CN114709648A

CN114709648A - Electric connector with tongue piece reinforcing structure

Info

Publication number: CN114709648A
Application number: CN202210312173.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 廖健安; 吕建钧; 张仁豪
Original assignee: Taikang Precision Zhongshan Co ltd
Current assignee: Taikang Precision Zhongshan Co ltd
Priority date: 2022-03-28
Filing date: 2022-03-28
Publication date: 2022-07-05

Abstract

An electrical connector with a tongue piece reinforcing structure comprises a packaging body, an upper layer terminal group, a lower layer terminal group and a middle spacer; wherein, a tongue piece is formed by extending a front end face of the packaging body, the upper and lower terminal sets are respectively positioned in the packaging body and respectively provided with a plurality of upper and lower terminals, one end of each upper and lower terminal is partially exposed out of the upper and lower surfaces of the tongue piece for power contact; the middle partition is arranged in the packaging body and the tongue piece thereof and is arranged between the upper layer terminal group and the lower layer terminal group, and the two sides and the front side of the middle partition respectively form a longitudinally extending protection wall to respectively form two tongue sides and a tongue tip of the tongue piece, thereby greatly improving the strength of the tongue piece and preventing the tongue piece from being damaged due to improper force application or abnormal operation of a user during plugging.

Description

Electric connector with tongue piece reinforcing structure

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly, to an electrical connector with a tongue piece reinforcement structure to prevent damage caused by improper operation when mating with a connector.

Background

A conventional USB TYPE C electrical connector is shown in fig. 8, and is mainly provided with a package 80 in a metal shielding cover 70, the package 80 is specifically configured as shown in fig. 9 and 10, a tongue 81 is formed by extending a front end surface of the package 80 outward in a horizontal direction, a plurality of upper terminals 91 and a plurality of lower terminals 92 are provided in the package 80 and the tongue 81, and one end of each of the upper terminals 91 and each of the lower terminals 92 is partially exposed on the upper surface and the lower surface of the tongue 81 for electrical contact.

Furthermore, the package body 80 and the tongue piece 81 thereof are provided with a middle spacer 60 inside, as shown in fig. 10, the middle spacer 60 is located between each upper layer terminal 91 and each lower layer terminal 92, the middle spacer 60 is in a sheet shape and has a wide section 61 and a narrow section 62, the narrow section 62 is located in the tongue piece 81 of the package body 80, one end of the narrow section 62 adjacent to the wide section 61 extends forward from two sides to form two side wings 63, and the two side wings 63 are partially exposed out of two sides of the tongue piece 81, thereby protecting two sides of the tongue piece 81.

According to the specification of USB TYPE C, it is necessary to have a plug tolerance of more than ten thousand times, and it is necessary to pass the 4-axis test, however, the USB TYPE C interface size is only 8.3 × 2.5 mm, the tongue piece 81 is only 0.7 mm, but 4 axes are the most concentrated part, the aforementioned middle spacer 60 not only isolates the upper terminal 91 and the lower terminal 92, but also the side wing 62 is used to reinforce the two-side structure of the tongue piece 81, however, the known USB TYPE C electrical connector has the middle spacer 60 mostly made of metal thin material by stamping, and the side wing 63 used as a reinforcing protection is only connected with the two sides of the middle spacer 60 in a small area, and is located on the two sides of the middle spacer 60 after bending, so that the abrasion resistance effect on the two sides of the lifting tongue piece 81 is very limited, and the tongue piece 81 is easily damaged after frequent plugging and pulling, thereby affecting the normal operation.

Moreover, since the tongue piece 81 of the USB TYPE C electrical connector is extremely thin, if the insertion angle deviation is too large or the force is not applied properly when the user is butted with the corresponding connector, the tongue piece 81 may be damaged directly to affect the normal use. As described above, the conventional USB TYPE C electrical connector needs to be reinforced in the strength of the tongue piece, and is easily damaged by improper operation during plugging and unplugging, and further discussion is needed to provide a feasible solution.

Disclosure of Invention

Therefore, the present invention is directed to an electrical connector with a tongue piece reinforcement structure, which can provide overall reinforcement to tongue pieces in multiple axial directions to greatly improve the insertion/extraction tolerance.

The main technical means adopted to achieve the above object is to make the electrical connector with tongue piece reinforcing structure include:

a packaging body, which is provided with a tongue piece extending outwards on a front end face;

an upper terminal set located in the package body, the upper terminal set comprising a plurality of upper terminals, one end of each upper terminal being partially exposed out of the upper surface of the tongue piece;

a lower terminal set located in the package, the lower terminal set comprising a plurality of lower terminals, one end of each lower terminal being partially exposed to the lower surface of the tongue piece;

and the middle partition piece is arranged in the packaging body and the tongue piece thereof and is arranged between the upper layer terminal group and the lower layer terminal group, and the two sides and the front side of the middle partition piece are respectively provided with a longitudinally extending protective wall so as to respectively form two tongue sides and a tongue tip of the tongue piece.

The invention mainly extends longitudinally to form retaining walls on two sides and front side of the middle spacer, different from the structure of the middle spacer of the prior electric connector which is formed by bending a metal sheet to form a side wing, the invention forms continuous and thick retaining walls on two sides and front side of the middle spacer respectively to form the tongue side and tongue tip of the tongue piece respectively, thereby the tongue piece with multiple axial directions can form overall reinforcement, the insertion and extraction wear-resisting characteristic of the tongue piece is greatly improved, and the tongue piece of the invention has a tongue tip with high strength, when the tongue piece is inserted into the joint, even if the joint directly impacts the tongue piece and/or the tongue tip thereof due to insertion angle deviation or excessive force application, the tongue piece can be effectively ensured not to be damaged and normal operation can be maintained.

Drawings

The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way. In addition, the shapes, the proportional sizes, and the like of the respective members in the drawings are merely schematic for facilitating the understanding of the present invention, and do not specifically limit the shapes, the proportional sizes, and the like of the respective members of the present invention. Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of the teachings of this invention, may choose from the various possible shapes and proportional sizes to implement the invention as a matter of case.

Fig. 1 is an external view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of a portion of the components of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a cross-section of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an external view of a septum in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of a septum in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is an external view of a known electrical connector.

Fig. 9 is an exploded view of a portion of a known electrical connector.

Fig. 10 is a partial external view of a known electrical connector.

Detailed Description

The details of the present invention can be more clearly understood in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the description of the embodiments of the present invention. However, the specific embodiments of the present invention described herein are for the purpose of illustration only and are not to be construed as limiting the invention in any way. Any possible variations based on the present invention may be conceived by the skilled person in the light of the teachings of the present invention, and these should be considered to fall within the scope of the present invention.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a package body 10, an upper terminal set 20, a lower terminal set 30, and a middle spacer 40; first, it must be specified that, as will be understood by those skilled in the art: the electrical connector further includes a metal shielding cover disposed outside the package body 10, but the metal shielding part is not directly related to the technical features of the present invention, and therefore is not disclosed and is well known in the art.

The package 10 is made of plastic and is substantially rectangular, the center of the front end surface of the package extends outward in the horizontal direction to form a tongue piece 11, the tongue piece 11 has a tongue front section 111 and a tongue rear section 112, the thickness of the tongue front section 111 is smaller than that of the tongue rear section 112; as shown in fig. 2 and fig. 3, the upper terminal set 20 is located in the package 10 and is composed of a plurality of upper terminals 21, each upper terminal 21 has a horizontal section 211, and the horizontal section 211 is partially exposed on the upper surface of the tongue front section 111 to form a contact portion for electrical contact; each upper terminal 21 further has a bent section 212, and the bent section 212 is partially exposed out of the package body 10 to respectively form a pin. For convenience of assembly, in the present embodiment, the upper terminal set 20 further includes an upper module 22, and the upper terminals 21 are commonly disposed on the upper module 22 and further encapsulated in the package 10.

The lower terminal set 30 is located in the package 10 and is composed of a plurality of lower terminals 31, each lower terminal 31 has a horizontal section 311, and the horizontal section 311 is partially exposed on the lower surface of the tongue front section 111 to form a contact portion for electrical contact; each lower terminal 31 further has a bent section 312, and the bent section 312 is partially exposed out of the package body 10 to form a pin. As with the upper terminal set 20, for the convenience of assembly, in the embodiment, the lower terminal set 30 includes a lower module 32, and the lower terminals 31 are commonly disposed on the lower module 32 and further encapsulated in the package 10.

Referring to fig. 2 and 3, the middle spacer 40 is disposed in the package body 10 and the tongue 11 thereof and is vertically disposed between the upper terminal set 20 and the lower terminal set 30, as shown in fig. 4, a body of the middle spacer 40 is flat, and two side edges and a front side thereof respectively form a longitudinally extending protection wall to respectively form two tongue sides 113 and a tongue tip 114 of the tongue 11.

As shown in fig. 4 and 5, the middle partition 40 has a wide section 41 and a narrow section 42, which are generally T-shaped from a top view, the narrow section 42 corresponds to the inside of the tongue 11, two sides of the narrow section 42 respectively extend longitudinally to form a side wall 43, and a front side of the narrow section 42 also extends longitudinally to form a front wall 44; wherein, the upper and lower ends of the side protection wall 43 respectively protrude out of the surface and bottom surface of the narrow section 42 to form an inverted T-shaped cross section, and the outer side surfaces of the side protection wall 43 respectively expose out of the two sides of the tongue front section 111 to form the tongue side 113; further, the side retaining walls 43 are higher than the front retaining wall 44.

The upper and lower ends of the front wall 44 respectively protrude from the surface and the bottom surface of the narrow section 42 to form an inverted T-shaped cross section (as shown in fig. 3), and the front side surface of the front wall 44 is exposed to the front side of the tongue front section 111 to form the tongue tip 114.

To further enhance the structural strength of the side retaining walls 43 and the front retaining wall 44, the narrow section 42 of the middle partition 40 is formed with a connecting wall 45 between the two ends of the front retaining wall 44 and the adjacent ends of the two side retaining walls 43, and a continuous retaining wall is formed on the two sides and the front side of the tongue front section 111, thereby enhancing the strength of the side retaining walls 43 and the front retaining wall 44. The upper and lower ends of the connecting wall 45 protrude from the surface and bottom of the narrow section 42, respectively, and the height of one end is the same as that of the side retaining wall 43, while the height of the other end decreases to the same height as that of the front retaining wall 44.

As can be seen from the above description, the two side retaining walls 43 and the front retaining wall 44 are respectively formed on the two sides and the front side of the narrow section 42 of the middle partition 40 to form the tongue side 113 and the tongue tip 114 of the tongue 11, and the middle partition 40 and the side retaining walls 43 and the front retaining walls 44 thereon have a larger thickness to ensure the structural strength thereof, so that the middle partition is usually formed by punching a thin metal material and bending the thin metal material, and the middle partition 40 is formed by die casting (MIM) or Metal Injection Molding (MIM).

Still referring to fig. 4, the middle spacer 40 is provided with a pin 46 at two ends of the wide section 41 respectively and forms an electrical connection, and one end of the two pins 46 is exposed outside the package 10 (as shown in fig. 1) and is used as a ground pin.

In order to achieve the effect, as shown in fig. 6 and 7, the height of the side protecting wall 43 is set to be the thickness of the tongue front section 111, the outer side surface of the side protecting wall 43 is exposed to both sides of the tongue front section 111 to form the tongue side 113, and the front side surface of the front protecting wall 44 is exposed to the front side of the tongue front section 111, so that the side protecting wall 43 and the front protecting wall 44 directly receive the impact when the connector is inserted and removed, thereby the strength of the tongue piece 11 can be increased in multiple axial directions. Particularly, when the front end 111 of the tongue is directly hit by a deviation of the insertion angle of the joint or an excessive force, the tongue tip 114 formed by the front retaining wall 44 has a high strength and is surely prevented from being damaged. In the case where the front retaining wall 44 and the two side retaining walls 45 form a continuous retaining wall, the structural strength of the tongue piece 11 can be further increased greatly in the multi-axial direction.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and in particular, various features described in different embodiments can be arbitrarily combined with each other to form other embodiments, and the features are understood to be applicable to any embodiment except the explicitly opposite descriptions, and are not limited to the described embodiments.

Claims

1. An electrical connector with a tongue reinforcement structure, comprising:

an upper terminal set located in the package body, the upper terminal set being composed of a plurality of upper terminals, one end of each upper terminal being partially exposed to the upper surface of the tongue piece;

a lower terminal set located in the package, the lower terminal set comprising a plurality of lower terminals, one end of each of the lower terminals being partially exposed to the lower surface of the tab;

and the middle partition piece is arranged in the packaging body and the tongue piece thereof and is arranged between the upper layer terminal group and the lower layer terminal group, and two longitudinally extending protection walls are respectively formed on two side edges and the front side of the middle partition piece so as to respectively form two tongue side and a tongue tip of the tongue piece.

2. The electrical connector with tongue reinforcement of claim 1, wherein the tongue has a front tongue section and a rear tongue section, the front tongue section has a thickness smaller than that of the rear tongue section;

the middle partition sheet is provided with a wide section and a narrow section, the narrow section corresponds to the inside of the tongue piece, two side edges of the narrow section respectively form a side retaining wall in a longitudinal extension mode, and the front side of the narrow section forms a front retaining wall in a longitudinal extension mode; the upper end and the lower end of the side protecting wall respectively protrude out of the surface and the bottom surface of the narrow section to form an inverted T-shaped section, and the outer side surface of the side protecting wall respectively protrudes out of two sides of the tongue front section to form the tongue side;

the upper end and the lower end of the front protecting wall respectively protrude out of the surface and the bottom surface of the narrow section to form an inverted T-shaped section, and the front side surface of the front protecting wall is exposed out of the front side of the tongue front section to form the tongue tip.

3. The electrical connector with tongue reinforcement of claim 2, wherein the height of the side wall is the same as the thickness of the front tongue section.

4. A tongue-reinforced electrical connector as claimed in claim 2, wherein the narrow portion of the middle spacer is formed with an engaging wall between the two ends of the front wall and the adjacent ends of the two side walls.

5. The electrical connector with tongue-and-groove reinforcement structure as claimed in claim 4, wherein the height of the side wall is greater than the height of the front wall;

the upper end and the lower end of the connecting wall respectively protrude out of the surface and the bottom surface of the narrow section, the height of one end of the connecting wall is the same as that of the side protecting wall, and the height of the other end of the connecting wall is gradually reduced to be equal to the height of the front protecting wall.

6. The electrical connector with tongue reinforcement structure of claim 2, wherein the middle spacer has two pins at two ends of the wide section respectively and forms an electrical connection, and one end of each of the two pins is exposed outside the package.

7. The electrical connector with tongue piece reinforcing structure of claim 2, wherein each of the upper terminals has a horizontal section, and a part of the horizontal section is exposed out of the upper surface of the tongue front section;

each lower terminal is provided with a horizontal section which is partially exposed out of the lower surface of the tongue front section;

each upper layer terminal and each lower layer terminal are respectively provided with a bending section, and the bending sections are partially exposed out of the packaging body.

8. The electrical connector with a tongue reinforcement structure of claim 1, wherein the upper terminal set and the lower terminal set respectively comprise an upper module and a lower module, the upper terminals are commonly disposed on the upper module, the lower terminals are commonly disposed on the lower module, and the upper module and the lower module are enclosed in the package.

9. An electrical connector with tab reinforcement structure as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the center spacer is formed by die casting.

10. An electrical connector with a tab reinforcement structure as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the spacer is formed by metal injection molding.