Abstract:
An electrical connector adapted for being electrically connected with a PCB stably, includes an insulating housing defining a plurality of terminal passageways for receiving terminals and at least one through-hole located at one side of the terminal passageways. The insulating housing has two opposite holding blocks which defines two guiding recesses facing each other for locating the PCB. A shell encircles the insulating housing and defines at least one pressing slice passing through the through-hole and pressing against one surface of the PCB. Each of the terminals has a soldering portion exposed out of the terminal passageway and pressing against the other surface of the PCB.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector capable of stably being connected with a printed circuit board. 
   2. The Related Art 
   In general, a conventional electrical connector adapted for being connected with a printed circuit board (PCB) includes an insulating housing, a plurality of terminals received in the insulating housing and a shell enclosing the insulating housing. Each of the terminals has a welded tail portion projecting out of the insulating housing and pressing against one surface of the PCB for being soldered thereto. 
   The above-mentioned electrical connector is mounted to the PCB with the welded tail portions of the terminals soldered to one side of the PCB. However, the soldering area between the welded tail portion of each terminal and the PCB is small, which makes the weld therebetween unsteady and easily causes unreliable connection between the PCB the electrical connector. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   It is an object of the present invention to provide an electrical connector capable of stably being connected with a printed circuit board (PCB). The electrical connector includes an insulating housing having a basic body which has two opposite holding blocks extending from two opposite ends of the basic body and a mating portion extending from one side of the basic body opposite to the holding blocks. The basic body defines at least one through-hole which penetrates through the basic body. The mating portion defines a plurality of terminal passageways rowed transversely which penetrate through the basic body and the mating portion and are located adjacent to one side of the through-hole. The two holding blocks define two guiding recesses facing each other for locating the PCB. A plurality of terminals is received in the corresponding terminal passageways. Each of the terminals has a soldering portion extending outside of the terminal passageways for being soldered to one surface of the PCB. A shell encircles the mating portion of the insulating housing and has at least one pressing slice passing through the through-hole of the basic body for pressing against and electrically contacting a grounding point defined on the other surface of the PCB. 
   As described above, two opposite sides of the PCB are located in the guiding recesses of the insulating housing, the pressing slice of the shell and the soldering portions of the terminals respectively press against two contrary surfaces of the PCB, so that the PCB is connected with the electrical connector firmly. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following description of an embodiment thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, in which: 
       FIG. 1  is an exploded view of an electrical connector in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view showing a shell of the electrical connector; 
       FIG. 3  is a perspective view showing an insulating housing of the electrical connector; 
       FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 1  and a printed circuit board, showing in a state before the electrical connector is mounted to the printed circuit board; and 
       FIG. 5  is an assembly view of the electrical connector and the printed circuit board shown in  FIG. 4 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   With reference to  FIG. 1 , an electrical connector  100  according to the invention includes a shell  10 , an insulating housing  20 , a plurality of terminals  30 , and a pair of fixing elements  40 . 
   The shell  10  has a bottom wall  11 , a top wall  12  oppositely parallel to the bottom wall  11  and two opposing sidewalls  13  connected with the bottom wall  11  and the top wall  12 , all of which collectively define a receiving room for receiving the insulating housing  20  therein. The bottom wall  11  has plural location holes  111  aligned at a front portion thereof and two receiving slots  112  (as shown in  FIG. 2 ) respectively adjacent to the sidewalls  13  at a rear portion thereof. The top wall  12  defines two extending slices  121  abreast extending forward from a front side thereof. Each of the extending slices  121  has a narrow pressing slice  122  continuously extending forward from a middle portion of a front end thereof. 
   Please refer to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 3  together, the insulating housing  20  has a substantially rectangular basic body  21  which defines a front surface  211 , a rear surface  212  and a bottom surface  213 . A substantially flat mating portion  22  extends rearward from a middle portion of the rear surface  212  of the basic body  21 . The basic body  21  defines two through-holes  214  apart from each other at an upper portion thereof, while the through-holes  214  are in the same plane with a top surface of the mating portion  22 . The bottom surface  213  of the basic body  21  defines plural substantially wedge-shaped lumps  215  abreast projecting therefrom. The mating portion  22  defines two butting portions  221  respectively protruding downward from two opposite ends of a bottom side thereof and a plurality of terminal passageways  222  positioned between the two butting portions  221 . The terminal passageways  222  further penetrate through the front surface  211  of the basic body  21 . 
   Two opposite sides of the front surface  211  of the basic body  21  have a holding block  23  projecting therefrom respectively. Each holding block  23  has an inner side  231  perpendicular to the front surface  211  and a front side  232  perpendicularly connected to the inner side  231  and parallel to the front surface  211 . The inner side  231  of the holding block  23  defines a guiding recess  233  extending from the front side  232  and terminating to the front surface  211  of the basic body  21 . The front side  232  of the holding block  23  defines a receiving recess  234  longitudinally extending. A bottom of the receiving recess  234  defines a receiving cavity  235  and a containing groove  236  separately extending towards the inner of the basic body  21 . The containing groove  236  further penetrates through the basic body  21  and extends into the butting portions  221  of the mating portion  22 . 
   Refer to  FIG. 1  again, each of the terminals  30  has a base portion  31 , a soldering portion  32  extending forward from a front end of the base portion  31  and an elongated contacting portion  33  extending rearward from a rear end of the base portion  31 . 
   Each fixing element  40  has a main portion  41  disposed vertically. An upper portion of the main portion  41  has an extending portion  42  and a fixing portion  43  extending in opposite directions. A lower portion of the main portion  41  has a slender elastic portion  44  extending towards the same direction as the fixing portion  43 . The elastic portion  44  has a projection  45  protruding downward from a free end thereof. 
   In assembly, the plurality of terminals  30  are received in the corresponding terminal passageways  222  of the insulating housing  20  and the soldering portions  32  are kept out of the terminal passageways  222  for being soldered to a printed circuit board (PCB)  200  (see  FIG. 4 ). Then, the fixing elements  40  are assembled to the insulating housing  20 . In this case, the main portions  41  are received in the receiving recesses  234 , the extending portions  42  are exposed out of the receiving recesses  234 , the fixing portions  43  are inserted into the receiving cavities  235 , the elastic portions  44  are contained in the containing grooves  236  and the projections  45  project out of the containing grooves  236 . Next, the shell  10  encircles the housing  20  with the mating portion  22  received in the shell  10 . The extending slices  121  are received in the through-holes  214  while the pressing slices  122  pass through and extend out of the through-holes  214 . The wedge-shaped lumps  215  are engaged with the corresponding location holes  111 . And that the projections  45  of the fixing elements  40  project out of the receiving slots  112  of the shell  10  for cooperating with a complementary connector (not shown). 
   Refer to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the electrical connector  100  is capable of being mounted to the PCB  200  which defines a first segment  201  and a second segment  202  wider than and connected together with the first segment  201 . Both of the first segment  201  and the second segment  202  have grounding points (not shown) on top surfaces thereof. 
   The electrical connector  100  is assembled with the PCB  200  in such a manner that two opposite sides of the first segment  201  slide along the guiding recesses  233  until the second segment  202  is stopped by the holding blocks  23 . In this case, the two opposite sides of the first segment  201  are located in the guiding recesses  233 , the pressing slices  122  of the shell  10  and the soldering portions  32  of the terminals  30  respectively press against two contrary surfaces of the first segment  201 , and, the extending portions  42  of the fixing elements  40  are also against the second segment  202 . Thus, the PCB  200  is stably electrically connected with the electrical connector  100 . Furthermore, both of the pressing slices  122  and the extending portions  42  electrically contact the corresponding grounding points of the PCB  200 , which shields an Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) between the electrical connector  100  and the PCB  200 . 
   As the above description, the two opposite sides of the first segment  201  of the PCB  200  are located in the guiding recesses  233  of the housing  20 , the pressing slices  122  of the shell  10  and the soldering portions  32  of the terminals  30  respectively press against two contrary surfaces of the first segment  201 , so that the PCB  200  is connected with the electrical connector  100  firmly. Besides, the extending portions  42  of the fixing elements  40  press against the second segment  202  of the PCB  200  and electrically contact the corresponding grounding points of the second segment  202 , which not only stabilizes the PCB  200  to the electrical connector  100 , but also strengthens grounding effects between the electrical connector  100  and the PCB  200 , then further ensures the assembly thereof against an EMI. 
   The foregoing description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. Such modifications and variations that may be apparent to those skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of this invention as defined by the accompanying claims.