JPH0511394B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Claim 1 A plurality of connector receiving openings are formed on the front surface,
A housing member having a plurality of terminal receiving holes in a back wall and mounting means having slots and holes formed in both side walls; a housing receiving cavity into which the housing member is inserted; an electrically conductive shell member having aligned holes, including electrical filter means having holes aligned with the holes, the front end of each side wall being formed with a fixed extension piece having holes; a metal plate having a plurality of apertures arranged and corresponding to the connector receiving apertures of the housing member, a plurality of spring fingers inclined rearwardly from edges of the apertures, and slots and holes formed on both sides. inserting the housing member of the shell member, protruding a fixed extension piece of the shell member from the slot of the attachment means of the housing member, and inserting the slot of the metal plate into the fixed extension piece; With the metal plate attached to the front surface of the housing member, bend the fixed extension piece, align the hole of the fixed extension piece with the hole of the metal plate and the housing member, and remove the housing member and the shell. A shielded connector assembly characterized in that a mounting hole is formed by integrating a member and the metal plate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention relates to electrical connector assemblies, and in particular to electrical connector assemblies with electromagnetic shielding.

Control of electromagnetic emissions from electronic devices is a critical issue in the design of complex and sophisticated electronic devices. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently expanded the scope of the FCC rules governing electromagnetic interference emissions from electronic devices to include computing equipment used in the home as well as those in commercial industrial or business settings. .

Means for achieving electromagnetic field compatibility include shielding, filtering, and grounding. Shielding is used to minimize electromagnetic radiation. Filtering the device provides protection against conducted disturbances (noise) and protects low frequency communication signals by rejecting high frequency noise. Proper grounding arrangements are particularly important when multiple electrically distinct power outlets are used within the equipment. Improper grounding not only poses a potential safety hazard, but can also adversely affect the equipment.

Shielded and filtered connectors have been available for many years, but recently there has been an increased demand for these types of connectors and interconnect devices. Many systems today use separate shielding and filtering means.

In addition, there is a need for a means to convert standard connectors into types that can be used to make shielded interconnections with shielded connectors and cables. US Pat. Nos. 4,337,989 and 4,386,814 disclose means for accomplishing such conversion.

According to the present invention, there is provided a housing member in which a plurality of connector receiving openings are formed in the front surface, a plurality of terminal receiving holes are formed in the back wall, and mounting means having slots and holes are formed in both side walls; a housing-receiving cavity into which the terminal-receiving cavity is inserted, a hole aligned with the terminal-receiving hole, electric filter means having a hole aligned with both holes, and a fixed extension piece having a hole at the front end of each side wall. a conductive shell member formed therein; a plurality of openings disposed on the front surface of the housing member and corresponding to the connector receiving openings of the housing member; a plurality of spring fingers inclined rearward from edges of the openings; and a metal plate having slots and holes formed on both sides, into which the housing member of the shell member is inserted, and a fixed extension piece of the shell member protrudes from the slot of the attachment means of the housing member. , the fixed extension piece is inserted into the slot of the metal plate and attached to the front surface of the housing member, and the fixed extension piece is bent to open the hole in the metal plate and the housing member. A shielded connector assembly is provided, wherein a mounting hole is formed by integrating the housing member, the shell member, and the metal plate in alignment with the hole.

The shielded connector assembly disclosed herein provides both filtering and shielding capabilities in a single unit, eliminating the need for separate equipment. Additionally, the present invention provides a means to obtain a large number of terminals per given area such as is not possible with converted standard connectors. The present invention also provides a means for connecting to ground directly through the connector. The invention disclosed herein provides an economical connector that saves both space and cost.

The shielded connector assembly comprises an insulating housing member, a plurality of pin terminals, filter means, and shielding means. the housing has a front surface having one or more connector receiving openings;
It has opposing back walls with a plurality of holes, opposing side walls, and opposing end walls.
Their side and end walls extend from the front to the back wall. The housing has one or more connector receiving cavities extending inwardly from the front surface toward the rear wall. The shielding means consists of two parts, a metal front plate and a metal shell. The faceplate has one or more openings, the number of which is equal to the number of cavities in the housing. Each aperture in the face plate has one or more spring fingers projecting rearwardly from the plane of the face plate. The metal shell has a back wall with a plurality of terminal receiving holes, opposing side walls and opposing end walls. A rear shell wall extends between the shell side walls and the shell end walls, which walls define a housing receiving cavity. The faceplate and shell are sized to surround the housing member when the assembly parts are joined. The assembly has multiple pin terminals. The terminals have a first terminal end and a second terminal end with the first terminal end extending into the connector receiving cavity through a hole in the housing rear wall. A second terminal end extends rearwardly from the housing rear wall through the filter means and an aperture in the shell rear wall. Fastening means are provided for joining the parts of the assembly to form a shielded unit. Spring fingers on the shield faceplate extend into the connector receiving cavity to provide continuity of shielding with the shielded plug connector.

The invention will be better understood from the following description and the examples in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an isometric perspective view of the shielded connector assembly disclosed herein.

2 is an exploded isometric perspective view of the connector assembly of FIG. 1; FIG.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the assembly of FIG. 1 attached to a printed circuit board and panel.

4 is an isometric perspective view of the connector assembly of FIG. 1 exploded from the printed circuit board and panel; FIG.

5 is an isometric perspective view of the connector assembly of FIG. 1 joined with a plurality of known shielded plug connectors, with one plug connector removed; FIG.

6 is a cross-sectional view of one cavity of the assembly of FIG. 5 along with a portion of its mating plug; FIG.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 6 showing another embodiment of the connector assembly disclosed herein.

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a top view of another embodiment of the present assembly.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2, a shielded connector assembly 10 includes an insulative housing member 12, a plurality of pin terminals 36, and a filter means 42.
and shield means 43. Housing member 12 consists of a front face 14 and an opposing back wall 18, opposing side walls 22 and end walls 24. The front side has one or more connector-receiving openings 16 separated by bulkheads. Housing 12 includes a plurality of connector receiving cavities 26 extending inwardly from opening 16 in front face 14 toward back wall 18 .
There are a plurality of terminal receiving holes 20 in the back wall. The back wall also has a plurality of spaced apart legs 34 extending rearwardly. Extending from the sidewalls 22 are slotted mounts 28.

The shielding means 43 consists of a face plate 44 and a metal bag shell 58. In this preferred embodiment, faceplate 44 and backshell 58 are stamped metal. The face plate 44 has one or more openings 4
6, and the number of face plate openings 46 is 1 at the front of the housing.
The number of connector receiving openings 16 is equivalent to four.
Each faceplate aperture 46 has one or more spring fingers 48 extending rearwardly from the plane of faceplate 44 .
When face plate 44 is coupled to housing member 12, these spring fingers 48 are used to enter cavity 26 and engage shielded mating plug connector 90, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. It is. The inwardly directed recesses 50 of the fingers 48 intermate with the plug retaining means 94 of the mating connector 90. Referring again to FIGS. 1 and 2, one or more mounting tabs 52 extend from faceplate 44. Referring again to FIGS. These mounting tabs are set back from the plane of the faceplate.

Metal backshell 58 consists of a rear wall 60, opposing side walls 64 and end walls 66. these walls 6
0, 64 and 66 define a housing receiving cavity 67. The rear wall 60 has a plurality of terminal receiving holes 62. The rear wall 60 also has a plurality of spaced apart openings 68. Also, one or more ground connection extension pieces 74 are stamped out from the rear wall 60. An extension piece 74 extends rearwardly from the rear wall 60 and away from the housing receiving cavity 67. The ground connection extension piece 74 is offset from the center of the shell;
This allows the assembly to be polarized when it is attached to a printed circuit board 80 as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 6, a plurality of pin terminals 36 having a first terminal end 38 and a second terminal end 40 extend through the holes 20 in the back wall 18 and extend through the first terminal end 36.
8 has entered cavity 26. The second terminal end 40 extends rearwardly from the rear wall 18 of the housing 12 and passes through an aperture 62 in the rear wall 60 of the shell 58.
In this preferred implementation, each pin terminal 36 is
An individual filter sleeve 42 is mounted between the filter sleeves 8 and 40. Filter sleeve 42 extends through a hole 62 in rear wall 60 of shell 58 with a portion of filter sleeve 42 extending on either side of wall 60. These filter sleeves are of the type disclosed in U.S. Reissue Pat. No. 29,258, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

During manufacture of the assembly, filter sleeve 42 is attached to terminal pin 36. These filtered terminals are connected to holes 60 in the rear wall 60 of the shell 58.
is inserted into the Housing 12 is then inserted into this metal shell. First terminal end 3 of pin 36
8 is a corresponding hole 2 in the back wall 18 of the housing 12
Inserts aligned with 0. As the parts of the assembly are joined, the standoff legs 34 are removed from the shell 58.
into a spaced opening 68 in the rear wall 60 of the . There is an enlarged part 35 on the separate support leg, and this is the back shell 5.
8 and provides a space for protecting the portion of the filter sleeve 42 that enters the housing receiving socket 67. Standoff leg 34 has a small-sized portion 33 extending rearwardly from rear wall 60 through opening 68 . As shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, the end of the portion 33 abuts the printed circuit board 80 to provide space for the portion of the filter 42 that extends after assembly.

Referring again to FIGS. 1 and 2, both side walls 64 of backshell 58 have shield fastening extensions 70 extending therefrom. These locking extensions 70 enter corresponding slots 32 in housing mounting portion 28 and slots 54 in faceplate mounting tab 52. After joining the parts, the extension piece 70 is folded over the recessed mounting tab 52 of the faceplate 44. These tabs 52 are secured by locking extensions 70
as shown in FIG. 3. Face plate mounting tab 52, housing mounting portion 28 and locking extension 70 are attached to assembly 1.
0 to panel 84 with mounting means 78, respectively. Mounting tabs 52 and locking extensions 70 provide a ground connection to the assembly when the panel is made of conductive material. FIG. 3 or ground connection extension piece 7 when the assembly is mounted on the printed circuit board 80
4 position is shown.

The assembly can be grounded through the ground extension piece or, if the assembly is mounted to a metal panel, through the locking extension piece 70 and the faceplate mounting tab 52.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of FIG. 3, showing the assembly 10 with the rear section disassembled from the printed circuit board 80 and the front section disassembled from the panel 84. Panel 84 has a plurality of connector openings 86 and a plurality of attachment means 78 openings 88. The pattern of apertures 86 corresponds to that of assembly 10. In addition to the terminal holes 82, the printed circuit board 80 has holes 75 for at least one ground extension piece 74.

FIG. 5 shows printed circuit board 80 and panel 84.
9 shows an assembly 10 attached to and joined with a plurality of known shielded plug connectors 90.
The mating plug connector 90 is preferably of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,989, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein.

Plug connector 90 is shielded cable 9
Connected to 2. The connector 90 has at least one plug retaining means 94 which is attached to the spring fingers 4.
8 to retain the plug 90 within the cavity 26, as shown in FIG. Cavity 26 has a profile that provides polarization to plug 90.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of one variation of the assembly 10. In this implementation, the terminal pin(s) 36 are
It is inserted into one planar filter 142 rather than into separate filter sleeves as in FIG. In this variation, the planar filter 142 is connected to the housing back wall 18 and the shell back wall 60.
is housed between. Planar filter 142
has a plurality of holes for receiving a plurality of terminals 36.

FIG. 8 shows another embodiment in which the filter pin 1 is
36 is bent in the middle of the second terminal end 140.

FIG. 9 shows another embodiment 310 of a filtered shielded connector assembly. This embodiment is designed to mate with a plug type connector (not shown) instead of being attached to a printed circuit board. Assembly 310 includes an insulating housing member 96 that is mounted to and extends from the rear of filtered and shielded connector assembly 10. Housing 96 has at least one plug connector receiving cavity 98. pin terminal 3
6 extends from cavity 26 into cavity 98 within assembly 10 .

In the shielded connector assembly of the present invention, the fixed extension piece of the shell member is inserted into the slot of the mounting means of the housing member and the slot of the metal plate, and bent to connect the hole of the fixed extension piece, the hole of the housing member, and the metal plate. Since the mounting holes are aligned with the holes, the following effects can be obtained.

That is, an assembly can be obtained in which the housing member is entirely covered by the metal plate and the shell member to form a complete shield. Furthermore, even when the metal plate or shell member is thin, the mounting portion is made up of two layers, making it possible to form a strong mounting portion. Furthermore, since the fixed extension piece is bent from the slot and overlapped with the metal plate, electrical contact can be made reliably at the bent and overlapped parts, making it possible to complete the shield.