the grounding piece 3 , the leg 33 has a contacting portion 34 for contacting directly with the outer shielding shell 5 for grounding purpose. The contacting portion 34 is located behind the sealing element 6 .

In a second embodiment shown in FIG. 11 , the grounding piece 3 ′ has a leg 33 ′ adapted for connecting to the printed circuit board to which the electrical connector is mounted for grounding purpose.

It should be noted that as disclosed in the USB Type C electrical connector specification issued on Mar. 25, 2016 which is being submitted with Information Statement Disclosure of this application, in the traditional connector a thickness of mating tongue is essentially 0.6 mm, the thickness of the upper/lower contact is around 0.15 mm, the thickness of the shielding plate is around 0.10 mm or less, and a distance between the upper/lower contact and the shielding plate is around 0.15˜0.175 mm. Understandably, such a relatively tiny distance is not fit for a relatively high current flowing through the contact.

Anyhow, a variation version of the Type C connector is desired by the user to have the less number of the contacts while having capability of quick charging/power effect. In other words, the twenty four contacts of the traditional connector are deemed too many, and only some of them with the specific functions are required for achieving the general signal transmission and the high power transmission. From the technical viewpoint, the corresponding contact should enlarge the cross-sectional for carrying the higher current to implement the quick charging effect. Understandably, the pitch of the remaining contacts is fixed and no space between the adjacent two contacts is available for allowing the contact to enlarge its dimension in the transverse direction. Some connector makers try to use the expensive material for better conductivity thereof for compromising such a high current situation even though it is uneconomic.

The invention uses another approach wherein the contact is intentionally thickened in the vertical direction to enlarge the cross-section of the contact for carrying high current thereof. Understandably, because the mating height in the vertical direction should remain same as the typical/traditional connector, the increased thickness of the contact should inwardly invade the insulative tongue. Therefore, on one hand, because the traditional connector is equipped with the metallic shielding plate between two (upper and lower) rows of contacts in the vertical direction for shielding and grounding, the thickened contact may inevitably shorten the distance between the contact and the shielding plate in the vertical direction, i.e., less than the aforementioned 0.15˜0.175 mm, thus significantly increasing the shorting risk, and it is especially true under the high current delivery. On the other hand, in the variation design for the low level use, because the high speed transmission differential pair contacts are not required and can be removed from the traditional full-pin arrangement, the shielding effect provided by the shielding plate is no longer needed.

Therefore, in the invention, the traditional shielding plate is intentionally removed, and only a pair of grounding pieces 3 remain on two opposite lateral side regions and between the (upper and lower) corresponding grounding contact 23 in the vertical direction for latching with the corresponding plug connector and grounding consideration. Therefore, without the shielding plate, the distance between the respective upper and lower power contacts 24 aligned in the vertical direction, each of which has a larger thickness and carries the higher current, is relatively large without possibility of shorting therebetween. In fact, a distance in the vertical direction between the thickened upper power contact 24 and the corresponding thickened lower power contact 24 aligned in the same vertical plane, is not less than 0.3 mm which is clearly larger than 0.15˜0.175 mm defined between the upper/lower contact and the shielding plate along the vertical direction in the traditional connector. Therefore, the structure of the invention is fit to carry the high current for quick charging compared with the traditional connector.

In the embodiment, the contact 21 or 22 having a preferable thickness of about 0.2 mm may implement quick changing of a 10 ampere current. Anyhow, a thickness of 0.16 mm may be also another approach. Therefore, a range between 0.16 mm and 0.22 mm may be acceptable. In this embodiment, a thickness of the first contact 21 or the second contact 22 is larger than that of the grounding piece 3 . The thickness of the grounding piece 3 is larger than that of the inner shell 41 , 42 . Anyhow, the thickness of the outer shielding shell 5 around the insertion space 500 , is two time of that of the first contact 21 or the second contact 22 . Under this arrangement, the whole connector is not only structurally strong enough but also can be easily and economically made. It should be understood that in FIG. 8(B) even if the grounding piece 3 is very closer to the upper/lower grounding contact 23 in the vertical direction, there is no shorting risk because both of them are grounded without power delivery.