TWI807339B - Shield and Connector Assemblies - Google Patents

Abstract

A shielding cover includes a metal shell and at least one conductive gasket. The metal shell has an end edge defining a front opening, a plurality of buttonholes spaced apart from the end edge, and a plurality of buttonhole covering sheets integrally formed on the inner edges of the buttonholes. The conductive gasket is arranged at the edge of the metal shell defining the front opening. The conductive gasket has at least one first elastic piece unit. The first elastic piece unit has a plurality of first elastic fingers. Each first elastic finger has a first finger and a hook configured on the first finger and assembled in the corresponding buttonhole.

Description

Shield and Connector Assemblies

The invention relates to a shielding case, in particular to a shielding case and a connector assembly.

Chinese utility model notification number CN205621959U discloses a shielding cover, which includes a metal shell and at least one elastic module. The metal shell has an end edge defining an opening and at least one button hole spaced from the end edge. The elastic module is arranged at the edge of the metal shell, and has a first elastic unit, a second elastic unit, a connecting unit and at least one positioning unit. The positioning unit has a hook extending from the first elastic unit and passing through the button hole and two wings protruding from both sides of the hook respectively. However, even after the hooks of the elastic module are assembled into the button holes of the metal casing, the button holes of the metal casing are still open, and these open holes will cause electromagnetic interference problems.

Chinese Invention Publication No. CN103928796 A (corresponding U.S. Invention Publication No. US2014/0196943 A1) discloses a shielding case. The shielding case includes a plurality of walls. The plurality of walls includes at least two opposite side walls and at least one top wall connecting the side walls to each other. The shielding case also includes a plurality of openings. The first shape is similar but slightly larger to provide an edge region extending around the periphery of the opening around which the shielding element is bonded to the shielding case to provide a barrier to electromagnetic interference leakage from the shielding case. However, the shielding element is an independent component and needs to be individually installed on each opening, which increases the assembly time and procedures, and it is easy to fall off if the adhesion is not good, and the patch-like appearance is not beautiful. In addition, a plurality of small openings are continuously provided around the opening near the front end of the socket. These small openings are a plurality of elastic fingers for installing conductive gaskets. In the prior art, the shielding element is only used for installation on larger openings, and is not used to close these small openings for installing the elastic fingers. However, it will be very labor-intensive and time-consuming to close so many small openings one by one with the shielding elements that are independent of each other.

Therefore, one of the objectives of the present invention is to provide a shielding cover and a connector assembly that can improve at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art.

Therefore, in some embodiments of the present invention, the shielding case includes a metal shell and at least one conductive pad. The metal shell has an end edge defining a front opening, a plurality of buttonholes spaced apart from the end edge, and a plurality of buttonhole covering sheets integrally formed on the inner edges of the buttonholes. The at least one conductive gasket is arranged at the end edge of the metal shell defining the front opening. The conductive gasket has at least one first elastic piece unit. The first elastic piece unit has a plurality of first elastic fingers. After the buttonholes are assembled, the buttonhole covering sheets are used to cover and close the buttonholes.

In some embodiments, the buttonhole covering sheets are respectively integrally formed on the inner edge of the rear end of the buttonholes, and the hook portions of the first elastic fingers are hooked on the inner edge of the front end of the buttonholes.

In some embodiments, before the hooks of the first elastic fingers are assembled with the buttonholes, the buttonhole covering sheets are erected outwardly relative to the metal housing, and do not cover the buttonholes so that the buttonholes are open, and the buttonhole covering sheets are located on the same plane.

In some implementations, each first elastic finger further has two wings protruding from both sides of the hook, respectively. After the hooks and the buttonholes are assembled, the first finger, the hook and the two wings of each first elastic finger are respectively located on different sides of the metal shell inside and outside, and are used to abut against the metal shell to prevent the first elastic finger from detaching from the buttonhole.

In some embodiments, the conductive gasket further has a second elastic piece unit and a connecting unit, one of the first elastic piece unit and the second elastic piece unit is located inside the metal shell, and the other is located outside the metal shell, the connecting unit is connected between the front end of the first elastic piece unit and the front end of the second elastic piece unit and is adjacent to the edge of the metal shell.

In some implementation aspects, the first elastic unit is located inside the metal housing, the second elastic unit is located outside the metal housing, the hook portion and the two wings of each first elastic finger of the first elastic unit pass through the corresponding button hole from the inner side of the metal housing and are folded back to the outside of the metal housing.

Therefore, in some embodiments of the present invention, the connector assembly includes the above-mentioned shield, a receptacle connector and a pluggable module. The receptacle connector is arranged at a rear section inside the shielding case. The pluggable module is used for inserting into the shielding cover from the front opening to connect with the socket connector.

In the present invention, the buttonhole covering sheets integrally formed on the inner edges of each buttonhole can cover each buttonhole after the hooks of the first elastic fingers of the conductive pad are assembled in the buttonholes to provide better electromagnetic interference shielding effect, and the buttonhole covering sheets integrally constructed on the inner edges of each buttonhole can not protrude from the surface of the metal shell after covering and closing the buttonholes, and the appearance is more smooth and beautiful.

Referring to FIG. 1 , an embodiment of a connector assembly 100 of the present invention includes a shielding case 1 , a receptacle connector 2 , and a pluggable module 3 .

Referring to FIGS. 1-2 , the shielding case 1 includes a metal shell 11 and a plurality of conductive pads 12 . The metal shell 11 is constructed, for example, by stamping and bending a thin metal plate, and is used for guiding the pluggable module 3 and shielding electromagnetic interference. The metal shell 11 is configured to be disposed on a circuit board (not shown in the figure) and extends along a front-back direction D1 (the direction of the arrow is front, and the direction of the arrow is back). The metal housing 11 has a top wall 111, a bottom wall 112 spaced apart from the top wall 111 along an up-down direction D2 (the direction of the arrow is up, and a reverse direction is down), two side walls 113 spaced apart along a left-right direction D3 (the direction of the arrow is right, and the direction of the reverse is left) and connected between the top wall 111 and the bottom wall 112, a rear wall 114 connected to the rear edges of the top wall 111 and the side walls 113, and from the side walls 11 3 extends downwardly and is adapted to be secured to the circuit board and/or to a plurality of pins 115 connected to ground traces (not shown). In addition, the metal housing 11 also has an insertion space 116 defined by the top wall 111, the bottom wall 112, the side walls 113 and the rear wall 114 and located inside, a front opening 116a located at the front end and connected to the insertion space 116 for insertion of the pluggable module 3, and a bottom opening 116b located behind the bottom wall 112 and connected to the insertion space 116.

Referring to FIGS. 2 to 6, the metal shell 11 has an end edge 117 that defines the front opening 116a and is jointly formed by the top wall 111, the bottom wall 112, and the two side walls 113, a plurality of buttonholes 118 spaced apart from the end edge 117, and a plurality of buttonhole covering sheets 119 integrally configured on the inner edges of the rear ends of the buttonholes 118. The conductive pads 12 are disposed on the edge 117 of the metal shell 11 defining the front opening 116 a and correspond to the top wall 111 , the bottom wall 112 and the side walls 113 respectively. Each conductive pad 12 has a first elastic unit 121 , a second elastic unit 122 , and a connecting unit 123 . In this embodiment, the first elastic piece unit 121 is located inside the metal shell 11 , the second elastic piece unit 122 is located outside the metal shell 11 , and the connecting unit 123 is connected between the front end of the first elastic piece unit 121 and the front end of the second elastic piece unit 122 and is adjacent to the edge 117 of the metal shell 11 . However, in other variant implementations, the first elastic piece unit 121 can also be located outside the metal casing 11 , while the second elastic piece unit 122 is located inside the metal casing 11 . It should be noted that the number of conductive pads 12 shown in this embodiment is four, but in the implementation of changes, two adjacent conductive pads 12 can be constructed as a whole to form two conductive pads in total, or four conductive pads 12 can be integrally configured as a single conductive pad, which is not limited by this embodiment; in addition, in the embodiment where the shielding case 1 only includes one or two conductive pads 12, each conductive pad 12 has the first spring unit 121 and the second spring unit 122. The number can also be multiple, for example, in the case of one conductive pad 12, each conductive pad 12 can have four first elastic unit 121 and second elastic unit 122 respectively corresponding to the top wall 111, the bottom wall 112 and the two side walls 113.

The first elastic unit 121 has a plurality of first elastic fingers 121a, each first elastic finger 121a has a first finger portion 121b extending backward from the connecting unit 123, a hook portion 121c configured at the end of the first finger portion 121b and assembled in the corresponding button hole 118, and two wings 121d protruding from two sides of the hook portion 121c respectively. Wherein, before the hook portions 121c and wing portions 121d of the first elastic fingers 121a are assembled with the buttonholes 118, the buttonhole covering sheets 119 do not cover the buttonholes 118 so that the buttonholes 118 are open. 19 are located on the same plane; after the hooks 121c and wing 121d are assembled with the buttonholes 118, the first finger 121b of each first elastic finger 121a of the first elastic unit 121 is located inside the metal housing 11, and the hook 121c and the two wings 121d of each first elastic finger 121a of the first elastic unit 121 pass through the corresponding buttonhole 118 from the inner side of the metal housing 11 and fold back It is connected to the outside of the metal shell 11 and is used to abut against the metal shell 11 to prevent the first elastic fingers 121a from breaking away from the button holes 118, and the hook portions 121c of the first elastic fingers 121a adjacent to the first finger portions 121b are hooked on the inner edges of the front ends of the button holes 118. The key point is that the button hole covering sheets 119 can be used to cover and close the button holes 118 at this time. For example, the buttonhole covering sheets 119 on the same plane may be pushed forward together through a jig (not shown), so that the buttonhole covering sheets 119 are bent toward the corresponding buttonholes 118, thereby covering and closing the buttonholes 118. Most of the area of the buttonhole 118. In addition, the second elastic piece unit 122 has a plurality of second elastic fingers 122 a respectively located outside the metal shell 11 .

Referring to Fig. 1, Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, the receptacle connector 2 is mechanically and electrically arranged on the circuit board, the receptacle connector 2 has an insulating base 21, and a plurality of terminals 22, the base 21 has a socket 211, the terminals 22 are arranged in the socket 211 and its tail (not shown) is electrically and mechanically connected to the circuit board. The receptacle connector 2 is covered by the shielding case 1 through the bottom opening 116 b, so that the receptacle connector 2 is disposed in the rear section of the insertion space 116 in the shielding case 1 .

The pluggable module 3 includes a housing 31 , a plug board 32 , and a cable 33 . The housing 31 includes a plug portion 311 . The plug board 32 protrudes from the plug portion 311 and has a plurality of contact fingers 321 on the plug board 32 . After the pluggable module 3 enters the shielding cover 1 from the front opening 116a, the plug plate 32 at the end of the plug portion 311 of the pluggable module 3 can be inserted into the slot 211 of the socket connector 2, so that the contact fingers 321 of the plug board 32 contact the terminals 22 in the slot 211 of the socket connector 2, so that the pluggable module 3 and the socket connector 2 are docked with each other. In addition, the front section of the shielding cover 1 can be disposed in a mounting hole of a casing (not shown) adjacent to the front opening 116a, the second spring unit 122 of the conductive pad 12 on the outside is used to partially contact the periphery of the mounting hole of the casing, and the first elastic piece unit 121 of the conductive pad 12 on the inside is used to contact the pluggable module 3 .

In summary, in the present invention, the buttonhole covering sheets 119 integrally formed on the inner edges of each buttonhole 118 can cover each buttonhole 118 after the hooks 121c of the first elastic fingers 121a of the conductive pad 12 are assembled in the buttonholes 118 to provide better electromagnetic interference shielding effect. The surface of the metal shell 11 can not protrude, and the appearance is more smooth and beautiful.

But what is described above is only an embodiment of the present invention, and should not limit the implementation scope of the present invention. All simple equivalent changes and modifications made according to the patent scope of the present invention and the content of the patent specification are still within the scope covered by the patent of the present invention.

100:Connector assembly 1: shielding cover 11: Metal shell 111: top wall 112: bottom wall 113: side wall 114: rear wall 115: pin 116: Insertion space 116a: front opening 116b: Bottom opening 117: edge 118: buttonhole 119: buttonhole cover sheet 12: Conductive gasket 121: The first shrapnel unit 121a: the first elastic finger 121b: First finger 121c: Hook 121d: wing 122: The second shrapnel unit 122a: the second elastic finger 123: link unit 2: socket connector 21: seat body 211: socket slot 22: terminal 3: Pluggable modules 31: Shell 311: socket part 32: plug board 321: contact fingers 33: cable D1: Front and rear direction D2: up and down direction D3: left and right directions

Other features and effects of the present invention will be clearly presented in the implementation manner with reference to the drawings, wherein: Fig. 1 is a three-dimensional exploded view of an embodiment of the connector assembly of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a partial perspective exploded view of a shielding cover of this embodiment; Fig. 3 is a partial perspective view of the shielding cover of this embodiment, in which the buttonhole covering sheets of the shielding cover have not yet covered the buttonholes; Fig. 4 is a partial sectional view of the shielding cover of this embodiment in Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a partial perspective view of the shielding cover of this embodiment, the buttonhole covering sheets of the shielding cover covering the buttonholes; and FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view of the shield of the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 .

1: shielding cover

11: Metal shell

111: top wall

112: bottom wall

113: side wall

116: Insertion space

116a: front opening

117: edge

118: buttonhole

119: buttonhole cover sheet

12: Conductive gasket

121: The first shrapnel unit

121a: the first elastic finger

121b: First finger

121c: Hook

121d: wing

122: The second shrapnel unit

122a: the second elastic finger

123: link unit

D1: Front and rear directions

D2: up and down direction

D3: left and right directions

Claims (7)

A shield comprising: A metal shell having an end edge defining a front opening, a plurality of buttonholes spaced apart from the end edge, and a plurality of buttonhole cover sheets integrally formed on the inner edges of the buttonholes; and At least one conductive gasket is arranged at the end edge of the metal shell defining the front opening. The conductive gasket has at least one first elastic piece unit. The first elastic piece unit has a plurality of first elastic fingers. After the buttonholes are assembled, the buttonhole covering sheets are used to cover and close the buttonholes. The shielding cover according to claim 1, wherein the buttonhole covering sheets are integrally formed on the inner edge of the rear end of the buttonholes, and the hooks of the first elastic fingers are hooked on the inner edge of the front end of the buttonholes. The shielding cover according to claim 2, wherein, before the hooks of the first elastic fingers are assembled with the buttonholes, the buttonhole covering pieces are erected outwardly relative to the metal housing, and do not cover the buttonholes so that the buttonholes are open, and the buttonhole covering pieces are located on the same plane. The shielding cover according to claim 3, wherein each first elastic finger further has two wings protruding from both sides of the hook, after the hooks are assembled with the button holes, the first finger, the hook and the two wings of each first elastic finger are respectively located on different sides of the metal shell inside and outside, and are used to abut against the metal shell to prevent the first elastic fingers from leaving the button holes. The shielding cover according to claim 4, wherein the conductive gasket further has a second elastic piece unit and a connecting unit, one of the first elastic piece unit and the second elastic piece unit is located inside the metal shell, and the other is located outside the metal shell, and the connecting unit is connected between the front end of the first elastic piece unit and the front end of the second elastic piece unit and is adjacent to the edge of the metal shell. The shielding cover according to claim 5, wherein the first elastic piece unit is located inside the metal shell, the second elastic piece unit is located outside the metal shell, the hook portion and the two wing portions of each first elastic finger of the first elastic piece unit pass through the corresponding button hole from the inside of the metal shell and are folded back to the outside of the metal shell. A connector assembly comprising: The shielding cover described in any one of claim 1 to claim 6; a receptacle connector located at the rear of the shield; and A pluggable module is used for inserting into the shielding cover from the front opening to connect with the socket connector.

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