Patent Publication Number: US-2022239022-A1

Title: Electrical connector

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 110201028, filed on Jan. 27, 2021. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Technical Field 
     The disclosure relates to an electrical connector. 
     Description of Related Art 
     When soldering an electrical connector of the related art onto a circuit board by using the surface mounting technology, it is necessary that the electrical connector maintains stable and balanced at the corresponding position of the circuit board before being soldered. If the structure of the electrical connector cannot independently maintain balanced, an additional supporting element is required to support the balance and thereby prevent the electrical connector from falling over. 
     The conventional supporting elements generally include the structure which extends from the back end of the housing of the electrical connector and is inserted into the circuit board and soldered together, yet there is no supporting structure at the front end of the housing. Consequently, the electrical connector may still be tilted forward after being plugged and unplugged for a long period of time. In view of this, further efforts are still required to develop the electrical connector. 
     SUMMARY 
     The disclosure provides an electrical connector which forms a supporting portion by using at least one of a metal housing and an insulating body, so that the electrical connector can be stably held on a circuit board. 
     An electrical connector of the disclosure is configured to be assembled to a circuit board. The electrical connector includes an insulating body, a plurality of terminals, a first metal shell, and a second metal shell. The insulating body has a base and a tongue. The terminals are disposed in the insulating body. The first metal shell covers the insulating body. The first metal shell has a plurality of first metal pin soldered to the circuit board. The second metal shell covers the insulating body and the first metal shell. The second metal shell has a plurality of second metal pin soldered to the circuit board. The first metal pin and the second metal pin are both located beside the base and away from the tongue. At least one of the first metal shell and the insulating body has a supporting portion abutting against a non-conducting portion of the circuit board, so that the electrical connector is supported on the circuit board, and the supporting portion is close to the tongue and away from the base. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the electrical connector is a socket electrical connector soldered to a circuit board. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, each of the terminals has a connection end and a soldering end opposite to each other, and the connection end is exposed from the tongue and is configured to be connected with the terminal of another electrical connector. The soldering end protrudes from the base in a direction deviating from the connection end and is soldered to the circuit board. The first metal pin and the second metal pin are close to the soldering end and away from the connection end, and the supporting portion is close to the connection end and away from the soldering end. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the first metal pin and the second metal pin mentioned above are soldered to a plurality of grounding portions of the circuit board. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the supporting portion is a partial notch bending structure of the first metal shell. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the insulating body further includes another supporting portion located in the base and abutting against the circuit board. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, an orthographic projection of the supporting portion on the insulating body is located at a junction of the base and the tongue. Respective orthographic projections of the first metal pin and the second metal pin on the insulating body are located in the base. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the supporting portion is a protruding column structure extending from the insulating body. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the protruding column structure is located at a part of the base adjacent to the tongue. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, a part of the first metal pin and a part of the second metal pin are stacked on each other and located on a side of the insulating body, and the supporting portion is located in a bottom portion of the first metal shell and forms a triangle-like supporting configuration with the part of the first metal pin and the part of the second metal pin. 
     Based on the above, the electrical connector is held on the circuit board by respectively soldering the first metal pin and the second metal pin of the first metal shell and the second metal shell to the circuit board. The first metal pin and the second metal pin are close to the base and away from the tongue with respect to the insulating body, and are close to the soldering end and away from the connection end with respect to the terminal. Accordingly, in the disclosure, at least one of the first metal shell and the insulating body further has the supporting portion, which is close to the tongue and away from the base with respect to the insulating body, and close to the connection end and away from the soldering end with respect to the terminal, so that the supporting portion forms the triangular configuration with the first metal pin and the second metal pin. With a plane formed by three points, the electrical connector is stably held on the circuit board, so as to effectively prevent the electrical connector from tilting forward with respect to the circuit board. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view of an electrical connector according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1  on a circuit board. 
         FIG. 3  is a simplified schematic exploded view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic view of an electrical connector according to another embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 4  on a circuit board. 
         FIG. 6  is a simplified schematic exploded view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 5 . 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts. 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic view of an electrical connector according to an embodiment of the disclosure. Referring to  FIG. 1 , in the embodiment, an electrical connector  100  includes an insulating body  130 , a plurality of terminals  140 , a first metal shell  110 , and a second metal shell  120 . The insulating body  130  has a base  131  and a tongue  132 . The plurality of terminals  140  are disposed in the insulating body  130 . The first metal shell  110  covers the insulating body  130 . The second metal shell  120  covers the insulating body  130  and the first metal shell  110 , that is, as shown in  FIG. 1 , the second metal shell  120  is substantially stacked outside the first metal shell  110 . 
       FIG. 2  is a schematic view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1  on a circuit board.  FIG. 3  is a simplified schematic exploded view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 2 . Referring to all  FIG. 1  to  FIG. 3 , in addition, the electrical connector  100  of the embodiment is a socket electrical connector configured to be soldered to a circuit board  30 . The first metal shell  110  has a plurality of first metal pins  111  soldered or mounted to the circuit board  30 , and the second metal shell  120  has a plurality of second metal pins  121  soldered or mounted to the circuit board  30 . The first metal pins  111  and the second metal pins  121  are used to provide strong board retention or provide grounding to PCB. It is worth mentioning that, as shown in  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 , after the insulating body  130  is further divided into the base  131  and the tongue  132  along an insertion axis of the electrical connector  100 , the first metal pins  111  and the second metal pins  121  are soldered to a plurality of grounding portions  32  (e.g., grounding pads) of the circuit board  30 , and are both located beside the base  131  of the insulating body  130  and away from the tongue  132 . A part of the first metal pins  111  and a part of the second metal pins  121  are stacked on each other. 
     Accordingly, in order to prevent the electrical connector  100  from tilting forward during plugging and unplugging, the first metal shell  110  of the embodiment further has a supporting portion  112  which is close to the tongue  132  and away from the base  131 , and abuts against a non-conducting portion of the circuit board  30 , i.e., abutting against an insulating surface  31  of the circuit board  30 , so that the electrical connector  100  is stably supported on the circuit board  30 . 
     In other words, taking the terminals  140  as a reference, each of the terminals  140  has a connection end E 1  and a soldering end E 2  opposite to each other, and the connection end E 1  is exposed from the tongue  132  and configured to be connected with the terminal of another electrical connector. The soldering end E 2  protrudes from the base  131  in a direction deviating from the connection end E 1  and is soldered to the circuit board  30 . The first metal pins  111  and the second metal pins  121  are close to the soldering end E 2  and away from the connection end E 1 , whereas the supporting portion  112  is close to the connection end E 1  and away from the soldering end E 2 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the first metal pins  111  and the second metal pins  121  are substantially located on two opposite sides of the overall structure, and as shown in  FIG. 2 , the first metal pins  111  and the second metal pins  121  are substantially located on the back side of the overall structure (the right side in  FIG. 2 ), therefore, for the overall structure of the electrical connector  100 , when the supporting portion  112  does not exist, a partial structure on the front side (the left side in  FIG. 2 ) is substantially in suspension with respect to the circuit board  30 , and thus in the process of plugging and unplugging the electrical connector  100  and the another electrical connector, a torque is obviously applied to the electrical connector  100 , which may jeopardize a soldering (electrical connection) relationship between the electrical connector  100  and the circuit board  30  as the number of times of plugging and unplugging increases, and even cause the electrical connector  100  to fall off the circuit board  30 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , the orthographic projection of the supporting portion  112  on the insulating body  130  is located at the junction of the base  31  and the tongue  132 , and the respective orthographic projections of the first metal pins  111  and the second metal pins  121  on the insulating body  130  are located in the base  131  (and away from the tongue  132 ). 
     Accordingly, in the embodiment, the supporting portion  112  is formed by performing a partial notch bending structure on a bottom portion of the first metal shell  110 , so that the supporting portion  112  forms a triangle-like supporting configuration (a triangular configuration located on the insulating surface  31  and formed of the supporting portion  112  and the plurality of first metal pins  111  and the plurality of second metal pins  121  on the two opposite sides) with a part of the first metal pins  111  and a part of the second metal pins  121 , so that the electrical connector  100  also has a structural abutting relationship with the circuit board  30  close to the front side of the overall structure, and the overall structure of the electrical connector  100  is stably located on an upper surface of the circuit board  30 . 
     In addition, the insulating body  130  of the embodiment further includes another supporting portion  133 , which is located in the base  131  and abuts against the circuit board  30 . The supporting portion  133  serves as an auxiliary structure and is configured to increase a contacting area between the electrical connector  100  and the circuit board  30 . 
       FIG. 4  is a schematic view of an electrical connector according to another embodiment of the disclosure.  FIG. 5  is a schematic view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 4  on a circuit board.  FIG. 6  is a simplified schematic exploded view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 5 . Referring to all  FIG. 4  to  FIG. 6 , in the embodiment, an electrical connector  200  is configured to be assembled to a circuit board  40 . The electrical connector  200  includes an insulating body  230 , a plurality of terminals  240 , a first metal shell  210 , and a second metal shell  220 . The insulating body  230  has a base  231  and a tongue  232 . The terminals  240  are disposed in the insulating body  230 . The first metal shell  210  covers the insulating body  230  and has a plurality of first metal pins  211  soldered to the circuit board  40 . The second metal shell  220  covers the insulating body  230  and the first metal shell  210 . The second metal shell  220  has a plurality of second metal pins  221  soldered to the circuit board  40 . The first metal pins  211  and the second metal pins  221  are both located beside the base  231  of the insulating body  230  and away from the tongue  232 . 
     Moreover, the insulating body  230  of the embodiment has a supporting portion  233  abutting against a non-conducting portion (i.e., an insulating surface  41 ) of the circuit board  40 , so that the electrical connector  200  is supported on the circuit board  40 . The supporting portion  233  is close to the tongue  232  and away from the base  231 . Here, the supporting portion  233  is a protruding column structure extending from the insulating body  230 . The orthographic projection of the supporting portion  233  on the insulating body  230  (the remaining structure that is not the supporting portion  233 ) is located at the junction of the base  231  and the tongue  232 . Simply put, the protruding column structure is located at a part of the base  231  adjacent to the tongue  232 , and the respective orthographic projections of the first metal pins  211  and the second metal pins  221  on the insulating body  230  are located in the base  231 , and are relatively away from the tongue  232 . 
     Therefore, the supporting portion  233  of the embodiment, like the supporting portion  112 , forms a triangle-like supporting configuration with a part of the first metal pins  211  and a part of the second metal pins  221  that are soldered to grounding portions  42  of the circuit board  40 . In other words, taking the terminal  240  as a reference, the first metal pins  211  and the second metal pins  221  are also located close to a soldering end E 4  of the terminal  240  and away from a connection end E 3  of the terminal  240 , and the supporting portion  233  is close to the connection end E 3  of the terminal  240  and away from the soldering end E 4  of the terminal  240 , so that the electrical connector  200  can be stably held on the circuit board  40 . 
     It should also be noted that the number of the supporting portions  133  or the supporting portions  233  disclosed in the embodiments is not limited here, if the structure allows, a designer may appropriately increase or decrease the number thereof in a nearby area of the supporting portion  133  or the supporting portion  233  (e.g., forming one single supporting portion  133  or  233  in the center of the bottom portion of the first metal shell  110  or the insulating body  230 ). 
     In summary of the above, in the embodiments of the disclosure, the electrical connector is held on the circuit board by respectively soldering the first metal pins and the second metal pins of the first metal shell and the second metal shell to the circuit board. The first metal pins and the second metal pins are close to the base and away from the tongue with respect to the insulating body, and are close to the soldering end and away from the connection end with respect to the terminal. Accordingly, in the disclosure, at least one of the first metal shell and the insulating body further has the supporting portion, which is close to the tongue and away from the base with respect to the insulating body and is close to the connection end and away from the soldering end with respect to the terminal, so that the supporting portion forms the triangle-like configuration with the first metal pins and the second metal pins. With a plane formed by three points, the electrical connector is stably held on the circuit board, so as to effectively prevent the electrical connector from tilting forward tilting with respect to the circuit board. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.