CN108695616B

CN108695616B - Connector housing module and housing body

Info

Publication number: CN108695616B
Application number: CN201710220047.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 赖志明; 高永顺
Original assignee: Giga Byte Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Giga Byte Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-04-06
Filing date: 2017-04-06
Publication date: 2020-09-08
Anticipated expiration: 2037-04-06
Also published as: CN108695616A

Abstract

A connector housing module suitable for being covered on a connector on a mainboard comprises a housing body and at least one light guide strip. The outer cover body comprises a top wall, a plurality of side walls and at least one cantilever, wherein each cantilever extends from one of the side walls and is bent outwards to form an accommodating groove. The light guide strip is positioned beside one side wall, supported by the cantilever and positioned in the accommodating groove bent by the cantilever. The invention further provides a housing body.

Description

Connector housing module and housing body

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to housing modules and housing bodies, and more particularly, to a connector housing module and a housing body.

Background

With the progress of science and technology, users' demands are more diversified, and in order to provide light indication effects and the like on the main board, light sources such as light emitting diodes and the like are arranged on the main board. However, since the wiring space on the motherboard is limited, it is not always necessary to arrange leds at the desired light-emitting positions, and it is also an objective to provide a structure capable of emitting light in a large area at a specific position (for example, near the connector) on the motherboard. In addition, at present, for some connectors on the motherboard (such as PCI-E connectors), the inserted expansion card may have uneven weight due to a fan or other components disposed on one side, and the connectors are prone to be cracked.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention is directed to a connector housing module, which can be used with a single or a plurality of leds to achieve large-area light transmission and improve the structural strength of the covered connector.

The invention provides an outer cover body which can fix a light guide strip to ensure that the light guide strip transmits light in a large area and can improve the structural strength of a covered connector.

The invention discloses a connector housing module which is suitable for being covered on a connector on a mainboard. The outer cover body comprises a top wall, a plurality of side walls and at least one cantilever, wherein each cantilever extends from one of the side walls and is bent outwards to form an accommodating groove. The light guide strip is positioned beside one side wall, supported by the corresponding cantilever and positioned in the accommodating groove bent by the cantilever.

In an embodiment of the invention, the at least one cantilever is a plurality of cantilevers, the cantilevers are respectively located on two opposite sides of one of the sidewalls and correspond to each other, and the cantilevers respectively extend towards each other to bend the accommodating grooves together.

In an embodiment of the invention, the at least one cantilever is a plurality of cantilevers, the cantilevers are respectively located on two opposite sides of one of the sidewalls and are staggered from each other, and the cantilevers respectively extend towards each other to bend the accommodating grooves together.

In an embodiment of the invention, the at least one cantilever is a plurality of cantilevers, and the cantilevers are parallel to an edge of one of the sidewalls in the length direction and extend in the same direction to bend together to form the accommodating groove.

In an embodiment of the invention, the at least one cantilever is a plurality of cantilevers, the cantilevers respectively protrude from two opposite side walls and are bent into two accommodating grooves located outside the two side walls, the at least one light guide strip is two light guide strips, and the two light guide strips are supported by the cantilevers and are located in the two accommodating grooves.

In an embodiment of the invention, the light guide strip is plate-shaped, and two opposite side surfaces of the light guide strip have a larger length, and when the light guide strip is located in the accommodating groove, one of the side surfaces of the light guide strip having the larger length is only covered by the cantilever.

In an embodiment of the invention, each of the cantilevers includes a first fixing portion, each of the light guide strips includes a second fixing portion corresponding to the first fixing portion, one of the first fixing portion and the second fixing portion is a recess or a through hole, and the other one is a bent elastic piece or a bump.

In an embodiment of the invention, the housing body includes a fixing leg extending from one of the side walls in a direction away from the top wall, and the fixing leg is adapted to be fixed to the main board.

In an embodiment of the invention, the housing body includes a bending leg located at an edge of one of the side walls away from the top wall and adapted to bend to a position below a bottom surface of the connector.

In an embodiment of the invention, each of the light guide strips includes an inclined light incident portion adapted to be adjacent to a light source of the motherboard, so that light emitted by the light source enters the light guide strip through the light incident portion.

The invention relates to a housing body of the connector housing module.

Based on the above, the connector housing module of the present invention uses the accommodating groove bent from the cantilever extending from the sidewall to accommodate and support the light guide strip, and since only a small portion of the light guide strip is shielded by the cantilever and the rest is exposed, a large area light transmission effect can be achieved. In addition, the outer cover body of the outer cover module of the connector is covered on the connector, so that the structural strength of the connector can be effectively improved. In addition, because some connectors are arranged side by side on the motherboard, if a plurality of connector housing modules are covered on the connectors, the light guide strip arranged beside the side wall of the housing body can be filled between the adjacent connectors, so that the strength of the connectors can be increased, and the probability of connector cracking is reduced.

The invention is described in detail below with reference to the drawings and specific examples, but the invention is not limited thereto.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a connector housing module configured in a connector according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded schematic view of the connector housing module and connector of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of the housing body of the connector housing module of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side schematic view of the housing body of the connector housing module of FIG. 1;

fig. 5-8 are side schematic views of a housing body of various connector housing modules according to various embodiments of the invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic view of a plurality of the connector housing modules and connectors of fig. 1.

Wherein the reference numerals

10: main machine board

12: connector with a locking member

14: light source

100: connector housing module

110: outer cover body

112: roof wall

114: side wall

120. 120a, 120 b: cantilever arm

122: first fixed part

125: accommodating groove

130: fixing foot

140: bending foot

150: light guide strip

152: second fixed part

154: light incident part

Detailed Description

The invention will be described in detail with reference to the following drawings, which are provided for illustration purposes and the like:

fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a connector housing module configured in a connector according to an embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2 is an exploded view of the connector housing module and connector of fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a schematic top view of the housing body of the connector housing module of fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a side schematic view of a housing body of the connector housing module of fig. 1.

Referring to fig. 1, the connector housing module 100 of the present embodiment is adapted to be mounted on a connector 12 on a motherboard 10. In the present embodiment, the connector 12 is exemplified by a PCI-E connector 12, but the type of the connector 12 is not limited thereto. The connector housing module 100 of the present embodiment can configure a light guide strip 150 capable of transmitting light in a large area on at least one side of the connector 12, so as to provide a large-area light-emitting indication or an aesthetic effect on the premise of stably fixing the light guide strip 150.

Referring to fig. 1 to 4, the connector housing module 100 of the present embodiment includes a housing body 110 and at least one light guide bar 150. The housing body 110 includes a top wall 112, a plurality of side walls 114 and at least one cantilever 120, wherein each cantilever 120 extends from one of the side walls 114 and is bent outward to form a receiving groove 125. As can be seen from fig. 2, in the present embodiment, the housing body 110 includes four sidewalls 114, wherein two opposite sidewalls 114 have a larger length, and the other two opposite sidewalls 114 have a smaller length. Moreover, the housing body 110 includes four cantilevers 120, and the four cantilevers 120 extend from two of the sidewalls 114 with smaller length respectively and extend in a direction parallel to the sidewalls 114 with larger length, so that each cantilever 120 is L-shaped.

That is, as shown in fig. 3, the four cantilevers 120 respectively protrude from the two side walls 114 with a larger length and are bent into two receiving grooves 125 located outside the two side walls 114. As shown in fig. 4, the two cantilevers 120 beside the same sidewall 114 are respectively located at two opposite sides of the sidewall 114 and correspond to each other, and extend toward each other to be bent into a receiving groove 125 (shown in fig. 2).

Referring back to fig. 1, in the present embodiment, the light guide strip 150 is plate-shaped, and the size of the light guide strip 150 is close to the size of the adjacent sidewall 114, but the shape and size of the light guide strip 150 are not limited thereto. The connector housing module 100 includes two light guide bars 150, and the two light guide bars 150 are respectively located at the outer sides of the two opposite sidewalls 114 and located in the two accommodating grooves 125 formed by bending the cantilevers 120.

As can be clearly seen from fig. 1, the two cantilevers 120 beside the same sidewall 114 are respectively located at two opposite sides of the sidewall 114 and extend in the direction (left-right direction) of each other. Therefore, when the light guide bar 150 is located in the accommodating groove 125, the light guide bar 150 is limited by the cantilevers 120 on both sides in the left-right direction. In other words, the light guide bar 150 cannot move in the left-right direction with respect to the housing body 110. The light guide bar 150 is also limited by the cantilever 120 and the sidewall 114 in the front-rear direction, and cannot move in the front-rear direction with respect to the housing body 110.

In addition, as shown in fig. 2, in the present embodiment, each of the cantilevers 120 includes a first fixing portion 122, and each of the light guide bars 150 includes a second fixing portion 152 corresponding to the first fixing portion 122. More specifically, in the present embodiment, the first fixing portion 122 is a bent elastic sheet, and the second fixing portion 152 is a through hole. In the embodiment, the upper portion of the first fixing portion 122 is connected to the cantilever 120 and the lower portion is suspended, and the first fixing portion 122 is bent toward the sidewall 114, when the light guide strip 150 is to be assembled to the housing body 110, as long as the light guide strip 150 is inserted into the accommodating groove 125 from the upper portion to the lower portion, the first fixing portion 122 is firstly pushed outward by the light guide strip 150 in a direction away from the sidewall 114, and when the second fixing portion 152 of the light guide strip 150 moves to the position corresponding to the first fixing portion 122 of the cantilever 120, the first fixing portion 122 of the cantilever 120 is reset to extend into the second fixing portion 152 and abut against the inner wall surface of the through hole, so as to fix the light guide strip 150 to the housing body 110 in at least one direction.

In the embodiment, the first fixing portion 122 extends into the second fixing portion 152 and abuts against the lower wall surface of the through hole, so that the light guide strip 150 is supported by the corresponding cantilever 120 and does not move upward relative to the housing body 110. In addition, the first fixing portion 122 is restricted by the left and right wall surfaces of the through hole and does not move left and right with respect to the housing body 110. In addition, as shown in fig. 1, the connector housing module 100 is supported on the motherboard 10, so that the light guide bar 150 and the housing body 110 are supported by the motherboard 10, and the light guide bar 150 cannot move downward relative to the housing body 110.

That is, in the present embodiment, the light guide bar 150 is limited in the upper, lower, left, right, and front and back directions relative to the housing body 110, so that the light guide bar 150 is stably fixed to the housing body 110. Of course, the types of the first fixing portion 122 and the second fixing portion 152 are not limited thereto, and in other embodiments, one of the first fixing portion 122 and the second fixing portion 152 may be a recess or a through hole, and the other may be a bent elastic sheet or a bump, as long as they can be mutually matched and fixed.

In the present embodiment, the accommodating groove 125 for accommodating the light guide bar 150 is formed by bending the cantilever 120, and the cantilever 120 limits the light guide bar 150 from moving left and right, back and forth, and upward. Due to the smaller area of the cantilever 120, it can be seen from fig. 4 that the projected area of the cantilever 120 to the sidewall 114 with the larger length is only a small portion of the area of the sidewall 114 (e.g., less than 10% of the area of the sidewall 114). Therefore, when the light guide bar 150 is located in the accommodating groove 125, the side of the light guide bar 150 having the second fixing portion 152 is only covered by the cantilever 120, and most of the area is exposed as shown in fig. 1. That is, the light guide bar 150 of the connector housing module 100 of the present embodiment can transmit light in a large area.

In the present embodiment, each light guide bar 150 includes at least one inclined light incident portion 154. As shown in fig. 1, each light guide strip 150 includes two inclined light incident portions 154 at the bottom near two sides, and the two light incident portions 154 are located near two light sources 14 of the motherboard 10, respectively, so that light emitted by the light sources 14 enters the light guide strip 150 through the light incident portions 154, and a large area of light is emitted from the light guide strip 150. The inclined light incident portion 154 can increase the light incident area to effectively guide more light. In the present embodiment, the light source 14 is exemplified by a light emitting diode, but the type of the light source 14 is not limited thereto.

As can be seen from fig. 2, the housing body 110 includes at least one fixing leg 130 extending from one of the sidewalls 114 in a direction away from the top wall 112, and the fixing leg 130 is adapted to be fixed to the motherboard 10. In the present embodiment, the housing body 110 includes six fixing legs 130, but the number of the fixing legs 130 is not limited thereto. In the embodiment, the fixing pin 130 can be fixed to the motherboard 10 by reflow soldering, and the fixing pin 130 can also be connected to the ground terminal of the motherboard 10 to provide a static current path. Since the light guide strip 150 of the present embodiment can be assembled to the housing body 110 after the housing body 110 is assembled to the connector 12 and fixed to the motherboard 10, the light guide strip 150 does not need to bear the high temperature during reflow soldering, and the light guide strip 150 can be effectively prevented from being affected by the high temperature to reduce the light guide effect. Therefore, the light guide bar 150 can maintain good light guide quality.

In addition, in the embodiment, as shown in fig. 2, the housing body 110 includes at least one bending leg 140 located at an edge of one of the side walls 114 with a smaller length away from the top wall 112 and bent inward to be adapted to be fastened to a bottom surface of the pulling portion of the connector 12 close to the right side as shown in fig. 1. In the present embodiment, the housing body 110 is made of metal, for example, before the housing body 110 is covered on the connector 12, the bending leg 140 is not bent yet and can extend along a direction parallel to the side wall 114 with a larger length, so that the housing body 110 can be covered on the connector 12 downward. After the housing body 110 is covered on the connector 12, the operator bends the bending legs 140 to make the bending legs 140 extend along a direction parallel to the side walls 114 with smaller length and located below the bottom surface of the pulling portion near the right side of the connector 12 as shown in fig. 1 and 2, so that the bending legs 140 hook the connector 12, and the housing body 110 is not moved upward relative to the connector 12 to fix the housing body 110 to the connector 12. Similarly, the top wall 112 and four side walls 114 of the housing body 110 cover the top and periphery of the connector 12, so that the housing body 110 is restricted from moving back and forth, left and right, and downward relative to the connector 12, and the housing body 110 is fixed to the motherboard 10 by the aforementioned fixing legs 130, so as to be firmly fixed to the connector 12.

It should be noted that the position of the cantilever 120 of the housing body 110 is not limited to the embodiment, and several other ways of disposing the cantilever 120 will be described below. Fig. 5-8 are side views of housing bodies of various connector housing modules according to various embodiments of the invention. It should be noted that, in the following embodiments, the same or similar components as those in the previous embodiment are denoted by the same or similar symbols, and only the main differences from the previous embodiment are described, so that the descriptions of the same parts are omitted.

Referring to fig. 5, in the present embodiment, the cantilevers 120a are arranged side by side at an edge of one of the sidewalls 114 in the length direction, and extend in the same direction to jointly bend out of the accommodating groove 125 (shown in fig. 2). More specifically, as can be seen from fig. 5, in the sidewall 114, two cantilevers 120a are arranged side by side on the upper edge of the sidewall 114 and extend downward. In the embodiment, the cantilevers 120a can limit the light guide bar 150 (shown in fig. 2) from moving upward and from front to back, the two first fixing portions 122a of the two cantilevers 120a can extend into the through hole of the light guide bar 150 and abut against the inner wall surface of the through hole, the first fixing portion 122a on the left can limit the light guide bar 150 from moving rightward and from top to bottom, the first fixing portion 122a on the right can limit the light guide bar 150 from moving leftward and from top to bottom, and the motherboard 10 (shown in fig. 1) can limit the light guide bar 150 from moving downward and fix the light guide bar 150.

Referring to fig. 6, in the present embodiment, two cantilevers 120b are arranged side by side on the lower edge of the sidewall 114 and extend upward. Similarly, in the embodiment, the cantilevers 120b can limit the downward movement and the forward and backward movement of the light guide bar 150 (shown in fig. 2), the two first fixing portions 122b of the two cantilevers 120b can extend into the through hole of the light guide bar 150 and abut against the inner wall surface of the through hole, the first fixing portion 122b on the left can limit the right movement and the upward and downward movement of the light guide bar 150, the first fixing portion 122b on the right can limit the left movement and the upward and downward movement of the light guide bar 150, and the motherboard 10 (shown in fig. 1) can limit the downward movement of the light guide bar 150 and fix the light guide bar 150.

Referring to fig. 7, in the present embodiment, two of the cantilevers 120a are arranged side by side at the upper edge of the sidewall 114 and extend downward, and the other two cantilevers 120b are arranged side by side at the lower edge of the sidewall 114 and extend upward. The effect of limiting the up-down, left-right, and front-back movement of the light guide strip 150 can also be achieved.

Referring to fig. 8, in the present embodiment, two

cantilevers

120a and 120b are respectively located on two opposite sides of the sidewall 114 and are staggered from each other, and the

cantilevers

120a and 120b respectively extend toward each other to be bent into a receiving groove 125. Specifically, the arrangement in which one of the cantilevers 120a is located at the upper edge of the sidewall 114 and extends downward, and the other cantilever 120b is located at the lower edge of the sidewall 114 and extends upward, and the two

cantilevers

120a and 120b are offset, can also achieve the effect of restricting the up-down, left-right, and forward-backward movement of the light guide bar 150.

It should be noted that although the cantilevers 120 are symmetrically disposed on the two opposite and longer sidewalls 114 in the embodiment of fig. 1, that is, the configuration of the cantilever 120 on each sidewall 114 is the same as that of fig. 4 in the two opposite and longer sidewalls 114, in other embodiments, different configurations of the

cantilevers

120, 120a, 120b may be disposed in the two opposite and longer sidewalls 114, for example, one of the longer sidewalls 114 may configure the cantilever 120a in the manner of fig. 5, and the other of the longer sidewalls 114 may configure the cantilever 120b in the manner of fig. 6. Alternatively, one of the side walls 114 with a larger length may be configured with the

cantilevers

120a, 120b in the manner of fig. 8 (upper left and lower right), and the other side wall 114 with a larger length may be configured with the

cantilevers

120a, 120b in the opposite manner of fig. 8 (upper right and lower left), without being limited thereto.

Fig. 9 is a schematic view of a plurality of the connector housing modules and connectors of fig. 1. Referring to fig. 9, a plurality of connector housing modules 100 are shown in fig. 9. Since the PCI-E connectors 12 on the motherboard 10 are arranged side by side, the designer can fill the light guide strip 150 of the connector housing module 100 between two adjacent connectors 12. In this way, in addition to the connector housing module 100 increasing the strength of the connector 12 through the housing body 110 made of metal, the light guide bar 150 is filled between two adjacent connectors 12, so that the light guide bar 150 not only provides light indication or aesthetic effects, but also reduces the possibility of the connector 12 cracking because the light guide bar 150 is configured beside the connector 12 as a support opposite to the cracking direction if the connector 12 is inserted into an expansion card with uneven weight and a fan configured on one side.

In summary, the housing module of the connector of the present invention uses the accommodating groove bent from the cantilever extending from the sidewall to accommodate and support the light guide strip, and since only a small portion of the light guide strip is shielded by the cantilever and the rest is exposed, the light transmission effect of large area can be achieved. In addition, the outer cover body of the outer cover module of the connector is covered on the connector, so that the structural strength of the connector can be effectively improved. In addition, because some connectors are arranged side by side on the motherboard, if a plurality of connector housing modules are covered on the connectors, the light guide strip arranged beside the side wall of the housing body can be filled between the adjacent connectors, so that the strength of the connectors can be increased, and the probability of connector cracking is reduced.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and it should be understood that various changes and modifications can be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A connector housing module adapted to house a connector on a motherboard, comprising:

the outer cover body is covered on the connector and comprises a top wall, a plurality of side walls and at least one cantilever, wherein each cantilever extends from one of the side walls and is bent outwards to form an accommodating groove; and

the light guide strip is positioned beside one side wall, supported by the corresponding cantilever and positioned in the accommodating groove bent by the cantilever, and only part of the light guide strip is shielded by the cantilever, so that large-area light transmission can be realized;

when the connectors are arranged on the mainboard side by side, the light guide strips arranged beside the side wall of the housing body are filled between the adjacent connectors.

2. The connector housing module of claim 1, wherein the at least one cantilever is a plurality of cantilevers, the cantilevers are respectively located on two opposite sides of one of the sidewalls and correspond to each other, and the cantilevers respectively extend toward opposite directions to jointly bend out of the receiving groove.

3. The connector housing module of claim 1, wherein the at least one cantilever is a plurality of cantilevers, the cantilevers are respectively located on two opposite sides of one of the sidewalls and are staggered from each other, and the cantilevers respectively extend toward each other to jointly bend out of the receiving groove.

4. The module of claim 1, wherein the at least one arm is a plurality of arms, and the arms are arranged side by side at an edge of one of the sidewalls in a length direction and extend in the same direction to jointly bend out of the receiving groove.

5. The connector housing module according to claim 1, wherein the at least one cantilever is a plurality of cantilevers protruding from two opposite sidewalls and bent to form two receiving grooves outside the two sidewalls, and the at least one light guide strip is two light guide strips supported by the cantilevers and located in the two receiving grooves.

6. The connector housing module of claim 1, wherein the housing body includes a securing leg extending from one of the side walls in a direction away from the top wall, the securing leg adapted to be secured to the host board.

7. The connector housing module of claim 1, wherein the housing body includes a bent leg at an edge of one of the side walls remote from the top wall and adapted to bend under a bottom surface of the connector.

8. The connector housing module according to claim 1, wherein each of the light guide bars has a plate shape and has a greater length at two opposite sides thereof, and when the light guide bar is located in the receiving groove, one of the sides of the light guide bar having the greater length is covered only by the cantilever.

9. The connector housing module according to claim 1, wherein each of the cantilevers includes a first fixing portion, each of the light guide strips includes a second fixing portion corresponding to the first fixing portion, one of the first fixing portion and the second fixing portion is a recess or a through hole, and the other one is a bent elastic piece or a bump.

10. The module of claim 1, wherein each light guide bar includes an inclined light incident portion adapted to be adjacent to a light source of the motherboard, so that light emitted from the light source enters the light guide bar through the light incident portion.

11. A housing body of the connector housing module according to any one of claims 1 to 9.