Patent Publication Number: US-6910921-B2

Title: Electrical connector

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to electrical board-to-board connector, and more particularly to the high speed connector assembly having an improved shell for achieving a good performance. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   With the development of the technology, the electrical devices need to reduce sizes to meet the miniature trend. Accordingly, the electrical connectors are also becoming more and more small. Electrical connectors are used in a variety of applications. One type of connector is commonly known as a board-to-board connector for interconnecting two circuit boards. A board-to-board connector typically includes interengageable male and female connectors. Referring to  FIG. 1 , the electrical connector  10  comprises an insulative housing  8 , a plurality of signal and grounding contacts  71 ,  72  received in the insulative housing, and a shell assembled to exterior surfaces of the insulative housing. Two outsides  93  of shell are cantilever-shaped. In such a way, when the electrical connector is received an unsuitable force, the two outsides  93  will move upwardly and will contact soldering portions  710  of the signal contacts. Therefore, an electrical short circuit will be existed between the shell and the signal contacts to effect qualities of electrical performance. 
   Hence, an improved electrical connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   A major object of the present invention is to provide an improved structure of a shell for preventing an electrical short circuit between the shell and signal contacts. 
   In order to achieve the object set forth, an electrical connector comprises insulative housing, a plurality of contacts, and a shell. The insulative housing has a bottom wall and two side walls extending upwardly from the bottom wall. The contacts include signal contacts and grounding contacts. Each contact has an engaging portion received in the insulative housing and a soldering portion extending outwardly and horizontally from the bottom wall. The shell is assembled to outer surfaces of the side walls and comprises a plurality of grounding fingers and a pair of cut portions. A distant is existed between a bottom surface of the bottom wall and each cut portion. 
   Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is an assembled, perspective view of a prior art electrical connector; 
       FIG. 2  is an exploded, perspective view of an electrical connector in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 3  is an assembled, perspective view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1 ; and 
       FIG. 4  is a partly enlarged view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 2 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , an electrical connector  1  comprises an insulative housing  10 , a plurality of contacts  20 , and a shell  30 . 
   The insulative housing  10  is elongate and comprises a bottom wall  11  and opposite side walls  12  extending upwardly from the bottom wall  11 . The insulative housing  10  defines a plurality of passageways  16  for receiving the contacts  20 . Each side wall  12  forms a plurality of pairs of protrusions  14  on an exterior surface. Each pair of protrusions  14  define a pair of channels  18  facing to each other and a recess  17  therebetween. A partition  15  is formed between every two pairs of the protrusions  14 . 
   The contacts  20  include a plurality of signal contacts  21  and grounding contacts  22 . Each contact  21 ,  22  comprises an engaging portion  221  received in the insulative housing  10  and a soldering portion  222  extending outwardly and horizontally from a bottom wall  11  of the insulative housing  10 . 
   Referring to  FIGS. 2 to 4 , the shell  30  is assembled to the exterior surfaces of the side walls  12  and includes a plurality of grounding fingers  31  received in corresponding cavities  130  of the bottom wall  11  for achieving an mechanical and an electrical connections with the grounding contacts  22 . The cavities  130  communicate with the passageways  16  and receive the grounding contacts  22 . A pair of V-shaped openings  36  is defined at two sides of each grounding finger  31 . The shell  30  further includes a plurality of hollow arms  34  extending along a direction opposite to the grounding fingers  31 . A retention arm  35  is formed between every two hollow arms  34  and is positioned in the recess  17  for securing the shell  30  with the side walls  12 . A pair of cut portions  33  at two outer sides of the shell  30  are cantilever-shaped and correspond to the signal contacts  21 . A distant between each cut portion  33  of the shell  30  and a bottom surface of the bottom wall  11  of the insulative housing  10  is h. 
   In assembly, the grounding fingers  31  are first assembled to the passageways  16  and the grounding contacts  22  are inserted into the same passageways  16  to retain the grounding fingers  31  for limiting a perpendicular movement of the shell  30 . Each hollow arm  34  is received in the partition  15  of the insulative housing  10 . The retention arms  35  each inserts into the recess  17  along the channels  18  of the protrusions  14 . 
   The cut portions  33  of the shell  30  of the present invention can provide function to prevent the shell  30  and the signal contacts  21  making an electrical short circuit. When the shell  30  is received an unsuitable force, the shell  30  will move toward the soldering portions  222  of the signal contacts  21 . Due to the h distant between the cut portion  33  and the bottom surface of the bottom wall  11 , the cut portion  33  will not contact the signal contacts  21 . Thus, the electrical short circuit between the shell  30  and the signal contacts  21  will not be happen. 
   It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.