CN112636044B

CN112636044B - Connector with a locking member

Info

Publication number: CN112636044B
Application number: CN201910906093.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 梁永兴; 黄赐铭; 王美玲
Original assignee: Molex LLC
Current assignee: Molex LLC
Priority date: 2019-09-24
Filing date: 2019-09-24
Publication date: 2022-09-02
Anticipated expiration: 2039-09-24
Also published as: CN112636044A

Abstract

The invention provides a connector, which comprises an insulating seat body and a plurality of terminals. The insulating pedestal comprises a transversely extending pedestal and a butt joint part positioned at the front end of the pedestal, wherein the pedestal is provided with a rear end surface facing to the rear end and a plurality of terminal fixing grooves formed forwards from the rear end surface. Each terminal is provided with a fixed part, a contact part extending forwards from the fixed part and a tail part extending backwards from the fixed part, the fixed parts are respectively inserted into the terminal fixing grooves of the base, the contact part is positioned at the butt joint part, the terminal comprises a plurality of grounding terminals and a plurality of signal terminals, a common grounding piece is integrally formed between at least two grounding terminals, two ends of the common grounding piece are respectively and integrally connected to the rear ends of the fixed parts of the two grounding terminals, and the common grounding piece and the extending path of the terminal are relatively staggered and transversely cross over the signal terminals.

Description

Connector with a locking member

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a connector, and more particularly, to a connector having a plurality of ground terminals and a plurality of signal terminals.

Background

Chinese patent publication No. CN103378497A (corresponding to U.S. patent No. US9,276,342, referred to as prior art 1 below) discloses a connector including a plurality of signal contacts and a plurality of ground contacts, between which the plurality of signal contacts are disposed. At least two ground contacts are integrally connected by a connecting portion in the vicinity of the contact portion. The connection portion is formed by drawing or bending so as to avoid the signal contact.

Chinese patent publication No. CN102820589B (corresponding to U.S. patent No. US 8,992,262, referred to as prior art 2 hereinafter) discloses a connector in which each ground contact includes a linear contact portion, a terminal portion, and a pier seat. The three ground contacts are substantially central and the pier seats are integrally connected by a substantially flat busbar. A pair of signal contacts is provided between two ground contacts between which a channel is formed beneath the bus bar and which receives the signal contacts. The passages of the housing of the connector for receiving the ground contacts are merged together by a hollow connecting passage. The dimensions of the hollow connecting channel can be suitably selected to accommodate and receive a bus bar.

However, in the integral connection portion between the two ground contacts in the prior art 1, since the downward bent portion is recessed, the space between the two ground terminals is occupied by the bent (e.g., punched) portion of the downward bent portion, and therefore, the space between the two ground terminals is difficult to be made smaller. Moreover, the bending of the connecting portion may affect the forming difficulty of the ground terminal, easily cause the ground terminal to be inclined, or increase the difficulty of manufacturing and forming (controlling the size, coplanarity, position, etc.). The signal terminal in prior art 2 needs to have an avoided bent portion to avoid the bus, so that the bent portion of the signal terminal is not arranged side by side with the ground terminal, and the integrity of the signal is affected.

Also, in either of prior art 1 and prior art 2, the connecting portion between the ground terminals and the bus bar are connected to the side of the ground terminal, and therefore the ground terminal must be connected with a certain length left, which increases the length of the terminal or makes it difficult to make the terminal shorter. In both of the prior art 1 and the prior art 2, the housing of the connector is required to be provided with a horizontal elongated groove for accommodating the horizontal connecting portion between the two ground terminals and the bus bar, which reduces the interference holding force to the terminals and the strength of the housing.

Disclosure of Invention

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a connector that ameliorates at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art.

Thus, in some embodiments, the connector of the present invention includes an insulating housing and a plurality of terminals. The insulating base body comprises a base which extends transversely and a butt joint part which is positioned at the front end of the base, wherein the base is provided with a rear end surface facing to the rear end and a plurality of terminal fixing grooves which are formed forwards from the rear end surface. Each terminal is integrally provided with a fixing part, a contact part extending forwards from the fixing part and a tail part extending backwards from the rear end of the fixing part, the fixing parts of the terminals are inserted into the terminal fixing grooves of the base respectively from back to front, the contact parts of the terminals are positioned at the butt joint part, the terminals comprise a plurality of grounding terminals and a plurality of signal terminals, at least two grounding terminals are integrally constructed to form a common grounding part, two ends of the common grounding part are respectively and integrally connected to the rear ends of the fixing parts of the two grounding terminals, and the common grounding part staggers the extending paths of the terminals and transversely crosses the signal terminals positioned between the two grounding terminals.

In some embodiments, the common ground element includes two bending portions respectively extending from the rear ends of the fixing portions of the two ground terminals in an integrally bent manner, and a crossing portion integrally connected to the two bending portions and transversely crossing the signal terminals between the two ground terminals.

In some embodiments, the common ground is located behind the rear end face of the base and outside the plurality of terminal fixing grooves.

In some embodiments, a plurality of the terminals are side-by-side with each other.

In some embodiments, the plurality of terminals are arranged in two rows, the contact portions of the plurality of terminals are flat, the plurality of common ground members are formed between the plurality of terminals, the bent portions of the common ground members integrally connected to the plurality of terminals located in the upper row are bent upward, and the bent portions of the common ground members integrally connected to the plurality of terminals located in the lower row are bent downward.

In some embodiments, the connector further comprises a plate-shaped shield located between the contact portions of the signal terminals of the two rows of terminals, and the plate-shaped shield is mechanically and electrically connected to the ground terminal of the two rows of terminals.

In some embodiments, the plate-shaped shield integrally has a plurality of contact fingers that contact lateral sides of the contact portions of the plurality of ground terminals in the lateral direction.

In some embodiments, the plurality of terminals are arranged in two rows, and the contact portions of the plurality of terminals are in a shape of a spring.

In some embodiments, a pair of signal terminals is formed by a plurality of signal terminals, and the signal terminal pair is respectively located between two adjacent ground terminals.

In the connector of the present invention, the common ground bent integrally from the rear ends of the fixing portions of the two ground terminals does not increase the length of the terminals nor occupy the space between the two ground terminals, so that the space between the ground terminals can be made smaller and the terminals can be applied to a smaller connector. Furthermore, the common ground member can be easily manufactured and molded by simple punching and bending, and since the common ground member is bent from the rear end of the fixing portion of the ground terminal, the formation of the ground terminal is not easily affected. Moreover, the common grounding piece is relatively staggered with the extending path of the terminal, so that the grounding terminals and the signal terminals can be completely arranged side by side, and the shielding effect of the grounding terminals is prevented from being influenced to increase the signal integrity. In addition, the common grounding piece is located at the rear end face of the insulating base in a suspended mode, and the insulating base does not need to be provided with a channel for accommodating the common grounding piece, so that the strength of the insulating base and the holding force of the terminal are maintained.

Drawings

Other features and effects of the present invention will be apparent from the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the connector of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of FIG. 1 from another perspective;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the first embodiment, with the back cover of the first embodiment omitted;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of FIG. 4 from another perspective, with the back cover of the first embodiment omitted;

fig. 6 is a perspective view of the first embodiment of the terminals at the upper row;

fig. 7 is a perspective view of the ground terminals and common ground at the upper row of the first embodiment;

fig. 8 is a perspective view of the terminals of the first embodiment located at the lower row;

fig. 9 is a perspective view of the ground terminal and common ground member of the first embodiment located at the lower row;

FIG. 10 is a top view of the first embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 10;

fig. 12 is a perspective view of the terminals and the plate-shaped shields of the first embodiment, illustrating the arrangement of the plate-shaped shields and the terminals;

fig. 13 is a front view of the terminals and the plate-like shields of the first embodiment, illustrating the arrangement of the plate-like shields and the terminals;

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the connector of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a top view of the second embodiment;

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of FIG. 15;

fig. 17 is a perspective view of the second embodiment of the terminals at the upper row and the terminals at the lower row; and

fig. 18 is a perspective view of the ground terminals on the upper row of the second embodiment.

The reference numerals are explained below:

100 connector

1 insulating base

11 base

11a plug-in groove

11b plug column

111 butt joint part

111' butt joint part

111a setting groove

111 a' setting groove

111b slot

112 rear end face

113 terminal fixing groove

114 positioning column

115 mounting groove

116 assembling part

116a convex strip

116b first latch

12 rear cover

121 groove

122 second latch

123 containing groove

2 terminal

2a ground terminal

2b signal terminal

20 common ground

20a bent part

20b cross section

21 fixed part

210 back end

211 interference bump

22 contact part

221 interference bump

23 tail part

3 plate-like shield

31 contact finger

32 interference bump

4 shield

41 elastic contact finger

D1 front-back direction

D2 left and right direction

D3 vertical direction

Detailed Description

Before the present invention is described in detail, it should be noted that like elements are represented by like reference numerals throughout the following description.

Referring to fig. 1 to 5, a first embodiment of a connector 100 according to the present invention is a plug connector, which includes an insulating housing 1, a plurality of terminals 2, a rear cover 12 and a plate-shaped shield 3.

The insulating housing 1 may be made of, for example, a polymer material such as plastic, the insulating housing 1 includes a base 11 extending transversely along a left-right direction D2, and a docking portion 111 located at a front end of the base 11 along a front-back direction D1, the base 11 has a rear end surface 112 located at a rear end, and a plurality of terminal fixing grooves 113 formed to penetrate forward from the rear end surface 112. The plurality of terminals 2 are arranged side by side in a left-right direction D2 and divided into two rows in a top-bottom direction D3, each terminal 2 integrally has a fixing portion 21, a flat contact portion 22 extending forward from the fixing portion 21, and a tail portion 23 extending obliquely downward and rearward from a rear end 210 of the fixing portion 21 and for being soldered to a circuit board (not shown), the fixing portions 21 of the plurality of terminals 2 are respectively inserted into the terminal fixing grooves 113 of the base 11 from the rear to the front, and a plurality of interference protrusions 211 formed on both sides of the fixing portion 21 in the left-right direction D2 in a barb shape and for interfering with inner wall surfaces of the terminal fixing grooves 113, and the contact portions 22 of the plurality of terminals 2 are located on the mating portion 111. The base 11 further has a plurality of positioning posts 114 at the bottom, and two mounting slots 115 formed at the bottom for two fixing members (not shown) to pass through. The two positioning posts 114 are used to penetrate two positioning holes (not shown) of the circuit board, and the two fixing members are used to be soldered to the circuit board. The rear cover 12 extends along the left-right direction D2 and is assembled at the rear portion of the insulating base from back to front along the front-back direction D1, so as to partially cover the tail portions 23 of the terminals 2, in detail, the insulating base integrally includes two assembling portions 116 extending from the left and right sides of the base 11 toward back, a protruding strip 116a extending along the front-back direction D1 is provided at the inner side of each assembling portion 116, and a first locking block 116b is formed on the top surface of the protruding strip 116a, the rear cover 12 has two grooves 121 formed at the left and right sides for accommodating the protruding strip 116a, and two second locking blocks 122 respectively formed at the tops of the two grooves 121 and respectively used for being locked with the first locking blocks 116b, so that the rear cover 12 can be fixed at the rear portion of the insulating base. In detail, the rear cover 12 has a plurality of receiving grooves 123 for respectively receiving the tail portions 23 (see fig. 11) of the terminals 2 arranged in the upper row at a limited position, and the insulating housing 1 integrally includes two insertion grooves 11a (see fig. 1) extending forward from the left and right sides of the base 11, the two insertion grooves 11a are respectively located at two sides of the mating portion 111, and the insertion grooves 11a are correspondingly inserted into the insertion posts 11b (see fig. 14) at two sides of the receptacle connector of the second embodiment, so as to play a role of guiding and guiding when the two connectors are mated.

Referring to fig. 3 to 4 and 6 to 9, in the first embodiment, the butting portion 111 is shaped like a plate protruding forward and extending along the left-right direction D2, the butting portion 111 is formed with a plurality of installation grooves 111a located on the top surface and the bottom surface and communicating with the plurality of terminal fixing grooves 113, the contact portions 22 of the terminals 2 are respectively accommodated in the installation grooves 111a of the butting portion 111, and interference protrusions 211 (see fig. 6) interfering with the inner wall surfaces of the installation grooves 111a are disposed on both sides of the contact portion of each terminal. The plurality of terminals 2 include a plurality of ground terminals 2a and a plurality of signal terminals 2b, and the plurality of signal terminals 2b form a pair of signal terminal pairs each located between two adjacent ground terminals 2 a. A common ground member 20 is integrally formed between two adjacent ground terminals 2a, so that a plurality of common ground members 20 are formed between the plurality of terminals 2, both ends of each common ground member 20 are integrally connected to the rear ends 210 of the fixing portions 21 of the two ground terminals 2a, respectively, each common ground member 20 is staggered from the extending paths of the plurality of terminals 2 and transversely crosses the signal terminal 2b between the two ground terminals 2a, and the common ground member 20 does not contact the signal terminal 2 b. The common ground pieces 20 can connect two or more ground terminals 2a to each other to have the same potential, shorten the return path of the ground terminals 2a and improve the ground integrity of the ground terminals 2a, thereby reducing the loop inductance of the signal terminals 2b and improving the signal integrity. Moreover, since the common ground 20 is staggered from the extending path of the terminal 2, the ground terminal 2a and the signal terminal 2b can be completely arranged side by side, and the shielding effect of the ground terminal 2a is prevented from being affected to increase the signal integrity.

Each common ground 20 includes two bent portions 20a bent and extended backward integrally from the rear ends 210 of the fixing portions 21 of the two ground terminals 2a respectively at positions offset from the side edges of the tail portions 23 of the terminals 2, and a crossing portion 20b integrally connected to the two bent portions 20a and crossing the signal terminal 2b between the two ground terminals 2a transversely along the left-right direction D2. The bent portions 20a of the common ground members 20 to which the terminals 2 at the upper row are integrally connected are bent upward as shown in fig. 6 to 7, and the bent portions 20a of the common ground members 20 to which the terminals 2 at the lower row are integrally connected are bent downward as shown in fig. 8 to 9. Since the common ground member 20 bent integrally from the rear ends 210 of the fixing portions 21 of the two ground terminals 2a, that is, the common ground member 20 and the tail portions 23 of the terminals 2 extend from the same rear end 210 of the fixing portion 21, the length of the terminals 2 is not increased and the space between the two ground terminals 2a is not occupied, so that the space between the ground terminals 2a can be made smaller and the terminals 2 can be applied to a smaller connector 100. Furthermore, the common ground member 20 can be easily manufactured and molded by simple pressing and bending, and since the common ground member 20 is bent from the rear end 210 of the fixing portion 21 of the ground terminal 2a, the formation of the ground terminal 2a is not easily affected. In addition, the common ground element 20 is located behind the rear end surface 112 and outside the plurality of terminal fixing slots 113 in a suspended manner, so that the base 11 of the insulating housing 1 does not need to be provided with a channel for accommodating the common ground element 20, thereby maintaining the strength of the base 11 of the insulating housing 1 and the holding force of the terminal 2.

Referring to fig. 5 and 10 to 13, the plate-shaped shielding member 3 is disposed on the abutting portion 111 of the base 11 and between the contact portions 22 of the signal terminals 2b of the two rows of terminals 2, and the plate-shaped shielding member 3 is mechanically and electrically connected to the grounding terminal 2a of the two rows of terminals 2. Specifically, the abutting portion 111 is formed with a slot 111b from the front end toward the rear, the slot 111b communicates with a plurality of the installation slots 111a, the plate-shaped shield 3 is inserted into the slot 111b and integrally includes a plurality of contact fingers 31 protruding into the installation slots 111a to contact the side edges of the contact portions 22 of the plurality of ground terminals 2a in the left-right direction D2, and two interference protrusions 32 formed at the left and right sides and having a barb shape to interfere with the inner wall surface of the slot 111b, the plate-shaped shield 3 is mechanically and electrically connected to the ground terminals 2a in the upper and lower rows of terminals 2 through the plurality of contact fingers 31, and the plate-shaped shield 3 is held in the slot 111b by the two interference protrusions 32. Crosstalk between the pair of signal terminals facing each other in the up-down direction D3 can be reduced by the plate-like shield 3 contacting the ground terminal 2a and located between the upper and lower rows of signal terminals 2 b. It should be noted that, although the number of the plate-shaped shields 3 is only one in the first embodiment, in other embodiments, the number of the plate-shaped shields 3 may be plural, and in a modified embodiment, the connector 100 may not have the plate-shaped shields 3, that is, the number of the plate-shaped shields 3 may be adjusted as required, and is not limited to the first embodiment.

Referring to fig. 14 to 18, a second embodiment of the connector 100 of the present invention is a receptacle connector adapted to mate with the plug connector of the first embodiment. In the second embodiment, the butting portion 111 ' of the insulating housing 1 is formed in a slot shape formed at the front end of the base 11 and extending along the left-right direction D2, a plurality of installation grooves 111a ' are formed in the butting portion 111 ' and located on the top inner wall surface and the bottom inner wall surface and communicated with the plurality of terminal fixing grooves 113, and the contact portions 22 of the plurality of terminals 2 are accommodated in the installation grooves 111a ' of the butting portion 111 ' in a spring shape and extending forward and inward, respectively. In the second embodiment, the common ground 20 is integrally formed only on the upper row terminals 2, as shown in fig. 17 and 18, but in other embodiments, the common ground 20 may be integrally formed only on the lower row terminals 2, or the common ground 20 may be integrally formed with the upper and lower row terminals 2 as in the first embodiment. Furthermore, the bent portion 20a of the common ground 20 integrally formed with the upper row terminal 2 is bent downward, but may be bent upward as in the first embodiment, and is not limited thereto. In addition, the connector 100 further includes a shielding member 4 disposed in the base 11 and located below the lower row of terminals 2, as shown in fig. 16 and 17, the shielding member 4 is mechanically and electrically connected to the ground terminals 2a in the lower row of terminals 2, the shielding member 4 extends along the left-right direction D2 and spans the plurality of ground terminals 2a, and has a plurality of elastic contact fingers 41 extending forward and upward and contacting the fixing portions 21 of the plurality of ground terminals 2 a. The shield 4 functions similarly to the common ground 20, and allows the plurality of ground terminals 2a to be connected to each other to have the same potential, thereby shortening the return path of the plurality of ground terminals 2a and improving the ground integrity of the plurality of ground terminals 2a, reducing the loop inductance of the plurality of signal terminals 2b and improving the signal integrity. In detail, the two sides of the insulation base 1 of the socket connector of the second embodiment are provided with two mating posts 11b corresponding to the two mating slots 11a (see fig. 1) of the insulation base 1 of the plug connector of the first embodiment.

As described above, in the connector 100 of the present invention, the common ground piece 20 bent integrally from the rear ends 210 of the fixing portions 21 of the two ground terminals 2a does not increase the length of the terminal 2 nor occupy the space between the two ground terminals 2a, so that the space between the ground terminals 2a can be made smaller, and the terminal 2 can be applied to a smaller connector 100. Furthermore, the common ground member 20 can be easily manufactured and molded by simple pressing and bending, and since the common ground member 20 is bent from the rear end 210 of the fixing portion 21 of the ground terminal 2a, the formation of the ground terminal 2a is not easily affected. Moreover, since the common ground 20 relatively staggers the extending path of the terminal 2, the ground terminal 2a and the signal terminal 2b can be completely arranged side by side, and the shielding effect of the ground terminal 2a is prevented from being affected to increase the signal integrity. In addition, the common ground element 20 is located behind the rear end surface 112 in a suspended manner, and the insulating housing 1 does not need to be provided with a channel for accommodating the common ground element 20, so as to maintain the strength of the insulating housing 1 and the holding force of the terminal 2.

However, the above description is only an example of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention should not be limited thereto, and all simple equivalent changes and modifications made according to the claims and the contents of the patent specification are still within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A connector, comprising:

the insulating base comprises a base extending transversely and a butt joint part positioned at the front end of the base, wherein the base is provided with a rear end surface facing to the rear end and a plurality of terminal fixing grooves formed forwards from the rear end surface; and

a plurality of terminals, each of which integrally has a fixing portion, a contact portion extending forward from the fixing portion, and a tail portion extending backward from a rear end of the fixing portion, the fixing portions of the terminals being inserted into the terminal fixing grooves of the housing backward and forward, respectively, and the contact portions of the terminals being located at the mating portions, wherein the terminals include a plurality of ground terminals and a plurality of signal terminals, a common ground member is integrally formed between at least two of the ground terminals, both ends of the common ground member are integrally connected to rear ends of the fixing portions of the two ground terminals, respectively, the common ground member staggers extending paths of the terminals and transversely crosses the signal terminals located between the two ground terminals,

the common grounding piece comprises two bending parts and a crossing part, wherein the two bending parts are respectively bent and extended integrally from the rear ends of the fixing parts of the two grounding terminals and the side edge of the tail part of the staggered terminal, and the crossing part is integrally connected with the two bending parts and transversely crosses the signal terminal between the two grounding terminals.

2. The connector of claim 1, wherein the common ground is located behind the rear face of the housing and outside the plurality of terminal-securing slots.

3. The connector of claim 2, wherein a plurality of said terminals are side-by-side with one another.

4. The connector according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of terminals are arranged in two upper and lower rows, the contact portions of the plurality of terminals are formed in a flat plate shape, the plurality of common ground members are formed between the plurality of ground terminals of the plurality of terminals, the bent portions of the common ground members integrally connected to the plurality of terminals positioned in the upper row are bent upward, and the bent portions of the common ground members integrally connected to the plurality of terminals positioned in the lower row are bent downward.

5. The connector of claim 4, further comprising a plate-like shield positioned between the contact portions of the signal terminals of the two rows of terminals, the plate-like shield being mechanically and electrically connected to the ground terminals of the two rows of terminals.

6. The connector of claim 5, wherein the plate-like shield integrally has a plurality of contact fingers which contact lateral sides of contact portions of the plurality of ground terminals in the lateral direction.

7. The connector of claim 3, wherein the plurality of terminals are arranged in two rows, one above the other, and the contact portions of the plurality of terminals are in the shape of a spring.

8. The connector of claim 1, wherein a plurality of said signal terminals are paired into signal terminal pairs, said signal terminal pairs being respectively located between adjacent two of said ground terminals.