High profile electrical connector

[00002] 1. Field of the Invention

[00003] The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to a high profile electrical connector mounted on a printed circuit board.

[00004] 2. Description of Related Art

[00005] With the development of communication and computer technology, electrical connectors for high-speed data transmission are widely used in electronic systems. IEEE1394 (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; IEEE) connectors are commonly used to connect external and internal peripheral devices to a computer for performing high speed data transmission therebetween. These connectors typically employ a plug connector terminated to a transmission cable and a receptacle connector mounted on a circuit board of the computer.

[00006] U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,608 discloses a receptacle connector comprising an insulative housing having a base portion and a mating portion, a plurality of conductive terminals retained in the housing, an inner shield enclosing the mating portion of the housing for electromagnetic interference protection, and an outer metal shield enclosing both the housing and the inner shield for further electromagnetic interference protection. In some special applications, a large distance is required between the mating portion and a printed circuit board (PCB) on which the receptacle connector is mounted. A high profile receptacle connector is accordingly developed to satisfy this requirment. However, the high profile receptacle connector may cause a variety of problem. For instance, as the complexity of the high profile housing increases, the difficulty of manufacturing the high profile housing increases. Another problem is that the terminals received in the high profile housing have elongated mounting potions, which results in that the elongated mounting portions are difficult to be positioned and therefore are inaccurately connected to the PCB.

[00007] Hence, an improved high profile electrical connector is desired to overcome the disadvantage of the prior art.

[00008] An object of the present invention is to provide a high profile electrical connector with terminal modules retained in a dielectric housing thereof.

[00009] To achieve the above object, an electrical connector in accordance with the present invention comprises a dielectric housing, a terminal subassembly, an inner shield and an outer shield. The dielectric housing comprises a supporting portion and a mating portion defining a receiving space above the supporting portion. The terminal subassembly comprises first and second terminal modules. The first and the second terminal modules respectively comprise first and second dielectric bodies retained in the receiving space and a plurality of first and second terminals received in the first and the second dielectric bodies. The first and the second dielectric bodies extend beyond the mating portion. The inner shield encloses the first and second dielectric bodies and defines a first engaging space. The outer shield encloses the dielectric housing and the inner shield, the outer shield and the inner shield define a second engaging space therebetween.

[00010] Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[00019] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, an electrical connector 1 in accordance with the present invention comprises a dielectric housing 12, a terminal subassembly 90 received in the dielectric housing 12, an inner shield 60 enclosing the terminal subassembly 90, an outer shield 70 enclosing the dielectric housing 12 and a pair of grounding tabs 50 for electrically connecting with the inner shield 60.

[00020] Referring to FIG. 3, the dielectric housing 12 comprises a supporting portion 120 and a mating portion 138 located above the supporting portion 120. The supporting portion 120 defines a pair of chambers 1200 in a front face thereof for saving material. A plurality of posts 129 extends downwardly from a bottom face of the supporting portion 120 for being received in corresponding holes of a printed circuit board (PCB, not shown) on which the connector 1 is mounted. The mating portion 138 comprises opposite upper and lower walls 121, 122 and a pair of opposite side walls 123 interconnecting the upper and the lower walls 121, 122. The upper and the lower walls 121, 122, and the side walls 123 together define a receiving space 124 therebetween. Each side wall 123 defines a swallow-tailed groove 125 communicating with the receiving space 124 in an inner face thereof. The upper wall 121 defines a recess 126 communicating with the receiving space 124 in an inner face thereof. The mating portion 138 defines a pair of channels 127 communicating with the receiving space 124 at two junctures of the side walls 123 and the lower wall 122.

[00021] Referring to FIG. 4, the dielectric housing 12 defines a cavity 131 in a rear face 139 thereof and communicating with the receiving space 124. An inside wall 132 of the cavity 131 defines a plurality of passageways 133 communicating with the receiving space 124 and a pair of holes 134 between the passageways 133. The dielectric housing 12 defines a pair of slots 136 communicating with the corresponding channels 127 at opposite ends of the rear face 139. The dielectric housing 12 comprises a first ladder portion 128 extending rearwardly from a lower end of the rear face 139 thereof. The first ladder portion 128 is formed with a plurality of bulges 1280 aligned with the corresponding passageways 133.

[00022] Referring back to FIG. 1, the terminal subassembly 90 comprises a first terminal module 40 and a second terminal module 80. The first terminal module 40 comprises a first dielectric body 14, a plurality of first terminals 20 partially retained in the first dielectric body 14 and a spacer 25 in which the first terminals 20 partially retained in. The second terminal module 80 comprises a second dielectric body 16 and a plurality of second terminals 30 retained in the second dielectric body 16, the first and the second dielectric body 14, 16 form a dielectric body 15.

[00023] Referring to FIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8, the first and the second dielectric bodies 14, 16 are stacked with each other. Each of the first and the second dielectric bodies 14, 16 comprises a base 140, 160 having an engaging face 146, 166 (FIG. 1) and a pair of opposite side faces 147, 167, and a tongue 141, 161 extending forwardly from a front face of the base 140, 160. Each base 140, 160 comprises a hole 144, 164 defined in the engaging face 146, 166 and a post 143, 163 formed on the engaging face 146, 166. The hole 144 and the post 143 of the base 140 of the first dielectric body 14 respectively engage with the corresponding post 163 and hole 164 of the base 160 of the second dielectric body 16 for securing the first and the second terminal modules 40, 80 together. The base 140 of the first dielectric body 14 and the base 160 of the second dielectric body 16 form a retaining member 150 received in the receiving space 124 of the dielectric housing 12. Each base 140, 160 is formed with a pair of opposite projections 142, 162 on the opposite side faces 147, 167 thereof. Each projection 142, 162 is formed with a rib 1420, 1620 thereon. The projections 142 of the first dielectric body 14 and the corresponding projections 162 of the second dielectric body 16 form a pair of swallow-tailed protrusions 152 retained in the corresponding swallow-tailed grooves 125 of the dielectric housing 12 with the ribs 1420, 1620 interferentially engaging with inner faces of the grooves 125. The tongue 141, 161 is parallel to laterally offset from each other and projected beyond a front face of the mating portion 138. The tongue 161 of the second dielectric body 16 is formed with a key 165 extending upwardly toward the tongue 141 of the first dielectric body 14 for ensuring a blind mating of a complementary connector.

[00024] Each of the first and the second terminals 20, 30 is insert-molded in the base 140, 160 respectively and comprises a vertical intermediate portion 21, 31, a contact portion 22, 32 extending forwardly from the intermediate portion 21, 31 on an inner face of the tongue 141, 161 of the first and the second dielectric bodies 40, 80 and a solder tail 24, 34 extending from the intermediate portion 21, 31 for connecting with a corresponding pad of the PCB.

[00025] The spacer 25 comprises a main portion 251 received in the cavity 131 of the dielectric housing 12 and a second ladder portion 252 engaging with the first ladder portion 128. The intermediate portions 21 of the first terminals 20 are partially insert-molded in the main portion 251 and the second ladder portion 252. The main portion 251 is formed with a pair of posts 253 and a plurality of ribs 254 on a front face thereof. The posts 253 of the main portion 251 are fit in the corresponding holes 134 of the inner wall 132 of the cavity 131. The intermediate portions 31 of the second terminals 30 are snugly sandwiched between the corresponding ribs 254 of the main portion 251 and the corresponding passageways 133 of the inner wall 132 of the dielectric housing 12. The second ladder portion 252 defines a plurality of cutouts 255 aligned with the ribs 254 of the main portion 251. The cutouts 255 are fit in the corresponding bulges 1280 with lower ends of the intermediate portions 31 of the corresponding second terminals 31 sandwiched therebetween.

[00026] Referring back to FIGS. 1 and 2, the inner shield 60 and the outer shield 70 are stamped from metallic material. The inner shield 60 comprises a shroud 61 enclosing the tongues 141, 161 of the first and the second dielectric bodies 14, 16 and defining a first engaging space 2 therein, a retaining tab 62 extending rearwardly from an upper wall of the shroud 61 to be retained in the recess 126 of the dielectric housing 12, and a pair of grounding fingers 63 extending curvedly and laterally from opposite ends of a lower wall of the shroud 61 to be received in the corresponding channels 127 of the dielectric housing 12. Each grounding tab 50 comprises an intermediate portion 51 received in the corresponding slot 136 of the dielectric housing 12, a contact portion 52 extending forwardly from the intermediate portion 51 into the corresponding channel 127 and contacting with the grounding finger 63 and a solder tail 54 extending horizontally from the intermediate portion 51 for electrically connecting with a grounding pad of the PCB.

[00027] The outer shield 70 comprises a front shield 71 and a rear shield 72 both attached to the dielectric housing 12. The front shield 71 comprises a shroud 711 enclosing the shroud 61 of the inner shield 60 and the mating portion 138 of the dielectric housing 12, and a pair of opposite side walls 713 extending downwardly from the shroud 711 to cover side faces of the dielectric housing 12. The shroud 61 of the inner shield 60 and the shroud 711 of the front shield 71 together define a second engaging space 3 therebetween. Each side wall 713 is formed with a grounding tail 714 for connecting with the grounding path of the PCB. The side walls 713 and the shroud 711 define a plurality of openings 715 therein. The rear shield 72 covers the rear face 139 of the dielectric housing 12 and is formed with a plurality of tabs 720 engaging with the openings 715 of the front shield 71.

[00028] It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.