Patent Publication Number: US-10777940-B2

Title: Electrical connector having a pair of brackets with coplanarity feature

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an electrical connector having a mounting bracket for reliably sitting on a printed circuit board. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     China Patent No. 106410465 discloses an electrical connector comprising a contact module, a shielding shell enclosing the contact module, an insulative outer cover enclosing the shielding shell, and a pair of brackets insert-molded with the insulative outer cover and fastened to the shielding shell, wherein each bracket includes a mounting leg for entering a plated through hole of a printed circuit board to which the electrical connector is mounted. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An electrical connector comprises: a contact module including an insulative housing and an upper and lower rows of contacts, the insulative housing having a base and a tongue, the upper and lower rows of contacts being exposed respectively to an upper and lower surfaces of the tongue; a shielding shell enclosing the contact module; an insulative outer cover enclosing the shielding shell; and a pair of brackets secured to the insulative outer cover, each bracket including a mounting portion having a bottom surface and a hole, wherein the mounting portion further has three downward protrusions leveled lower than the bottom surface. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an electrical connector in accordance with the present invention sitting on a printed circuit board; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a bottom perspective view of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is an exploded view of the electrical connector; 
         FIG. 5  is a view similar to  FIG. 4  but from a different perspective; 
         FIG. 6  is a partly assembled view of  FIG. 4 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a view similar to  FIG. 6  but from a different perspective; and 
         FIG. 8  is a side view of  FIG. 1  with a portion thereof enlarged. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-8 , an electrical connector  100  to be mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB)  200  comprises a contact module and a shielding unit  3  enclosing the contact module. The contact module includes an insulative housing  1  and an upper and lower rows of contacts  2 . The electrical connector  100  may further include a rear sealing member  4  for sealing an interface between the contact module and the shielding unit  3 . The shielding unit  3  includes a pair of L-shaped brackets  33  each having a side mounting portion  30 . 
     The insulative housing  1  has a base  11 , a front tongue  12 , and a rear extension  13 . Each of the upper and lower contacts  2  has a contacting portion  21 , a soldering portion  22 , and an intermediate securing portion. The contacting portions  21  are exposed respectively to an upper and lower surfaces of the tongue  12 . To ensure that the connector  100  is reliably soldered to the PCB  200 , the two mounting portions  30  are required to be coplanar. Each mounting portion  30  has a bottom surface  301 . The mounting portion  30  also has a hole  303  for inserting a fastener to the PCB  200 . The mounting portion  30  further has three downward protrusions  302  leveled lower than the bottom surface  301  in the vertical direction. The three downward protrusions  302  are located at a peripheral edge of the mounting portion  30  around the hole  303 . With provision of such downward protrusions  302  on the mounting portion  30 , coplanarity during fastening may be easily obtained in the mounting portions  30 , which is beneficial to reliable soldering of the contact soldering portions  22  to the PCB  200 . Preferably, the three downward protrusions  302  are disposed respectively at a front, a rear, and a side of the mounting portion  30 . 
     The shielding unit  3  has a shielding shell  31  enclosing the insulative housing  1  and an insulative outer cover  32  enclosing the shielding shell  31 . The shielding shell  31  includes a main part  311  and a pair of soldering legs  312  at rear sides of the main part. The brackets  33  are insert-molded or otherwise secured on two sides of the insulative outer cover  32 . Each bracket  33  includes a securing portion  331  embedded within the outer cover  32 , the mounting portion  30  that extends outward from the securing portion, and a fastening portion  332  extending rearward from the securing portion  331 . The fastening portion  332  has claws  333  and is spot welded to the soldering leg  312  for strengthening. The claw  333  further forms an engagement opening to receive the corresponding upward protrusion (not labeled) of the rear extension  13  for retaining the contact module in position in the outer cover  32 . Notably, the contact module is forwardly inserted into the interior space of the outer cover  32  so the securing between the claw  333  and the rear extension  13  or between the fastening portion  332  and the soldering leg  312  is helpful to prevent the backward movement of the contact module with regard to the outer cover  32 . 
     The soldering legs  312  extend into and secured in holes  201  provided on the PCB  200  to assist in stabilizing the connector  100  in position ready for soldering. The PCB  200  also has a notch  202  with features  203  to accommodate the insulative outer cover  32  with features  321 . The PCB  200  further has a pair of holes  204  spaced from each other in a transverse direction perpendicular to the vertical direction for fasteners (not shown) inserting through the holes  303  to enter and be secured therein. As shown in  FIG. 8 , in this embodiment the protrusion  302  forms a flat bottom face for complying with the upper plane of the printed circuit board  200 . It is also noted that the downward protrusions  302  are formed at the edge rather than in the middle region. It is because it is relatively easy to control the formation of the downward protrusion at the edge, especially for forming the flat bottom face, compared with those formed in the middle region.