Electrical connector

An electrical connector in accordance with the present invention comprises an upper connector including an upper housing which defines an elongated first receiving slot and has a heighten portion below the receiving slot and a plurality of contacts retained in the upper housing, and a lower connector including an lower housing defining a second receiving slot and a plurality of contacts retained in the lower housing. The lower housing has a plurality of protruding portions on a rear surface thereof, the protruding portions face to a front surface of the heighten portion of the upper housing to space two adjacent rows of contacts respectively extending out from the upper housing and the lower housing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is generally related to an electrical connector, and especially to a double deck electrical connector soldered to a print circuit board and used for accommodating secondary print circuit boards, e.g., daughter board.

2. Description of Related Art

Most of double deck connectors for accommodating secondary print circuit boards (daughter board) existing in the prior arts includes an upper connector and a lower connector inserted into and occupy a lower space of the upper connector along a front-to-back direction so as to engaging with two secondary print circuit boards.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,821,144 discloses such an electrical connector described above, the electrical connector comprises an upper housing with an upper receiving slot for an insertion of an upper module, a lower housing with a lower receiving slot for an insertion of a lower module and a plurality of contacts arranged in parallel in the upper and lower receiving slots for electrically connecting with corresponding conductive contact pads of the modules. The lower housing is retained to the upper housing by being inserted into an opening space recessed rearward from a front surface of a lower portion of the upper housing. The contacts have tails extending out of bottom surfaces of corresponding housings and arranged in rows, each having a solder ball for being soldered to a print circuit board (mother board). Since the tails of two adjacent rows of the contacts respectively retained in the lower housing and the upper housing are very close to each other, when the lower module is inserting into the lower receiving slot by a strong force and pushes the lower housing move toward the upper housing, especially when the fasting means between the housings are not steady, it is easily for the two adjacent rows of the tails to touch with each other, that may cause shot circuit and influence a normal working of the modules.

Hence, an improved connector is highly desired to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a double deck connector, which can prevented shot circuit between contacts.

To achieve the above object, an electrical connector comprises an upper connector, a lower connector assembled to the upper connector from a front side of the upper connector and a plurality of protruding portions. The upper connector includes an upper housing which defines an elongated first receiving slot and having a heightening portion below the first receiving slot, and a plurality of contacts retained in the upper housing. The lower connector includes a lower housing defining a second receiving slot and a plurality of contacts retained in the lower housing. All the contacts have contact portions correspondingly arranged in the first and the second receiving slots and tails extending out of bottom surfaces of the heightening portion and the lower housing in rows. The protruding portions are disposed between the lower housing and the heighten portion of the upper housing.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will be drawn from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the present invention with attached drawings:

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring toFIG. 1, an electrical connector1in accordance with the present invention is a double deck connecter including a lower connector2and an upper connector3for accommodating two modules (not shown), simultaneity.

Referring toFIGS. 3-4, the lower connector2comprises a lower housing20, which defines an elongated first receiving slot200for one of the modules inserting on a front surface (not labeled) thereof, a plurality contacts21mounted within the lower housing20. The lower housing20has a pair of first latching arms22horizontally and forwardly extending from opposed ends thereof to fasten the module (not shown) inserted into the first receiving slot200, and forming a clump230on a rear of the first latching arms22for engaging with the upper connector3. Each contacts21has a contact portion210arranged in a side of the first receiving slot200for electrically contacting with the module (not shown), a tail211extending out of a bottom surface of the lower housing20for being soldered to a print circuit board (not shown) and a retaining portion212linking the contacting portion210and the tail211and retained in the lower housing20to mount the contact21to the lower housing20.

The lower housing20has a rear surface201opposed to the front surface (not labeled). A plurality of protruding blocks202with a same height are provide in four groups along an elongated direction on the rear surface201, and define a plurality of groove2020between two adjacent protruding blocks202in a same group for corresponding contacts21passing through to insert into the lower housing20from the rear surface201. And a recess203is defined on a bottom edge of the rear surface201.

The upper connector3includes an elongated upper housing30and a plurality of contacts31mounted within the insulating housing30. The upper housing30comprises a heightened main body (not labeled) having a second receiving slot300for the other module (not shown) recessed from an upper part of a front surface of the main body, and a pair of side wall32extending forwardly from two opposed ends of the main body (not labeled). A lower part of the main body is a heightening portion301which make the upper housing30higher than the lower housing20and define a space (not labeled) below the second receiving slot300for accommodating a front part of the lower housing20. The heightening portion301has a projecting portion302on a bottom edge of a front surface thereof for engaging with the recess203of the lower housing20. The side walls32are formed with a pair of second latching arms320extending forwardly for latching two lateral sides of the module which is received in the second receiving slot300, and a pair of guiding slots321extending along a front-to-back direction in inner sides thereof for guiding an insertion of the lower connector2. The guiding slots321further pass through the upper housing30to define a pair of through holes3210on a rear surface of the upper housing20for engaging with the clump230of the lower housing20.

Each contacts31has a contacting portion310arranged in a side of the second receiving slot300for electrically contact with the module (not shown), a tail311extending out of a bottom surface of the heightening portion301of the upper housing30for being soldered to the print circuit board (not shown) and a retaining portion312linking the contacting portion310and the tail311and retained in the upper housing30to mount the contact31to the upper housing30.

When assembly, the lower connector2assembles to the upper connector3in a manner that the first latching arms22sliding along the guiding slot321toward the heighten portion301till the clumps230on the rear ends of the first latching arms22lock with the through holes3210on a rear surface of the upper connector3. A front part of the lower housing30is located in the space (not labeled) below the second receiving slot300, the protruding blocks202disposed on the rear surface of the lower housing20are face to or even abutting against the front surface of the heighten portion301. All the tails210,310of the contacts21,31are extending out of bottom surface of the housings20,30in several rows. When the module (not shown) inserts into the first receiving slot200, the lower housing20will be pushed toward the upper housing30, the protruding portions202between the housings20,30can prevent the lower housing20from further closing the heighten portion301of the upper housing30to protect two adjacent rows of the contacts21,31respectively mounted on the lower housing20and the upper housing30.

This is a preferred embodiment, otherwise, the protruding portions202may also be formed on the front surface of the heighten portion301of the upper housing30, instead of on the rear surface of the lower housing20. And the protruding portions202may be a separate member, instead of being formed integrally with the housing20(30), and be attached to the housing20(30) by colloid after the contacts21,31insert into the housings20,30.