Electrical connector

Abstract

An electrical connector includes a terminal unit, a cable, a grounding element, and a grounding bridge. The terminal unit includes multiple pairs of signal terminals and a grounding terminal located between adjacent pairs of signal terminals. The cable includes wire cores connected to the signal terminals. The grounding element secures the cable to the terminal unit. The rear end of the grounding bridge is connected to the grounding element, and the front end of the grounding bridge is connected to at least one of the grounding terminals. Compared with conventional technology, the combination of the grounding bridge, grounding element, and grounding terminal of this invention can effectively increase the number of grounding points and also increase the shielding effect, thereby greatly improving high-frequency electrical performance.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This invention relates to an electrical connector. [Previous Technology]

[0002] U.S. Patent Publication No. 2021 / 0050683 discloses an electrical connector comprising a body and two rows of terminals. The body has opposing sidewalls and a cavity between the sidewalls. The two rows of terminals are disposed in the cavity and adjacent to the sidewalls. Two terminal modules and a resonance damping device are both housed in the cavity. The resonance damping device is located between the two rows of terminals, and the ribs provided on the resonance damping device engage with the grooves of the body to fix the resonance damping device in the body and abut against the grounding terminal. U.S. Patent No. 10,777,921 also discloses a conductive plastic. However, these resonance damping devices and conductive plastics still have problems in actual products.

[0003] Therefore, in view of the above problems, it is necessary to provide an improved electrical connector to solve the above problems. [Summary of the Invention]

[0004] The objective of this invention is to provide an electrical connector that provides high-frequency electrical performance.

[0005] To solve the aforementioned problems, the present invention can adopt the following technical solution: an electrical connector, including a terminal unit, a cable, a grounding component and a grounding bridge, wherein the terminal unit includes multiple pairs of signal terminals and a grounding terminal located between adjacent pairs of signal terminals, the cable includes a wire core connected to the signal terminals, the grounding component fixes the cable to the terminal unit, the rear end of the grounding bridge is connected to the grounding component, and the front end of the grounding bridge is connected to at least one of the grounding terminals.

[0006] Compared with the prior art, the combination of the grounding bridge, grounding component and grounding terminal of the present invention can effectively increase the number of grounding points, shorten the electrical length of grounding, and also increase the shielding effect, thereby greatly improving the high-frequency electrical performance.

Implementation Method

[0008] Referring to Figures 1 through 15, the electrical connector assembly includes a socket connector 10 and a plug connector 50 that mat with each other. The plug connector 50 has two rows of cables 90 connected to its rear end, making it a cable connector. The socket connector 10 is mounted on the circuit board 200 and is a board-end connector. The socket connector 10 is not designed with a pure cantilever tongue structure; this is primarily to reduce the overall height of the connector. The plug connector 50 uses a cantilever beam structure design to reduce the overall mating height and provide sufficient scraping force. The specific structure will be described below. Both the socket connector and the cable connector are electrical connectors for transmitting electrical signals.

[0009] Referring to Figures 3 to 5, the socket connector 10 includes an integral insulating body 20, two rows of terminals 30, and conductive plastic 40. The insulating body 20 has a tongue plate 22 and a cavity 24, as well as a conductive plastic 40. The two rows of terminals 30 are embedded in the insulating body 20 by injection molding. The terminals are exposed on two opposite outer surfaces of the tongue plate. The conductive plastic 40 is injection molded in the cavity 24 and is used to electrically connect to the grounding terminal 34. In other embodiments, the conductive plastic 40 can be replaced by conductive ink (such as conductive metallic ink), which is injected into the cavity 24 and then hardened to form a filling of the cavity 24. Therefore, the conductive plastic 40 and the conductive ink can be collectively referred to as conductive input components. The conductive ink in contact with the grounding terminal can effectively shorten the electrical length of the grounding and also increase the strength of the insulating body.

[0010] The socket connector 10 further includes a protective cover 28 and a metal housing 29. The protective cover 28 is made of insulating material and surrounds the insulating body 20. The protective cover 28 may be further provided with related structures, such as ribs 282, which are used to interfere with and fix the insulating body 20 when it is installed into the protective cover. The housing 29 may be provided with related structures, such as tabs 292 and barbs 294, for fixing the housing 29 to the protective cover 28. The signal terminals 32 may be provided in pairs for transmitting differential signals, forming a differential terminal pair.

[0011] The conductive plastic 40 is provided with two rows of branches 42, which are aligned with the corresponding grounding terminals 34. Thus, after the conductive plastic 40 is injected into the cavity 24, the conductive plastic contacts all the grounding terminals 34 to form an electrical connection. Each grounding terminal 34 has a contact portion, and the conductive plastic has a top surface, which is approximately flush with the upper end of the contact portion, as clearly seen in the second figure. This is used to improve the integrity of the transmitted signal, that is, the conductive plastic 40 is flush with or higher than the vertical portion of the terminal, thus shielding the entire vertical portion of the grounding terminal.

[0012] The plug connector 50 includes a terminal unit 60, an upper cover body 70, a lower cover body 75, a drawstring 80, a locking fastener 85, a hot melt colloid 95 and a grounding bridge, as shown in Figures VI to Fifteen. The grounding bridge includes an upper grounding bridge 63 and a lower grounding bridge 65 . The cables 90 are arranged in two rows, upper and lower. The terminal assembly 60 includes an insulating seat 61 , a front-end subunit 62 , a rear terminal unit 64 , an upper grounding 66 securing the upper wire coil to the front-end subunit 62 , an upper grounding bridge 63 connecting the upper grounding 66 and the front-end subunit 62 , a lower grounding 68 securing the lower coil to the rear terminal unit 64 , and the lower grounding unit 68 68 . The insulating seat 61 is provided with a longitudinal docking cavity into which the terminal modules extend into the docking cavity to form a docking interface. Each front and rear terminal unit is manufactured by injection molding, that is, each unit includes corresponding to each row of terminals. More specifically, for example, a former terminal unit 64, which includes an insulator 621 and a terminal 622 embedded in the insulator, which includes an elastic contact 6221 extending downward out below the insulator 621 and a connection 6222 extending out above the insulator. The insulator 621 is inserted within the insulating seat 61 and the contact portion of the terminal 6221 is convex and extended into the docking cavity. Each row of terminals includes a ground terminal 622G and a signal terminal 622S, in this embodiment two adjacent signal terminals constitute a pair of differential pair terminals with a ground terminal 622G provided between the differential pair terminals of adjacent pairs. The cable 90 may be a coaxial twisted wire structure with a pair of core wires 91 sequentially exposed at the end and a shielding layer 92 on the outside. The core wire 91 may be soldered directly to a differential terminal pair corresponding to a pair of signal terminals 622S , whose shielding layer 92 contacts a grounding member. The structure of the rear-terminal subunit is roughly the same as that of the front-end subunit and will not be described in detail.

[0013] The upper and lower groundings 66 and 68 may be provided with a fixed structure and the wire coils are fixed within the insulation seat 61. From the diagram, it can be seen that the groundings space the corresponding coils 90 apart by means of the indirect barriers they are provided, while the grounding can contact the shielding layer 92 of the coils. The upper and lower ground bridges 63 and 65 are provided with multiple interchanges 632 and 652, which connect the corresponding ground terminals 622G.

[0014] The upper and lower grounding bridges 63 and 65 have similar structures. Taking the upper grounding bridge 63 as an example, the upper grounding bridge 63 includes a cover portion 631 and a plurality of vertically extending partition walls 632. The grounding components 66 and 68 are provided with a plurality of front notches 664 and 684. The partition walls 632 and 652 are inserted into the corresponding front notches 664 and 684 near the rear top wall, and the corresponding grounding terminals 622G are welded near the front bottom wall. As can be seen (see Figure 10), the upper grounding bridge 63 can cover the tail end of each cable, that is, the exposed core wire 91. After welding the grounding components, cables and installing the grounding bridge, hot melt adhesive 95 is injected between them to make the structure tightly fixed. Then the upper cover 70 and lower cover 75 are installed, followed by the installation of the pull strap 80 and the locking fastener. The combination of the grounding bridge, grounding component, and grounding terminal in this invention can effectively increase the number of grounding points, shorten the electrical length of the grounding, and also increase the shielding effect, thereby greatly improving the high-frequency electrical performance.

[0015] The above embodiments are preferred embodiments of the present invention, but not all embodiments. Any equivalent changes to the technical solutions of the present invention made by those skilled in the art based on reading this specification are covered by the scope of the patent application of the present invention. [Simplified Explanation of the Diagram]

[0007] Figure 1 is a perspective view of the electrical connector assembly of the present invention, wherein the socket and plug connectors are prepared for mating, and the socket connector is mounted on the circuit board; Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the two electrical connectors in Figure 1 after mating; Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view of the socket connector in Figure 1; Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of the insulating body and conductive plastic in Figure 3; Figure 5 is a top view of Figure 4; Figure 6 is a perspective view of the plug connector in Figure 2; Figure 7 is a perspective view of Figure 6 from another angle; Figure 8 is an exploded perspective view of Figure 6; Figure 9 is an exploded perspective view of Figure 8 from another angle; Figure 10 is an exploded perspective view of the terminal module in Figure 8; Figure 11 is an exploded perspective view of Figure 10 from another angle; Figure 12 is a further exploded perspective view of the front terminal unit in Figure 10; Figure 13 is a further exploded perspective view of the rear terminal unit in Figure 10; Figure 14 is a perspective view of Figure 12 from another angle; and Figure 15 is a perspective view of Figure 13 from another angle.

Claims

1. An electrical connector comprising a terminal unit, a cable, a grounding element, and a grounding bridge, wherein the terminal unit includes multiple pairs of signal terminals and a grounding terminal located between adjacent pairs of signal terminals, the cable includes a wire core connected to the signal terminals, the grounding element secures the cable to the terminal unit, wherein the rear end of the grounding bridge is connected to the grounding element, and the front end of the grounding bridge is connected to at least one of the grounding terminals, the grounding element has at least one front notch, and the spacer wall of the grounding bridge is inserted into the corresponding front notch and sits between adjacent pairs of signal terminals.

2. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the grounding bridge has a plurality of vertically extending spacers located between adjacent pairs of signal terminals and soldered to corresponding grounding terminals.

3. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the grounding bridge shields the exposed core wires of the cable.

4. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the terminal unit includes an insulator and a row of terminals, the terminals including a contact portion extending downward from the insulator and a connecting portion extending upward from the insulator, the row of terminals including the signal terminal and the ground terminal, the core wire of the cable being soldered to the connecting portion of the signal terminal; the ground bridge including a cover portion and a plurality of spacer walls extending vertically downward from the cover portion, the bottom surface of the spacer walls abutting against the connecting portion of the ground terminal.

5. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 4, wherein the grounding member is stamped with a plurality of spacer walls that space adjacent cables apart from each other and the grounding member presses downward against the exposed shielding layer of the cables.

6. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electrical connector includes an insulating base having a downwardly penetrating mating cavity, and the contact portion of the terminal extends into the mating cavity.

7. The cable connector as claimed in claim 6, wherein the grounding element is fixed to the insulating base by means of its two sides.

8. The electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electrical connector comprises two mating terminal units, each terminal unit being connected to the cable, grounding element and grounding bridge.

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