Flippable electrical connector

• US 9,318,853 B2
• Filed: 07/21/2014
• Issued: 04/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Foxconn Interconnect Technology Limited (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Foxconn Interconnect Technology Limited (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Little, Terrance F., Sedio, Stephen, Chang, Chun-Yi, Cheng, Chih-Pi
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phuongchi T
• Application Number:
  US14/337,180
• Publication Number:
  US 20150024612A1
• Time in Patent Office: 638 Days
• Field of Search: 439/660, 439/626, 439/374, 439/377, 439/79, 439/733
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 12/721 cooperating directly with the edge of the rigid printed circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/6471 by special arrangement of ground and signal conductors, e.g. GSGS [Ground-Signal-Ground-Signal]
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/6585 Shielding material individually surrounding or interposed between mutually spaced contacts
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/6658 on printed circuit board H01R13/6666 - H01R13/6691 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 24/60 Contacts spaced along planar side wall transverse to longitudinal axis of engagement
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/117 Pads along the edge of rigid circuit boards, e.g. for pluggable connectors

Abstract

A plug connector includes a connector tab connected to and extending longitudinally away from a rear body, the tab includes opposite first and second major surfaces. A first plurality of contacts is carried by the tab on the first major surface and a second plurality of contacts is carried by the tab on the second major surface. The contacts include differential signal pairs. Each pair of the differential signal pairs is consisting of two individual contacts and said two contacts are located adjacent to each other but at the first and second main surface respectively.

Claims

1. An electrical connector comprising:

a printed circuit board sandwiched between first and second housing units with opposite first and second surfaces facing said first housing unit and said second housing unit, respectively, a mating tab formed on front portions of said first and second housing units;

a first set of contacts disposed in the first housing unit with mating sections exposed upon one face of said mating tab and with connecting tails mounted to the first surface; and

a second set of contacts disposed in the second housing with mating sections exposed upon the other face of said mating tab and with connecting tails mounted to the second surface;

wherein

said printed circuit board defines a pair of conductive layers sandwiching a pair grounding layers;

a frame behind the housing units to enclose an extension portion of the printed circuit board wherein said conductive layer and said grounding layers are located;

said pair of ground layers further sandwich a pair of V-Bus layers.

2. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the housing units are dimensioned to fully enclose the printed circuit board.

3. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mating tab includes a front portion of the printed circuit board.

4. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein said mating tab includes a metal plate embedded therein.

5. An electrical connector assembly comprising:

a plug connector defining a mating tongue with two opposite first and second surfaces thereon;

a plurality of first conductive pads formed on the first surface;

a plurality of second conductive pads formed on the second surface;

both said first conductive pads and said second conductive pads categorized with at least power pads, differential pads and grounding pads in a same sequence except that the first pads further include a specific center pad for several functions while the second pads lack said center pad but with a vacant space therein;

a frame enclosing the PCB where the ground layers are located;

wherein said pair of grounding layers further sandwich a pair of V-Bus layers ;

a receptacle connector for mounting to an external printed circuit board, defining a receiving cavity with opposite first and second rows of contacts by two sides of the receiving cavity in the vertical direction;

wherein both the first row of contacts and those of the second row of contacts are categorized with at least power contacts, differential pair contacts and grounding contacts in said same sequence under condition that each row of said first row of contacts and said second row of contacts are equipped with a specific center contact corresponding to the specific center pad for multiple functions for allowing opposite orientations of the mating tongue of the plug connector during mating.

6. The electrical connector assembly as claimed in claim 5, wherein the first conductive pads and the second conductive pads are aligned with each other in a vertical direction perpendicular to said first and second surfaces.

7. The electrical connector assembly as claimed in claim 5, wherein the center contact in the first row of contacts and the center contact in the second row of contacts are joined with each other sharing a same tail for mounting to the external printed circuit board.

8. An electrical connector assembly comprising:

an upper insulative housing defining an upper face thereon;

a plurality of upper contacts disposed in the upper insulative housing, each of said upper contacts including a front contacting section and a rear tail section in a front-to-back direction;

a lower insulative housing defining a bottom face thereon;

a plurality of lower contacts disposed in the lower insulator housing, each of said lower contacts including a front contacting portion and a rear tail portion;

a printed circuit board sandwiched between the upper insulative housing and the lower insulative housing in a vertical direction perpendicular to said front-to-back direction, the contacting sections being exposed upon the upper face and the contacting portion being exposed upon the bottom face, the tail sections and the tail portions being electrically and mechanically connected to two opposite surfaces of a front region of the printed circuit board;

a metallic plate located between the upper insulative housing and the lower insulative housing in said vertical direction and in front of the printed circuit board in the front-to-back direction;

a frame enclosing the PCB where the ground layers are located;

said pair of ground layers further sandwich a pair of V-Bus layers.

9. The electrical connector assembly as claimed in claim 8, wherein said upper insulative housing defines a pair of lateral upper openings and the lower insulative housing defines a pair of lateral lower openings in alignment with the upper openings in the vertical direction, and the metallic plate defines a pair of protrusions extending laterally through the corresponding pair of upper and lower openings, respectively, and each of said protrusions defines a notch for locking.