Hybrid connector for both electrical and optical transmission
AssigneeFoxconn Interconnect Technology Limited
InventorsTerrance F. Little, Yuan Zhang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hybrid plug connector including an insulative housing defining a cavity to receive an optical fiber assembly therein, and a plurality of passageways to receive a plurality of terminals therein. A printed circuit board is located behind the terminals and connected to the terminals. An electrical cable is mounted to a rear portion of the circuit board. The whole optical fiber assembly is received within the housing and is somewhat back and forth moveable along a front-to-back direction for buffering for compliantly coupling with another optical fiber assembly built within the complementary receptacle connector when the plug connector is inserted into the complementary receptacle connector. An attachment shows the manufacturing process.
Claims20
A hybrid plug connector comprising:
- an insulative housing forming a cavity extending through a front face thereof to forwardly communicate with an exterior in a front-to-back direction;
- a plurality of passageways formed in the housing and spaced from the cavity in a vertical direction perpendicular to said front-to-back direction;
- an electrical cable assembly received within the cavity and including a plurality of terminals electrically connected to a cable, a contacting section of each of the terminals extending into the corresponding passageway and communicating with the exterior in the vertical direction;
- an optical fiber assembly received within the cavity;
- and
- a deflectable latch formed upon the housing opposite to the terminals;
- wherein the optical fiber assembly is essentially located at a middle level between the latch and the terminals in the vertical direction, and said optical fiber assembly is equipped with a buffering device to be slightly back and forth moveable relative to the housing in the front-to-back direction.
A hybrid plug connector comprising:
- an insulative housing forming a cavity extending through a front face thereof to forwardly communicate with an exterior in a front-to-back direction;
- a plurality of passageways formed in the housing and spaced from the cavity in a vertical direction perpendicular to said front-to-back direction;
- an electrical assembly received within the cavity and including a plurality of terminals electrically connected to a cable, a contacting section of each of the terminals extending into the corresponding passageway and communicating with the exterior in the vertical direction;
- an optical fiber assembly received within the cavity;
- and
- a deflectable latch formed upon the housing opposite to the terminals;
- wherein said optical fiber assembly is equipped with a buffering device to be slightly back and forth moveable relative to the housing in the front-to-back direction, and said optical fiber assembly includes a base block holding a plurality of optical fibers therein and extending forwardly through said cavity with a front face forwardly exposed to said exterior.
A hybrid plug connector comprising:
- an insulative housing forming a cavity extending through a front surface thereof to forwardly communicate with an exterior in a front-to-back direction;
- a plurality of passageways formed in the housing and spaced from the cavity in a vertical direction perpendicular to said front-to-back direction;
- an electrical assembly received within the cavity and including a plurality of terminals electrically connected to a cable, a contacting section of each of the terminals extending into the corresponding passageway and communicating with the exterior in the vertical direction;
- an optical fiber assembly received within the cavity;
- and
- a deflectable latch formed upon the housing opposite to the terminals;
- wherein said optical fiber assembly includes a base block holding a plurality of optical fibers therein and extending forwardly through said cavity with thereof a front face forwardly exposed to said exterior;
- wherein the front face of the base block is rearwardly offset from another front surface of the housing where a root of the deflectable latch is adjacent to along the front-to-back direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.