connector

Abstract

To provide a connector which has excellent shield performance and is capable of preventing damage at the time of fitting to and separation from a mating connector.SOLUTION: A housing 30 holding a terminal 40 is island-shaped and positioned inside of a shell 50 and the shell 50 is formed from one metal sheet and comprises a peripheral wall 51 enclosing the housing 30, a bottom plate 52, a pair of first holding pieces 53 and two pairs of second holding pieces 54. The peripheral wall 51 has a single structure with no joint over all the circumference and the first holding pieces 53 respectively include a rise part 53a respectively along side faces 30b and 30c of the housing 30, an extension part 53b positioned on a top face 30a of the housing 30, and a press-fit part 53c. The press-fit part 53c is press-fitted to a hole 34 of the top face 30a, the pairs of the second holding pieces 54 are positioned on both sides of the first holding pieces 53 and respectively fitted to step parts 35 on both ends of the side faces 30b and 30c of the housing 30 in a width direction. The second holding piece 54 protrudes from the top face 30a and protrudes from the housing 30 in the width direction.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a connector that is mounted on a board and used as, for example, a board-to-board connector. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 describes a board-to-board connector. FIG. 7 shows a first connector 10 constituting the board-to-board connector described in Patent Document 1, and FIG. 8 shows a second connector 20 constituting the board-to-board connector.

[0003] The first connector 10 is composed of a first insulator 11, a plurality of first contacts 12 arranged and held by the first insulator 11, and a conductive first shell 13. Fig. 9A shows the first shell 13, and Fig. 9B shows the first connector 10 with the first shell 13 removed.

[0004] The first insulator 11 has a bottom plate portion 11a and a pair of side walls 11b, a central convex portion 11c is formed to protrude from the upper surface of the bottom plate portion 11a, and side convex portions 11d are formed to protrude from both sides of the central convex portion 11c. Recesses 11e and 11f are formed on the opposing side surfaces of the central convex portion 11c and the side convex portion 11d, and the first contact 12 is fixedly held by the first insulator 11, positioned across these recesses 11e and 11f.

[0005] The first shell 13, which has a rectangular frame shape, is formed by bending a metal plate, and has outer wall portions 14 located on two opposing long sides of the rectangle, outer wall portions 15 located on the other two opposing short sides of the rectangle, and further has a pair of inner wall portions 16, 17 folded back inward from the outer wall portions 14, 15 and located on the inside of the outer wall portions 14, 15. The adjacent outer wall portions 14 and 15 are connected at their upper ends by a connecting portion 18. Protrusions 17a are formed on both sides of each inner wall portion 17, and arms 19 are formed to extend from the center of the lower end of each inner wall portion 17.

[0006] The first shell 13 is attached by pressing the first shell 13 over the first insulator 11 holding the first contacts 12, pressing the inner wall portion 17 with the protrusions 17a into the recesses 11g on the inner surface of the side wall 11b of the first insulator 11, and pressing the tips 19a of the arms 19 into the holes 11i in the steps 11h at both ends of the central protrusion 11c.

[0007] The second connector 20 is composed of a second insulator 21, a plurality of second contacts 22 arranged and held by the second insulator 21, and a conductive second shell 23. The second insulator 21 has a pair of holding walls 21a, and the second contacts 22 are insert molded into the second insulator 21 and arranged and fixed to each holding wall 21a.

[0008] The second shell 23 in the shape of a rectangular frame is formed by bending a metal plate, and includes outer wall portions 24 located on two opposing long sides of the rectangle, outer wall portions 25 located on two opposing short sides of the rectangle, and a connecting portion 26 connecting the upper ends of the outer wall portions 24 and 25. The second shell 23 is attached, similarly to the first shell 13 of the first connector 10, by placing the second shell 23 over the second insulator 21 holding the second contacts 22 and pushing it in.

[0009] The first connector 10 and the second connector 20 are mounted on the opposing surfaces of opposing boards and connected to each other. Fig. 10 shows the first connector 10 and the second connector 20 connected to each other, and the boards are not shown. The second connector 20 is fitted into and connected to the first connector 10 in the rectangular frame-shaped first shell 13. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0010] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-89829 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0011] Incidentally, for connectors mounted on boards as board-to-board connectors, EMI countermeasures are becoming an increasingly important issue due to the miniaturization, high packaging density, and higher frequency of electrical signals in the electronic devices in which they are used.

[0012] However, in the conventional board-to-board connector consisting of the first connector 10 and the second connector 20 described above, the first connector 10 and the second connector 20 are provided with a conductive first shell 13 and a conductive second shell 23, respectively, and these first shell 13 and second shell 23 provide electromagnetic shielding, but the first shell 13 and the second shell 23 constituting the outer hull of the first connector 10 and the second connector 20, respectively, are both shaped such that portions of the outer wall are missing at the corners of a square, and therefore electromagnetic leakage occurs from the missing portions of the outer wall, making the shielding effect less than sufficient.

[0013] In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a connector having excellent shielding performance, and further to provide a connector which can prevent damage when mated with and removed from a mating connector. [Means for solving the problem]

[0014] According to this invention, in a connector which is to be mated with a mating connector, the connector comprises an insulating housing, a plurality of terminals arranged and held in the housing, and a conductive shell, the housing is positioned within the shell in an island shape, the shell is formed from a single metal plate, and comprises a peripheral wall which surrounds the housing, a bottom plate which extends from a lower end of the peripheral wall opposite to the side where the mating connector is mated to the inside of the peripheral wall, and a pair of first retaining pieces and two pairs of second retaining pieces which extend from the bottom plate, the peripheral wall being of a single layer structure of seamless metal plate all around, and the pair of first retaining pieces being raised from the bottom plate so as to respectively follow the side surfaces of the housing which are opposite to each other. Each of the housings has a raised portion formed in a groove on the upper surface of the housing, an extension portion that is bent and extended from the raised portion and positioned on the upper surface of the side where the mating connector of the housing is to be fitted, and a press-in portion that is bent and extended from the extension portion, and the press-in portions are each press-fitted into holes formed in the upper surface, and a step portion that is recessed one step from the side surface is formed at both ends in the width direction that sandwich the portion of the side surface of the housing that the raised portion fits along, and two pairs of second retaining pieces are located on both sides of the first retaining piece, raised from the bottom plate and respectively fitted into the step portions, and the second retaining pieces protrude from the upper surface and protrude from the housing in the width direction. Effect of the Invention

[0015] According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a connector which has excellent shielding performance and is capable of preventing damage when mating with and separating from a mating connector. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0016] [Figure 1] FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a connector according to the present invention as viewed from above, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view showing the connector shown in FIG. [Diagram 2] 1B is a perspective view of the housing holding the terminals shown in FIG. 1A as viewed from above, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view of the housing holding the terminals shown in FIG. 1A as viewed from below. [Diagram 3]1A is a perspective view showing the shell in FIG. 1A from above, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view showing the shell shown in FIG. 1A from below. [Figure 4] 1A is a perspective view showing a mating connector to be mated with the connector shown in FIG. 1A, as seen from above, and FIG. [Diagram 5] 5 is a perspective view showing a state in which the connector shown in FIG. 1 and the mating connector shown in FIG. 4 are mated together. [Figure 6] 1A is a cross-sectional view showing one state in the middle of mating the connector shown in Figure 1 with the mating connector shown in Figure 4, and B is a cross-sectional view showing another state in the middle of mating the connector shown in Figure 1 with the mating connector shown in Figure 4. [Figure 7] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first connector in a conventional board-to-board connector. [Figure 8] FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing a second connector in a conventional board-to-board connector. [Figure 9] 8A is a perspective view showing the first shell in FIG. 7, and FIG. 8B is a perspective view showing the first insulator holding the first contact in FIG. 7. [Figure 10] 9 is a perspective view showing a state in which the first connector shown in FIG. 7 and the second connector shown in FIG. 8 are connected to each other. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0017] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0018] FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of a connector according to the present invention. Connector 100 is a connector that is mounted on one of the boards, for example as a board-to-board connector, and is the connector into which the mating connector is fitted (the connector that receives the mating connector), and corresponds to the first connector 10 shown in FIG. 7 described above.

[0019] The connector 100 is composed of an insulating housing 30, a plurality of terminals 40 (40 in this example) arranged and held in the housing 30, and a conductive shell 50. Fig. 2 shows the connector 100 with the shell 50 removed, and Fig. 3 shows the shell 50 in detail.

[0020] The housing 30 is made of resin, and in this example, has an elongated, flat, and generally rectangular parallelepiped shape. The housing 30 has two elongated grooves 31 formed in parallel to each other, extending in the longitudinal direction, except for both longitudinal ends. Recesses 32, 33 are formed in the longitudinal inner walls of each of these grooves 31 facing each other at a predetermined pitch, and 20 sets of recesses 32, 33 formed facing each other are formed in each groove 31. At both longitudinal ends of the housing 30, holes 34 are formed in the upper surface 30a of the housing 30 on the side where the mating connector is to be fitted, and are positioned at the center in the width direction of the housing 30. In addition, at both width ends of the side surfaces 30b, 30c at both longitudinal ends of the housing 30, step portions 35 recessed by one step from the side surfaces 30b, 30c are formed. The part of the housing 30 sandwiched between the two grooves 31 forms a central protrusion 36, which is slightly higher than the upper surface 30a.

[0021] Terminals 40 are inserted from the bottom surface 30d of housing 30 and attached to housing 30. Terminals 40 are positioned across recesses 32 and 33, with 20 terminals arranged in each groove 31 of housing 30. Note that connection portion 41 of each terminal 40 that is soldered to a pad on the board is located in recess 37 formed in bottom surface 30d of housing 30, with the tip slightly protruding from side surfaces 30e, 30f of housing 30, respectively.

[0022] The shell 50 is formed by processing a single metal plate and has a rectangular frame-shaped peripheral wall 51, a bottom plate 52 extending from the lower end of the side of the peripheral wall 51 that is mounted on the board (the side opposite the side where the mating connector is mated) to the inside of the peripheral wall 51, and a pair of first retaining pieces 53 and two pairs of second retaining pieces 54 extending from the bottom plate 52.

[0023] The bottom plate 52 is located at both longitudinal ends of the shell 50 and slightly blocks the opening formed by the peripheral wall 51, and the pair of first holding pieces 53 are formed by rising up so as to face each other from the bottom plate 52 located at both longitudinal ends of the shell 50. Each of the first holding pieces 53 comprises a rising portion 53a, an extension portion 53b which is bent inwardly from the rising portion 53a and extended therefrom, and a press-fit portion 53c which is bent downwardly from the extension portion 53b and extended therefrom.

[0024] Two pairs of second holding pieces 54 are located on both sides of the first holding piece 53 and are raised from the bottom plate 52, similar to the raised portions 53a of the first holding piece 53. Protrusions 54a are formed on the end faces of the second holding pieces 54 facing the first holding piece 53. The bottom plate 52 is provided with notches 52a located between the first holding piece 53 and the second holding piece 54.

[0025] The peripheral wall 51 has a single-layer structure of continuous metal plate with no seams around the entire periphery, and has a bent portion 51a bent outwardly around the entire periphery at the upper end. Two protrusions 51b protruding inward are formed on each of the upper ends of two opposing long sides of the rectangle of the peripheral wall 51, and one protrusion 51c similarly protruding inward is formed on each of the upper ends of the other two opposing short sides of the rectangle.

[0026] The shell 50 having the above-mentioned configuration is formed by drawing a blank (flat plate) punched into a required shape, and then bending the first holding piece 53 and the second holding piece 54 and protruding the protrusions 51b, 51c. In Fig. 3A, the arrow D indicates the drawing direction. The bottom plate 52 forms the bottom in the drawing process.

[0027] The shell 50 is attached to the housing 30 by pressing the shell 50 down from above the housing 30 holding the terminals 40, pressing the press-fitting portions 53c of the pair of first holding pieces 53 into the holes 34 of the housing 30, and fitting the two pairs of second holding pieces 54 having the projections 54a into the step portions 35 of the housing 30. The housing 30 is held by the pair of first holding pieces 53 and the two pairs of second holding pieces 54 and positioned in an island-like manner in the shell 50, and is surrounded all around by the peripheral wall 51 of the shell 50, completing the connector 100 shown in FIG. 1. The raised portions 53a of the pair of first holding pieces 53 are positioned along the side surfaces 30b, 30c of the housing 30 (opposite side surfaces of the housing 30), respectively, sandwiching the housing 30, and the extension portions 53b are positioned on the upper surface 30a of the housing 30. In addition, the upper ends of each second retaining piece 54 fitted into the step portions 35 located at both widthwise ends of the side surfaces 30b, 30c of the housing 30, which sandwich the portion along which the raised portion 53a of the first retaining piece 53 runs, protrude from the upper surface 30a of the housing 30, and the side ends opposite the side on which the protrusion 54a is formed protrude from the housing 30 in the width direction of the side surfaces 30b, 30c, i.e., protrude from the side surfaces 30e, 30f along the longitudinal direction of the housing 30.

[0028] Fig. 4 shows a mating connector 200 that mates with the above-mentioned connector 100 to form a board-to-board connector, in which 60 indicates an insulating housing, 70 indicates a terminal, and 80 indicates a conductive shell. The terminals 70 are insert-molded into the housing 60 and arranged in two rows, with 20 terminals in each row and two rows for a total of 40 terminals.

[0029] In this example, the rectangular frame-shaped shell 80 is formed by bending a metal plate, and includes outer wall portions 81 located on two opposing long sides of the rectangle, outer wall portions 82 located on two opposing short sides of the rectangle, a connecting portion 83 connecting the upper ends of the outer wall portions 81 and 82, and an inner wall portion 84 folded back inward from each outer wall portion 82 and located on the inside of the outer wall portion 82. The outer wall portion 82 is divided into two by cutting out the center in the side direction, and also includes extension portions 82a that are folded and extended from both ends in the side direction, are located on the inside of the outer wall portion 81, and overlap with the outer wall portion 81.

[0030] The shell 80 is attached to the housing 60 by pressing the shell 80 onto the housing 60 holding the terminals 70. Each of the outer wall portions 81 of the shell 80 is formed with two projections 81a that protrude outward.

[0031] Figure 5 shows the state in which connector 100 and mating connector 200 are mated, without illustrating the boards on which connector 100 and mating connector 200 are respectively mounted, and the mating connector 200 is structured to be fitted into shell 50 of connector 100 and connected.

[0032] The above describes the configuration of connector 100 as one embodiment of a connector according to the present invention, and also describes the configuration of mating connector 200 and the mating state with mating connector 200. According to the configuration of connector 100, the following effects (1) to (3) can be obtained. (1) The peripheral wall 51 of the shell 50, which forms the outer hull of the connector 100 and provides electromagnetic shielding, has no seams around the entire circumference and is constructed in such a way that the metal plate is continuous around the entire circumference. This prevents electromagnetic leakage as occurs in the conventional first connector 10, and therefore provides excellent shielding performance.

[0033] In addition, since connector 100 is a connector into which mating connector 200 is fitted to receive mating connector 200, when connector 100 is mated with mating connector 200, mating connector 200 is also surrounded by peripheral wall 51 of shell 50. Therefore, even if the shielding performance of mating connector 200 is insufficient, sufficient shielding performance can be achieved in the mated state. (2) The raised portions 53a of the pair of first holding pieces 53 are located along the side surfaces 30b, 30c of the housing 30 so as to sandwich the housing 30, and the extension portion 53b is located on the upper surface 30a of the housing 30, and the two pairs of second holding pieces 54 have their upper ends protruding from the upper surface 30a of the housing 30 and their side ends protruding from the side surfaces 30e, 30f of the housing 30. Thus, with these configurations, even if the mating connector 200 is misaligned with respect to the connector 100 when mated with the mating connector 200, or if the mating connector 200 is tilted so as to pry the connector 100, it is possible to prevent the metal shell 80 of the mating connector 200 from hitting the plastic housing 30, thereby preventing damage to the housing 30.

[0034] 6A and 6B show this state, with Fig. 6A showing a state in which the mating connector 200 is shifted in the longitudinal direction of the housing 30 and is mated at an incline in the longitudinal direction, and Fig. 6B showing a state in which the mating connector 200 is shifted in the width direction of the housing 30 and is mated at an incline in the width direction. In Fig. 6A, the shell 80 of the mating connector 200 hits the first holding piece 53, so damage to the housing 30 can be prevented, and in Fig. 6B, the shell 80 of the mating connector 200 hits the second holding piece 54, so damage to the housing 30 can be prevented. In this way, the pair of first holding pieces 53 and the two pairs of second holding pieces 54 hold the housing 30 and also have the function of preventing damage to the housing 30. (3) The peripheral wall 51 of the shell 50 is configured from a single metal plate, unlike the conventional first connector 10, which has two metal plates on the inside and outside. Furthermore, the housing 30 is not present where the peripheral wall 51 is located, and the peripheral wall 51 exists alone, with the housing 30 being positioned like an island within the shell 50. From these points, the connector can be easily miniaturized. [Explanation of symbols]

[0035] 10 first connector 11 first insulator 11a Bottom plate part 11b Side wall 11c central convex portion 11d lateral convex portion 11e, 11f, 11g Concave portion 11h Step portion 11i Hole 12 1st Contact 13 First shell 14, 15 Outer wall 16,17 Inner wall 17a protrusion 18 Connecting part 19 Arm part 19a Tip 20 Second connector 21 second insulator 21a retaining wall 22 Second Contact 23 Second Shell 24,25 External wall part 26 Connecting part 30 Housing 30a Top surface 30b,30c,30e,30f Side 30d Bottom 31 Groove 32, 33 Recess 34 Hole 35 Step 36 central convex portion 37 concave portion 40 Terminal 41 Connection 50 Shell 51 Perimeter 51a Bent portion 51b, 51c Protrusions 52 Bottom plate 52a Notch 53 First holding piece 53a Raised portion 53b Extension part 53c Press-fit part 54 Second holding piece 54a Protrusion 60 Housing 70 Terminal 80 Shell 81,82 Outer wall 81a Projection 82a Extension 83 Connection section 84 Inner wall section 100 Connector 200 Mating Connector

Claims

1. A connector comprising an insulating housing, a plurality of terminals arranged and held in the housing, and a conductive shell, the connector being adapted to be mated with a mating connector, The housing is located within the shell in an island shape, The shell is formed of a single metal plate and includes a peripheral wall surrounding the housing, a bottom plate extending from a lower end of the peripheral wall opposite to the side where the mating connector is fitted to the inside of the peripheral wall, and a pair of first holding pieces and two pairs of second holding pieces extending from the bottom plate, The peripheral wall has a single-layer structure of the metal plate without any joints around the entire periphery, the pair of first holding pieces each include a rising portion rising from the bottom plate so as to respectively follow the opposing side surfaces of the housing, an extension portion bent and extended from the rising portion and positioned on the upper surface of the housing on the side to which the mating connector is fitted, and a press-fit portion bent and extended from the extension portion, the press-fit portions being press-fitted into holes formed in the upper surface, a step portion recessed by one step from the side surface is formed at each of both widthwise ends of the housing that sandwich a portion along the raised portion of the side surface, The two pairs of second holding pieces are located on both sides of the first holding piece, raised from the bottom plate and fitted into the step portions, a second holding piece protruding from the upper surface and protruding from the housing in the width direction;

2. 2. The connector according to claim 1, A connector characterized in that a bent portion bent outwardly is provided around the entire periphery of an upper end of the peripheral wall.

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