Abstract:
An electrical connector includes: a terminal element; a grounding element; an insulating housing; a metal shell enclosing the insulating housing; and two solder terminals extended outward from the metal shell. Wherein the grounding element has at least a supporting rib which is utilized to enhance the structure strength of the grounding element so as to ensure a good grounding effect in limited space. Besides, every one of those solder terminals of the metal shell has a winding portion bended in a tilting angle. Additionally, the metal shell further includes a partner-fitting portion, and two short sides of the peripheral thereof bended backward to form a chamfer-type guiding portion so as to make a corresponding connector connect to the electrical connector smoothly.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a connector, and more especially, to an electrical connector with good grounding effect. 
     2. Background of the Related Art 
     Electrical connector is widely applied in the electrical apparatus, such as the notebook, the mobile phone and the fax. The electrical connector combining with a male connector is electrically connected to a printed circuit board (PCB) of a host, to provide the electrical connection between two electrical apparatus. 
     In general, the electrical connector includes an insulating housing, a plurality of grounding terminals and signal terminals which are arranged in the insulating housing separately and parallelly, and a cover shell holding on the insulating housing, wherein the grounding terminals contact with the cover shell to provide the grounding effect. The usual grounding terminals are made by punching a metal piece to form a plurality of terminal structures. However, the plurality of terminal structures make the whole grounding structure too wide and thin, and lead the middle portion of the grounding structure into bend, and to cause the sinking phenomenon occurs in the middle portion of the grounding structure. An improve method is to fabricate the grounding piece with flat-board shape to increase the structure intensity of the grounding piece, however, the grounding piece and the signal terminals can not establish a adequate grounding path in this method, and so as to decrease the grounding effect. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     For solving the foregoing problems, one object of this invention is to provide an electrical connector to facilitate the fabrication and simplify the fabrication processes. 
     For effectively filtrating the noise interference, one object of this invention is to provide an electrical connector to construct a complete grounding circuit between the male connector and the electrical connector by the terminals of the terminal component accurately corresponding to the cantilevers of the grounding component. Furthermore, the loading forces on the male connector are equal due to the cantilevers corresponding to the terminals, and thus avoid the unequal force causing the poor connection of the electrical connector or the male connector. 
     For solving the defect of the instability in the middle of the grounding component due to its too wide and too thin design, one object of this invention is to provide an electrical connector to use a supporting rib to strengthen the structure intensity of the grounding component, and ensure that the grounding component and the terminal component still have the good grounding effect in the limited design space. 
     One object of this invention is to provide an electrical connector, wherein the winding portions with tilting angles θ and long holes on the winding portions are used to increase the welding areas to make the solder terminal be welded on PCB with high stability. 
     One object of this invention is to provide an electrical connector, wherein the grounding component is designed as one-piece type with good holding intensity to microminiaturize the size of the connector and decrease the material. 
     Accordingly, one embodiment of the present invention provides an electrical connector which includes: a terminal component with a plurality of terminals; a grounding component including: a main axis, a folding piece, two side arms and a plurality of cantilevers, wherein, two ends of the main axis and two ends of the folding piece co-connect two side arms, respectively, the plurality of cantilevers are formed on the main axis toward the folding piece and at least one of the cantilevers extends to the folding piece as a supporting rib, and each side arm stretches an elastic piece on one end of the side arm; an insulating housing covering the grounding component and the terminal component to make the terminals of the terminal component corresponding to the cantilevers of the grounding component and expose portions of the terminals; a metal shell covering the insulating housing and exposing the terminals, wherein, the elastic piece stretches from the insulating housing to contact a inner wall of the metal shell; and two solder terminals extending form two sides of the metal shell and each solder terminal having a winding portion bended in a tilting angle θ. 
     Another embodiment of the present invention provides an electrical connector which includes: a terminal component with a plurality of terminals; a grounding component including a main axis with a plurality of indentations on a front edge of the main axis; a plurality of cantilevers extending from the front edge of the main axis and between any two adjacent indentations; and two side arms respectively arranged on two opposite ends of the main axis; an insulating housing covering the grounding component and the terminal component to make the terminals of the terminal component corresponding to the cantilevers of the grounding component and expose portions of the terminals; and a metal shell covering the insulating housing and exposing the terminals, wherein, a plurality of interfering pieces corresponding to the indentations are formed on a rear edge of the metal shell to interfere with the indentations. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1A  is a disassembling structure diagram illustrating an electrical connector in accordance with one embodiment of present invention; 
         FIG. 1B  is a buckling diagram illustrating the latch type male connector and the combinative electrical connector in accordance with one embodiment of present invention; 
         FIG. 2A  is a three-dimension diagram illustrating the combinative electrical connector in accordance with the electrical connector in  FIG. 1A ; 
         FIG. 2B  is a partial enlarged diagram of  FIG. 2A ; 
         FIG. 2C  is a front view diagram illustrating the combinative electrical connector in accordance with electrical connector in  FIG. 1A ; 
         FIG. 2D  is a partial enlarged diagram of  FIG. 2C ; 
         FIG. 3A  is a partial enlarged diagram illustrating the metal shells in accordance with one embodiments of present invention; 
         FIG. 3B  is a partial enlarged diagram illustrating the metal shells in accordance with another embodiments of present invention; 
         FIG. 4A  is a rear view diagram illustrating the combinative electrical connector in accordance with electrical connector in  FIG. 1A ; 
         FIG. 4B  is a cross-section diagram indicated by the section lines of A-A in  FIG. 4A ; 
         FIG. 4C  is a cross-section diagram indicated by the section lines of B-B in  FIG. 4A ; 
         FIG. 5  is a disassembling structure diagram illustrating the electrical connectors in accordance with another embodiment of present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a disassembling structure diagram illustrating the electrical connectors in another angle of views in accordance with another embodiment of present invention; 
         FIG. 7A  is a three-dimension diagram illustrating the combinative electrical connector in accordance with the electrical connector in  FIG. 6 ; 
         FIG. 7B  is a cross-section diagram indicated by the section lines of D-D in  FIG. 7A ; 
         FIG. 8A  is an upward view diagram illustrating the combinative electrical connector in accordance with one embodiment of present invention; 
         FIG. 8B  is a cross-section diagram indicated by the section lines of A-A in  FIG. 8A ; 
         FIG. 8C  is a cross-section diagram indicated by the section lines of B-B in  FIG. 8A ; 
         FIG. 9A  is an vertical view diagram illustrating the combinative electrical connector in accordance with one embodiment of present invention; and 
         FIG. 9B  is a cross-section diagram indicated by the section lines of C-C in  FIG. 9A . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1A  is a disassembling structure diagram illustrating an electrical connector in accordance with one embodiment of present invention. As shown in  FIG. 1A , an electrical connector  100  includes a terminal component  200 , a grounding component  300 , an insulating housing  400  and a metal shell  500 . The terminal component  200  includes a plurality of terminals  202  made by punching a metal piece and the terminals  202  are applied to as signal terminals. In the present embodiment, every terminal  202  includes a contacting portion  204  and a wedging portion  206 , wherein the contacting portion  204  is used to contact with a terminal of a male connector (not shown in  FIG. 1A ) and the wedging portion  206  is used to help the terminal component  200  wedged in the insulating housing  400 . As shown in  FIG. 1A , the grounding component  300  includes a main axis  310 , a folding piece  312 , two side arms  314  and a plurality of cantilevers  320 , wherein two ends of the main axis  310  and two ends of the folding piece  312  co-connect the two side arms, respectively, the cantilevers  320  are formed on the main axis  310  toward the folding piece  312  and at least one of the cantilevers  320  extends to the folding piece  312  as a supporting rib  322 , further, each side arm  314  stretches an elastic piece  324  on one end of the side arm  314 . In one embodiment, besides stretching the elastic piece  324  on one end of the side arm  314 , a welding piece  326  is also stretched on another end of the side arm  314 , wherein the welding piece  326  and the elastic piece  324  are toward the same direction. In the present embodiment, the grounding component  300  with wide, thin and            -shape is inserted into the insulating housing  400  easily, and by the design of the supporting rib  322 , the structure intensity of the grounding component  300  is strong enough to overcome the bend phenomenon in the middle of the grounding component  300  due to its too wide and too thin design, and so as to not affect the grounding effect in the middle of the grounding component  300 . Furthermore, the supporting rib  322  not only strengthens the structure intensity of the grounding component  300 , but also ensures that the grounding component  300  and the terminal component  200  still have the good grounding effect in the limited design space. In the present embodiment, the grounding component  300  is made by punching a metal piece.
     Continuously, the insulating housing  400 , which is made of the plastics for example, is used to cover the terminal component  200  and the grounding component  300 , wherein the locations of the terminals  202  of the terminal component  200  correspond to the locations of the cantilever  320  of the grounding component  300 , and the portions of the terminals  202  are exposed outside the insulating housing  400 . In one embodiment, the shoulder portions of the terminals  202  are covered in the insulating housing  400 . In another embodiment, the terminal component  200  and the grounding component  300  are inserted into the insulating housing  400  from different directions, for example, the grounding component  300  is inserted from the front  402  of the insulating housing  400  and the terminal component  200  is inserted from the back  404  of the insulating housing  400 , wherein by using the elastic pieces  324 , the grounding component  300  is wedged in the insulating housing  400 , and the folding piece  312  partly covers the insulating housing  400 . Inserting the grounding component  300  from the front  402  of the insulating housing  400  can facilitate the fabrication and simplify the fabrication process. In the present embodiment, the insulating housing  400  further includes a plurality of the grooves  420  formed on the top surface  406  and the bottom surface  408  to be inserted by the metal shell  500 . 
     Accordingly, the metal shell  500  of the electrical connector  100  covers the insulating housing  400  and exposes the portion of the terminals  202  to be welded easily, wherein the elastic piece  324  stretches from the insulating housing  400  to contact the inner wall of the metal shell  500  to achieve the grounding purpose. Further, two solder terminals  510  are respectively extend outwardly from two sides of the top surface  502  of the metal shell  500 , and every solder terminal  510  has a winding portion  512  bended in a tilting angle. In one embodiment, the tilting angle is between 45 degrees to 60 degrees, and a long hole  514  is formed on the winding portion  512 . The winding portion  512  and the long hole  514  are used to increase the welding area to make the solder terminal  510  be welded on the PCB with high stability. In the present embodiment, a plurality of insertions  520  is formed on the top surface  502  and the bottom surface  504  of the metal shell  500 , and the insertions  520  are inserted into the grooves  420  on the top surface  406  and the bottom surface  408  of the insulating housing  400 . In one embodiment, the metal shell  500  further includes a partner-fitting portion  530  with a periphery and two short sides of the periphery are bended backwardly to form a guiding portion  532  with chamfer type to guide the male connector, such as the latch type male connector, and make the male connector buckle with the electrically connector  100  without any obstruction. As shown in  FIG. 1B , it is a buckling diagram illustrating the latch type male connector and the combinative electrical connector, two lock portions  602  of the latch type male connector  600  buckle with the electrically connector by the guidance of the guiding portion  532  with chamfer type. Next, please refer to  FIG. 1A , a retaining wall  534  is formed on the periphery of the partner-fitting portion  530  to cover the portion of the insulating housing  400 , wherein the height of the retaining wall  534  does not affect the insertion of the male connector, and the retaining wall  534  has the function of guiding the male connector  600  into the electrical connector  100  and this function is the same as the function of the guiding portion  532  with chamfer type. In the present embodiment, the metal shell  500  comes one piece. 
     Continuously, please refer to  FIG. 2A ,  FIG. 2B ,  FIG. 2C  and  FIG. 2D ,  FIG. 2A  and  FIG. 2B  are respectively a three-dimension diagram illustrating the combinative electrical connector and its partial enlarged diagram, and  FIG. 2C  and  FIG. 2D  are respectively a front view diagram illustrating the combinative electrical connector and its partial enlarged diagram. In the present embodiment, the long holes  514  of the solder terminals  510  of the metal shell  500  are illustrated clearly in  FIG. 2A  and  FIG. 2B , wherein, every long hole  514  is formed on the connection portion between the solder terminal  510  and the winding portion  512 . Next, please refer to  FIG. 2C  and  FIG. 2D , the solder terminal  510  has the winding portion  512  bended in a tilting angle θ which is between 45 degrees to 60 degrees, wherein the long holes  514  matches the tilting angleθ, and then when the solder terminals  510  are welded on the PCB, the welding area will increase because of the design of the winding portion  512  with the tilting angle θ to make the welding with high stability.  FIG. 3A  and  FIG. 3B  are the partial enlarged diagrams illustrating the metal shells in accordance with different embodiments of present invention, as shown in  FIG. 3A  and  FIG. 3B , the solder terminal  510  can be arranged in the middle of the metal shell  500  or over the metal shell  500  depending on the welding demand of the solder terminal  510 , and the winding portion  512  of the solder terminal  510  also can be winded upwardly (as shown in  FIG. 3A ) or downwardly (as shown in  FIG. 3B ) to be welded easily. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 4A ,  FIG. 4B  and  FIG. 4C ,  FIG. 4A  is a rear view diagram illustrating the combinative electrical connector,  FIG. 4B  is a cross-section diagram indicated by the section lines of A-A in  FIG. 4A , and  FIG. 4C  is a cross-section diagram indicated by the section lines of B-B in  FIG. 4A . As shown in  FIG. 4B , the locations of the terminals  202  of the terminal component and the grounding component are illustrated clearly, wherein the wedging portions  206  of the terminals  202  are wedged into the insulating housing  400  and the contacting portions  204  of the terminals  202  are exposed outside the insulating housing  400  to contact with the terminals of the male connector. When the male connector is inserted into the electrical connector  100 , the loading forces of the contacting portions between the grounding component and the terminal component are equal due to the locations of the cantilevers  320  corresponding to the locations of the terminals. Wherein, the grounding component is buckled with the insulating housing  400  by the use of the elastic pieces  324  which then contact with the inner wall of the metal shell  500  to achieve the grounding effect. After inserting the male connector, the terminals of the male connector contact the terminals  202  of the electrical connector  100  by one to one, and the metal shell  500  of the male connector electrically contact with the cantilevers  320  of the electrical connector  100  to reach the grounding effect by the elastic pieces  324  which then contact with the inner wall of the metal shell  500 . Wherein a complete grounding circuit is constructed among the male connector, the terminals  202  of the terminal component and the cantilevers  320  of the grounding component, to obtain a good electromagnetic shield and effectively filtrate the noise interference. On the other hand,  FIG. 4C  clearly illustrates the combinative status of the metal shell  500  and the insulating housing  400 , wherein the insertions are extended from the top surface  502  and the bottom surface  504  of the metal shell  500  to respectively be inserted into the grooves  420  of the insulating housing  400  and then fixed on the insulating housing  400 . 
     Accordingly, one of the characteristics in the present invention is to insert the grounding component with insertions into the insulating housing from the front of the insulating housing, wherein the supporting rib can strengthen the structure intensity of the grounding component and the number of the supporting rib can depend on the width and the material thickness of the grounding component. One characteristic of the present invention is to make the solder terminals of the metal shell respectively have winding portions bended in a tilting angle to increase the welding area depending on tilting angle, wherein the winding portion can be winded upwardly or downwardly according to the welding location. Besides, one characteristic of the present invention is to make the two short sides of the periphery of the partner-fitting portion of the metal shell bended backwardly to form a guiding portion with chamfer type to guide the male connector buckling with the electrically connector without any obstruction. 
     Besides, in the prevent invention, the grounding component can also be designed as one-piece type with good holding intensity, please refer to  FIG. 5  and  FIG. 6 , which are two disassembling structure diagrams illustrating the electrical connectors in different angles of views in accordance with another embodiment of present invention. An electrical connector  7  includes a insulating housing  70 , a terminal component  80 , a grounding component  90  and a metal shell  101 . The insulating housing  70  with “┐” shape approximately has a top surface  702 , a bottom surface  704  (shown in  FIG. 5 ) and a back surface  706  with a plurality of inserted holes  708  arranged thereon. Two fixed arms  710  are respectively formed on two sides of the insulating housing  70 , and two fixed holes  711  respectively are formed on the backs of two fixed arms  710 . The terminal component  80  includes a plurality of terminals  802  made by punching a metal piece, and every terminal  802  includes a contacting portion  804 , a wedging portion  806  and a welding portion  808 , wherein the wedging portion  806  is wedged into the inserted hole  708  to combine with the insulating housing  70 . The grounding component  90  includes a main axis  902 , a plurality of cantilevers  904  and two side arms  906 , wherein, the indentations  908  are formed on the front edge of the main axis  902 , the cantilevers  904  extends from the front edge of the main axis  902  between two adjacent indentations  908 , two side arms  906  are respectively arranged on two opposite ends of the main axis  902 , and the back of each side arm  906  stretches a welding piece. Further, by respectively wedging two side arms  906  into the fixed holes  711  of the fixed arms  710  of the insulating housing  70 , the grounding component  90  is combined with the insulating house  70 , and then the locations of the terminals  802  of the terminal component  80  correspond to the locations of the cantilevers  904  in the insulating house  70 . The metal shell  101  partly covers the grounding component  90  and the insulating housing  70  to expose the welding portions  808  of the terminals  802 , in order to make the welding portions  808  be welded on the PCB (not shown) easily. Furthermore, a plurality of interfering pieces  1014  corresponding to the indentations  908  are formed on the lower edge of rear of the metal shell  101 , and when the metal shell  101  covers the grounding component  90 , the interfering pieces  1014  interfere with the indentations  908  to strengthen the fabrication intensity of the grounding component  90  with the metal shell  101 . 
     Continuously, the grounding component  90  is made by punching a metal piece, and the insulating housing  70  is made of the plastics. A plurality of guiding grooves  712  are formed on the bottom surface  704  of the insulating housing  712  (shown in  FIG. 6 ) and correspond to the inserted holes  708 . The terminals  802  of the terminal component  80  are guided along the guiding grooves  712  to wedge the wedging portions  806  of the terminals  802  into the inserted holes  708  and the contacting portions  804  of the terminals  802  are placed at the guiding grooves  712  to contact with the terminals of the male connector. Besides, a plurality of grooves  714  are formed on the top surface  702  of the insulating housing  70  and a plurality of insertions  1012  corresponding to the grooves  714  are formed on the upper edge of rear of the metal shell  101 . 
     Wherein, two solder terminals  1016  are respectively extend outwardly from two sides of the top surface of the metal shell  101 , and every solder terminal  1016  has a winding portion  1018  bended in a tilting angle which is between 45 degrees to 60 degrees, and a long hole  1020  is formed on the winding portion  1018 . The winding portion  1018  and the long hole  1020  are used to increase the welding area to make the solder terminal  1016  be welded on the PCB with high stability. Besides, the solder terminal  1016  can be arranged in the middle of the metal shell  101  or over the metal shell  101  depending on the welding demand of the solder terminal  1016 . The winding portion  1018  of the solder terminal  1016  also can be winded upwardly or downwardly to be welded easily. 
       FIG. 7A  is a three-dimension diagram illustrating the combinative electrical connector and  FIG. 7B  is a cross-section diagram indicated by the section lines of D-D in  FIG. 7A . As shown in  FIG. 7A , the metal shell  101  of the electrical connector  7  partly covers the grounding component  90  and the insulating house  70  to expose the portions of the terminals  802  to be welded on the PCB (not shown) easily. Wherein, as shown in  FIG. 7B , two side arms  906  of the grounding component  90  are inserted into the fixed holes  711  from the front of the insulating housing  70  to combine the grounding component  90  with the insulating housing  70 . Please refer to  FIG. 8A ,  FIG. 8B ,  FIG. 8C ,  FIG. 9A  and  FIG. 9B  at the same time, as shown in  FIG. 8A , the terminals  802  are fixed within the insulating housing  70  and the welding portions  808  are exposed outside the insulating housing  70  to be welded on the PCB (not shown). The grounding component  90  is combined with the insulating housing  70  by the uses of two side arms  906 , and the cantilevers  904  are within the insulating housing  70  and correspond to the terminals  802 . Furthermore, as shown in  FIG. 8C , the interfering pieces  1014  are inserted into the indentations  908  of the grounding component  90 , and as shown in  FIG. 9B , the insertions  1012  of the metal shell  101  are respectively inserted into the grooves  714  of the insulating housing  70 , in order to make the combinations of the metal shell  101 , insulting housing  70  and the grounding component  90  with good holding intensity. 
     Furthermore, when the male connector is inserted into the electrical connector  7 , the loading forces of the contacting portions between the grounding component  90  and the terminal component  80  are equal due to the locations of the cantilevers  904  corresponding to the locations of the terminals  802 , to avoid the unequal force causing the component damage which results the shortness of the life period of the electrical connector  7 . Besides, the terminals  802  of the electrical connector  7  contact the terminals of the male connector by one to one, and the cantilevers  904  of the grounding component  90  contact with the metal shell of the male connector to reach the ground and obtain grounding effect. 
     To sum up, the present invention can achieve the purpose of facilitate the fabrication by inserting the grounding component from the front of the insulating housing to simplify the fabrication process. Furthermore, in order to effectively filtrate the noise interference and have good grounding effect, the cantilevers of the grounding component are arranged to correspond to the terminals of the electrical connector to ensure the signal transmission of the grounding circuits with high speed. Furthermore, the loading forces on the male connector are equal due to the cantilevers corresponding to the terminals, to avoid the unequal force causing the component damage which results the shortness of the life period of the electrical connector. Besides, by the design of the supporting rib, the structure intensity of the grounding component is strong enough to overcome the bend production in the middle of the grounding component due to its too wide and too thin design, and so as to not affecting the grounding effect in the middle of the grounding component, Besides, the supporting rib not only strengthens the structure intensity of the grounding component, but also ensures that the grounding component and the terminal component still have the good grounding effect in the limited design space. Furthermore, in the present invention, the winding portions of the solder terminals and the long hole on the winding portions are used to increase the welding area to make the solder terminal be welded on the PCB with high stability. Besides, the grounding component with one-piece type has the characteristics of simple and thin structure, not only to have the advantages of the simple fabrication and materials decrease, but also to decrease the setting space to fit the micro demand of the electrical connector. Besides, the interference effect between the grounding component and the metal shell increases due to the design of the indentations on the main axis of the grounding component to make the grounding component in the electrical connector with good holding intensity. 
     Although the present invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that other modifications and variation can be made without departing the spirit and scope of the invention as hereafter claimed.