Patent Publication Number: US-8968034-B2

Title: Electrical connector having a tongue with signal contacts and a pair of posts with power contacts

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to a co-port electrical connector that can receive different plugs. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Chinese Patent issue No. 201312041 on Sep. 16, 2009, owned to Molex Incorporated, discloses an electrical connector. The electrical connector includes an insulative housing, a plurality of conductive terminals fixed to the housing, and a metal shied covering the housing. The housing defines a tongue portion. The shell surrounds the housing to define a mating cavity. The terminals are arranged on both the upper and lower surfaces of the tongue portion. A first terminal on the outmost edge of each surface of the tongue portion is a power contact and the rest are signal contacts. The connector is designed to be only inserted with a predetermined plug connector. 
     Therefore, an improved electrical connector is desired to overcome the disadvantages of the related arts. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector which can respectively mate with two plug connectors that have different mating interfaces. 
     In order to achieve above-mentioned object, an electrical connector is used to mate with a first plug connector and a second plug connector, the first and second plug connectors have different mating interfaces. The electrical connector comprises a housing, defining a mating tongue, a plurality of signal terminals with contacting portion arranged on the mating tongue, and metallic shell surrounding the mating tongue, thereby defining a mating cavity into which the mating tongue extends. The housing defines a pair of extending posts extending into the mating cavity and located at two opposite sides of the mating tongue and spaced from the mating tongue with a gap. The extending posts are loaded with a pair of power terminals thereon. The mating cavity constructs a first mating port and the extending posts excluding the extending posts and two subsidiary ports into which the pair of extending posts extend. 
     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 a front and top perspective view of an electrical connector in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a rear and bottom view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is another exploded view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a partially explode view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 6  is another view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 5 ; and 
         FIG. 7  is a front view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION 
     Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe a preferred embodiment of the present invention in detail.  FIG. 1 ,  2  and  FIG. 7  illustrate an electrical connector  100 , which is used to mate with a first plug connector and a second plug connector (not shown). The first and second plug connectors have different mating interfaces. In a preferred embodiment, the first plug connector is a non-standard thunderbolt connector and the second plug connector is a standard thunderbolt connector. The standard thunderbolt connector has twenty pins, a fourth pin and a sixth pin are used to transmit the PCI-E signals. The electrical connector  100  defines a housing  1  made from insulative material, a plurality of terminals fixed to the housing  1  and a metallic shell  4  covering the housing  1 . The housing  1  defines a mating tongue  109  surrounded by the metallic shell  4 , thereby defining a mating cavity  108  into which the mating tongue  109  extends. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3 to 5 , the housing  1  includes a base member  10 , a tongue member  11  loaded with a plurality of terminals  21 ,  22 . In this embodiment, the tongue member  11  defines a first/upper surface  111 , a second/lower surface  112  and two rows of terminals  21 ,  22  each comprise contacting portions  24   a ,  24   b  arranged on corresponding passageways  114  on the first and second surface  111 ,  112  respectively, and tail portions  251 ,  252  extending out of the rear surface  102 . The base member  10  defines a retained slot  104  running through the front surface  101  from the rear surface  102  of the base member  10 , and the retained cavity  103  running through the bottom surface of the base member  10 . The tongue member  11  is inserted into the retained slot  104  from the rear surface  102 , a front portion of the tongue member  11  protrudes to the front surface  101  so as to be defined as the mating tongue  109  and a rear portion is received in the retained cavity  103 . A pair of leading notches  105  is defined at an entrance of the retained cavity  103  to guide insertion of the tongue member  11 . A pair of guiding portions  115  is set at two opposite sides of the tongue member  11 . The pair of leading notches  105  are defined at the entrance of the retained cavity  103  to engage with the guiding portions  115  to guide an insertion of tongue member  11 . 
     The base member  10  further defines a pair of extending posts  12  integrally extending from a front surface  101  of the base member  10 . The two extending posts  12  is located at two opposite sides of the mating tongue  109  and spaced from the mating tongue  109  with a pair of gaps  13 , as best shown in  FIGS. 5 and 6 . A pair of power terminals  3  is assembled in grooves  121  defined in the upper surface of the extending posts  12 . The power terminals  13  include contacting portions  32  exposed on the grooves  121  of the extending posts  12  and flushed with the contacting portions  24   a ,  24   b  of terminals  2  and tail portions  33  are running through the bottom surface of the housing  1  at two sides of the tail portions  251 ,  252 . The base member further defines a pair of holes  15  nearby and communicating with each groove  121 . The power terminals  3  are inserted into the grooves  121  from the top of the base member  10  and the tail portions  33  are inserted into the holes  15  and then through the bottom of the base member  10 . 
     The tongue member  11  defines a sinking hollow  113  recessed at the second surface  112  and two protrusions  116  extending forward into the sinking hollow  113 . A spacer  5  is assembled to the sinking plate  113  of the tongue member  11  as best shown in  FIG. 6 . The spacer  5  defines a plurality of holes  51  through which the tail portions  252  go to be positioned, so that the tail portions  252  will not contact each other and the strength of the tail portions  252  will be improved. The tail portions  251  are parallel to a PCB on which the connector is intended to be mounted, and the tail portions  252  are vertical to the PCB. The tail portions  251  and the tail portions  252  are in a front-back arrangement. Two notches  52  disposed at the spacer  5  are corresponding to the protrusions  116  of the sinking hollow  113 . As a result, the position of the spacer  5  on tongue member  11  is ensured. Resisting portions  53  project outward to the side surface of the spacer  5 , which are resisting onto the front surface of the guiding portions  115 . 
     In a preferred embodiment, terminals  21 ,  22  are signal terminals, and terminals  3  are power terminals. In this embodiment, the signal terminals  21 ,  22  are used to transmit the signal of the thunderbolt connector and the power terminals  3  are used to pass DC power. The tongue member  11  and the extending posts  12  are separated. In other embodiments, the tongue member  11  maybe extends from the base member  10  and the extending posts  12  are assembled to the base member  10 , or both the tongue member  11  and the extending posts  12  are assembled to the base member  10 . 
     The base member  10  defines a pair of slots  14  at outsides of the extending posts  12 . Referring to  FIGS. 5 to 7 , the metallic shell  4  includes a main member  41  and a rear cover  42  separating from the main portion  41 . The main member  41  has a frame mating portion  411  and a board portion  412 . The frame mating portion  411  surrounds the mating tongue portion  109  and extending posts  12  thereby defining said mating cavity  108 , and a rear portion of the frame mating portion  411  is inserted into the slots  14  so that it can be fixed onto the base member  10 . Board portion  412  extends two side portions  414  covering the side surfaces of the base member  10 , which has two solder legs  415 . The rear cover  42  defines a main portion  421  and a pair of latch arms  422  extending downward from the two sides of the main portion  421 . The main portion  421  covers on the rear surface  102  of the base member  10  and the latch arms  422  are inserted into the holes  106  of the base member  10  besides the leading notches  105 . 
     As best shown in  FIG. 7 , the mating cavity  108  defined by the shell  4  is in a co-port pattern, which adapted for being inserted with two different plugs respectively. A first mating port  110   a  is bounded by the top wall, bottom wall of the shell  4  and the inside sides of the extending posts  12 , which is intended for insertion of the second plug connector, i. e, the standard thunderbolt connector. The second mating port  110  is bounded by the frame  411  of the metallic shell  4 , that is, the second mating port  110  is composed of the first mating port  110   a  and two subsidiary ports  110   b  at opposite sides of the first mating port  110   a  which is intended for inserted of the first plug connector. i. e. the standard thunderbolt connector with power terminals, illustrated in dotted lines in  FIG. 7 . The extending posts  12  are disposed in the subsidiary ports  110   b  and outside of the first mating port  110   a . The bottom wall  4110  of the frame mating portion  411  includes a lowest horizontal portion  4112  and two slant portions  4113  and two upper horizontal portions  4114  in order. The five portions of the bottom wall  4110  connect in turn. The first mating port  110   a  is bounded by the lowest horizontal portions  4112  and the two slant portions  4113  at the bottom, while the  110   b  is bounded by the upper horizontal portions  4114  at the bottom. That means, the insides of the extending posts  12  are aligned with the slant portions  4113  in a height direction. 
     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 board general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.