Flippable electrical connector

• US 9,490,594 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2014
• Issued: 11/08/2016
• 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., Cheng, Chih-Pi, Kao, Chien-Ping, Su, Wei-Hao, Yang, An-Jen, Zou, De-Cheng, Chou, Chih-Hsien
• Primary Examiner(s): Paumen, Gary
• Application Number:
  US14/558,732
• Publication Number:
  US 20150171574A1
• Time in Patent Office: 706 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 12/724 containing contact members forming a right angle
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/642 by position or shape of contact members
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/6582 with resilient means for engaging mating connector
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/6658 on printed circuit board H01R13/6666 - H01R13/6691 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 2107/00 Four or more poles
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 24/28 Coupling parts carrying pins, blades or analogous contacts and secured only to wire or cable
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/184 Components including terminals inserted in holes through the printed circuit board and connected to printed contacts on the walls of the holes or at the edges thereof or protruding over or into the holes
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/09063 Holes or slots in insulating substrate not used for electrical connections
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10189 Non-printed connector

Abstract

A receptacle connector mounted to a PCB, includes an insulative housing defining a mating tongue and a metallic shell enclosing the housing to form a mating cavity in which said mating tongue forwardly extends. A metallic shielding plate is embedded within a mid-level of the mating tongue wherein a leg of the shielding plate and a tail of an outermost grounding contact share the same conductive grounding region on the PCB. A plug connector mateable with the receptacle connector, includes an insulative housing defining a mating cavity to receive the mating tongue and equipped with a plurality of contacts and a metallic latch beside the mating cavity, wherein a tail of one grounding contact and a leg of the latch share the same conductive grounding region on a paddle card, which is behind the mating cavity and on which tails of the contacts are electrically and mechanically mounted.

Claims

1. A receptacle connector assembly adapted for mating with a plug connector, comprising:

an insulative housing defining base with a mating tongue forwardly extending therefrom;

a plurality of contacts disposed in the housing with contacting sections exposed upon the mating tongue and categorized with signal contacts, power contacts and grounding contacts;

a metallic shell enclosing the housing to define a mating cavity in which mating tongue is disposed; and

a metallic shielding plate disposed within a middle level of the mating tongue and occupying most portions of said mating tongue;

wherein

the shielding plates defines a pair of lateral edge sections each configured to be adapted to be locked with a latch of the plug connector.

2. The receptacle connector assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein a leg of the shielding plate and a tail of a grounding contact share a same conductive grounding region of a printed circuit board on which the connector is mounted.

3. The receptacle connector assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein the leg of the shielding plate and the tail of the grounding contact extend vertically as a through type, and the same conductive grounding region is of an oval shaped via into which both said leg of the shielding plate and the tail of said one grounding contact extends.

4. The receptacle connector assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein said laterally edge sections are immoveable and un-deflectable in a transverse direction and the latch of the plug connector is deflectable in said transverse direction.

5. The receptacle connector assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein the housing includes opposite upper and lower pieces commonly sandwiching a middle piece therebetween in a vertical direction perpendicular to said transverse direction, said upper piece and said lower piece are integrally associated with the corresponding contacts, respectively, and the shielding plate is embedded within the middle piece.

6. The receptacle connector assembly as claimed in claim 5, wherein the upper piece, the middle piece and the lower piece are configured to be assembled with one another only along said vertical direction.

7. The receptacle connector assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein the housing forms a front face essentially flush with a front edge of the shell in a transverse direction for lateral protection the shell.

8. The receptacle connector assembly as claimed in claim 7, wherein the housing forms a receiving space behind the front face to receive another connector part which is spaced from the shell with a partition wall therebetween.

9. The receptacle connector assembly as claimed in claim 8, wherein said receiving space is located under the shell in a vertical direction perpendicular to said transverse direction with a forward opening and a downward opening to communicate with an exterior so as to allow another connector to be independently mate with another plug connector along a front-to-back direction perpendicular to both transverse direction and said vertical direction, and to be mounted, in the vertical direction, to a printed circuit board on which said housing is seated.

10. The receptacle connector assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein a metallic bracket compliantly at least partially intimately covering the shell for supportably mounting the connector upon said printed circuit board.

11. The receptacle connector assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein said contacts are mechanically and electrically connected to corresponding respective wires of a cable, and the shell is retained within a case with a front section thereof exposed outside of the case.

12. The receptacle connector assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein the contacts are mounted to a printed circuit board on which the housing is generally seated, and the mating tongue extends in a vertical plane with regard to the printed circuit board in a vertical direction perpendicular to said transverse direction.

13. The receptacle connector assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein the contacts are mounted to a printed circuit board on which the housing is generally seated, and the mating tongue extends along a plane which is oblique to another plane defined by extension of said printed circuit board.

14. The receptacle connector assembly as claimed in claim 4, further including a spacer to align tails of the contacts with regard to a mounting region of a printed circuit board on which the housing is generally seated.

15. A plug connector for use with a complementary receptacle connector, comprising:

an insulative housing defining a receiving cavity and enclosed in the metallic shell;

a plurality of contacts disposed in the housing and by two sides of the receiving cavity in the vertical direction, and categorized with signal contacts, power contacts and grounding contacts;

a metallic latch retained in the housing with a pair of locking heads extending into two opposite lateral sides of the receiving cavity for latchable engagement with a shielding plate which is disposed within a mating tongue of the receptacle connector during mating.

16. The plug connector assembly as claimed in claim 15, wherein tail sections of the contacts are directly mounted to an internal printed circuit board, the metallic latch defines a rear connection structure to electrically and mechanically connect to a grounding pad of the paddle card.

17. The plug connector assembly as claimed in claim 16, wherein the rear connection structure of the latch and a tail of an outermost grounding contact share a same conductive grounding region on the paddle card.

18. The plug connector assembly as claimed in claim 15, further including a wire organizer to regulate a plurality of wires of a cable to electrically connect to the corresponding contacts, respectively.

19. The plug connector assembly as claimed in claim 18, further including a paddle card positioned between the contacts and the wires in a front-to-back direction, and mechanically and electrically connected to said contacts and said wires on opposite front and rear regions, respectively.

20. The plug connector assembly as claimed in claim 15, further including an insulative spacer to regulate tails of the contacts, and behind the latch a front-to-back direction.