Patent Publication Number: US-6699068-B2

Title: Stacked connector assembly

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/122,099 filed on Apr. 12, 2002 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,612,867 and entitled “STACKED CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY”, and a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/033,263 filed on Dec. 26, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,641 and entitled “STACKED CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY”, which are invented by the same inventor and assigned to the same assignee as this application and which are hereby fully incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention generally relates to a stacked connector assembly, and more particularly to a stacked Single Connector Attachment (SCA-2) connector assembly. 
     2. The Related Arts 
     SCA-2 connectors provide a standard interface between Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) disk drives, Fiber Channel disk drives, Gigabit Interface Converter (GBIC) modules and back-plane systems. The SCA-2 connectors conform to the Small Form Factor (SFF) standard established by the Small Form Factor Committee, and can be classified into 3 types, i.e., 20-pin, 40-pin and 80-pin SCA-2 connectors according to different numbers of terminals thereof. The 20-pin SCA-2 connectors each have 20 terminals and are used with GBIC modules to connect with fiber channel. The 40-pin SCA-2 connectors each have 40 terminals and are used with 3.5″ Fiber Channel disk drives. The 80-pin SCA-2 connectors each have 80 terminals and are used with 3.5″ SCSI disk drives. Such connectors are used in high speed data transmission applications, so it is necessary and important to provide such connectors with shielding or grounding means for protection against Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) and Electrostatic Discharge (ESD). One of such connectors is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,875 issued to the same inventor as the present invention on Mar. 12, 2002. 
     Furthermore, to save the occupied area of the printed circuit board on which electrical connectors are mounted, the electrical connectors, such as SCA-2 connectors are configured in a stacked fashion before mounting to the printed circuit board. These connectors are generally called “stacked connector assemblies”. One stacked connector assembly is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,033,258 issued to Huang et al. on Mar. 7, 2000. However, grounding means is assembled into an insulative housing of the electrical connector of Huang et al. with the use of additional fastening devices, such as screws, nuts and pegs, whereby the assembly process of the grounding means is troublesome and the manufacturing cost of the stacked connector assembly is also increased. 
     Therefore, an improved stacked connector assembly is necessary to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the present invention is to provide a stacked connector assembly which has grounding means. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a stacked connector assembly, connectors of which can be easily secured together. 
     To achieve the above objects, a stacked connector assembly in accordance with the present invention comprises a first connector and a second connector vertically stacked on the first connector. The first connector comprises a first housing and a plurality of first terminals. The second connector comprises a second housing having a bottom face and a plurality of second terminals. Each housing comprises two arms extending rearward from opposite ends thereof. Each arm of the second housing is stacked on the corresponding arm of the first housing. A grounding member retained in the second housing has a front engaging portion projecting forwardly beyond the second housing and a base portion projecting rearwardly beyond the second housing. A spacer has an upper portion defining a plurality of openings therethrough and a lower portion defining a plurality of openings therethrough. The upper portion is retained between the rearward-extending arms of the second connector with the second tails of the second terminals extending through the corresponding openings. The lower portion is retained between the rearward-extending arms of the first housing with the first tails of the first terminals extending through the corresponding openings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a stacked connector assembly in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1, but taken from a different perspective; 
     FIG. 3 is an exploded view of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is an exploded view of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 5 is a reversed perspective view of a first connector of FIG. 3; 
     FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line  6 — 6  of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line  7 — 7  of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line  8 — 8  of FIG. 2; and 
     FIG. 9 is a reversed perspective view of FIG.  2 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     With reference to the drawings and particularly to FIGS. 1-4, a stacked SCA-2 receptacle connector assembly  10  constructed in accordance with the present invention, comprises a first (lower) connector  12 , a second (upper) connector  14  vertically stacked on the first connector  12 , and a spacer  36 . 
     The first connector  12  comprises a first elongated housing  16 , a plurality of first terminals  20  retained in the first housing  16  and a board lock  28  attached to the first housing  16 . The first housing  16  has a top face  44 , a front face  160  and a rear face  162  opposite to the front face  160 . The first housing  16  is formed with a lengthwise-extending rib  45  extending upwardly from the top face  44  thereof and defining a plurality of spaced sockets  48  therein. The rib  45  has a flat top surface  50 . A mating portion  18  extends forwardly from the front face  160  of the first housing  16  and defines a cavity  181  for receiving a first mating connector of a complementary SCA-2 stacked connector assembly (not shown) and a plurality of first passageways  182  arranged along inner surfaces thereof and communicating with the cavity  181 . The first housing  16  has two forward-extending arms  24  extending from opposite ends thereof in a forward direction. The mating portion  18  is located between and spaced from the forward-extending arms  24 . Each forward-extending arm  24  defines a guide channel  26  for guidingly receiving a complementary guidepost of the first mating connector. 
     The first housing  16  also has two rearward-extending arms  34  extending rearwardly from the ends thereof and a space  25  defined between the rearward-extending arms  34 . Each rearward-extending arm  34  defines a first, vertically-extending slit  40  in a rear end thereof. Each rearward-extending arm  34  comprises a side plate  42  at outer sides thereof and a flange  42  located above the bottom face  17  of the first housing  16 . The flange  42  has a flat surface thereon. 
     First conductive terminals  20  are retained in corresponding first passageways  182  of the first housing  16  and are arranged along inner surfaces of the mating portion  18  for electrically engaging with corresponding terminals of the first mating connector. Each first terminal  20  has a first tail  22  extending from the rear face  162  into the space  25  of the first housing  16  and downwardly beyond a bottom face  17  of the first housing  16  for insertion into holes defined in a printed circuit board (not shown) to which the stacked connector assembly  10  is mounted. 
     The board locks  28 , made of conductive materials, are attached to the ends of the first housing  16  and each has an extension  30  extending into a corresponding guide channel  26  for electrically engaging a corresponding grounding member of the first mating connector. The board lock  28  has two spaced, resilient, barbed legs  32  (shown in FIG. 6) for interferentially fitting into a corresponding hole defined in the printed circuit board thereby retaining the stacked connector assembly  10  to the printed circuit board and electrically connecting with a grounding circuit of the printed circuit board. In other words, the board lock  28  of the present invention also functions as grounding means. 
     The second connector  14  comprises an elongate second housing  51 , a plurality of second conductive terminals  58  retained in the second housing and a grounding member  78  attached to the second housing  51 . The second housing  51  has a length substantially corresponding to the length of the first housing  16  of the first connector  12  and a bottom face  54  resting on the flat top surface  50  of the rib  45  of the first housing  16 . The second housing  51  also has a front face  510  and a rear face  512 . A mating portion  56  extends forwardly from the front face  510  of the second housing  51 . 
     Also referring to FIG. 5, the second housing  51  is formed with a number of projections  60  on the bottom face  54  thereof. Each projection  60  has two oppositely laterally extending pivots  62  at a lower end thereof. The pivots  62  are rotatably fitted in corresponding sockets  48  whereby the second connector  14  is rotatably mounted to the first connector  12  about the pivots  62 . The rotatable connection allows relative movement of the second housing  51  with respect to the first housing  16  when the second housing  51  is positioned on the flat top surface  50  of the rib  45  of the first housing  16 . 
     The second housing  51  has two forward-extending arms  11  extending from opposite ends thereof in a forward direction. The mating portion  56  is located between and spaced from the forward-extending arms  24 . Each forward-extending arm  11  defines a guide channel  13  for guidingly receiving a complementary guidepost of a second mating connector (not shown) of the complementary stacked SCA-2 connector assembly. A pair of passageways  15  communicate with the corresponding guide channels  13  and extend to the rear face  512  of the second housing  51 . 
     The second housing  51  has rearward-extending arms  64  extending from opposite ends thereof in a rearward direction and corresponding in position to and resting on the rearward-extending arms  34  of the first housing  16 . A latch  66  extends downwardly from each rearward-extending arm  64  and is formed with a hook  68  received in and engaged with a lower end of the side plate  41  of the corresponding rearward-extending arm  34  thereby securing the first and second connectors  12 ,  14  together. 
     The second terminals  58  are retained in the second housing  51  and are arranged along inner surfaces of the opposite portions of the mating portion  56  for electrically engaging with conductive terminals of the second mating connector. Each second terminal  58  has a second tail  59  extending from the rear face  512  of the second housing  51  and downwardly beyond the bottom face  54  of the second housing  51  for insertion into corresponding holes defined in the printed circuit board. 
     The grounding member  78  has a base portion  80 , a first and a second retention portions  83 ,  82  parallelly extending forwardly from the base portion  80  and an extension  81  extending forwardly from the base portion  80  above the second retention portion  82 . Each of the first and the second retention portion  83 ,  82  has a plurality of barbs (not labeled) formed on upper and lower edges thereof. The base portion  80  has two spaced, resilient, barbed legs  84  at a lower end thereof. The first retention portion  83  defines an aperture  830  therein. A finger  831  extends rearwardly from a front edge of the aperture  830 . The extension  81  has an intermediate portion  812  perpendicularly extending from the base portion  80  and retained between a protrusion  514  and a top face of the rearward-extending arms  64  for preventing upward and downward movements thereof and a front engaging portion  810  perpendicularly extends from an end of the intermediate portion  812 . 
     The spacer  36  has a lower (first) portion  362  defining a plurality of openings  38  extending therethrough and an upper (second) portion  361  defining a plurality of openings  37  extending therethrough. The upper portion  361  is higher than and located behind the lower portion  362 . A plurality of posts  39  (shown in FIG. 9) are formed on a bottom face of the spacer  36  for securing the stacked connector assembly  10  onto the printed circuit board. 
     Referring to FIGS. 5-8, in assembling the first and the second connectors  12 ,  14  to form the connector assembly  10 , when the second connector  14  is oriented to be inclined relative to the first connector  12 , the pivots  62  are firstly fitted into the sockets  48  in a front-to-back direction so that the second connector  14  is pivotably mounted on the first connector  12 . The second tails  59  of the second terminals  58  of the second connector  14  are partly inserted into the openings  37  of the upper portion  361  of the spacer  36 , and the second connector is rotated clockwise to a position in which the bottom face  54  of the second connector rests on the top flat surface  50  of the rib  45  and the openings  38  of the lower portion  362  of the spacer  36  are aligned with the first tails  22  of the first terminals  20  of the first connector  12 , and bottom ends of rearward-extending arms  64  abut against the flat surface of the flange  42 . 
     Thereafter, the spacer  36  is moved upwardly until the spacer  36  abuts against the bottom face  17  of the first housing  16 , and the first tails  22  of the first terminals  20  extend through the openings  38 . The spacer  36  equidistantly spaces the first and the second tails  22 ,  59  of the first and the second terminals  20 ,  58 , and prevents the tails from buckling when they are inserted into the printed circuit board. 
     After assembly of the SCA-2 connector assembly  10 , the upper slits  641  in the arm  64  are aligned with the lower slits  40  in the arms  34  of the first connector  12 . The second retention portions  82  of the grounding members  78  are interferentially received in the upper slit  641  of the second housing  51 , and the first retention portions  83  are interferentially received in the lower slit  40  of the first housing  16 , and the extension  81  extends into a corresponding passageway  15  of the second housing  51  with the front engaging portion  810  exposed in the guiding channel  13  for mating with a corresponding ground contact of a second mating connector. The spaced, resilient, barbed legs  84  interferentially engage with a hole defined in the printed circuit board in ordinary ways known to persons skilled in the pertinent art. In other words, the grounding member  78  of the present invention also functions as a board lock. Therefore, the grounding members  78  are assembled to the first and second connectors  12 ,  14  to securely fasten the two connectors together on the printed circuit board. 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention which is intended to be defined by the appended claims.