Connector assembly having a pin organizer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10276984-B2
Application number	US-201715648499-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 13, 2017
Priority date	Jul 13, 2017
Publication date	Apr 30, 2019
Grant date	Apr 30, 2019

Abstract

A connector assembly includes a shield structure and a contact module having signal contacts with signal pins and ground pins forming part of the shield structure providing electrical shielding for the signal pins. A pin organizer is coupled to the contact module and includes a conductive frame and a dielectric frame having plugs. The conductive frame is electrically connected to the shield structure and has ground pin holes receiving corresponding ground pins and windows receiving corresponding plugs. The plugs have signal pin holes receiving corresponding signal pins. The plugs electrically isolate the signal pins from the conductive frame. The pin organizer substantially fills a space between the bottoms of the contact modules and the circuit board to provide electrical shielding for the signal pins between the bottoms of the contact modules and the circuit board.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A connector assembly comprising:
a shield structure;
a contact module having a plurality of signal contacts, the signal contacts each including a signal pin for terminating to a circuit board, the signal pins extending from a bottom of the contact module, the contact module having a plurality of ground pins forming part of the shield structure extending from the bottom of the contact module for terminating to the circuit board, the ground pins providing electrical shielding for the signal pins; and
a pin organizer coupled to the contact module, the pin organizer comprising a conductive frame and a dielectric frame coupled to the conductive frame, the dielectric frame having a plurality of plugs, the conductive frame being electrically connected to the shield structure, the conductive frame having a plurality of ground pin holes extending therethrough receiving corresponding ground pins, the conductive frame having windows extending therethrough receiving corresponding plugs of the dielectric frame, the plugs having corresponding signal pin holes extending therethrough receiving corresponding signal pins, the plugs electrically isolating the signal pins from the conductive frame;
wherein the pin organizer substantially fills a space between the bottoms of the contact modules and the circuit board to provide electrical shielding for the signal pins between the bottom of the contact module and the circuit board.

2. The connector assembly of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric frame is embedded in the conductive frame.

3. The connector assembly of claim 1 , wherein the conductive frame surrounds each plug.

4. The connector assembly of claim 1 , wherein the conductive frame includes a top facing the contact module and a bottom facing the circuit board, the conductive frame including channels in the bottom between the windows, the plugs being connected by tie bars received in corresponding channels.

5. The connector assembly of claim 1 , wherein the windows of the conductive frame are arranged in rows and columns, the plugs being connected by tie bars, the plugs and tie bars of the dielectric frame filling the windows in a corresponding column.

6. The connector assembly of claim 5 , wherein the dielectric frame is a first dielectric frame, the pin organizer further comprising a second dielectric frame separate and discrete from the first dielectric frame, the first dielectric frame filling the windows in a first column of the windows, the second dielectric frame filling the windows in a second column of the windows.

7. The connector assembly of claim 5 , wherein the dielectric frame includes plugs in the rows and columns connected by the tie bars, the plugs of the dielectric frame filling each of the windows in the rows and the columns of windows in the conductive frame.

8. The connector assembly of claim 1 , wherein the conductive frame includes pads connected by longitudinal cross beams and lateral cross beams, the plugs, longitudinal cross beams and lateral cross beams surrounding the windows.

9. The connector assembly of claim 1 , wherein the ground pin holes are open to the windows such that the plugs extend along a side of the ground pin holes.

10. The connector assembly of claim 1 , wherein the plugs have locating surfaces engaging the conductive frame to locate the dielectric frame in the conductive frame.

11. The connector assembly of claim 1 , wherein the shield structure includes at least one ground shield, the ground pins extending from a bottom of the corresponding at least one ground shield, each at least one ground shield includes shield channels at the bottom thereof receiving portions of the conductive frame.

12. The connector assembly of claim 1 , wherein the pin organizer engages the ground pins to electrically common the ground pins to the pin organizer and hold relative positions of the ground pins.

13. The connector assembly of claim 1 , wherein the signal contacts are arranged in pairs, each plug having a pair of signal pin holes receiving a corresponding pair of the signal pins, the conductive frame separating the pairs of signal pins from each other.

14. The connector assembly of claim 1 , wherein the conductive frame includes a top facing the bottom of the contact module and a bottom facing the circuit board, the top engaging the bottom of the contact modules to locate the pin organizer relative to the contact module, the top being electrically connected to the shield structure, the bottom being configured to be electrically connected to the circuit board.

15. The connector assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of the contact modules arranged in a stacked configuration and received in a housing, each contact module including a ground shield defining a portion of the shield structure.

16. A connector assembly comprising:
a housing;
contact modules coupled to the housing, each contact module comprising:
a conductive holder holding a frame assembly, the frame assembly comprising a plurality of signal contacts and a dielectric frame supporting the signal contacts, the dielectric frame being received in the conductive holder, the signal contacts each including a signal pin for terminating to a circuit board, the signal pins extending from a bottom of the contact module; and
a ground shield coupled to the conductive holder, the ground shield being electrically connected to the conductive holder, the ground shield having ground pins extending beyond the bottom of the contact module for terminating to the circuit board; and
a pin organizer coupled to the contact modules, the pin organizer comprising a conductive frame and a dielectric frame coupled to the conductive frame, the dielectric frame having a plurality of plugs, the conductive frame having a plurality of ground pin holes extending therethrough receiving corresponding ground pins, the conductive frame having windows extending therethrough receiving corresponding plugs of the dielectric frame, the plugs having corresponding signal pin holes extending therethrough receiving corresponding signal pins, the plugs electrically isolating the signal pins from the conductive frame;
wherein the pin organizer substantially fills a space between the bottoms of the contact modules and the circuit board to provide electrical shielding for the signal pins between the bottoms of the contact modules and the circuit board.

17. The connector assembly of claim 16 , wherein the dielectric frame is embedded in the conductive frame and the conductive frame surrounds each plug.

18. The connector assembly of claim 16 , wherein the conductive frame includes a top facing the contact modules and a bottom facing the circuit board, the conductive frame including channels in the bottom between the windows, the plugs being connected by tie bars received in corresponding channels.

19. The connector assembly of claim 16 , wherein the conductive frame includes pads connected by longitudinal cross beams and lateral cross beams, the plugs, longitudinal cross beams and lateral cross beams surrounding the plugs in the windows.

20. A pin organizer for a connector assembly having a plurality of signal pins and a plurality of ground pins extending from a bottom of the connector assembly, the pin organizer comprising:
a conductive frame having conductive pads joined by longitudinal cross beams and lateral cross beams, the conductive frame having windows extending therethrough between conductive pads, the conductive frame having ground pin holes extending there

Assignees

• Te Connectivity Corp

Inventors

• Trout David Allison
• Pickel Justin Dennis

Classifications

• H01R13/6587 Primary

  for mounting on PCBs · CPC title

• H01R24/78

  with additional earth or shield contacts · CPC title

• H01R2107/00

  Four or more poles · CPC title

• H01R13/6591 Primary

  Specific features or arrangements of connection of shield to conductive members · CPC title

• H01R13/40

  Securing contact members in or to a base or case; Insulating of contact members · CPC title