Electrical connector with therein embedded grounding bar secured by conductive adhesive and method of making the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11050176-B2
Application number	US-201916729526-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 30, 2019
Priority date	Dec 29, 2018
Publication date	Jun 29, 2021
Grant date	Jun 29, 2021

Abstract

An electrical connector with a contact module includes an insulative body, a plurality of contacts retained to the body, and a grounding bar embedded within the body. The contacts include a plurality of differential pair contacts and a plurality of grounding contacts. The ground bar forms a plurality of spring tangs. The body forms a plurality of cavities and the corresponding spring tangs of the grounding bar extend into the corresponding cavities to contact the corresponding grounding contacts. Conductive adhesive is filled within each cavity and solidified to secure all the spring tang, the corresponding grounding contact and the body together. The electrical connector is formed by a pair of contact modules back to back secured to together by an insulative case either by assembling or via an over-molding process. The cavities and the corresponding conductive adhesive of each contact module is hidden from the exterior.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrical connector comprising:
a contact unit including a plurality of contacts integrally formed within an insulator via an insert-molding process,
each of said contacts extending along a front-to-back direction and including a contacting section, the contacts categorized with a plurality of differential pair contacts and a plurality of grounding contacts alternately arrange with each other along a transverse direction perpendicular to the front-to-back direction,
the insulator forming opposite first and second surfaces in a vertical direction perpendicular to both the front-to-back direction and the transverse direction, the contacting section exposed upon the first surface for mating;
a plurality of cavities formed in the second surface to expose the corresponding grounding contacts, respectively;
a metallic grounding bar attached upon the second surface and including a plurality of spring tangs extending into the corresponding cavities to contact the corresponding grounding contacts, respectively; and
liquid conductive adhesive applied within the corresponding cavities and successively solidified to secure the spring tangs and the corresponding grounding contacts together; wherein
the conductive adhesive forms a block in each corresponding cavity, and the blocks are independent and discrete from one another without linking therebetween in the transverse direction.

2. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each of the spring tangs abuts against a backside of the contacting section of the corresponding grounding contact.

3. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the cavities are unexposed from an exterior.

4. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the contact unit is essentially consisted of a first contact module and a second contact module back to back stacked with each other with the contacting sections exposed oppositely toward an exterior in the vertical direction and the corresponding cavities hidden inwardly protectively.

5. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the grounding bar includes a pair of elongated bars extending along the transverse direction and a plurality of crossbars extending in the front-to-back direction and located between the pair of elongated bars to form a plurality of openings, and the spring tangs extend in the corresponding openings.

6. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 5 , wherein some spring tangs have the corresponding opening in a one-to-one relation while remaining spring tangs share the corresponding openings with other spring tangs.

7. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the grounding bar includes a plurality of first spring tangs extending into the corresponding cavities in the first contact module, and a plurality of second spring tangs extending into the corresponding cavities in the second contact module opposite to the first spring tangs in the vertical direction.

8. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the spring tang includes along the front-to-back direction a front piece extending rearwardly to contact the contacting section of the corresponding grounding contact, and a rear piece extending forwardly to contact a retaining section of the corresponding grounding contact.

9. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the contact unit forms a base and a front tongue extending forwardly from the base, and the first surface is located on the front tongue for mating.

10. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said block forms a bulged structure on each side for enhancing retention.

11. An electrical connector comprising:
a first contact module and a second contact module assemble together,
the first contact module including a plurality of first contacts integrally formed within a first insulator via a first insert-molding process and including a plurality of signal contacts and a plurality of first grounding contacts wherein the first insulator forms a plurality of first cavities to expose the corresponding first grounding contacts, respectively;
the second contact module including a plurality of second contacts integrally formed within a second insulator via a second insert-molding process and including a plurality of signal contacts and a plurality of second grounding contacts wherein the second insulator forms a plurality of second cavities to expose the corresponding second grounding contacts, respectively; and
a metallic grounding bar including a plurality of first spring tangs extending into the corresponding first cavities to contact the corresponding first grounding contacts, respectively, and a plurality of second sprint tangs extending into the corresponding second cavities to contact the corresponding second grounding contacts, respectively; wherein
conductive adhesive is initially filled into and further solidified within the corresponding first cavities and second cavities to not only mechanically secure the first spring tangs to the corresponding first grounding contacts and secure the second spring tangs to the corresponding second grounding contacts, but also enhance electrical transmission therebetween; wherein
the conductive adhesive forms a block in each corresponding cavity, and the blocks are independent and discrete from one another without transverse linking thereamong.

12. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the grounding bar is sandwiched between the first contact module and the second contact module in said vertical direction, and the first spring tangs and the second spring tangs extend opposite to each other in said vertical direction.

13. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the first insulator defines opposite inner and outer surfaces in the vertical direction, the first cavities are formed in the inner surface of the first insulator, the second insulator defines opposite inner and outer surfaces in the vertical direction, the second cavities are formed in the inner surface of the second insulator, and the grounding bar is sandwiched between the inner surface of the first insulator and the inner surface of the second insulator in the vertical direction.

14. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the grounding bar includes a pair of elongated bars extending along a transverse direction perpendicular to the vertical direction, and a plurality of crossbars extending in a front-to-back direction perpendicular to both the vertical direction and the transverse direction, and located between the pair of elongated bars to form a plurality of openings, and the first spring tangs and the second spring tangs extend in the corresponding openings.

15. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 14 , wherein some first spring tangs have the corresponding opening in a one-to-one relation while the remaining first spring tangs share the corresponding openings with other first spring tangs or second spring tangs.

16. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 12 , wherein each of the first spring tangs includes along the front-to-back direction a front piece extending rearwardly to contact a contacting section of the corresponding first grounding contact, and a rear piece extending forwardly to contact a retaining section of the corresponding first grounding contact.

17. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 16 , wherein each of the second spring tangs includes along the front-to-back direction a front piece extending rearwardly to contact a contacting section of the cor

Assignees

• Fu Ding Prec Component Shen Zhen Co Ltd
• Foxconn Interconnect Technology Ltd
• Fuding Prec Components Shenzhen Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yang Chun-Chieh
• Hsu Hsiu-Yuan
• Hsiao Shih-Wei

Classifications

• H01R31/085

  Short circuiting bus-strips · CPC title

• H01R43/20

  for assembling or disassembling contact members with insulating base, case or sleeve · CPC title

• H01R24/62

  Sliding engagements with one side only, e.g. modular jack coupling devices · CPC title

• H01R4/04 Primary

  using electrically conductive adhesives · CPC title

• H01R12/775 Primary

  Ground or shield arrangements · CPC title