Abstract:
According to one aspect of the present invention, an electrical connector assembly includes a locking station and a plug cable connector. Said locking station has a receiving cavity, and a pair of side walls extending in a front-to-back direction and locating at two sides of the receiving cavity in a transverse direction perpendicular to said front-to-back direction. Said plug cable connector is forwardly inserted into said receiving cavity and includes a spring being deflectable in a vertical direction perpendicular to both said front-to-back direction and said transverse direction. Said spring includes a pair of laterally extending offset ends; and each side wall defines a locking shoulder facing forwardly and pressing against said respective offset end downwardly.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to an electrical connector assembly, more particularly to an electrical connector assembly having a retaining device equipped with spring means to stably retain the plug cable connector to the receptacle connector. 
       2. Description of Related Art 
       [0002]    The traditional receptacle connector is mated with the complementary plug cable connector with or without the corresponding locking means. Anyhow, it is further desired to have a reliably tensioned latching not only in a vertical direction but also in a front-to-back direction perpendicular to the vertical direction. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    According to one aspect of the present invention, an electrical connector assembly includes a locking station and a plug cable connector. Said locking station has a receiving cavity, and a pair of side walls extending in a front-to-back direction and locating at two sides of the receiving cavity in a transverse direction perpendicular to said front-to-back direction. Said plug cable connector is forwardly inserted into said receiving cavity and includes a spring being deflectable in a vertical direction perpendicular to both said front-to-back direction and said transverse direction. Said spring includes a pair of laterally extending offset ends; and each side wall defines a locking shoulder facing forwardly and pressing against said respective offset end downwardly. 
         [0004]    The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0005]    For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0006]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the electrical connector assembly in accordance with present invention wherein the plug cable connector is fully received and locked in the locking station. 
           [0007]      FIG. 2  is another perspective view of the electrical connector assembly of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0008]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the electrical connector assembly wherein the plug cable connector is not fully inserted into the locking station. 
           [0009]      FIG. 4  is another perspective view of the electrical connector assembly of  FIG. 3   
           [0010]      FIG. 5  is a further exploded perspective view of the electrical connector assembly of  FIG. 3 . 
           [0011]      FIG. 6  is another further perspective view of the electrical connector assembly of  FIG. 5 . 
           [0012]      FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector assembly of  FIG. 1  along line  7 - 7 . 
           [0013]      FIG. 8  is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector assembly of  FIG. 3  along line  8 - 8 . 
           [0014]      FIG. 9  is an exploded perspective view of the plug cable connector of the electrical connector assembly of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0015]      FIG. 10  is another exploded perspective view of the plug cable connector of  FIG. 9 . 
           [0016]      FIG. 11  is an further exploded perspective view of the plug cable connector of  FIG. 9 . 
           [0017]      FIG. 12  is another further exploded perspective view of the plug connector of  FIG. 11 . 
           [0018]      FIG. 13  is another further exploded perspective view of the plug cable connector of  FIG. 11   
           [0019]      FIG. 14  is an exploded perspective view of the terminal module assembly of the plug cable connector of  FIG. 11 . 
           [0020]      FIG. 15  is another exploded perspective view of the terminal module assembly of the plug cable connector of  FIG. 14 . 
           [0021]      FIG. 16(A)  is a cross-sectional view of the plug cable connector of  FIG. 5  along line  16 A- 16 A;  FIG. 16(B)  is a cross-sectional view of the plug cable connector of  FIG. 5  along line  16 B- 16 B. 
           [0022]      FIG. 17  is a perspective view of the electrical connector assembly according to a second embodiment of the invention wherein the plug cable connector is fully received and locked in the locking station. 
           [0023]      FIG. 18  is another perspective view of the electrical connector assembly of  FIG. 17 . 
           [0024]      FIG. 19  is an exploded perspective view of the electrical connector assembly of  FIG. 17 . 
           [0025]      FIG. 20  is another exploded perspective view of the electrical connector assembly of  FIG. 17 . 
           [0026]      FIG. 21  is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector assembly of  FIG. 17  wherein the plug cable connector is fully received within and locked with regard to the locking station. 
           [0027]      FIG. 22  is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector assembly of  FIG. 17  wherein the plug cable connector is partially received in the partially released from the locking station. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0028]    In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without such specific details. In other instances, well-known circuits have been shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the present invention in unnecessary detail. For the most part, details concerning timing considerations and the like have been omitted inasmuch as such details are not necessary to obtain a complete understanding of the present invention and are within the skills of persons of ordinary skill in the relevant art. 
         [0029]    Referring to  FIGS. 1-16 (B), An electrical connector assembly  100  includes a locking station  10  forming a receiving cavity  11  to receive a plug cable connector  50 . The locking station  10  including a pair of side walls  12 , a pair of guiding grooves  14  formed in interior surfaces and extending along a front-to-back direction, and a pair of flanges  16  around a bottom edge of the side walls  12 , respectively, so as to cooperate with a top bar  18  to commonly define the receiving cavityll. The top bar  18  forms a locking shoulder  20  on an underside for engagement with a locking latch  90  of the plug cable connector  50  (illustrated later), said locking shoulder  20  has a recess  22  formed on an underside thereof to receive the locking latch  90 . Understandably, the locking shoulder  20  forms a forward abutting face (not labeled) and a downward abutting face (not labeled) for blocking the corresponding locking latch  90  from moving backwardly and upwardly wherein the primary function of the locking latch  90  is to prohibit the plug cable connector  50  from backward/rearwardly moving by the forward abutting face, and the downward abutting face is to provide retention to have the locking latch  90  in position without moving during vibration. In this embodiment, the locking latch  90  is a bar extending in a transverse direction to comply with the locking shoulder which extends in the transverse direction between the pair of side walls  12 . Notably, the locking latch  90  and the locking shoulder  20  may have other forms or dimensions as long as the locking shoulder  20  provides the forward abutting face to prevent the moveable locking latch from rearward moving, and optionally further provides the downward abutting face to prevent the movable locking latch  90  from upward moving to be released from the locking shoulder  20 . In this embodiment, the locking latch  90  is moveable in the vertical direction in a deflective manner Notably, other type movements as translation or rotation may be other choices. 
         [0030]    The plug cable connector  50  includes an insulative housing  52  with a mating slot  54 , and two rows of contacts (not shown) are located by two sides of the mating slot  54 . A terminal module  56  is assembled upon a rear side of the housing  52  via two hooks  51  inserted into the corresponding holes  53  of he housing  52 , and includes a pair of bodies  58  assembled to each other via the post  581  and hole  582  structure, the contact tails (not shown) extending through the bodies  58  and positioned upon the corresponding platforms  58  for soldering with the corresponding differential pair wires  70 . A pair of grounding plates  60  are attached upon the corresponding bodies  50  so as to connect to the corresponding grounding contacts (not shown) and the grounding/drain wires (not shown). Each grounding plate  60  has a main plate  601  depending on the platform  58 , a set of contacting plates  602  arranged at intervals to contacting the corresponding grounding contacts, and a short plate  603  connecting front ends of the contacting plates  602 . Said contacting plates  602  bend downwardly from a front end of the main plate  601  and then extend forwardly, said shorting plate  602  bend relative to the main plate in a perpendicular manner and forwardly depends on the body  58 . Each main body  60  has a pair of ears  601  bending therefrom to overlap the corresponding ears  601  of another main body  60  so as to connecting the grounding plates  60  together. The platform  583  has a pair of cutouts  587  passing therethrough in the height direction for receiving the ears  601  of the grounding plate  60 . The main plate  601  has a set of retaining plates  605  extending forwardly from the main plate  601  and inserting into corresponding retaining grooves  585  of the body  601 . The platform  583  has a set of slits  586  formed on a surface thereof and corresponding to the retaining grooves  585 . 
         [0031]    An insulative block  62  is located behind the terminal modules  58  and includes a front cavity  64  to receive the rear portions of the terminal modules  56 , and a pair of guiding lugs  66  on two lateral sides, and a plurality of passageways  68  through which the wires  70  extend, respectively. A pair of slots  72  are formed in the block  62  for receiving front portions of the coil springs  74  therein. A partition  76  is formed on the block  62  to separate the pair of coil springs  74  from each other. A pair of engagement grooves  75  are formed in two opposite lateral sides of the partition  76 . An insulative spacer  78  is attached to the partition  76  via the engagement grooves  75 . In this embodiment, the spacer  78  is adapted to be moveable relative to the block  62  along the front-to-back direction within a range regulated by the coil springs  74 . The spacer  78  forms a pair of grooves  80  to receive the rear portion of the corresponding coil springs  74 . The metallic shell spring  82  is attached upon the spacer  78  and forms a locking latch  90  thereon for releasable engagement with the locking shoulder  20 . In this embodiment, the metallic shell spring  82  includes a pair of side bar (not labeled) extending along the front-to-back direction to connect the locking latch  90  at two opposite ends of the locking latch  90  in the transverse direction. Understandably, this floating effect of the spacer  78  is to absorb the impact/vibration applied upon the plug cable connector  50  for preventing the permanent damage to the plug cable connector  50  while stilling keeping the reliable retention to the locking station  10 . An insulative casing  84  is overmolded upon the block  62  and the associated wires  70  wherein the guiding lugs  66  are transversely exposed to the exterior through said casing  84 . 
         [0032]    When the plug cable connector  50  is assembled to the locking station  10  from the back side of the locking station  10 , the guiding lugs  66  moves along the guiding grooves  14  with the shell spring  82  being deflected by the top bar until the block  60  is stopped by the front upper bar  21  of the locking station  10  and the locking latch  90  of the shell spring  82  is engaged with the locking shoulder  20  of the top bar  18 . 
         [0033]    Referring to  FIGS. 17-22  of the second embodiment, the different feature includes provision of another additional pair of grooves  19  are formed in an interior surfaces of the side walls  12  so as to guidably receive the two opposite lateral ends of the locking latch  90  therein for stabilizing movement of the shell spring  82  during insertion/withdrawal of the plug cable connector  50  with regard to the locking station  10 . Notably, in the second embodiment the top bar in the first embodiment is removed, and the locking shoulders  20 ′ are formed on two opposite side walls instead of along the top bar, each locking shoulder  20 ′ forms a recess  22 ′ on an underside thereof to receive the lateral ends of the locking latch  90 . Understandably, the second embodiment allows the user to conveniently manually deflect the shell spring to insert the whole plug cable connector into the locking station with the locking latch engaged with the locking shoulder 
         [0034]    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.