Patent Publication Number: US-9893449-B2

Title: Electrical connector

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present disclosure relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector can be assembled conveniently. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     A wide range of electrical connectors in electronics are used for data transmission, data storage or image display, such as from the earlier conventional ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) to SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) and the more recently SAS interface (serial SCSI, Serial Attached SCSI). For many emerging applications with high speed data transmission, serial communication technology can solve the performance bottleneck problem of traditional parallel technology, serial attached SCSI (SAS) is the development of parallel SCSI based on serial technology, and has an advantage of higher signal transmission rate, and also compatible with SATA drive, in addition, SAS has a smaller profile than SCSI. 
     SAS connector mainly supports for high-speed serial signal transmission and power supply, and is generally adopted with enhanced design, that can be used in compact storage applications to achieve a higher reliability, as the overall size of the SAS connector is small, so contacts are not easy to be assembled into a housing of the SAS connector. 
     It is desirable to provide an improved electrical connector for solving above problems. 
     SUMMARY 
     In one aspect, the present invention includes an electrical connector. The electrical connector includes an insulative housing being elongated and two contact modules assembled into the insulative housing. The insulative housing has a bottom mounting portion and a mating portion extending upwards from the mounting portion, the mounting portion has a cavity opening downwardly, the mating portion has a central mating space extending along a lengthwise direction and a pair of side walls on both sides of the mating space, and a plurality of contact receiving passageways defined on each side wall and communicated with the cavity along a height direction. The contact modules assembled into the insulative housing from a lower side of the mounting portion along a down-to-up direction, and each contact module having an insulator received in the cavity and a plurality of contacts insert-molded in the insulator, each contact defining a contacting arm projecting upwards into the relative contact receiving passageway and a soldering portion extending downwards to be exposed out of the relative insulator. The insulative housing defines a pair of locating portions extending downwards from two sides of the mounting portion, the distance between the pair of locating portions is smaller than an internal diameter of the cavity along the lengthwise direction, and a pair of demising slots are formed on an interior side of each locating portion for the contact modules passing through. 
     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 
       The components in the drawing are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the described embodiments. In the drawings, reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout various views, and all the views are schematic. 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an electrical connector in accordance with an illustrated embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is a view similar to  FIG. 1 , while viewed from another aspect; 
         FIGS. 3-4  are exploded views of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a partially assembled view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 4 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 2 , while removing contacts thereof; 
         FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector taken along line  7 - 7  of  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 1 , while assembling a shielding member on an insulative housing thereof; 
         FIG. 9  is a partially exploded view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 8 ; 
         FIGS. 10-11  are perspective views of the shielding member of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 8 ; 
         FIG. 12  is a cross-sectional view of the shielding member of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 9 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENT 
     Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe the embodiments of the present disclosure in detail. In the following description, the same drawing reference numerals are used for the same elements in different drawings. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 to 7 , an illustrated embodiment of the present disclosure discloses an electrical connector  100  is a SAS connector for mounting on a printed circuit board (not shown), and comprises an insulative housing  1  and two contact modules  2 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3 to 5 , the insulative housing  1  is elongated, and provided with a bottom mounting portion  11  and a mating portion  12  extending upwards from the mounting portion  11 , and the mounting portion  11  has a larger width than the mating portion  12 . A cavity  110  is formed in the mounting portion  11  and opens downwardly, and the mounting portion  11  has at least one latching slot  112  on each side wall thereof, and the latching slots  112  of the side walls are communicated with the cavity  110 . The mounting portion  11  also defines a limiting slot  113  on each side wall thereof, and the limiting slots  113  are communicated with the cavity  110 . In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, each limiting slot  113  is disposed in a middle position of mounting portion  11  along a lengthwise direction of the insulative housing  1 , and each limiting slot  113  is defined between two latching slots  112  on both sides thereof along the lengthwise direction of the insulative housing  1 . 
     The mating portion  12  has a central mating space  120  extending along the lengthwise direction and a pair of side walls  121  on both sides of the mating space  120 . A plurality of contact receiving passageways  122  are defined on each side wall  121  and communicated with the cavity  110  along a height direction. The contact receiving passageways  122  on a same side wall  121  are arranged in a row along the lengthwise direction, and two rows of the contact receiving passageways  122  are opposite to each other along a direction perpendicular to the lengthwise direction. 
     The insulative housing  1  is further provided with a pair of locating portions  13  at two sides thereof, and the locating portions  13  extends downwards from the mounting portion  11 , the distance between the pair of locating portions  13  is smaller than an internal diameter of the cavity  110  along the lengthwise direction. Each locating portion  13  is of T-shaped, and comprises a semicircular column  131  on the outside thereof and an extension portion  132  extending from the semicircular column  131  into the cavity  110 , the semicircular column  131  has an outward arc surface and an inward plane. The extension portion  132  extends from the inward plane of the semicircular column  131  towards the interior of the cavity  110 , and has an inner surface  1321  facing towards the opposite locating portion  13 . In addition, a pair of demising slots  133  are formed on two sides of the extension portion  132  for the contact modules  2  passing through. 
     The two contact modules  2  are assembled into the insulative housing  1  from a lower side of the mounting portion  11  along a down-to-up direction, and each contact module  2  has an insulator  21  received in the cavity  110  and a plurality of contacts  22  insert-molded in the insulator  21 . The insulator  21  defines a pair of bumps  211  locking with the latching slots  112  and a block  212  engaging with the limiting slot  113 . The bumps  211  are close to an upper surface of the insulator  21 , and the block  212  are defined near a lower surface of the insulator  21 , thus to form a stagger relationship along an up-and-down direction. 
     Each insulator  21  has a pair of cutouts  213  on both ends thereof along the lengthwise direction, and the cutouts  213  are correspondingly arranged with the extension portions  132 . A first upright surface  2131  perpendicular to the lengthwise direction and a second upright surface  2132  vertical to the first upright surface  2131  are connected with each other to form one cutout  213 . The inner surface  1321  of the extension portion  132  is located outside of the corresponding first upright surface  2131 . While the contact modules  2  assembled in the cavity  110 , the cutouts  213  on both sides of the insulator  21  can prevent the contact modules  2  from being stopped by the extension portions  132 . 
     One insulator  21  of the two contact modules  2  defines a protrusion  214  on the surface opposite to another insulator  21  matching with a positioning slot  215  on the another insulator  21 . In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, each insulator  21  has one protrusion  214  projecting towards the opposite insulator  21  and one positioning slot  215  receiving the opposite protrusion  214  on the opposite insulator  21 , and the protrusion  214  and the positioning slot  215  are spaced apart from each other with a certain distance. The protrusion  214  has a plurality of ribs  2141  extruding outwards, and the ribs  2141  are distributed evenly on the peripheral surface of projection  214 , each rib  2141  has a gradually varied thickness along a radial direction of the protrusion  214 . The positioning slot  215  has a gradually contracted configuration along a direction away from the corresponding insulator  21 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3-5 , and conjunction with  FIG. 7 , the contacts  22  of the two contact modules  2  are arranged opposite to each other, and mirrored symmetry with each other along a vertical intermediate surface. Each contact  22  is provided with a contacting arm  221  projecting upwards into the relative contact receiving passageway  122  and a soldering portion  223  extending downwards, the soldering portion  223  is exposed out of the relative insulator  21 , and the contacting arm  221  has a curved contacting portion  2210  exposed in the mating space  120  for mating with a complementary connector. 
     In assembly, the contacts  22  are insert-molded in the corresponding insulator  21  to form the contact module  2 , the two contact modules  2  are assemble to each other, and the protrusion  214  of one insulator  21  is inserted into and matching with the positioning slot  215  of another insulator  21 , until two opposite surfaces of the insulators  21  are intimately confronted with each other, therefore the two contact modules  2  are assembled together. Then the two contact modules  2  are assembled to the insulative housing  1  from the mounting portion  11  of the insulative housing  1  along a down-to-up direction, and the locating portions  13  are inserted into the corresponding cutouts  213  on two sides of the insulators  21 , and exposed out of the lower surface of the insulator  21 , the two insulators  21  are accommodated in the cavity  110 . The bumps  211  and the blocks  212  on lateral sides of the contact modules  2  are matching with the latching slots  112  and the limiting slots  113  respectively, and the contacts  22  are inserted into the relative contact receiving passageways  122 , thus the electrical connector  100  has a simple structure with a convenient insertion and assembling of contact modules  2 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 8 to 12 , the electrical connector  100  also has a shielding member  3  enclosing on the insulative housing  1 . The shielding member  3  is formed by bending a metal sheet, and comprises a first lateral wall  31 , a second lateral wall  32  and a pair of conjoining walls  33  connecting the two lateral walls  31 ,  32 , and the first lateral wall  31  is opposite to the second lateral wall  32 . The first lateral wall  31  has a pair of side portion  311  and an extrusion  312  located between the two side portions  311 . One of the side portion  311  defines a joint  34  for shaping the shielding member  3  after bending forming. The joint  34  is a dovetail joint, and formed by a dovetail groove  341  latching with a dovetail portion  342 . The first lateral wall  31  also has a middle section  313  below the extrusion  312 , a lower section  314  under the middle section  313  and a pair of tail sections  315  extending downwards from a lower end of the lower section  314 . The middle section  313  is bent from a lower end of the extrusion  312 , and locating on a same plane with the two side portions  311 , the lower section  314  is bent from a lower end of the middle section  313 . A width between the extension  312  and the middle section  313  is larger than a width between the lower section  314  and the middle section  313 . 
     The second lateral wall  32  comprises a main portion  321  parallel to the side portions  311  and a bottom segment  322  bent from a lower edge of the main portion  321 . The second lateral wall  32  has a strip connecting portion  323  on a lower end of the bottom segment  322  for connecting with a strip (not shown) and a pair of soldering legs  324  extending downwards from the lower end of the bottom segment  322 . The strip connecting portion  323  is defined outside of the soldering legs  324 , the two tail sections  315  of the first lateral wall  31  is located between the two soldering legs  324  of the second lateral wall  32  along the lengthwise direction. 
     The extrusion  312  of the first lateral wall  31  has a pair of through holes  3121 , and the second lateral wall  32  also has a pair of through holes  3211  in an area corresponding to the extrusion  312 . The middle section  313  defines at least one resilient portion  3131  extending inwards to contact with the insulative housing  1  for a orientation therebetween, and the second lateral wall  32  also has at least one resilient portion  325  extending inwards to contact with the insulative housing  1 . And in the preferred embodiment of present invention, the middle section  313  has a resilient portion  3131 , and the second lateral wall  32  has a pair of resilient portion  325 , the resilient portion  3131  of the middle section  313  is located between the pair of resilient portions  325  of the second lateral wall  32  along the lengthwise direction, and in middle of the two resilient portions  325 . Upper ends of the resilient portions  3131 ,  325  are free ends, and extending towards the interior of the shielding member  3 . 
     In present invention, the shielding member  3  of the electrical connector  100  has the extrusion  312  on one side thereof, and the joint  34  is defined on a same side of the shielding member  3  as the extrusion  312 , and located on an outer side of the extrusion  312 , thus the strip connecting portion  323  can be defined conveniently, and the extrusion  312  can be easy to be bent. 
     It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of preferred and exemplary embodiments have been set out in the foregoing description, together with details of the structures and functions of the embodiments, the disclosure is illustrative only; and that changes may be made in detail within the principles of present disclosure to the full extent indicated by the broadest general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.