Patent Publication Number: US-6655992-B1

Title: Vertically mated micro coaxial cable connector assembly

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This patent application is a Co-pending Application of Patent Applications with unknown serial numbers, respectively entitled “VERTICALLY MATED MICRO COAXIAL CABLE CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY”, “VERTICALLY MATED MICRO COAXIAL CABLE CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY WITH GROUNDING BAR”, and “VERTICALLY MATED MICRO COAXIAL CABLE CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY WITH GROUNDING SHIELD”, all invented by the same inventors as this patent application, all assigned to the same assignee and filed on the same date with this application. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a micro coaxial cable connector assembly, and particularly to a micro coaxial cable connector assembly for electrically connecting with a header vertically mounted on a printed circuit board. 
     THE RELATED ARTS 
     In U.S. Pat. No. 6,123,582, a micro coaxial cable connector assembly for contacting with a mating electrical connector includes a first and a second housing members, a cable with a plurality of wires, an upper and a lower shield members, and a plurality of contacts. Each wire has a central signal conductor and a grounding braiding around the signal conductor. The connector assembly is horizontally mated with the mating connector. A grounding bar is soldered to the grounding braiding of the wires. The upper and lower shield members attached onto the first housing member are engagingly jointed with each other and electrically contact with a shield member of the mating connector. Meanwhile, the upper shield member further forms a plurality of spring fingers extending inside the first housing member to electrically engage with the grounding bar received therein. Therefore, a grounding path from the cables to the mating connector is established. This type of the micro coaxial cable connector assembly is usually used to connect a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) with a main board of a notebook computer on which the mating connector is horizontally mounted. 
     In some applications, there is a necessity to mate a micro coaxial cable connector assembly in a vertical direction with a vertically mounted header. Under this circumstance, a micro coaxial cable connector assembly having a new structure is needed. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved micro coaxial cable connector assembly for mating with a header vertically mounted on a printed circuit board, in which the connector assembly has a grounding shield with an improved structure for firmly assembling with a housing of the connector assembly and providing a reliable grounding effectiveness. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a micro coaxial cable connector assembly for mating with a vertically mounted header, in which wires of a cable of the connector assembly can be easily and firmly connected to a connector of the assembly. 
     To achieve the above objects, a micro coaxial cable connector assembly in accordance with the present invention comprises a micro coaxial cable connector comprising a mating portion for mating with a header on a printed circuit board in a vertical direction and a base perpendicular to the mating portion, a plurality of terminals received in the mating portion, and a plurality of wires assembled to the base of the connector. Each wire comprises a conductor electrically connecting with a corresponding terminal. An upper grounding shield is assembled to the mating portion of the connector in a first direction and a lower grounding shield comprising a plate portion is assembled to a bottom of the base of the connector in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The lower grounding shield electrically connects with the upper grounding shield. 
    
    
     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 an explode perspective view of a micro coaxial cable connector assembly in accordance with the present; 
     FIG. 2 is a side view of the micro coaxial cable connector assembly of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is an assembled perspective view of the micro coaxial cable connector assembly of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3, viewed from another aspect; 
     FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the micro coaxial cable connector assembly taken along line  5 — 5  of FIG. 3; 
     FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the micro coaxial cable connector taken along line  6 — 6  of FIG. 3; 
     FIG. 7 is a bottom plan view of the micro coaxial cable connector assembly in which upper and lower grounding shields of the assembly being removed for clarity; 
     FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of a circled portion of FIG. 7; 
     FIG. 9 is a bottom plan view of a micro coaxial cable connector assembly in accordance with a second preferred embodiment of the present invention in which upper and lower grounding shields of the assembly being removed for clarity; 
     FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of a circled portion of FIG. 7; and 
     FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the micro coaxial cable connector taken along line  11 — 11  of FIG.  9 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     With reference to the drawings and particularly to FIGS. 1-4, a micro coaxial cable connector assembly  1  constructed in accordance with the present invention comprises a connector  10 , a flat cable comprising a group of first wires  20  for transmitting signals and a group pf second wires  22  for transmitting power, an upper grounding shield  30  and a lower grounding shield  40 . 
     Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the connector  10  comprises a mating portion  101  for mating with a corresponding complementary connector (not shown) which is a vertical header mounted on a printed circuit board, a plurality of terminals  102  received in the mating portion  101  and a base  103  perpendicular to the mating portion  101 . The mating portion  101  has a recess  100  opening upwardly for receiving the complementary connector. The base  103  defines a pair of recesses  104  through top and bottom faces (not labeled) of a front side of the base  103 . Referring to FIG. 5, a pair of elongate slots  105  is respectively defined in the base  103  adjacent to lateral ends of the base  103 . The base  103  defines a plurality of grooves  106  in the bottom of the front side thereof. The grooves  106  are used for respectively receiving the first wires  20  therein. The base  103  also defines a channel  107  beside the grooves  106  for receiving the second wires  22  therein. In addition, the base  103  comprises a pair of protrusions  108  respectively laterally protruding from the lateral ends thereof. 
     The upper grounding shield  30  generally has a U-shaped configuration and comprises a U-shaped portion  301  for covering the mating portion  101  of the connector  10 , a flat portion  302  extending forwardly from a bottom of one side of the U-shaped portion  301  and a flat portion  305  extending from a bottom of the other side of the U-shaped portion  301 , opposite the flat portion  302 . The flat portion  302  defines a pair of rectangular holes  303  adjacent to lateral ends thereof, respectively. The flat portion  302  also forms a pair of downwardly extending spring tags  304  between the two rectangular holes  303 . The spring tags  304  are received in the recesses  104  of the base  103 , respectively. A vertical portion  306  extends downwardly from the flat portion  305 . The U-shaped portion  301  also has a plurality of glossal portions  307  extending downward form the other side of the U-shaped portion  301  and into the base  103  (referring to FIGS.  4  and  6 ). 
     The lower grounding shield  40  comprises a plate portion  401 , a pair of buckling portions  402  respectively extending upwardly from lateral ends of the plate portion  401 , a bent edge  403  extending upward from a front side of the plate portion  401  and a pair of pressing portions  404  extending upwardly from the front side of the plate portion  403  beside the bent edge  403  and adjacent to the lateral ends of the plate portion  401 , respectively. The plate portion  401  defines a plurality of tags  406  extending upwardly. Each pressing portion  404  has a latch  405  extending rearwards from an outer side thereof and a hook  407  extending downwardly from an inner side thereof. 
     Referring to FIGS. 3-6, the upper grounding shield  30  and the lower grounding shield  40  are assembled to the connector  10 . First, the upper grounding shield  30  is assembled downwardly to the mating portion  101  of the connector  10  with the flat portion  302  of the U-shaped portion  301  located on the base  103  of the connector  10 , the spring tags  304  of the flat portion  302  respectively received in the recesses  104  of the base  103 , the flat portion  305  of the U-shaped portion  301  located on the base  103 , the vertical portion  306  covering a rear side of the base  103 , and the glossal portions  307  received in the base  103 . Second, the lower grounding shield  40  is assembled rearwardly to the base  103  with the pressing portions  404  pressing on the flat portion  302  of the upper grounding shield  30 , the latches  405  of the pressing portions  404  extending into and securely received into the slots  105  of the base  103  for preventing the pressing portions  404  from moving upwardly, the hooks  407  of the pressing portions  404  extending into the rectangular holes  303  of the upper grounding shield  30 , the buckling portions  402  of the lower grounding shield  40  also respectively buckling to the protrusions  108  on the lateral ends of the base  103 . Thus, the upper grounding shield  30 , the. connector  10 , and the lower grounding shield  40  are securely assembled together. So a grounding path between the upper grounding shield  30  and the lower grounding shield  40  is established. 
     Referring to FIG. 7, the first and second wires  20 ,  22  each comprise a pair of conductors  203  each electrically connecting with the terminal  102 , an insulation  202  surrounding the conductor  203 , a metal braiding  201  surrounding the insulation  202  and a jacket (not labeled) surrounding the braiding  201 . The first wires  20  are respectively inserted into the grooves  106 . The second wires  22  are inserted in the channel  107 . The wires  20 ,  22  are horizontally extended in the connector  10 . The bottom of the connector  10  defines a plurality of canals  110  with the terminals  102  exposing to the canals  110  and the conductors  203  of the first wires  20  located in the canals  110 . A number of solder slugs  50  are positioned into the canals  110 , whereby when the connector assembly  1  is subject to heat, the solder slugs  50  are melted to solder the terminals  102  and the conductors  203  of the first and second wires  20 ,  22  together (referring to FIG.  6 ). 
     Further referring to FIGS. 9 to  11 , a micro coaxial cable connector assembly  1 ′ in accordance with a second preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown, Same, components in the two embodiments are labeled by the same reference number. The micro coaxial cable connector assembly  1 ′ has a structure substantially the same as that of the micro coaxial cable connector assembly  1  of the first embodiment, except that the former further has top and bottom grounding bars  60 ,  62 . The bottom grounding bar  62  is received in the bottom of the base  103  and comprises a rectangular portion  621  and a pair of strips  622  extending from two sides of the rectangular portion  621 . A plurality of grounding fingers  623  extends from the rectangular portion  621  into selected ones of the canals  110  of the base  103  to be soldered to grounding terminals of the terminals  102 . The grounding terminals are located between signal terminals connecting with the conductors  203  of two neighboring first wires  20 . The top grounding bar  60  has a similar configuration of the bottom grounding bar but does not have the grounding fingers. 
     In assembly, the top grounding bar  60  is first positioned in the bottom of the base  103  and the first and second wires  20 ,  22  positioned on the top grounding bar  60  with the braiding  201  of the wires  20 ,  22  electrically engaging with the top grounding bar  60 . The bottom grounding bar  62  is then put on the first and second wires  20 ,  22  and engaged with the braiding  201  thereof. A heat is applied to the connector subassembly to melt the solder slugs  50  in the canals  110 , thereby soldering the terminals  102  and the conductors  203  of the first and second wires  20 ,  22  and the grounding fingers  623  together Finally, the upper grounding shield  30  is assembled to the mating portion  101  in a manner like the first embodiment with the spring tags  304  of the upper grounding shield  30  extending into the recesses  104  and electrically engaging with the top grounding bar  60 . The lower grounding shield  40  is assembled to the base  103  and the upper grounding shield  30  in a manner like the first embodiment, with the tags  406  electrically engaging with the bottom grounding bar  62 . The two grounding bars  60 ,  62  are electrically connected with the braiding  201  of the wires  20 ,  22 . So a grounding path between the upper grounding shield  30 , the top grounding bar  60 , the bottom grounding bar  62  and the lower grounding shield  40  is established. 
     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.