Patent Publication Number: US-9419382-B2

Title: Cable connector assembly with improved spacer

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a cable connector assembly, and more particularly to a cable connector assembly having improved shielding effect. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Universal Serial BUS (USB) is a widely used input/output interface adapted for many electronic devices, such as personal computers and related peripherals. Nowadays, USB forum has published several specification editions for USB, and transmitting rate of USB has become higher and higher. As electronic industry develops, higher transmitting rate of USB based connection accessory is needed. 
     A USB 3.0 POWER-B cable connector assembly usually includes an electrical connector, a cable electrically connected with the electrical connector, and an insulative member over-molded around the electrical connector and a front portion of the cable. The electrical connector includes an insulative housing and a metal case enclosing the insulative housing. The insulative housing usually defines a narrower upper portion and a wider lower portion. Due to the limits of manufacturing technology, a slit is formed on two opposite sides of the metal case. Therefore, the cable connector assembly further includes a copper foil enclosing the metal shell to enhance the shielding effect. However, when the insulative member is over-molded, the copper foil located at the slit is easily broken for a lack of effective support by the metal case. 
     Hence, a cable connector assembly with improved spacer is desired to overcome the above problems. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to one aspect of the present invention, a cable connector assembly comprises: a cable including a number of wires, an insulative housing; a plurality of contacts retained in the insulative housing and soldered to corresponding wires of the cable, a spacer assembled to the insulative housing and retaining respective rear portions of the contacts, a metal case enclosing the insulative housing and having a slit, a copper foil enclosing the metal case and covering the slit, and an insulative member over-molded on the copper foil and a front end of the cable, wherein the spacer defines a sustaining portion extending into the slit for supporting a portion of the copper foil located above the slit. 
     The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective assembled view of a cable connector assembly according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the cable connector assembly shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a view similar to  FIG. 2  but with several elements removed; 
         FIG. 4  is partly assembled view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 3 , but from a different perspective; 
         FIG. 5  is a further assembled view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 4 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a different perspective view from  FIG. 5  with several elements removed; 
         FIG. 7  is a further assembled view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 5 ; 
         FIG. 8  is a partly assembled view of the cable connector assembly shown in  FIG. 2 ; and 
         FIG. 9  is a further assembled view of the cable connector assembly shown in  FIG. 8 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-2 , a cable connector assembly  100  according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes an electrical connector  10 , a cable  20  electrically connecting to the electrical connector  10 , a copper foil  40  enclosing a conjunction area between the electrical connector  10  and the cable  20 , and an insulative member  50  over-molded around the copper foil  40 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3-6 , the electrical connector  10  includes a metal case  110 , an insulative housing  12  contained in the metal case  110 , a spacer  120  assembled to a rear end of the insulative housing  12 , and a number of contacts  13  retained in the insulative housing  12 . The metal case  110  includes a first case  11  and a second case  30  engaged with the first case  11 . The cable  20  includes a number of wires for transmitting electrical signals, and the wires are electrically connected to the corresponding contacts  13 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2-5 , the first case  11  includes a tubular portion  111  and a drawer-shaped portion  112  obliquely and upwardly extending from a rear end of the tubular portion  111  along a front-to-back direction. A receiving space  13  is formed by four conjunctive walls of the tubular portion  111 , and the width of a top wall is less than the width of a bottom wall, thus symmetrically, two step-shaped portions are formed on the two side walls respectively. Two sidewalls of the drawer-shaped portion  112  respectively are against the outside of the two sidewalls of the tubular portion  111  and fixed to the corresponding sidewall at the overlapping part. A slit  60  is formed between a side wall of the drawer-shape portion  112  and an upper portion of the tubular portion  111 . The seconded case  30  includes a top cap  31  and an installation portion  32  extending vertically downwards from two opposite sides of the top cap  31 . The top cap  31  has a U-shaped groove  311  and two shielding portions  312  beside the U-shaped groove  311 . The Installation portion  32  encloses the top part of the drawer-shaped portion  112 , and the top portion of the first case  11  extends through the U-shaped groove  311  and is exposed above the top cap  31 . The shielding portions  312  cover the slits  60 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2-6 , the insulative housing  12  includes a main body  121  and a fixing member  1211  unitarily extending from a rear end of the main body  121  along a front-and-rear direction. The main body  121  is received in the receiving space  113  of the first case  11 . A number of dovetail slots  1212  are defined on the bottom side of the fixing member  1211 . The spacer  120  includes a first spacer  122  and a second spacer  123 , and both are fixed to the rear portion of the main body  121  under the fixing member  1211  and received in the receiving space  113  together with the insulative housing  12 , and a bottom sidewall of second spacer  123  abuts a top sidewall of the first spacer  122 . A rear side of the first spacer  122  defines a first step  1221  and a second step  1222  along a bottom-and-top direction. Both bottom sidewalls of the first step  1221  and the second step  1222  define a number of receiving slots  1220  along a first direction which a plug connector is inserted or withdrawn, and the receiving slots  1200  extend through the first spacer  122  from a front sidewall to a rear sidewall thereof A number of receiving slots  1230  are defined through the second spacer  123  from the front sidewall to the rear sidewall thereof A number of fixing blocks  1231  corresponding to the dovetail slots  1212  of the fixing member  1211  are defined on the top side of the second spacer  123 . The fixing blocks  1231  are received and fixed in the corresponding dovetail slots  1212  for fixing the second spacer  123  to the bottom of the fixing member  1211 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2-6 , the contact  13  includes a contacting portion  131 , a fixing portion  132  retained in the insulative housing  12 , and a soldering portion  133  for soldering with the cable wire. The soldering portions  133  of the contacts  13  are respectively received in the receiving slots  1220  and the receiving slots  1230 . The soldering portions  133  are soldered to the corresponding wires of the cable  20 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 4-6 , a sustaining portion  1200  is defined on the spacer  120 . The sustaining portion  1200  includes a first sustaining portion  124  outwardly extending from the two opposite ends of the first spacer  122  and a second sustaining portion  125  outwardly extending from the two opposite ends of the second spacer  123 . The first sustaining portion  124  and the second sustaining portion  125  are received in the slit  60  of the first case  11  to fill the slit  60 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-9 , in assembling, firstly, the contacts  13  are retained in the insulative housing  12 . The spacer  120  then is fixed to the rear portion of the insulative housing  12  and receives the rear ends of the contacts  13 . The wires of cable  20  are soldered to the corresponding contacts  13 . The combination of the insulative housing  12 , the spacer  120 , the contacts  13 , and the cable is received in the receiving space  113  of the tubular portion  111 . The second case  30  is engaged with the drawer-shaped portion  112 . The copper foil  40  encloses the rear portions of the first case  11  and the second case  30  and the front portion of the cable  20 . The insulative member  50  is over-molded around the copper foil  40 , and the front portion of the first case  11  is exposed to the outside of the insulative member  50 . 
     As shown and described, the sustaining portion  1200  extending from the spacer  120  fully fills the slits  60  so that the inner side of the copper foil  40  can be fully supported by the sustaining portion  1200  when the copper foil  40  covers the first case  11  and the second case  30 , insuring the copper foil  40  not to be broken during over-molding the insulative member  50  and thus not affecting the shielding effect of the cable connector assembly.