Electrical connector having improved contact module and method for making same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9979152-B2
Application number	US-201615174001-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 6, 2016
Priority date	Jun 5, 2015
Publication date	May 22, 2018
Grant date	May 22, 2018

Abstract

An electrical connector includes an insulative housing, a number of contacts, a shielding plate, and a metallic shell. The insulative housing defines a number of contact-receiving grooves and a number of through holes connecting with adjacent contact-receiving grooves. The contacts include a number of first contacts having connecting sections, at least one connecting section of the first contacts has a first bending section bent along a direction away from the contiguous first contact to form an enlarged gap for increasing a distance between the adjacent first contacts. The insulative housing, the shielding plate and the contacts are molded to form a contact module. The enlarged gap and the corresponding through hole are connected together.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrical connector comprising:
an insulative housing comprising a base portion, a tongue portion extending forwardly from the base portion along an insertion direction, a plurality of cavities extending through the tongue portion in an up-to-down direction perpendicular to the insertion direction, and a plurality of contact-receiving grooves, the cavities comprising a plurality of through holes connecting with the adjacent contact-receiving grooves;
a plurality of contacts comprising a plurality of first contacts accommodated in the contact-receiving grooves, each of the plurality of contacts comprising an engaging section, a soldering section, and a connecting section connecting the engaging section and the soldering section, at least one connecting section of the first contacts comprising a first bending section bent along a direction away from the contiguous first contact to form an enlarged gap for increasing a distance between corresponding adjacent first contacts;
a shielding plate accommodated in the insulative housing; and
a metallic shell enclosing the insulative housing;
wherein the insulative housing, the shielding plate, and the contacts are insert-molded to form a contact module, and the enlarged gap and corresponding through hole are connected together in the up-to-down direction.

2. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising an insulative member attached to the contact module for sealing the cavities, and the insulative member is over-molded to the tongue portion.

3. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the shielding plate defines a plurality of openings corresponding to the through holes and the enlarged gaps.

4. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the tongue portion defines an upper surface, a lower surface and a front surface, the cavities further comprising a plurality of notches concaved backwardly from the front surface, and the notches and the through holes run through the upper surface and the tongue portion to the lower surface.

5. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the insulative member partially encloses the upper surface and the lower surface for sealing the notches and the through holes.

6. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the contacts further comprise a plurality of second contacts.

7. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 6 , wherein at least one connecting section of the second contacts comprises a second bending section bent along a direction away from the contiguous second contact to form an enlarged gap for increasing a distance between the two adjacent second contacts.

8. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the engaging sections of the first contacts and the second contacts are positioned on the upper surface and the lower surface correspondingly for normally and reversely mating with a mating connector, and the soldering sections of the first contacts and the second contacts are arranged in a row.

9. An electrical connector comprising:
a metallic shell;
an insulative housing enclosed in the metallic shell and including a main portion and a tongue portion extending forwardly from the main portion along a front-to-back direction, said tongue portion defining opposite upper and lower surfaces in a vertical direction perpendicular to said front-to-back direction;
a plurality of first contacts arranged in one row along a transverse direction perpendicular to both said front-to-back direction and said vertical direction, each of said first contacts including a first engaging section exposed upon the upper surface, a first soldering section exposed outside of the housing, and a first connecting section linked between the first engaging section and the first soldering section;
a plurality of second contacts arranged along the transverse direction, each of said second contacts including a second engaging section exposed upon the lower surface, a second soldering section exposed outside of the housing, and a second connecting section linked between the second engaging section and the second soldering section;
a metallic shielding plate embedded within the tongue portion and located between the first engaging sections and the second engaging sections; and
in some of said first contacts, the corresponding first engaging sections adjacent to one another with a first pitch therebetween while the corresponding first connecting sections adjacent to one another with therebetween a second pitch larger than the first pitch; wherein
the first connecting sections are originally provided with beltings linked between the neighboring second contacts, and the shielding plate includes openings aligned with said beltings in the vertical direction so as to allow removal of said beltings after both the first contacts and the second contacts are integrally formed with the insulative housing via an insert-molding process to commonly form a contact module.

10. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 9 , wherein said housing forms a plurality of through holes in alignment with the beltings so as to allow removal of said beltings after the contact module is formed.

11. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 10 , further including an insulative member overmolded upon the contact module to fill the through holes and complete both the first surface and the second surface.

12. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 9 , wherein front ends of the first engaging sections are hidden behind a front end of the tongue portion while those of the second engaging sections forwardly extend beyond the front edge of tongue portion.

13. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 12 , further including an insulative member overmolded upon the housing to enclose the front ends of the second engaging sections.

14. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 9 , wherein all said first soldering sections and said second soldering sections are arranged in one line along the transverse direction.

15. An electrical connector comprising:
a metallic shell;
an insulative housing enclosed in the metallic shell and including a main portion and a tongue portion extending forwardly from the main portion along a front-to-back direction, said tongue portion defining opposite upper and lower surfaces in a vertical direction perpendicular to said front-to-back direction;
a plurality of first contacts arranged in one row along a transverse direction perpendicular to both said front-to-back direction and said vertical direction, each of said first contacts including a first engaging section exposed upon the upper surface, a first soldering section exposed outside of the housing, and a first connecting section linked between the first engaging section and the first soldering section;
a plurality of second contacts arranged along the transverse direction, each of said second contacts including a second engaging section exposed upon the lower surface, a second soldering section exposed outside of the housing, and a second connecting section linked between the second engaging section and the second soldering section;
a metallic shielding plate embedded within the tongue portion and located between the first engaging sections and the second engaging sections;
some of the neighboring first contacts being linked with one another by a first set of beltings in the transverse direction; and
some of the neighboring second contacts being linked with one another by a second set of beltings in the transverse direction; wherein
the first set of beltings and the second set of

Assignees

• Foxconn Interconnect Technology Ltd

Inventors

• Zhang jian-li
• Guo jing-jie

Classifications

• H01R13/405

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

• H01R13/6581

  Shield structure · CPC title

• H01R12/00

  Structural associations of a plurality of mutually-insulated electrical connecting elements, specially adapted for printed circuits, e.g. printed circuit boards [PCB], flat or ribbon cables, or like generally planar structures, e.g. terminal strips, terminal blocks; Coupling devices specially adapted for printed circuits, flat or ribbon cables, or like generally planar structures; Terminals specially adapted for contact with, or insertion into, printed circuits, flat or ribbon cables, or like generally planar structures (printed connections to, or between, printed circuits H05K1/11) · CPC title

• H01R43/16

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

• H01R24/00

  Two-part coupling devices, or either of their cooperating parts, characterised by their overall structure (contact members H01R13/02; securing contact members in or to a base or case or insulating of contact members H01R13/40; bases or cases H01R13/46; means for supporting coupling part when not engaged H01R13/60; means for facilitating engagement or disengagement of coupling parts or for holding them in engagement H01R13/62; means for preventing, inhibiting or avoiding incorrect coupling H01R13/64) · CPC title