Electrical connector equipped with stabilized shielding plate

1. Field of the Disclosure

The present disclosure relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to the electrical connector equipped with a metallic shielding plate having stabilized structure beside the pair of spring tangs which are rearwardly deflected during mating.

2. Description of Related Arts

U.S. Pat. No. 10,333,255 discloses the receptacle connector for receiving a plug connector wherein the shielding plate is located between two rows of contacts and equipped with a pair of spring tangs in a front edge for confrontation with the mated plug connector, and barbed structures on two lateral edges for retaining the whole shielding plate in position within the housing. Anyhow, because the barbed structures are relatively far away from the spring tangs, the shielding plate tends to be tilted during mating with the plug connector.

An improved connector is desired to have the stabilized shielding plate so as not to be tilted during mating with the plug connector.

An object of the invention is to provide an electrical connector with an insulative housing and two rows of contacts retained in the housing, and a metallic shielding plate assembled in the housing and located between the two rows of contacts wherein the shielding plate includes a pair of spring fingers extending from the front edge into the mating cavity in front of the shielding plate, and a plurality of notches located around the pair of spring fingers and equipped with barbed structure extending into the notches so as to grasp the corresponding ribs of the housing so as to stabilize the whole shielding plate in the housing.

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

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electrical connector of the invention;

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

FIG. 3 is another perspective view of the electrical connector of FIG. 1 ;

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

FIG. 5 is another exploded perspective view of the electrical connector of FIG. 4 ;

FIG. 6 is a further exploded perspective view of the electrical connector of FIG. 5 ;

FIG. 7 is another exploded perspective view of the electrical connector of FIG. 3 ;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector of FIG. 1 along line 8 - 8 ; and

FIG. 9 is another cross-sectional view of the electrical connector of FIG. 1 along line 9 - 9 .

Referring to FIGS. 1-9 , an electrical connector 100 includes an insulative housing 1 , two rows of contacts 2 assembled tot the housing 1 , a metallic shielding plate 3 assembled into the housing 1 . The housing 1 includes a mating cavity 11 and a horizontal insertion slit 12 behind the mating cavity 11 in a front-to-back direction. The contact 2 includes a front contacting section 21 extending into the mating cavity 11 , a middle securing section 22 retained to the housing 1 , and a rear connecting section 23 . The shielding plate 3 is retained to the housing 1 and located between the two rows of contacts 2 in the vertical direction perpendicular to the front-to-back direction. A pair of spring fingers 31 extend forwardly and obliquely around a front edge of the shielding plate 3 and into the mating cavity 11 . The pair of spring fingers commonly form a V like configuration in a top view. The shielding plate includes a dovetail like retention section 32 and the pair of spring fingers 31 are located by two sides of the retention section 32 . The retention section 32 forms a notch 33 with barbed structures 331 therein so as to interfere with the rib 13 of the housing 1 . The rib 13 is formed within the insertion slit 12 and linked between the opposite top and bottom face of the housing around the insertion slit 12 so as to reinforce the housing 1 around the insertion slit 12 .

The retention section 32 includes a pair of wings 37 each having a tail section 38 behind the wings 37 . The notch 33 is formed between the pair of wings 37 . In fact, the barbed structures 331 are formed on the corresponding wing 37 to extend into the notch 33 . Each spring finger 31 has a root section 311 extending from the corresponding tail section 38 , and an abutment section 312 extending out of the insertion slit 12 and into the mating cavity 11 for confrontation with the mating plug connector (not shown). A plurality of interfering tabs 34 extend slightly obliquely extend within the insertion slit 12 for providing interference with the housing 1 .

The notch 33 includes a wide part 332 and a narrow part 333 behind the wide part 332 to commonly form a T-shaped configuration for complying with that of the rib 13 .

The shielding plate 3 includes a plate 35 behind the retention section 32 and the spring fingers 31 , and a pair of mounting ears 36 at two opposite longitudinal ends of the plate 35 in the longitudinal direction perpendicular to the front-to-back direction and the vertical direction. The shielding plate further includes a pair of spring latches 39 located around the opposite ends of the plate 35 and forwardly extending into the mating cavity 11 . The housing 1 includes a pair of rearwardly extending supporting platform 14 with the receiving slot 12 therebetween in the vertical direction. Each supporting platform 14 forms a plurality of standoffs 141 defining a plurality of grooves therebetween to receive the connecting sections 23 of the corresponding contacts 2 , respectively.

The housing 1 includes opposite top wall 16 and bottom wall 17 to respectfully retain the two rows of contacts 2 , and a semicircular protrusion 15 is formed on the bottom wall 17 . In this embodiment, the shielding plate further includes two lances 40 , with barbed structures thereon, on two opposite lateral sides with two spaces 41 beside not only enhance resiliency of the lance thereof for not jeopardizing the housing during inserting the shielding plate 3 into the insertion slit 12 , but also providing space in which the free end of the corresponding spring finger 31 can be freely moved during mating.

While a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present disclosure has been shown and described, equivalent modifications and changes known to persons skilled in the art according to the spirit of the present disclosure are considered within the scope of the present disclosure as described in the appended claims.