Electrical connector having reduced contact spacing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9509100-B2
Application number	US-201414202748-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2014
Priority date	Mar 10, 2014
Publication date	Nov 29, 2016
Grant date	Nov 29, 2016

Abstract

An electrical connector includes a housing, signal modules, and ground plates. The signal modules and ground plates are arranged in a pattern that includes ground plates flanking corresponding pairs of signal modules within the housing. The signal modules have a dielectric body and signal conductors held within the dielectric body. The signal conductors include contact beams protruding from a front edge for electrical termination. Each ground plate has contact beams aligned with the contact beams of the signal modules to provide shielding therebetween. Each signal module has a lateral thickness that is greater than a thickness of each ground plate. The signal conductors of each signal module are offset relative to a central plane of the signal module such that contact spacings between adjacent contact beams are uniform. Optionally, ground tie bars extend through the signal modules and ground plates to electrically common the ground plates.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrical connector comprising:
a housing;
a plurality of signal modules within the housing, the signal modules each having a dielectric body and signal conductors held by the dielectric body, the signal conductors including contact beams protruding from a front edge of the dielectric body for electrical termination; and
a plurality of ground plates within the housing arranged in a pattern with the signal modules, the pattern including ground plates flanking corresponding pairs of the signal modules, each ground plate having contact beams laterally aligned with the contact beams of the signal modules to provide shielding therebetween,
wherein each signal module has a lateral thickness that is greater than a thickness of each ground plate, the signal conductors within the dielectric body of each signal module being planar and defining a contact plane, the contact plane being offset relative to a central plane that bisects the lateral thickness of the signal module such that contact spacings between laterally adjacent contact beams are uniform.

2. The electrical connector of claim 1 , wherein each ground plate includes a conductive body that abuts a side of at least one adjacent signal module.

3. The electrical connector of claim 1 , wherein the adjacent contact beams within each pair of signal modules form a differential pair to convey differential signals.

4. The electrical connector of claim 1 , wherein each pair of signal modules includes a left signal module abutted against a right signal module, the signal conductors of the left signal module defining a first contact plane that is disposed to the right of the central plane of the left signal module, the signal conductors of the right signal module defining a second contact plane that is disposed to the left of the central plane of the right signal module.

5. The electrical connector of claim 1 , wherein the housing has a mating interface that includes a port open to a mating cavity, the mating cavity configured to receive an edge of a mating circuit board of a pluggable module that mates with the mating interface, the contact beams disposed within the mating cavity and configured to electrically connect to the mating circuit board, the housing further including divider walls that extend between laterally adjacent contact beams to separate the adjacent contact beams.

6. The electrical connector of claim 5 , wherein the contact beams each have a deflectable arm that extends to a mating tip at a distal end of the contact beam, the divider walls positioned between corresponding mating tips of laterally adjacent contact beams.

7. The electrical connector of claim 6 , wherein air gaps are defined between the front edge of the dielectric body of each signal module and a rear of the divider walls, the air gaps being positioned between the deflectable arms of laterally adjacent contact beams.

8. The electrical connector of claim 7 , wherein a length of the air gaps between the front edge of the dielectric body and the rear of the divider walls is selected to tune the signal conductors to a target impedance.

9. The electrical connector of claim 5 , wherein the divider walls are disposed along both an upper interior wall and a lower interior wall of the mating interface, the signal modules and the ground plates forming a module stack that has a stack width, the port and the mating cavity of the mating interface having a width greater than the stack width, the housing including at least one guide rail within the mating cavity between the module stack and an interior side wall of the mating interface that extends between the upper and lower interior walls, the at least one guide rail configured to guide the mating circuit board of the pluggable module into the mating cavity.

10. The electrical connector of claim 1 , wherein the signal conductors of each signal module form a contact plane within the dielectric body, the ground plates include ground tie bars extending transversely through defined slots in the signal module across the contact plane.

11. An electrical connector comprising:
a housing having a front wall and at least one mating interface extending forward from the front wall, each mating interface including a port at a distal end open to a mating cavity, the mating cavity configured to receive an edge of a mating circuit board of a pluggable module therein through the port;
a plurality of signal modules and ground plates in a module stack within the housing, the module stack including a pattern of ground plates flanking corresponding pairs of signal modules, each signal module and ground plate including respective contact beams extending a length from a front edge of the module stack to distal ends of the contact beams, the contact beams of the signal modules and the ground plates being laterally aligned across a width of the module stack in rows, adjacent contact beams in the same row extending parallel to one another and being spaced apart from each other by a contact spacing, each contact spacing being approximately uniform along the length of the two adjacent contact beams that define the corresponding contact spacing, the rows of contact beams disposed within the mating cavity for electrical connection to the mating circuit board,
wherein the housing further includes divider walls that are disposed in the contact spacings to separate the adjacent contact beams from each other, the divider walls extending less than the length of the contact beams such that an air gap is defined within each of the contact spacings laterally between the two adjacent contact beams and longitudinally between the front edge of the module stack and a rear of the corresponding divider wall that is located in the contact spacing.

12. The electrical connector of claim 11 , wherein the contact beams each have a deflectable arm that extends to a mating tip at a distal end of the contact beam, the divider walls positioned between corresponding mating tips of laterally adjacent contact beams, the air gaps positioned between corresponding deflectable arms of the laterally adjacent contact beams.

13. The electrical connector of claim 11 , wherein a length of the air gaps between the front edge of the module stack and the rear of the divider walls is selected to tune the contact beams to a target impedance.

14. The electrical connector of claim 11 , wherein the contact beams of each signal module are segments of signal conductors that are held by a dielectric body, wherein each signal module has a lateral thickness that is greater than a thickness of each ground plate, the signal conductors within the dielectric body of each signal module being planar and defining a contact plane, the contact plane being offset relative to a central plane that bisects the lateral thickness of the respective signal module.

15. The electrical connector of claim 14 , wherein each pair of signal modules includes a left signal module abutted against a right signal module, the signal conductors of the left signal module defining a first contact plane that is disposed to the right of the central plane of the left signal module, the signal conductors of the right signal module defining a second contact plane that is disposed to the left of the central plane of the right signal module.

16. The electrical connector of claim 11 , wherein the divider walls are disposed along both an upper interior wall and a lower interior wall of each mating interface, the port and the mating cavity of each mating interface having a width greater than the width of the module stack, the housing including a

Assignees

• Tyco Electronics Corp

Inventors

• Phillips Michael John
• Henry Randall Robert

Classifications

• H01R13/6471

  by special arrangement of ground and signal conductors, e.g. GSGS [Ground-Signal-Ground-Signal] · CPC title

• H01R13/112

  forked sockets having two legs · CPC title

• H01R12/724

  containing contact members forming a right angle · CPC title

• H01R12/716

  Coupling device provided on the PCB · CPC title

• H01R12/585

  Terminals having a press fit or a compliant portion and a shank passing through a hole in the printed circuit board · CPC title