Abstract:
A connector includes a housing that is formed of a first and second section (the two sections which may be interlocking pieces) and has a hollow interior that is filled with a set of terminals. The housing pieces have a complementary engagement rail and channel that allows the two sections to be joined together in a structurally acceptable manner.

Description:
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/122,102, filed Dec. 12, 2008, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates generally to connector housings, and more particularly to connector housings used for connectors with terminals supported by wafers. 
         [0003]    Connectors are well known in the art. As data rates have increased and stacked connectors have become more common, connectors have begun to utilize terminal assemblies that are inserted into a connector housing rather than single terminals stitched into the housing. These terminal assemblies often are formed as wafers that have a plastic frame that supports a plurality of conductive terminals. Thus, a connector may include a number of wafers supported by a housing. One problem encountered in the electronic industry is that the trend toward reducing the size of the electronic devices can lead to the use of connector housings that have reduced structural reliability. 
         [0004]    Connector housings tend to be molded from a plastic resin and at present, care must be taken to ensure that the housing walls are made thick enough to prevent the walls from warping or bowing and either complicating, or preventing all together the insertion of all of the terminal assemblies into the housing at once. If the walls are too thin, they tend to bow and thus reduce the dimensions of the housing interior to a point where the terminal assemblies can not be inserted as a mass but need to be inserted individually with pressure applied to the housing walls to counteract their bow. If tolerances are provided to allow the wafers to be inserted, then the position of the wafers with respect to the housing is difficult to control. Therefore, further improvements in the connector housing would be appreciated be certain individuals. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    A connector housing includes a first section and a second section that are configured to be joined together and provide a hollow interior cavity that can support a set of wafers. The first section includes a first and second card slot, the card slots configured to receive a paddle card from an opposing connector. Each wafer can be configured to provide a desired terminal configuration and the wafers can be positioned in a predetermined configuration. Each of the wafers includes a first and second terminal, the first terminal configured to extend to the first card slot and the second terminal configured to extend to the second card slot. The terminals each include a contact end that is received in terminal-receiving cavities formed in the card slots and a tail portion configured to be mounted on a circuit board. Each wafer can be configured to engage the first section so as to secure an orientation of a first portion of the wafer that supports the contact end. The second section is configured to be positioned around three sides of the set of wafers and helps support an orientation of a second portion of the wafers. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0006]    In the course of this detailed description, reference will be made to the attached drawings in which: 
           [0007]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an embodiment of a connector housing; 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the connector of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0009]      FIG. 3  is the same view as  FIG. 1  but with the two housing sections partially separated and a top of the first housing section removed for clarity; 
           [0010]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the first section of the connector housing of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0011]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the second section of the connector housing of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0012]      FIG. 6  is the same view as  FIG. 1 , taken from the rear with the two housing sections partially separated; 
           [0013]      FIG. 7  is the same view as  FIG. 6  but with the terminal assemblies removed for clarity; 
           [0014]      FIG. 8  is the same view as  FIG. 7  but with only the first section shown; and 
           [0015]      FIG. 9  is a perspective view of a second section, partially in section, illustrating the terminal assembly engagement pegs. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0016]    The detailed description that follows describes exemplary embodiments and is not intended to be limited to the expressly disclosed combination(s). The embodiments depicted below illustrate an embodiment of a connector housing with a first and second section that interlocks together. As can be appreciated, this can provide the benefit of reducing the occurrence of long, unsupported lengths in the housing so as to avoid bowing. Other benefits include the ability to facilitate mass production of the connectors by allowing the wafers in a connector to be inserted into the first section in a ganged manner (e.g., all at once) after being supported by the second section. Of course, the depicted design can provide various benefits, depending on its configuration and the selection of the partial features that are included will be based on design needs of the particular connector. Accordingly, the detailed description that follows is not intended to be limited to the illustrated embodiments but instead is intended to cover other combinations of features that are disclosed but might not be included in the particular combination for purposes of brevity. 
         [0017]      FIG. 1  illustrates a connector  20  having a housing  22  formed in two pieces, a first section  24  and a second section  25 . The connector  20 , as best shown in  FIG. 2 , includes a plurality of wafers  26  (e.g., a set of wafers  29 ) that are arranged in side-by-side order. Each wafer  26  supports a plurality of conductive terminals  28  that each include a contact portion  30 , a tail portion  31  and a body portion  32  interconnecting the contact and tail portions  30 ,  31  together. The terminals  28  are supported by a dielectric support  33 . The support  33  may include openings shown in the form of slots  34  that follow the path of the terminals  28  through the wafer  33 . 
         [0018]    The connector housing  22  is shown with two slots  38  into which edge cards (not shown) may be inserted. The slots  38  may extend forwardly of a front wall  41  as shown. The receptacle portions have a plurality of terminal grooves  39  formed on each side of the slots  38 . Each terminal groove  39  can receive a single contact portion  30  of a terminal  28 . Thus, for a connector with two slots that are each two sided, a wafer  26  can include two pairs of terminals, each pair being associated with one of the two slots. 
         [0019]    The terminals  28  in the set of wafers  29  can be configured so as to provide pairs of differential signal terminals with contact portions positioned in slots. This can be provided by having the terminals arranged in a ground, signal, signal arrangement with each terminal being position in a separate wafer and two or more pairs of signal terminals being positioned in each slot. In an embodiment, each wafer may be configured to only provide signal or ground terminals. 
         [0020]    As illustrated, the connector housing has a width W, a height H and a depth D. Connectors that provide two card slots tend to utilize a housing with a depth that is greater than the height. Therefore, the housing tends to need to have long walls, which are prone to warping and other post molding damage. In order to mold such a housing effectively, the walls of the housing tend to be molded relatively thickly. The depicted configuration, however, allows for a deep connector without requiring thick walls. 
         [0021]    The housing  21  can be seen to have a top wall  40 , a front wall  41 , two nose portions  42  that extend forwardly of the front wall  41 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , the housing further has a rear wall  43  that closes off an interior cavity or space  44 , that extends between the front and side walls  41 ,  43  and two opposing spaced apart side walls  45 ,  46 . 
         [0022]    As shown in  FIG. 3 , the engagement of the first and second section  24 ,  25  occurs along an irregular and non-linear engagement edge  53 . One potential advantage of such a configuration is the ability to distribute forces over an area. A more regular engagement edge, however, may also be used if desired. The first section  24  has a pair of channels  54   a,    54   b  formed in each of its two sidewalls. The channels  54   a,    54   b  are spaced apart from each other in the vertical direction with one channel  54   a  being a lower or bottom channel and the other channel  54   b  being an upper channel. 
         [0023]    The second section  25  has a pair of rails  55   a,    55   b  that mate with corresponding channels  545   a,    54   b.  The rails  55   a,    55   b  preferably include grooves  56  formed in their upper surfaces  57  and these grooves  57  may receive raised ribs (not shown) formed in the upper surfaces of the two channels  54   a,    54   b.  The rails  55   a,    55   b  (and corresponding channels  54   a,    54   b ) can have different lengths and need not be symmetrically located on both side walls  41 , 43 . The bottom channel rails have a length L 1  while the top channel and rail each have a length L 2  which is greater than L 1 . However, it is desirable that there is an intervening space, L B  interposed between the end of the upper channel  54   b  and the beginning of the lower channel  54   a.    
         [0024]    It should be noted, as can be appreciated from  FIG. 10 , if corresponding rails and channels are provided in a connector  120  that has a housing comprised of a first and second section  124 ,  125  and the first section  124  has two card receiving slots  138  that each have terminal grooves  129 , the first section  124  could have a rail  155   b  and a channel  154   a  and the second section  125  could have a rail  155   a  and a channel  154   b.  Thus, placing either the rail and/or channel on a particular side is not critical and can be modified as desired. In general, however, it is beneficial for the second section to be able to wrap around three sides of the wafer set. 
         [0025]    The depicted irregular nature of the mating edge is defined in part by a face  60  that extends (at an upward angle in the figures) between the two rails or channels. This face  60  intersects the axis of the rails or channels. The combination of the irregular shape of the mating face and the rails and channels helps allow the thickness of the housing to be reduced to between about 0.050 inches to 0.100 inches and in an embodiment can be 0.060 inch thick. 
         [0026]    Furthermore, the irregular nature of the mating face projects one part of the rear housing piece  51  forward, i.e. the lower part while moving the remaining part, the top part with a short length. This configuration reduces the unsupported length of the lower part. This can best be understood with reference to  FIG. 8 . The dashed line at “G” represents the inner surface of the top wall  40  and it can be seen that the side wall and the upper channel  54   b  extend for a short height or along where they are joined to the top wall. So the top part  80  of the side wall of the housing front piece has a short unsupported dimension. This short unsupported height extends for a good part-almost half of the top length G 1 . ( FIG. 8 .) That is, its height is small at the tailing edge of its mating edge. This short unsupported length is then not prone to bowing or warping of the molding. The leading edge of its mating edge that defines the lower part  81  of the housing front piece is also spaced closely to the inner surface R of the front wall  41  resulting in a short unsupported length G 2 . 
         [0027]    Similarly, as shown in  FIG. 9 , the second section also has an irregular mating face so that the side wall portions thereof have an unsupported length that is such that it does not bow or warp after molding. The rear wall  43  may have one or more registration lugs  90  disposed thereon and spaced apart from each other. These lugs can engage wafers with varying depth or can be configured to fit into notches  92  that are formed on the rear edges of selected terminal assembly wafers, such as wafers containing ground signals, in order to apply a pressure to the wafers and to control the set of wafer position with respect to the second section when the housing is assembled to ensure proper seating of the wafers in the connector housing. 
         [0028]    The difference in lengths (in the depth direction) of the top and bottom channels or rails can provide the longer channel with a depth sufficient to initially guide the housing rear piece into place. In an embodiment, the upper channel  54   b  has a length in the depth direction that is between about 5 to about 10 times longer than the length of the lower channel  54   a.    
         [0029]    The disclosure provided herein describes features in terms of preferred and exemplary embodiments thereof. Numerous other embodiments, modifications and variations within the scope and spirit of the appended claims will occur to persons of ordinary skill in the art from a review of this disclosure.