ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR SHIELDING SHELL HAVING SIDE WALLS INTERCONNECTED TO PREVENT REAR SOLDERING LEGS THEREOF FROM SPLAYING

The present invention relates to an electrical connector including a shielding shell having a pair of side walls, wherein each side wall has a rear soldering leg and a top wall and a rear wall both connected between the pair of side walls to prevent the soldering legs from splaying.

U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0352041 discloses an electrical connector including, among others, a primary shell and a secondary shell affixed to the primary shell. The secondary shell includes a pair of side walls each having a rear soldering leg. The secondary shell further includes a rear baffling section having a rear wall bent downwardly. The rear wall has a pair of resisting arms each resisting against a corresponding soldering leg for restricting an outward movement thereof.

An electrical connector comprises: a housing; an upper and lower rows of contacts arranged in the housing; a primary shielding shell enclosing the housing; and a secondary shielding shell affixed to the primary shielding shell, the secondary shielding shell including a pair of side walls and a top wall interconnected between the pair of side walls, each of the pair of side walls having a soldering leg; wherein the secondary shielding shell has a rear wall integral with a respective rear edge of a corresponding side wall.

Referring to FIGS. 1-4, an electrical connector 100 to be mounted to a printed circuit board (PCB) 200 comprises an insulative housing 1, a plurality of contacts 2 arranged in the housing 1, and a shielding 3 enclosing the housing 1. The shielding 3 includes a primary shielding shell 31 and a secondary shielding shell 32 affixed to the primary shielding shell 31.

The housing 1 includes a base 11, a front tongue 12, and a rear mount 13. Each of the plurality of contacts 2 includes a contacting portion 21 exposed to the tongue 12, a soldering portion 22 extending rearward out of the rear mount 13, and an intermediate portion secured to the base 11. The primary shielding shell 31 formed from sheet metal, is metallic and fixed to the base 11 to form a receiving space or mating cavity 310 with a capsular cross-section along the front-to-back direction for insertion of a mating connector. The secondary shielding shell 32 includes a pair of side walls 322 on two side faces 132 of the rear mount 13, a top wall 321 interconnected between the pair of side walls 322 and extending over a top face 131 of the rear mount 13, and a rear wall 323 integral with a respective rear edge of each of the pair of side walls 322 and located behind a rear face 133 of the rear mount 13. Each of the pair of side walls 322 has a soldering leg 3221 for soldering to the PCB 200. The secondary shielding shell 32 is formed and bent from a metal sheet. The top wall 321 includes a first horizontal half 3211 and a second horizontal half 3212 connected/riveted to each other through a dove-tailed structure and each half 3211 or 3212 is integral with a respective upper edge of a corresponding side wall 322. Both the rear wall 323 and the top wall 321 prevent splaying of the soldering legs 3221, thereby improving effectiveness and accuracy of subsequent soldering operation of the soldering legs 3221.

Each of the pair of side walls 322 has a front extension 3222 welded to the primary shielding shell 31. Each front extension 3222 has a soldering leg 3223 bent outwardly and downwardly to reinforce soldering of the connector 100 on the PCB 200. The primary shielding shell 31 includes a top wall 311 having a pair of stops 3111 for engaging a rear face 111 of the base 11, and a bottom wall 312 having a pair of protrusions 3121 for engaging a pair of recesses 1121 on a front face 112 of the base 11, thereby presenting a front-to-back movement of the housing 1 relative to the shielding 3. To prevent the pair of stops 3111 from disengaging, the top wall 321 has a pair of notches 3213 on a front edge thereof for accommodating and restricting a movement of the stops 3111. The secondary shielding shell 32 further includes a pair of securing tabs 325 retained in the corresponding recesses 135 of the rear mount 13 so as to secure the secondary shielding shell 32 upon the housing 1. The feature of the invention is to on one hand have all the two side walls 322 and the rear wall 323 unitarily formed with a complete U-shaped structure in a top view by stamping and forming, so as to prevent the rear wall 322 deformed between the two side walls 322. On the other hand, the two side walls 322 are at least either welded to the primary shielding shell 31 or equipped with the corresponding two halves riveted to each other to commonly form a top wall. Both two fixation ways may prevent outwardly movement of the pair of side walls 322 away from each other in the transverse direction perpendicular to the front-to-back direction so as to maintain such a U-shapes structure without deformation.