Retention mechanism for shielded flex cable to improve EMI/RFI for high speed signaling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9755334-B2
Application number	US-201514750875-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 25, 2015
Priority date	Jun 25, 2015
Publication date	Sep 5, 2017
Grant date	Sep 5, 2017

Abstract

A retention apparatus for a shielded cable is described. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises a substrate having a ground; a connector coupled to the substrate; a cable shielded with a conductive material and having an end connectable to the connector to electrically connect with the connector; an electrically conductive material coupled to the ground of the substrate; and a grounding retention mechanism to cause the electrically conductive material to electrically connect the cable to the ground of the substrate by applying a force to the cable shield.

First claim

We claim:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a substrate having a first node;
a connector coupled to the substrate;
a cable shielded with a first conductive material and having an end connectable to the connector to electrically connect with the connector;
an electrically conductive material coupled to the first node of the substrate and located between the cable and the substrate; and
a retention mechanism to cause the electrically conductive material to electrically connect the first conductive material shielding the cable to the first node of the substrate by applying a force to at least a portion of the first conductive material shielding the cable to cause the first conductive material to contact the electrically conductive material, and
wherein the electrically conductive material is integrated into the connector and the retention mechanism comprises one or more spring regions included in the electrically conductive material.

2. The apparatus defined in claim 1 further comprising a latch to engage with one or more sides of the first conductive material of the cable to secure the cable when an end of the cable is electrically connected to the connector.

3. The apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein the first node comprises an exposed ground pad.

4. The apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein the electrically conductive material comprises an EMI gasket.

5. An apparatus comprising:
a substrate having a first node;
a connector coupled to the substrate;
a cable shielded with a first conductive material and having an end connectable to the connector to electrically connect with the connector;
an electrically conductive material coupled to the first node of the substrate and located between the cable and the substrate; and
a retention mechanism to cause the electrically conductive material to electrically connect the first conductive material shielding the cable to the first node of the substrate by applying a force to at least a portion of the first conductive material shielding the cable to cause the first conductive material to contact the electrically conductive material, wherein the retention mechanism comprises a retention actuator coupled to the connector to apply a retention force on the first conductive material of the cable when in a first position after the cable has been electrically connected to the connector, the electrically conductive material being compressible, the force to cause compression of the electrically conductive material between the cable and first node of the substrate when applied on the first conductive material.

6. An apparatus comprising:
a substrate having a first node;
a connector coupled to the substrate;
a cable shielded with a first conductive material and having an end connectable to the connector to electrically connect with the connector;
an electrically conductive material coupled to the first node of the substrate; and
a retention mechanism to cause the electrically conductive material to electrically connect the first conductive material shielding the cable to the first node of the substrate by applying a force to at least a portion of the first conductive material shielding the cable, wherein the retention mechanism comprises a latch-type actuator that latches to the substrate when in a first position and further wherein the substrate comprises a plated-through hole (PTH) via and the lever latches to the PTH via in the substrate.

7. The apparatus defined in claim 6 wherein the latch-type actuator comprises a fork, a hook or an eye-of-needle (EON) as part of a latch coupled to the connector.

8. An apparatus comprising:
a substrate having a first node;
a connector coupled to the substrate;
a cable shielded with a first conductive material and having an end connectable to the connector to electrically connect with the connector;
an electrically conductive material coupled to the first node of the substrate; and
a retention mechanism to cause the electrically conductive material to electrically connect the first conductive material shielding the cable to the first node of the substrate by applying a force to at least a portion of the first conductive material shielding the cable, wherein the retention mechanism comprises:
a compressible material coupled to the cable on a side of the cable opposite where the electrically conductive material contacts the first conductive material of the cable; and
an actuator to cause the compressible material to become compressed when the actuator is positioned on top of the compressible material, the compressible material being compressed causing a force to be applied to the first conductive material of the cable.

9. An apparatus comprising:
a substrate having a reference node;
a connector coupled to the substrate;
an electrically conductive material coupled to the reference node of the substrate; and
a retention mechanism to cause the electrically conductive material to electrically connect a cable shielded with a first conductive material to the reference node of the substrate when an end of the cable is electrically connected to the connector by applying a force to the first conductive material of the cable and cause the first conductive material to contact the electrically conductive material, the electrically conductive material being located between the cable and the substrate, wherein the electrically conductive material is integrated into the connector and the retention mechanism comprises one or more spring regions included in the electrically conductive material.

10. The apparatus defined in claim 9 further comprising a latch to engage with one or more sides of the first conductive material of the cable to secure the cable when an end of the cable is electrically connected to the connector.

11. The apparatus defined in claim 9 wherein the reference node comprises an exposed ground pad.

12. The apparatus defined in claim 9 wherein the electrically conductive material comprises an EMI gasket.

13. An apparatus comprising:
a substrate having a reference node;
a connector coupled to the substrate;
an electrically conductive material coupled to the reference node of the substrate; and
a retention mechanism to cause the electrically conductive material to electrically connect a cable shielded with a first conductive material to the reference node of the substrate when an end of the cable is electrically connected to the connector by applying a force to the first conductive material of the cable and cause the first conductive material to contact the electrically conductive material, the electrically conductive material being located between the cable and the substrate, wherein the retention mechanism comprises a retention actuator coupled to the connector to apply a retention force on the first conductive material of the cable when in a first position after the cable has been electrically connected to the connector, the electrically conductive material being compressible, and the force to cause compression of the electrically conductive material between the cable and the reference node of the substrate when applied on the first conductive material.

14. An apparatus comprising:
a substrate having a reference node;
a connector coupled to the substrate;
an electrically conductive material coupled to the reference node of the substrate; and
a retention mechanism to cause the electrically conductive material to electrically connect a cable shielded with a first conductive material to the reference node of the substrate when an end of the cable is electrically connected to the connector by applying a force to the first conductive mate

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Li Xiang
• Ling Yun
• Chen Chung-Hao J
• Hsu Hao-Han
• Mohan Shyamjith
• Chen Kuan-Yu

Classifications

• H01R12/79

  connecting to rigid printed circuits or like structures · CPC title

• H01R12/775

  Ground or shield arrangements · CPC title

• H01R12/7011

  Locking or fixing a connector to a PCB · CPC title

• H01R12/88

  acting manually by rotating or pivoting connector housing parts · CPC title

• H01R13/6592

  the conductive member being a shielded cable · CPC title