Stacked card edge connector having inner contact assembly and outer contact assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11735846-B2
Application number	US-202117384210-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 23, 2021
Priority date	Jul 23, 2021
Publication date	Aug 22, 2023
Grant date	Aug 22, 2023

Abstract

A stacked card edge connector for mating with stacked pluggable modules includes a housing configured to be mounted to a host circuit board and including inner and outer contact channels and inner and outer card slots configured to receive card edges of module circuit boards of the stacked pluggable modules. The stacked card edge connector includes an inner contact assembly received in the inner card slot and an outer contact assembly received in the outer card slot.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A stacked card edge connector for mating with stacked pluggable modules, the stacked card edge connector comprising:
a housing including a top and a bottom, the housing having a front and a rear, the housing having a first side and a second side, the bottom configured to be mounted to a host circuit board, the housing including a cavity at the rear, the housing including an inner contact channel and an outer contact channel, the inner contact channel closer to the bottom and the host circuit board, the housing including an inner card slot open to the inner contact channel at the front of the housing, the housing including an outer card slot open to the outer contact channel at the front of the housing, the inner and outer card slots configured to receive card edges of module circuit boards of the stacked pluggable modules;
an inner contact assembly received in the cavity, the inner contact assembly having an inner contact positioner holding inner contacts in an upper contact array and a lower contact array, the inner contact positioner having an upper wall and a lower wall with an inner positioner card slot defined therebetween, the upper wall supporting each of the inner contacts of the upper contact array of the inner contact assembly relative to each other, the lower wall supporting each of the inner contacts of the lower contact array of the inner contact assembly relative to each other, the inner contact positioner is positioned in the inner contact channel aligned with the inner card slot to receive the card edge of the module circuit board, the inner contact positioner including an inner locating feature engaging the housing to position the inner contacts relative to the housing for electrical connection with the host circuit board and the corresponding pluggable module; and
an outer contact assembly received in the cavity, the outer contact assembly having an outer contact positioner holding outer contacts in an upper contact array and a lower contact array, the outer contact positioner having an upper wall and a lower wall with an outer positioner card slot defined therebetween, the upper wall supporting each of the outer contacts of the upper contact array of the outer contact assembly relative to each other, the lower wall supporting each of the outer contacts of the lower contact array of the outer contact array assembly relative to each other, the outer contact positioner is positioned in the outer contact channel aligned with the outer card slot to receive the card edge of the module circuit board, the outer contact positioner including an outer locating feature engaging the housing to position the outer contacts relative to the housing for electrical connection with the host circuit board and the corresponding pluggable module.

2. The card edge connector of claim 1 , wherein the inner contact assembly is a double-sided, multi-row contact assembly and the outer contact assembly is a double-sided, multi-row contact assembly.

3. The card edge connector of claim 1 , wherein the outer locating feature includes grooves, the housing including rails extending into the cavity, the grooves receiving the rails to position the outer contact positioner in the cavity.

4. The card edge connector of claim 1 , wherein the outer contact positioner includes a center wall, the upper contact array coupled to the outer contact positioner exterior of the center wall, the lower contact assembly coupled to the outer contact positioner interior of the center wall.

5. The card edge connector of claim 1 , wherein the outer contact positioner includes side walls having front locating channels and rear locating channels, the upper contact array including a front contact holder and a rear contact holder holding the corresponding outer contacts, the lower contact assembly including a front contact holder and a rear contact holder holding the corresponding outer contacts, the front contact holders received in the corresponding front locating channels, the rear contact holders received in the corresponding rear locating channels.

6. The card edge connector of claim 5 , wherein the front contact holder and the rear contact holder of the upper contact array are loaded into the front locating channels and the rear locating channels from above, and wherein the front contact holder and the rear contact holder of the lower contact array are loaded into the front locating channels and the rear locating channels from below.

7. The card edge connector of claim 1 , wherein the outer contacts include upper contacts forming the upper contact array and lower contacts forming the lower contact array;
wherein the upper contacts include upper intermediate portions extending between upper mating beams and upper contact tails, the upper mating beams extending into the outer positioner card slot, the upper contact tails extending from the outer contact positioner for mounting to the host circuit board, the upper contact array including an upper front contact holder holding the upper mating beams, the upper contact array including an upper rear contact holder separate and discrete from the upper front contact holder holding the upper contact tails; and
wherein the lower contacts include lower intermediate portions extending between lower mating beams and lower contact tails, the lower mating beams extending into the outer positioner card slot, the lower contact tails extending from the outer contact positioner for mounting to the host circuit board, the lower contact array including a lower front contact holder holding the lower mating beams and a lower rear contact holder separate and discrete from the lower front contact holder holding the lower contact tails.

8. The card edge connector of claim 7 , wherein the upper contact array includes an upper intermediate contact holder separate and discrete from the upper front and rear contact holders holding the upper intermediate portions, and wherein the lower contact array includes a lower intermediate contact holder separate and discrete from the lower front and rear contact holders holding the lower intermediate portions.

9. The card edge connector of claim 7 , wherein the upper contact array includes an upper ground plate extending along the upper contacts to provide electrical shielding for the upper contacts and the lower contact array includes a lower ground plate extending along the lower contacts to provide electrical shielding for the lower contacts.

10. The card edge connector of claim 9 , wherein the upper ground plate includes ground contacts having ground tails stamped and formed from the upper ground plate, the ground tails configured to be terminated to the host circuit board.

11. The card edge connector of claim 7 , wherein the upper intermediate portions include forward sections and rearward sections with bends between the forward sections and the rearward sections, the forward sections oriented perpendicular to the rearward sections, and wherein the lower intermediate portions include forward sections and rearward sections with bends between the forward sections and the rearward sections.

12. The card edge connector of claim 7 , wherein the upper intermediate portions are flexible to allow relative movement of the upper front contact holder and the upper rear contact holder, the lower intermediate portions being flexible to allow relative movement of the lower front contact holder and the lower rear contact holder.

13. The card edge connector of claim 7 , wherein the upper intermediate portions are exposed to air between the upper front contact holder and the upper rear contact holder, the lower intermediate portions being exp

Assignees

• TE Connectivity Services Gmbh
• Te Connectivity Solutions Gmbh

Inventors

• Phillips Michael John
• Shirk Michael Eugene

Classifications

• H01R12/721 Primary

  cooperating directly with the edge of the rigid printed circuits · CPC title

• H01R13/514 Primary

  composed as a modular blocks or assembly, i.e. composed of co-operating parts provided with contact members or holding contact members between them · CPC title