Electrical connector with power contacts

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to electrical connectors, more particularly to electrical connectors with power contacts for mating with corresponding connectors.

[0003] 2. Description of Related Art

[0004] Personal computers (PC) are used in a variety of ways for providing input and output. Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a serial bus standard to the PC architecture with a focus on computer telephony interface, consumer and productivity applications. The design of USB is standardized by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), an industry standard body incorporating leading companies from the computer and electronic industries. USB can connect peripherals such as mouse devices, keyboards, PDAs, gamepads and joysticks, scanners, digital cameras, printers, external storage, networking components, etc. For many devices such as scanners and digital cameras, USB has become the standard connection method.

[0005] As of 2006, the USB specification was at version 2.0 (with revisions). The USB 2.0 specification was released in April 2000 and was standardized by the USB-IF at the end of 2001. Previous notable releases of the specification were 0.9, 1.0, and 1.1. Equipment conforming to any version of the standard will also work with devices designed to any previous specification (known as: backward compatibility).

[0006] USB supports three data rates: 1) A Low Speed rate of up to 1.5 Mbit/s (187.5 KB/s) that is mostly used for Human Interface Devices (HID) such as keyboards, mice, and joysticks; 2) A Full Speed rate of up to 12 Mbit/s (1.5 MB/s); (Full Speed was the fastest rate before the USB 2.0 specification and many devices fall back to Full Speed. Full Speed devices divide the USB bandwidth between them in a first-come first-served basis and it is not uncommon to run out of bandwidth with several isochronous devices. All USB Hubs support Full Speed); 3) A Hi-Speed rate of up to 480 Mbit/s (60 MB/s). Though Hi-Speed devices are commonly referred to as “USB 2.0” and advertised as “up to 480 Mbit/s”, not all USB 2.0 devices are Hi-Speed. Hi-Speed devices typically only operate at half of the full theoretical (60 MB/s) data throughput rate. Most Hi-Speed USB devices typically operate at much slower speeds, often about 3 MB/s overall, sometimes up to 10-20 MB/s. A data transmission rate at 20 MB/s is sufficient for some but not all applications. However, under a circumstance transmitting an audio or video file, which is always up to hundreds MB, even to 1 or 2 GB, currently transmission rate of USB is not sufficient.

[0007] FIGS. 13 to 16 show existing USB 2.0 connectors. In FIGS. 13 to 15, this USB connector is a standard B-type USB 2.0 receptacle 300. The USB 2.0 receptacle 300 commonly is an integral part of a host or PC. The USB 2.0 receptacle 300 includes a plug-receiving cavity 31, a receptacle tongue plate portion 32 extending into the cavity 31, a plurality of contacts 33 supported by the receptacle tongue plate portion 32, and a metal shield 34 shielding the cavity 31. The tongue plate portion 32 defines a plurality of passageways (not labeled) for receiving the contacts 33. The contacts 33 are located at opposite sides of the tongue plate portion 32. Each contact 33 includes a convex shaped contact section 331 protruding into the cavity 31 for mating with corresponding plug. The USB 2.0 receptacle 300 further has a pair of beveled portions 35, 36 respectively formed on the upper left corner and the upper right corner of the cavity 31 as best shown in FIG. 14.

[0008] FIG. 16 shows a standard B-type USB 2.0 plug 400 for mating with the standard USB 2.0 receptacle 300. The USB 2.0 plug 400 includes a plug insulator 41 defining an opening 42, a plurality of contacts 43 retained in the plug insulator 41, and a metal shell 44 enclosing the plug insulator 41. The plug insulator 41 includes an upper wall 411 and a lower wall 412 with the opening 42 formed therebetween. The contacts 43 are plate-shaped and non-elastic in order to be retained on inner surfaces of the upper and lower walls 411, 412, respectively. The USB 2.0 plug 400 further includes a pair of slant portions 45, 46 located on top lateral sides thereof for mating with the corresponding beveled portions 35, 36 of the USB 2.0 receptacle 300 in order to guide correct insertion of the USB 2.0 plug 400.

[0009] Usually, the USB receptacle is mounted on a PCB of a host device such as a personal computer, and the USB plug is connected to a peripheral device such as a mouse for mating with the USB receptacle. However, with some peripheral devices connected by a standard B-type USB connector, it is desired to transmit signals to and from another device directly, without passing though the host device. Under this condition, because one of the peripheral devices must function as a host device, it is necessary to be able to transmit a voltage between relevant peripheral devices to activate the host function.

[0010] As discussed above, with limited data transmission speed of the USB 2.0 connectors, there is a need to design electrical connectors with additional mating ports for high-speed signal transmission, and with improved power contacts for voltage transmission.

[0011] An electrical connector includes an electrical receptacle and an electrical plug for mating with the electrical receptacle. The electrical receptacle includes a first receiving cavity, a second receiving cavity communicating with the first receiving cavity, a first tongue portion extending into the first receiving cavity and a second tongue portion extending into the second receiving cavity. A plurality of first contacts are disposed on a mounting surface of the first tongue portion. A plurality of second contacts are disposed on opposite first and second surfaces of the second tongue portion and protrude into the second receiving cavity. A plurality of power contacts are located on lateral sides of the second tongue portion and extend into the second receiving cavity. The first and the second tongue portions are parallel to each other among which the second tongue portion is much thicker than the first tongue portion.

[0012] An electrical plug includes a first opening, a second opening and a metal shield shielding the first and the second openings. A plurality of first plug contacts protrude into the first opening. A plurality of second plug contacts are exposed to the second opening. A plurality of plug power contacts are disposed on lateral sides of the second opening. The first and the second openings are separated by a separate plate in condition that the first and the second plug contacts are disposed on opposite first and second sides of the separate plate, respectively.

[0013] The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention.

[0031] In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without such specific details. In other instances, well-known circuits have been shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the present invention in unnecessary detail. For the most part, details concerning timing considerations and the like have been omitted inasmuch as such details are not necessary to obtain a complete understanding of the present invention and are within the skills of persons of ordinary skill in the relevant art.

[0032] Within the following description, a standard USB 2.0 connector, receptacle, plug, and signaling all refer to the USB architecture described within the Universal Serial Bus Specification, 2.0 Final Draft Revision, Copyright December, 2002, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

[0033] Referring to FIG. 10, an electrical connector of the preferred embodiment includes an electrical receptacle 100 and an electrical plug 200 for mating with the electrical receptacle 100. The electrical receptacle 100 is mounted on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB, not shown) and includes an insulative housing 1, a plurality of first and second contacts 2, 3 retained in the insulative housing 1, a pair of power contacts 24 and a metal shield 4 enclosing the insulative housing 1 for EMI protection.

[0034] Referring to FIGS. 1-4, the insulative housing 1 is formed by plastic injection molding to have a base portion 10, a pair of first and second tongue portions 11, 12 extending forwardly from the base portion 10. The insulative housing 1 defines a first receiving cavity 110 with the first tongue portion 11 extending thereinto, and a second receiving cavity 120 with the second tongue portion 12 extending thereinto. The first and the second receiving cavities 110, 120 communicate with each other wherein the second receiving cavity 120 is much larger than the first receiving cavity 110. In detail, as shown in FIG. 4, the width W2 of the second receiving cavity 120 is larger than the width W1 of the first receiving cavity 110. The height H2 of the second receiving cavity is also larger than the height H1 of the first receiving cavity 110. The first receiving cavity 110 is substantially rectangular shaped. The insulative housing 1 has a chamfered portion 13 and a right angle portion 14 on its upper left corner and upper right corner, respectively. The right angle portion 14 and the chamfered portion 13 are located between the first and the second tongue portions 11, 12 along a vertical direction as shown in FIG. 9. The chamfered portion 13 and right angle portion 14 act as keys for regulating the insertion orientation of the electrical plug 200 or the standard B-type USB 2.0 plug as shown in FIG. 16. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first and the second tongue portions 11, 12 are stacked in a vertical direction. The first tongue portion 11 is an upper one and the second tongue portion 12 is a lower one. The first tongue portion 11 includes a plurality of grooves 112 recessed from a mounting surface 111 thereof for receiving the first contacts 2. The second tongue portion 12 is much thicker than the first tongue portion 11 along the vertical direction as best shown in FIG. 4. The second tongue portion 12 includes opposite first and second walls 121, 122 on upper and lower sides thereof, and a pair of side walls 125 connecting the first and the second walls 121, 122. The first and the second walls 121, 122 define a pair of passageways 123, 124, respectively, for receiving the second contacts 3. The mounting surface 111 is a lower surface of the first tongue portion 11 so that the mounting surface 111 is much closer to the first wall 121 than to the second wall 122. That is to say, the mounting surface 111 directly faces the first wall 121. Each side wall 125 defines a depression 126 (as shown in FIG. 12) for receiving the power contacts 24 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 12.

[0035] The first contacts 2 of the preferred embodiment are non-elastic. Each first contact 2 comprises a plate-shaped contact portion 21, a bending portion 22 perpendicular to the contact portion 21 and a tail portion 23 on a distal end of the bending portion 22. The contact portions 21 are attached to the grooves 111 of the first tongue portion 11 so that they can be exposed to the first receiving cavity 110 for mating with the electrical plug 200. As best shown in FIG. 1, the first contacts 2 of the preferred embodiment includes a middle grounding contact and two pairs of first and second signal contacts respectively disposed on lateral sides of the grounding contact. The grounding contact attached on the mounting surface 111 of the first tongue portion 11 is longer than that of the first or the second signal contact so that the front end of the grounding contact is much closer to a free end of the first tongue portion 11. With insertion of the electrical plug 200, the electrical plug 200 contacts the grounding contact first and then contacts the first and second signal contacts for better grounding protection.

[0036] The second contacts 3 of the preferred embodiment are elastic. Each second contact 3 comprises a convex shape elastic contact section 31, a bending section 32 perpendicular to the contact section 31 and a tail section 33 on a distal end of the bending section 32. The contact sections 31 are located on the passageways 123, 124 of the second tongue portion 12 and extend beyond the first and the second walls 121, 122 to protrude into the second receiving cavity 120.

[0037] Each power contact 24 of the preferred embodiment includes a retaining portion 241, a convex shape elastic contact section 242 extending forwardly from the retaining portion 241, an offset portion 243 extending outwardly from the retaining portion 241 and a soldering portion 244 extending downwardly from the retaining portion 241. The retaining portions 241 are partly retained in the corresponding depressions 126 of the second tongue portion 12. The contact sections 242 sidewardly protrude into the second receiving cavity 120 for mating with the electrical plug 200 as best shown in FIG. 12.

[0038] In assembly, the bending portions 22 of the first contacts 21 are located on peripheral side of the bending sections 32 of the second contacts 3 so that the depth D1 of electrical receptacle 100 is much larger than the corresponding depth D3 of the existing B-type USB 2.0 receptacle 300 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 15.

[0039] The electrical receptacle 100 includes a lower port compatible to the existing standard B-type USB 2.0 plug shown in FIG. 16 and an additional upper port for transmitting high-speed signals in order to improve the transmission speed. The upper and the lower ports are simultaneously combined to receive the electrical plug 200. It is obvious that the whole height of the electrical receptacle 100 is much larger than that of the standard B-type USB 2.0 receptacle because of the existing of the upper port.

[0040] In order to organize all the tail portions 23, the tail sections 33 and the soldering portions 244, the electrical receptacle 100 includes a spacer 5 attached to a rear face 13 of the insulative housing 1. The spacer 5 defines a plurality of through holes 51 for the tail portions 23, the tail sections 33 and the soldering portions 244 extending therethrough so that they can be easily mounted to the PCB.

[0041] The metal shield 4 includes a front metal shield 41 enclosing the insulative housing 1, a rear metal shield 42 attached to the front metal shield 41. The front metal shield 41 is stamped from a unitary one-piece metal sheet to have a top wall 411, a pair of side walls 412 and a pair of front walls 413 bending inwardly from front ends of the side walls 412. Each side wall 412 includes an engaging arm 414 extending into the second receiving cavity 120 for abutting against the electrical plug 200 or the standard B-type USB 2.0 plug 400. Each side wall 414 further includes a plurality of supporting portions 415 abutting against the spacer 5 so that the spacer 5 can be firmly fixed to the insulative housing 1. The rear metal shield 42 includes a rear wall 421 attached to the insulative housing 1 and a pair of arms 422 abutting against the side wall 412 of the front metal shield 41.

[0042] The electrical plug 200 includes an insulator 6, a plurality first and second plug contacts 7, 8 retained in the insulator 6, a pair of plug power contacts 84, a metal shell 9 enclosing the insulator 9, an inner PCB 75 and a cable 60 electrically connecting with the first and the second plug contacts 7, 8 as well as the plug power contacts 84. The insulator 6 is frame-shaped and includes an upper separate plate 61, a bottom portion 62 opposite to the separate plate 61 and a pair of side portions 63 connecting the separate plate 61 and the bottom portion 62. The metal shell 9 has a lower portion 91 and an upper portion 92 narrower than the lower portion 91. The upper portion 92 includes a top wall 921 and a pair of first side walls 922. The lower portion 91 includes a bottom wall 911 attached to the bottom portion 62 of the insulator 6, and a pair of second side walls 912 attached to the side portions 63 of the insulator 6. The separate plate 61 includes a slant portion 611 and a substantial right angle portion 614 on lateral sides thereof as shown in FIG. 9. The second side walls 912 comprise a corresponding slant section 913 and a corresponding right angle section 914 attached to the slant portion 611 and the substantial right angle portion 614 for mating with the chamfered portion 13 and right angle portion 14 of the electrical receptacle 100. A first opening 64 is enclosed by the top wall 921, a pair of first side walls 922 and the separate plate 61. The insulator 6 defines a second opening 65 enclosed by the separate plate 61, the pair of side portions 63 and the bottom portion 62. That is to say the first and the second openings 64, 65 are separated by the separate plate 61 which includes a first side 612 exposing to the first opening 64 and a second side 613 exposing to the second opening 65. The second opening 65 is much bigger than the first opening both in height and width as best shown in FIG. 9. The first plug contacts 7 are elastic and include elastic engaging sections 71 extending into the first opening 64 for abutting against the contact portions 21 of first contacts 2. The second plug contacts 8 are attached to the second side 613 of the separate plate 61 and an inner side 621 of the bottom portion 62, respectively. The second plug contacts 8 are non-elastic and include plate-shaped mating sections 81 exposed to the second opening 65 for abutting against the elastic contact sections 31 of the second contacts 3. Each plug power contact 84 includes a stiff contact portion 85 for abutting against the corresponding contact section 242 of the electrical receptacle 100. The contact portions 85 of the plug power contacts 84 are attached to inner sides of the side portions 63 and exposed to the second opening 65. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first and the second plug contacts 7, 8 as well as the plug power contacts 84 electrically connect to the cable 60 through the inner PCB 75.

[0043] In FIGS. 10 and 11, a mating status of the electrical plug 200 fully insertion into the electrical receptacle 100 is shown. After the electrical plug 200 is fully inserted into the electrical receptacle 100, all plug contacts 7, 8 physically contact corresponding contacts 2, 3 of the electrical receptacle 100 as clearly shown in FIG. 11. Since the electrical receptacle 100 is compatible to the existing standard B-type USB 2.0 plug 400, with insertion of the standard B-type USB 2.0 plug 400, only the second contacts 3 of the electrical receptacle 100 abut against the contacts 43 of the B-type USB 2.0 plug 400.

[0044] As shown in FIG. 12, with fully insertion of the electrical plug 200 into the electrical receptacle 100, the contact portions 85 of the plug power contacts 84 abut against the contact sections 242 of the corresponding power contacts 24 for voltage transmission.

[0045] 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. For example, the tongue portion is extended in its length or is arranged on a reverse side thereof opposite to the supporting side with other contacts but still holding the contacts with an arrangement indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.