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US 7,422,483 B2Granted
Differential signal connector with wafer-style construction
AssigneeMolex Incorproated
InventorsHazelton P. Avery, Patrick R. Casher, Richard A. Nelson, Kent E. Regnier
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Stacked receptacles in a connector that each provide side-by-side differential signal contacts, are attached to a circuit board without additional width to accommodate multiple layers of differential signals by using connector wafer inserts that rotate the side-by-side positioned differential signal contacts to front-to-back contacts.
Claims20
A connector comprising:
- a housing having a front face and a bottom, and at least one first planar differential signal insert wafer within said housing;
- the insert wafer including first and second differential signal contacts accessible through said front face and being vertically displaced from each other by a first separation distance and lying in a first vertical plane;
- third and fourth differential signal contacts accessible through said front face and vertically displaced from each other by a second separation distance and lying in said first vertical plane;
- said first and said third differential signal contacts vertically separated from each other at said front face by a third separation distance, said second and said fourth differential signal contacts also separated from each other by said third separation distance, said third separation distance being greater than said first and second separation distances, said first, second, third and fourth differential signal contacts extending through said signal wafer insert such that they all extend from the bottom of said connector housing, said first, second, third and fourth differential signal contacts that extend from the housing bottom being co-planar and lying in a plane orthogonal to the front face of the connector;
- and,
- a retention clip lying in a vertical plane and located between said first and second differential signal contacts and said third and fourth differential signal contacts, said retention clip holding the signal insert wafer in said housing.
3 more elements
An electrical connector, comprising:
- a dielectric connector housing including a mating face and a mounting face, the mating face including at least one slot configured to receive an edge of a circuit card, said mounting face configured for press fit termination to a circuit board;
- pairs of signal terminal inserts held adjacent one another in the connector housing, each of the signal terminal inserts including a plurality of conductive signal terminals supported thereby;
- each signal terminal insert further including a mating edge having a row of contact portions of the signal terminals extending therefrom proximate to said connector housing mating face and a mounting edge having a row of tail portions of said signal terminals extending therefrom, and terminal body portions interconnecting said terminal contact and tail portions together;
- a plurality of ground terminal inserts including a plurality of conductive ground terminals supported thereby, each ground terminal insert further including a mating edge having a row of contact portions of the ground terminals extending therefrom proximate to said connector housing mating face and a mounting edge having a row of tail portions of said ground terminals extending therefrom, and terminal body portions interconnecting said terminal contact and tail portions together;
- each of the ground terminal inserts further arranged in a pattern with said signal terminal inserts, the pattern including pairs of said signal terminal inserts and individual ground terminal inserts arranged in an alternating sequence with said connector housing.
2 more elements
An electrical connector, comprising:
- an insulative connector housing including a mating face and a mounting face, the mating face including at least one slot configured to receive an edge of a circuit card, said mounting face configured for press fit termination to a circuit board;
- a plurality of signal terminal assemblies held in the connector housing, each of the signal terminal assembly including a plurality of conductive signal terminals supported thereby;
- each signal terminal assembly further including a mating edge having a row of contact portions of the signal terminals extending therefrom proximate to said connector housing mating face and a mounting edge having a row of tail portions of said signal terminals extending therefrom, and terminal body portions interconnecting said terminal contact and tail portions together;
- a plurality of ground terminal assemblies including a plurality of conductive ground terminals supported thereby, each ground terminal assembly further including a mating edge having a row of contact portions of the ground terminals extending therefrom proximate to said connector housing mating face and a mounting edge having a row of tail portions of said ground terminals extending therefrom, and terminal body portions interconnecting said terminal contact and tail portions together;
- each of the ground terminal assemblies further arranged in a pattern with said signal terminal assemblies such that each of said signal terminal assemblies is flanked by a pair of individual ground terminal assemblies, whereby said signal terminal tail portions of said signal terminal assembly are aligned in pairs along the signal terminal insert mounting edges, the pairs of signal terminal tail portions being spaced apart from four ground terminal tail portions of the pair of individual ground terminal assemblies and within an imaginary polygon formed by drawing imaginary lines interconnecting said four ground terminal tail portions.
2 more elements
A connector, comprising:
- a housing, the housing having a mating face for engaging with an opposing connecting element, and a mounting face for mounting the connector to a circuit board;
- and, a plurality of conductive terminals supported in the housing, the terminals being arranged into sets of at least one pair of differential signal terminals and a pair of ground terminals, the terminals having contact portions that extend along the connector mating face and tail portions that extend along the connector mounting face and body portions that interconnect the contact and terminal portions together, the pair of differential signal terminals being arranged at their contact portions side-by-side in order to effect broadside capacitive coupling between said contact portions of said pair of differential signal terminals, and the pair of differential signal terminals further converging toward each other widthwise so as to be arranged at their tail portions edge-to-edge along a common axis from front to back of said connector mounting face in order to effect edge coupling between said tail portions of said pair differential signal terminals.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.