Electrical contact configured to impede capillary flow during plating
AssigneeTyco Electronics Corporation
InventorsDavid Allison Trout, James Charles Shiffler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electrical contact including an elongated contact body that has a compliant tail, a mating beam, and a channel section extending between the compliant tail and the mating beam. The channel section has a base wall and sidewalls that extend from the base wall. The base wall and the sidewalls extend around a central longitudinal axis to define a flow channel. The channel section includes a flow-limiting feature that is configured to impede capillary flow of a plating solution along the channel section from the compliant tail to the mating beam.
Claims17
An electrical contact comprising an elongated contact body that includes a compliant tail, a mating beam, and a channel section extending between the compliant tail and the mating beam, the channel section having a base wall and sidewalls that extend from the base wall, the base wall and the sidewalls extending around a central longitudinal axis to define a flow channel of the channel section, the compliant tail extending from the base wall parallel to the longitudinal axis, the channel section having a channel surface and including a flow-limiting feature that is configured to impede capillary flow of a plating solution in a flow direction that is along the channel section from the compliant tail to the mating beam, wherein the flow-limiting feature is a structural feature that disrupts a continuity of the channel surface, the flow-limiting feature being located, sized, and shaped to impede the capillary flow of the plating solution in the flow direction onto the mating beam;
- wherein the flow-limiting feature includes at least one of (a) a void that extends through one of the base wall or the sidewalls or (b) a projection that extends into the flow channel from one of the base wall or the sidewalls;
- and
- wherein the flow-limiting feature is aligned with a joint portion of the mating beam such that a line extending from the flow-limiting feature and substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis coincides with a centerline of the joint portion.
An electrical connector comprising:
- a connector housing having an array of contact cavities;
- electrical contacts located in the contact cavities, at least a plurality of the electrical contacts including signal contacts, each of the plurality of signal contacts comprising an elongated contact body that includes a compliant tail, a mating beam, and a channel section extending between the compliant tail and the mating beam, the channel section having a base wall and sidewalls that extend from the base wall, the base wall and the sidewalls extending around a central longitudinal axis to define a flow channel of the channel section, the channel section having a channel surface and including a flow-limiting feature that is configured to impede capillary flow of a plating solution in a flow direction that is along the channel section from the compliant tail to the mating beam, wherein the flow-limiting feature is a structural feature that disrupts a continuity of the channel surface, the flow-limiting feature being located, sized, and shaped to impede the capillary flow of the plating solution in the flow direction onto the mating beam;
- wherein the flow-limiting feature includes at least one of (a) a void that extends through one of the base wall or the sidewalls or (b) a projection that extends into the flow channel from one of the base wall or the sidewalls;
- and
- wherein the flow-limiting feature is aligned with the mating beam along the longitudinal axis such that a line extending from the flow-limiting feature and substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis coincides with a centerline of the mating beam.
An electrical contact comprising an elongated contact body that includes a compliant tail, a mating beam, and a channel section extending between the compliant tail and the mating beam, the channel section having a base wall and sidewalls that extend from the base wall, the base wall and the sidewalls extending around a central longitudinal axis to define a flow channel of the channel section, the compliant tail extending from the base wall parallel to the longitudinal axis, the channel section having a channel surface and including a flow-limiting feature that is configured to impede capillary flow of a plating solution in a flow direction that is along the channel section from the compliant tail to the mating beam, wherein the flow-limiting feature is aligned with the mating beam along the longitudinal axis such that a line extending from the flow-limiting feature and substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis coincides with a centerline of the mating beam;
- and
- wherein the flow-limiting feature includes at least one of (a) a void that extends through one of the base wall or the sidewalls or (b) a projection that extends into the flow channel from one of the base wall or the sidewalls.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.