Shelled connector mounted on electric equipment

Details Shelled connector mounted on electric equipment Shelled connector mounted on electric equipment

1996-12-24

2001-06-05

Vu, Hien (Department: 2833)

Electrical connectors

Electromagnetic or electrostatic shield

Shielding individually surrounding or interposed between...

C439S108000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06241555

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electric connector for electric equipment, particularly to an internal connector having a conducting shell mounted on the electric equipment, which is to mate with an external connector associated with an external cable.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has recently been required that a connector mounted on electric equipment, for lower cost and better portability be embedded in a chassis of the electric equipment, that is an internal connector. The cable connector is inserted into the mounted connector though a hole in the chassis, that is an external connector associated with an external cable is connected to the mounted connector. The internal connector has a conducting shell for an electrostatic shield against an electric field caused by high frequency signals from the electronic equipment. The shell encapsulates the entire surface of the connector except surfaces on which internal and external terminals are arranged.
FIG. 1
shows a conventional connector
1
consisting of an external connector
11
associated with a cable
11
a
and an internal connector
12
having a shell
14
mounted on a chassis panel
16
. The external connector
11
having an array of jacks on a front hollow is connected to external electric equipment (not shown) by the cable
11
a.
The internal connector
12
is composed of a connector body
13
, an insulating mold
13
b,
an array of plugs
13
a
arranged on a front surface of the insulating mold
13
b
and the conducting shell
14
surrounding the array of plugs
13
a.
The shell
14
also has a pair of lugs
14
b
with a through hole
14
c
on each of them which fixes the shell to the front surface of the insulating mold
13
b
by a bolt. The connector body
13
is fixed on a circuit board
15
at an edge
15
a
where the circuit board
15
is fixed in perpendicular to the chassis panel
16
and in parallel to the plugs
13
a.
When the cable connector
11
is inserted in the internal connector
12
along the direction as indicated by an arrow G, each of the plugs
13
a
in the internal connector
12
mates with the corresponding one of the jacks in the cable connector to establish an electric connection between the external electric equipment and the electric equipment in interest.
FIG. 2
illustrates how to ground the internal connector
12
to the chassis panel
16
. In the first step, the internal connector
12
is fixed to the insulated front surface of the circuit board
15
by screwing a bolt
19
a
into a nut (not shown) at a through hole
15
c
on each side along the direction denoted by an arrow A such that each terminal of the plugs
13
a′
coincides with the corresponding terminal
15
b
of the circuit laid down on the front surface of the circuit board
15
for soldering. In the second step, the shell is fixed to the chassis panel
16
by a bolt
19
b
through a through hole
16
b
and
14
c
on each side such that the shell
14
is inserted into a window
16
a
of the chassis panel
16
along the direction denoted by an arrow B. Thus, since the conducting shell is internally connected with the ground terminal, the chassis panel
16
is grounded by contacting the lugs of the conducting shell
14
to the back surface of the chassis panel
16
.
FIGS. 3A through 3D
illustrate another conventional connector
2
consisting of an internal shelled connector
22
and an external cable connector
21
. The external cable connector
21
is connected to external electric equipment (not shown) by a cable
21
a.
The internal shelled connector
22
is composed of a connector body
23
shown in
FIG. 3B and a
conducting shell
24
shown in FIG.
3
D.
The connector body
23
is composed of an insulating mold
232
, an array of plugs
231
, and an external plug terminal
231
b.
The array of plugs
231
is arranged such that each of the plug terminals
231
a
is to mate with the corresponding jack terminal in an array of jacks (not shown) of the external cable connector
21
, which is extended to the external plug terminal
231
b
as shown in
FIG. 3C
, which is sticking out of the insulating mold
232
arranged perpendicular to the plug terminal
231
a.
The insulating mold
232
is formed by an insert mold method such that the array of plugs
231
is surrounded by insulating walls
232
a
and
232
c.
Further, the insulating mold
232
has a rectangular boss
232
b
on each side of both walls
232
a.
As shown in
FIG. 3D
, the shell
24
is formed by holding a single sheet of patterned aluminum such that all of the outer surfaces of the connector body
23
are encapsulated except the front opening in which the cable connector
21
is to be inserted, a part of the bottom surface on which an array of the external plug terminals
231
b
is arranged, and a rectangular opening
24
a
on each of both side walls to which the rectangular boss
232
b
is engaged. The shell
24
has a pair of outwardly curved legs
24
b
on both sides extending to the same direction as that of the external plug terminals
231
b
by which the internal shelled connector
22
is temporarily fixed to the circuit board as described in detail later. Thus, the internal shelled connector
22
will be built as shown in
FIG. 3A
by inserting the connector body
23
into the shell
24
such that the rectangular boss
232
b
is engaged with the rectangular opening
24
a
on each of both side walls
232
a.
FIG. 4A and 4B
show how to mount the internal shelled connector
22
on the electric equipment and how to ground the chassis panel
26
to the internal shelled connector
22
, respectively. First, the internal shelled connector
22
is mounted near the edge
25
a
of the circuit board
25
such that an array of the external plug terminals
231
b
and a pair of outwardly curved legs
24
b
are inserted into the through holes
25
b
and
25
c
to be fixed, respectively. Next, the circuit board
25
is fixed to the chassis panel
26
by screwing a bolt
27
into a through hole
25
e
on the circuit board
25
and an adjustable channel
26
c
on a plate
26
b
extended perpendicularly to the chassis panel
26
with a nut
28
such that the front surface of the shell
24
is aligned to the back surface of the chassis panel
26
on a periphery of the opening
26
a
to expose the array of plugs
231
b
therein by sliding the bolt in the adjustable channel
26
c
along the direction of a bilateral arrow D.
The through holes
25
b
and
25
c
are connected to the corresponding signal terminals (not shown) and a ground terminal
25
d
on the back surface, respectively. Each of the external plug terminals
231
b
inserted in the through holes
25
b
is soldered to the corresponding signal terminal, and also each of the penetrated outwardly curved legs
24
b
is bent and fixed to the ground terminal
25
d
on the back surface of the circuit board
25
. Thus, the ground potential is ensured for the shell
24
by soldering the legs
24
b
to the ground terminals
25
d.
However, since in the shelled connector
12
as shown in
FIG. 2
, grounding the shell
14
is established only by contacting the lug
14
b
to the chassis panel
16
with screwing a bolt
19
b
and a nut (not shown), an oxidized layer or any insulating foreign material on the contact surface may easily cause instability in an electric contact between the lug
14
b
and the chassis panel
16
and even disconnection of the shell
14
to the ground potential. Since in the shelled connector
22
as shown in
FIG. 4A
, grounding the shell
14
is established by soldering the legs
24
b
to the ground terminals
25
d,
it is needed to form the ground terminals
25
d
on the back surface of the circuit board
25
solely for this purpose, and also a shell material is limited to metals that can be soldered.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a shelled connector mounted on electrical equipment in which the shell has a flange playing a role of an electrical contact with a grounded chassis panel to ensu

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