Patent Publication Number: US-8992255-B2

Title: Connector receptacle

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority from application No 101219237, filed on Oct. 4, 2012 in the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to a connector receptacle, and more particularly to a one-piece metal shell of the connector receptacle which includes an upper metal shell and a lower metal shell and is made from a single mold for low manufacturing cost and ease of processing. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     As USB (Universal Series Bus) connector has plug-in feature and fast transmission speed, it has been widely used in all kinds of information transmission media. Also, following the advances of modern technology, requirements in information transmission speed and stability are drastically increased. 
     Currently, USB  2 . 0  is the mainstream for data transmission. However, due to the large data volume and fast transmission speed requirements, performance and characteristics of USB  2 . 0  no longer satisfy the general needs. Changes and upgrades to the currently available USB  2 . 0  has become an issue to be solved by the industry. As a solution to the problem the USB  2 . 0  has, a new product called USB  3 . 0  is produced to the market, which transcends all the characteristics the old USB  2 . 0  has and has features such as low power consumption, high coordination efficiency and large transmission speed, up to 5 Gbps compared to 480 Mbps of the conventional transmission speed. 
     All the USBs require some kind of protection for the fragile terminals. For that, a metallic casing is developed to protect the terminals and block noises affecting the terminals. Conventional method includes production of an integral metallic body and production of a two-part metallic body. 
     With reference to  FIG. 1 , a conventional connector receptacle  1  is shown and composed of an insulation body  11  having a plurality of terminal slots  12  formed thereon, a plurality of terminals  13  to be received in the plurality of terminal slots  12  of the insulation body  11  and a metal shell  14  covering the insulation body  11  to reducing interferences from the environment. The metal shell  14  has through holes  15  defined in a side face thereof to form soldering legs  16  on a side face of the metal shell  14 . The soldering legs  16  are formed for combination with a printed circuit board in future process. Therefore, it is necessary to have the soldering legs  16 . However, due to the process requirement for the soldering legs  16 , the integrity of the overall metal shell  14  is damaged and thus the durability of the metal shell  14  is also decreased. 
     In order to overcome the aforementioned durability and integrity problems, a different metal shell is introduced to the market. The metal shell is composed of two halves each having multiple soldering legs formed on an edge thereof. Each half of the metal shell is uniquely formed in a different mold so that after the two halves are formed, a combination process is necessary to combine the two halves to form the metal shell. Even though, the durability and integrity of the metal shell are maintained, an additional combination process for the two halves is added. Furthermore, due to the two molds for each of the unique halves of the metal shell, the manufacture cost is increased. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a metal shell of a connector receptacle including two-piece portion, for example an upper metal shell and a lower metal shell, that are made from the identical mold so that not only the integrity of the metal shell is maintained, the manufacturing cost is also low. 
     In order to accomplish the aforementioned objective, the connector receptacle constructed in accordance with the present invention includes an insulation body defining a plurality of terminal slots thereon, multiple terminals securely received in the plurality of terminal slots of the insulation body, and a metal shell which covers the insulation body and includes an upper metal shell and a lower metal shell wherein the lower metal shell is connected to the upper metal shell via a connection portion. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the connection portion is formed on two corresponding sides of the upper metal shell and of the lower metal shell. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the connection portion is formed on a selected left side and a right side of the upper metal shell and of the lower metal shell. 
     In still another embodiment of the present invention, the connection portion is deformable so as to combine the upper metal shell and the lower metal shell. 
     In another embodiment of the present invention, the connection portion includes a fixing element and a supporting element receiving the deformed fixing element to complete the combination of the upper metal shell and the lower metal shell. 
     Still, in another embodiment of the present invention, multiple soldering legs are formed on an edge of the metal shell. 
     The connector receptacle is a Micro USB connector receptacle. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view showing a conventional connector; 
         FIG. 2  is perspective view showing a preferred embodiment of the connector receptacle of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view showing the connector receptacle of the present invention is displayed for receiving therein the insulation body and terminals; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic view showing the application of the connector receptacle of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is still another schematic view showing the application of the pressing part of the connector receptacle of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view showing that the pressing part is depressed; and 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view showing another preferred embodiment of the connector receptacle of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , a Micro USB connector  2  constructed in accordance with the present invention includes an insulation body  3  defining a plurality of terminal slots  31  thereon, multiple terminals  4  securely received in the plurality of terminal slots  31 , and a metal shell  5 . 
     The metal shell  5  covering the insulation body  3  includes an upper metal shell  51  and a lower metal shell  52  pivotally connected to the upper metal shell  51  via a deformable and bendable connection portion  53 . The connection portion  53  is formed on a side face of each of the upper metal shell  51  and the lower metal shell  52 . Preferably, the connection portion  53  is formed on a left side of the upper metal shell  51  and a corresponding right side of the lower metal shell  52 , which corresponds to the left side of the upper metal shell  51 . That is, the connection portion  53  is formed on a selected one of the left side and the right side of the upper metal shell  51  and the lower metal shell  52 . Still preferably the connection portion  53  is formed on a selected one of an upper side and a lower side of the upper metal shell  51  and the lower metal shell  52 . From the depiction of the accompanying drawings, it is noted that there are two connection portions  53  formed between the upper metal shell  51  and the lower metal shell  52 . 
     The connection portion  53  is bendable so that the upper metal shell  51  is rotatable from a first position to a second position. The metal shell  5  is open and the upper metal shell  51  is adjacent to the lower metal shell  52  when the upper metal shell  51  is at the first position, and the metal shell  5  is closed and the upper metal shell  51  is disposed on top of the lower metal shell  52  when the upper metal shell  51  is at the second position. 
     Preferably, there are multiple soldering legs  55  formed on a side face of the metal shell  5  for engagement with a printed circuit board (not shown). 
     With reference to  FIGS. 3 ,  4 ,  5  and  6 , it is noted that the connection portion  53  connects the lower metal shell  52  to the upper metal shell  51 . When combination of the upper metal shell  51  and the lower metal shell  52  is necessary, the connection portion  53  is bent to allow the upper metal shell  51  to be rotated on top of the lower metal shell  52 . The connector receptacle of the preferred embodiment of the present invention further has a combination means  54  formed between the upper metal shell  51  and the lower metal shell  52 . The combination means  54  comprises a fixing element  541  and a supporting element  542 . The supporting element  542  is formed on the upper metal shell  51  and the fixing element  541  is formed on the lower metal shell  52  such that when the combination of the upper metal shell  51  and the lower metal shell  52  is necessary, the fixing element  541  is deformed (bent) toward the supporting element  542  to complete the combination. Even though, the combination means  54  is described, there are modifications, alternations and other changes originally motivated by the concept of the embodiments of the present invention should also be included in the scope of protection. 
     It is also noted that the bent of the fixing element  541  is able to be completed while the lower metal shell  52  is still in the manufacture mold. As a result of this feature, the manufacturing cost for extra manpower to complete the assembly of the upper metal shell  51  and the lower metal shell  52  is low. 
     With reference to  FIG. 7 , another embodiment of the present invention is shown, wherein this embodiment is substantially the same as the embodiment shown previously. The difference therebetween is that there is only one connection portion  53 . Also, there are two combination means  54  on the corresponding sides of the upper metal shell  51  and the lower metal shell  52 . Each combination means  54  includes a fixing element  541  and a supporting member  542 . After the fixing element  541  is pressed forward the supporting member  542 , the combination of the upper metal shell  51  and the lower metal shell  542  is completed. 
     From the above description, it is noted that the present invention has the following advantages: 
     Only one mold is required. 
     Combination between the upper metal shell and the lower metal shell can be completed while the metal shells are still in the mold. Manufacture cost is greatly reduced. 
     Multiple soldering legs increase the overall durability.