Patent Publication Number: US-2022216635-A1

Title: Terminal module and electrical connector with the same

Description:
The present invention relates generally to an electrical connector having the corresponding contact module equipped with grounding bars. This invention is an improvement to the provisional application 63/053,611 filed on Jul. 18, 2020. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     U.S. Pat. No. 8,764,460, issued on Jul. 1, 2014, discloses an electrical connector having a first row of contact pins. The first row of contact pins comprises a first grounding pin, a second grounding pin, and a first signal pin arranged between the first grounding pin and the second grounding pin. A grounding bar electrically connects the first grounding pin and the second grounding pin. The grounding bar and the grounding pin are an integral structure which will waste more materials during manufacturing. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     An improved electrical device is desired. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The electrical connector includes a contact module received within an insulative housing. The contact module includes an upper contact unit and a lower contacts unit stacked with each other. Each of the upper contact unit and the lower contact unit includes a front/outer contact part and a rear/inner contact part each including a plurality of side by side arranged contacts integrally formed with a plurality of plastic tie bars at different positions via insert-molding. The contacts include a plurality of differential pair signal contacts and a plurality of grounding contacts alternately arranged with each other along a transverse direction. Each plastic tie bar includes an insulative primary part integrally formed with all contacts via a first insert-molding process, and a conductive secondary part integrally formed with the primary part and the grounding contacts via a second insert-molding process after the first insert-molding process. 
     Other 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(A)  is a perspective view front of an electrical connector according to a first embodiment of the first invention; 
         FIG. 1(B)  is another perspective view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1(A) ; 
         FIG. 2(A)  is an exploded perspective view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1(A) ; 
         FIG. 2(B)  is another exploded perspective view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 2(A) ; 
         FIG. 3(A)  is a further exploded perspective view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 2(A) ; 
         FIG. 3(B)  is another exploded perspective view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 3(A) ; 
         FIG. 4(A)  is an exploded perspective view of the contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 3(A) ; 
         FIG. 4(B)  is another exploded perspective view of the contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 4(A) ; 
         FIG. 5(A)  is a further exploded perspective view of the contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 4(A) ; 
         FIG. 5(B)  is another exploded perspective view of the contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 5(A) ; 
         FIG. 6(A)  is an exploded perspective view of the upper contact unit of the contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 5(A) ; 
         FIG. 6(B)  is another exploded perspective view of the upper contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 6(A) ; 
         FIG. 7(A)  is an exploded perspective view of the lower contact unit of the contact module of module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 5(A) ; 
         FIG. 7(B)  is another exploded perspective view of the lower contact unit of the contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 7(A) ; 
         FIG. 8(A)  is an exploded perspective view of the contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 4(A)  without showing the conductive secondary parts of the plastic tie bars; 
         FIG. 8(B)  is an exploded perspective view of the contact module of  FIG. 8(A)  without showing the plastic tie bars; 
         FIG. 9(A)  is a perspective view of the contacts of the front/outer contact part of the upper contact unit of the contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1(A) ; 
         FIG. 9(B)  is another perspective view of the front/outer contact part of the upper contact unit of the contact module the electrical connector of  FIG. 8(A)  without showing the corresponding insulative primary part; 
         FIG. 10  is a side view of the contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1(A) ; 
         FIG. 11(A)  is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1(A) ; 
         FIG. 11(B)  is another cross-sectional view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1(A) ; 
         FIG. 12  is another cross-sectional view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1(A) ; 
         FIG. 13(A)  is a perspective view of an electrical connector according to a second embodiment of the first invention; 
         FIG. 13(B)  is another perspective view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 13(A) ; 
         FIG. 14(A)  is an exploded perspective view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 13(A) ; 
         FIG. 14(B)  is another exploded perspective view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 14(A) ; 
         FIG. 15(A)  is a further exploded perspective view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 14(A) ; 
         FIG. 15(B)  is another exploded perspective view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 15(A) ; 
         FIG. 16(A)  is an exploded perspective view of the contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 15(A) ; 
         FIG. 16(B)  is another exploded perspective view of the contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 16(A) ; 
         FIG. 17(A)  is a further exploded perspective view of the contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 16(A) ; 
         FIG. 17(B)  is another exploded perspective view of the contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 17(A) ; 
         FIG. 18(A)  is an exploded perspective view of the upper contact unit of the contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 17(A) ; 
         FIG. 18(B)  is another exploded perspective view of the upper contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 18(A) ; 
         FIG. 19(A)  is an exploded perspective view of the lower contact unit of the contact module of module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 17(A) ; 
         FIG. 19(B)  is another exploded perspective view of the lower contact unit of the contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 19(A) ; 
         FIG. 20(A)  is an exploded perspective view of the contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 16(A)  without showing the conductive secondary parts of the plastic tie bars; 
         FIG. 20(B)  is an exploded perspective view of the contact module of  FIG. 20(A)  without showing the plastic tie bars; 
         FIG. 21(A)  is a perspective view of the contacts of the front/outer part of the upper contact unit of the contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 13(A) ; 
         FIG. 21(B)  is another perspective view of the upper contact unit of the contact module the electrical connector of  FIG. 20(A)  without showing the corresponding insulative primary part; 
         FIG. 22  is a side view of the contact module of the electrical connector of  FIG. 13(A) ; 
         FIG. 23(A)  is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 13(A) ; 
         FIG. 23(B)  is another cross-sectional view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 13(A) ; and 
         FIG. 24  is another cross-sectional view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 13(A) . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present disclosure. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1(A) - 12 , an electrical connector  100  includes an insulative housing  110  cooperating with an insulative cover  108  to commonly receive a contact module  120  therein. The contact module  120  includes an upper contact unit  122  and a lower contact unit  124  stacked with each other in the vertical direction in essentially a mirror image arrangement. The upper contact unit  122  includes an (upper) front/outer contact part  130  and an (upper) rear/inner contact part  140  stacked with each other in the vertical direction, and the lower contact unit  124  includes a (lower) front/outer contact part  160  and a (lower) rear/inner contact part  150  stacked with each other in the vertical direction. 
     The upper front/outer contact part  130  includes a plurality of contacts  132  integrally formed with a plurality of transversely extending plastic tie bars  135  via insert-molding. The plurality of plastic tie bars  135  are arranged along the extending direction of the contact  132 . Each plastic tie bars  135  includes an insulative primary part  134  and a conductive secondary part  136 . Similarly, the upper rear/inner contact part  140  includes a plurality of contacts  142  integrally formed with a plurality of transversely extending plastic tie bars  145  via insert-molding and each plastic tie bar  145  includes an insulative primary part  144  and a conductive secondary part  146 ; the lower front/outer contact part  160  includes a plurality of contacts  162  integrally formed with a plurality transversely extending plastic tie bars  165 , and each plastic tie bar includes an insulative primary part  164  and a conductive secondary part  166 ; the lower rear/inner contact part  150  includes a plurality of contacts  152  integrally formed with a plurality of transversely extending plastic tie bars  155  and each plastic tie bar  155  includes an insulative primary part  154  and a conductive secondary part  156 . In the (upper) front/outer contact part  130 , the (upper) rear/inner contact part  140 , the (lower) front/outer contact part  160  and the (lower) rear/inner contact part  150 , the (upper) front/outer contact part  130  has the longest dimension in the front-to-rear direction. The number of the plastic tie bars  135  forms on the (upper) front/outer contact part  130  is more than the number of plastic tie bars on other contact parts. Notably, as shown in  FIGS. 6(A)-7(B) , the insulative primary part  134  forms a plurality of upwardly facing funnel like recesses H, and the conductive secondary part  136  forms a plurality of downwardly extending protrusions  138  received within the corresponding recess H. Similarly, the conductive secondary part  146  forms the protrusions  148 , the conductive secondary part  166  forms the protrusions  168  and the conductive second part  156  forms the protrusions  158  for respectively reception with the corresponding recesses H in the corresponding insulative primary parts. 
     The contacts  132  include a plurality of differential-pair signal contacts  1322  and a plurality of grounding contacts  1321  alternately arranged with each other in the transverse direction. At least one pair of differential-pair signal contacts  1322  is disposed between a pair of the grounding contacts  1321 . Similarly, the contacts  142  having the corresponding differential-pair signal contacts  1422  and grounding contacts  1421 , the contacts  162  having the corresponding differential-pair signal contacts  1622  and grounding contacts  1621 , and the contacts  152  having the corresponding differential-pair signal contacts  1522  and grounding contacts  1521 , are also alternately arranged with each other in the transverse direction. Because the arrangement between the plastic tie bar and the corresponding contacts is essentially same to each contact part, only the upper front/outer contact part is illustrated. As shown in  FIGS. 6(B), 7(B) and 9(A) - 12 , each contact  132  includes a front deflectable resilient contacting section  171  for mating with a mating connector, a rear mounting section  173  for mounting to a printed circuit board and a retaining section  172  therebetween to retain the contact in the housing, the mounting section  173  soldered to the circuit board. Each contact  132  includes a cantilever arm that cantilever forward. The front deflectable resilient contacting section  171  is located at the front of the cantilever arm. The contacts  132  are all side-to-side coupled from the front deflectable resilient contacting section  171  to the mounting section  173 . The width of the two grounding contacts  1321  located at the outermost side in the lateral direction is smaller than the width of the other grounding contacts  1321 . The center distance between the differential-pair signal contacts  1322  from the contacting section  171  to the mounting section  173  is constant. The center distance between the grounding contact  1321  and the signal contact  1322  adjacent to it from the contacting section  171  to the mounting section  173  is constant. The center distance refers to the distance from the center line of one contact to the center line of the other contact. The width of the retaining section  172  of the grounding contact  1321  is greater than the width of the retaining section  172  of the signal contact  1322 . The cantilever arm of each grounding contact  1321  is provided with an opening  1323  to reduce the elastic force. The width of the grounding contact  1321  where the opening  1323  is provided is greater than the width of the contacting section  171 . The opening  1323  extends along the length of the contact. The opening  1323  does not extend to the contacting section  171 . The periphery of the opening  1323  is completely contained in the grounding contact  1321 . The opening  1323  is not covered by the plastic tie bars  135 . The length of each contact  132  fixed in the plastic tie bars  135  is less than half of the length of the retaining section. The retaining section  172  includes a horizontal section  1721 , a vertical section  1722  and an oblique section  1723  therebetween. Via insert-molding, two plastic tie bars  135  are integrally formed upon the horizontal section  1721 , and a plastic tie bars  135  is integrally formed upon the vertical section  1722 , thus commonly forming the whole (upper) front/outer contact part  130  as a whole. The width of the contact  132  in t plastic tie bars  135  is smaller than the width of other parts of the retaining section  172 . At least two of the plastic tie bars  135  are connected together to increase the overall stability of the (upper) front/outer contact part  130 . The two plastic tie bars  135  arranged on the horizontal section  1721  are connected to each other on the corresponding two sides in the transverse direction. The two sides of the insulative primary part  134  of the two plastic tie bars  135  arranged in the horizontal section  1721  are connected together, but the conductive secondary part  136  is not connected together. The insulative primary part  134  of the plastic tie bars  135  at the front includes a main body  1341  and two connecting portions  1342  extending backward on both corresponding sides of the main body  1341 . The connecting portion  1342  is connected to the plastic tie bars  135  at the rear of the horizontal section  1721 . The connecting portion  1342  is not molded with any contact  132 . Wherein the grounding contact  1321  is further equipped with a pair of holes  172 H. The funnel like recesses H of insulative primary part  134  are aligned with the corresponding grounding contacts  1321  and particularly to the holes  172 H of the corresponding grounding contacts  1321  so as to allow the corresponding protrusions  138  to be received within the holes  172 H for creating a reliable mechanical and electrical connection between the conductive secondary part  136  and the grounding contacts  1321 . Understandably, without the holes  172 H to receive the material of the conductive secondary part  136 , the conductive secondary part  136  still contacts the upper surface of the grounding contact  1321  for establishing the electrical connection. Notably, in this first embodiment, the conductive secondary part  136  does not occupy the recess  134 H which is formed in the insulative primary part  134  and located under the pair of holes  172 H. The opening  1323  of the grounding contact  1321  is located in front of the hole  172 H 
     In brief, in the upper front/outer contact part  130 , all the contacts  132  are firstly integrally formed within the insulative primary part  134  to form an initial piece via a first stage insert-molding while leaving the tunnel like recesses H to upwardly expose the corresponding grounding contacts  1321 , and the conductive secondary part  136  is successively applied, via a second stage insert-molding, upon such an initial piece to fill the corresponding tunnel like recesses H so as to electrically connect all the grounding contacts  1321 , but not connected to the signal contact  1322 . Therefore, all the contacts  132  are not only securely embedded within the plastic tie bar  135  essentially composed of the insulative primary part  134  and the conductive secondary part  136  from a mechanical viewpoint but also all connected for the grounding contacts  1321  from the electrical viewpoint. All grounding contacts  1321  are electrically connected into a whole through conductive secondary part. 
       FIGS. 13(A) - 24  show the second embodiment wherein all structures thereof are essentially same with those of the first embodiment of  FIGS. 1(A) - 12  except that each of the protrusions  138  further includes a plate  139  at the bottom end as shown in  FIGS. 18(B) and 21(B)  to fill the corresponding hole  134 H which is empty in  FIG. 11(A)  of the first embodiment but being filled by the plate  139  as shown in  FIGS. 23(A)  and  24 . The conductive secondary part  136  is formed in the hole  134 H through the hole  172 H to form the plate  139 . Understandably, the plate  139  may enhance mechanical integral securement among the insulative primary part  134 , the conductive secondary part  136  and the grounding contacts  1321 . 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is not to be construed as being limited thereto. Various alterations and modifications can be made to the embodiments without in any way departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.