Electrical connector having improved contact module and method for making same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9780496-B2
Application number	US-201615348928-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 10, 2016
Priority date	Nov 10, 2015
Publication date	Oct 3, 2017
Grant date	Oct 3, 2017

Abstract

An electrical connector includes an insulative housing having a tongue portion, a shielding plate, a first contact assembly and a second contact assembly accommodated to the insulative housing. The first contact assembly and the second contact assembly include a number of first contacts and second contacts respectively. The first contacts include a number of outer contacts and a number of inner contacts. Each first contact includes a head portion. There are an outer secondary belting connecting the head portions of the outer contacts together and an inner secondary belting connecting the head portions of the inside contacts together. The outer secondary belting and the inner secondary belting are separated from each other.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrical connector comprising:
an insulative housing having a tongue portion;
a metallic shielding plate; and
a first contact assembly and a second contact assembly accommodated to the insulative housing to have the shielding plate located therebetween in a vertical direction, the first contact assembly comprising a plurality of first contacts, the second contact assembly comprising a plurality of second contacts, the first contacts comprising a plurality of outer contacts and a plurality of inner contacts, each first contact comprising a head portion; wherein
there are an outer secondary belting connecting the head portions of the outer contacts together and an inner secondary belting connecting the head portions of the inside contacts together, and the outer secondary belting and the inner secondary belting are separated from each other and adapted to be removed after all said first contact assembly, said second contact assembly and said shielding plate are integrally formed within said housing in an initial insert-molding process and before an insulative module is applied upon said housing for filling spaces in said housing in a successive insert-molding process.

2. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each first contact comprises a contacting section exposed out of the tongue portion, each outer contact and each inner contact comprise a first connecting bend and a second connecting bend connecting the head portion and the contacting section respectively, and the first connecting bend is located in front of the second connecting bend in a front-and-rear direction.

3. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the head portion is embedded to the tongue portion and deflected from the contacting section in a left-to-right direction perpendicular to the front-and-rear direction.

4. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 3 , wherein each second contact comprises a front section embedded to the tongue portion and a mating section exposed out of the tongue portion, and the head portion is deflected from the front section in the left-to-right direction.

5. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the mating section and the head portion are overlapped in an up-and-down direction perpendicular to the front-and-rear direction and the left-to-right direction.

6. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the first contact further comprises a pair of ear portions extending from two sides of the contacting section.

7. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the outer secondary belting and the inner secondary belting are coplanar, and the inner secondary belting is inside of the outer secondary belting and is surrounded by the outer secondary belting.

8. A method of making an electrical connector, comprising the steps of:
providing a plurality of first contacts in one row with a first group of contacts connecting with a first group secondary belting linked on front ends of said first group of contacts, and a second group contacts connecting with a second group secondary belting linked on front ends of said second group of contacts, and a plurality of second contacts in another row, the first group secondary belting and the second group secondary belting separated from each other;
providing a metallic shielding plate between said first contacts and said second contacts; and
integrally forming the first contacts, the second contacts and a shielding plate within an insulative housing via an initial insert-molding process to form a contact module; wherein the insulative housing has a tongue portion, and each of said first contacts and said second contacts has a contacting section exposed out of the tongue portion for mating;
wherein all said first contacts share a same primary belting on rear ends opposite to said first group secondary belting and said second group secondary belting.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8 , further comprising a step of cutting off the first group secondary belting and said second group secondary belting from the contact module.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein connection portions between the first group secondary belting and the first group of contacts, and those between the second group second belting and the second group of contacts are aligned with each other in a transverse direction so as to allow a single operation to simultaneously remove both said first group secondary belting and said second group secondary belting.

11. The method as claimed in claim 8 , further comprising the steps of insert molding an insulative module to seal a plurality of holes formed in the contact module.

12. The method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the first group of contacts are outer contacts and the second group of contacts are inner contacts so as to have the first group of contacts located by two sides of said second group of contacts and have the first group secondary belting enclose the second group secondary belting.

13. The method as claimed in claim 8 , further including a step of forming said first contacts with a bending process wherein a bending position of each of said first group of contacts and that of each of said second group of contacts are offset from each other in a front-to-back direction.

14. An electrical connector comprising:
an insulative housing forming a tongue portion extending along a front-to-back direction;
a plurality of first contacts having corresponding first contacting portions;
a plurality of second contacts having corresponding second contacting portions;
a metallic shielding plate located between said first contacting portions and said second contacting portions in a vertical direction, said first contacts, said second contacts and said shielding plate being integrally formed within said insulative housing via an initial insert-molding process to form a contact module;
rear ends of the first contacts configured to be detachably connected to a first primary belting, and front ends of the first contacts configured to be detachably connected to a secondary belting both for controlling positions of said first contacts during said initial insert-molding process, some of said first contacts further configured to be detachably connected to first transverse linkages with corresponding neighboring first contacts;
rear ends of the second contacts configured to be detachably connected to a second primary belting, some of said second contacts further configured to be detachably connected to second transverse linkages with corresponding neighboring second contacts; wherein said housing forming a plurality of spaces therein to allow removal of said first transverse linkages from the corresponding first contacts and removal of said second transverse linkages from the corresponding second contacts in the vertical direction to form a complete contact module before an insulative module is further applied upon the housing via a successive insert-molding process;
wherein no secondary belting is connected to front ends of the second contacts and all second contacts are equipped with the corresponding transverse second linkages.

15. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 14 , wherein said secondary belting and both said first primary belting and said second primary belting are adapted to be removed from the corresponding first contacts and second contacts before the insulative module is applied upon the housing.

16. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the insulative module fills the spaces via another insert-molding proces

Assignees

• Foxconn Interconnect Technology Ltd

Inventors

• Guo jing-jie
• Zhao Jun
• Zhang cai-yun

Classifications

• H01R13/658

  High frequency shielding arrangements, e.g. against EMI [Electro-Magnetic Interference] or EMP [Electro-Magnetic Pulse] {(coaxial coupling devices specially adapted for high frequency H01R24/40; for flat or ribbon cable connectors H01R12/774; for coaxial cable H01R9/05)} · CPC title

• H01R13/02

  Contact members · CPC title

• H01R13/405 Primary

  Securing in non-demountable manner, e.g. moulding, riveting · CPC title

• H01R24/60

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

• H01R24/62

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