Patent Publication Number: US-10333258-B2

Title: Electrical connector with soldering legs extending from shell rear edge and retained to inner edge of PCB

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an electrical connector having a housing carrying a plurality of contacts and a shielding shell enclosing the housing, wherein the plurality of contacts include a front and rear rows of contact tail portions and the shielding shell includes a pair of soldering legs flanking the contact tail portions in the front row. 
     2. Description of Related Arts 
     U.S. Pat. No. 9,490,595 discloses an electrical connector including a metallic shell and a metallic bracket attached to a bottom of the shell, wherein the metallic shell has a pair of front mounting legs and the metallic bracket has a pair of rear mounting legs. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An electrical connector comprises: a housing having a base and a tongue, the base having a mounting face; a plurality of contacts arranged in the housing and exposed to the tongue, each contact having a contacting portion, a tail portion, and an intermediate portion between the contacting portion and the tail portion, the tail portions of the plurality of contacts being arranged in a front and rear rows at the mounting face of the housing base; and a shielding shell enclosing the housing and having a pair of rear mounting legs; wherein the shielding shell has a pair of soldering legs at two opposite outer sides of the front row of contact tail portions, respectively, forwardly and inwardly of the pair of rear mounting legs. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         FIG. 1  is a front and top perspective view of an electrical connector in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention mounted to a printed circuit board (PCB); 
         FIG. 2  is a bottom and rear perspective view of the electrical connector mounted to the PCB; 
         FIG. 3  is a view similar to  FIG. 1  but showing the electrical connector not mounted to the PCB; 
         FIG. 4  is a bottom and rear perspective view of the electrical connector; 
         FIG. 5  is an exploded view of the electrical connector in  FIG. 4 ; 
         FIG. 6  is an exploded view of a contact module of the electrical connector; 
         FIG. 7  is a front and top perspective view of an electrical connector in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention mounted to a printed circuit board (PCB); 
         FIG. 8  is a view similar to  FIG. 7  but showing the electrical connector in  FIG. 7  not mounted to the PCB; 
         FIG. 9  is a bottom and rear perspective view of the electrical connector in  FIG. 7 ; and 
         FIG. 10  is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector in  FIG. 7  taken along line A-A thereof. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-6 , an electrical connector  1000  of a first embodiment, to be mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB)  300 , comprises a housing  1 , a plurality of contacts  2  arranged in the housing  1 , and a shielding shell  4  enclosing the housing  1 . The electrical connector  100  may further include a shielding plate  3  in the housing  1  and a sealing element  5  sealed at a rear of the housing  1 . The PCB has an upper surface  301  and a notch  302 . The notch  302  has an inner surface  3021  and two side surfaces  3022 . The housing  1  has a base  11  and a tongue  12 . The base  11  has a mounting face  110 . Each contact  2  has a contacting portion  21 , a tail portion  22 , and an intermediate portion between the contacting portion  21  and the tail portion  22 . The shielding shell  4  has a mating part  41  surrounding the housing tongue  12 . The mating part  41  has a bottom surface  410 . 
     Referring specifically to  FIGS. 4-6 , the housing  1  and the contacts  2 , as well as the shielding plate  3  if present, constitute a contact module  20 . The base  11  has a first rear face  111  under the mounting face  110  and a second rear face  112  over the mounting face  110 . The tongue  12  has two opposite surfaces  121  and a platform  122 . The tail portions  22  of the plurality of contacts  2  are arranged in a front row  221  and a rear row  222  at the mounting face  110  of the housing base  11 . The shielding plate  3  may have notches  31  and legs  32 . The contact module  20  may be constructed of an upper and lower units  30  and  40  sandwiching the shielding plate  3  and an over-molding insulator  50 . 
     Referring in conjunction with  FIG. 3 , the shielding shell  4  encloses the housing tongue  12  to form a mating port  10 . The shielding shell  4  has a first/lower rear cover  42  bent upward from the mating part  41  to cover the first rear face  111  and a second/upper rear cover  43  covering the second rear face  112 . The shielding shell  4  has a pair of front mounting legs  44  and a pair of rear mounting legs  45 . The shielding shell  4  has a pair of soldering legs  46  at the mounting face  110  of the housing base  11  for soldering to the PCB  300 , which improves shielding effect. In this embodiment, the soldering legs  46  are bent from the first rear cover  42  and are located right under the mounting face  110 . The pair of soldering legs  46  are arranged, respectively, at two opposite outer sides of the contact tail portions  22  in the front row  221  forwardly and inwardly of the pair of rear mounting legs  45 . 
     Referring specifically to  FIGS. 2-4 , the pair of soldering legs  46  of the shielding shell  4  are of a through hole type, i.e., inserting into grooves  303  of the PCB  300 . The grooves  303  are conveniently formed at the inner surface/edge  3021  of the notch  302 . The soldering legs  46  are bent rearward from the first rear cover  42  to become vertical. Such design of the grooves  303  and the legs  46  also simplifies mounting of the electrical connector  1000  to the PCB  300 . 
     Referring specifically to  FIGS. 1-3 , the shielding shell  4  includes a main shell  47  and an auxiliary shell  48  attached to a bottom of the main shell  47 . The main shell  47  has a surrounding part  471  enclosing the housing tongue  12  and a shielding part  472  at an upper of the housing base  11 . The second rear cover  43  is bent downward from the shielding part  472 . The surrounding part  471  has a top wall  473  and a bottom wall  474 . The top wall  473  has bulges  475 . The bottom wall  474  has openings  470  and spring tangs  476 . The electrical connector  1000  may further have a sealing film  6  between the main shell  47  and the auxiliary shell  48 . The main shell  47  includes the pair of rear mounting legs  45  and the second rear cover  43 ; the auxiliary shell  48  includes the pair of front mounting legs  44 , the first rear cover  42 , and the pair of soldering legs  46 . 
       FIGS. 7-10  show an electrical connector  2000  of a second embodiment to be mounted to a PCB  400 . Components of the electrical connector  2000  that are essentially same as those in the electrical connector  1000  will not be repeated here. Only the differences will be described as follows. Shielding shell  4 ′ has three soldering legs  46 ′ at mounting face  110 ′ of the housing base for soldering to an upper surface  401  of the PCB  400  through SMT (surface mount technology). Contact tail portions in the front row  221 ′ are arranged in two groups. Two of the three soldering legs  46 ′ are arranged, respectively, at two opposite outer sides of contact tail portions in the front row  221 ′ forwardly and inwardly of the pair of rear mounting legs while a middle one thereof is disposed between the two groups of contact tail portions.