CN1108005C - Shield assembly for electrical connector - Google Patents

Abstract

A shielding assembly for an electrical connector comprising: a connector receiving shell (23), a backshell (41) assembled to a front shell (40), tab receiving openings (56) in the shell (40), tabs (57) on the backshell (41) projecting into the openings (56), the tabs (57) engaging a housing (2) of an electrical connector and biasing the housing (2) forwardly relative to the shell.

Description

Shielding assemblies for electrical connectors

The invention relates to a shield assembly for an electrical connector comprising a rear shell interlocked with a front shell.

A connector is disclosed in U.S. Patent 5,273,459, which has a front shell and upper and lower rear shells, the rear shell is interlocked with the front shell with tongues along its front edge, when the rear shell rotates To a position above the rear wire termination face of the connector, the tongue seats in the notch of the front shell. One of the rear shells abuts the rear surface of a portion of the housing assembly, thereby pushing the housing assembly toward the mating face.

As described in US Pat. No. 4,789,357, a shield assembly for an electrical connector is formed of two interlocking parts. Both parts form part of the enclosure so that an electrical connector lock is located within the two parts. Flaps on the two parts bend to overlap the ends of the connector, thereby maintaining the connector within the two parts. The bending of the airfoil creates internal stresses which are maintained in the material of the airfoil. Over time, these internal stresses will weaken by allowing the material to relax and allow the bends to deform. The tabs will no longer hold the connector tightly, allowing unwanted movement of the connector relative to the shield assembly. During repeated installation and removal of the connector, forces are applied to the shield assembly which causes the tabs to deform and allows for undesired movement of the connector. During mating of a connector with another mating connector, the connector will move back in a direction away from the mating connector. This movement will result in an incomplete frictional contact during connector mating, resulting in high electrical resistance and the resulting voltage drop.

Undesirable movement of the connector relative to the shield assembly becomes more difficult to avoid when the connector is designed to a smaller size. The small size will require the shielding assembly to be made of thin metallic material. Thin metal materials are easily deformed, which would allow undesired movement of the connector relative to the shield assembly.

The present invention provides a shield assembly for an electrical connector, which surrounds the connector and prevents the connector from moving relative to the shield assembly.

According to one embodiment, a shielding assembly includes an interlock mechanism for interlocking the conductive rear shell and the conductive connector receiving shell, the interlock mechanism prevents the connector from interlocking relative to the interlocked shell ( shell) to move.

According to one embodiment, a shielding assembly provides a housing having a mating end to align a mating electrical connector for entry into the housing, and the shielding assembly enables electrical contacts on the electrical connector to The contacts align with mating electrical contacts on the mating connector.

An advantage of the present invention resides in a shield assembly for an electrical connector that prevents movement of the connector relative to the shield assembly during mating connection of the connector with another mating electrical connector.

Another advantage of the present invention resides in the interlocking mechanism for interlocking the conductive rear shell and the conductive connector receiving shell which, by interlocking with the connectors, prevents movement of the connectors relative to the interlocking shells.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described by way of example with reference to accompanying drawing below, in the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an electrical connector including a housing and a shielding assembly connected to a cable;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the insulating housing of the connector shown in Fig. 1;

3 is a cross-sectional view of the housing shown in FIG. 3 and the conductive shield assembly of the connector shown in FIG. 1;

Fig. 4 is a top view of the connector receiving shell of the shielding assembly shown in Fig. 1;

Figure 5 is an end view, partially cut away, of the stress relief portion of the housing shown in Figure 5;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of an electrical connector of the connector shown in Fig. 1;

Figure 7 is a bottom view of the rear shell of the shielding assembly shown in Figure 1;

Figure 8 is an end view, partially cut away, of the stress relief portion of the rear shell shown in Figure 10;

Figure 9 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the rear shell pushing the shell forward;

Figure 10 is a schematic illustration of a shield assembly including a shell and a rear shell.

Referring to FIGS. 1-3 in more detail, an electrical connector 1 includes an insulating housing 2 , contact accommodating cavities 3 in the housing 2 , and a plurality of electrical contacts 4 in the corresponding cavities 3 .

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3 , the housing 2 is, for example, a unitarily molded plastic construction and includes a front portion 5 and a rear portion 6 . Overhangs 7 extend along the side walls of each respective cavity 3 . Each corresponding cavity 3 is wedge-shaped in cross-section. The cantilevers 7 on each respective cavity 3 comprise said side walls which start from the wider bottom of the cavity 3 and slope towards each other towards the narrower elongated opening between the cantilevers 7 .

Referring to Figure 6, each respective joint 4 is formed from, for example, a stamped and formed unitary thin metal blank. The front part 11 of the joint 4 is a thin knife-shaped structure and has elongated sides 12 delimited by the cantilever 7 in the respective cavity 3 . Each joint 4 is formed by an arcuate portion 13 extending from one side 12 to the other side 12 . The arched portion 13 reinforces the (if not very) weak knife portion and also provides a side wall 12 which can be bounded below the corresponding cantilever 7 . An elongated top of each arcuate portion 13 projects into the opening between the arms 7 on the corresponding cavity 3 . Each top extends outwardly above the cantilever 7 and provides a smooth, elongated frictional contact surface. Each top provides a frictional contact surface for mating with another mating connector (not shown). As shown in FIG. 6 , a leading edge 14 on the top of the arcuate portion 13 slopes from the rear to the front, where the top protrudes from the corresponding joint receiving cavity 6 . During mating of the connector 1 with another mating connector (not shown), the beveled leading edge 14 prevents stubbing of the header 4 with the other mating connector. Each respective rear portion 15 of the respective joint 4 comprises a first connecting portion which is a reel 16 formed by a first pair of fins 17 so as to form an open cylinder for reeling A conductor portion of an insulated wire connected to an electrical cable 20, as shown in FIG. A second connecting portion is a second reel 21 formed by a second pair of tabs 22 forming an open barrel for winding the insulated portion connected to the insulated wire. Each corresponding joint 4 has a rearwardly protruding elastic claw 37 .

Referring to FIG. 2 , an inclined front lip 28 on the housing 2 protrudes in front of each corresponding cavity 3 and in front of the connector 4 in each corresponding cavity 3 . The beveled front lip 28 provides a funnel-shaped structure which forces the mating electrical connector (not shown) into the channel for a friction fit with each respective top of the respective connector 4 . Each respective cavity 3 communicates with a respective notch 29 in the front lip 28 . Each respective notch 29 is aligned with the top of a respective joint 4 in a respective cavity 3 .

The first part 30 of the front lip 28 in front of the selected corresponding joint receiving cavity 3 is longer than the second part 32 of the front lip 28, and the second part 32 is located at the other corresponding joint receiving cavity 3 selected. ahead. The selected corresponding joint receiving cavity 3 is farther from the front end of the housing 2 than other selected corresponding joint receiving cavities 3 . The contacts 4 in the cavity 3 are conveniently mated sequentially with corresponding contacts of a mating electrical connector (not shown) according to their respective distances from the front end of the housing 2 in the cavity 3 . To complete the connector, as shown in FIG. 1 , an overmold 31 of insulating plastic material is molded onto the shield 23 and the cable 20 protruding from the shield 23 .

Referring to FIGS. 1 , 9 and 10 , an electrically conductive shield 23 surrounds the housing 2 . At least one tongue 26 ( FIG. 9 ) protruding on the shield 23 is bent downwards and extends into a corresponding tongue receiving notch 27 located at the front end of the housing 2 to prevent the housing 2 from moving relative to the shield 23 . move forward. The notch 27 extends from the outer periphery of the corresponding shield 23 of the housing 2 .

4-8 and 10, the shielding 23 includes a shielding assembly 39, and the shielding assembly 39 includes a connector receiving shell 40 and a back shell (backshell) 41, each of which is made of a thin metal plate having a thickness plane. Stamped overall structure. Shell 40 is provided with channels and openings at its front mating end. The thin shell 40 and the rear thin shell are adapted to be inserted into each other. The shell 40 is formed of a cylindrical enclosure with an open rear end for receiving the housing therein. The tongue 26 is stamped from the thickness plane of the case 42 . A longitudinal slit 43 in the box body 42 runs through the front and rear ends. At the rear of the box body 42 is a channel 44 having three sides and an open side. Groove 44 provides a rear access. At the rear of the channel 44 , a tapered flat tongue 46 separates the channel 44 and box 42 from a strain relief 47 connected to the tongue 46 . The strain relief is a groove with jaws 48 . On the rear shell 42, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, a stress relief portion 49 includes a groove with jaws 50 and a recessed portion 51 at the bottom of the groove. The strain relief portions 47 , 49 receive the cable 20 and wrap around the cable 20 . The jaws 48 are deformed by bending and approach each other so as to wrap around the jaws 50 . Further deformation of the jaws 48 causes the jaws to enter the recessed portion 51 .

The rear shell 41 has a front channel with three sides and an open side. The groove 52 and the groove 44 face each other, and the sides of the groove enter into the groove 44, as shown in FIG. 10 . At the rear of the groove, a flat tapered tongue 53 separates the groove from the strain relief 49 which is connected to the tongue 53 . A skirt 54 protrudes from a tapered edge 55 of the tongue 53 . The skirts 54 initially bend inwardly towards each other.

As shown in FIGS. 4 , 7 and 9 , the opening 56 provides a plurality of closure features on opposite sides of the slot 43 . A protruding tongue 57 in the form of a protruding latch protrudes from the front of the rear shell 41 and is aligned with the opening 56 . The rear shell 41 is fitted to the front shell 40 by inserting the tongues 57 into the corresponding openings 56 and then rotating the rear shell 41 towards the tongue 46 of the shell 40, as shown in FIG. Shell 41 is shown in dashed lines. The skirt 54 is rotated to contact and overlap the inside of the tongue 46 to prevent the tongue 46 from bending inwardly when the outer jacket 31 is mounted to the shield 23 . The tongue 57 enters the interior of the box body 42 and rotates to engage the rear end of the housing 2 . Further rotation of the tongue 57 will force the housing 2 forward against the tongue 26 on the case 42 . Tongues 57 prevent housing 2 from moving backward relative to the shield assembly and each tongue 26 prevents housing 2 from moving forward. The tongues 57 and 26 press against the opposite ends of the housing 2, thereby interlocking with the housing 2, thereby preventing the housing 2 from moving. Each tongue 57 engages the housing 2 along the edge of the thickness plane. The tongue 57 is in a compressed state along its thickness plane, so that the tongue 57 strongly resists deformation when a mating force is applied to the shielding assembly during mating connection of the connector 1 with another mating electrical connector.

Claims (3)

1. connector assembly, have a connector and a shielding (23), this shielding has a connector to be held preceding shell (40) and one and is assembled to back shell (41) on it, is arranged in the tongue piece (57) that the tongue piece of preceding shell (40) holds opening (56) and stretch into opening (56) on back shell (41), it is characterized in that:

Tongue piece (57) cooperates with a housing (2) of an electric connector and pushes housing (2) forward with respect to preceding shell (40); And

Extend at least one tongue piece (26) on the preceding shell (40) of shielding, when by tongue piece (57) when pushing forward, each tongue piece (26) stops housing (2) to move forward with respect to preceding shell (40),

Therefore, by shell (40,41), housing (2) keeps the precision positioning with respect to preceding shell (40).

2. according to the connector assembly of claim 1, wherein, the edge of tongue piece (57) pushes housing (2), and tongue piece (57) is in compressive state along its corresponding thickness plane.

3. according to the connector assembly of claim 1, wherein, each tongue piece (26) on the preceding shell (40) extends to a respective notches (27) that is arranged in housing (2) front end.

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