# US 12,191,607 B2 · Electric connector assembly > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,191,607 B2 - Document ID: US12191607B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/743,641 - Filed: 2022-05-13 - Published: 2022-11-17 - Granted: 2025-01-07 - Earliest claimed: 2021-05-13 - Assignees: Tyco Electronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.; Tyco Electronics Japan G.K. - Applicants: Tyco Electronics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd; Tyco Electronics Japan G.K. - Inventors: Xinlei (Tony) Li; Fengping (Alex) Xu; Qiaoli (Cherie) Chen; Junya Tsuji - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12191607B2 ## CPC - H01R 12/716: {Coupling device provided on the PCB} - H01R 13/6597: the conductive member being a contact of the connector - H01R 12/721: {cooperating directly with the edge of the rigid printed circuits} - H01R 13/6471: by special arrangement of ground and signal conductors, e.g. GSGS [Ground-Signal-Ground-Signal] - H01R 13/6587: for mounting on PCBs - H01R 12/73: connecting to other rigid printed circuits or like structures - H01R 43/18: for manufacturing bases or cases for contact members - H01R: ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS ## Abstract An electric connector assembly includes an insulating housing, a plurality of rows of contact terminals disposed in the insulating housing and including a plurality of signal terminals and a plurality of ground terminals, and a conductive shell assembled on the insulating housing. The conductive shell contacts and is connected with the ground terminals to electrically connect the ground terminals together. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An electric connector assembly, comprising: an insulating housing; a bottom plate disposed above the insulating housing; a plurality of rows of contact terminals disposed in the insulating housing and including a plurality of signal terminals and a plurality of ground terminals; and a conductive shell assembled on the insulating housing, the conductive shell contacts and is connected with the ground terminals to electrically connect the ground terminals together. ### Claim 2 An electric connector assembly, comprising: an insulating housing; a plurality of rows of contact terminals disposed in the insulating housing and including a plurality of signal terminals and a plurality of ground terminals; and a conductive shell assembled on the insulating housing, the conductive shell including a plurality of conductive protrusions contacting and connecting with the ground terminals to electrically connect the ground terminals together, wherein the conductive shell has a plurality of conductive protrusions, the conductive protrusions contact and are connected with the ground terminals to electrically connect the ground terminals. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The electric connector assembly of claim 2, wherein the conductive shell has: a plurality of upright walls arranged side by side and parallel to each other; a pair of end walls connecting the upright walls at opposite ends of the upright walls; and a plurality of terminal passages each delimited by adjacent upright walls and the end walls. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The electric connector assembly of claim 3, wherein the signal terminals and the ground terminals extending through the terminal passages. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The electric connector assembly of claim 4, wherein the conductive protrusions are formed on the upright walls and contact the ground terminals extending through the terminal passages. ### Claim 6 (depends on 2) The electric connector assembly of claim 2, wherein the conductive shell is formed integrally with the conductive protrusions. ### Claim 7 (depends on 3) The electric connector assembly of claim 3, wherein each of the upright walls has opposite first and second side surfaces facing different adjacent terminal passages, the conductive protrusions include a plurality of first conductive protrusions on the first side surfaces and a plurality of second conductive protrusions on the second side surfaces. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The electric connector assembly of claim 7, wherein the rows of contact terminals include a first row of contact terminals and a second row of contact terminals arranged alternately with the first row of contact terminals, and the ground terminals include a plurality of first ground terminals and a plurality of second ground terminals, the first row of contact terminals is formed by alternately arranging one of the first ground terminals and one pair of signal terminals, and the second row of contact terminals is formed from the second ground terminals. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The electric connector assembly of claim 8, wherein the first row of contact terminals is arranged in one of the terminal passages faced by the first side surface of each of the upright walls and the second row of contact terminals is arranged in one of the terminal passages faced by the second side surface of each of the upright walls. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The electric connector assembly of claim 9, wherein each of the first conductive protrusions contacts and connects with one of the first ground terminals and each of the second conductive protrusions contacts and connects with one of the second ground terminals. ### Claim 11 (depends on 7) The electric connector assembly of claim 7, wherein the first conductive protrusions have a different shape from the second conductive protrusions. ### Claim 12 (depends on 8) The electric connector assembly of claim 8, wherein the first ground terminals have a different shape from the second ground terminals. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The electric connector assembly of claim 1, wherein one of the conductive shell and the insulating housing has a positioning hole and the other of the conductive shell and the insulating housing has a positioning column, the positioning column is inserted into the positioning hole to fix the conductive shell to the insulating housing. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The electric connector assembly of claim 1, wherein the conductive shell is one of a plurality of conductive shells formed side by side and parallel to each other on the insulating housing. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The electric connector assembly of claim 1, wherein the conductive shell is made by a physical vapor deposition technology or a molded interconnect device technology. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The electric connector assembly of claim 1, wherein the insulating housing is a plastic housing and the conductive shell is a metallized shell formed by depositing a layer of metal on the plastic housing. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The electric connector assembly of claim 16, wherein the conductive shell is made by depositing a layer of nickel on the plastic housing. ### Claim 18 (depends on 1) The electric connector assembly of claim 1, wherein the conductive shell is made of a pure metal material by die casting or casting. ### Claim 19 (depends on 1) The electric connector assembly of claim 1, wherein the bottom plate covers the conductive shell and the rows of contact terminals. ### Claim 20 (depends on 2) The electric connector assembly of claim 2, wherein: the conductive shell includes: a plurality of upright walls; and a plurality of terminal passages each delimited by adjacent ones of the upright walls; and the plurality of conductive protrusions include: a plurality of first conductive protrusions on a first side surface of a first one of the upright walls and extending into a first one of the plurality of terminal passages; and a plurality of second conductive protrusions on a second side surface of the first one of the upright walls opposite the first side, the plurality of second conductive protrusions extending into a second one of the plurality of terminal passages adjacent the first one of the plurality of terminal passages. ### Claim 21 An electric connector assembly, comprising: an insulating housing; a plurality of rows of contact terminals disposed in the insulating housing and including a plurality of signal terminals and a plurality of ground terminals, the rows of contact terminals include a first row of contact terminals and a second row of contact terminals arranged alternately with the first row of contact terminals, and the ground terminals include a plurality of first ground terminals and a plurality of second ground terminals, the first row of contact terminals is formed by alternately arranging one of the first ground terminals and one pair of signal terminals, and the second row of contact terminals is formed from the second ground terminals; and a conductive shell assembled on the insulating housing and contacting the ground terminals to electrically connect the ground terminals together. ### Claim 22 (depends on 21) The electric connector assembly of claim 21, wherein the conductive shell includes: a plurality of conductive protrusions electrically contacting the ground terminals; a plurality of upright walls arranged side by side and parallel to each other; a pair of end walls connecting the upright walls at opposite ends of the upright walls; and a plurality of terminal passages each delimited by adjacent upright walls and the end walls, of the upright walls has opposite first and second side surfaces facing different adjacent terminal passages, the conductive protrusions include a plurality of first conductive protrusions on the first side surfaces and a plurality of second conductive protrusions on the second side surfaces.