Abstract:
The present invention relates to an electrical connector structure, wherein the electrical connector structure according to the present invention includes: a housing, a plurality of electrical modules, and a plurality of LED modules, and the plurality of electrical modules and the plurality of LED modules are disposed in the housing. Moreover, the primary objective of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector structure, which reduces the difficulty of assembling and manufacturing costs for an electrical connector by improving the structure inside the electrical connector; moreover, the present invention increases the production efficiency and the safety of the product so as to improve the assembly quality and the process of production.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly, to an improvement of an electrical connector structure. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0004]    Nowadays, with the advancement of computer technology, laptop and desktop computers exist everywhere in our society, wherein the advancement of computer technology is major in improving the computing function, the speed, and the size of computer; moreover, the living, learning, working and recreation of human being have been led to a whole new level by connecting computer to internet, therefore, computer and internet play indispensable roles in modern life. 
         [0005]    Wherein electrical connector is the key for connecting computer to internet; with the advancement of computer technology, the size of electrical connector has been reduced significantly; moreover, with the growing demand of network transmission, electrical connectors have been developed into various forms to meet various requirements. For instance, hub is widely applied in various fields as one of productions that assemble multiple electrical connectors in the structure for providing users to create a local area network. 
         [0006]    However, conventional electrical connector or hub still has the following disadvantages: 
         [0007]    1. Conventional electrical connector disposes RJ terminals via the way of insert molding, however, resisted by bended structure of RJ terminals nowadays, the welding position of RJ terminals could be nowhere but on the center of PCB board; therefore, the space in the electrical connector could not be used efficiently such that the electrical connector could not be downsized. 
         [0008]    2. The pins of the capacitances of conventional electrical connector are pulled out and welded on the housing for grounding. In this kind of structure, the pins of the capacitances need to be aligned the welding holes of housing for completing the productive process, such that the time of assembly would be increased and the production efficiency would be seriously reduced. 
         [0009]    3. The LED terminals of conventional electrical connector are disposed between input terminals and position-limiting board, therefore, one more PCB board is needed to be disposed on the front side of electrical module for installing LED components and the pins of LED terminals since the position restrictions of the input terminals and the welding positions on PCB board, such that the difficulty and the cost of manufacturing electrical connectors are relatively high. 
         [0010]    4. The density of the electrical connector structure inside conventional hub is increase for installing more RJ terminal connectors; therefore, short circuit would easily occur when the RJ terminal modules are too close to each other, so as to cause problems of equipment damage and using safety. 
         [0011]    5. In the process of manufacturing conventional electrical connectors, a pair of LED fixed boards are combined and installed into the housing; in addition, a plurality of LED terminals is bent into a particular shape and installed top-down into the corresponding spaces of the combined LED fixed boards. In this way, the LED terminals need to be bent for many times for the particular shape, such that the production efficiency is reduced and the production cost is increased; moreover, the LED terminals are too long to install the combined LED fixed boards easily and result in the difficulty of assembling is increased. 
         [0012]    6. The supporting board with position-limiting holes of conventional electrical connector is designed for the electrical terminals of the electrical module, and the producer need to prepare another supporting board for the LED terminals of the LED module. Since the difference between the supporting boards, assembly errors and cracks easily occurred between adjacent supporting boards during assembling, therefore, the assembling quality would be reduced. 
         [0013]    Accordingly, in view of the conventional electrical connector still have some shortcomings and drawbacks, the inventor of the present application has made great efforts to make inventive research thereon and eventually provided an electrical connector structure. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0014]    The primary objective of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector structure, which reduces the difficulty of assembling and manufacturing costs for an electrical connector by improving the structure inside the electrical connector; moreover, the present invention increase the production efficiency and the safety of the product so as to improve the assembly quality and the process of production. 
         [0015]    Accordingly, to achieve the above objectives of the present invention, the inventor proposes an electrical connector structure, comprising: 
         [0016]    a housing, comprising at least one accommodating space and at least one receiving space, and the housing further comprising a back shielding cover and a position-limiting board disposed on the bottom thereof; 
         [0017]    at least one electrical module, being disposed in the at least one accommodating space corresponding to the at least one receiving space; and 
         [0018]    at least one LED module, being disposed in the at least one accommodating space; 
         [0019]    wherein each electrical module comprises: 
         [0020]    two PCB boards, being respectively formed with a plurality of welding notches; 
         [0021]    a terminal base, being disposed between the two PCB boards, and located on the front edge of the two PCB boards; 
         [0022]    a plurality of RJ terminals, being disposed on the upside and the downside of the terminal base, wherein one end of the plurality of RJ terminals are extended out of the two lateral sides of terminal base from the internal of the terminal base, and the other end of the RJ terminals being exposed out of the upside and the downside of the terminal base; 
         [0023]    a spacing block, being disposed on the front side of the terminal base; 
         [0024]    a plurality of capacitances, being disposed on the PCB boards, and located on the upper side of the two PCB boards, wherein the pins of the plurality of capacitances electrically connect to the PCB boards; 
         [0025]    a ground member, being disposed between the two PCB boards, and located on the back edge of the two PCB boards for electrically connecting to the back shielding cover; 
         [0026]    an electrical-terminal base, being disposed between the two PCB boards, and located on the lower edge of the two PCB boards; 
         [0027]    a plurality of electrical terminals, being disposed on the electrical-terminal base, wherein one end of the electrical terminals are extended downward and out of the electrical-terminal base, and passing through the position-limiting board so as to expose out of the housing; moreover, the other end of the electrical terminals are extended out of the electrical-terminal base and connected to the two PCB boards; 
         [0028]    at least one filter module is disposed between the two PCB boards; 
         [0029]    wherein each the LED module comprises: 
         [0030]    a plurality of LED components, being disposed on the two PCB boards, and located at the front edge of the two PCB boards; 
         [0031]    a plurality of light guiding members, being disposed in front of the plurality of LED components; 
         [0032]    at least one first terminal module, being disposed between two adjacent electrical modules, and each the first terminal module comprises a plurality of LED terminals; wherein one end of the LED terminals are respectively welded on the welding notches of the PCB boards, and the other end of the LED terminals are extended downward and out of the position-limiting board. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0033]    The invention as well as a preferred mode of use and advantages thereof will be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:: 
           [0034]      FIG. 1  is a stereo view of an electrical connector structure according to the present invention; 
           [0035]      FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the electrical connector structure; 
           [0036]      FIG. 3  is a stereo view of an electrical module of the electrical connector structure; 
           [0037]      FIG. 4  is a second stereo view of the electrical module; 
           [0038]      FIG. 5  is an exploded view of the electrical module; 
           [0039]      FIG. 6  is an assembly stereo view of a terminal base, RJ terminals and a spacing block of the electrical connector structure; 
           [0040]      FIG. 7  is an exploded view of the terminal base, the RJ terminals and the spacing block; 
           [0041]      FIG. 8  is a stereo view of the spacing block; 
           [0042]      FIG. 9  is a schematic assembly diagram of the electrical modules and terminal modules of the electrical connector structure; 
           [0043]      FIG. 10  is a stereo view of the first terminal module of a LED module of the electrical connector structure; 
           [0044]      FIG. 11  is a stereo view of the second terminal modules of the implemental embodiment of the second LED terminals; and 
           [0045]      FIG. 12  is a stereo view of a position-limiting board. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0046]    To more clearly describe an electrical connector structure according to the present invention, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings hereinafter. 
         [0047]    With reference to  FIG. 1 , there is shown a stereo view of an electrical connector structure according to the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the electrical connector structure  1  of the present invention includes a housing  11 , a plurality of electrical modules  12  and a plurality of LED modules  13 , wherein the plurality of electrical modules  12  and the plurality of LED modules  13  are disposed in the housing  11 . 
         [0048]    Please refer to  FIG. 2 , which illustrates an exploded view of the electrical connector structure. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the housing  11  comprises a base  116  having a plurality of accommodating spaces  111  and a plurality of receiving spaces  112 , wherein the receiving spaces  112  are located at the front side of the base  116  opposite to the accommodating spaces  111 . Moreover, the housing  11  further comprises a back shielding cover  113  disposed on the back side of the base  116 , a position-limiting board  114  disposed on the bottom of the base  116 , a front shielding cover  115  disposed on the front side of the base  116 , and an upper shielding cover  117  disposed on the base  116 . Besides, the back shielding cover  113 , the position-limiting board  114 , the front shielding cover  115 , and the upper shielding cover  117  are combined with each other and covered the base  116 , moreover, a plurality of light guiding holes  1161  are formed on the base  116  and a plurality of welding protrusions  1131  are formed on the internal wall of the back shielding cover  113 . Furthermore, the electrical modules  12  are disposed in the accommodating spaces  111  corresponding to the receiving spaces  112 , and the LED modules  13  are disposed in the accommodating spaces  111 , wherein the LED modules  13  are located in front of the electrical modules  12 . In addition, each the LED module  13  comprises a plurality of light guiding members  132 , and respectively embedded in the plurality of light guiding holes  1161 . 
         [0049]    Refer to  FIG. 3 ,  FIG. 4 , and  FIG. 5 , there are shown a stereo view, a second stereo view, and an exploded view of the electrical module  12 . As shown in  FIG. 3 ,  FIG. 4 , and  FIG. 5 , each electrical module  12  comprises two PCB boards  122  and two filter modules  121  disposed between the two PCB boards  122 , and each PCB board  122  has an extended portion  123  and a plurality of welding notches  124 . Moreover, the electrical module  12  further comprises a terminal base  125  disposed in front of the filter modules  121 , two capacitances  128  disposed above the filter modules  121 , a ground member  129  disposed behind the filter modules  121 , and an electrical-terminal base  12 A disposed under the filter modules  121 . According to the present invention, a spacing block  127  is disposed on the front side of the terminal base  125 , and a plurality of RJ terminals  126  are disposed on the upside and the downside of the terminal base  125 , wherein one end of the plurality of RJ terminals  126  are extended out of the two lateral sides of terminal base  125  from the internal of the terminal base  125 , and the other end of the RJ terminals  126  being exposed out of the upside and the downside of the terminal base  125 . Moreover, the end of the plurality of RJ terminals  126  connected to the two PCB boards  122 , and welded in a plurality of extended-portion welding holes  1231  formed on the extended portion  123 , in addition, the extended-portion welding holes  1231  are oppositely arranged to up-row welding holes and down-row welding holes on the two extended portions  123 . Therefore, the RJ terminals  126  can be avoided from being welded onto the center position of the PCB board  122  such that there would remained more space for disposing the filter modules  121 ; besides, the arrangement of the extended-portion welding holes  1231  would increase the space between the extended-portion welding holes  1231 , so as to improve the layout of the PCB boards  122 . 
         [0050]    Furthermore, the pins of the two capacitances  128  are respectively and electrically connected to the PCB boards  122 , and the two ends of the ground member  129  are formed with a plurality of ground pins  1291  and the back edge of the two PCB boards  122  are provided with a plurality of welding holes  1221 , such that the ground pins  1291  are respectively welded in the welding holes  1221 . Wherein a plurality of locating holes  1292  are formed on the ground member  129 , and the filter module  121  has a plurality of locating pillars  1211 , such that the ground member  129  is located on the plurality of locating pillars  1211  by the plurality of locating holes  1292 ; besides, the ground member  129  is connected to the welding protrusion  1131  by laser welding process. Through the designed structure of the capacitances  128  and the ground member  129  above, the assembly difficulty of the grounded structure of the capacitances  128  could be improved, such that the manufacturing cost of the electrical connector would be reduced. 
         [0051]    As shown in  FIG. 4 , each electrical module  12  further comprises a plurality of electrical terminals  12 B disposed on the electrical-terminal base  12 A, wherein one end of the electrical terminals  12 B are extended downward and out of the electrical-terminal base  12 A, and passing through the position-limiting board  114  so as to expose out of the housing  11 ; moreover, the other end of the electrical terminals  12 B are extended out of the electrical-terminal base  12 A and connected to the two PCB boards  122 . In addition, a LED extended portion  1222  is formed on the front edge of each of the PCB boards  122 , and the front edge of each LED extended portion  1222  is aligned the end of the light guiding member  132 , moreover, the LED components  131  are respectively located on the both sides of the LED extended portion  1222 . Therefore, the status of the LED components  131  could be displayed on the front side of the housing  11  by the light guiding member  132 , so as to avoid disposing an extra PCB board on the front side of the electrical module, further reduce the process and the cost of manufacturing the electrical connector. 
         [0052]    Then, please refer to  FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7 , there are shown a stereo view and an exploded view of a terminal base, RJ terminals, and a spacing block of the electrical connector structure. As shown in  FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7 , the plurality of RJ terminals  126  are disposed on the upside and downside of the terminal base  125  by way of mirror-symmetry arrangement, and the spacing block  127  is inserted into the front side of the terminal base  125  through a protrusion tongue  1271  thereof. Moreover, the terminal base  125  is consisted of a pair of L-shaped blocks  1252 , and each the L-shaped block  1252  having a L-shaped block locating hole  1253  and a L-shaped block locating pillar  1254 , wherein the L-shaped block locating pillar  1254  of one L-shaped block  1252  is embedded to the L-shaped block locating hole  1253  of the other one L-shaped block  1252 . Furthermore, each the L-shaped block  1252  further comprises a flange member  1255 , and the two flange members  1255  enclosing to a slot  1251  when the pair of L-shaped blocks  1252  are combined to the terminal base  125 , wherein the slot  1251  is located on the front side of the terminal base  125 . 
         [0053]    With reference to  FIG. 7  and  FIG. 8 , wherein  FIG. 8  shows a stereo view of the spacing block. As shown in  FIG. 7  and  FIG. 8 , a groove  1272  is formed around the root of the protrusion tongue  1271  for making the L-shaped blocks  1252  be partially embedded into the groove  1272 ; moreover, a slotted hole  1273  is formed on the front side of the spacing block  127 , and the bottom of the slotted hole  1273  is formed on the inserted tongue  1271 . Through the disposing of the spacing block between the RJ terminals, the adjacent RJ terminals can be avoided from occurring short circuit, so as to provide the function of protecting and improve the product safety. In addition, the deformation of the spacing block  127  under process of production could be avoid by the disposing of the slotted hole  1273  of the spacing block  127 , so as to improve the production quality. 
         [0054]    Refer to  FIG. 9  and  FIG. 10 , there are shown a schematic assembly diagram of electrical modules and terminal modules of the electrical connector structure and a stereo view of the first terminal module of a LED module of the electrical connector structure. As shown in  FIG. 9  and  FIG. 10 , each the LED module  13  further comprises a terminal module  133  disposed between two adjacent electrical modules  12 , wherein the first terminal module  133  comprises a pair of modeling half-boards  1331  and four LED terminals  134  partially embedded between the pair of modeling half-boards  1331 . Moreover, the upper ends of the adjacent LED terminals  134  are respectively bended to the lateral sides for welding on the welding notches  124  of the two adjacent electrical modules  12 , and the other end of the LED terminals  134  are extended downward and out of the position-limiting board  114 . Furthermore, the distance between the lower ends of two adjacent LED terminals  134  is greater than the distance between the upper ends of the two adjacent LED terminals  134 ; besides each the LED terminal  134  comprises an upper portion  1342 , a lower portion  1344  and a middle portion  1343  connecting with the upper portion  1342  and the lower portion  1344 , and a bent angle is formed between the upper portion  1342  and the lower portion  1344 . 
         [0055]    In addition, the four LED terminals  134  are orderly arranged on one lateral side of the filter module  121  from the back edge to the front edge of the lateral side, and the LED terminal  134  most close to the back edge of the lateral side of the filter module  121  having a η-shaped terminal  1341  on the lower end thereof; wherein the η-shaped terminal  1341  consists of one short pin and one long pin, moreover, the height of the long pin is equal to the height of the lower end of the other three LED terminals  134 , and height  1331  of the short pin is higher than the height of the lower end of the other three LED terminals  134 . 
         [0056]    With reference to  FIG. 9 , the electrical connector structure  1  further comprises two second terminal modules  135  disposed on the two inner lateral sides thereof, wherein each the second terminal module  135  comprises four second LED terminals  136  arranged on the other one lateral side of the filter module  121  from the back edge to the front edge of the lateral side. Moreover, one end of the two second LED terminal  136  most close to the back edge of the lateral side of the filter module  121  is bent to the a lateral side for welding on the welding notches  124  of the adjacent electrical module  12 , and the other end thereof is extended downward and out of the position-limiting board  114 . Furthermore, the second LED terminal  136  most close to the back edge of the lateral side of the filter module  121  having a ∩-shaped terminal  1361  on the lower end thereof; in addition, the height of the lower end of the second LED terminal  136  adjacent to the second LED terminal  136  having the ∩-shaped terminal  1361  being equal to the height of the ∩-shaped terminal  1361 , and the height of the lower end of the other two second LED terminals  136  is lower than the ∩-shaped terminal  1361 . 
         [0057]    Besides, the electrical connector structure of the present invention also includes a second embodiment for the second LED terminals. Please refer to  FIG. 11 , which illustrates a stereo view of the second terminal modules of second embodiment of the electrical connector structure. As shown in  FIG. 11 , the upper ends of the four second LED terminals  136  are bended to a lateral side for welding on the welding notches  124  of the adjacent electrical module  12 . In addition, the second LED terminal  136  most close to the back edge of the lateral side of the filter module  121  having a second η-shaped terminal  1362  on the lower end thereof; wherein the second η-shaped terminal  1362  consists of one short pin and one long pin, moreover, the height of the long pin is equal to the height of the lower end of the second LED terminal  136  most close to the front edge of the lateral side of the filter module  121 , and height of the short pin is equal to the height of the lower end of the other two second LED terminals  136 . 
         [0058]    Via disposing of the first terminal module  133  and the second terminal module  135 , so as to reduce the bending of the LED terminal  134  and the second LED terminal  136  for reducing the difficulty of LED terminals welding on the PCB board; furthermore, the difficulty and the cost of manufacturing the electrical connector would be further reduced. 
         [0059]    Please refer to  FIG. 12 , which illustrates a stereo view of a position-limiting board to the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 12 , the position-limiting board  114  comprises a plurality of position-limiting holes  1141  for respectively receiving the electrical terminals  12 B, the LED terminals  134 , and the second LED terminals  136 , wherein the entrance of each the position-limiting hole  1141  is formed with a guiding portion  1142 . Moreover, the position-limiting board  114  further comprises two locking posts  1143 , being respectively disposed on the two ends of the downside of the position-limiting board  114 , wherein each the locking post  1143  has a cylindrical end  1144 , and each of the cylindrical ends  1144  are formed with a separating slot  1145  and an arc-shaped buckle  1146 . Through the disposing of the position-limiting board  114 , the electrical terminals  12 B, the LED terminals  134 , and the second LED terminals  136  could be received; furthermore, the disposing of the guiding portion  1142  would improve the assembly efficiency of the position-limiting board  114 . Besides, the electrical connector structure  1  could be installed on the other equipment via the disposing of the locking posts  1143 . 
         [0060]    Through above descriptions, the constituting elements of the related technology features of the electrical connector structure of the present invention have been clearly and completely introduced; in summary, the present invention has the following advantages: 
         [0061]    1. Through the disposing of the extended portion of the PCB board, the RJ terminals can be avoided from being welded onto the center position of the PCB board; therefore, there would be remained more space for disposing the filter modules, so as to increase the internal space utility of the electrical connector structure. 
         [0062]    2. Through welding the pins of the capacitances on the PCB boards and disposing the ground member for connecting the PCB board and the back shielding cover, so as to replace the conventional way of directly pulling the pins of the capacitances out of the back shielding cover and welding the pins on the back shielding cover; therefore, the difficulty and the time of assembly would be reduced such that the production efficiency of the electrical connector would be improved. 
         [0063]    3. Through disposing the LED extended portion on the front edge of the PCB board and locating the LED components on the lateral sides of the LED extended portion, so as to replace the conventional way of installing one more PCB board on the front side of the electrical module for the disposing of the LED components; therefore, the difficulty and the cost of manufacturing the electrical connector would be reduced. 
         [0064]    4. Through the disposing of the spacing block between the RJ terminals, the adjacent RJ terminals can be avoided from occurring short circuit, so as to provide the function of protecting and improve the product safety. 
         [0065]    5. Through the disposing of the first terminal modules and the second terminal modules, so as to replace the conventional way of combining the repeatedly bent LED terminals with the LED fixing boards for installing them into the electrical connector; therefore, the difficulty and the cost of manufacturing the electrical connector would be further reduced. 
         [0066]    6. Through the disposing of the position-limiting board which is formed with position-limiting holes thereon for receiving electrical terminals and LED terminals, so as to replace the conventional way of respectively disposing the position-limiting holes on different supporting boards; therefore, the assembling errors would be avoided and the assembling quality would be improved. 
         [0067]    The above description is made on embodiments of the present invention. However, the embodiments are not intended to limit scope of the present invention, and all equivalent implementations or alterations within the spirit of the present invention still fall within the scope of the present invention.