CN107732480B - Cable assembly with improved cable retention - Google Patents

Abstract

A cable connector assembly comprising: a metal housing having an upper case and a lower case connected to each other; and a plurality of cable assemblies accommodated in the metal case, each cable assembly comprising: a cable having a plurality of conductive wires, a shield mesh braid and an insulating outer covering surrounding the outer peripheries of the conductive wires; the circuit board is butted, and the wiring pad at the rear end is connected to the front end of the wire of the cable. The butt joint circuit board includes circuit board body and the chip package piece of welding on the circuit board body, and the chip package piece includes the chip and fixes the base in the chip below, is equipped with a plurality of half plated through-holes on the side of base, and the chip package piece is fixed to the circuit board body through the soldering tin of filling in half plated through-hole, reduces the risk of desoldering. In addition, the stamped fixing collar is clamped to the shielding braid of the cable and electrically connected to the metal shell to achieve electrical grounding, thereby firmly holding the cable connector assembly against rotation.

Description

Cable assembly with improved cable retention

Technical Field

The present application relates generally to a cable connector assembly and, more particularly, to a solder design for a chip package on a cable connector assembly.

Background

The cable connector is an important component for transmitting signals between electronic devices, and through years of development, the types of the cable connector are increasingly abundant, so that the cable connector conforming to various transmission protocols such as USB, SATA, HDMI, SAS, Displayport and the like is formed, and most of the various cable connectors transmit signals through metal conductors in cables and metal terminals in the connectors. Existing cable connectors typically have a mating circuit board, wires connected to the rear of the mating circuit board, a chip mounted on the mating circuit board, and a housing that encapsulates the mating circuit board.

For example, a cable connector assembly 50 is provided in patent document CN104348051A, an exploded view of which is shown in fig. 1. As can be seen in fig. 1, the cable connector has a circuit board 51, a cable 52, a metal shield 53 and a housing 54, wherein the cable 52 comprises a number of wires 523 soldered to the circuit board 51. The metallic shield includes a grip 531 for securing the cable 52. One problem with this cable connector is that, due to the circular cross-section of the cable 52, the grip 531 cannot firmly fix the cable 52, and in particular it is difficult to prevent it from rotating.

A mobile phone 60 is provided in patent document TWM519359, an exploded view of which is shown in fig. 2. As shown in fig. 2, the mobile phone includes: an upper cover 61, an intermediate support 62, a chip 63, a circuit board 64, and a lower cover 65, wherein the chip 63 is soldered to the circuit board 64, and solder joints are present only on the lower surface of the chip 63, i.e., only on the surface of the chip 63 in opposing contact with the circuit board 64 to provide signal connections. One problem with this solder design is that the contact area between the solder and the chip is small, the solder is not easily applied, and the solder strength is not sufficiently strong, which may cause loosening or debonding of the chip. Another problem is that external forces act directly on the bond pads for signal connections, which if broken will cause the chip to fail.

Therefore, there is a need to develop a cable connector assembly that avoids the above-mentioned problems.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a cable connector assembly capable of solving the above problems.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a cable connector assembly includes: a metal housing having an upper case and a lower case connected to each other; and at least one cable assembly housed within the metal shell, each cable assembly comprising: a cable having a plurality of conductive wires, a shield mesh braid and an insulating outer covering surrounding the outer peripheries of the conductive wires; and a connection pad at a rear end of the connection circuit board is connected to a front end of a wire of the cable. The butt joint circuit board comprises a circuit board body and a chip packaging piece welded on the circuit board body, the chip packaging piece comprises a chip and a base fixed below the chip, at least one half-plated through hole is formed in the side edge of the base, and the chip packaging piece is fixed to the circuit board body through soldering tin filled in the half-plated through hole.

Preferably, half-plated through holes are respectively provided on at least two sides of the base.

Preferably, the half-plated through holes are C-shaped.

Preferably, each of the conductors includes a differential signal line pair and a ground line, the differential signal line pair and the ground line are respectively soldered to the terminal pads at the rear end of the docking circuit board, and the ground line is soldered to the terminal pads at one side of the differential signal line pair after being bent, thereby forming a ground-signal-ground arrangement on the docking circuit board.

Preferably, the cable subassembly still includes the fixed lantern ring, and the fixed lantern ring is the polygonal metal lantern ring, and the inner peripheral surface of fixed lantern ring closely overlaps the periphery at the shielding mesh grid of cable, and the outer peripheral surface card of fixed lantern ring is established between last casing and lower casing.

Preferably, the upper shell and the lower shell are respectively internally provided with a fixed lantern ring clamping groove, and the fixed lantern ring clamping grooves in the upper shell and the lower shell are matched to form a shape complementary with the fixed lantern ring so as to contain the fixed lantern ring.

Preferably, the two ends of the clamping grooves of the fixed lantern rings in the upper shell and the lower shell in the length direction are respectively provided with a baffle plate so as to prevent the fixed lantern rings from longitudinally displacing.

Preferably, the solder on the mating circuit board climbs to the top surface of the base through the half-plated through holes to positively grip the base.

Preferably, the initial shape of the fixing collar is a circular collar, the fixing collar is sleeved on the outer periphery of the cable and then stamped into a fixing collar with a hexagonal shape, and the inner circumferential surface of the fixing collar for fixing the cable is also deformed into a hexagon.

Preferably, the cable connector assembly further includes a positioning module, the positioning module covers a joint between the docking circuit board and the cable therein, and the upper housing and the lower housing are respectively formed with a positioning module accommodating portion therein, and the positioning module accommodating portions in the upper housing and the lower housing are matched to accommodate the positioning module.

Through set up half plating hole in the periphery of base, soldering tin not only exists on the lower surface of base with the contact of circuit board body, can also fill in half plating hole, more can climb to the upper surface of base along half plating hole. Soldering tin simultaneously with the lower surface, side, the upper surface contact of base, greatly increased the area of contact between soldering tin and the base to fasten the upper surface of base 2230 on circuit board body 2201 with grabbing. Thus, compared with the prior art, the chip packaging piece can be firmly welded on the circuit board body, and the risk of chip packaging piece desoldering is reduced.

In addition, the inner circumferential surface and the outer circumferential surface of the fixing sleeve ring after being punched are hexagonal, so that the fixing sleeve ring can be clamped to the shielding woven mesh of the cable and electrically connected to the metal shell of the cable connector component to achieve electrical grounding, the cable connector component can be firmly held, and when the fixing sleeve ring is arranged in the hexagonal accommodating space which is complementary to the shape of the metal shell, the cable component in the metal shell can be prevented from rotating.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is an exploded view of a prior art cable connector assembly.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a prior art bonding design for a chip.

Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a cable connector assembly according to the present invention.

Fig. 4 is another exploded perspective view of the cable connector assembly according to the present invention, wherein the cable assembly is assembled with the housing portion.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the assembled cable assembly according to the present invention.

Fig. 6 is an exploded perspective view of a docking circuit board according to the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of a docking circuit board according to the present invention after assembly is complete.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a docking circuit board according to the present invention after assembly is complete.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a metal collar of a cable assembly according to the present invention prior to stamping.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of the securing collar of the cable assembly according to the present invention after stamping.

List of reference numerals

Background art section:

50 cable connector assembly

51 Circuit Board

52 cable

523 line

53 metallic shield

531 grip part

54 outer casing

60 mobile phone

61 Upper cover

62 middle support

63 chip

64 circuit board

65 lower cover

In the present application section:

1 cable connector assembly

10 Metal housing

110 upper shell

115 first locking screw

120 lower casing

1210 butt joint circuit board containing groove

1220 orientation module receiver

1230 fixed lantern ring clamping groove

1232 baffle plate

1240 Cable receiving groove

125 second locking screw

20 cable assembly

210 cable

2110 lead

2130 differential signal line pair

2140A ground line

2150 Shielding mesh grid

2160 insulating external cover

220 butt-joint circuit board

2201 Circuit board body

2202 bonding pad

2210 chip package

2220 chip

2230 base

2231 half-plated through hole

230 positioning module

240' metal collar

240 fixed collar

250 pulling-proof structure

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail specific embodiments thereof with the understanding that the present description is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the drawings illustrated herein.

Likewise, references to a feature or aspect are intended to describe a feature or aspect of an example of the invention and do not imply that every embodiment thereof must have the described feature or aspect. Further, it should be noted that the description shows a number of features. While certain features have been combined to illustrate a potential system design, other combinations not explicitly disclosed may also be employed for these features. Accordingly, the combinations are not intended to be limiting unless otherwise specified.

In the embodiments shown in the drawings, directional references such as up, down, left, right, front and rear, etc. are not absolute, but relative, and are used to explain the structure and movement of various components of the present invention. These representations are appropriate when the components are in the positions shown in the figures. However, if the description of the location of an element changes, it is believed that these representations will change accordingly.

Fig. 3 and 4 are perspective exploded views showing the cable connector assembly according to the present invention, and fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the assembled cable assembly according to the present invention.

Referring to fig. 3, the cable connector assembly 1 includes a metal shell 10 and at least one cable assembly 20 mounted in the metal shell 10. The metal case 10 includes an upper case 110 and a lower case 120, and the upper case 110 and the lower case 120 are coupled to each other by screw holes and screws. Of course, other connecting means commonly used in the art may be used to connect the upper housing 110 and the lower housing 120, such as a snap, a bump, etc. Their rear ends are respectively provided with a first locking screw 115 and a second locking screw 125, which are locked by rotating when the cable connector assembly 1 is connected to a desired device.

Referring collectively to fig. 4, the cable assembly 20 includes a plurality of cables 210, a plurality of docking circuit boards 220, and a plurality of securing collars 240. Each cable 210 includes a plurality of wires 2110, a shielding mesh 2150 surrounding the outer periphery of the wires 2110, and an insulating coating 2160, each wire 2110 has a portion exposed outside, and a front end of each wire 2110 is connected to a bonding pad 2202 at a rear end of the docking circuit board 220, and the bonding pads 2202 are arranged in a row on the docking circuit board 220. The insulation jacket 2160 at the front end of the cable 210 is stripped to expose the shielding mesh 2150 inside, and the fixing collar 240 is tightly fitted around the shielding mesh 2150 of the cable 210. The fixing collar 240 is originally a circular hollow metal collar 240 ', as shown in fig. 9, the inner circumferential surface and the outer circumferential surface of the metal collar 240' are both circular, after the circular hollow metal collar 240' is fitted over the outer circumference of the shielding mesh 2150 of the cable 210, and then stamped with a tool to deform it into a hexagonal retaining collar 240, as shown in figure 10, the inner and outer circumferences of the fixing collar 240 after being punched are hexagonal, so that the fixing collar can be tightly clamped to the shielding mesh 2150 of the cable 210 and electrically connected to the metal shell 10 of the cable connector assembly 1 to achieve electrical grounding, thereby, the cable connector assembly 1 can be firmly held, and when the fixing collar 240 is disposed in the hexagonal receiving space of the metal shell 10 complementary to the shape thereof, it is also possible to prevent the cable 210 located in the metal casing 10 from rotating, thereby ensuring that the cable 210 has good signal transmission characteristics.

The cable assembly 20 further includes a positioning module 230 encasing the connection between the docking circuit board 220 and the leads 2110 for protecting the connection of the leads 2110 and for cooperating with the metal housing 10 to assist in positioning the docking circuit board 210 to the metal housing 10.

In addition, the cable assembly 20 further includes an anti-pulling structure 250 injection-molded behind the fixing collar 240, and one end of the anti-pulling structure 250 has a boss and is snapped inside the metal housing 10, so as to prevent the cable 210 from being pulled out of the metal housing 10 by an external force.

The cable connector assembly 1 is assembled by the upper housing 110, the lower housing 120 and the cable assembly 20. Lower housing 120 of metal shell 10 is formed with a mating circuit board receiving slot 1210, a retaining collar receiving slot 1230, and a cable receiving slot 1240 (all best shown in fig. 3). Although not shown in fig. 3, the upper case 110 is also formed with corresponding mating circuit board receiving grooves, fixing collar receiving grooves, and cable receiving grooves. After the upper and lower cases 110 and 120 are assembled together, the docking circuit board receiving grooves 1210 in the upper and lower cases 110 and 120 form a receiving space for receiving the docking circuit boards 220 and space the docking circuit boards 220 apart from each other, the fixing collar clamping grooves 1230 in the upper and lower cases 110 and 120 form a shape complementary to the fixing collar 240, thereby forming a hexagonal receiving space for receiving the fixing collar 240, and the cable receiving grooves 1240 form a receiving part for receiving the cable assembly 20. In addition, semicircular baffles 1232 are disposed at two ends of the fixing collar clamping groove 1230 in the lower housing 120 along the front-back direction. Although not shown, the fixing collar locking groove in the upper housing 110 is also provided with semicircular blocking plates 1232 along both ends in the front-rear direction thereof. When the fixing collar 240 is received in the receiving space formed by the fixing collar clamping groove 1230, the blocking plates in the upper housing 110 and the lower housing 120 may prevent the fixing collar 240 from moving in the front-rear direction, so that the cable assembly 20 may be better fixed.

The metal housing 10 is also formed at the inside thereof with a positioning module receiving part 1220. The positioning module 230 is injection molded and covers the periphery of the connection between the docking circuit board 220 and the wires 2110, and then is placed in the receiving space formed by the positioning module receiving part 1220, thereby further assisting the positioning of the docking circuit board 220 in the metal housing 10.

In fig. 5 is shown a perspective view of the cable connector assembly 1 according to the present invention after assembly. The assembly process of the cable connector assembly 1 will be described below. Referring to fig. 3 and 4 in combination, first, the front ends of the wires 2110 of the cable 210 are connected to the rear end of the docking circuit board 220, for example, soldered to the wiring pads 2202 on the docking circuit board 220; sleeving a circular metal lantern ring 240 ' on the outer circumference of the shielding mesh 2150 of the cable 210, and then stamping the metal lantern ring 240 ' by using a processing tool to deform the outer circumference of the metal lantern ring 240 ' into a polygonal outer circumference surface, such as a hexagonal fixing lantern ring 240, wherein the inner circumference of the fixing lantern ring 240 is correspondingly deformed into a hexagonal inner circumference surface, so that the fixing lantern ring 240 can be in close contact with the shielding mesh 2150 and clamp and fix the cable 210; the positioning module 230 is injection molded at the connection between the docking circuit board 220 and the leads 2110. Then, the assembled cable assembly 20 is mounted to the lower case 120 of the metal housing 10 such that the fixing collar 240 is positioned in the fixing collar catching groove 1230 of the lower case 120, the docking circuit board 220 is positioned in the docking circuit board receiving groove 1210 of the lower case 120 and kept separated from each other, and the cables 210 behind the fixing collar 240 are positioned in the cable receiving groove 1240 of the lower case 120 so that the plurality of cable assemblies 20 are kept spaced apart from each other. Finally, upper housing 110 is secured to lower housing 120 such that upper housing 110 mates with retaining collar slot 1230 of lower housing 120 to form a complementary shape to the retaining collar to receive retaining collar 240, upper housing 110 mates with docking circuit board receiving slot 1210 of lower housing 120 to receive docking circuit board 220, and upper housing 110 mates with cable receiving slot 1240 of lower housing 120 to receive cable 210. This results in an assembled cable connector assembly 1 as shown in fig. 5.

Referring to fig. 6, the docking circuit board 220 includes a circuit board body 2201 and a chip package 2210 soldered on the circuit board body 2201. The chip package 2210 includes a chip 2220 and a base 2230 fixed under the chip 2220, and the base 2230 is provided with one or more half-plated through holes 2231 at its periphery. In the present embodiment, the half-plated through holes 2231 are provided on three edges (or at least two edges) of the base 2230, have a C-shape, and are formed by cutting the full-plated through holes using a cutter. In other embodiments, the half-plated through holes 2231 may be symmetrically or asymmetrically disposed on one or more edges of the base 2230, and may also be square, triangular or the like, and the sidewalls thereof may be perpendicular to the upper surface of the base 2230 or inclined at an angle, according to practical requirements.

Fig. 7 and 8 show a plan view and a perspective view of the docking circuit board 220 according to the present invention, respectively, after assembly. The assembling process of the docking circuit board 220 will be described below. Referring collectively to fig. 6, first, a base 2230 is secured (e.g., bonded) beneath the chip 2220 to form a chip package 2210. Then, the chip package 2210 is placed on the corresponding position of the circuit board body 2201 and soldered on the circuit board body 2201, thereby completing the assembly of the docking circuit board 220. When soldering the chip package 2210 to the circuit board body 2201, solder may be conveniently applied by means of the half-plated through-hole 2231. That is, in addition to the solder applied to the lower surface of the base 2230 to achieve signal connection between the chip 2220 and the circuit board body 2201, the solder may be applied through the half-plated through-hole 2231 to firmly solder the base 2230 to the circuit board body 2201.

The chip package 2210 of the present invention has an advantage in that, by providing the half-plated through-hole 2231 on the periphery of the base 2230, solder is not only present on the lower surface of the base 2230 in contact with the circuit board body 2201, but also fills the half-plated through-hole 2231, and further climbs onto the upper surface of the base 2230 along the half-plated through-hole 2231. The solder is simultaneously in contact with the lower surface, the side surface and the upper surface of the base 2230, which greatly increases the contact area between the solder and the base 2230 and firmly fastens the upper surface of the base 2230 to the circuit board body 2201. Thus, compared to the prior art, the chip package 2210 can be firmly soldered to the circuit board body 2201, the risk of solder debonding of the chip package 2210 is reduced, and the half-plated through hole 2231 is electrically connected to a ground line of the chip package 2210 in some cases, and also provides a ground for the chip package 2210. Due to the open C-shaped structure of the half-plated through hole 2231, the operator can easily and easily observe the effects of tin coating and soldering from the outside of the base 2230, and the defect of empty soldering caused by insufficient tin filling that may occur in a normally used full-plated through hole (i.e., a round hole) is avoided.

In addition, as shown in fig. 7 and 8, each of the wires 2110 includes a differential signal wire pair 2130 and a ground wire 2140 disposed between the differential signal wire pair 2130. The differential signal wire pair 2130 and the ground wire 2140 are soldered to different terminal pads 2202 of the docking circuit board 220, respectively, thereby achieving electrical connection between the wires 2110 and the docking circuit board 220. The ground wire 2140 is bent and soldered to the terminal pads 2202 on one side of the differential signal pair 2130 to form a ground-signal-ground terminal pad arrangement on the mating circuit board 220 that reduces crosstalk between adjacent differential signal pairs.

The foregoing embodiments and advantages are merely exemplary and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention. The description herein is intended to be illustrative, and not to limit the scope of the claims. Many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The features, structures, methods, and other characteristics of the exemplary embodiments described herein may be combined in various ways to produce additional and/or alternative exemplary embodiments.

As the present features may be embodied in several forms without departing from the characteristics of the present invention, it should also be understood that the above-described embodiments are not limited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within its scope as defined in the appended claims. Accordingly, all modifications and variations that fall within the metes and bounds of the claims, or equivalence of such metes and bounds are therefore intended to be embraced by the appended claims.

Claims (6)

1. A cable connector assembly, comprising: the method comprises the following steps:

a metal housing having an upper case and a lower case connected to each other; and

at least one cable assembly housed within the metal shell, each cable assembly comprising: a cable having a plurality of conductive wires, a shield mesh braid and an insulating outer covering surrounding the outer peripheries of the conductive wires; a docking circuit board, a connection pad of a rear end of the docking circuit board being connected to a front end of a wire of the cable;

the butt joint circuit board comprises a circuit board body and a chip packaging piece welded on the circuit board body, wherein the chip packaging piece comprises a chip and a base fixed below the chip, at least one semi-plated through hole is formed in the side edge of the base, and the chip packaging piece is fixed to the circuit board body through soldering tin filled in the semi-plated through hole;

each conducting wire comprises a differential signal wire pair and a grounding wire, the differential signal wire pair and the grounding wire are respectively welded to the wiring pad at the rear end of the butt-joint circuit board, and the grounding wire is bent and then welded to the wiring pad at one side of the differential signal wire pair, so that a grounding-signal-grounding arrangement is formed on the butt-joint circuit board;

the cable assembly further comprises a fixed lantern ring, the fixed lantern ring is a polygonal metal lantern ring, the inner peripheral surface of the fixed lantern ring is tightly sleeved on the periphery of the shielding mesh grid of the cable, and the outer peripheral surface of the fixed lantern ring is clamped between the upper shell and the lower shell;

fixed lantern ring clamping grooves are formed in the upper shell and the lower shell respectively, and the fixed lantern ring clamping grooves in the upper shell and the lower shell are matched to form a shape complementary with the fixed lantern ring so as to contain the fixed lantern ring;

the cable connector assembly further comprises a positioning module, the positioning module wraps the connecting part between the butt circuit board and the cable, positioning module accommodating parts are formed in the upper shell and the lower shell respectively, and the positioning module accommodating parts in the upper shell and the lower shell are matched to accommodate the positioning module;

the cable assembly further comprises an anti-pulling structure which is formed by injection molding at the rear part of the fixed lantern ring, and one end of the anti-pulling structure is clamped in the metal shell, so that the cable is prevented from being pulled out of the metal shell by external force;

the upper shell is provided with a first locking screw rod at one transverse end, and the first locking screw rod extends forwards from the rear end of the upper shell along the longitudinal direction; the lower shell is provided with a second locking screw rod at the other transverse end of the lower shell, and the second locking screw rod extends forwards from the rear end of the lower shell along the longitudinal direction.

2. The cable connector assembly of claim 1, wherein: the semi-plated through holes are respectively arranged on at least two side edges of the base.

3. The cable connector assembly of claim 1, wherein: the semi-plated through holes are C-shaped, square or triangular.

4. The cable connector assembly of claim 1, wherein: the fixed lantern ring clamping grooves in the upper shell and the lower shell are respectively provided with a baffle along the two ends of the length direction of the fixed lantern ring clamping grooves to prevent the fixed lantern ring from displacing in the front-back direction.

5. The cable connector assembly of any one of claims 1-4, wherein: and the soldering tin on the circuit board body climbs to the top surface of the base through the semi-plated through hole so as to firmly hold the base.

6. The cable connector assembly of any one of claims 1-4, wherein: the initial shape of the fixed lantern ring is a circular lantern ring, the fixed lantern ring is sleeved on the periphery of the cable and then punched into a fixed lantern ring with a hexagonal shape, and the inner peripheral surface of the fixed lantern ring for fixing the cable is also deformed into a hexagon.

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