Electrical connector and electrical contact configured to reduce resonance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10594085-B2
Application number	US-201715696613-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 6, 2017
Priority date	Sep 6, 2017
Publication date	Mar 17, 2020
Grant date	Mar 17, 2020

Abstract

Electrical contact includes a base portion and a mating portion having a leading end of the electrical contact. The mating portion includes a contact finger coupled to the base portion and extends between the base portion and the leading end. The contact finger has an engagement surface that is shaped to define a primary contact zone. The electrical contact also includes a resonance-control protrusion shaped to define a stub-contact zone. The stub-contact zone is positioned at the base portion or between the base portion and the primary contact zone. The primary contact zone and the stub-contact zone are configured to engage another contact. The stub-contact zone is configured to impede electrical resonance along a stub portion of the other contact.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrical contact comprising:
a base portion; and
a mating portion having a leading end of the electrical contact, the mating portion including first and second contact fingers coupled to the base portion and extending between the base portion and the leading end, the first and second contact fingers opposing each other with a contact-receiving space therebetween, the first contact finger having an engagement surface that is shaped to define a primary contact zone;
a resonance-control protrusion shaped to define a stub-contact zone, wherein the stub-contact zone is positioned at the base portion or between the base portion and the primary contact zone, wherein the primary contact zone and the stub-contact zone are configured to engage another contact, the stub-contact zone configured to impede electrical resonance along a stub portion of the other contact, wherein the first contact finger has a contact width defined between two edge segments that face away from each other, the resonance-control protrusion including one of the edge segments of the contact finger.

2. The electrical contact of claim 1 , wherein the first contact finger is deflected by the other contact during a mating operation in which the primary contact zone wipes along a surface of the other contact, the primary contact zone and the stub-contact zone facing in a common direction, wherein the first contact finger is in a deflected state as the primary contact zone engages the other contact and wipes along the surface of the other contact, the stub-contact zone configured to engage the surface of the other contact while the first contact finger is in the deflected state.

3. The electrical contact of claim 1 , wherein the contact finger is stamped-and-formed from sheet material, the resonance-control protrusion being an embossed region of the sheet material such that resonance-control protrusion is formed by an abrupt change in an elevation of the sheet material without an abrupt increase in a width of the contact finger.

4. The electrical contact of claim 1 , wherein the resonance-control protrusion has a protrusion width that is less than the contact width of the contact finger, wherein the resonance-control protrusion does not abruptly increase the contact width of the contact finger.

5. The electrical contact of claim 1 , wherein the first contact finger has a contoured end segment that extends between the primary contact zone and the leading end of the electrical contact and wherein the second contact finger has a contoured end segment that extends between the contact zone of the second contact finger and the leading end of the electrical contact, the contoured end segment of the first contact finger being longer than the contoured end segment of the second contact finger.

6. The electrical contact of claim 1 , wherein the contact finger includes the resonance-control protrusion such that the resonance-control protrusion is positioned between the base portion and the primary contact zone and moves relative to the base portion when the contact finger is deflected.

7. The electrical contact of claim 1 , wherein the second contact finger is devoid of a resonance-control protrusion.

8. The electrical contact of claim 1 , wherein the first and second contact fingers converge toward the longitudinal axis and first and second convergence angles, the first convergence angle being greater than the second convergence angle such that the first contact finger converges toward the longitudinal axis more quickly than the second contact finger.

9. The electrical contact of claim 1 , wherein the first contact finger provides a greater resistance to being deflected than the second contact finger.

10. An electrical connector comprising:
a connector housing configured to engage another connector and having an interior surface; and
a plurality of electrical contacts coupled to the connector housing, each of the electrical contacts of the plurality of electrical contacts comprising:
a base portion; and
a mating portion having a leading end of the electrical contact, the mating portion including a contact finger coupled to the base portion and extending between the base portion and the leading end, the contact finger having an engagement surface that is shaped to define a primary contact zone, wherein the contact finger is a first contact finger and the mating portion of each of the electrical contacts includes a second contact finger, the second contact finger coupled to the base portion and extending between the base portion and the leading end, the second contact finger having a corresponding engagement surface that is shaped to define a corresponding contact zone, the first and second contact fingers opposing each other with a contact-receiving space therebetween;
a resonance-control protrusion shaped to define a stub-contact zone of the first contact finger, wherein the stub-contact zone is positioned at the base portion or between the base portion and the primary contact zone, wherein the primary contact zone and the stub-contact zone are configured to simultaneously engage another contact, the stub-contact zone configured to impede electrical resonance along a stub portion of the other contact;
wherein the second contact finger has a contoured end segment that extends between the contact zone of the second contact finger and the leading end of the electrical contact, the contoured end segment of the second contact finger and the interior surface of the connector housing being shaped relative to one another such that a flex gap exists between the contoured end segment of the second contact finger and the interior surface of the connector housing, wherein the second contact finger is permitted to move within the flex gap during a mating operation.

11. The electrical connector of claim 10 , wherein the first contact finger is deflected by the other contact during a mating operation in which the primary contact zone wipes along a surface of the other contact, wherein the first contact finger is configured to have a deflected state as the primary contact zone engages the other contact and wipes along the surface of the other contact, the stub-contact zone configured to engage the surface of the other contact while the first contact finger is in the deflected state.

12. The electrical connector of claim 10 , wherein the first contact finger includes a contoured end segment that is configured to engage the interior surface of the connector housing as the first contact finger is deflected by the other contact during a mating operation, the interior surface blocking movement of the contoured end segment of the first contact finger while permitting the first contact finger to bow when the stub-contact zone engages the other contact.

13. The electrical connector of claim 10 , wherein the first contact finger is stamped-and-formed from sheet material, the resonance-control protrusion being an embossed region of the sheet material such that resonance-control protrusion is formed by an abrupt change in an elevation of the sheet material without an abrupt increase in a width of the first contact finger.

14. The electrical connector of claim 10 , wherein the first contact finger has a contact width defined between two edge segments that face away from each other, the resonance-control protrusion having a protrusion width that is less than the contact width of the first contact finger, wherein the resonance-control protrusion does not abruptly increase the contact width of the first contact finger.

15. The electrical connector of claim 10 , wherein the first con

Assignees

• Te Connectivity Corp

Inventors

• Trout David Allison
• Morgan Chad William
• Mcclinton Jeffrey Byron
• Shirk Douglas Edward

Classifications

• H01R12/716

  Coupling device provided on the PCB · CPC title

• H01R12/727

  Coupling devices presenting arrays of contacts · CPC title

• H01R13/6587

  for mounting on PCBs · CPC title

• H01R13/6474 Primary

  by variation of conductive properties, e.g. by dimension variations · CPC title

• H01R13/115

  U-shaped sockets having inwardly bent legs, e.g. spade type · CPC title