JPH02265182A - Emi shield connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a protector means against wear of a connector by forming a joint connection at a position of a plug housing near the central portion thereof when a shell joint part and a plug joint part bring the plug housing and a socket shell into engagement with each other. CONSTITUTION: An EMI shielded connector comprises a plug housing 13, a conductive plug sleeve 40 of which forward portion extends toward its plug joint part 44 near the central portion from the outer end, a socket shell 15 adapted to engage with the plug housing 13 and made of dielectric material with an outer end and an inner end having the inner and outer peripheries of a socket, and a conductive shell sleeve of which outer portion extends toward its shell joint part 26 from the vicinity of the outer end. A joint connection is established at a position of the plug housing 13 near the central portion thereof when the shell joint part 26 and the plug joint part 44 bring the plug housing 13 and the socket shell 15 into engagement with each other. That arrangement realizes an EMI shielded connector having a protection means against its wear.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to electrical connectors, and more particularly to EMI shielded connectors having protection against wear.

[Conventional technology]

A practical connector should be mechanically robust, lightweight, low cost, corrosion resistant, and exhibit a high level of EMI shielding.

Generally, good EMI shielding is provided by metals.

Aluminum and its alloys have always been good materials due to their light weight, high conductivity and ease of processing. However, aluminum is chemically reactive and has a weakness against wear.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Because of the above problems, connector housings are made of plastic material compositions. Since plastic is non-conductive, fillers are used to provide some EMI shielding.

However, it is extremely difficult to create filler mixtures with sufficient uniformity to provide effective shielding.

This is due to the molding process not providing the necessary physical contact and uniform distribution between the filler particles to achieve the desired overall conductivity.

A different method for plastic compositions is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 467
No. 8260. This patent incorporates a porous sleeve of metal or wire mesh into a molded plastic housing. A portion of this sleeve is exposed for contact with other conductive components that connect to the ground plane.

A problem with this method is that the sleeve opening or mesh size directly affects the frequency level of EMI that can be effectively attenuated. Such limitations significantly limit the usefulness of the device.

[Means and Operations for Solving the Problems] The present invention includes a plug housing made of a dielectric material, having an outer end, an intermediate portion, and an inner end, and having an inner plug surface and an outer plug surface, and a plug housing disposed adjacent to the inner plug surface. an electrically conductive plug sleeve having a front portion extending from proximate the outer end to a plug joint portion proximal to the intermediate portion; and an outer portion adapted to engage the plug housing and having an inner shell surface and an outer shell surface. a socket shell of dielectric material having an end and an inner end; and a conductive shell sleeve disposed adjacent to the inner surface of the shell and having an exterior extending from near the outer end to the shell joint;
EMI for terminating an EMI shielded wire configured such that the shell joint portion and the plug joint portion form a joint connection near the middle portion of the plug housing when the plug housing and the socket shell are engaged.
It provides a shielded connector.

According to another aspect, the invention includes a plastic socket shell removably engaged with a plastic plug housing having an outer end, a middle portion, and an inner end, the socket shell having an outer end portion and an inner end portion. the housing and the socket shell each enclose an insert containing means for terminating one or more cables, the shell has an internal metal shell sleeve including a shell joint, and the housing has an inner metal shell sleeve including a shell joint; An electrical connector is provided in which a plug joint portion is engaged at a joint connection near the intermediate portion.

[Examples and effects of the invention]

The connector of the present invention is indicated at 10 in FIGS. The connector may be cylindrical in shape and consists of a plug housing assembly 12 and a shell assembly 14. Both assemblies are removable and secured together by a coupling member 16. The plug housing assembly consists of a plug insert 45 surrounded by a plug housing 13, and the shell assembly consists of a shell insert 28 surrounded by a socket shell 5.

The socket shell is defined by an inner surface 17, an outer surface 18, an inner end 19 and an outer end 20. The outer surface includes an outer flange 21 for mounting the shell to a cabinet panel or other grounded external support structure. It also includes one or more bosses 22 for connecting to the lip 23 of the coupling member 16 for securing both the shell and plug assemblies.

The plug housing, socket shell and coupling member are made of a dielectric material such as plastic. This allows the use of low cost mass production processes such as injection molding.

Disposed adjacent the inner surface of the shell is a conductive shell sleeve 24. This shell sleeve has an outer end 20
It has an exterior 25 proximate to and extends inwardly into a shell joint 26. This shell joint extends beyond the inner end 19.

The shell sleeve is made of metal and has a shell insert 28.
Gives a nearly uniform inner diameter to surround.

As shown, the outer part 25 is screwed into the main body 27 of the shell sleeve and abuts rib members 29 of the insert to facilitate fixation.

Plug housing 13 is defined by an outer end 30, a middle section 31 and an inner end 32. It has a plug inner surface 33 and an outer surface 34. The outer surface 34 provides plug thread means 35 for engagement with corresponding means on the coupling member 16.

Disposed adjacent plug inner surface 33 is electrically conductive plug sleeve 40 . This plug sleeve provides a substantially uniform inner diameter to surround the plug insert 45.

It includes a front portion 42 that extends inwardly adjacent the outer end 30 to a plug joint portion 44 adjacent the intermediate portion 31 . This front part 4 as well as the shell sleeve
2 is screwed onto the plug sleeve body 43. This provides a means for fixation of the plug insert 45 through engagement with the insert rib 46.

When the plug housing and socket shell are connected, a joint is formed between the shell joint portion 26 and the plug joint portion 44. This provides an electrical connection between the respective sleeves and shields the insert assembly from EMI. The illustrated joint connection is a lap joint, but other well-known joint connections may be used, such as bayonet, torsion lock, screw, etc.

In the joint of FIGS. 1 and 2, the plug housing inner surface 33 is offset radially outwardly to a point near the intermediate section 31. In the joint of FIGS. This is plug sleeve 40
to allow the plug joint portion to have a larger diameter than the shell joint portion 26. A shell joint extends axially from the sleeve body so as to be slightly enlarged at its free end. Thus, when the plug and socket assemblies are moved together in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 2, the shell joint will slide over the plug joint.

Connecting means may be used to ensure a good electrical connection at the joint connection. This may be an electrically conductive ring member that overlaps at least a portion of the plug joint. As shown, the ring member comprises a metal spring washer 48 that creates an annular interface between the plug joint and shell joint.

The inner surface 33 of the plug housing is further provided with an annular recess 50 disposed proximate the inner end 32 outwardly from adjacent the joint connection. This recess is adapted to receive an elastic sealing member indicated by an O-ring 52. The O-ring 52 is sized to resiliently engage the outer surface of the shell joint 26 to prevent undesirable contamination of the assembled components.

As is conventional, the insert assembly consists of a plastic body containing pin or socket contacts for terminating wires from the cable. Shell insert 2 as shown
8 terminates the wire 54 which electrically connects with the socket contact 56. Plug insert 45 terminates wire 55 that electrically connects with pin contact 57 . The pin contacts engage the socket contacts to provide electrical continuity through the connector.

When these wires are assembled within a grounded outer conductive sheath for EMI protection, this sheath must be electrically connected to the plug housing sleeve and the socket shell sleeve.

As shown in FIG. 3, the wire hot metal sheath 60 engages the exterior 61 of the elongated shell sleeve. The end of this sheath overlaps the annular notch 62 and is secured thereto by clamping means, which is a shrink band 64. A similar arrangement is used to secure the ground conductor system around the plug wire 55 to the front of the extended plug sleeve (not shown). Other sheath connection means may be used, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,415 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,080.

In FIG. 4, the individual wires are protected by conductive sheaths 66. In this case, each sheath terminates in an insert 67 that engages a corresponding aperture in the ground plane of the shell plate 68. This plate overlaps the outer surface of the shell insert 28 and is electrically connected to the outer surface 61' of the elongated shell sleeve.

This shell plate is retained within the shell sleeve by legs 69 that frictionally engage corresponding grooves around the inner surface of the outer shell 61'. A similarly located plug face plate ground plane is utilized with the outer end of the plug housing. This combined faceplate and sleeve provides continuous EMI shielding throughout the connector and wire connections.

FIG. 5 shows the grounding of the shell sleeve to the external support structure. This is accomplished with ground panel engagement means shown as jam nut connector 71. The connector is made of electrically conductive material and includes an inner ring portion that directly engages the shell sleeve portion. Spaced outwardly is an integral radial flange 72 having an outer annular lip 73. This lip has an end face 74 that engages the bulkhead panel 75.
to provide a conductive connection from the socket shell to the ground panel. This end face may have one or more scratch points to ensure electrical contact with the panel.

At the outer flange 21 the socket shell 15 is modified for association with a jam nut connector by providing an outer retainer portion 70. This part includes a flange 77. This flange is spaced apart from lip 73 to accommodate a panel O-ring seal 78.

The retainer portion is made of plastic and typically overlaps the metal jam nut connector to provide protection.

Jam nuts 79 engage screws 80 to secure the entire assembly to the bulkhead panel.

In addition to the embodiments described above, other panel engagement means may be used. For example, a simple wire, a conductive strip, metal plating applied to the outside of the shell socket, or a conductor embedded in a molded shell socket may be used to provide a ground path from the shell sleeve.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial vertical cross-sectional view showing the connected state of the plug housing and socket shell assembly of the present invention, and FIG.
3 is a partial longitudinal sectional view showing the assembly shown in the separated position; FIG. 3 is a partial longitudinal sectional view showing another shielded cable connection to the modified socket shell assembly; FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. FIG. 5 is a partial longitudinal sectional view showing the second shielded cable connection; FIG. 5 is a partial vertical sectional view showing the socket shell grounded to the panel; DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Connector, 12... Plug housing assembly, 13... Plug housing, 14... Shell assembly, 15... Socket shell, 16... Coupling member, 17... Inner surface , 18...outer surface, 19...
・Inner end, 20... Outer end, 21... Outer flange, 22... Boss, 23... Lip, 24... Shell sleeve, 25... External, 26... Shell Joint part, 27... Shell sleeve main body, 28... Shell insert, 29... Insert rib member, 30
... Outer end, 31... Middle part, 32... Inner end, 33
...Plug inner surface, 34...Plug outer surface, 35...
Plug screw means, 40... Plug sleeve, 42...
・Front part, 43... Plug sleeve body, 44... Plug joint part, 45... Plug insert, 46
...insert rib, 48...washer 50...
recess, 52... O-ring, 54... wire, 55...
...Wire, 57...Pin contact. Applicant's agent Yusa Sato

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plug housing made of a dielectric material having an outer end, an intermediate portion, and an inner end, and having an inner plug surface and an outer plug surface, and a plug housing disposed adjacent to the inner plug surface and close to the outer end. a conductive plug sleeve having a front portion extending from the plug to a plug joint portion proximate said intermediate portion; and an outer end portion and an inner end portion adapted to engage said plug housing and having an inner shell surface and an outer shell surface. a conductive shell sleeve disposed adjacent to the inner surface of the shell and having an exterior extending from near the outer end to the shell joint; An EMI shielded connector for terminating an EMI shielded wire, the plug joint portion being configured to form a joint connection proximate an intermediate portion of the plug housing when the plug housing and the socket shell are engaged. . 2. including a joining means for forming a conductive interface between the plug joint part and the shell joint part;
The connector according to claim 1. 3. The connector according to claim 2, wherein the plug joint portion and the shell joint portion together with the joining means form an overlap joint. 4. The connector according to claim 3, wherein said joining means comprises a metal ring member. 5. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the inner surface of the plug housing includes an annular recess near the inner end, the recess including a seal member for engaging the shell joint. 6. The connector according to claim 1, further comprising a plug ground plane electrically connected to the plug sleeve and a shell ground plane electrically connected to the shell sleeve. 7. The socket shell of claims 1 to 6 having ground panel engagement means for attaching it to a grounded external support structure, the engagement means being electrically coupled to the shell sleeve. Connector listed in either. 8. The connector of claim 7, wherein said engagement means comprises a jam nut connector interconnecting said shell sleeve and said support structure. 9. a plastic socket shell removably engaged with a plastic plug housing having an outer end, a middle portion and an inner end, the socket shell having an outer end portion and an inner end portion; The shells each enclose an insert containing means for terminating one or more cables, the shells having an internal metal shell sleeve including a shell joint, and the housing having a plug joint in the intermediate portion. An electrical connector having closely spaced internal metal plug sleeves that engage at a joint connection near said intermediate section. 10. The connector of claim 9, wherein the joint connection includes an outer metal shroud, and each of the inserts has a ground plate interconnecting the shroud and a respective metal sleeve. 11. A connector as claimed in claim 9 or 10, in which the cable has an outer metal sheath and each of the inserts has a ground plate interconnecting this sheath with a respective metal sleeve. 12. A connector as claimed in claim 9, 10 or 11, wherein the socket shell includes grounding engagement means for connecting the metal shell sleeve to an external support structure.