Electrical connector with improved housing background of the invention

An electrical connector is provided and includes a housing having a pair of side walls defining a plurality of terminal grooves therein and a bottom wall connecting with said side walls and defining a top face facing upward. A plurality of terminals are received in said terminal grooves, each comprising a retaining portion and a contacting portion extending from the retaining portion, said contacting portion having a connecting portion cantilevered above said top face. The bottom wall defines a plurality of through holes running therethrough along a vertical direction and facing to an end of the connecting portion which is far away from the retaining portion, and said top face of the bottom wall extends slantwise from the through hole to the side walls therefore places adjacent to the through hole are lower than those adjacent to the side walls in said vertical direction.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector having a housing for securing a plurality of terminals therein.

2. Description of the Related Art

TW Patent No. M302787 issued to ENTERY INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. on Dec. 11, 2006 discloses a board to board connector assembly including a receptacle connector and a plug connector. The receptacle connector includes an insulative housing defining a receiving room therein for receiving said plug connector and a tongue plate with a plurality of terminal grooves therein disposed in, said receiving room. A plurality of terminals are secured in said terminal grooves, each of which comprises a retaining portion fixed in the insulative housing, an U shaped contacting portion extending from the retaining portion and disposed in said receiving room, and a solder portion projecting out of the insulative housing.

As the terminal grooves are running through the insulative housing along a vertical direction for allowing the terminals to be inserted thereinto directly from a bottom face of the insulative housing, which is benefit for reducing the height of the receptacle connector, while, if the height of the insulative housing is reduced, the rigidity of the insulative housing is simultaneously weakened and not advantageous for manufacturing. There is also another problem, the U shaped contacting portion needs a deflectable space when mating with the plug connector, which ask for the insulative housing to increase its height, obviously, that is not the industry wanted. Under this condition, an improved board to board connector assembly is highly desired to overcome the aforementioned problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector adapted for the miniaturization trend and still keeping rigidity of the insulative housing.

In order to achieve the object set forth, An electrical connector is provided and includes a housing having a pair of side walls defining a plurality of terminal grooves therein and a bottom wall connecting with said side walls and defining a top face facing upward. A plurality of terminals are received in said terminal grooves, each comprising a retaining portion and a contacting portion extending from the retaining portion, said contacting portion having a connecting portion cantilevered above said top face. The bottom wall defines a plurality of through holes running therethrough along a vertical direction and facing to an end of the connecting portion which is far away from the retaining portion, and said top face of the bottom wall extends slantwise from the through hole to the side walls therefore places adjacent to the through hole are lower than those adjacent to the side walls in said vertical direction.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe a preferred embodiment of the present invention in detail. Referring toFIGS. 1 and 2, an electrical connector100made according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is provided and mounted onto a printed circuit board (not shown) for mating with a plug connector200.

Referring toFIGS. 2 and 3, the electrical connector100comprises an elongated housing20, a plurality of conductive contacts30retained in the housing20and a pair of retaining plates40assembled on opposite ends of the housing20. The housing20has a pair of opposite side walls21extending along a longitudinal direction, a pair of end walls22connecting with the side walls21and a bottom wall23located under said side walls21and end walls22thereby defining a mating cavity25therebetween for receiving said plug connector200. A plurality of terminal grooves26are defined in said mating cavity25for receiving said conductive contacts30. A tongue plate24extends upward from said bottom wall23of the housing20and projects into the mating cavity25. A plurality of passageways241recess inwardly from opposite side surfaces of the tongue plate24and are staggered with each other along the longitudinal direction. In addition, a plurality of through holes231are defined under the tongue plate24and run through the bottom wall23along a vertical direction to be in communication with the corresponding passageways241, which provides an exit for the die during the molding process.

The bottom wall23is helpful for improving the rigidity of the housing20and comprises a horizontal top face232facing the mating cavity25and a bottom face233opposite to the top face232. Each of the side walls21has an inner face211perpendicular to the printed circuit board on which the electrical connector is mounted. The top face232of the bottom wall23is slantwise arranged and divided into two parts by the through holes231, wherein each part is at an angle above 90.degree. with respect to the corresponding inner face211. Particularly pointed out that, places of the top face232adjacent to the inner face211are higher than those adjacent to the through holes231in the vertical direction, that means the top face232of the bottom wall23is configured as a bowl shaped and not parallel with the horizontal bottom face233.

Referring toFIG. 3, each conductive contact30has a retaining portion31fixed in the side wall21, a contacting portion32extending from the retaining portion31and projecting into the mating cavity25, and a solder portion33extending out of the housing20from the retaining portion31. The contacting portion32comprises a first bending portion321, a connecting portion322extending upwardly from the first bending portion321and a second bending portion323connecting with the connecting portion322and bending inwardly thereby forming an U shaped configuration. The connecting portion322is cantilevered above the bottom wall23with its outermost end located above the through hole231, and the second bending portion323is received within the corresponding passageway241with a free end bent downwardly to form a second contacting point325protruding into the mating cavity25. The first bending portion321also forms a first contacting point324facing to the second contacting point325so as to electrically contact with a mating plug200together with the second contacting point325.

Referring toFIGS. 4 and 5, when the electrical connector100is mating with the mating plug200, the contacting portion32of each conductive contact30moves toward the bottom wall23about an end of the retaining portion31, and the connecting portion322which is adjacent to the bottom wall23needs a large deflectable space. As described above, the places of the top face232adjacent to the inner face211are higher than those adjacent to the through holes231, therefore the space between the upwardly extending connecting portion322and the top face232becomes larger and larger from the places adjacent to the inner face211to those adjacent to the through holes231. In addition, the end of the connecting portion322is located above the through hole231, which provides the connecting portion322a much larger deflectable space. When the electrical connector100is mounted onto the printed circuit board, the solder portions33and the bottom face233of the bottom wall23engage with the PCB thereby securing the electrical connector100onto the PCB fixedly.

In the present invention, the slantwise bottom wall23increases the rigidity of the housing20and simultaneously provides the deflectable space for the conductive contacts30, although the bottom wall23may increase somewhat the height of the electrical connector100, the height can be ignored when the angle between the top face232and the inner face211becomes sharply.