Patent Publication Number: US-7588470-B2

Title: Electrical connector with an improved detecting pin

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the invention 
   The present invention relates to an electrical connector having a detecting pin. 
   2. Description of Related Art 
   U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,085 discloses an electrical connector having an insulating housing defining a tongue portion, a shielding shell surrounding the housing and conductive terminals in the tongue portion and a detecting pin. The detecting pin is retained in the housing and has a cantilever portion bent and extending below the tongue portion. The cantilever portion will engage with one conductive terminal when a mating connector is inserted into the connector. 
   However, electrical reliability of the terminals will face challenge since the terminal functions as a detecting pin synchronously. The cantilever is longer so that it might be permanently distorted. 
   Therefore, an electrical connector with an improved detecting pin is desired to overcome the disadvantages of the related arts. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector with an improved detecting pin. 
   In order to achieve above-mentioned object, an electrical connector includes an insulating housing defining a base portion and a tongue portion extending forwards from a front face of the base portion, a plurality of terminals, a shielding shell and a detect pin. Each contact defines a solder portion extending towards a bottom face of the base portion and a contacting portion located on a first surface of the tongue portion. The shielding shell surrounds the insulating housing and forms a receiving cavity for being inserted by a counter connector with an insulating tongue portion and a shielding member surrounding the insulating tongue portion. The receiving cavity is divided into a housing receiving portion for receiving the insulating tongue portion of the counter connector and a shell receiving portion for receiving the shielding member. The detecting pin has an arc section projecting only into the shell receiving portion of the receiving cavity. 
   Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present 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  is a top and front perspective view of an electrical connector of a first embodiment; 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the electrical connector and a counter connector; 
       FIG. 3  is a front elevational view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 4  is an exploded perspective view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 5  is a top perspective view of the connector without the shell thereon shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 6  is a bottom perspective view of the connector without the shell thereon shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 7  is an exploded perspective view of an electrical connector of a second embodiment; 
       FIG. 8  is an exploded perspective view of the connector without the shell thereon shown in  FIG. 7 . 
       FIG. 9  is an exploded perspective view of the connector of a third embodiment without a shell; 
       FIG. 10  is a perspective view of the connector shown in  FIG. 9 ; and 
       FIG. 11  is a front elevational view of the electrical connector of the second embodiment. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe three preferred embodiments of the present invention in detail. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , an electrical connector  1  of a first embodiment of the present invention is used to mate with a counter connector  7 . The counter connector  7  comprises an insulating housing having a front mating tongue portion  71  and a shielding shell  70  surrounding the housing to define a mating cavity between the tongue portion  71 , the top wall  700  and sidewalls  72  of the shell  70 . A plurality of terminals  73  are arranged on the top surface of the tongue portion  71 . 
   Referring to  FIG. 4 , the electrical connector  1  comprises an insulating housing  2 , a plurality of terminal  3 , a shielding shell  4  and a detecting pins  6 . The insulating housing  2  made from resin material, comprises a base portion  20  and a tongue portion  21  extending forward from a front face of the base portion. The tongue portion defines a top surface  22 , a bottom surface  23  and two end surfaces  24 . The four terminals  3  are retained in corresponding passageways  25  on the bottom surface of the tongue portion as shown in  FIG. 6  and each comprises a retaining portion  31  retained in the base portion, a solder portion  32  extending downwards from the retaining portion and a contacting portion  30  extending forward from the retaining portion. The shielding shell  4  surrounds and is retained on the base portion  20  and spaced surrounds the tongue portion  21  to define a receiving cavity  5  with a mating opening  50  as shown in  FIG. 1 . The shell comprises a top wall  40 , a bottom wall  42  and two sidewalls  41  perpendicularly connecting with the top and bottom wall to commonly define said receiving cavity  5 . The top wall, sidewalls and bottom wall respectively define inward spring portions  43 . A fork retaining leg  44  extends downward from the bottom of each sidewall  41 . 
   The top surface  22  of the tongue portion  21  defines a groove  26  opening upwards and extending rearward through the base portion  20 . The connector  1  further comprises a detecting pins  6  retained in the groove  26 . The detecting pin  6  comprises a retaining section  61  with at least one tab at side edges of the retaining section, a leg portion  63  extending downward from a rear end of the retaining section and a contacting arm  60  extending forwards from front end of the retaining section  61 . An upwardly arc section  62  is formed at the front portion of the contacting portion  60  and a stopping section  620  is formed at the free end of the contacting arm with a parallel structure. As shown in  FIG. 5 , the detecting pin  6  is received in the groove  26  and the arc section  62  projects beyond the top surface  22  of the tongue portion  141 . 
   As shown in  FIG. 3 , the receiving cavity  5  is divided in two portions, one is below the bottom surface  23  of the tongue portion  21  for receiving the mating tongue portion  71  of the counter connector  7 , which is designated as a housing receiving portion  51 , another is around the tongue portion  21  and the housing receiving portion  51  with rectangular ring structure for receiving the shielding shell  70  of the counter connector  7 , which is designated as a shell receiving portion  52 . The arc section  62  of detecting pin  6  projects into the shell receiving portion  52  of the receiving cavity, which will engage with an inside of the top wall  700  of shell  70  of the counter connector  7  to complete an electrical connection. The height between the top surface  22  of the tongue portion and the top wall  40  of the shell is smaller than that between the bottom surface of the tongue portion and the bottom wall  42  of the shell, thus the shielding shell  52  is only used for receiving the shell  7 . 
   Another embodiment of an electrical connector is provided in  FIGS. 7 and 8 . An insulating housing  8  of the electrical connector comprises a base portion  80  and a tongue portion  81  extending forward from the front surface thereof adjacent to the top thereof. The tongue portion  81  of the housing defines a recess portion  82  at one end wall  811  into which the detecting pin  9  is inserted. The detecting pin  9 , made from a metal slit tape and received in the recess portion  82 , comprises a retaining section  91 , a leg portion  92  extending downwards from the retaining section and a contacting arm  93  from the retaining section. The retaining section has at least one tab  911  at an upper and lower edge thereof and retained in the base portion of the housing. The contacting arm  93  defines an outwards-projecting arc shaped contacting section  931  at a front end thereof and the contacting section  62  projects outwards beyond the end wall  82  of tongue portion and toward the sidewalls of the shell. 
   As shown in  FIG. 9 , the arc section  931  projects into the side portion of the shell receiving  52 , which is different from the arc section  62  projecting into the top portion of the shell receiving potion  52  of the first embodiment. 
   A third embodiment is shown in  FIGS. 10 and 11 . The electrical connector is a stacked connector which is provided for insertion of two counter connectors. The insulating housing  2 ″ has an upper tongue portion  21 ″ extending from the base portion  20 ″ and a flange portion  27 ″ spaced extending from two opposite ends of the base portion  20 ″. The detecting portion  6 ″ has a contacting arm  60 ″ with an arc section  62 ″ at the distal end of the contacting arm and a solder leg  63 ″. The contacting arm  60 ″ is received in a recess portion  26 ″ in the inner side of the flange portion  27 ″. The arc section  62 ″ projects into the side portion of the shell receiving portion, which is similar to the second embodiment. 
   However, the disclosure is illustrative only, changes may be made in detail, especially in matter of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention.