Flippable electrical connector

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9502821-B2
Application number	US-201514591927-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 8, 2015
Priority date	Jul 19, 2013
Publication date	Nov 22, 2016
Grant date	Nov 22, 2016

Abstract

An electrical connector includes an insulative housing defining a forwardly extending mating tongue, a plurality of contacts with contacting sections exposed upon the mating tongue and a metallic shield enclosing the insulative housing to define a mating cavity. A metallic shielding plate is embedded within the mating tongue and forms a pair of locking notches in two opposite lateral sides. The mating tongue further includes in two opposite lateral sides a pair of recesses aligned with and intimately located inside of the pair of locking notches, respectively, in the transverse direction. The housing and the corresponding contacts commonly form the terminal module which is composed of an upper terminal module, a lower terminal module commonly sandwiching a shielding plate module therebetween in the vertical direction. The metallic shield optionally defines a clip structure by folding an extension on a rear lower edge thereof.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrical connector comprising:
a metallic shield forming a mating cavity;
a terminal assembly disposed within the shield and forming a mating tongue extending into the mating cavity;
said terminal assembly including:
an upper terminal module with a plurality of upper contacts embedded within an upper insulator via a first insert-molding process;
a lower terminal module with a plurality of lower contacts embedded within a lower insulator via a second insert-molding process; and
a shielding plate module including at least one metallic shielding plate located between the upper terminal module and the lower terminal module in a vertical direction; wherein
the shielding plate defines a pair of locking notches in two opposite lateral side, respectively, in a transverse direction perpendicular to said vertical direction for latching with a latch of a complementary plug connector; wherein
in a top view along said vertical direction, an insulative portion of the mating tongue defines a pair of recesses in two opposite lateral sides adjacent to and configurationally in compliance with the corresponding pair of notches in said transverse direction, respectively, and each of said recesses is recessed inwardly in said transverse direction from remaining portions of the corresponding lateral side in said top view.

2. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said mating tongue is formed essentially solely, except contacting sections of the upper terminals and those of the lower terminals, by said shielding plate module which includes said shielding plate embedded within a middle insulator via a third insert-molding process.

3. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said shielding plate module only includes said shielding plate, and said mating tongue is formed, except the contacting sections of the upper terminals and those of the lower terminals, by the upper insulator and the lower insulator with the shielding plate therebetween.

4. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein one of the upper insulator and the lower insulator forms a protrusion extending through the shielding plate module to enter the other so as to align the upper terminal module, the shielding plate module and the lower terminal module together in the vertical direction.

5. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the shielding plate forms opposite front confrontation edge and rear confrontation edge in a front-to-back direction perpendicular to both said vertical direction and said transverse direction so as to be engaged with an insulator which is insert-molded thereon for restricting movement of the shielding plate relative to said insulator in the front-to-back direction.

6. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said shielding plate forms a thinned area, and said confrontation edges are formed on a boundary of said thinned area.

7. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 6 , wherein contacting sections of the contacts are exposed upon a surface of the mating tongue, and front ends of the contacting sections are inwardly deflected around the thinned area for forming lead-in structures to mate with the complementary plug connector.

8. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said shielding plate forms an empty area, and said confrontation edges are formed on a boundary of said empty area.

9. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 8 , wherein contacting sections of the contacts are exposed upon a surface of the mating tongue, and front ends of the contacting sections are inwardly deflected around the empty area for forming lead-in structures to mate with the complementary plug connector.

10. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said shielding plate forms a cutout aligned with a power contact of said contacts so as to avoid shorting during mating with the complementary connector.

11. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said shielding plate includes a pair of spring tabs to mechanically and electrically connect to the shield.

12. An electrical connector assembly comprising:
a first connector including:
a first terminal assembly enclosed within a first metallic shield, said first terminal assembly having a plurality of first contacts disposed within a first insulative housing, said first insulative housing forming a mating tongue on which contacting sections of the first contacts are exposed, said shield defining a mating cavity in which the mating tongue forwardly extends;
a metallic shielding plate embedded within the mating tongue and defining two opposite locking notches in two opposite lateral sides;
a second connector including:
a second insulative housing enclosed within a metallic shell for being received within the mating cavity and defining a receiving cavity for receiving the mating tongue of the first connector;
a plurality of second contacts disposed in the second insulative housing;
a metallic latch disposed in the second insulative housing with two locking heads extending into the receiving cavity on two lateral sides; wherein
said latch is configured and dimensioned to confront opposite two front corners of the shielding plate before the first contacts and the second contacts are confronted with each other at an initial stage of mating, and is successively retained respectively within the corresponding notches of the shielding plate at a final stage of mating.

13. The electrical connector assembly as claimed in claim 12 , wherein said first terminal assembly includes an upper terminal module essentially with a plurality of upper contacts embedded within an upper insulator via a first insert-molding process, a lower terminal module essentially with a plurality of lower contacts embedded within a lower insulator via a second insert-molding process, said upper terminal module cooperating with said lower terminal module to commonly sandwich a shielding plate module therebetween in a vertical direction; wherein said shielding plate module includes at least said shielding plate.

14. The electrical connector assembly as claimed in claim 13 , wherein said shielding plate module further includes a middle insulator enclosing said shielding plate via a third insert-molding process.

15. The electrical connector assembly as claimed in claim 12 , wherein said mating tongue forms in two opposite lateral sides a pair of recesses aligned with and intimately located inside of said pair of notches in a transverse direction.

16. An electrical connector assembly comprising:
a first connector comprising:
a first insulative housing defining a forwardly extending mating tongue;
a plurality of first contacts disposed in the first insulative housing with first contacting sections exposed upon the mating tongue;
a metallic shield enclosing the first insulative housing to define a mating cavity in which said mating tongue is disposed;
the metallic shield defining a clip structure by folding an extension on a rear lower edge of the metallic shell; and
a second connector intending to mate with the first electrical connector, the second electrical connector comprising:
a second insulative housing defining a receiving cavity to receive the mating tongue;
a plurality of second contacts disposed in the second insulative housing with second contacting sections exposed in the receiving cavity;
a metallic shell snugly attached on an outer periphery of the second insulating housing;
wherein the second insulative housing of the second electrical connector defines a rece

Assignees

• Foxconn Interconnect Technology Ltd

Inventors

• Little Terrance F
• Cheng Chih-Pi
• Chou Chih-Hsien
• Hsu Shuo-Hsiu
• Yang Chih-Kai

Classifications

• H01R13/6587

  for mounting on PCBs · CPC title

• H01R24/60

  Contacts spaced along planar side wall transverse to longitudinal axis of engagement · CPC title

• H01R24/28

  Coupling parts carrying pins, blades or analogous contacts and secured only to wire or cable · CPC title

• H01R2107/00

  Four or more poles · CPC title

• H01R12/724

  containing contact members forming a right angle · CPC title