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US 8,226,441 B2Granted
Connector with improved manufacturability
AssigneeMolex Incorporated
InventorsKent E. Regnier, Patrick R. Casher
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An I/O connector has a housing that contains a plurality of individual terminal wafers containing terminal dedicated to either ground signals or differential signals. The terminals are arranged in widthwise order to define broadside coupled differential signal terminal pairs. The ground terminals are wider than the signal terminals to provide shielding to the differential signal pairs. The body portions of the ground terminals include pairs of opposed notches that provide for increased retention of the ground terminals in the wafer and provide increased flow for molding material during the formation of the wafers.
Claims19
A connector, comprising:
- a housing having a mating face and a mounting face, and a plurality of wafers disposed within the housing;
- a plurality of ground and signal conductive terminals being supported by the wafers, each of the terminals including a contact portion disposed at one end, a tail portions disposed at an opposite end thereof and a body portion interconnecting the contact and tail portions together, each of the wafers defining a frame that supports a respective set of terminals;
- a first of the wafers supporting a plurality of ground terminals and at least a second of the wafers supporting a plurality of first signal terminals and a third of the wafers supporting a plurality of second signal terminals, the first and second signal terminals being of same size and the ground terminals being larger than the first and second signal terminals, the first and second wafers being disposed adjacent each other such that the first and second terminals face each other and are broadside coupled together so as to carry differential signals thereacross;
- the first wafer being disposed adjacent the second wafer, the ground terminal body portions being wider than either of the first and second signal terminal body portions, some of the ground terminal body portions further including pairs of notches formed in edges thereof to facilitate the over molding of the first wafer over the ground terminals.
1 more element
An electrical connector, comprising:
- a housing including a mating face and a mounting face, the mating face including a edge card-receiving slot configured to receive an edge of a circuit card from an opposing, mating connector, the mounting face configured for press fit termination to a circuit board;
- pairs of signal wafers held adjacent one another in the housing, each of the signal wafers including a plurality of conductive signal terminals supported thereby, each signal terminal insert including a mating edge having two rows of contact portions of the signal terminals extending therefrom proximate to the housing mating face, the two rows directed to opposite sides of the housing edge card-receiving slot, and each the signal terminal insert further including a mounting edge having a row of tail portions of the signal terminals extending therefrom, and terminal body portions interconnecting the terminal contact and tail portions together;
- a plurality of ground wafers including a plurality of conductive ground terminals supported thereby, each ground wafer further including a mating edge having a row of ground terminal contact portions extending therefrom proximate to the housing mating face and on opposite sides of the housing edge card-receiving slot, and a mounting edge having a row of ground terminal tail portions extending therefrom, and terminal body portions interconnecting the terminal contact and tail portions together,
- one ground wafer being associated with each pair of signal wafer, each of the ground terminals being wider it its respective terminal body portions than the terminal body portions of the associated signal terminals, some of the ground terminal body portions having angled parts, and
- wherein, each of the ground terminal body portion angled parts includes at least one pair of notches disposed therein, the notches extending inwardly of the ground terminal body portions from opposite edges thereof.
2 more elements
A connector, comprising:
- a housing having a mating face and a mounting face, and a plurality of wafers disposed within the housing;
- a plurality of ground and signal conductive terminals being supported by the wafers, each of the terminals including a contact portion disposed at one end, a tail portions disposed at an opposite end thereof and a body portion interconnecting the contact and tail portions together, each of the wafers defining a frame that supports a respective set of terminals;
- a first set of the wafers supporting a plurality of the ground terminals and a second set of the wafers supporting a plurality of the signal terminals, the ground terminal body portions being larger than the signal terminal body portions, at least one of the ground terminal body portions further including a pairs of notches formed in opposing edges thereof to facilitate the over molding of the first wafer over the ground terminals, the pair of notches extending inwardly of the ground terminal body portions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.