FIELD OF THE INVENTION The instant invention relates to connectors and connector assemblies.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In particular, the instant invention is related to connectors such as electrical or optical connectors. Such connectors classically comprises a housing which defines a plurality of pathways. Electrical or optical wires of a cable are assembled in each pathway, to be placed in electrical or optical communication with a corresponding contact fibre or ferrule of a mating connector.

Several of these connectors have already been provided with a front grid.

WO 2007/037,958 provided an up-to-date solution to these needs. However, ever more stringent requirements for such connectors necessitate providing still further improvements to connectors in terms of robustness, life expectancy, miniaturization and manufacturability .

The instant invention has notably for object to provide such an improved connector.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To this aim, it is provided a connector according to claim 1.

In particular, the fact that wall portions of the front grid are used for completing with the connector housing the pathways (or pathway) for the contacts (or terminals) allows increasing the connector interface compactness. In other words, more contacts can be used with a connector having the same or even smaller dimensions. Nevertheless, the interface between the grid and the housing remains simple. The interface between the connector and a mating connector remains simple too.

In some embodiments, one might also use one or more of the features as defined in the dependent claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will readily appear from the following description of one of its embodiments, provided as a non- limitative examples, and of the accompanying drawings.

On the drawings :

- Fig. 1 is an exploded view of a connector according to an embodiment of the invention,

- Fig. 2 is a sectional view along line II-II of the housing of the connector of Fig. 1,

- Fig. 3 is a perspective rear view of the front grid of Fig. 1,

- Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the connector of Fig. 1, along line IV-IV of Fig. 1,

- Fig. 5 is a front view of the connector of Fig.

1,

- Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the connector along line VI-VI of Fig. 5, in the assembled position of the front grid,

- Fig. 7 is the same view as Fig. 6 in the pre- assembled condition of the grid,

- Fig. 8 is the same view as Fig. 7, in case of a mis-insertion of an electrical contact in the pathway,

- Fig. 9 is a schematic perspective view of a connector assembly,

- Fig. 10 is a cross-sectional view along line X-X of Fig. 2, - Fig. 11 is a cross-sectional view along line XI- XI of Fig. 2,

- Fig. 12 is an enlarged rear view of a part of the front grid,

- Fig. 13 is a sectional view along line XIII-XIII of Fig. 5 in an assembled position of the grid, and

- Fig. 14 is a view similar to Fig. 13 in the pre- assembled position of the front grid.

On the different Figures, the same reference signs designate like or similar elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Fig. 9 shows an electrical connector assembly comprising a first electrical connector 1 and a second electrical connector 2 adapted to mate with each other along a mating direction X. The present description is given by reference to electrical connectors. However, it is believed that it could be applied to other types of connectors, notably to optical or electro-optical connectors .

The electrical connector assembly comprises a locking system enabling to lock the two electrical connectors to one another, once mated. As a purely illustrative embodiment, this locking system may comprise a peg 3 of one of the connectors, for example of the second electrical connector 2, which is shaped to deflect a flexible lever 4 of the other (first) electrical connector and to be caught behind a shoulder 5 thereof once the lever 4 springs back to its rest condition.

The connector assembly may further comprise other features, which are not necessarily shown on the drawings, such as a connector position assurance (CPA) system comprising a part borne by one of the electrical connectors and movable with respect to it, only once the two connectors are locked in mated state.

The second connector 2 comprises a plastic housing 6 which has an outer peripheral face 7 and an opposed inner peripheral face 8 which surrounds a plurality of electrical contacts 9. The electrical contacts 9 are arranged in an ordered manner as, for example, a single row of seven electrical contacts. However, this is illustrative only. This row extends in a direction Y. The direction Z extends normal to the plane defined by the X and Y directions.

The outer peripheral face 7 bears the peg 3 of the locking system.

The second electrical connector 2 extends, along direction X, from a front face 10 which is a mating face arranged to mate with a complementary electrical connector, and an opposed rear face 11. The rear face 11 is for example a face from which an electrical output of the second electrical connector 2 extends, such as a cable 12 made of the assembly of a plurality of wires 13 each connected to a respective electrical contact 9. Other electrical outputs are possible for the second electrical connector 2, and they may even not extend from the rear face 11, for example in the case of a right angled connector .

The first electrical connector 1 also extends from a front face 14 to an opposed rear face 15. The front face 14 is for mating with the front face 10 of the second electrical connector 2. The connector 1 receives a plurality of electrical contacts 16 (see also Fig. 1) which are to be placed in electrical communication with the contacts 9 of the second electrical connector. The electrical contacts 16 have shapes complementary to the shape of the electrical contacts 9 and are, for example, female contacts having a cage adapted to receive therein the connection end of the electrical contacts 9. In the present example, all the electrical contacts 16 are identical so that, only one of them will be described. However, the invention could be applied to electrical connectors having different electrical contacts.

The electrical contacts 16 are arranged in the connector 1 according to an arrangement which corresponds to that of the electrical contacts 9 of the second electrical connector 2, i.e., in the present example, as a single row of seven contacts. Each contact 16 is received in a cavity corresponding to a portion of a respective pathway 17 (see Fig. 6) of the connector 1. The pathway is specifically shaped to correspond to the contact 16 received therein and extends from the front face 14 of the connector to its rear face 15 (see Fig. 9) . In variant embodiments, not all the pathways need be wired. The present description of the connector 1 uses words such as "front", "rear", "top", "bottom", ... . "Front" and "rear" refer to the orientation along the mating axis X, "front" being closest to the mating connector. "Top" and "bottom" refer to the orientation along the Z-axis as shown on Fig. 1.

As visible on Fig. 1, each electrical contact 16 comprises a terminal portion 18 shaped to be placed in electrical communication with the electrical contact 9 of the complementary connector, and a wire 19 with an insulating sheath surrounding this core.

As can be seen on Fig. 9, the wires 19 can be assembled together at the exit of the connector 1 as a cable 20.

The electrical connector 1 is made at least of two main parts which are plastic moulded parts, which are produced separately: the first part is the housing 21 which forms most of the electrical connector 1 (see Fig. 1) . The second part is a front grid 22 which is placed at the front portion of the housing 21 and is movable and lockable with respect thereto from a pre-assembled to an assembled position. Below, it will sometimes be referred to the "connector body" as the assembly of the connector front grid 22 and the connector housing 21. Other main parts, such as rear grid and various seals could also be used. Before the cable 20 is assembled to the connector body, the front grid 22 is normally retained with respect to the housing 21 in the pre-assembled position. The front grid 22 is movable with respect to the housing 21 by a sliding movement along the mating direction X.

Turning to Fig. 3, the front grid 22 has a front face 23 and a rear face 24 opposed to one another along direction X, and a peripheral wall 25 which extends peripherally around direction X, from the front face 23 to the rear face 24. The peripheral wall has a sensibly rectangular cross section, with a top wall 26 and an opposed bottom wall 27. The two opposite lateral walls 28 and 28' are similar to one another, symmetric to one another with respect to the X-Z plane so that only one of them will be described. The peripheral wall 25 has an outer surface 29 and an inner surface 30 opposed thereto. The inner surface 30 at the top wall 26 and at the lateral walls 28, 28' is a guiding surface shaped complementary to a complementary guiding surface of the housing 21, which will be described later, to guide the front grid with respect to the housing 21 along the X direction, between its pre-assembled and assembled positions.

As can be best seen on Fig. 1, the front face 23 of the front grid 22 comprises two vertical bridges 31, 31' extending from the top wall 26 to the bottom wall 27. These bridges are used to stiffen the front grid 22 in particular against shearing. They define a central compartment 32, located between the two vertical bridges 31, 31', and two lateral compartments 33, 33' extending on either side of the central compartment 32, and between an intermediate wall (or vertical bridge) 31 or 31' and the closest lateral wall 28, 28'. In the present embodiment, the central compartment corresponds to three pathways, whereas each of the two lateral compartments corresponds to two pathways .

Each of the lateral walls 28 and 28' comprises part of the locking system used to lock the grid and the housing 21. The lateral wall 28' comprises a top and a bottom peg 34 which protrudes inward, and are located close to the rear edge of the lateral wall 28' (see Fig. 3) . The lateral wall further comprises a flexible lance 35 which is connected thereto at one end close to its front edge and carries, at its second end, closer to the rear edge, a protruding peg 36 which also protrudes inward.

The front grid 22 defines a row of passages 37 corresponding to each respective contact to be introduced in the connector. One of these passages will be described below, also in relation to Fig. 12, whereas all passages are sensibly identical. Each passage 37 is defined along the direction Y between two adjacent walls 38 extending from the inner face 30 of the bottom wall 27 upward. The walls 38 are identical to one another. A wall 38 comprises, along direction X, from the rear face 24 to the front face 23 three successive portions. The first portion 39 comprises a first wall portion of low height. A second portion 40 continuous with the first portion 39 is higher than the first wall portion. The third portion 41 extends yet higher than the second portion 40. Further, it has a lateral extension 42 which extends into the neighbour passage 37. "Heights" are measured along the direction Z by reference to a bottom reference surface.

Between two neighbour walls 38, a central region of the passage 37 extends. The central region 43 comprises a guidance region 44 and an access region 45 located side by side along the direction Y. A rear low region 46, an intermediate higher region 47, a support region 73 and a front stop region 48 are provided in the guidance region, the one after the other along the direction X from the rear face to the front face of the rear grid, with increasing heights. The vertical wall 78 joining the rear and intermediate regions 46 and 47 forms an abutment portion. The front stop region 48 is sensibly at the same height as the extension 42. The access region 45 comprises the rear low region 46 and the intermediate region 47 flush with the ones of the guidance region 44, but no protruding front stop region. Further, a groove 49 is provided in the inner face of the bottom wall, extending along the X direction up to the front face of the front grid.

Part of the passage geometry which has been described above is provided to cooperate with a corresponding geometry of the housing 21, whereas another part of the geometry is designed to cooperate with the electrical contact itself.

The geometry of the housing 21 will now be described in more details. In fact, only the front portion of the housing 21 is described. This front portion interfaces with the electrical contacts and the front grid. It has a front end. The not described rear portion is classical, and receives the wire sheath, mat sealing joint, rear grid, if necessary. Turning back to Fig. 1, the housing 21 has a peripheral wall 50 which is shaped to cooperate with the front grid 22. The peripheral wall 50 has a rear portion 51 which totally surrounds the pathways 17 receiving the respective electrical contacts, and a front portion 52, which only partly surrounds these pathways. The front portion 52, in cooperation with the front grid 23, totally surrounds these pathways, in a way which will be described in more details below.

The peripheral wall 50 has an outer face 53 and an opposed inner face 54 visible for example on Fig. 4. The peripheral wall 50 has a top wall 55 and opposed bottom wall 56 (see Fig. 6), and two lateral side walls 57 and 57' corresponding respectively to the top wall 26 (see Fig. 1), the bottom wall 27 and the lateral walls 28 and 28' of the front grid. The lateral wall 57 and 57' extend from the top wall 55 to the bottom wall 56. They each bear two locking pegs 58 provided on top of one another along direction Z and form a part of the locking system of the front grid to the housing.

The housing 21 has a front face 59 which comprises a long transverse bridge 60 extending along the Y direction and from which extensions 61 project downward along direction Z. These extensions are, in the present example, eight, so as to define between them seven pathways for the electrical contacts. The extensions 61 are shaped complementary to the walls 38 of the front grid 22. Further, the transverse bridge 60 is provided with two recesses 62 and 62'.

Turning now to Fig. 2, the inner face 54 of the front portion 52 will be described. As can be seen, in the front portion 52, the bottom wall 56 does not extend, along the X direction, up to the front face 59 of the housing 21. The bottom wall 56 comprises, in each passage, a flexible lance 63 which is made flexible by being provided between two lateral slots 64, which extend, such as the lance 63 along the direction X. The lance 63 carries a locking peg 65 which projects therefrom toward the central axis of the respective pathway. This peg 65 is part of a locking system of the contact in the connector body. The lance 63 further comprises an unlocking finger 66, which runs parallel to the X direction, but is sensibly offset with respect to the peg 65 along the Z direction.

The operation of the system will now be described. To start with, the housing 21 and the front grid 22 are provided separately. The cables are not yet connected to the connector body. The front grid 22 is assembled to the housing 21 in a pre-assembled position. In this position, the pegs 58 of the housing 21 are trapped between the pegs 34 of the front grid 22 and the pegs 36 of the front grid 22. The peripheral wall 25 of the front grid 22 surrounds the peripheral wall 50 of the housing 21. In this position, the inner face of the top wall 26 of the front grid 22 rests on the outer face 53 of the top wall 55 of the housing 21. As can be seen on Fig. 7, imagining that the electrical contact 16 is not in place, there is some clearance between the locking lance 63 of the housing and the facing bottom wall 27 of the front grid 22, thereby enabling this lance 63 to flex freely around a rotation axis parallel to the axis Y. The part of the bottom wall 27 of the front grid 22 which faces the locking lance 63 at this stage is the rear low region 46.

The user can then connect the connector body to the cable. As shown on Fig. 7, the electrical contact 16 is introduced from the rear into the connector housing 21 in each corresponding pathway 17. It is guided in the pathway 17 by cooperation of a top guiding surface 80 (see Fig. 1) of the contact 18 with the complementary inner face 54 of the top wall 55 of the housing 21, as well as two lateral guiding surfaces 81 of the contact with facing guiding lateral surfaces 82 (see Fig. 4) of the extensions 61. The terminal portion of the electrical contact 16 has a locking peg 67 (see Fig. 7) which, upon sliding along the X direction, will cause deflection of the locking lance 63 around direction Y. Once the locking peg 67 has cleared the corresponding peg 65 of the locking lance 63, the lance can spring back toward its rest condition, where the two pegs 65 and 67 abut on one another, thereby preventing the wire to be pulled in the direction where it comes from.

In this position, the front edge 68 of the terminal 18 has a top portion which abuts on a stop 69 provided in the housing thereby preventing the terminal to go too far away in the X direction.

Fig. 5 now shows a front view of the connector body with its front grid 22.

The entry 74 of each pathway can be seen on Fig. 5.

The entry 74 comprises two different regions which are in communication with one another. A first region 75 is shaped to receive a complementary contact, and a second region 76 is offset with respect to the first region along both directions Y and Z, and is designed to receive an unlocking tool shaped to enable unlocking the respective female electrical contact from the pathway.

The second region 76 is aligned with the groove 49 of the front grid, which receives the unlocking finger 66 of the housing 21. As can be seen on Fig. 14, the unlocking finger 66, in the pre-assembled position of the front grid 22, is accessible from the front face, through the second region 76 and the groove 49. There is some clearance for the unlocking finger 66, thereby allowing the unlocking finger 66 to be flexed by the tool with respect to the axis "Y". Further, since the unlocking finger 66 and the flexible lance 63 are connected to one another, flexion of the unlocking finger 66 will also cause a similar movement of the lance 63.

Hence, in the pre-assembled position of the front grid 22, if a user wants to remove a contact from the housing 21, he will introduce a suitable tool into the second region 76 to actuate the unlocking finger 66, and flexion thereof about a rotation parallel to the axis Y. This bending will also cause the bending of the locking lance 63 about the same axis, so that the peg 65 will be removed from contact with the locking peg 67 of the terminal 18. The wire can then be pulled rearward from the pathway .

When the contact is properly in place, the user is in the position of moving the front grid 22 with respect to the housing 21 from its pre-assembled position of Fig. 7 to its assembled position of Fig. 6. To do so, the user will push on the front face 23 of the front grid 22, so that the pegs 58 of the housing 21 will cause deflection of the lances 35. The lances 35 will clear the pegs 58 and, after clearance, spring back toward their rest position in the assembled position of the front grid 22, in a position where the pegs 36 cooperate with the peg 58 of the housing 21 to prevent withdrawal of the front grid 22 towards its pre-assembled position. Further, the front grid 22 is prevented from going further in that direction, by abutment of the vertical bridges 31 and 31' on the front face 59 of the housing 21 and, in particular, in the respective recesses 62 and 62' . As shown on Fig. 11, the front grid 22 and the housing 21 may be further provided with additional guiding features 70, 71 which cooperate with one another to guide this movement and participate to the correct holding of the grid and housing together in the assembled position. The rear portion 51 of the housing 21 may be provided with ribs 71, and the front grid may be provided, on its internal face, with corresponding grooves 70 which will engage one another for this purpose. The grooves 70 can be shown also on Fig. 3, as being arcuate grooves in each respective corner, as well as longitudinal grooves in the top and bottom walls, of various lengths and depths .

As can be seen on Fig. 6, compared with Fig. 7, in the assembled position of the front grid 22, the rear low region 46 of the front grid has moved rearward, to cover the outer face of the bottom wall 56 of the housing 21. In particular, it covers the arm 72 which extends continuously from the flexible lance 63. The extensions 61 are now engaging the walls 38 of the front grid, to complete the lateral walls between two pathways in the front region 52 (See Fig. 10) .

The intermediate higher region 47 is now facing the flexible lance 63 (See Fig. 6) . The front grid 22 and the flexible lance 63 engage one another to prevent deflexion of the lance 63 toward its deflected condition, i.e. thereby preventing any forced withdrawal of the terminal by pulling on the wire. Hence, the intermediate region 47 acts as an over lock or secondary locking system further to the primary locking system of the flexible lance 63 and associated peg 67 of the terminal. In the present case, the intermediate higher region 47 not only faces the outer face of the flexible lance 63, but may even bias it i.e. urge it into contact with the terminal, by being provided with a slightly slopping surface angled with respect to the X- direction.

In the assembled position of the front grid 22, the front edge of the terminal portion 18 still abuts on the stop 69 of the housing 21. Further, as can be seen on Fig. 10, The lower front edge of the terminal portion 18 abuts, on one side, on the front stop region 48 of the front grid 22, and on the other side, on the lateral extension 42 of the front grid 22. This provides with a full abutment of the front edge of the terminal portion 18 in the connector body .

As shown in Fig. 6, the bottom front portion of the terminal portion 18 is supported by the support portion 73 which is provided between the intermediate higher region 47 and the front stop region 48.

As shown on Fig. 13, in the assembled position of the front grid 22, the rear low region 46 has moved rearward, and the intermediate higher region 47 will cover the unlocking finger 66, thereby preventing its deflection about the Y axis.

Consequently, the respective portion of the each passageway forming a cavity in a contact is received is, in the assembled position of the front grid 22, completely surrounded and closed by the walls of the front grid. Further, the vertical bridges 31, 31' strengthen the front grid so as to avoid the top wall 26 and an opposed bottom wall 27 to open. Further, the outer surface 29 of the front grid forms a portion of the outer surface of the connector 1. The front grid 22 completes the peripheral wall of the housing 21 substantially without increasing the thickness of the housing in the region surrounding the cavities. In other words, the peripheral wall 25 of the front grid 22 completes the peripheral wall of the front portion of the housing 21 within substantially the same external dimensions as the ones of the housing 21 corresponding to the portion just behind. It results in a section of the housing in the front portion surrounding the contact cavities which is substantially constant along the mating axis .

In this embodiment chosen for exemplifying the invention, the entire surface 26 of the peripheral wall 25 of the front grid 22 forms a portion of the outer surface of the connector.

Optionally, the front grid has a ring 91 which both strengthen the front grid, and contributes to avoid the top wall 26 and an opposed bottom wall 27 to open, and protect the seal during the mating of the male and female connectors .

In addition, the front grid 22 provides a function by which, if the front grid is in its pre-assembled position, if the contact 16 is not fully inserted into the pathway, such as shown on Fig. 8, the front grid 22 is prevented from being moved from its pre-assembled position to its assembled position (terminal position assurance function) . As can be seen on Fig. 8, when the electrical contact is only partly assembled into the pathway 17, its locking peg 67 will cause deflection of the lance 63 out of its rest condition. In this position, a front end 77 of the lance 63 will form an abutment portion for a corresponding abutment portion 78 of the front grid 62. The abutment portion 78 is for example provided as the vertical wall joining the rear low region 46 to the intermediate higher region 47.

Upon attempting to move the front grid 22 from its pre-assembled position to its assembled position, the abutment portion 78 thereof will abut on the front end 77 of the housing, thereby preventing further movement of the front grid rearward. This is an indication, for the harness maker, that at least one of the electrical contacts is not properly locked in one of the pathways. This security enables to provide a control of the quality of the wiring process, and to correct it before the harness is sent to the next user for connection with the electrical connector 2. Once the wrongly inserted electrical contact 16 is placed in its correct position, the flexible lance 63 will spring back toward its rest condition, as explained above in relation to Fig. 7.

As can be seen on Fig. 9, in the assembled position of the front grid, the outer surface thereof forms an outer surface of the electrical connector 1. In particular, this surface forms an interface with a corresponding surface of the second electrical connector 2, to guide the two connectors with respect to one another, when they are mated along the mating direction X. The front region 52 of the housing 21 is received inside the front grid 22. In particular, the outer face of the front grid 22 will interface with the inner face of the second electrical connector 2, which will surround it entirely upon mating of the two connectors. Additional guiding features may be provided, such as complementary shapes formed in the outer surface of the front grid 22, and in the inner face 8 of the second connector 2, such as protruding ribs 79 protruding at the outer surface of the front grid 22, and extending along the mating direction, and complementary with grooves 90 in the inner face 8 of the second connector 2. Upon mating, the electrical contacts 9 will enter the pathways through the first region 75 provided in the front face of the first connector. It should be noted that the walls delimiting this entry 74, for each pathway, are provided both by the front grid 22, and by the connector housing 21 (See Fig. 5) .

It will be noted that a front grid 22 may be provided with an additional function of preventing locking of the two connectors 1 and 2 to one another when in its pre-assembled position, and enabling this locking only when the grid 22 is in its assembled position. This can for example be done when the housing of the second connector 2 is provided with an abutment (not visible) which will abut on the front face of the front grid 22, in its pre- assembled position, before the peg 3 and the lever 4 are locked to one another. This would prevent an improper connection of the two connectors with one another, when the front grid 22 is in its pre-assembled position, which may mean that at least one of the electrical contacts is not properly in pi3.CG _/ cL S explained above in relation to Figs. 8.

The front portion of the inner face 8 of the second connector 2 may be placed above and compress a seal 101 (interfacial seal) provided in the rear portion 51 of the connector housing 21. Please note that in the present example, this seal is provided between the second electrical connector 2 and the housing 21 itself. At this location, there is no interfacing between the housing 21 and the front grid 22.