Patent Publication Number: US-7914320-B2

Title: Cable connector assembly with sticky film

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention generally relates to a cable connector assembly, and more particularly to a cable connector assembly used for power transmission. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Nowadays, cable connector assemblies are widely used in an electronic equipment, especially for transmitting power, and the performance of the cable connector assembly directly impacts on the entire electronic equipment whether can normally run. 
     CN patent No. 201130761Y issued to Tang on Oct. 8, 2008 discloses a cable connector assembly, the cable connector assembly comprises an insulated housing, a flexible printed circuit board, a LED element and a light transmission member equipped on the flexible printed circuit board, and a cover enclosing the aforementioned elements. The flexible printed circuit board encloses the insulated housing, and the LED element is located on an outer side of the flexible printed circuit board, light from the LED element can pass through the light transmission member. The insulated housing is received in the cover, there will be a gap between the insulated housing and the cover inevitably, the light from the LED element will be diffused around, and the light through the gap on a front end of the insulated housing will pass through a receiving space of the cover, and the rest light passing through the light transmission member will be weaken, so it may be difficult for users to observe actual working status of the cable connector assembly. 
     Correspondingly, it is desired to have a cable connector assembly with improved shielding member to address the problems stated above. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a cable connector assembly having a sticky film to shield a gap between an insulative housing and a cover. 
     In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a cable connector assembly in accordance with the present invention comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts received in the insulative housing, a cable electrically connected with the contacts, a light guiding member, a cover enclosing the insulative housing and the cable, a LED covered by the light guiding member and a pair of films located between the LED and one side of the insulative housing. And the films are shielding a gap between the insulative housing and the cover. 
     Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an assembled, perspective view of a cable connector assembly; 
         FIG. 2  is a partially exploded, perspective view of the cable connector assembly; 
         FIG. 3  is similar to  FIG. 2 , but viewed from another aspect; 
         FIG. 4  is another partially exploded, perspective view of the cable connector assembly shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is an exploded, perspective view of the cable connector assembly shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 6  is similar to  FIG. 5 , but viewed from another aspect; 
         FIG. 7  is a partially exploded, perspective view of the cable connector assembly shown in  FIG. 4 ; and 
         FIG. 8  is a partially assembled, perspective view of the cable connector assembly with a film bending when assembled in a cover. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe the present invention in detail. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 5 , a cable connector assembly  100  in accordance with the present invention comprises an insulative housing  2 , a plurality of conductive contacts  3  assembled in the insulative housing  2 , a linking member  4  electrically connected with the contacts  3 , a flexible printed circuit board  5  with at least one Light Emitting Diode (LED)  55 A, a light guiding member  6  partially enclosing the flexible printed circuit board  5 , a cable  7  electrically connected with the linking member  4 , a cover and a pair of films  9  stuck on a rear face  230  of the insulative housing  2 . The cable  7  is enclosing by a metallic ring  81  and a strain relief member  82  to enhance the intensity thereof. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5-6 , the cover includes a front cover  11 , a contact cover  12  and a rear cover  13 . The front cover  11  is made from conductive material and capable of being attracted by a complementary connector. The front cover  11  comprises a rectangular body portion  110  and a pair of legs  112  protruding rearwards from a back face of the body portion  110  along a mating direction. A cavity  1102  is recessed from a front surface of the body portion  110  along a front-to-back direction, and the cavity  1102  comprises a first cavity  1103  in a front end thereof for receiving the complementary connector and a second cavity  1104  in a back end thereof, the first cavity  1103  is smaller than the second cavity  1104  in size. 
     The contact cover  12  is of rectangular shape and made of insulative material, the contact cover  12  comprises a pair of first receiving channels  121 , a pair of second receiving channels  122  located between the first receiving channels  121 , and a third receiving channel  123  located between the second receiving channels  122 . The first receiving channels  121  and the second receiving channels  122  have the same diameter with each other, and the third receiving channel  123  have smaller diameter than the first receiving channels  121 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2-3 , the rear cover  13  is of sleeve shape, and defined an obturated end and another end with a hole  130  in axial direction. The rear cover  13  defines a sleeve receiving portion  132  along the axial direction and an opening  131  recessed from a front end thereof. The rear cover  13  is made from plastic material in the embodiment in accordance with the present invention, and also can be made of metallic material in other embodiments to enhance the intensity thereof. The rear cover  13  also has a pair of engaging holes  134  on top and bottom sides thereof, the engaging holes  134  are aligned with each other along a direction perpendicular to the mating direction. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5-6 , the insulative housing  2  comprises a base portion  21  and a tongue portion  22  extending forwardly from the base portion  21 , an enlarged portion  23  is arranged between the base portion  21  and the tongue portion  22 . The insulative housing  2  defines two pairs of large-size first receiving passages  24  and a center small-size second receiving passage  25  respectively recessed from a front face thereof to a rear face thereof. The enlarged portion  23  defines a pair of first mounting holes  231  on both sides for receiving the legs  112  of the front cover  11 . The base portion  21  has a supporting portion  212  extending outwards from one side thereof and a plurality of positioning tabs  213  on top and bottom side thereof. The base portion  21  has four rectangular receiving apertures  214  recessed forwards from a back face thereof, the receiving apertures  214  are located behind the first receiving passages  24  and communicated with the corresponding first receiving passages  24 . 
     The conductive contacts  3  consist of a pair of ground contacts  31 , a pair of power contacts  32  located between the pair of ground contacts  31  and a center detect contact  33  located between the pair of power contacts  32 . Each contact  3  is of a POGO Pin type, that is to say, there is a spring (not shown) inside the contact  3 , thus, when mating, front contacting portion  35  of the contact  3  can be pressed to rearward move along the mating direction. Each ground contact  31  comprises the column-shape contacting portion  35  with a relatively small diameter and capable of being compressed, a column-shape media portion  36  with a relatively large diameter, and an end portion  37  formed at rear end of the media portion  36  with a column-shape and smaller diameter. An expansion portion  360  is protruding outwards from an exterior surface of each media portion  36 . The power contact  32  has the same structure as that of the ground contact  31  except the contacting portion  35  thereof has a length shorter than that of the ground contact  31 . Thus, the ground contacts  31  will firstly mate with re complementary connector and lastly disengage from the complementary connector for assuring safe power and signal transmission. The detect contact  33  has the same structure as that of the power contact  32  except each portion thereof has a smaller diameter than that of the power contact  32 . 
     The linking member  4  is located outside the insulative housing  2 , and includes a first linking portion  41  and a second linking portion  42  below the first linking portion  41 . The first linking portion  41  and the second linking portion  42  have the same configuration with each other and are opposite to each other. The first linking portion  41  comprises a main portion  410 , a first soldering portion  411  extending horizontally from one side of the main portion  410  and an ear portion  412  extending from another side of the main portion  410  and located on a plane vertical to the main portion  410 . The first soldering portion  411  is parallel to the main portion  410  and lower than the main portion  410 . The ear portion  412  defines a second mounting hole  4120  aligned with the first mounting hole  231  of the insulative housing  2  along the mating direction. The main portion  410  has a plurality of positioning holes  4101 , a pair of first curving portions  4102  are bent downwards from a back end thereof and a third curving portion  4104  is bent upwards from a front end thereof, and each first curving portion  4102  defines a first soldering hole  4103 . The first curving portions  4102  are parallel to the third curving portion  4104  and vertical to the main portion  410 . 
     The second linking portion  42  has a second soldering portion  421  aligned with the first soldering portion  411 . The second linking portion  42  has a plurality of second positioning holes  4201  on a main portion  420  thereof and a pair of second curving portions  4202  bending upwards from a back end thereof. Each second curving portion  4202  defines a second soldering hole  4203 . The pair of second curving portions  4202  are located between the pair of first curving portions  4102 . 
     The linking member  4  is insert-molded in the insulative housing  2  in this embodiment according to the present invention, in other alternative embodiment, the linking member  4  and the insulative housing  2  can be molded respectively and assembled to each other. The first soldering portion  411  and the second soldering portion  421  are located on a top surface and a bottom surface of the supporting portion  212  of the insulative housing  2  respectively, and the third curving portion  4104  of the first linking portion  41  and part of the ear portion  412  are molded in the insulative housing  2 , the first curving portions  4102  and the second curving portions  4202  are received in the receiving apertures  214  of the insulative housing  2 . 
     The flexible printed circuit board  5  includes an upper board  51 , a lower board  52  and a connecting board  53  linking the upper board  51  and the lower board  52 , the upper board  51  including LEDs  55 A and  55 B and the lower board  52  including LEDs  54 A and  54 B (as show in  FIG. 7 ), and the connecting board  53  is vertical to the upper board  51  and the lower board  52 , and has a number of conductive holes  531 . 
     The light guiding member  6  is of U-shaped and made of transparent or semitransparent material, and the light emitted from the LEDs  55 A and  55 B (and  54 A and  54 B, as shown in  FIG. 7 ) is capable of being spread out through the light guiding member  6  to outside. Two arms  61  cover on the corresponding LEDs  55 A and  55 B (and  54 A and  54 B, as shown in  FIG. 7 ) on the flexible printed circuit board  5 , and a column  62  is defined on each arm  61  and protruding outwards. The light guiding member  6  is secondary formed in the rear cover  13 , and the columns  62  are accommodated in the engaging holes  134  of the rear cover  13 . 
     The cable  7  comprises a wire, a metal braiding layer surrounding the wire, and an outer jacket enclosing the metal braiding layer. A front portion of the outer jacket is stripped to expose part of the wire and the metal braiding layer. The wire comprises a plurality of inner conductors  71 ,  72  and an insulated layer. 
     The cable  7  is enclosed by a metallic ring  81  and a strain relief member  82  molded on the cable  7  and the metallic ring  81 , the metallic ring  81  together with the strain relief member  82  serve as a strain relief mechanism  8 . 
     The upper part and the lower part of the insulative housing  2  are stuck with a film  9  respectively to keep out the light emitted from the LEDs  54 A and  54 B (and  55 A and  55 B, as shown in  FIG. 6 ), and each film  9  is of flaky shape and made of black material or other deep color, the films  9  are stuck to the rear face  230  of the insulative housing  2 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2-4  and  FIGS. 7-8 , when assembling, the cable  7  with the metallic ring  81  and the strain relief member  82  is assembled through the sleeve receiving portion  132  of the rear cover  13 , and then inserted into the opening  131 , a front part of the cable  7  is pulled out from the opening  131  to make the inner conductors  71 ,  72  be soldered to the first soldering portion  411  and the second soldering portion  421  of the linking member  4 . The contacts  3  are assembled to the insulative housing  2 , the media portions  36  of the ground contacts  31  and the power contacts  32  are received in corresponding first receiving passages  24  respectively, and the media portion  36  of the detect contact  33  is received in the second receiving passage  25 , rear segments of the media portions  36  extend beyond a rear face of the insulative housing  2 , the contacting portions  35  are located beyond a front face of the insulative housing  2 . The end portions  37  of the contacts  3  are soldered to the linking member  4 , with the end portions  37  of the ground contacts  31  soldered in the first soldering holes  4103  of the first linking portion  41 , and the end portions  37  of the power contacts  32  soldered in the second soldering holes  4203  of the second linking portion  42 . The flexible printed circuit board  5  is electrically connecting with the linking member  4  and the cable  7  via the conductive holes  531  of the connecting board  53  being soldered with the corresponding contacts  3 . 
     Then, the contact cover  12  is assembled to the insulative housing  2  along the front-to-back direction, the expansion portions  360  of the contacts  3  are retained in the contact cover  12 , and the contacting portions  35  are exposed out of the contact cover  12 . The films  9  are stuck to the rear face  230  of the insulative housing  2 , then the aforementioned elements are assembled to the rear cover  13  from front-to-back direction, the columns  62  are located behind the films  9 , the upper film  9  is partially exposed beyond a top surface of the insulative housing  2 , and the lower film  9  is partially exposed beyond a bottom surface of the insulative housing  2 , when the insulative housing  2  is moved from front-to-back direction, the portions of the films  9  beyond the insulative housing  2  are curved forwardly by a resistance of an inner wall of the rear cover  13  (shown in  FIG. 8 ), so the gap between the insulative housing  2  and the rear cover  13  will be shielded by the films  9 , to prevent the light emitted from the LEDs  54 A and  54 B (and  55 A and  55 B, as shown in  FIG. 6 ) from passing through the gap. Finally, the front cover  11  is assembled to the rear cover  13  from front-to-rear direction, the legs  112  of the front cover  11  are inserted into the first mounting holes  231  of the insulative housing  2 , and then inserted into the second mounting hole  4120  of the first linking portion  41 . 
     It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.