Socket connector

Abstract

The utility model discloses a socket connector, and the connector comprises an insulating body which is provided with a base segment, a tongue root segment, and a tongue end segment which are sequentially connected along a butt joint direction; the plurality of terminal pieces are defined into a row of upper-row terminal groups and a row of lower-row terminal groups; the metal shell is sleeved on the periphery of the insulating body and forms a butt joint cavity with an opening towards the front end; the insulating body comprises an inner insulator and an outer insulator, wherein the inner insulator and at least one row of lower-row terminal group are integrally formed and fixed, and the outer insulator is integrally formed and at least partially wraps the inner insulator. The upper surface, close to the rear end, of the outer insulator is recessed inwards to form the lock catch groove; the lock catch sheet is formed by bending and extending the metal shell, protrudes into the lock catch groove and is used for realizing limiting and fixing between the insulating body and the metal shell; and the inner insulator is provided with a mold core positioning part which is exposed into the lock catch groove. Therefore, positioning during injection molding is facilitated, and better structural stability can be achieved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to a socket connector. Background Art

[0002] USB 3.1 is the latest USB specification, which was initiated by Intel and other large companies. The data transmission speed can be increased to 10Gbps. Compared with the traditional USB 2.0 technology, the new USB technology uses a more efficient data encoding system and provides more than double the effective data throughput. USB 3.1 includes three types: Type-A, Type-B and Type-C. In December 2013, the USB 3.0 promotion team announced the rendering of the next-generation USB Type C connector, and then in August 2014, it was ready for mass production. The highlights of the new version of the connector are a slimmer design, faster transmission speed (up to 10Gbps) and more powerful power transmission (up to 100W). The biggest advantage is that it supports front and back insertion, which solves the problem of "USB can never be inserted correctly", and can be inserted in any way.

[0003] The USB Type C socket standard architecture has two rows of terminals, one above and one below, and the two rows of terminals are arranged one by one on the tongue plate in the thickness direction. In addition, a grounding middle plate is provided between the two rows of terminals in the upper and lower directions. Due to the relative positional relationship between the two rows of terminals and the middle plate, it is difficult to manufacture them by one-time injection molding (it is impossible to position multiple terminals and the middle plate at the same time) during manufacturing, and multiple one-piece injection molding is required to achieve production. For example, in some embodiments, the upper row of terminals and the upper plastic part are integrally injection molded to form an upper component; the lower row of terminals and the lower plastic part are integrally injection molded to form a lower component; the upper component, the middle plate and the lower component are stacked and assembled in the upper and lower directions, and then injection molding is performed once to form a complete terminal component (a combination of plastic parts, terminals and middle plate), and then the metal shell assembly is sleeved on the periphery of the terminal component to form a completed socket connector. However, in the above-mentioned manufacturing process, multiple injection molding processes require different mold core positioning, and the fixation between the metal shell and the terminal assembly requires the formation of a groove or hole structure on the plastic part of the terminal assembly, which increases the complexity of the plastic part and also has a certain impact on the overall structural stability of the terminal assembly.

[0004] Therefore, it is necessary to design a new socket connector to solve the above technical problems. Utility Model Content

[0005] The purpose of the present application is to provide a socket connector, which is convenient for positioning during injection molding and has better structural stability.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, this application provides the following technical solutions:

[0007] A socket connector, comprising:

[0008] The insulating body is formed with a base section, a tongue root section and a tongue end section which are sequentially connected along the butting direction;

[0009] A plurality of terminal pieces, each of which comprises a docking section, a fixing section and a contact section which are sequentially connected along a docking direction;

[0010] The docking section protrudes out of the base section, at least a portion of the fixing section is embedded and fixed in the base section and the tongue root section, the contact sections are arranged in two rows and fixed to the tongue end section and define an upper row of terminal groups and a lower row of terminal groups, and each contact section includes a contact surface exposed outside the upper surface or the lower surface of the tongue end section;

[0011] A metal shell is sleeved on the outer periphery of the insulating body and forms a docking cavity opening toward the front end;

[0012] The insulating body comprises an inner insulator integrally formed and fixed with at least one row of lower row terminal groups and an outer insulator integrally formed and at least partially covered on the inner insulator;

[0013] A locking groove is formed by an inward depression of the upper surface of the outer insulator near the rear end;

[0014] A locking piece, formed by bending and extending the metal shell, and protruding into the locking groove, for achieving position limiting fixation between the insulating body and the metal shell;

[0015] The inner insulator is formed with a mold core positioning portion exposed into the locking groove.

[0016] Further, each terminal piece of the lower row terminal group includes a transverse section extending along the front-to-back direction and a longitudinal section extending along the up-down direction perpendicular to the front-to-back direction;

[0017] The inner insulator includes a first insulator integrally fixed to a plurality of transverse sections of the lower row terminal group and a second insulator integrally fixed to a plurality of longitudinal sections of the lower row terminal group;

[0018] The first insulator and the second insulator are independent of each other, and the mold core positioning portion is formed on the second insulator.

[0019] Furthermore, the outer insulator covers the front surface, the rear surface, the left and right side surfaces and the upper surface of the second insulator;

[0020] The lower surface of the second insulator is exposed downwardly to the outer insulator, and the mold core positioning portion of the second insulator is exposed upwardly to the outer insulator through the locking groove;

[0021] The butt joint sections of the terminal pieces of the lower row terminal group protrude downward from the lower surface of the second insulator.

[0022] Furthermore, a sleeve section is formed at the front end of the base section, and the front end of the sleeve section is integrally connected to the tongue root section;

[0023] The metal shell is tightly sleeved on the periphery of the sleeve section, and the metal shell covers the upper surface and left and right side surfaces of the base section;

[0024] The locking groove is formed on the upper surface of the base section.

[0025] Furthermore, supporting wings are formed on both sides of the rear end of the first insulator extending in the up-down direction;

[0026] A middle plate, fixed in the insulating body and located between the upper row of terminal groups and the lower row of terminal groups in the up-down direction;

[0027] The extended foot is formed by extending the middle plate and exposed on the lower surface of the supporting wing. The extended foot is exposed downward from the insulating body and is welded and fixed to the metal shell.

[0028] Furthermore, the extension foot is located behind the sleeve section and on both sides of the second insulator;

[0029] The upper surface of the supporting wing portion exposes the outer insulator upward.

[0030] Further, each terminal piece of the upper row terminal group includes a transverse section extending horizontally in the front-to-back direction, an auxiliary longitudinal section formed by bending downward and extending the rear end edge of the transverse section, an auxiliary transverse section formed by horizontally extending the lower end edge of the auxiliary longitudinal section backward, and a longitudinal section formed by bending downward and extending the rear end edge of the auxiliary transverse section;

[0031] The auxiliary transverse section is supported on the second insulator;

[0032] The locking groove is located behind the auxiliary longitudinal section and above the auxiliary transverse section.

[0033] Furthermore, the lower surface of the base section is recessed inwards at a position close to the sleeve section to form a limiting groove, and the metal shell is bent to form a limiting piece limitedly located in the limiting groove.

[0034] Furthermore, the metal shell includes an inner metal shell and an outer metal shell sleeved on the periphery of the inner metal shell, and the locking piece and the limiting piece are both formed on the inner metal shell.

[0035] Furthermore, the mold core positioning portion is in the shape of a boss formed by protruding upward from the upper surface of the second insulator, and the mold core positioning portion is located between two adjacent terminal pieces of the upper row of terminal groups.

[0036] Compared with the prior art, the present application has the beneficial effects of being easier to position during injection molding and having better structural stability. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0037] Figure 1 It is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the socket connector of the present application.

[0038] Figure 2 It is a top view of the socket connector of the present application.

[0039] Figure 3 yes Figure 1 The partial exploded view of the socket connector shown in the figure specifically shows the three-dimensional schematic diagram when the outer metal shell is separated.

[0040] Figure 4 It is a three-dimensional exploded view of the socket connector of the present application.

[0041] Figure 5 It is a three-dimensional exploded view of the socket connector of the present application, specifically showing a three-dimensional schematic diagram when the outer metal shell and the inner metal shell are separated from the insulating body.

[0042] Figure 6 It is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the terminal module of the socket connector of the present application.

[0043] Figure 7 yes Figure 6 The terminal module shown in FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram viewed from another angle.

[0044] Figure 8 yes Figure 7 The partially exploded perspective view of the terminal module shown in the figure specifically shows the perspective schematic diagram when the outer insulator is separated.

[0045] Fig. 9 yes Figure 8 A three-dimensional diagram from another angle.

[0046] Fig.10 It is Figure 2 Section view along line AA.

[0047] Fig.11 It is Figure 2 Sectional view along line BB.

[0048] Fig.12 It is Figure 2 Sectional view along the CC line.

[0049] Fig.13 It is a three-dimensional exploded view of the terminal module of the socket connector of the present application.

[0050] Fig.14It is a partial three-dimensional exploded view of the terminal module of the socket connector of the present application, specifically showing a three-dimensional schematic diagram when the outer insulating member and the upper row of terminals are separated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0051] The following will be combined with the accompanying drawings to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0052] In the description of this application, it should be understood that the terms "include" and "have" and any variations thereof used herein are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product or apparatus comprising a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units explicitly listed, but may include other steps or units not explicitly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products or apparatuses.

[0053] In addition, for the sake of accuracy of description, all directions in this application should be referred to as Figure 5 For reference, specifically: the direction of the X-axis is defined as the front-to-back direction (that is, the docking direction of the docking connector), where the positive direction of the X-axis is the front; the direction of the Y-axis is defined as the up-down direction (that is, the thickness direction of the tongue root segment 13 or the tongue end segment 14), where the positive direction of the Y-axis is upward; the direction of the Z-axis is defined as the left-right direction (that is, the width direction of the tongue root segment 13 or the tongue end segment 14).

[0054] See also Figures 1 to 14 As shown, a socket connector disclosed in the present application includes an insulating body 1 made of insulating material, a plurality of terminal pieces 2 fixed to the insulating body 1 by integral injection molding, a middle plate 4, and a metal shell 3 assembled and sleeved on the outer periphery of the insulating body 1.

[0055] Specifically, the insulating body 1 is formed with a base section 11, a sleeve section 12, a tongue root section 13 and a tongue end section 14 which are sequentially connected along the front-to-back direction. A plurality of terminal pieces 2 are provided, each of which includes a docking section 21, a fixed section 22 and a contact section 23 which are sequentially connected along the docking direction. The docking section 21 protrudes from the base section 11. At least a portion of the fixed section 22 is buried and fixed in the base section 11, the sleeve section 12 and the tongue root section 13. The contact sections 23 of the plurality of terminal pieces 2 are arranged in two rows and fixed to the tongue end section 14 and are defined as a row of upper terminal groups 201 and a row of lower terminal groups 202. Each contact section 23 includes a contact surface (unnumbered) exposed outside the upper surface or lower surface of the tongue end section 14.

[0056] The metal shell 3 includes an inner metal shell 301 and an outer metal shell 302 sleeved on the outer periphery of the inner metal shell 301. The inner metal shell 301 is tightly sleeved on the outer periphery of the sleeve section 12. The inner metal shell 301 covers the upper surface and the left and right side surfaces of the base section 11. The inner metal shell 301 and the insulating body 1 jointly define a docking cavity 30 that opens to the front end. The tongue plate composed of the tongue root section 13 and the tongue end section 14 is in the shape of a cantilever wall, and protrudes forward from the front end surface of the sleeve section 12 in the docking cavity 30 to form a cantilever wall.

[0057] In a preferred embodiment of the present application, the insulating body 1 includes an inner insulator 101 and an outer insulator 102. The inner insulator 101 is fixed integrally with a row of the lower terminal groups 202 and the middle plate 4 by integral injection molding. A row of the upper terminal groups 201 is assembled and stacked on top of the inner insulator 101 and forms a semi-finished product (unnumbered) together with the inner insulator 101, a row of the lower terminal groups 202 and the middle plate 4. The outer insulator 102 is covered on the periphery of the semi-finished product by a second integral injection molding and forms a terminal module (unnumbered) together with the semi-finished product.

[0058] Please refer to Fig.11 , Fig.13 and Fig.14 As shown, each terminal piece 2 of the lower row terminal group 202 includes a transverse section (unnumbered) extending in the front-to-back direction and a longitudinal section (unnumbered) extending downwardly from the rear end edge of the transverse section. The inner insulator 101 includes a first insulator 1011 integrally fixed to multiple transverse sections of the lower row terminal group 202 and a second insulator 1012 integrally fixed to multiple longitudinal sections of the lower row terminal group 202. The first insulator 1011 and the second insulator 1012 are independent of each other. A preferred embodiment is that the lower row terminal group 202 is first fixed to the first insulator 1011 and the second insulator 1012 by one-piece injection molding, and then the terminal pieces 2 of the lower row terminal group 202 are formed into the transverse section and the longitudinal section by a bending process.

[0059] Please refer to Figures 11 to 14As shown, further, each terminal piece 2 of the upper terminal group 201 includes a transverse section 2011 extending horizontally along the front-to-back direction, an auxiliary longitudinal section 2012 formed by bending downward and extending from the rear end edge of the transverse section 2011, an auxiliary transverse section 2013 formed by further horizontally extending backward from the lower end edge of the auxiliary longitudinal section 2012, and a longitudinal section 2014 formed by further bending downward and extending from the rear end edge of the auxiliary transverse section 2013. The transverse section 2011 is stacked on top of the first insulator 1011. The auxiliary longitudinal section 2012 is supported on the second insulator 1012. The structural design of each terminal piece 2 of the upper terminal group 201 can perfectly match the structural shape of the inner insulator 101 to which the lower terminal group 202 is fixed, and can form a good mutual positioning with each terminal piece 2 of the upper terminal group 201, so as to facilitate the second integral injection molding.

[0060] Please refer to Figures 10 to 14 As shown, the upper surface of the second insulator 1012 protrudes upward to form a boss-shaped mold core positioning portion 1010. The mold core positioning portion 1010 is located between the two adjacent terminal pieces 2 of the upper row terminal group 201. Specifically, the mold core positioning portion 1010 is located between the auxiliary transverse sections 2013 of the two adjacent terminal pieces 2 of the upper row terminal group 201. The upper surface of the outer insulator 102 near the rear end is recessed inward to form a locking groove 1021. The mold core positioning portion 1010 is exposed upward in the locking groove 1021, and is used to position the inner insulator 101 when the second integral injection molding is performed to form the outer insulator 102. More specifically, the locking groove 1021 is formed on the base section 11 of the outer insulator 102. The inner metal shell 301 is bent and extended at a position corresponding to the locking groove 1021 to form a locking piece 31 protruding into the locking groove 1021. The locking piece 31 is used to achieve a limited fixation between the insulating body 1 and the inner metal shell 301 to prevent the inner metal shell 301 from sliding / moving relative to the insulating body 1 in the front-to-back direction.

[0061] In the present application, by designing the mold core positioning portion 1010 used for one-piece injection molding positioning within the locking groove 1021, the number of slots / openings on the insulating body 1 can be reduced, and the visible joints formed by multiple one-piece injection molding can be reduced, making the appearance more beautiful, and facilitating positioning during injection molding, and enabling the insulating body 1 as a whole to have better structural stability.

[0062] Furthermore, in a preferred embodiment of the present application, the second insulator 1012 extends downward beyond the first insulator 1011, so that the socket connector is in an elevated state after being welded to the docking circuit board (not shown), so as to meet the special use requirements in certain electronic products. The outer insulator 102 covers the front surface, rear surface, left and right side surfaces and upper surface of the second insulator 1012. The lower surface 103 of the second insulator 1012 exposes the outer insulator 102 downward. The docking section 21 of each terminal piece 2 of the lower terminal group 202 protrudes downward from the lower surface 103 of the second insulator 1012 and is needle-shaped, which is used to be inserted into the docking hole (not shown) of the docking circuit board. The docking section 21 of each terminal piece 2 of the upper terminal group 201 is correspondingly bent backward from the lower end edge of the longitudinal section 2014 and protrudes out of the rear end of the outer insulator 102, which is used to be welded and fixed to the metal tab (not shown) on the docking circuit board.

[0063] Please refer to Fig.11 As shown, in the preferred embodiment of the present application, the locking groove 1021 is located behind the auxiliary longitudinal section 2012 and above the auxiliary transverse section 2013. Figure 1 , Figure 3 , Figure 4 , Figure 7 and Figure 8 As shown, the lower surface of the base section 11 is recessed inward near the sleeve section 12 to form a limiting groove 111 , and the inner metal shell 3 is bent to form a limiting piece 32 limitedly located in the limiting groove 111 .

[0064] Please refer to Figures 4 to 14 As shown, support wings 104 are formed on both sides of the rear end position of the first insulator 1011 extending in the up-down direction. The middle plate 4 is fixed in the insulating body 1 and is located between the upper terminal group 201 and the lower terminal group 202 in the up-down direction. An extension foot 41 is extended and formed on the middle plate 4, and the extension foot 41 is attached to the lower surface of the support wing 104 and exposed downward from the insulating body 1 and fixed to the inner metal shell 3 by welding. Specifically, the corresponding position of the inner metal shell 301 is bent and extended to form a lap portion 3011 lapped on the lower surface of the support wing 104, and the lap portion 3011 is fixed to the extension foot 41 by welding. Further, the extension foot 41 is located behind the sleeve section 12 and on both sides of the second insulator 1012. The upper surface of the support wing 104 exposes the outer insulator 102 upward.

[0065] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solution of the present design, rather than to limit it. Although the present design has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or replace some or all of the technical features therein by equivalents. These modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solution to deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present design.

[0066] Although the embodiments of the present application have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and variations may be made to the embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the present application, and that the scope of the present application is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A socket connector, comprising: The insulating body is formed with a base section, a tongue root section and a tongue end section which are sequentially connected along the butting direction; A plurality of terminal pieces, each of which comprises a docking section, a fixing section and a contact section which are sequentially connected along a docking direction; The docking section protrudes out of the base section, at least a portion of the fixing section is embedded and fixed in the base section and the tongue root section, the contact sections are arranged in two rows and fixed to the tongue end section and define an upper row of terminal groups and a lower row of terminal groups, and each contact section includes a contact surface exposed outside the upper surface or the lower surface of the tongue end section; The metal shell is sleeved on the outer periphery of the insulating body and forms a docking cavity opened to the front end, characterized in that: The insulating body comprises an inner insulator integrally formed and fixed with at least one row of lower row terminal groups and an outer insulator integrally formed and at least partially covered on the inner insulator; A locking groove is formed by an inward depression of the upper surface of the outer insulator near the rear end; A locking piece, formed by bending and extending the metal shell, and protruding into the locking groove, for achieving position limiting fixation between the insulating body and the metal shell; The inner insulator is formed with a mold core positioning portion exposed into the locking groove.

2. The socket connector according to claim 1, characterized in that: Each terminal piece of the lower row terminal group includes a transverse section extending in the front-to-back direction and a longitudinal section extending in the up-down direction perpendicular to the front-to-back direction; The inner insulator includes a first insulator integrally fixed to a plurality of transverse sections of the lower row terminal group and a second insulator integrally fixed to a plurality of longitudinal sections of the lower row terminal group; The first insulator and the second insulator are independent of each other, and the mold core positioning portion is formed on the second insulator.

3. The socket connector according to claim 2, characterized in that: The outer insulator covers the front surface, rear surface, left and right side surfaces and upper surface of the second insulator; The lower surface of the second insulator is exposed downwardly to the outer insulator, and the mold core positioning portion of the second insulator is exposed upwardly to the outer insulator through the locking groove; The butt joint sections of the terminal pieces of the lower row terminal group protrude downward from the lower surface of the second insulator.

4. The socket connector according to claim 2, wherein: The front end of the base section is also formed with a sleeve section, and the front end of the sleeve section is integrally connected with the tongue root section; The metal shell is tightly sleeved on the periphery of the sleeve section, and the metal shell covers the upper surface and left and right side surfaces of the base section; The locking groove is formed on the upper surface of the base section.

5. The socket connector according to claim 2, characterized in that: Support wings are formed on both sides of the rear end of the first insulator extending in the up-down direction; A middle plate, fixed in the insulating body and located between the upper row of terminal groups and the lower row of terminal groups in the up-down direction; The extended foot is formed by extending the middle plate and exposed on the lower surface of the supporting wing. The extended foot is exposed downward from the insulating body and is welded and fixed to the metal shell.

6. The socket connector according to claim 5, characterized in that: The extended foot is located behind the sleeve section and on both sides of the second insulator; The upper surface of the supporting wing portion exposes the outer insulator upward.

7. The socket connector according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: Each terminal piece of the upper row terminal group includes a transverse section extending horizontally in the front-to-back direction, an auxiliary longitudinal section formed by bending downward and extending from the rear end edge of the transverse section, an auxiliary transverse section formed by horizontally extending backward from the lower end edge of the auxiliary longitudinal section, and a longitudinal section formed by bending downward and extending from the rear end edge of the auxiliary transverse section; The auxiliary transverse section is supported on the second insulator; The locking groove is located behind the auxiliary longitudinal section and above the auxiliary transverse section.

8. The socket connector according to claim 4, characterized in that: The lower surface of the base section is recessed inwards near the sleeve section to form a limiting groove, and the metal shell is bent to form a limiting sheet limitedly located in the limiting groove.

9. The socket connector according to claim 8, characterized in that: The metal shell comprises an inner metal shell and an outer metal shell sleeved on the periphery of the inner metal shell, and the locking piece and the limiting piece are both formed on the inner metal shell.

10. The socket connector according to claim 2, characterized in that: The mold core positioning portion is in the shape of a boss formed by the upper surface of the second insulator protruding upward, and the mold core positioning portion is located between two adjacent terminal pieces of the upper row terminal group.

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