阅读说明：本技术 连接系统 (Connection system ) 是由 徐佥昱 江惠雪 张华均 于 2019-05-24 设计创作，主要内容包括：一种连接系统包括连接器与配对装置,连接器包括第一绝缘壳体、多个端子与金属壳体,该第一绝缘壳体包括基部、延伸部与多个端子槽,金属壳体包覆基部,各端子分别被收容于多个端子槽,各端子分别具有接触部、弯曲部及干涉部,各干涉部是被固定于基部,各弯曲部是分别具有弹性,且各干涉部与弯曲部连线不经过接触部。配对装置包括第二绝缘壳体、多个导体与板边部,板边部位于第二绝缘壳体中,第二绝缘壳体包括压接壁,各导体分别延伸至板边部表面,板边部与压接壁之间形成收容空间。(A connecting system comprises a connector and a matching device, wherein the connector comprises a first insulating shell, a plurality of terminals and a metal shell, the first insulating shell comprises a base part, an extending part and a plurality of terminal grooves, the metal shell covers the base part, the terminals are respectively contained in the terminal grooves, each terminal is respectively provided with a contact part, a bending part and an interference part, each interference part is fixed on the base part, each bending part is respectively elastic, and a connecting line of each interference part and the bending part does not pass through the contact part. The pairing device comprises a second insulating shell, a plurality of conductors and a plate edge portion, the plate edge portion is located in the second insulating shell, the second insulating shell comprises a crimping wall, the conductors respectively extend to the surface of the plate edge portion, and an accommodating space is formed between the plate edge portion and the crimping wall.)

1. A connection system comprising a connector and a mating device mateable with one another to establish an electrical connection, wherein,

the connector comprises a first insulating shell, a plurality of terminals and a metal shell, wherein the first insulating shell comprises a base part, an extending part and a plurality of terminal grooves, the terminal grooves extend from the base part to the extending part, the metal shell covers the base part, the terminals are respectively accommodated in the terminal grooves, each terminal is respectively provided with a contact part, a bending part and an interference part, the interference part of each terminal is fixed on the base part of the first insulating shell, and the bending part of each terminal respectively extends out of the terminal groove in an elastic manner;

The matching device comprises a second insulating shell, a plurality of conductors and a plate edge part, wherein the plate edge part is positioned in the second insulating shell, the second insulating shell comprises a crimping wall, each conductor extends to the surface of the plate edge part, an accommodating space is formed between the plate edge part and the crimping wall, and the crimping wall is arranged at the corresponding position of the bending part of each terminal; and

when the connector is matched with the matching device, the extension part enters the accommodating space, the crimping wall forces the bending part of each terminal to elastically deform, and the contact part of each terminal is driven by each bending part to move towards each conductor.

2. The connecting system of claim 1 wherein the connector further comprises a securing housing, the securing housing including a securing portion and an abutment portion, the abutment portion mating with the receiving space, the base portion of the first housing being secured to the securing portion of the securing housing, the extension portion of the first housing being received in the securing housing.

3. The connecting system of claim 2 wherein the connector further comprises a plurality of ground terminals, the housing further comprises a plurality of ground terminal slots, each ground terminal has a contact portion and a curved portion, each ground terminal is fixed to the housing, the curved portion of each ground terminal extends out of each ground terminal slot, and the mating device further comprises a plurality of ground conductors, each ground terminal contact portion is driven by each curved portion to move toward each ground conductor when the connector is mated with the mating device.

4. The connecting system of claim 3 wherein the contact portion of each of the terminals is received in each of the terminal slots and the contact portion of each of the ground terminals is received in each of the ground terminal slots prior to mating the connector with the mating device.

5. The connection system of claim 1 wherein the connector is adapted to connect to a cable.

6. The connecting system of claim 1 wherein the mating device is adapted to be mounted to a circuit board.

7. A connection system according to claim 1, wherein the mating device is a straddle mount connector.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a connection system, and more particularly, to a connection system for electrically connecting a circuit board and a cable.

Background

The existing network system can connect various devices through a connection system composed of communication media such as coaxial cable or twisted pair cable, for example, the vehicle network system can connect various devices such as electronic control unit, sensor and meter through the connection system. As the applications of vehicle-mounted audio and video and automatic assistant driving are increasing, the vehicle-mounted network system also needs to combine various audio and video and computer devices, such as a car backing image device, a driving recorder, a navigator, a blind spot detector, an image identification device, a radar, etc. The existing vehicle-mounted network system has higher communication requirements, and not only needs higher transmission speed, but also needs better anti-interference and anti-noise effects. Since there are more communication devices and terminal devices, the connection system is more complicated, and the manufacturing and assembling costs are increased.

U.S. patent No. 9,337,561 discloses a plug-type connector including a contact body including a pair of guide surfaces and a receiving opening, the contact body being made of a conductive material, the guide surfaces having a plurality of reinforcing regions, and the receiving opening being located between the guide surfaces. U.S. patent No. 9,614,311 discloses a plug-type connector and electrical contacts, which includes a connecting arm that can be elastically guided and an abutting piece parallel to the connecting arm. The docking member is disposed at a starting position when in a connecting position, and the connecting arm is elastically guided to move transversely relative to the displacement direction of the docking member. Us 9,799,978 discloses a connecting element made of conductive material, which comprises a main body extending along an inserting direction and a positioning member having elasticity and disposed on the upper side of the main body, wherein the positioning member has a slope inclined toward the inserting direction.

The electrical connection portion of the terminal in the conventional connector is surrounded and protected by the metal housing, so the material requirement of the metal housing is high, and the metal housing needs to be processed, which makes the manufacturing and assembling cost difficult to reduce. Moreover, the conventional connector still has insufficient anti-interference and anti-noise effects.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention provides a connection system to reduce the manufacturing and assembling cost and achieve better anti-interference and anti-noise effects.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the connecting system includes a connector and a mating device that can be mated with each other to establish an electrical connection. The connector comprises a first insulating shell, a plurality of terminals and a metal shell, wherein the first insulating shell comprises a base part, an extending part and a plurality of terminal grooves, the terminal grooves extend from the base part to the extending part, the metal shell covers the base part, the terminals are respectively accommodated in the terminal grooves, and the terminals are respectively fixed on the base part of the first insulating shell. The matching device comprises a second insulating shell, a plurality of conductors and a plate edge part, wherein the plate edge part is positioned in the second insulating shell, the second insulating shell comprises a crimping wall, each conductor extends to the surface of the plate edge part, and a containing space is formed between the plate edge part and the crimping wall.

In the aforementioned embodiment of the invention, the board edge of the mating device may refer to an edge of the circuit board, each conductor refers to a metal trace (trace) on the circuit board that is at least partially exposed, and the second insulating housing is directly positioned on the circuit board. However, in other embodiments, most of the board edge may be an insulating material different from the circuit board, and each conductor may be a metalized material or a metal formed by conventional sheet metal processing on the surface of the board edge, but the board edge may be another circuit board different from the circuit board. The term "metallized" refers to that part of the surface of the edge of the insulating plate is rendered conductive by means such as plating (plating), physical or chemical vapor deposition (PVD/CVD), laser activation metallization (laser activation) or disposing conductive plastic (conductive plastic) on the surface of the edge of the plate.

According to the above embodiment of the present invention, the metal shell can only cover the base of the first insulating shell, and the terminal is protected by the base of the first insulating shell and the extending portion, so that the usage ratio of the metal material can be reduced, and the processing and assembling cost of the metal shell can be reduced. Moreover, by the design of the grounding terminal, better anti-interference and anti-noise effects can be achieved.

The invention is described in detail below with reference to the drawings and specific examples, but the invention is not limited thereto.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a first embodiment of a connection system of the present invention, wherein the connector is used to mate with a mating device;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the connector of the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of the connection system of the present invention, wherein the connectors have not yet mated with the mating device;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of the connection system of the present invention, wherein the connectors mate with the mating device;

FIG. 5 is a partial exploded view of the connector of the first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic view of a connector according to a first embodiment of the present invention, with some components omitted;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a second embodiment of a connection system of the present invention, wherein the connector is configured to mate with a mating device; and

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a second embodiment of the connection system of the present invention, wherein the connectors mate with the mating device.

Wherein the reference numerals

10. 10a connection system

20 circuit board

21 edge of

100. 100a connector

110 first insulating housing

111 base part

112 extension part

113 terminal groove

120 terminal

121 contact part

122 bending part

123 interference part

130 metal shell

140 ground terminal

141 bump

142 side spring

143 contact part

144 bending part

145 interference part

150 fixed shell

151 fixed part

152 butt joint part

153 receiving port

154 ground terminal groove

160 outer casing

170 waterproof ring

180 liner

190 positioning frame

200. 200a pairing device

210 second insulating case

211 crimping wall

220 conductor

230 plate edge

240 accommodating space

250 ground conductor

Detailed Description

The following detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention with reference to the drawings and specific examples is provided for further understanding the objects, aspects and effects of the present invention, but not for limiting the scope of the appended claims.

Fig. 1 to 6 show a connection system 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 1, in this embodiment, the connection system 10 includes a connector 100 and a counterpart device 200, and the connector 100 and the counterpart device 200 can be matched with each other to establish an electrical connection relationship. The connection system 10 may be used to transmit high frequency electrical signals, such as, but not limited to, network communication connections. In the connection system disclosed in the first embodiment, the connector 100 is used to connect a cable (not shown), and the counterpart device 200 is used to be mounted to the circuit board 20, the cable and the circuit board 20 can be electrically connected to the counterpart device 200 through the connector 100 and transmit signals to each other; however, in a variation of this embodiment, the connector 100 can be mounted on a circuit board, and the mating device 200 can be mounted on a cable end. In other variations of this embodiment, the connector 100 and the mating device 200 can be installed on different cables or on different circuit boards, so as to establish the electrical connection relationship between the two cables or the two circuit boards.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the connector 100 includes a first insulating housing 110, a plurality of terminals 120, and a metal housing 130. The first insulating housing 110 includes a base 111, an extension 112, and a plurality of terminal grooves 113. The extension portion 112 of the first insulating housing 110 extends forward from the base portion 111, and each terminal groove 113 extends from the base portion 111 to the extension portion 112. The metal case 130 covers the base portion 111 but does not cover the extension portion 112, and the terminals 120 are accommodated in the plurality of terminal grooves 113, respectively.

As shown in fig. 3, each of the terminals 120 includes a contact portion 121, a bent portion 122, and an interference portion 123, the interference portion 123 is fixed to the base portion 111, and the interference portion 123 has an interference relationship with the base portion 111 so that the interference portion 123 can be fixed and positioned in the base portion 111 by an insert (insert mold).

In the disclosure of the first embodiment, the interference relationship means that there is a proper friction between two adjacent objects, and the two objects have stable relative positions by the friction, so that those skilled in the art can understand that the embedding is only a means for forming the interference relationship.

In the disclosure of the first embodiment, the bending portion 122 elastically extends out of each terminal slot 113, and a connection line between the interference portion 123 and the bending portion 122 does not pass through the contact portion 121, that is, the interference portion 123 and the bending portion 122 may be on the same plane, but the contact portion 121 is not on the same plane. In the present embodiment, the plurality of terminals 120 are disposed in the first insulating housing 110 in a group of two, and the group of terminals 120 is, for example, differential signal terminals (differential signal terminals), which can be used for transmitting differential signals.

As shown in fig. 1 and 3, the mating device 200 includes a second insulating housing 210, a plurality of conductors 220, and a board edge 230, wherein the board edge 230 is located in the second insulating housing 210. In the present embodiment, the second insulating housing 210 is fixed to the edge 21 of the circuit board 20, the board edge 230 extends from the edge 21 of the circuit board 20 into the second insulating housing 210, the conductors 220 respectively extend from the corresponding circuit on the circuit board 20 to the surface of the board edge 230, and the conductors 220 of the mating device 200 are disposed at the positions corresponding to the terminals 120 of the connector 100.

In the first embodiment of the mating device 200, the conductor 220 is, for example, a metal line (trace) printed on the surface of the board edge 230; however, in other variations, the board edge 230 may be made of a different insulating material than the circuit board 20, and each of the conductors 220 may be a conductive material with metallic properties formed on the board edge 230 by suitable means.

In the first embodiment, the second insulating housing 210 includes the crimping wall 211, the crimping wall 211 faces the surface of the plate edge 230 where the conductor 220 is provided, and in the second insulating housing 210, the plate edge 230 and the crimping wall 211 have a distance therebetween so as to define the receiving space 240 together, and the crimping wall 211 is provided at a position corresponding to the bent portion 122.

As shown in fig. 3 and 4, when the connector 100 and the mating device 200 are mated with each other, the extending portion 112 enters the receiving space 240 between the pressing wall 211 and the board edge 230, at this time, the pressing wall 211 forces the bending portions 122 to elastically deform, and the contact portion 121 is driven by the bending portions 122 to displace toward the conductors 220 on the surface of the board edge 230. During the movement of the terminals 120, the contact portions 121 contact the conductors 220 to form an electrical connection, so as to transmit electrical signals between the connector 100 and the mating device 200.

In the present embodiment, in the initial free state, i.e., before the connector 100 is mated with the counterpart device 200, the contact portion 121 is accommodated in each terminal groove 113, and each of the terminals 120 is an elastic terminal having elastic restoring force. Each bent portion 122 is a bent portion between each interference portion 123 and each contact portion 121, and the bent portion 122 of each terminal 120 is offset from a line connecting each interference portion 123 and each contact portion 121, that is, the interference portions 123, the bent portions 122, and the contact portions 121 of each terminal 120 are not arranged on the same straight line. Since the terminal grooves 113 are formed on both sides of the through-extending portion 112, the bent portions 122 may extend at least partially out of the terminal grooves 113. Therefore, when the extending portion 112 enters the accommodating space 240, the pressing wall 211 contacts the bent portions 122 extending out of the terminal slots 113 and forces the bent portions 122 to elastically deform, and the bent portions 122 press the contact portions 121 against the corresponding conductors 220 with a positive force. Although the contact portion 121, the bent portion 122 and the interference portion 123 of each terminal 120 are not in the same plane in the disclosure of the first embodiment of the present invention, in some cases, the contact portion 121 and the interference portion 123 of each terminal 120 may jointly define a plane.

As shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2, in the present embodiment, the connector 100 further includes a plurality of ground terminals 140, and each ground terminal 140 is located around the metal housing 130 and connected to the metal housing 130, so as to provide proper electromagnetic shielding protection (EMI shielding) for the pair of terminals 120 transmitting the differential signal. In the disclosure of the first embodiment of the present invention, there are two ground terminals 140, two terminals 120 are located between the two ground terminals 140, and the ground terminals 140 and the terminals 120 are arranged in a row. As shown in fig. 5, each ground terminal 140 includes a bump (double) 141 and a side spring 142, each bump 141 is located on each side spring 142, and each side spring 142 extends and bends outward from each ground terminal 140, so that the bump 141 and the side spring 142 elastically contact the metal shell 130.

In the disclosure of the aforementioned first embodiment of the invention, as shown in fig. 1, fig. 5 and fig. 6, the connector 100 further includes a fixing housing 150, the fixing housing 150 includes a fixing portion 151, an abutting portion 152, a receiving opening 153 and a plurality of ground terminal grooves 154, the abutting portion 152 extends forward from the fixing portion 151, the receiving opening 153 and the plurality of ground terminal grooves 154 extend from the fixing portion 151 to the abutting portion 152, and the abutting portion 152 can match with the receiving space 240. The base portion 111 of the first insulating housing 110 is fixed to the fixing portion 151 by interference, the extending portion 112 of the first insulating housing 110 is accommodated in the accommodating opening 153, and the ground terminals 140 are accommodated in the plurality of ground terminal grooves 154, respectively. The extension 112 and the abutting portion 152 together form a structure for inserting the second insulating housing 210. The relative positions of the first insulating housing 110, the metal housing 130, and the plurality of ground terminals 140 are fixed by the fixing case 150.

As shown in fig. 5 and 6, in the present embodiment, each ground terminal 140 has a contact portion 143, a bent portion 144, and an interference portion 145. The interference portions 145 have an interference relationship with the fixing portion 151, the bent portions 144 are elastically extended to the ground terminal grooves 154, respectively, the connection line between the interference portions 145 and the bent portions 144 does not pass through the contact portion 143, and the pressure contact wall 211 is further provided at a position corresponding to each bent portion 144. The mating device 200 further includes a plurality of ground conductors 250, each ground conductor 250 extending from a corresponding line on the circuit board 20 to the surface of the board edge 230, and the ground conductor 250 corresponding to the ground terminal 140 of the connector 100. The ground conductor 250 is, for example, a metal wiring printed on the surface of the board edge 230, but is not limited thereto. In the present embodiment, there are two conductors 220 in one set, and there are two ground conductors 250, two conductors 220 are located between two ground conductors 250, and the ground conductors 250 and the conductors 220 are arranged in a row on the surface of the board edge 230.

Contact portions 121 similar to terminals 120 may be received in terminal slots 113 in an initial free state, and contact portions 143 of ground terminals 140 are likewise received in ground terminal slots 154 in the initial free state before connector 100 is mated with mating device 200. When the connector 100 is mated with the mating device 200, the abutting portion 152 enters the receiving space 240 together with the extending portion 112, the pressing wall 211 forces each bending portion 144 to elastically deform, each contact portion 143 is driven by each bending portion 144 to displace toward each ground conductor 250, and each contact portion 143 is pressed against each corresponding ground conductor 250 with a positive force.

As shown in fig. 2, the connector 100 further includes a housing 160, a waterproof ring 170, a gasket 180, and a positioning frame 190. The stationary case 150 is positioned in the outer case 160, and a waterproof ring 170 made of an elastic material is interposed between the outer case 160 and the stationary case 150. The gasket 180 is sleeved on the outer edge of the cable, and the gasket 180 and the waterproof ring 170 may be made of elastic material like silica gel. The waterproof ring 170 may be tightly filled between the outer shell 160 and the fixing shell 150, and the gasket 180 is disposed in the gap between the cable outer shell 160, so that external liquid or moisture cannot penetrate into the connector 100 along the cable and the gap between the outer shell 160 and the fixing shell 150. The positioning frame 190 is disposed outside the fixing housing 150, and the positioning frame 190 has a function of ensuring positioning of the connector 100 and the mating device 200 when mating, so that the positioning frame 190 is a Terminal Positioning Assurance (TPA) member.

Fig. 7 and 8 show a connection system 10a according to a second embodiment of the present invention, which is different from the first embodiment in that the terminals 120 of the connector 100a of the second embodiment for transmitting differential signals and the conductors 220 of the mating device 200a are four sets. The connection relationship between the same and similar components in the connection systems 10 and 10a of the first and second embodiments is not repeated, and the number and configuration relationship between the plurality of sets of terminals 120 and the plurality of sets of conductors 220 are mainly described below, but the practical application is not limited to these embodiments.

As shown in fig. 7, in the present embodiment, the abutting portion 152 of the connector 100a is stacked in two layers, each abutting portion 152 has two sets of terminals 120, each abutting portion 152 extends from the fixing portion 151, and each abutting portion 152 has two receiving openings 153. The number of the first insulating housings 110 of the connector 100a is four, the base portions 111 are fixed to the fixing portions 151, the extending portions 112 are respectively accommodated in the accommodating openings 153, and the sets of terminals 120 are respectively disposed on the first insulating housings 110. Six ground terminals 140 of the connector 100a are provided, three ground terminals 140 are provided on each of the connection portions 152, and the three ground terminals 140 of each of the connection portions 152 are spaced apart from each other. Each set of terminals 120 on each butt-joint portion 152 is located between every two adjacent ground terminals 140, and the terminals 120 and the ground terminals 140 on each butt-joint portion 152 are symmetrical to the terminals 120 and the ground terminals 140 on the other butt-joint portion 152.

As shown in fig. 7 and 8, two sets of conductors 220 and three ground conductors 250 are respectively disposed on two opposite surfaces of the board edge 230 of the mating device 200a, and each of the conductors 220 and each of the ground conductors 250 on the two surfaces of the board edge 230 correspond to each of the terminals 120 and each of the ground terminals 140 on the mating portion 152, respectively. The second insulating housing 210 of the mating device 200a includes two crimping walls 211, and each crimping wall 211 faces the opposite surfaces of the plate edge 230 on which the conductor 220 is disposed. Two receiving spaces 240 are formed between the plate edge 230 and the two press-contact walls 211, and each press-contact wall 211 is provided at a position corresponding to each bent portion 122, 144 of each abutting portion 152.

As shown in fig. 7 and 8, when the connector 100a and the mating device 200a are mated, each of the contacting portions 152 enters the corresponding receiving space 240, each of the pressing walls 211 forces the corresponding bent portion 122, 144 to elastically deform, each of the contacting portions 121, 143 is driven by the corresponding bent portion 122, 144 to displace toward the corresponding conductor 220 and the ground conductor 250, and each of the contacting portions 121, 143 presses the corresponding conductor 220 and the ground conductor 250 with a positive force.

In the disclosure of the present invention, the connector belongs to a cable end connector (cable end connector), and the connector is fixed to a terminal of the cable; the mating device is a circuit board connector (circuit board connector). However, the foregoing disclosure is only a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, and those skilled in the art can modify the connector into a circuit board connector or a mating connector into a cable terminal connector according to the disclosure. If the mating connector is modified to be a cable termination connector, the circuit board may be built into the cable termination connector.

In addition, in the above disclosure, the mating device is a board mounted connector (board mounted connector) spanning two opposite surfaces of the circuit board, and those skilled in the art can modify the mating device disclosed in the present disclosure into a Surface mount connector (SMT connector) fixed to one Surface of the circuit board.

According to the above embodiment of the present invention, the metal shell only needs to cover the first insulating shell base, and the first insulating shell base and the extension portion protect the terminal, and the fixing shell protects the ground terminal, so that the usage ratio of the metal material can be reduced, the processing and assembling cost of the metal shell can be reduced, and the overall strength and the protection can be maintained. Moreover, by the design of the grounding terminal, better anti-interference and anti-noise effects can be achieved.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and it should be understood that various changes and modifications can be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.