Electrical connector assembly including plug and receptacle mating portions having spaced front mating surfaces

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to an electrical connector assembly, and particularly to an electrical connector assembly composed of a plug connector and a receptacle connector mated with each other in a waterproof condition.

2. Description of Related Arts

U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0237889 discloses an electrical connector assembly of a circular interface. Anyhow, such an assembly fails to disclose the efficient waterproof function during mating.

It is desired to provide an electrical connector equipped with the efficient waterproof mechanism.

To achieve the above object, an electrical connector assembly includes a plug connector and a receptacle connector mateable with each other. The plug connector includes an insulative plug housing with a plurality of plug contacts retained thereto. The plug housing forms a plug mating portion with a mating surface thereon. A set of rings is disposed upon the mating portion and located behind the mating surface in the mating direction. The plug contacts include front blade contacting sections extending beyond the mating surface and are arranged along the first direction X with one another. Viewed along the first direction, the mating surface is curved with a bulged middle section. The receptacle connector includes an insulative receptacle housing with a plurality of receptacle contacts retained thereto. The receptacle housing forms therein a mating cavity in which a receptacle mating portion extends along the mating direction wherein the receptacle mating portion forms a mating face behind which the receptacle contacts are located. During mating, via assistance of the set of rings, the plug mating portion is snugly received within the mating cavity with the mating surface of the plug connector is spaced from the mating face in the mating direction.

Other 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 the electrical connector assembly according to the present invention;

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

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the plug connector of the electrical connector assembly of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the plug connector of the electrical connector assembly of FIG. 3 ;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the plug connector of the electrical connector assembly of FIG. 3 ;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the receptacle connector of the electrical connector assembly of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the receptacle connector of the electrical connector assembly of FIG. 1 ;

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

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

Referring to FIGS. 1-9 , an electrical connector assembly is composed of a plug connector 100 and a receptacle connector 200 mated with each other along a mating direction, i.e., the front-to-back direction.

The plug connector 100 defines a first direction X, i.e., the longitudinal direction, a second direction Y same with the aforementioned mating direction, and a vertical direction perpendicular to one another. The plug connector 100 includes an insulative plug housing 10 with a plurality of plug contacts 20 retained therein, a metallic shell 30 attached to the plug housing 10 , and a set of waterproofing sealing members, i.e., the rings 40 .

The plug housing 10 includes a plug mating portion 12 with a mating surface 101 thereon. Viewed along the first direction X, the mating surface 101 defines a bulged configuration with a raised middle region, i.e., the middle region being forwardly protruding more than the upper region and the lower region as shown in FIGS. 5 and 8 . In detail, the raised distance of the bulged configuration of the mating surface 101 along the mating direction X is around 1 mm Notably, the gap between the mating surface 101 of the plug mating portion 12 and the mating face 501 of the receptacle mating portion 52 mentioned later, is to prevent humidity from invading the passageways 15 of the plug housing 10 . The plug mating portion 12 further includes a pair of end walls 11 at opposite ends thereof, and each end wall 11 extends forwardly along the second direction Y. Each the end wall 11 forms an alignment slot 111 in the corresponding interior surface 110 . Because the pair of alignment slots 111 is offset from the centerline of each end wall 111 , the mating orientation of the plug connector 100 along the mating direction is assured for foolproof. In this embodiment, the alignment slots 111 in the corresponding end wall 11 stops before reaching the mating surface 101 , thus providing a space between the mating surface 101 of the plug mating portion 12 and the mating face 502 of the receptacle mating portion 52 for preventing the vacuum effect during mating/un-mating (illustrated later). The plug housing 10 includes a base 13 located between the mounting plate 14 and the plug mating portion 12 in the mating direction Y. A pair of circumferential grooves 120 formed in the exterior surfaces of the plug mating portion 12 , receive the set of waterproofing sealing members 40 , respectively. The shell 30 is attached upon the front face of the mounting plate 14 with an opening through which the base 13 and the mating portion 12 extend in the mating direction Y. A pair of mounting holes 140 are formed in the mounting plate 14 and in alignment with the corresponding through holes (not labeled) of the shell 30 .

The passageways 15 extend through the mating portion 12 , the base 13 and the mounting plate 14 in the mating direction Y. The plug contacts 20 are respectively disposed in the corresponding passageways 15 , respectively. Each plug contact 20 includes a blade type contacting section 21 , a retaining section 22 retained in the corresponding passageway 15 , and a soldering section 23 exposed behind the mounting plate 14 . The contacting sections 21 of the plug contact 20 extend forwardly beyond the mating surface 101 and arranged along the first direction X with one another. The plug contacts 20 includes two power contacts 2 P and two sets of signal contacts 2 S. the power contact 2 P is larger than the signal contact 2 S. There are two sets of signal contacts 2 S spaced from each other in the vertical direction while each set of signal contacts are spaced from one another along the first direction X. The two sets of signal contacts 2 S are located between two power contacts 2 P in the first direction X. The power contact 2 P extends further forwardly in the mating direction Y compared with the signal contact 2 S.

The receptacle connector 200 includes an insulative receptacle housing 50 with a plurality of receptacle contacts 60 retained to thereto, and a metallic shell 70 attached upon the receptacle housing 50 . The insulative receptacle housing 50 includes a base 53 , and a circumferential wall 51 extending forwardly from the base 53 in the mating direction Y. A mating cavity 501 is formed within the circumferential wall 51 , and a receptacle mating portion 52 extends forwardly from the base 53 into the mating cavity 501 . During mating, the plug mating portion 12 including the pair of end walls 11 is received within the mating cavity 501 . Because the sealing members 40 tightly abut against the interior surfaces of the circumferential wall 51 , a waterproofing effect is achieved. Notably, the receptacle mating portion 52 forms a pair of alignment ribs 520 to be received within the corresponding alignment slots 111 , respectively. As mentioned before, the alignment slot 111 is stopped before reaching the mating surface 101 of the plug mating portion 12 , the mating surface 101 of the plug mating portion 12 is spaced from the mating face 502 of the receptacle mating portion 52 in the mating direction for providing an anti-vacuum space 102 therebetween as shown in FIG. 9 . Understandably, such a space 102 may avoid vacuum effect during withdrawal of the plug mating portion 12 of the plug connector 100 from the mating cavity 501 of the receptacle connector 200 .

Referring to FIG. 6 , the receptacle contacts 60 are received within the receptacle mating portion 52 and include two power contacts 6 P for mating with the power contacts 2 P, the sets of receptacle contacts 6 S for mating with the sets of signal contacts 2 S. Similar to the plug contact 20 , the receptacle contact 60 includes a front contacting section 61 for mating with the corresponding mating section 21 of the plug contact 20 , a retaining section 62 for retaining to the receptacle housing 50 , and a soldering section 63 . The sets of receptacle contacts 60 are spaced from each other another along the second direction Y while each set if receptacle contacts 60 are arranged along the first direction X with one another.

In brief, one feature of the invention is to provide the space between the mating surface of the plug mating portion and the mating face of the receptacle mating portion for avoiding the vacuum effect during withdrawal of the plug connector from the receptacle connector. The space is not more than 2 mm. Another feature of the invention is to provide the bulged/protruding middle region on the mating surface/face for forming the tiny space between the mating surface of the plug mating portion and the mating face of the receptacle mating portion. In this embodiment, the bulged region is located at the middle region between two rows of the contacts in the vertical direction. Another feature of the invention is to provide two spaced sealing members 40 around the root of the plug mating portion compared with the single sealing member. Those mechanisms may optimize waterproofing effect either alone or in combination.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is not to be construed as being limited thereto. Various alterations and modifications can be made to the embodiments without in any way departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.