Electrical Connector Metal Shell Length Reduction Antenna Interference
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electrical connectors with metal shields often cause antenna interference due to their length extending close to antennas in electronic devices, leading to interference issues.
Innovation Solution
An electrical connector design featuring a metal shell with a reduced length along the front-and-rear direction, integrated with an insulative body and contacts, and a reinforcing plate to minimize interference by positioning the metal shell away from the antenna, and using an insert molding process to form the metallic components with the insulative housing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If the metal shield has a large length along the insertion direction to extend from the insertion opening to the inner connecting surface, then the shielding effectiveness is improved, but the antenna interference increases
Solution Approach 1:
The metal shell is segmented into a first metal shell portion and a second metal shell portion that are selectively positioned. The first portion extends along the insertion direction for shielding, while the second portion is positioned at the rear end for grounding, allowing the shell to provide comprehensive shielding without requiring excessive length that would cause antenna interference.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution transitions from extending the metal shell primarily in the length dimension (which causes antenna interference) to utilizing the width and height dimensions by adding the second metal shell portion at the rear end with grounding tails that extend in different spatial directions, achieving shielding effectiveness through spatial distribution rather than linear extension.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the metal shield is extended to provide comprehensive shielding, then the EMI protection is improved, but the distance to the antenna is reduced causing interference
Solution Approach 1:
Different portions of the metal shell are assigned different functions: the first metal shell portion along the insertion direction provides EMI shielding, while the second metal shell portion at the rear end provides grounding. This local differentiation allows each section to be optimized for its specific function without requiring uniform extension that would reduce distance to the antenna.
Solution Approach 2:
The second metal shell portion with grounding tails acts as an intermediary between the first metal shell portion and the printed circuit board. It transfers shielding effectiveness to the grounding plane, providing EMI protection without requiring the entire shell structure to extend close to the antenna.
3Volume of moving object
If the metal shell is positioned close to the antenna for compact design, then the device size is reduced, but the antenna interference increases
Solution Approach 1:
The metal shell configuration is made adaptable through the selective positioning of the first and second metal shell portions. The design allows flexibility in arranging the grounding tails and shell portions to achieve optimal balance between compactness and antenna interference reduction, enabling dynamic adaptation to different device layouts.
Data Source
AI summary
An electrical connector (100) includes an insulative body (2), a number of contacts (1), and a metal shell (5). The insulative body includes an upper wall (21), a lower wall (22), a pair of sidewalls (23), and a rear wall (24) connecting between the upper wall, the lower wall, and the sidewalls for cooperatively defining a receiving space (20). The insulative body has a mating tongue (25) extending forwardly from the rear wall into the receiving space. The contacts are retained in the mating tongue and partly exposed in the receiving space. The metal shell has a length along a front-and-rear direction smaller than that of the receiving space. The metal shell has a length along a front-and-rear direction smaller than that of the receiving space so as to be positioned on a front part of the lower wall for reducing interference between the metal shell and an antenna.