Electrical connectors – Electromagnetic or electrostatic shield – Shielding individually surrounding or interposed between...
Reexamination Certificate
1998-05-13
2001-04-24
Vu, Hien (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
Electromagnetic or electrostatic shield
Shielding individually surrounding or interposed between...
C439S607070
Reexamination Certificate
active
06220895
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a shielded electrical connector, more particularly to an electrical connector with a shielding member that is capable of providing effective protection against electromagnetic interference.
Connectors are often used for signal transmission among the various electrical components in a computer. Referring to
FIG. 1
, a conventional electrical connector is shown to include a generally rectangular housing
10
made of an insulator material. The housing
10
has a front side formed with a receiving chamber
101
and a socket
102
formed in the receiving chamber
101
. The socket
102
has contact insert holes
103
for electrically and mechanically engaging a complementary electrical connector (not shown). A plurality of terminals
104
are disposed in the insert holes
103
, respectively, and have tips that extend downwardly from the bottom side of the housing
10
for electrical connection with a circuit board (not shown). The electrical connector further includes a shielding unit to prevent external electromagnetic waves from interfering and affecting signal quality during signal transmission.
The shielding unit includes first and second shielding components
20
,
25
that cover the housing
10
. The first shielding component
20
includes top, rear, left and right wall portions
21
, and covers four sides of the housing
10
(excluding the front side and the bottom side). The bottom edge of the first shielding component
20
is formed with grounding legs
22
for grounding purposes. The second shielding component
25
has two sides formed with a respective thorn
251
for fixing the second shielding component
25
in a space formed between the inner wall surface of the receiving chamber
101
and the socket
102
. The bottom edge of the second shielding component
25
is also formed with a grounding leg
252
for grounding purposes.
It is noted that the protection against electromagnetic interference in the aforementioned conventional electrical connector is inadequate since no shielding effect is provided at the front side of the socket
102
.
FIG. 2
illustrates another conventional electrical connector with a shielding unit. As shown, the electrical connector includes a generally rectangular housing
10
′ made of an insulator material. Like the housing
10
of the electrical connector of
FIG. 1
, the housing
10
′ has a front side formed with a receiving chamber
101
′, and a socket
102
′ formed in the receiving chamber
101
′. The socket
102
′ has contact insert holes
103
′ for engaging electrically and mechanically a complementary electrical connector (not shown). A plurality of terminals (not shown) are disposed in the insert holes
103
′, respectively, and have tips that extend downwardly from the bottom side of the housing
10
′ for electrical connection with a circuit board (not shown). The left and right sides of the housing
10
′ are formed with a respective fastening recess
105
. The electrical connector further includes a shielding unit to prevent external electromagnetic waves from interfering and affecting signal quality during signal transmission.
The shielding unit is similar to that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,637,015 issued on Jun. 10, 1997 to Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co., Ltd., and includes first and second shielding components
30
,
35
that cover the housing
10
′. The first shielding component
30
includes a front wall portion
31
and left and right wall portions
32
. The front wall portion
31
is formed with a circular opening
311
, and a rearwardly extending guide piece
312
at the periphery of the opening
311
. The top edge of the front wall portion
31
, is bent rearward to form a press section
313
. Each of the left and right wall portions
31
has an engaging section
321
that is formed with a slit
3211
. The top edge of each of the left and right wall portions
32
is formed with a stepped section
322
. The bottom edge of each of the left and right wall portions
32
is formed with a downwardly extending grounding leg
323
. The second shielding component
35
includes a top wall portion
351
and a rear wall portion
352
. The rear wall portion
352
has forwardly projecting insert section
353
at left and right edges thereof. Each insert section
353
has a resilient piece
354
thereon. The front edge of the top wall portion
351
is formed with a stepped section
355
. The left and right edges of the top wall portion
351
are bent downwardly to form a respective press section
356
.
The first shielding component
30
is mounted on the housing
10
′ at the front side of the latter so as to cover and be positioned on the front side and the left and right sides of the housing
10
′. The second shielding component
35
is mounted on the housing
10
′ at the rear side of the same so as to cover and be positioned on the top and rear sides of the housing
10
′.
The front wall portion
31
of the first shielding component
30
provides the electrical connector of
FIG. 2
with stronger protection against electromagnetic interference than that in the electrical connector of FIG.
1
. However, the electrical connector of
FIG. 2
still has an unsatisfactory design due to the following reasons: From the manufacturer's viewpoint, there is a need to form two separate components; i.e., the first shielding component
30
with the front wall portion and the left and right wall portions, and the second shielding component
35
with the top and rear wall portions. During the manufacturing stage, the two components undergo separate processing operations. Particularly, two dies must be prepared when forming the two components. For each mold, the precision of the corners in the other mold must be taken into consideration. Furthermore, the corresponding angles of the press sections
313
,
356
and the stepped sections
322
,
355
that project from the edges of the two shielding components must be precisely matched. The high quality requirement during the die forming and production stages is troublesome and results in increased costs. In addition, because the two shielding components are mounted on the housing one after the other, and because the shapes of the shielding components have been set beforehand, extreme care must be undertaken when bending the different portions of the shielding components during the mounting of the same so as to avoid any deviation which can hinder precise mounting of the shielding components on the housing. This increases the difficulty in mounting the shielding components on the housing. Moreover, clearances between the shielding components cannot be entirely avoided when the shielding components are mounted on the housing. These clearances can have an adverse effect on the protection against electromagnetic interference.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector with a shielding member that is relatively convenient to assemble and that is capable of providing effective protection against electromagnetic interference.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector with a shielding member that is relatively convenient to fabricate.
Accordingly, the shielded electrical connector of this invention electrical connector comprises a conductive shield including two side wall portions, a top wall portion and a front wall portion. The front wall portion has insert aperture for receiving a mating connector. The shield receives an insulative housing having a top side, a bottom side and a contact mounting member disposed in the shield to be accessible through the insert aperture in the front wall portion of the shield. Contacts are mounted in the housing with a mating portion disposed in the contact mounting member for engaging contacts of the mating connector. A conductive latch is unitarily supported by one of the side wall portions and extends along the contact mounting memb
Molex Incorporated
Vu Hien
Zeitler Robert J.
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