Electrical connector with upper and lower grounding terminals connected with each other

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016118752-A1
Application number	US-201514923455-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 27, 2015
Priority date	Oct 27, 2014
Publication date	Apr 28, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An electrical connector for mounting to a printed circuit board for mating with a plug connector, includes an insulative housing and the upper and lower contacts on the housing, each contact including a contacting section, the contacts including grounding contacts each having a free end of the contacting section, and a mounting leg mounted to the corresponding grounding region of the printed circuit board wherein the free ends of the corresponding paired upper grounding contact and lower grounding contact either abut against each other or against a metallic shielding plate embedded within the mating tongue to form a parallel relation between the paired upper grounding contact and lower grounding contact.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A receptacle connector for engagement with a complementary plug connector and mounting to a printed circuit board, comprising:
an insulative housing defining a main body and a mating tongue forwardly extending therefrom in a front-to-back direction, said mating tongue defining opposite upper surfaces and lower surfaces in a vertical direction perpendicular to said front-to-back direction; a plurality of contacts disposed in the housing, categorized with grounding contact, power contacts and differential pair contacts, and grouped with upper contacts and lower contacts, each of said contacts including a rear mounting section for mounting to the printed circuit board and a front contacting section exposed upon the mating tongue wherein the contacting section of the upper contact is exposed upon the upper surface and the contacting section of the lower contact is exposed upon the lower surface; a metallic shield enclosing the housing to define a mating cavity in which the mating tongue is disposed; and a metallic shielding plate embedded within the mating tongue and including at least a mounting leg for mounting to the printed circuit board; wherein the grounding contact of the upper contacts and the grounding contact of the lower contacts are symmetrically arranged with each other in the vertical direction and respectively equipped with extensions spaced from the corresponding upper and lower surfaces in the vertical direction to be simultaneously connected with the shielding plate.

2 . The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the extension of said grounding contact of the upper contacts and the extension of said grounding contact of the lower contacts are symmetrically arranged with each other in the vertical direction.

3 . The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the extensions of the grounding contact of the upper contacts and the extension of the grounding contact of the lower contacts are formed at front ends of said grounding contacts proximate to a front edge of the mating tongue.

4 . The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said grounding contacts are located at an outermost position in a transverse direction perpendicular to both said front-to-back direction and said vertical direction, and the extensions extend laterally and outwardly proximate to a side edge of the mating tongue.

5 . The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the shielding plate forms a corresponding laterally and outwardly extending protrusion sandwiched between the extensions of said grounding contacts in the vertical direction.

6 . The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said extension extends in the front-to-back direction.

7 . The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the main body and the mating tongue of the housing are formed by upper insulator, the lower insulator and a middle insulator therebetween in the vertical direction, and the upper contacts are insert-molded within the upper insulator to form an upper terminal module, the lower contacts are insert-molded within the lower insulator to form a lower terminal module, and the middle insulator is applied upon a combination of the upper terminal module and the lower terminal module.

8 . The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 7 , the extension of the grounding contact of the upper contacts is exposed in front of a front edge of the upper insulator while covered by the middle insulator, and the extension of the grounding contact of the lower contacts is exposed in front of a front edge of the lower insulator while covered by the middle insulator.

9 . The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 7 , the extension of the grounding contact of the upper contacts is exposed beside a side edge of the upper insulator while covered by the middle insulator, and the extension of the grounding contact of the lower contacts is exposed beside a side edge of the lower insulator while covered by the middle insulator.

10 . A receptacle connector for engagement with a complementary plug connector and mounting to a printed circuit board, comprising:
an insulative housing defining a main body and a mating tongue forwardly extending therefrom in a front-to-back direction, said mating tongue defining opposite upper surfaces and lower surfaces in a vertical direction perpendicular to said front-to-back direction; a plurality of contacts disposed in the housing, categorized with grounding contact, power contacts and differential pair contacts, and grouped with upper contacts and lower contacts, each of said contacts including a rear mounting section for mounting to the printed circuit board and a front contacting section exposed upon the mating tongue wherein the contacting section of the upper contact is exposed upon the upper surface and the contacting section of the lower contact is exposed upon the lower surface; a metallic shield enclosing the housing to define a mating cavity in which the mating tongue is disposed; and a metallic shielding plate embedded within the mating tongue and including at least a mounting leg for mounting to the printed circuit board; wherein one of the upper contacts and another one of the lower contacts are symmetrically arranged with each other in the vertical direction and respectively equipped with extensions spaced from the corresponding upper and lower surfaces in the vertical direction to be mechanically and electrically connected with each other in the vertical direction.

11 . The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the extensions are located around a front edge of the mating tongue.

12 . The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the shielding plate forms a cutout in a front edge thereof to receive at least one of said extensions.

13 . The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 10 , wherein said extensions are located around a side edge of the mating tongue.

14 . The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the main body and the mating tongue of the housing are formed by an upper insulator, a lower insulator and a middle insulator between said upper insulator and said lower insulator in the vertical direction, and the upper contacts are insert-molded within the upper insulator to form an upper terminal module, the lower contacts are insert-molded within the lower insulator to form a lower terminal module, and the middle insulator is applied upon a combination of the upper terminal module and the lower terminal module via another insert-molding process.

15 . The receptacle connector as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the extension of said one of the upper contacts is exposed in front of a front edge of the upper insulator while covered by the middle insulator, and the extension of said another one of the lower contacts is exposed in front of a front edge of the lower insulator while covered by the middle insulator.

16 . A method of making an electrical connector comprising steps of:
providing an upper terminal module with an upper insulator and a plurality of upper contacts embedded therein via a first stage insert-molding process wherein a front end of one specific upper contact extends forwardly beyond a front edge of the upper insulator; providing a lower terminal module with a lower insulator and a plurality of lower contacts embedded therein via another first stage insert-molding process wherein a front end of one specific lower contact which is aligned with said specific upper contact in the vertical direction, extends forwardly beyond a front edge of th

Assignees

• Foxconn Interconnect Technology Ltd

Inventors

• Guo Bin
• Yu Chun-Ming
• Zhang Guo-Hua
• Zheng xiao-qin
• Zheng Qi-Sheng

Classifications

• H01R13/6585

  Shielding material individually surrounding or interposed between mutually spaced contacts · CPC title

• H01R43/16

  for manufacturing contact members, e.g. by punching and by bending · CPC title

• H01R13/6594 Primary

  the shield being mounted on a PCB and connected to conductive members · CPC title

• H01R12/71

  for rigid printing circuits or like structures · CPC title