Electrical connector with improved shielding plate

An electrical connector includes a terminal module including an insulating housing, a plurality of terminals and a shielding plate. The insulating housing defines a base and a mating tongue extending from the base, the mating tongue defines opposite mating surfaces, a front face and opposite side faces connecting with the mating surfaces and the front face. The terminals include contacting sections exposed upon the mating surfaces and leg sections out of the base. The shielding plate is embedded in the insulating housing and includes a main portion disposed between the mating surfaces and two thickened side portions, the side portions enclose opposite side faces of the mating tongue and each provides a side latch at an outer side face thereof. The side portions extend forward to the front face of the mating tongue and rearward to the base.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an electrical connector with an improved shielding plate and the improve shell.

2. Description of Related Art

CN Patent Issued No. 203859275U disclose a USB Type C connector which includes a first terminal module, a second terminal module and a shielding plate sandwiched between the first and second terminal modules to electrically isolate the first and second terminals. The shielding plate forms a cutting surface at lateral sides thereof which are defined as side latches. The shielding plate has a thickness less than 0.02 mm. It is believed that the side latches of the shielding plate will scrap a pair of plug latches of a mating connector. Moreover, the plug latch will wear the insulating mating tongue fitly surrounding the terminals and the shielding plate.

In view of the above, an improved electrical connector is desired to overcome the problems mentioned above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a an electrical connector with an improved shielding plate.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made to the drawings to describe a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure in detail.

Referring toFIGS. 1 and 2illustrating a low profile electrcia connector100which is a receptacle connector mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB, not shown) assembled in an electronic equipment (not shown), for being inserted with a plug connector (not shown). The receptacle connector100comprises a casting outer case1, a pair of shielding sheets2fixed on the case1and a terminal module3retained in the case1.

Referring toFIGS. 3 and 4, the terminal module3includes a base31and a mating tongue32extending forward from the base31. The case1includes a vertical base wall11and two side walls12extending forward from two lateral sides of the base wall11, the base wall11defines a retained slot111through which the terminal module3goes. Please notes, there is no upper and lower walls connecting between the two side walls12. The shielding sheets3cover on the upper and lower sides of the side walls12and the base wall11, so as to commonly define a mating cavity101(labeled inFIG. 1), the mating tongue32extending into the mating cavity101and the insides121of the side walls12are in an arc-sharp which is comply with the definition of USB Type-C specification. The shielding sheets2are laser-soldered to the case1and the case1is made via metal injection molding process thereby getting a good strength. The case1without any upper and lower wall around the mating port will reduce occupancy of the case in the electronic equipment in a vertical direction. Notably, the electrical connector is located around the edge portion of the cellular enclosure which is relative thinner than the main portion of the cellular enclosure. The separate shielding sheets2assembled to the case1overcome leakage of magnetism. In this preferred embodiment, the two shielding sheets2are pre-positioned in shallow recess13defined on the case1and then laser-welded to the case1. And then the terminal module3is inserter forward through the retained slot111. Alternatively, the shielding sheets2are welded after the terminals module3is inserted.

The case1further defines mounting wings14horizontally extending outward from the lower edges of the outer sides of the side walls12and two vertical ribs15on each the upper face of mounting wings14. Each of mounting wings14defines a through hole16between the two ribs15, a retaining element such as screws (not shown) can retain the case1in the electronic equipment via the through holes16. The case1further defines an upper wall161and two side walls162extending rearward from the base wall11, so as to define a receiving cavity160thereamong in which the base31is retained and received as best shown inFIG. 2.

Referring toFIGS. 5 and 6, the terminal module3comprises an insulative housing30, conductive terminals40, a shielding plate50and a pair of shielding collars60. The housing30includes the base31and mating tongue32defining two opposite mating surfaces321and a front face322and two side faces323connecting with the mating surfaces321and the front face322. The terminals40includes contacting portions41exposed upon the mating surfaces321and leg portions42extending out of the base31. Referring toFIGS. 9 and 10, the shielding plate50made of forging or die-casting, includes a main portion51and two side portions52at opposite lateral sides of the main portion51, the side portions52are thicker than the main portions51along the vertical direction perpendicular to the shielding plate50. The main portion51defines a longitudinal slot511running through a front area thereof, so that remaining portions512are defined between the longitudinal slot511and side portions52. The inside faces524of the two side portions corresponding to the longitudinal slot511has a lager distance than that between the inside faces525of other portions of the two side portions52. The main portion51includes a front area514located between the two side portions52and a rear area515behind the side portions52. The shielding plate is formed by die cast.

Referring toFIGS. 7 and 8, the side portions52defines rear wings54laterally protruding outward from a rear edge thereof. The terminals30consist of signal terminals, power terminals40P and grounding terminals40G, the grounding terminals40G are located at outermost position and have tabs43touching the corresponding lateral wings43. Meanwhile, the grounding terminals40G are located beside the side portions52and laterally contact the inside faces524,525of the side portions side-by-side. The terminals are categorized with a row of first terminal40aand a row of second terminals40b, the leg portions42aof the first terminals extend from the contacting portions and then bend downward, while the leg portions42blocated inside of the leg portions42a, are in a same level of the contacting portions41bof the second terminals40b. The rear edges501of the side portions extend near to the leg portions42b.

Referring toFIG. 6, each side portion52defines opposite mating faces521which construct parts of the mating surfaces321of the mating tongue32thereby complete the mating surfaces321, and an outer side face522connecting with the mating faces521. The side portions52define side latches53at the outer side faces522. As best shown inFIG. 11, the side portions52extend forward to the front face322and rearward to the base31, the lateral wings54laterally protrude the base31. Meanwhile, a boss portion56laterally protrudes from each side portion52. The upper face561of the boss portion56are lower than the upper face of the side portions52, while the lower faces562of the boss portion56and the side portions are located at a same plane. The upper face561avoids interfering with ends of the collar60.

Referring toFIGS. 5 and 6, the mating tongue32defines a thickened portion33at a root thereof near the base31, and the pair of collars60surrounding the outer periphery of the thickened portion33and the boss portions56contact the collars60. The upper collar61includes a cover portion611, a rear wall613covering the rear face of the base31as shown inFIG. 4and a connecting portion612connecting with the cover portion611and the rear wall613. The lower collar62includes a cover portion621and a touching portion622extending rearward from the cover portion. Combination withFIG. 2, the touching portion622stick the inside face of the retaining slot111of the base wall11, so that a grounding trace is form between the touching portion622and the case1. The two cover portions611,621define locking holes615and locking dimples625which two are engaged with each other at opposite ends thereof, and the boss portions56are locked in opposite recesses of the locking dimples624as best shown inFIG. 11. Therefore, the pair of collars60is retained around the thickened portion33. Combination withFIG. 2, the leg portions of the two rows are located in a same plane to be mounted on the printed circuit board.

Referring toFIG. 12, the shielding plate50and the row of second terminals40binitially are molded in a first insulator30avia a first inserting molded process, and successively the row of first terminals40aare assembled on the upper surface of the first insulator30a. Since the thickened side portions52is strong and long enough to support the first insulator30awithout risks of self-twisting which may happen in the traditional stamped/planar type shielding plate. This is especially true when the shielding plate is required to form some openings for allowing to be insert-molded with the contacts in the first insulator. The traditional stamped/planar type shielding plate may tend to be deflected during manufacturing if many holes are formed in the shielding plate for consideration of insert-molding with the contacts within the insulator. The first insulator30aconsists of a front part301and a rear part302since resin materials are filled in from two points in the front and rear direction and through slots57opened in the shielding plate50. The upper face of the first insulator defines three rows of ribs303thereon and the rear part302defines a post304at a front edge thereof. And then, a second insulator30bare molded to surround the row of first terminals40aand the first insulator30a, thereby commonly forming the insulating housing30as shown inFIG. 5. The shielding collars60are assembled on the insulating housing30thereby forming the terminals module3as shown inFIG. 3. Lastly, the terminal module3is assembled in the metallic case1thereby forming the receptacle connector100. As understood, the case1is made of die-casting or metal injection molding with thickened structures for superior rigidity thereof. Anyhow, on one hand, the height of the whole connector is a concern for use within a cellular phone so as to remove the top wall and the bottom wall around the mating port; on the other hand, the EMI shielding should be complete so as to provide the relatively thinner shielding sheet2attached thereto to replace the originally removed top wall and bottom wall Therefore, another feature of the invention is to have the case made of metal injection molding or die-casting and equipped with additional opposite shielding sheets on the top and the bottom to form a hybrid type case, i.e., the die-casting of the case itself and the stamping of the shielding sheet.

While preferred embodiment in accordance with the present disclosure has been shown and described, equivalent modifications and changes known to persons skilled in the art according to the spirit of the present disclosure are considered within the scope of the present disclosure as defined in the appended claims.