Electrical connector assembly for orthogonally mating circuit boards

An electrical connector assembly comprising:

• a plurality of circuit boards;
• a first connector housing including channels adapted to retain a first group of circuit boards;
• a second connector housing including channels adapted to retain a second group of circuit boards;
• and
• a board interface located between said first and second connector housing, said board interface having opposing faces joining said first group of circuit boards in a non-parallel relationship to said second group of circuit boards, wherein each circuit board includes signal and ground contacts along an edge joining said board interface, and wherein signal contacts on one circuit board in said first group of circuit boards electrically engage signal contacts on at least two circuit boards in said second group of circuit boards.

An electrical connector assembly comprising:

• a plurality of circuit boards;
• a first connector housing including channels adapted to retain a first group of circuit boards;
• a second connector housing including channels adapted to retain a second group of circuit boards;
• a board interface located between said first and second connector housing, said board interface having opposing faces joining said first group of circuit boards in a non-parallel relationship to said second group of circuit boards;
• and
• a group of terminals arranged in a row along said board interface and electrically engaging one circuit board in said first group and multiple circuit boards in said second group.

An electrical connector comprising:

• a plurality of circuit boards;
• a plug connector retaining multiple plug circuit boards arranged in rows, each plug circuit board having a plug mating edge;
• and
• a receptacle connector retaining multiple receptacle circuit boards arranged in columns, each receptacle circuit board having a receptacle mating edge, said plug connector and receptacle connector having mating faces mated in a non-parallel relationship to join said plug mating edges at an angle to said receptacle mating edges, wherein each receptacle circuit board includes signal and ground contacts along said receptacle mating edge, wherein each plug circuit board includes signal and ground contacts along said plug mating edge, and wherein said signal contacts along said plug mating edge electrically engage said signal contacts along said receptacle mating edge on at least two receptacle circuit boards.

An electrical connector comprising:

• a plurality of circuit boards;
• a plug connector retaining multiple plug circuit boards arranged in rows, each plug circuit board having a plug mating edge;
• and
• a receptacle connector retaining multiple receptacle circuit boards arranged in columns, each receptacle circuit board having a receptacle mating edge, said plug connector and receptacle connector having mating faces mated in a non-parallel relationship to join said plug mating edges at an angle to said receptacle mating edges, wherein each receptacle circuit board includes signal and ground contacts along said receptacle mating edge, wherein each plug circuit board includes signal and ground contacts along said plug mating edge, and wherein said signal contacts along said receptacle mating edge electrically engage said signal contacts along said plug mating edge on at least two plug circuit boards.

A system for electrically connecting printed circuit boards including:

• a plurality of wafers,
• a first connector housing including channels adapted to retain a first group of wafers;
• a second connector housing including channels adapted to retain a second group of wafers;
• card-edge terminals electrically interconnecting said first and second groups of circuit boards;
• and
• a board interface located between said first and second connector housings, said board interface includes first and second mating faces orthogonally joining said first group of wafers to said second group of wafers, said board interface holding said card-edge terminals to project from said first and second mating faces to engage said first and second groups of circuit boards, wherein said board interface connects one wafer in said first group to at least two wafers in said second group.