SATA electrical connector and assembly thereof

[0001] This present application is a continuation of a U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/636,172, filed Dec. 11, 2009 now U.S. Pat. No. 8,133,070, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to an SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) electrical connector and its assembly, and more particularly, to a connector meet SATA standard and its assembly, suitable for high rate signal transmission and power transmission.

[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0005] A conventional electrical connector disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,331,122 includes an insulative housing, a plurality of conductive terminals received in the insulative housing, and a pair of fasteners attached to opposite side surfaces of the insulative housing. The insulative housing has a pair of guiding poles and a pair of fixing portions extending beyond opposite sides of the insulative housing.

[0006] However, this kind of electrical connector is of high height, and also of large width because of the pair of guiding poles. Therefore, for the electronic product of limited inner space, there is a need for improvement to satisfy user's requirement.

[0007] The present invention provides an SATA electrical connector, by means of extending a lateral rib and a longitudinal guiding portion from a base surface of an insulator, and flat portions of each terminal extending beyond corresponding slots of the lateral rib, forming a first electrical connector.

[0008] The present invention also provides an SATA electrical connector, by means of defining a lateral slot and a longitudinal guiding slot in an insulator, and resilient portions of each terminals protruding beyond internal slots of the insulator, and a metallic housing having a supporting portion, forming a second electrical connector.

[0009] The present invention further provides an SATA electrical connector assembly. When a first electrical connector is disposed to a second electrical connector, a longitudinal guiding slot of the second electrical connector guides a longitudinal guiding portion of the first electrical connector, resulting a lateral rib of the first electrical connector being accurately inserted into a lateral slot of the second electrical connector.

[0010] The advantage of the present invention is, when the electrical characteristic is remain unchanged, the insulator and the terminals of the electrical connector will have intimate engagements, and the guiding poles of the conventional SATA electrical connector can be omitted for minimizing height and width of the entire structure.

[0011] The another advantage of the present invention is, the width of the power supply terminal is smaller than the width of the signal terminal, and a distance between adjacent power supply terminals is smaller than a distance between adjacent signal terminals, for further minimizing the width of the electrical connector.

[0012] Accordingly, in one aspect, the present invention is to provide an SATA electrical connector comprising an insulator having a lateral rib protruding from a base surface, and a longitudinal guiding portion extending from one side of the lateral rib; a signal terminal group having a plurality of signal terminals, a flat portion of each signal terminal being inserted into a signal terminal hole of the insulator; a power supply terminal group having a plurality of power supply terminals, a flat portion of each power supply terminal being inserted into a power supply terminal hole of the insulator; a cable having a first wire group and a second wire group, wires of the first wire group and the second wire group being respectively connected to the signal terminals and the power supply terminals; and a metallic housing clasped to a base of the insulator, wherein the flat portions of the signal terminals protrude beyond signal terminal slots of the lateral rib, and the flat portions of the power supply terminal protrude beyond power supply slots of the lateral rib thereby minimizing height and width of the entire structure.

[0013] In another aspect, the present invention is to provide an SATA electrical connector comprising an insulator defining a lateral slot and a longitudinal guiding slot extending from the lateral slot; a signal terminal group having a plurality of signal terminals, the signal terminals being inserted into signal terminal holes of the insulator; a power supply terminal group having a plurality of power supply terminals, the power supply terminals being inserted into power supply terminal holes of the insulator; and a metallic housing covering around the insulator, the metallic housing having a supporting portion, wherein resilient portions of the signal terminals protrude beyond internal signal terminal slots of the insulator, resilient portions of the power supply terminal protrude beyond internal power supply slots of the insulator.

[0014] In still another aspect, the present invention is to provide an SATA electrical connector assembly comprising a first electrical connector with a cable and a second electrical connector disposed on a printed circuit board, insulators of the first and the second electrical connectors inserted a plurality of terminals, terminals of the first electrical connector being electrically connected to wires of the cable, terminals of the second electrical connector being electrically connected to conductive portions of the printed circuit board, wherein the insulator of the first electrical connector has a lateral rib and a longitudinal guiding portion, the lateral rib is disposed to a lateral slot of the second electrical connector, and the longitudinal guiding portion is disposed to a longitudinal guiding slot of the second electrical connector; the flat portions of the terminals of the first electrical connector protrude beyond terminal slots of the lateral rib, and the flat portions contact with the terminals of the second electrical connector; and the metallic housing of the first electrical connector has a fixing plate, the fixing plate is clasped to a locating projection of the metallic housing of the second electrical connector, the metallic housing of the second electrical connector has a supporting portion.

[0015] The further advantage of the present invention is that the fixing plate of the first electrical connector is clasped to the locating projection of the second electrical connector. The supporting portion of the second electrical connector supports the first electrical connector. Therefore, when the first electrical connector is pulled out from the second electrical connector, the first electrical connector and the second electrical connector are prevented from being damaged.

[0026] Attached four pictures show the exact size of an SATA electrical connector assembly with respect to a scale in centimeter.

[0027] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, a first connector 1 of the present invention includes an insulator 10, a signal terminal group 20, a power supply terminal group 30, a cable 40, and a metallic housing 50. The insulator 10 has a lateral rib 12 protruding from a receiving space 112 of a base surface 110 to laterally form two opposed free ends 121, 124 beside the lateral rib 12, and a longitudinal guiding portion 13 extending outside the lateral rib 12 from an outer side formed on an outer circumference of the lateral rib 12 to form a free end 131 opposite to the lateral rib 12, wherein the guiding portion 13 is located between the signal terminal group 20 and the power supply terminal group 30. The signal terminal group 20 has a plurality of signal terminals 21, i.e., the first signal terminal, the second signal terminal, . . . , the seventh signal terminal. A flat portion 22 of each signal terminal 21 is inserted into a signal terminal hole 14 of the insulator 10. The power supply terminal group 30 has a plurality of power supply terminals 31, and a flat portion 32 of each power supply terminal 31 is inserted into a power supply terminal hole 15 of the insulator 10. In addition, the lateral rib 12 has a long side surface 12a and the guiding portion 13 connects to the long side surface 12a of the lateral rib 12, wherein the signal terminal holes 14 and the power supply terminal holes 15 are distributed along the long side surface 12a of the lateral rib 12 connected to the guiding portion 13. The cable 40 has a first wire group 41 and a second wire group 42. Wires of the first wire group 41 are respectively connected to the signal terminals 21 of the signal terminal group 20, and wires of the second wire group 42 are respectively connected to the power supply terminals 31 of the power supply terminal group 30. The metallic housing 50 is clasped to a base 11 of the insulator 10. The metallic housing 50 has a fixing plate 51 at a front end, and two grounding plates 52 at opposite sides, and two through holes 56 for allowing pulling plates 57 passing through. The flat portions 22 of the signal terminals 21 protrude beyond signal terminal slots 122 formed on the outer side of the lateral rib 12, and the flat portions 32 of the power supply terminal 31 protrude beyond power supply slots 123 formed on the outer side of the lateral rib 12. The metallic housing 50 has a plurality of fastening plates 53, 54 for respectively clasping in indentions 113, 114 of the base 11 of the insulator 10. The metallic housing 50 has a plurality of blocking plates 55 for respectively engaging with blocking portions 115 of the base 11 of the insulator 10. Therefore, when the electrical characteristic is remain unchanged, the insulator 10, the signal terminals 21 and the power supply terminals 31 have intimate engagements, and the height of the first electrical connector 1 is minimized to a mini SATA electrical connector. Furthermore, the longitudinal guiding portion 13 functions as the guiding structure, therefore, the guiding poles of the conventional SATA electrical connector can be omitted and the width of the first electrical connector 1 is accordingly minimized.

[0028] Referring to FIG. 2, in the signal terminal group 20 and the power supply terminal group 30, the width of the power supply terminal 31 is smaller than the width of the signal terminal 21, and a distance between adjacent power supply terminals 31 is smaller than a distance between adjacent signal terminals 21, for further minimizing the width of the first electrical connector 1.

[0029] Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the insulator 10 has a grounding terminal 37. A first extension portion 371 of the grounding terminal 37 is electrically connected to a bending portion 211 of the first signal terminal, while a second extension portion 372 of the grounding terminal 37 is electrically connected to a bending portion 214 of the fourth signal terminal, and a third extension portion 373 of the grounding terminal 37 is electrically connected to a bending portion 217 of the seventh signal terminal. The first wire group 41 has two pairs of signal wires 411 and a pair of grounding wires 412. Wires of the second wire group 42 are power supply wires. The signal wires 411 are electrically and are respectively connected to bending portions 212, 213, 215, 216 of the second, the third, the fifth and the sixth signal terminals. The grounding wires 412 are electrically connected to the grounding terminal 37. Furthermore, the insulator 10 has a receiving slot 17 for receiving the grounding terminal 37, and a plurality of wire slots 18, 19 for locating the first wire group 41 and the second wire group 42. In addition, wires of the second wire ground 42 are electrically and are respectively connected to bending portions 33 of the power supply terminals 31. Thus, an excellent electrical connection between the signal terminal group 20, the power supply terminal group 30 and the cable 40 is obtained.

[0030] Referring to FIGS. 4 to 9, in the second embodiment of the present invention, the first electrical connector 1 is joined to a second electrical connector 2. The second electrical connector 2 includes an insulator 60, a signal terminal group 70, a power supply terminal group 80 and a metallic housing 90. The insulator 60 defines a lateral slot 62 therein. A longitudinal guiding slot 63 extends from and communicates with the lateral slot 62. The signal terminal group 70 has a plurality of signal terminals 71, and each signal terminal 71 is inserted into a signal terminal hole 64 of the insulator 60. The power supply terminal group 80 has a plurality of power supply terminals 81, and each power supply terminal 81 is inserted into a power supply terminal hole 65 of the insulator 60. The metallic housing 90 covers around the insulator 60. The metallic housing 90 has a locating projection 91 at a front end, and a supporting portion 98 at a rear end. Resilient portions 72 of the signal terminals 71 protrude beyond internal signal terminal slots 66 of the insulator 60, for contacting with the flat portions 22 of the signal terminals 21 of the first electrical connector 1. Resilient portions 82 of the power supply terminal 81 protrude beyond internal power supply slots 67 of the insulator 60, for contacting with the flat portions 32 of the power supply terminals 31 of the first electrical connector 1. The metallic housing 90 has a plurality of fastening plates 95 for respectively clasping in indentions 615 of the insulator 60. The insulator 60 has a plurality of blocking portions 613 for respectively received in fixing holes 93 of the metallic housing 90. Thus, when the first electrical connector 1 is disposed to the second electrical connector 2, the longitudinal guiding slot 63 guides the longitudinal guiding portion 13 of the first electrical connector 1, resulting the lateral rib 12 of the first electrical connector 1 be accurately inserted into the lateral slot 62. The grounding plates 52 of the first electrical connector 1 contact with the metallic housing 90 of the second electrical connector 2. The fixing plate 51 of the first electrical connector 1 is clasped to the locating projection 91 of the second electrical connector 2. The supporting portion 98 of the second electrical connector 2 supports the first electrical connector 1. Therefore, when the first electrical connector 1 is pulled out from the second electrical connector 2, the first electrical connector 1 and the second electrical connector 2 are prevented from being damaged.

[0031] Referring to FIG. 4, in the signal terminal group 70 and the power supply terminal group 80, the width of the power supply terminal 81 is smaller than the width of the signal terminal 71, and a distance between adjacent power supply terminals 81 is smaller than a distance between adjacent signal terminals 71, for further minimizing the width of the second electrical connector 2.

[0032] Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, bending portions 73, 83 of the signal terminals 71 and the power supply terminals 81 are respectively welded to conductive portions P1, P2 of a printed circuit board P. The insulator 60 has a plurality of locating posts 68, 681 for being inserted into locating holes P3, P4 of the printed circuit board P. The metallic housing 90 has a plurality of bending portions 92 for being respectively welded to conductive portions P5 of the printed circuit board P.

[0033] Referring to FIG. 8, the lateral rib 12 of the first electrical connector 1 has a locating block 126 at a rear side and an inner side surface of the insulator 60 of the second electrical connector 2 has a locating block 61 corresponding to the locating block 126. When the first electrical connector 1 is disposed to the second electrical connector 2, the locating block 61 limits the position of the locating block 126, resulting the first electrical connector 1 and the second electrical connector 2 have a steady connection.

[0034] Referring to FIG. 9, in the third embodiment of the present invention, the other end of the cable 40 of the first electrical connector 1 is electrically connected to a standard SATA electrical connector 3, cooperatively forming a transfer cable with a mini SATA electrical connector and a standard SATA electrical connector, facilitating connections between two electronic products.

[0035] The above description is given by way of example, and not limitation. Given the above disclosure, one skilled in the art could devise variations that are within the scope and spirit of the invention disclosed herein, including configurations ways of the recessed portions and materials and/or designs of the attaching structures. Further, the various features of the embodiments disclosed herein can be used alone, or in varying combinations with each other and are not intended to be limited to the specific combination described herein. Thus, the scope of the claims is not to be limited by the illustrated embodiments.