Electric connector

Abstract

The invention provides an electric connector which comprises an insulating body, two terminal modules, a first grounding piece and a second grounding piece, the insulating body comprises two opposite side walls and a slot located between the side walls, the terminal modules are fixed on the insulating body, and the first grounding piece and the second grounding piece are arranged in the slot. Each terminal module comprises an insulator and a row of terminals which are fixed on the insulator and are arranged along a first direction, each terminal comprises a fixed part fixed on the insulator, an elastic arm which obliquely extends upwards from the fixed part and a pin part which extends from the lower end of the fixed part, and the tail end of the elastic arm is provided with a contact part which extends into the slot; the row of terminals comprises a plurality of signal terminal pairs and a plurality of grounding terminals, each signal terminal pair comprises adjacent signal terminals, two sides of each signal terminal pair are respectively provided with the grounding terminals, the first grounding piece is made of conductive loss materials, is fixed on the insulator and is positioned on the outer side of the row of terminals, and the first grounding piece is in contact with the grounding terminals one by one; the second grounding pieces are fixed on the insulator and located on the inner side of the row of terminals. The second grounding pieces make contact with the grounding terminals one by one. The first grounding piece and the second grounding piece are in contact with the inner side and the outer side of the grounding terminal respectively, the situation of asymmetric coupling is avoided as much as possible, and the purpose of improving the high-frequency and high-speed signal transmission performance is achieved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical connector having a grounding member. Background Art

[0002] Currently, many computer motherboards are configured with electrical connectors, which can be plugged in by boards such as graphics cards and memory modules to expand the functions of the computer. In related technologies, the electrical connector includes an insulating body and two rows of terminal assemblies disposed in the insulating body. The two terminal assemblies are disposed opposite to each other, and each terminal assembly has a plurality of signal terminals and a plurality of grounding terminals. However, there may be signal crosstalk between different terminals, affecting the stability of high-frequency signal transmission.

[0003] Chinese Patent Publication CN109462071A discloses an electrical connector, which includes an insulating body and a terminal module mounted on the insulating body. The insulating body is provided with a slot for the docking component to be inserted and fitted. The terminal module includes an insulating block and a plurality of terminals fixed to the insulating block. The insulating block is fixed to the insulating body. Each terminal includes a holding portion fixed to the insulating block, a contact portion extending from one end of the holding portion into the slot, and a welding portion extending from the other end of the holding portion. The plurality of terminals include a plurality of signal terminals and a plurality of grounding terminals. Among them, the terminal module further includes a conductive plastic integrally formed on the insulating block, and the conductive plastic is electrically connected to the plurality of grounding terminals. Since the conductive plastic is integrally formed on the insulating block, the conductive plastic is in closer and more reliable contact with the grounding terminals, so the shielding effect is better, and thus the high-frequency performance of the electrical connector is enhanced. However, on connectors that transmit at higher speeds, it may still not be suitable for signal transmission performance. Summary of the Invention

[0004] All the technical solutions solved by this application lie in providing an electrical connector that can improve the transmission performance of high-frequency and high-speed signals.

[0005] The present application provides a technical solution, which is: an electrical connector, comprising an insulating body, at least one terminal module and a first grounding member, the insulating body comprising two opposite side walls and a slot located between the side walls, the terminal module being fixed to the insulating body, each of the terminal modules comprising an insulator and a row of terminals fixed to the insulator, each of the terminals comprising a fixing portion fixed to the insulator, an elastic arm extending obliquely upward from the fixing portion and a pin portion extending from the lower end of the fixing portion, the end of the elastic arm being provided with a contact portion extending into the slot; a row of the terminals being arranged along a first direction and comprising a plurality of signal terminal pairs and a plurality of grounding terminals, each of the signal terminal pairs comprising two adjacent signal terminals, and the grounding terminals being provided on both sides of each of the signal terminal pairs; the first grounding member being made of a conductive loss material, being fixed to the insulator and being located outside the row of the terminals, the first grounding member contacting the grounding terminals one by one, and the first grounding member comprising a plurality of vertical ribs, and the vertical ribs being aligned one by one with the elastic arms of the grounding terminals when viewed from a direction perpendicular to the side walls.

[0006] The first and second grounding members of the present application contact the inner and outer sides of the grounding terminal respectively, so as to avoid asymmetric coupling as much as possible, thereby achieving the purpose of improving high-frequency and high-speed signal transmission performance. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] Figure 1 It is a three-dimensional diagram of the electrical connector according to the first embodiment of the present application.

[0008] Figure 2 for Figure 1 3D disassembled diagram of the electrical connector.

[0009] Figure 3 for Figure 2 Three-dimensional disassembly diagram from another angle.

[0010] Figure 4 for Figure 3 A three-dimensional image of the left half of a terminal module assembly.

[0011] Figure 5 for Figure 4 A stereogram from another angle.

[0012] Figure 6 for Figure 5 A three-dimensional image with the insulator removed.

[0013] Figure 7 for Figure 6 Front view of .

[0014] Figure 8 for Figure 6 Rear view of.

[0015] Figure 9 Side view of Figure 6 .

[0016] Figure 10 Isometric view of the first grounding part.

[0017] Figure 11 Is Figure 3 Exploded isometric view of the right half of a terminal module assembly in

[0018] Figure 12 Isometric view of a terminal module assembly in the second embodiment of the present application.

[0019] Figure 13 Is Figure 12 Isometric view of the terminal module assembly with the first grounding part and the insulator removed.

[0020] Figure 14 Is Figure 12 Isometric view of the local terminals and the second grounding part in

[0021] Figure 15 Is Figure 14 Exploded isometric view of

[0022] Figure 16 Isometric view of the third embodiment of the present application, only showing a partial structure of the electrical connector.

[0023] Figure 17 Is Figure 16 Cross-sectional view along the dashed line A - A.

[0024] Figure 18 Is Figure 12 Isometric view of a terminal module assembly in

[0025] Figure 19 Is Figure 18 Isometric view from another angle.

[0026] Figure 20 Is Figure 18 Isometric view with the insulator removed.

[0027] Figure 21 Is Figure 19 Exploded isometric view of

[0028] Figure 22 Isometric view of the third grounding part.

[0029] Description of component symbols Electrical connector 100 Insulating body 10, slot 101, signal slot 101S, side wall 11 First fixing groove 111, second fixing groove 112, terminal groove 113 Terminal module 20A, Insulator 21, Fixing groove 211 Terminal 22, Signal terminal 22S, Ground terminal 22G Contact part 221, Elastic arm 222, Fixing part 223 Lead part 224, Notch 231, Pit 232 First grounding part 30, Vertical rib 31, Narrow vertical rib 31a Wide vertical rib 31b, Inner side surface 311, Contact block 312 Lower horizontal bar part 32, Upper horizontal bar part 33, Notch 35 Second grounding part 40, Contact lug 41, Shielding part 42 Second grounding part 50, Longitudinal strip part 51, Claw 52 Third grounding part 60, First plate part 61, Second plate part 62 Lower horizontal bar 63, Upper horizontal bar 64. Detailed implementation manners

[0030] Next, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0031] The present invention discloses three implementation manners, and the electrical connector is an edge connector conforming to the PCIe CEM specification protocol. Figure 1-11 For the first embodiment, in this embodiment, the electrical connector 100 includes an insulating body 10, at least one terminal module 20A and a first grounding part 30. The insulating body 10 is a longitudinally long structure, including two opposite side walls 11 and a slot 101 located between the side walls. The terminal module 20A is fixed to the insulating body. In this embodiment, taking Figure 2 as a reference, the PCIe CEM electrical connector includes two slots on the left and right. Signal terminals are arranged in the left slot for transmitting signals, which is the signal slot 101S. Power terminals and detection terminals are arranged in the right slot, mainly for transmitting power. In other embodiments, the electrical connector can be an edge connector conforming to the SFF-TA-1002 specification protocol, which includes a plurality of signal slots. The improvement points of the present application are mainly used for signal slots, and are adapted to the transmission of high-frequency and high-speed signals through improvement.

[0032] Refer Figure 4-6 , each terminal module 20A includes an insulator 21 and a row of terminals 22 fixed to the insulator. The row of terminals is arranged in the first direction (i.e., the longitudinally long direction) and includes a plurality of signal terminal pairs and a plurality of ground terminals 22G. Each signal terminal pair includes two adjacent signal terminals 22S, and ground terminals 22G are arranged on both sides of each signal terminal pair. In this embodiment, some low-speed signal terminals will be arranged in the signal card slot, such as Figure 6The signal terminal closest to the right is used to transmit detection signals, etc. For such low-speed signals, no special signal transmission improvement is required. The first grounding member 30 is made of a conductive loss material, which is fixed to the insulator 21 and located outside a row of terminals. The first grounding member 30 contacts each grounding terminal 20G one by one. In the preferred embodiment, the conductive loss material can be conductive plastic. For the convenience of description, the side of the component close to the slot 101 is the inner side, and the opposite side is the outer side.

[0033] Each of the terminals 22 includes a fixing portion 223 fixed to the insulator 21, an elastic arm 222 extending obliquely upward from the fixing portion, and a contact portion 224 extending from the lower end of the fixing portion. The end of the elastic arm 222 is provided with a contact portion 221 extending into the slot 101. Refer Figure 6-7 As shown, in the first direction, the width of the elastic arm 222 is greater than the width of the contact portion 221, and the width of the elastic arm 222 is greater than the width of the fixing portion 223, improving the mechanical structure of the terminal and enabling it to adapt to high-frequency and high-speed signal transmission.

[0034] Combined Figure 10-11 , the first grounding member 30 includes a plurality of vertical ribs 31. When viewed from a direction perpendicular to the side wall 11 (or the second direction or the lateral direction) (i.e., Figure 8 as shown), the vertical ribs 31 are aligned with the elastic arms 222 of the grounding terminals 20G one by one. In this embodiment, there are two grounding terminals between some adjacent signal terminal pairs, and there is one grounding terminal on one side of some signal terminal pairs. Therefore, the vertical ribs 31 include narrow vertical ribs 31a and wide vertical ribs 31 with different widths in the first direction. The wide vertical ribs can be matched with two grounding terminals at the same time. In this embodiment, the electrical connector includes two terminal modules in a mirror image relationship. The two terminal modules 20A are respectively fixed on opposite side walls, located on opposite sides of the slot 101, and each terminal module 20A is provided with a first grounding member 30. More specifically, the first grounding member 30 does not have vertical ribs at the corresponding signal terminals 22S.

[0035] More specifically, the insulator 21 is provided with a fixing groove 211 at the corresponding grounding terminal 20G. The fixing portion 223 of the grounding terminal is partially exposed in the fixing groove 211, and the lower end of the vertical rib 31 is fixed in the fixing groove 211. The first grounding member 30 includes a lower cross bar portion 32 connecting the adjacent vertical ribs 31 to each other, and the lower cross bar portion 32 is also fixed in the fixing groove 211. In this way, after the first grounding member 30 is assembled to the insulator 21, the first grounding member can abut against the part of the fixing portion 23 exposed in the fixing groove 211.

[0036] More specifically, as Figure 9As shown, the outer side surface of the vertical rib 31 is vertical, the lower part of the inner side surface 311 is vertical, and the upper part is inclined. The shape of the inner side surface 311 of the vertical rib is matched to the shape of the grounding terminal. In this way, there is a certain distance between the inner side surface 311 of the vertical rib 31 and the elastic arm 222 of the terminal. It can be seen that the vertical rib 31 not only corresponds to the fixing part 223 of the grounding terminal, but also extends upward to the elastic arm 223, which can change the electric field of the electrical connector and achieve the purpose of improving electrical performance. In the best embodiment, the vertical rib 31 extends upward to the vicinity of the contact part 221, which can change the electric field to the greatest extent and achieve the best improvement of electrical performance.

[0037] The lower part of the vertical rib 31 can contact the fixing part 223 of the grounding terminal. In this embodiment, a plurality of abutting blocks 312 are formed on the inner side surface of the vertical rib 31, and the abutting blocks 312 contact the fixing part 223 of the corresponding grounding terminal one by one. In other embodiments, the inner side surface 311 of the vertical rib can directly press on the fixing part 223.

[0038] The first grounding member 30 includes an upper cross bar portion 33 that connects adjacent vertical ribs 31 to each other, and the upper cross bar portion 33 is located outside the contact portion 221 of a row of terminals. Figure 16-17 As shown, first, the structure of the insulating body 10 will be described with the third embodiment. The side wall 11 of the insulating body is provided with a first fixing groove 111, a second fixing groove 112 and a plurality of terminal grooves 113 that penetrate along the first direction and are spaced apart from each other. The second fixing groove 112 is directly outside the terminal groove 113. The contact portions 221 of the terminals are respectively received in the corresponding terminal grooves 113, the insulator 21 is fixed in the first fixing groove 111, and the upper cross bar portion 33 is fixed in the second fixing groove 112.

[0039] Refer to Figure 6-7 , 9, further, the electrical connector includes a second grounding member 40, and the second grounding member 40 is fixed to the insulator 21 and is located inside a row of terminals. The second grounding member 40 contacts the grounding terminal 20G one by one. In this embodiment, the second grounding member 40 is made of a metal conductive member, and it includes an abutting lug 41 that abuts against the corresponding grounding terminal. In this embodiment, the second grounding member is provided with two abutting lugs 41, which abut against the inner side surface of the fixing part 223 of the grounding terminal in the up and down directions to form two contact points. A shielding portion 42 is provided between adjacent abutting lugs 41 of the second grounding member. The shielding portion 42 corresponds to the signal terminal pair 22S one by one and is used to shield the interference of the external electromagnetic field on the signal terminal pair. The shielding portion 42 is larger than the abutting lug 41 in the up and down directions. In this application, the first and second grounding members respectively contact the inner and outer sides of the grounding terminal, and try to avoid the situation of asymmetric coupling, so as to achieve the purpose of improving the high-frequency and high-speed signal transmission performance.

[0040] In manufacturing, the insulating material fixes a row of the terminals 22 by injection molding. After cooling, the insulating material is formed into an insulator 21. The first grounding member 30 is assembled on the outer side surface of the insulator 21 from the second direction, and the second grounding member 40 is assembled on the inner side surface of the insulator 21 from the second direction. It can be seen that the first and second grounding members abut against the grounding terminal 22G from two directions, so that multiple grounding paths are achieved. At the same time, grounding paths are provided both inside and outside the grounding terminal, achieving the common ground effect, that is, the so-called common ground in the industry, which raises the resonance frequency of the electrical connector and meets the electrical performance requirements. The terminal module 20A and the first and second grounding members are combined to form a terminal module assembly. After two terminal module assemblies are assembled together, they are inserted into the insulating body together, thereby forming a complete electrical connector 100.

[0041] Figure 12-15 This is the second embodiment of the present invention. Its basic structure is substantially the same as that of the first embodiment. The main improvement lies in the second grounding member 50. Only one terminal module assembly 20B is shown in the drawing. The same structures are denoted by the same reference numerals and will not be specifically described again. The second grounding member 50 is made of a conductive loss material. The second grounding member 50 is first assembled on a row of terminals 20, and then the insulating material is injection molded on the outer side of the second grounding member 50 and a row of terminals 20 to fix them. The second grounding member is completely buried in the insulator 21. In a specific embodiment, notches 231 are provided on opposite sides of the fixing portion 223 of the grounding terminal along the first direction. The second grounding member 50 includes a longitudinal strip portion 51 and a claw 52 protruding from the longitudinal strip portion. The claws 52 are respectively positioned in the notches 231. A concave pit 232 is provided on the bottom surface of each notch. The claws of the second conductive member supported by conductive plastic can be further fixed in the notches 231 by means of for hot melt adhesive. The inner side surface of the fixing portion of the grounding terminal is supported by the second grounding member.

[0042] Figure 16-22 This is the third embodiment. On the basis of the second embodiment, a third grounding member 60 is added. Only the partial structure of the electrical connector is shown in the drawing. The same parts will not be described in detail, and only the differences will be introduced. In this embodiment, the third grounding member 60 is fixed on the insulator 21 and is located between the outer side surface of a row of terminals 22 and the inner side surface of the first grounding member 30. The third grounding member 60 is made of a metal conductive member. The third grounding member 60 includes a first plate portion 61 and a second plate portion 62. From the second direction, the first plate portion 61 is aligned with the fixing portion 223 of the grounding terminal and the elastic arm 222 one by one, serving to shield external noise. The second plate portion 62 is bent from the first plate portion 61 and is located between adjacent grounding terminals 22G and signal terminals 22S, serving to interfere with each other between adjacent signal terminal pairs.

[0043] The lower ends of a plurality of first plate portions 61 are integrally connected by a lower cross bar 63, and the lower cross bar 63 is fixed within the insulator 21. The upper ends of the plurality of first half portions are integrally connected by an upper cross bar 64, and the upper cross bar 64 is bent outwardly and is exactly received within a notch 35 provided in the first grounding member 30. It can be seen that when the elastic arm 222 of the terminal is urged to move outwardly, the elastic arm 222 urges the upper cross bar 64 of the third grounding member to move outwardly, and the notch 64 provides a space for the upper cross bar to move outwardly. Figure 17 As can be seen, when the elastic arm 222 of the terminal is urged to move outward, the elastic arm 222 urges the upper cross bar 64 of the third grounding member to move outward, and the notch 64 provides a space for the upper cross bar to move outward.

[0044] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application and not to limit them. Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that the technical solutions of the present application can be modified or equivalently replaced without departing from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the present application.

Claims

1. An electrical connector, comprising an insulating body, two terminal modules, a first grounding member and a second grounding member. The insulating body includes two opposite side walls and a slot located between the side walls. The terminal modules are fixed to the insulating body. Each terminal module includes an insulator and a row of terminals fixed to the insulator and arranged in a first direction. Each terminal includes a fixing portion fixed to the insulator, an elastic arm extending obliquely upward from the fixing portion, and a contact portion extending from the lower end of the fixing portion. The end of the elastic arm is provided with a contact portion extending into the slot. A row of the terminals includes a plurality of signal terminal pairs and a plurality of grounding terminals. Each signal terminal pair includes adjacent signal terminals, and grounding terminals are respectively arranged on both sides of each signal terminal pair. It is characterized in that: The first grounding member is made of a conductive lossy material, fixed to the insulator and located outside a row of the terminals, and the first grounding member contacts the grounding terminals one by one; the second grounding member is fixed to the insulator and located inside a row of the terminals, and the second grounding member contacts the grounding terminals one by one.

2. The electrical connector according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first grounding member includes a plurality of vertical ribs, and the vertical ribs are aligned with the elastic arms of the grounding terminals one by one.

3. The electrical connector according to claim 1, wherein: The second grounding member is made of a metal conductive member, and includes abutting lugs abutting against the grounding terminals.

4. The electrical connector according to claim 3, wherein: A shielding portion is provided between adjacent ones of the abutting lugs of the second grounding member, and the shielding portion is larger than the abutting lugs in the up-down direction.

5. The electrical connector according to claim 1, wherein: The second grounding member is made of a conductive lossy material.

6. The electrical connector according to claim 5, characterized in that: Notches are provided on opposite sides of the fixing portion of the grounding terminal along the first direction, and the second grounding member includes a crossbar portion and claws protruding from the longitudinal strip portion, and the claws are fixed in the notches one by one.

7. The electrical connector according to claim 6, wherein: Pits are further provided in the notches, and the claws are buried in the pits after hot melting.

8. The electrical connector according to claim 3 or 5, characterized in that: The electrical connector includes a third grounding member, fixed to the insulator and located between a row of the terminals and the first grounding member, and the third grounding member includes a first plate portion and a second plate portion, the first plate portion is aligned with the vertical portion one by one, and the second plate portion is bent from the first plate portion and located between adjacent grounding terminals and signal terminals.

9. The electrical connector according to claim 8, wherein: The second grounding member is buried in the insulator, the third grounding member is assembled and fixed to the insulator, and the first grounding member is assembled and fixed to the insulator.

10. The electrical connector according to claim 1, characterized in that: In the first direction, the width of the elastic arm is larger than the width of the contact portion, and larger than the width of the contact portion.

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