High profile USB connector

Abstract

A high profile female USB connector for mounting to a substrate includes a heightened housing that elevates the female USB connector above and away from a surface of a substrate, such as a printed circuit board (PCB). The female USB connector, which can be a standard, mini, or micro USB type, is contained within the housing with contact pins extending from contacts of the female USB connector through a wall of the housing for connection to the substrate.

Claims

1. A high profile female USB electrical connector comprising: a plurality of walls defining a housing; a female USB connector inside the housing, the housing including an opening having a height H and a width W configured to facilitate insertion of a male USB connector into the female USB connector; contact pins extending from contacts of the female USB connector through a bottom wall of the housing proximate a back wall of the housing for connection to a substrate; one or more connections extending from the bottom wall of the housing proximate a front wall of the housing for connection to the substrate; and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding on one or more of the plurality of walls, wherein: the contact pins and the one or more connections are spaced from each other between the front wall and the back wall of the housing; a distance between an exterior of the bottom wall of the housing and one of the contacts that is the closest to the exterior of the bottom wall is at least 1.5×H; and between the female USB connector and the exterior of the bottom wall, the inside of the housing does not include another connector.

2. The high profile female USB electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the distance between the exterior of the bottom wall of the housing and one of the contacts that is the closest to the exterior of the bottom wall is at least 2×H.

3. The high profile female USB electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the substrate is a PCB.

4. The high profile female USB electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the shielding covers top, side, and back walls of the housing.

5. The high profile female USB electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the female USB connector is positioned horizontally in the housing.

6. The high profile female USB electrical connector of claim 1, wherein each connection is a snap fit connector.

7. The high profile female USB electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the snap fit connector includes at least a partial rim and an end that is adapted to compress upon initial insertion into an opening in the substrate and expand upon passage of the rim through the opening.

8. The high profile female USB electrical connector of claim 1, further including a shield tab coupled to the shield and extending from the housing.

9. The high profile female USB electrical connector of claim 8, wherein each connection is a snap fit connector extending from the exterior of the bottom wall of the housing in a same direction as the shield tab.

10. The high profile female USB electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the front wall of the housing includes between the opening and the bottom wall of the housing a section, between the female USB connector and the bottom wall, that is recessed toward the back wall of the housing.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment high profile female (type-A) USB connector;

(2) FIG. 2 is top view of the high profile female USB connector of FIG. 1;

(3) FIG. 3A is a front view of the high profile female USB connector of FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 3B is another front view of the high profile female USB connector of FIG. 1 including exemplary, non-limiting dimensions;

(5) FIG. 4A is a left side view of the high profile female USB connector of FIG. 1;

(6) FIG. 4B is another left side view of the high profile female USB connector of FIG. 1 including exemplary, non-limiting dimensions;

(7) FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the high profile female USB connector of FIG. 1 including exemplary, non-limiting dimensions; and

(8) FIGS. 6A-6F are schematic views of prior art USB connectors including respective Standard Type-A and Type-B, Mini-A and Mini-B, and Micro-A and Micro-B.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(9) The present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying figures where like reference numbers correspond to like elements. The dimensions shown in the figures are in millimeters (mm) and are representative of an embodiment of the high profile female USB connector described herein. However, these dimensions are not to be construed in a limiting sense since the use of one or more different dimensions is envisioned.

(10) With reference to FIGS. 1-5, a high profile USB connector 2 includes a housing 4 having a top wall 6, a bottom wall 8, a left side wall 10, a right side wall 12, a back wall 14, and a front wall 16.

(11) Connector 2 includes a female USB connector 20 inside of housing 4. Front wall 16 of housing 4 includes an opening 22 having a height H and a width W configured to facilitate insertion of a mating male USB connector 24 into female USB connector 20 when male USB connector 24 is moved in the direction of arrow 18 into female USB connector 20.

(12) Female USB connector 20 includes contacts 28a-28d disposed on a top surface of a USB printed circuit board (PCB) 30 which is positioned inside the cavity opening 22 of female USB connector 20. Female USB connector 20 also includes contact pins 26a-26d which extend from contacts 28a-28d, respectively through female USB connector 20 through at least one of the walls of housing 2, e.g., bottom wall 8, for connection to a substrate, such as, for example, a mounting PCB 32.

(13) Housing 4 includes electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding 36 on one or more of the walls of housing 4, e.g., without limitation, walls 6, 10, 12, 14, and, optionally, wall 8. FIGS. 2, 3B, 4B, and 5 include exemplary dimensions of connector 2. These dimensions, however, are not to be construed as limiting the invention.

(14) Extending from bottom wall 8 of housing 4 is one or more snap fit connections 38. Each snap fit connection 38 includes at least a partial rim 40 and a distal end 42 that is adapted to compress laterally upon initial insertion into an opening 34 of mounting PCB 32 and expand laterally upon passage of partial rim 40 through said opening 34. The construction and operation of snap fit connection 38 is known in the art.

(15) Shielding 36 includes one or more shield tabs 44 coupled to shielding 36 and extending from housing 2, e.g., away from bottom wall 8, for receipt and affixing in mating receptacles (not shown) of mounting PCB 32 by any means known in the art, e.g., press fit, soldering, etc.

(16) Desirably, female USB connector 20 is positioned horizontally in housing 2. However, it is envisioned that female USB connector 20 can be positioned vertically in housing 2.

(17) Desirably, a distance between an exterior of bottom wall 8 of housing 2 and a bottom surface of one of the contacts 28 that is closest to said exterior bottom wall 8 is at least 1.5×H, where H is the height of opening 22. More desirably, the distance between exterior bottom wall 8 and the bottom surface of one of the contacts 28 is at least 2×H and, more preferably, 3×H—all as shown in FIG. 3a.

(18) As shown best in FIG. 4a, front wall 16 of housing 2 includes, between cavity opening 22 and bottom wall 8, an optional section 46 that is recessed toward back wall 14 of housing 2, whereupon female USB connector 20 is cantilevered over a space in front of recessed section 46 of front wall 16. The construction of housing 4 with front wall 16 having recessed section 46 and with female USB connector 20 cantilevered over the space in front of recessed section 46 of front wall 16, however, is not to be construed as limiting the invention since it is envisioned that recessed section 46 can be omitted whereupon housing 4 has more of a box-like shape.

(19) As can be seen, between female USB connector 20 and the exterior of bottom wall 8 of housing 4, housing 4 does not house another connector. In other words, no other connector of any type resides between female USB connector 20 and bottom wall 8 of housing 4.

(20) As can be seen, the present invention is a high profile female USB connector having a female USB cavity opening that is positioned in elevated spaced relation to a surface of a substrate (e.g., mounting PCB 32) to which the high profile female USB connector is mounted. This higher elevation enables the connector to be mounted away from an edge of the substrate while still enabling plugging and unplugging of a mating male USB connector into the female USB cavity opening. The higher elevation also facilitates mounting of one or more components to the substrate below and in front of the female USB cavity opening while also enabling plugging and unplugging of the mating male USB connector into the female USB cavity opening above said components.

(21) The invention has been described with reference to an exemplary embodiment. Obvious modifications and alterations will occur to others upon reading and understanding the preceding detailed description. It is intended that the invention be construed as including all such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.