Abstract:
A Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) electrical connector extends a lateral rib and a longitudinal guiding portion from a base surface of an insulator. The insulator and the terminals have intimate engagements, for minimizing height and width of the entire structure. The electrical connector can be joined to another electrical connector for forming an electrical connector assembly.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This present application is a continuation of a U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/636,172, filed Dec. 11, 2009 now U.S. Pat. No. 8,133,070, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) electrical connector and its assembly, and more particularly, to a connector meet SATA standard and its assembly, suitable for high rate signal transmission and power transmission. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     A conventional electrical connector disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,331,122 includes an insulative housing, a plurality of conductive terminals received in the insulative housing, and a pair of fasteners attached to opposite side surfaces of the insulative housing. The insulative housing has a pair of guiding poles and a pair of fixing portions extending beyond opposite sides of the insulative housing. 
     However, this kind of electrical connector is of high height, and also of large width because of the pair of guiding poles. Therefore, for the electronic product of limited inner space, there is a need for improvement to satisfy user&#39;s requirement. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY 
     The present invention provides an SATA electrical connector, by means of extending a lateral rib and a longitudinal guiding portion from a base surface of an insulator, and flat portions of each terminal extending beyond corresponding slots of the lateral rib, forming a first electrical connector. 
     The present invention also provides an SATA electrical connector, by means of defining a lateral slot and a longitudinal guiding slot in an insulator, and resilient portions of each terminals protruding beyond internal slots of the insulator, and a metallic housing having a supporting portion, forming a second electrical connector. 
     The present invention further provides an SATA electrical connector assembly. When a first electrical connector is disposed to a second electrical connector, a longitudinal guiding slot of the second electrical connector guides a longitudinal guiding portion of the first electrical connector, resulting a lateral rib of the first electrical connector being accurately inserted into a lateral slot of the second electrical connector. 
     The advantage of the present invention is, when the electrical characteristic is remain unchanged, the insulator and the terminals of the electrical connector will have intimate engagements, and the guiding poles of the conventional SATA electrical connector can be omitted for minimizing height and width of the entire structure. 
     The another advantage of the present invention is, the width of the power supply terminal is smaller than the width of the signal terminal, and a distance between adjacent power supply terminals is smaller than a distance between adjacent signal terminals, for further minimizing the width of the electrical connector. 
     Accordingly, in one aspect, the present invention is to provide an SATA electrical connector comprising an insulator having a lateral rib protruding from a base surface, and a longitudinal guiding portion extending from one side of the lateral rib; a signal terminal group having a plurality of signal terminals, a flat portion of each signal terminal being inserted into a signal terminal hole of the insulator; a power supply terminal group having a plurality of power supply terminals, a flat portion of each power supply terminal being inserted into a power supply terminal hole of the insulator; a cable having a first wire group and a second wire group, wires of the first wire group and the second wire group being respectively connected to the signal terminals and the power supply terminals; and a metallic housing clasped to a base of the insulator, wherein the flat portions of the signal terminals protrude beyond signal terminal slots of the lateral rib, and the flat portions of the power supply terminal protrude beyond power supply slots of the lateral rib thereby minimizing height and width of the entire structure. 
     In another aspect, the present invention is to provide an SATA electrical connector comprising an insulator defining a lateral slot and a longitudinal guiding slot extending from the lateral slot; a signal terminal group having a plurality of signal terminals, the signal terminals being inserted into signal terminal holes of the insulator; a power supply terminal group having a plurality of power supply terminals, the power supply terminals being inserted into power supply terminal holes of the insulator; and a metallic housing covering around the insulator, the metallic housing having a supporting portion, wherein resilient portions of the signal terminals protrude beyond internal signal terminal slots of the insulator, resilient portions of the power supply terminal protrude beyond internal power supply slots of the insulator. 
     In still another aspect, the present invention is to provide an SATA electrical connector assembly comprising a first electrical connector with a cable and a second electrical connector disposed on a printed circuit board, insulators of the first and the second electrical connectors inserted a plurality of terminals, terminals of the first electrical connector being electrically connected to wires of the cable, terminals of the second electrical connector being electrically connected to conductive portions of the printed circuit board, wherein the insulator of the first electrical connector has a lateral rib and a longitudinal guiding portion, the lateral rib is disposed to a lateral slot of the second electrical connector, and the longitudinal guiding portion is disposed to a longitudinal guiding slot of the second electrical connector; the flat portions of the terminals of the first electrical connector protrude beyond terminal slots of the lateral rib, and the flat portions contact with the terminals of the second electrical connector; and the metallic housing of the first electrical connector has a fixing plate, the fixing plate is clasped to a locating projection of the metallic housing of the second electrical connector, the metallic housing of the second electrical connector has a supporting portion. 
     The further advantage of the present invention is that the fixing plate of the first electrical connector is clasped to the locating projection of the second electrical connector. The supporting portion of the second electrical connector supports the first electrical connector. Therefore, when the first electrical connector is pulled out from the second electrical connector, the first electrical connector and the second electrical connector are prevented from being damaged. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other features and advantages of the various embodiments disclosed herein will be better understood with respect to the following description and drawings, in which like numbers refer to like parts throughout, and in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic, three dimensional view of a first electrical connector of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded, three dimensional view of the first electrical connector of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a three dimensional view shown wire connections of the first electrical connector. 
         FIG. 4  is an exploded, three dimensional view of a second electrical connector of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic, three dimensional view of an insulator of the second electrical connector. 
         FIG. 6  is a three dimensional view of the second electrical connector but viewed from another aspect. 
         FIG. 7  is a three dimensional view shown an unassembled state of the first and the second electrical connectors. 
         FIG. 8  is a three dimensional view shown an assembly state of the first and the second electrical connectors. 
         FIG. 9  is a schematic view shown a usage state of the first electrical connector. 
     
    
    
     Attached four pictures show the exact size of an SATA electrical connector assembly with respect to a scale in centimeter. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 to 3 , a first connector  1  of the present invention includes an insulator  10 , a signal terminal group  20 , a power supply terminal group  30 , a cable  40 , and a metallic housing  50 . The insulator  10  has a lateral rib  12  protruding from a receiving space  112  of a base surface  110  to laterally form two opposed free ends  121 ,  124  beside the lateral rib  12 , and a longitudinal guiding portion  13  extending outside the lateral rib  12  from an outer side formed on an outer circumference of the lateral rib  12  to form a free end  131  opposite to the lateral rib  12 , wherein the guiding portion  13  is located between the signal terminal group  20  and the power supply terminal group  30 . The signal terminal group  20  has a plurality of signal terminals  21 , i.e., the first signal terminal, the second signal terminal, . . . , the seventh signal terminal. A flat portion  22  of each signal terminal  21  is inserted into a signal terminal hole  14  of the insulator  10 . The power supply terminal group  30  has a plurality of power supply terminals  31 , and a flat portion  32  of each power supply terminal  31  is inserted into a power supply terminal hole  15  of the insulator  10 . In addition, the lateral rib  12  has a long side surface  12   a  and the guiding portion  13  connects to the long side surface  12   a  of the lateral rib  12 , wherein the signal terminal holes  14  and the power supply terminal holes  15  are distributed along the long side surface  12   a  of the lateral rib  12  connected to the guiding portion  13 . The cable  40  has a first wire group  41  and a second wire group  42 . Wires of the first wire group  41  are respectively connected to the signal terminals  21  of the signal terminal group  20 , and wires of the second wire group  42  are respectively connected to the power supply terminals  31  of the power supply terminal group  30 . The metallic housing  50  is clasped to a base  11  of the insulator  10 . The metallic housing  50  has a fixing plate  51  at a front end, and two grounding plates  52  at opposite sides, and two through holes  56  for allowing pulling plates  57  passing through. The flat portions  22  of the signal terminals  21  protrude beyond signal terminal slots  122  formed on the outer side of the lateral rib  12 , and the flat portions  32  of the power supply terminal  31  protrude beyond power supply slots  123  formed on the outer side of the lateral rib  12 . The metallic housing  50  has a plurality of fastening plates  53 ,  54  for respectively clasping in indentions  113 ,  114  of the base  11  of the insulator  10 . The metallic housing  50  has a plurality of blocking plates  55  for respectively engaging with blocking portions  115  of the base  11  of the insulator  10 . Therefore, when the electrical characteristic is remain unchanged, the insulator  10 , the signal terminals  21  and the power supply terminals  31  have intimate engagements, and the height of the first electrical connector  1  is minimized to a mini SATA electrical connector. Furthermore, the longitudinal guiding portion  13  functions as the guiding structure, therefore, the guiding poles of the conventional SATA electrical connector can be omitted and the width of the first electrical connector  1  is accordingly minimized. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , in the signal terminal group  20  and the power supply terminal group  30 , the width of the power supply terminal  31  is smaller than the width of the signal terminal  21 , and a distance between adjacent power supply terminals  31  is smaller than a distance between adjacent signal terminals  21 , for further minimizing the width of the first electrical connector  1 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the insulator  10  has a grounding terminal  37 . A first extension portion  371  of the grounding terminal  37  is electrically connected to a bending portion  211  of the first signal terminal, while a second extension portion  372  of the grounding terminal  37  is electrically connected to a bending portion  214  of the fourth signal terminal, and a third extension portion  373  of the grounding terminal  37  is electrically connected to a bending portion  217  of the seventh signal terminal. The first wire group  41  has two pairs of signal wires  411  and a pair of grounding wires  412 . Wires of the second wire group  42  are power supply wires. The signal wires  411  are electrically and are respectively connected to bending portions  212 ,  213 ,  215 ,  216  of the second, the third, the fifth and the sixth signal terminals. The grounding wires  412  are electrically connected to the grounding terminal  37 . Furthermore, the insulator  10  has a receiving slot  17  for receiving the grounding terminal  37 , and a plurality of wire slots  18 ,  19  for locating the first wire group  41  and the second wire group  42 . In addition, wires of the second wire ground  42  are electrically and are respectively connected to bending portions  33  of the power supply terminals  31 . Thus, an excellent electrical connection between the signal terminal group  20 , the power supply terminal group  30  and the cable  40  is obtained. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 4 to 9 , in the second embodiment of the present invention, the first electrical connector  1  is joined to a second electrical connector  2 . The second electrical connector  2  includes an insulator  60 , a signal terminal group  70 , a power supply terminal group  80  and a metallic housing  90 . The insulator  60  defines a lateral slot  62  therein. A longitudinal guiding slot  63  extends from and communicates with the lateral slot  62 . The signal terminal group  70  has a plurality of signal terminals  71 , and each signal terminal  71  is inserted into a signal terminal hole  64  of the insulator  60 . The power supply terminal group  80  has a plurality of power supply terminals  81 , and each power supply terminal  81  is inserted into a power supply terminal hole  65  of the insulator  60 . The metallic housing  90  covers around the insulator  60 . The metallic housing  90  has a locating projection  91  at a front end, and a supporting portion  98  at a rear end. Resilient portions  72  of the signal terminals  71  protrude beyond internal signal terminal slots  66  of the insulator  60 , for contacting with the flat portions  22  of the signal terminals  21  of the first electrical connector  1 . Resilient portions  82  of the power supply terminal  81  protrude beyond internal power supply slots  67  of the insulator  60 , for contacting with the flat portions  32  of the power supply terminals  31  of the first electrical connector  1 . The metallic housing  90  has a plurality of fastening plates  95  for respectively clasping in indentions  615  of the insulator  60 . The insulator  60  has a plurality of blocking portions  613  for respectively received in fixing holes  93  of the metallic housing  90 . Thus, when the first electrical connector  1  is disposed to the second electrical connector  2 , the longitudinal guiding slot  63  guides the longitudinal guiding portion  13  of the first electrical connector  1 , resulting the lateral rib  12  of the first electrical connector  1  be accurately inserted into the lateral slot  62 . The grounding plates  52  of the first electrical connector  1  contact with the metallic housing  90  of the second electrical connector  2 . The fixing plate  51  of the first electrical connector  1  is clasped to the locating projection  91  of the second electrical connector  2 . The supporting portion  98  of the second electrical connector  2  supports the first electrical connector  1 . Therefore, when the first electrical connector  1  is pulled out from the second electrical connector  2 , the first electrical connector  1  and the second electrical connector  2  are prevented from being damaged. 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , in the signal terminal group  70  and the power supply terminal group  80 , the width of the power supply terminal  81  is smaller than the width of the signal terminal  71 , and a distance between adjacent power supply terminals  81  is smaller than a distance between adjacent signal terminals  71 , for further minimizing the width of the second electrical connector  2 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 6 and 7 , bending portions  73 ,  83  of the signal terminals  71  and the power supply terminals  81  are respectively welded to conductive portions P 1 , P 2  of a printed circuit board P. The insulator  60  has a plurality of locating posts  68 ,  681  for being inserted into locating holes P 3 , P 4  of the printed circuit board P. The metallic housing  90  has a plurality of bending portions  92  for being respectively welded to conductive portions P 5  of the printed circuit board P. 
     Referring to  FIG. 8 , the lateral rib  12  of the first electrical connector  1  has a locating block  126  at a rear side and an inner side surface of the insulator  60  of the second electrical connector  2  has a locating block  61  corresponding to the locating block  126 . When the first electrical connector  1  is disposed to the second electrical connector  2 , the locating block  61  limits the position of the locating block  126 , resulting the first electrical connector  1  and the second electrical connector  2  have a steady connection. 
     Referring to  FIG. 9 , in the third embodiment of the present invention, the other end of the cable  40  of the first electrical connector  1  is electrically connected to a standard SATA electrical connector  3 , cooperatively forming a transfer cable with a mini SATA electrical connector and a standard SATA electrical connector, facilitating connections between two electronic products. 
     The above description is given by way of example, and not limitation. Given the above disclosure, one skilled in the art could devise variations that are within the scope and spirit of the invention disclosed herein, including configurations ways of the recessed portions and materials and/or designs of the attaching structures. Further, the various features of the embodiments disclosed herein can be used alone, or in varying combinations with each other and are not intended to be limited to the specific combination described herein. Thus, the scope of the claims is not to be limited by the illustrated embodiments.