Unitary RF connector for a board-to-board connection and a ganged connector including a plurality of such unitary connector, for a multiple board-to-board connection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10483669-B2
Application number	US-201515761863-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 28, 2015
Priority date	Sep 28, 2015
Publication date	Nov 19, 2019
Grant date	Nov 19, 2019

Abstract

The present invention relates to a unitary RF connector (1), intended in particular to link two printed circuit boards (PCB1, PCB2), comprising: —a central rigid RF line (A) comprising a conductive element (30, 40, 50) retained within an electrical insulating body (2) which is rigid; —at least one flexible RF line (B1, B2) comprising a conductive element (31, 32; 41, 42; 51, 52) linked to the conductive element (30, 40, 50) of the central rigid line (A) and being able to flex toward one of the end face (21, 22) of the insulating body taking any closer position when acted upon by the pressure force of a complementary connection element (PCB1, PCB2).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A unitary RF connector, intended in particular to link two printed circuit boards, comprising:
a central rigid RF line comprising a conductive element rigidly retained within an electrical insulating body which is rigid and comprises two end faces;
at least one flexible RF line comprising a conductive element linked to the conductive element of the central rigid line and being able to flex toward one of the end faces of the insulating body taking a closer position to the one of the end faces when acted upon by a pressure force of a complementary connection element;
an electromagnetic shield of the central rigid RF line, which is retained outside the insulating body, wherein the electromagnetic shield comprises flexible cuts or tabs allowing a floating mounting of the unitary RF connector into a holder.

2. The unitary RF connector according to claim 1 , wherein each of the end faces of the insulating body comprises grooves, each groove being capable of accommodating a flexible end of a conductive element of the flexible RF line in order to mechanically protect said conductive element even in case of a high pressure force of the complementary connection element.

3. The unitary RF connector according to claim 1 , wherein the central contact is made of high strength bronze, such as CuBe2.

4. Use of the unitary RF connector according to claim 1 , to transmit RF (radiofrequency) signals or HSDL (High Speed Data Link) signals.

5. The unitary RF connector according to claim 1 , wherein the central rigid RF line comprises
a central portion of a first strip forming a central contact;
a central portion of at least a second strip forming a ground contact.

6. The unitary RF connector according to claim 5 , wherein the flexible RF line is constituted by at least one free end of the first and the second strips.

7. The unitary RF connector according to claim 5 , wherein both free ends of each of the ground and the central contacts of the flexible RF line are incurved toward an end face of the insulating body and are each configured as a spring.

8. The unitary RF connector according to claim 5 , wherein only one free end of each of the ground and the central contacts is a flexible spring, the other free end of each of the ground and the central contacts being configured as a rigid tab in order to be weld to a contact of a complementary connection element.

9. The unitary RF connector according to claim 5 , wherein each flexible end of the ground or central contact strip comprises an embossment forming a contact point.

10. The unitary RF connector according to claim 5 , the central rigid RF line comprising the ground contact, or comprising the ground contact and another ground contact, retained outside the insulating body.

11. The unitary RF connector according to claim 5 , the central rigid RF line comprising the ground contact, or comprising the ground contact and another ground contact, retained within the insulating body.

12. The unitary RF connector according to claim 5 , wherein the ground contact and the electromagnetic shield are made of stainless steel.

13. A connection module, intended to be used to link two printed circuit boards comprising:
at least the unitary RF connector according to claim 1 ;
the holder comprising a frame with at least one opening in which the at least one unitary RF connector is accommodated according to a floating mounting.

14. The connection module according to claim 13 , the frame comprising a plurality of openings arranged in a single plane in each of which the at least one unitary RF connector is accommodated according to a floating mounting.

15. The connection module according to claim 13 , the frame comprising a plurality of openings arranged in at least two stacked planes in each of which the at least one unitary RF connector is accommodated according to a floating mounting.

16. The unitary RF connector according to claim 5 , wherein the central portion of the ground contact is shaped as a shell surrounding the insulating body and forming the electromagnetic shield.

17. Process for manufacturing the unitary connector according to claim 16 , comprising the following steps:
stamping a sheet of metal, preferably a stainless steel, to shape the at least the second strip forming the ground contact and the shell;
stamping a sheet of metal, preferably a high strength bronze, to shape the central contact;
positioning and maintaining the central contact relative to the ground contact; and
insert molding an insulating material to form the insulating body retaining inside the central portion of the central contact and outside the central portion of the ground contact.

Assignees

• Radiall Sa

Inventors

• Petit Laurent
• Qin Shan
• Chen Gong

Classifications

• H01R43/24

  Assembling by moulding on contact members · CPC title

• H01R12/91

  allowing relative movement between coupling parts, e.g. floating or self aligning (for coupling devices not specially adapted for printed circuits, flat or ribbon cables, or like generally planar structures, H01R13/6315 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01R13/2478

  spherical · CPC title

• H01R12/73

  connecting to other rigid printed circuits or like structures · CPC title

• H01R12/7082

  Coupling device supported only by cooperation with PCB · CPC title