Patent Publication Number: US-10312637-B2

Title: Electrical connector having seamless shielding shell and single row of contacts

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an electrical connector having a seamless shielding shell and a single row of contacts with soldering tails arranged alternately in two rows within an outer profile of the shielding shell. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     U.S. Pat. No. 9,450,340 discloses an electrical connector having a shielding shell or anchoring terminal that is connected to a ground potential and has a shape that is of substantially rectangular ring with a part thereof cut out. The anchoring terminal is manufactured by bending a single meal plate. Contacts or connection terminals of the electrical connector extend out to an outer side of the substantially rectangular ring via the cut-out portion in the anchoring terminal. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An electrical connector comprises: an insulative housing; a single row of contacts secured to the insulative housing and each having a soldering tail; and a shielding shell enclosing the insulative housing and having an annular part and a pair of soldering portions; wherein the shielding shell annular part is seamless; and the soldering tails of the single row of contacts are arranged alternately in two rows within an outer profile of the shielding shell annular part. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an electrical connector assembly in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a plug connector and a receptacle connector of the electrical connector assembly; 
         FIG. 3  is another perspective view of the plug connector and the receptacle connector; 
         FIG. 4  is an exploded view of the plug connector; 
         FIG. 5  is another exploded view of the plug connector; 
         FIG. 6  is an exploded view of the receptacle connector; 
         FIG. 7  is another exploded view of the receptacle connector; and 
         FIG. 8  is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector assembly taken along line A-A in  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-3 , an electrical connector assembly  100  includes a plug connector  100  for mounting on a printed circuit board (PCB) and a mating receptacle connector  200  for mounting on another PCB. The plug connector  100  includes an insulative (plug) housing  1 , a plurality of (plug) contacts  2  secured to the insulative housing  1 , and a (plug) shielding shell  3  enclosing the insulative housing  1 . The receptacle connector  200  includes an insulative (receptacle) housing  4 , a plurality of (receptacle) contacts  5  secured to the insulative housing  4 , and a (receptacle) shielding shell  6  enclosing the insulative housing  4 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 through 8 , the plug connector housing  1  has a base  11 , a tongue  12 , a peripheral wall  14 , and a groove  13 . The contact  2  has a securing portion  21 , a contacting portion  22 , and a soldering tail  23 . The shielding shell  3  has a seamless annular part  31  and a pair of soldering portions or horizontal seats  317 . The insulative housing  1  has a plurality of peripheral recesses  142  and the shielding shell annular part  31  has a plurality of protrusions  311  for engaging the recesses  142 . An outer surface of the shielding shell annular part  31  has a plurality of dimples  312 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 through 11 , the receptacle connector housing  4  has a base  41 , a lip  43 , and a groove  42 . The contact  5  has a securing portion  51 , a contacting portion  52 , and a soldering tail  53 . The shielding shell  6  has a seamless annular part  61  and a pair of soldering portions or horizontal plate  62 . The shielding shell annular part  61  has a pair of protrusions  611  for engaging the dimples  312  of the plug shielding shell annular part  31  wherein the shielding shell annular part  61  is spaced from the lip  43  with a mating space  44  therebetween to receive the corresponding shielding shell annular part  31  and the associated peripheral wall  14  therein. 
     For effective shielding, the soldering tails  23  of the single row of contacts  2  are arranged alternately in two rows within an outer profile of the shielding shell annular part  31 . Similarly, the soldering tails  53  of the single row of contacts  5  are arranged alternately in two rows within an outer profile of the shielding shell annular part  61 . This arrangement also minimizes a size of the electrical connector. 
     The base  11  of the plug housing  1  has a plurality of windows  111  exposing the two rows of soldering tails  23 . The contacting portion  22  of the contact  2  has a first part  221  and a second part  222 . The first part  221  has a notch  2211 . The shielding shell annular part  31  has opposite first and second side walls  313  and  314  and opposite third and fourth side walls  315  and  316 . The lip  43  of the receptacle connector housing  4  has opposite first and second side walls  431  and  432 . The base  41  of the receptacle connector housing  4  has a pair of windows  411  exposing the two rows of soldering tails  53 . The contacting portion  52  of the contact  5  has a first part  521  and a second part  522 . 
     In brief, the seamless structure of the shielding shell may be obtained by the metal drawing process or metal injection molding process wherein the formal may keep the constant thickness while the latter may own different thicknesses at different positions. Notably, the contacts  2  as well as the contacts  5 , are arranged with opposite orientations alternately, i.e, the soldering portions being alternately disposed on two opposite sides of the tongue. It is noted that as shown in  FIG. 8 , for the mated/paired contact  2  and contact  5 , the soldering  23  of the contact  2  and the soldering tail  53  of the contact  5  are located at opposite sides of the longitudinal centerline (not labeled) or the tongue  12  in the transverse direction. Such an arrangement may provide more symmetrical structures mechanically and electrically. In this embodiment, the orientation identification mechanism is the chamfered corner C on the horizontal seat/solder portion of each connector so as to assure the respective connectors are correctly mounted/oriented upon the corresponding printed circuit board. In this embodiment, in the plug connector  100 , the plug housing  1  and the plug contacts  2  are insert-molded together and the plug shielding shell  3  is attached to the plug housing  1 , while in the receptacle connector  200 , the receptacle housing  4  is integrally formed with the receptacle shielding shell  5  and the plug contacts  5  are secured to the receptacle housing  4 .