Electrical connector assembly with improved contact

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9281628-B2
Application number	US-201414583747-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 28, 2014
Priority date	Dec 30, 2013
Publication date	Mar 8, 2016
Grant date	Mar 8, 2016

Abstract

A plug connector includes a plug housing ( 11 ) defining a receiving space ( 1110 ), a plurality of contacts retained in the plug housing, a cable ( 16 ) electrically connected with the contacts and a shielding member ( 15 ) enclosing on the plug housing to form a cavity. The contacts comprises a plurality of first contacts ( 12 ) and a plurality of second contacts ( 13 ), stiff contacting portions of the first contacts are exposed in the receiving space, and elastic contacting portions of the second contacts are exposed in the cavity for transmitting high speed signal. The shielding member is enclosing on the plug housing to form a cavity, the cavity is stacked on the receiving space. The slit is communicated with an exterior in the up-to-down direction, the plug connector further comprises an additional contact ( 18 ) received in the slit and extending beyond the bottom surface of the plug housing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A plug connector comprising:
a plug housing defining a receiving space;
a plurality of contacts retained in the plug housing, the contacts comprising a plurality of first contacts and a plurality of second contacts, each first contact having a stiff contacting portion with each second contact having an elastic contacting portion, the stiff contacting portions of the first contacts exposed in the receiving space, and the elastic contacting portions of the second contacts exposed in the cavity for transmitting high speed signal;
a cable electrically connected with the contacts; and
a shielding member enclosing on the plug housing to form a cavity, the cavity stacked on the receiving space along an up-to-down direction; wherein
the plug housing has a slit on a bottom surface thereof, and the slit is communicated with an exterior in the up-to-down direction, the plug connector further comprises an additional contact received in the slit and extending beyond the bottom surface of the plug housing;
wherein the slit is extending forwards a certain distance from a back end of the plug housing, and not penetrating through the plug housing along a front-to-back direction; wherein the plug housing comprises a main portion and an extension portion extending backwards a top surface of the main portion, the extension portion has a step-shaped lower surface; wherein the plug connector further comprises a spacer assembled to the back end of the plug housing, and the spacer comprises a first spacer and a second spacer; wherein the first spacer has a front blocking plate and a rear blocking plate, and comprises an upper stepped portion and a lower stepped portion.

2. The plug connector as recited in claim 1 , wherein the additional contact comprises an elastic contacting portion.

3. The plug connector as recited in claim 1 , wherein the additional contact is a detective contact.

4. The plug connector as recited in claim 2 , wherein each of the first contacts, the second contacts and the additional contact has a contacting portion and a horizontal tail portion.

5. The plug connector as recited in claim 4 , wherein the first contacts comprise a pair of power contacts with contacting portions on lateral sides and rest four contacts with contacting portions on top and bottom side.

6. The plug connector as recited in claim 5 , wherein tail portions of the first contacts on lateral sides are located on a first level, and tail portions of the rest first contacts are located on a second level, tail portions of the second contact are located on a third level.

7. The plug connector as recited in claim 6 , wherein the tail portion of the additional contact is located on the first level same as tail portions of the first contacts on lateral sides.

8. The plug connector as recited in claim 4 , wherein the additional contact comprises a retaining portion connected the tail portion and the contacting portion, and the retaining portion and the tail portion are located on different levels, thus a vertical portion therebetween is formed.

9. The plug connector as recited in claim 1 , wherein the shielding member comprises a first shielding piece and a second shielding piece coupled with each other, and a narrow cutout is defined on a bottom surface of the second shielding piece along a front-to-back direction.

10. The plug connector as recited in claim 9 , wherein the cutout of the second shielding piece is aligning with the slit of the plug housing, and the additional contact is located in the slit and exposed in the cutout.

11. An electrical connector assembly comprising:
a plug connector including:
an insulative first housing defining a receiving space forwardly communicating with an exterior along a front-to-back direction for receiving a mating tongue of a receptacle connector therein;
two rows of first contacts disposed in the housing and located by two sides of the receiving space in a vertical direction perpendicular to said front-to-back direction, each row of the first contacts arranged in a transverse direction perpendicular to both said front-to-back direction and said vertical direction while each of said first contacts extending along the front-to-back direction, each of said first contacts defining a contacting section exposed in the receiving space;
a metallic first shell enclosing the first housing;
a slit formed in an exterior face of the first housing and communicating with the exterior in the vertical direction via said exterior face;
a cutout formed in the first shell and aligned with the slit in the vertical direction; and
a resilient contact received within the slit with a corresponding contacting section extending through the cutout in the vertical direction to reach the exterior for mating with the receptacle connector; wherein the receptacle connector includes an insulative second housing with a receiving cavity to receive the plug connector therein, a mating tongue is formed within the receiving cavity to be received within the receiving space of the plug connector during mating, and a stationary contacts is located on an interior face of the second housing and facing toward the receiving cavity for mechanically and electrically connecting to the resilient contact during mating; wherein a plurality of second contacts are disposed in the second housing with corresponding resilient contacting sections exposed upon the mating tongue for mechanically and electrically connecting to the contacting sections of the first contacts, respectively, during mating.

12. The electrical connector assembly as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the slit inwardly extends in the vertical direction while being terminated before reaching the receiving space.

13. The electrical connector assembly as claimed in claim 12 , wherein said plug connector further includes a pair of lateral contacts by two opposite lateral sides of the receiving space, and a tail of the resilient contact is aligned with those of the lateral contacts in the transverse direction.

Assignees

• Foxconn Interconnect Technology Ltd

Inventors

• Wu Jerry
• Chen Jun

Classifications

• H01R13/6582 Primary

  with resilient means for engaging mating connector · CPC title

• H01R27/02

  for simultaneous co-operation with two or more {dissimilar} counterparts · CPC title

• H01R24/62

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

• H01R13/6593

  the shield being composed of different pieces · CPC title

• H01R2107/00

  Four or more poles · CPC title