Patent Publication Number: US-7588456-B2

Title: Electrical connector with improved heat dissipation structure

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector with improved heat dissipation structure. 
   2. Description of Related Art 
   In recent years, an electronic apparatus such as a computer, a sever, a printer, and an exchange is remarkably widespread. Since the electronic apparatus of the type transmits a high-speed electronic signal and needs a mass of power, a connector used as an I/O port of the apparatus is desired to have a good heat dissipation structure in process of power transmission for assuring a steady work of the apparatus. 
   An connector usually includes an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts mounted on the insulative housing and a metal shield for protecting the connector from disturbing. The insulative housing has a front face and a rear face. Each contact has a securing portion fixed in the insulative housing, a contact portion extending forwardly from the securing portion, a soldering portion for connecting with a circuit board, and a bending portion between the securing portion and the soldering portion. The bending portion is usually exposed to air for dissipating heat well. 
   However, the exposed bending portions are easily hit to contact with each other and results in crosstalk with each other. TW. Pat. Issued No. M267687 discloses an electrical connector which solves the above problem. The electrical connector includes an insulative housing with a plurality of contacts retained thereon, a metal shield mounted on a front position of the insulative housing and a rear cover mounted on a back position of the insulative housing and covering the contacts. Thereby, the contacts are protected from hitting by the rear cover. However, firstly, the rear cover is separated from the insulative housing, thereby a procedure in assembly is increased, and production cost is increased too; secondly, the contacts can not dissipate heat best when they are covered by the rear cover, thereby the electrical connector is easily burned out. 
   Hence, an electrical connector which can protect contacts, and has a simple structure, and dissipate heat best, is desired to overcome the disadvantage of the prior art. 
   BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   According to the present invention, an electrical connector comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of power contacts retained on the insulative housing, and a metal shield covering the insulative housing. The insulative housing has a base portion with a front face and a rear face, and a protection portion extending backwardly from the rear face. The protection portion defines a receiving cavity opening at a rear end thereof. The base portion defines a plurality of passageways extending therethrough and communicating with the receiving cavity. Each power contact has a securing portion positioned in the passageway, a columned contact portion and a bending portion extending from two opposite ends of the securing portion respectively. The bending portion is received in the receiving cavity. The metal shield has a flat portion affixed to the front face and a mating portion extending forwardly from the flat portion. The mating portion defines a D-shape mating hole for receiving a mating connector. 
   According to another aspect of the present invention, an electrical connector comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of power contacts mounted on the insulative housing, and a metal shield. The insulative housing has a front face and a back face opposite to the front face. The insulative housing defines a plurality of passageways extending therethrough. A trapeziform projection extends forwardly from the front face and defines a groove communicating with the passageway. The power contacts comprise a pair of first contacts and a second contact located between the first contacts. Each power contact has a securing portion engaging with the passageway and a contact portion extending out of the front face from one end of the securing portion. The metal shield has a flat portion affixed to the front face and a mating portion extending forwardly from the flat portion. The mating portion defines a mating hole surrounding the projection for receiving a mating connector. The contact portions of the first contacts are exposed to the mating hole. The contact portion of the second contact is received in the groove and defines a receiving hole extending inwardly from a front end thereof for receiving a contact of the mating connector. 
   The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of an electrical connector according to the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a view similar to  FIG. 1 , while taken from another aspect; 
       FIG. 3  is a partial exploded view of the Electrical connector shown in FIG.  1 ; 
       FIG. 4  is an exploded view of the Electrical connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; and 
       FIG. 5  is a view similar to  FIG. 4 , while taken from another aspect. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without such specific details. In other instances, well-known circuits have been shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the present invention in unnecessary detail. For the most part, details concerning timing considerations and the like have been omitted inasmuch as such details are not necessary to obtain a complete understanding of the present invention and are within the skills of persons of ordinary skill in the relevant art. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1-3 , an electrical connector  1  according to the present invention is disclosed. The electrical connector  1  comprises an insulative housing  2 , a plurality of contacts  3  retained in the insulative housing  2 , a metal shield  4  mounted on the insulative housing  2  and means for fixing the insulative housing  2  and the metal shield  4  together. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the insulative housing  2  comprises a base portion  20 , a mounting portion  21  extending backwardly from a lower end of the base portion  20 , and a protection portion  22  extending backwardly from the base portion  20  and connecting with the mounting portion  21 . The base portion  20  has a front face  200  and a rear face  204  opposite to the front face  200 . The insulative housing  2  comprises a trapeziform projection  202  extending forwardly from a middle position of the front face  200 . An upper end of the projection  202  is bigger than a lower end of the projection  202  for protecting the electrical connector  1  from mismating. The projection  202  defines an annular groove  2020  extending inwardly from a front end thereof. The base portion  20  defines three annular passageways  201  extending therethrough, wherein a middle passageway  201  is located behind the groove  2020  and communicate with the groove  2020 , and the other two passageways  201  locate at two sides of the middle one symmetrically. The base portion  20  defines two locking holes  203  at outside of the grooves  2020 . A pair rectangular recesses  2030  are concaved from the rear face  204 . The rectangular recess  2030  communicates with the locking hole  203 . The mounting portion  21  comprises a mounting face  210  at a bottom side thereof, and a pair of mounting holes  211  extending through the mounting face  210  for positioning the electrical connector  1  to a circuit board (not shown). 
   The protection portion  22  comprises a top wall  220 , a pair of side walls  221 , a back face  223 , and a receiving cavity  222  extending inwardly from the back face  223 . The receiving cavity  222  is located between the top wall  220  and side walls  221 , and opens to air at a rear end thereof and extends through the mounting face  210 . Each side wall  221  defines a cutout  2220  at a lower end thereof, and a pair of wedge-shaped barbs  2221  at two sides of the cutout  2220 . 
   The insulative housing  2  comprises a spacer  23  mounted at a lower position of the receiving cavity  222 . The spacer  23  defines three positioning holes  230  for positioning the power contacts  3 . Distances between adjacent positioning holes  230  are similar. The spacer  23  has a protrusion  231  extending outwardly from each side thereof for engaging with the cutout  2220 . The spacer  23  has a bottom face  232 . The barbs  2221  draw the bottom face  232  for fixing the spacer  23  between the side walls  221 . 
   The metal shield  4  has a flat portion  40  affixed to the front face  200  of the base portion  20 , and a D-shape mating portion  41  extending forwardly from the flat portion  40 . The mating portion  41  defines a D-shape mating hole  42  for receiving a mating connector (not shown). The flat portion  40  defines a pair of fixing holes  400  corresponding to the locking holes  203  of the base portion  20 . 
   The power contacts  3  are columned and comprise two first contacts  30  and a second contact  31  located between the first contacts  30 . Each first contact  30  has a first securing portion  300 , a columned first contact portion  301  extending forwardly from one end of the first securing portion  300 , a first bending portion  302  extending backwardly from another end of the first securing portion  300 , and a first soldering portion  303  extending downwardly from the first bending portion  302 . The second contact  31  has a second securing portion  310 , a second contact portion  311  extending forwardly from one end of the second securing portion  310 , a second bending portion  312  extending backwardly from another end of the second securing portion  310 , and a second soldering portion  313  extending downwardly from the second bending portion  312 . The first and second contacts  30 ,  31  have similar structures except for the structures of the contact portions  301 ,  311  thereof. The difference between the first and second contact portions  301 ,  311  is that the second contact portion  311  defines a receiving hole  3110  extending inwardly from a front end thereof, while the first contact portion  301  dose not have, and the second contact portion  311  defines a diameter which is larger than that of the first contact portion  301 . 
   The first contact portions  301  extend out of the front face  200  and are received in the mating hole  42  for electrically connecting with the mating connector. While the second contact portion  311  is received in the groove  2020  for receiving a contact of the mating portion in the receiving hole  3110  thereof. The first securing portion  300  is columned and has a plurality of first ribs  3000  at outer surfaces thereof for engaging with the passageway  201 . The second securing portion  310  is columned and has a plurality of second ribs  3100  at outer surfaces thereof for engaging with the middle passageway  201  behind the groove  2020 . Therefore, the power contacts  3  can be fixed to the insulative housing  1  firmly and can not move in any direction. The first and second bending portions  302 ,  312  are received in the receiving cavity  222 , thereby the first and second bending portion  302 ,  312  can be protected from distorting by the top wall  220  and side walls  221 . In addition, the first and second bending portion  302 ,  312  are exposed to air via the opening receiving cavity  222 , thereby, the power contact  3  will dissipate heat best. The first and second soldering portions  303 ,  313  extend through the positioning holes  230  for exactly soldering to the circuit board. 
   The first and second securing portions  300 ,  310  define a same diameter which is larger than them of the first and second contact portions  301 ,  311 . The diameters of first and second contact portions  301 ,  311  are larger than them of the first and second soldering portions  303 ,  313 . 
   Means for fixing the metal shield  4  and the insulative housing  2  comprises a bolt  5  and a nut  6  engaging with the bolt  5 . The nut  6  has a holding plate  60  retained in the recess  2030 , and a ringed post  61  extending forwardly from the holding plate  60 . The ringed post  61  extends through the locking hole  203  and the fixing hole  400  from a rear side of the electrical connector  1 . The bolt  5  is mounted to the ringed post  61  from a front side of the electrical connector  1 . 
   As fully described above and referring to  FIGS. 1-5  of the present invention, the power contacts  3  have larger contact area to contact with the mating connector than an original contact, thereby the power contacts  3  of the present invention can transmit a mass of current. The first and second bending portions  302 ,  312  are exposed to air via the rear opening receiving cavity  222 , thereby the power contact  3  will dissipate heat best for prolonging life thereof. In addition, the protection portion  22  is integrally molded with the base portion  20 , thereby the electrical connector  1  has a simple structure, and can be assembled easily which can decrease the production cost. 
   It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous, characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set fourth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosed is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of number, 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.