US-12627086-B2 - Connector assembly with partitioning assembly for improved airflow

Abstract

A connector assembly includes a shielding cage, a partitioning assembly and a plurality of supporting members. The shielding cage has a plurality of walls and an internal space defined by the plurality of walls, the plurality of walls includes two side walls. The partitioning assembly is assembled to the two side walls of the shielding cage and partitions the internal space into two inserting chambers arranged up and down, the partitioning assembly includes two partitioning plates which are arranged up and down and two grounding elastic pieces which are respectively assembled to front ends of the two partitioning plates, the two partitioning plates are spaced apart from with each other by a preset interval to together constitute an air flow passageway and a front end opening positioned to a front end of the air flow passageway. The plurality of supporting members are supported between the two partitioning plates.

Inventors

• Hui-Hsuan Yang
• Bhakteesh Arwankar
• Weiming CHEN
• Saiyed Muhammad Hasan ALI

Assignees

• MOLEX, LLC

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20231024

Priority Date

20221024

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A connector assembly, comprising: a shielding cage which has a plurality of walls and an internal space defined by the plurality of walls, the plurality of walls comprising two side walls; a partitioning assembly which is assembled to the two side walls of the shielding cage and partitions the internal space into two inserting chambers arranged up and down, the partitioning assembly comprising two partitioning plates which are arranged vertically and two grounding elastic pieces which are respectively assembled to front ends of the two partitioning plates, the two partitioning plates being spaced apart from each other by a preset interval to together constitute an air flow passageway and a front end opening positioned to a front end of the air flow passageway, and the two partitioning plates cach having a plurality of air flow apertures communicated with the air flow passageway; and a plurality of supporting members which are supported between the two partitioning plates.
2. 2 . The connector assembly of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the two partitioning plates has a folding portion which is provided to the front end of the corresponding partitioning plate and is locally positioned to the front end opening, the two portioning plates being separated from one another by the preset interval based on a height of the folding portion.
3. 3 . The connector assembly of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of the supporting members are supported between the two partitioning plates at two sides of the two partitioning plates.
4. 4 . The connector assembly of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of supporting members comprise a plurality of support protruding edges, the plurality of support protruding edges are integrally constructed to bend from side edges of at least one of the two partitioning plates toward side edges of the other of the two partitioning plates, and are supported between the side edges of the two partitioning plates.
5. 5 . The connector assembly of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of supporting members comprises a plurality of supporting pieces, the plurality of supporting pieces are integrally constructed from the two side walls of the shielding cage and are formed to extend inwardly so as to be supported between the side edges of the two partitioning plates.
6. 6 . The connector assembly of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of air flow apertures communicated with the air flow passageway are in a shape of a regular hexagon.
7. 7 . The connector assembly of claim 2 , wherein the two partitioning plates each have the folding portion which is provided to the front end of the corresponding partitioning plate, and the folding portions of the two partitioning plates are staggered with each other in position.
8. 8 . The connector assembly of claim 1 , wherein: each grounding elastic piece has an elastic portion and a mounting plate which are respectively provided to two opposite surfaces of the front end of the corresponding partitioning plate, the elastic portion comprises a plurality of elastic finger portions and a catching piece which is positioned to a rear end of at least one of the plurality of elastic finger portions, and each partitioning plate has a catching hole which engages with the catching piece of the corresponding grounding elastic piece.
9. 9 . The connector assembly of claim 8 , wherein; the catching piece has two butterfly wings which are respectively positioned to a left side and a right side of the catching piece, and the catching piece passes through the catching hole and then folds back forwardly and the two butterfly wings of the catching pieces spread left and right, so that the catching piece hooks the catching hole.
10. 10 . The connector assembly of claim 1 , wherein: the plurality of walls of the shielding cage further comprises a top wall, the top wall has an insertion protruding block which extends downwardly into an upper inserting chamber, and a lower partitioning plate of the two partitioning plates has an insertion protruding block which extends downwardly into a lower inserting chamber.
11. 11 . The connector assembly of claim 1 , wherein the two side walls of the shielding cage each have pluggable module limiting pieces which respectively extend into the two inserting chambers.
12. 12 . A connector assembly, comprising: a shielding cage extending in a front-rear direction and having a top wall, a bottom wall, two side walls, and an internal space defined by the walls; a partitioning assembly mounted to the two side walls of the shielding cage and dividing the internal space into an upper inserting chamber and a lower inserting chamber, the partitioning assembly comprising an upper partitioning plate and a lower partitioning plate arranged vertically and spaced apart from one another by a predetermined interval to define an air flow passageway extending in the front-rear direction and having a front end opening; wherein at least one of the upper partitioning plate and the lower partitioning plate includes a folding portion formed at a front end thereof and partially covering the front end opening, and wherein each of the upper partitioning plate and the lower partitioning plate is formed with a plurality of air flow apertures communicated with the air flow passageway; and two grounding elastic pieces mounted to front ends of the upper partitioning plate and the lower partitioning plate, respectively; a plurality of supporting members positioned on opposing lateral sides of the partitioning assembly and supported between side edges of the upper partitioning plate and the lower partitioning plate, the supporting members being configured to maintain the predetermined interval between the upper and lower partitioning plates.
13. 13 . The connector assembly of claim 12 , wherein the partitioning assembly further comprises a first folding portion extending vertically downward from a front end of the upper partitioning plate, and a second folding portion extending vertically upward from a front end of the lower partitioning plate.
14. 14 . The connector assembly of claim 13 , wherein the first folding portion and the second folding portion are offset from one another in a left-right direction.
15. 15 . The connector assembly of claim 12 , wherein the two grounding elastic pieces are integrally mounted to the upper partitioning plate and the lower partitioning plate, respectively.
16. 16 . The connector assembly of claim 12 , wherein each grounding elastic piece includes an elastic portion having a plurality of elastic finger portions and at least one catching piece engaged with a corresponding catching hole formed in the respective partitioning plate.
17. 17 . The connector assembly of claim 12 , wherein the supporting members include a plurality of support protruding edges integrally formed from side edges of at least one of the upper partitioning plate and the lower partitioning plate and extending toward the other partitioning plate.
18. 18 . The connector assembly of claim 12 , wherein the supporting members include a plurality of supporting pieces integrally formed from the two side walls of the shielding cage and extending inwardly between side edges of the upper partitioning plate and the lower partitioning plate.
19. 19 . The connector assembly of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of air flow apertures formed in each of the upper partitioning plate and the lower partitioning plate are polygonal.
20. 20 . The connector assembly of claim 12 , wherein: the plurality of walls of the shielding cage further comprises a top wall, the top wall has an insertion protruding block which extends downwardly into an upper inserting chamber, and a lower partitioning plate of the two partitioning plates has an insertion protruding block which extends downwardly into a lower inserting chamber.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202222805856.9 filed on Oct. 24, 2022, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to a connector assembly, and particularly relates to a connector assembly which has a partitioning assembly. BACKGROUND Chinese patent document CN210092418U discloses a partitioning piece assembly, the partitioning piece assembly includes an upper partitioning piece and a lower partitioning piece which have a gap therebetween, an end of the upper partitioning piece away from a mating connector is provided with a first mounting zone, an end of the lower partitioning piece away from the mating connector is provided with a second mounting zone, the first mounting zone and the second mounting zone are mounted thereon with a second EMI grounding elastic piece which contacts the upper partitioning piece and the lower partitioning piece at the same time. Because the first mounting zone of the upper partitioning piece and the second mounting zone of the lower partitioning piece attach together, a front end opening between the upper partitioning piece and the lower partitioning piece is closed, heat dissipating air flow cannot enter into between the upper partitioning piece and the lower partitioning piece via the front end opening. Moreover, this Chinese patent document discloses that, the upper partitioning piece is provided with a first contact piece which is fixedly connected with the lower partitioning piece by spot welding, the lower partitioning piece is provided with a second contact piece which is fixedly connected with the upper partitioning piece by spot welding, so connecting stability between the upper partitioning piece and the lower partitioning piece can be assured. However, it may be seen that, the first contact piece and the second contact piece are provided to a middle of the first contact piece and the second contact piece, and thus also block heat dissipating air flow to enter into between the upper partitioning piece and the lower partitioning piece. SUMMARY Therefore, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a connector assembly which can improve at least one deficiency of the prior art. Accordingly, in some embodiments, a connector assembly of the present disclosure comprises a shielding cage, a partitioning assembly and a plurality of supporting members. The shielding cage has a plurality of walls and an internal space defined by the plurality of walls, the plurality of walls comprises two side walls. The partitioning assembly is assembled to the two side walls of the shielding cage and partitions the internal space into two inserting chambers arranged up and down, the partitioning assembly comprises two partitioning plates which are arranged up and down and two grounding elastic pieces which are respectively assembled to front ends of the two partitioning plates, the two partitioning plates are spaced apart from with each other by a preset interval to together constitute an air flow passageway and a front end opening positioned to a front end of the air flow passageway. The plurality of supporting members are supported between the two partitioning plates. In some embodiments, at least one of the two partitioning plates has a folding portion which is provided to the front end of the corresponding partitioning plate and is locally positioned to the front end opening. In some embodiments, the plurality of the supporting members are supported between the two partitioning plates at two sides of the two partitioning plates. In some embodiments, the plurality of supporting members comprise a plurality of support protruding edges, the plurality of support protruding edges are integrally constructed to bend from side edges of at least one of the two partitioning plates toward side edge of the other of the two partitioning plates, and are supported between the side edges of the two partitioning plates. In some embodiments, the plurality of supporting members comprises a plurality of supporting pieces, the plurality of supporting pieces are integrally constructed from the two side walls of the shielding cage and are formed to extend inwardly so as to be supported between the side edges of the two partitioning plates. In some embodiments, each partitioning plate is formed with a plurality of air flow apertures which are communicated with the air flow passageway and each are in form of regular hexagon. In some embodiments, the two partitioning plates each have the folding portion which is provided to the front end of the corresponding partitioning plate, and the folding portions of the two partitioning plates are staggered with each other in position. In some embodiments, each grounding elastic piece has an elastic portion and a mounting plate which are respectively provided to two opposite surfaces of the front end of the corresponding partitioning plate, the elast