CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to Patent Application No. 201910875274.8 filed in China, P.R.C. on Sep. 17, 2019, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

The instant disclosure relates to an electrical connector, and in particular, to an electrical connector that can reduce the area of electronic circuit layout.

Related Art

With the developments of transmission interfaces, universal serial bus (USB) Type-C connectors with many advantages have emerged. The advantages of the USB Type-C connectors includes non-directional insertion, small size, support for high current charging, fast transmission speed, electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, enhanced radio frequency interference (RFI) mitigation features, and durability. More and more people are using the USB Type-C connectors, making the USB Type-C connectors gradually lead the market.

High-end USB Type-C connectors known to the inventor(s) often have dual in-line package pins (DIP pins) at the metal housing to achieve grounding. However, the method used by the connectors still occupies excess area of the circuit board, making the overall connector bulky.

SUMMARY

In view of the above problems, an embodiment of the instant disclosure provides a connector including an insulated member, a plurality of first conductive terminals, a plurality of second conductive terminals, a shielding shell, and a metal housing. The first conductive terminals are disposed on an upper surface of the insulated member and extending rearward. The second conductive terminals are disposed on a lower surface of the insulated member, extending rearward, and located below the first conductive terminals. The shielding shell is fitted over the insulated member, and the shielding shell has a plug end and a mounting end. The metal housing has a plurality of grounding structures. The metal housing is fitted over the mounting end of the shielding shell, and the grounding structures are completely located below the second conductive terminals, so that the overall volume of the connector can be reduced.

In one or some embodiments, each of the grounding structures includes an extending section and a mounting section, the extending section extends from a lower side of the second conductive terminals toward the second conductive terminals, the mounting section is connected to the extending section and is parallel to the second conductive terminals.

In one or some embodiments, the metal housing further includes an opening slot for the first conductive terminals and the second conductive terminals passing therethrough, and the ground structures are located at an inner side of the second conductive terminals and are adapted to be assembled to a circuit board. In this way, when the metal housing is installed in the shielding shell, the first conductive terminals, the second conductive terminals, and the mounting section of the grounding structures will be able to abut against the circuit board. Therefore, when the connector is assembled on the circuit board, the first conductive terminals, the second conductive terminals, and the ground structures can be assembled on the circuit board at the same time to simplify the assembling steps of the connector.

In one or some embodiments, the metal housing and the shielding shell are fixed together by laser welding.

In one or some embodiments, the metal housing includes a first top surface, a second top surface, a first side surface, a first bottom surface, a second bottom surface, a second side surface, and a third side surface. The first side surface is perpendicular to the first top surface and the second top surface, and is connected to the first top surface and the second top surface. The first bottom surface is substantially parallel to the first top surface. The second bottom surface is substantially parallel to the second top surface. The second side surface is perpendicular to the first bottom surface and the second bottom surface, and is connected to the first bottom surface and the second bottom surface. The third side surface is substantially parallel to the first side surface and the second side surface, and is connected to the second top surface and the second bottom surface to form a fastening portion. A left extension section and a right extension section of the shielding shell are fixed on the fastening portion, respectively.

In one or some embodiments, the metal housing includes an opening slot, the opening slot extends from the second side surface toward the third side surface along the second bottom surface, and the grounding structures extend from the second side surface toward a middle portion of the opening slot.

In one or some embodiments, two recessed grooves are respectively located at an upper side and a lower side of the shielding shell, and the two recessed grooves respectively accommodate the first top surface and the first bottom surface. Therefore, when the metal housing is fitted over the shielding shell, the metal housing can be accurately aligned to the shielding shell.

In one or some embodiments, the shielding shell includes a main body, a left extension section, and a right extension section. The left extension section is extending from the main body, fixed on the fastening portion, and abutting against the third side surface. The right extension section is extending from the main body with respect to the left extension section, fixed on the fastening portion, and abutting against the third side surface. Therefore, the fastening portion of the metal housing could be firmly combined with the shielding shell, so that the metal housing and the shielding shell would not be separated from each other upon encountering a slight impact.

In one or some embodiments, the shielding shell is an integrated structure, which makes the shielding shell have the waterproof effect.

In one or some embodiments, the insulated member includes a base, a first carrier board, and a second carrier board. The first carrier board passes through the base and extends out of the base, and a portion of each of the first conductive terminals is embedded in the first carrier board. A portion of each of the second conductive terminals is embedded in the second carrier board.

In one or some embodiments, the connector further includes a waterproof ring. The waterproof ring is fitted over an end portion of the shielding shell away from the metal housing.

In the following embodiments, specific features and advantages of the instant disclosure are described in detail. The content is sufficient to allow any person skilled in the art to understand the technical content of the instant disclosure and implement the technical content. In addition, any person skilled in the art can easily understand related objectives and advantages of the instant disclosure according to the content disclosed in this specification, claims, and drawings.

