Connector with staggered electrical pins

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9989990-B2
Application number	US-201514971274-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 16, 2015
Priority date	Dec 18, 2014
Publication date	Jun 5, 2018
Grant date	Jun 5, 2018

Abstract

A receptacle connector may include a housing for housing a first pin and a second pin. The first pin may be of a first length and configured to be coupled to a first corresponding pin of an information handling resource received by the receptacle connector, the first pin comprising two contact bumps for maintaining electrical contact with the first corresponding pin. The second pin may be of a second length and configured to be coupled to a second corresponding pin of the information handling resource. The second length may be substantially shorter than the first length such that when the information handling resource is inserted into the receptacle connector, the first corresponding pin engages with the first pin before the second corresponding pin engages with the second pin. The second pin may comprise one contact bump for maintaining electrical contact with the second corresponding pin.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A receptacle connector, comprising:
a housing;
a first pin of a first length disposed in the housing and configured to be coupled to a first corresponding pin of an information handling resource receivable by the receptacle connector, wherein the information handling resource conforms to an M.2 physical connector standard that does not include hot-plugging, and wherein the first pin of the receptacle connector comprises two contact bumps for maintaining electrical contact with the first corresponding pin of the information handling resource; and
a second pin of a second length disposed in the housing and configured to be coupled to a second corresponding pin of the information handling resource, wherein:
the second length is substantially shorter than the first length such that when the information handling resource is inserted into the receptacle connector, the first corresponding pin of the information handling resource is configured to engage with the first pin of the receptacle connector before the second corresponding pin of the information handling resource engages with the second pin of the receptacle connector, such that the information handling resource is capable of being safely hot-plugged into the receptacle connector; and
the second pin of the receptacle connector comprises one contact bump for maintaining electrical contact with the second corresponding pin of the information handling resource.

2. The receptacle connector of claim 1 , further comprising a third pin of a third length disposed in the housing and configured to be coupled to a third corresponding pin of the information handling resource, wherein the third length is substantially shorter than the second length such that when the information handling resource is inserted into the receptacle connector, the second corresponding pin engages with the second pin before the third corresponding pin engages with the third pin.

3. The receptacle connector of claim 2 , wherein when the information handling resource is inserted into the receptacle connector while the receptacle connector is in a powered-on state, the first corresponding pin is configured to become electrically active before the second corresponding pin, and the second corresponding pin becomes electrically active before the third corresponding pin.

4. The receptacle connector of claim 1 , wherein when the information handling resource is inserted into the receptacle connector while the receptacle connector is in a powered-on state, the first corresponding pin is configured to become electrically active before the second corresponding pin.

5. The receptacle connector of claim 1 , wherein the first pin comprises a ground pin and the second pin comprises a pin other than a ground pin.

6. The receptacle connector of claim 1 , wherein the second pin comprises exactly one contact bump for maintaining electrical contact with the second corresponding pin.

7. The receptacle connector of claim 1 , the first pin configured such that when a second contact bump of the two contact bumps engages with the first corresponding pin, a first contact bump of the two contact bumps is suspended so as to avoid contact of the first pin to portions of the information handling resource other than the first corresponding pin.

8. An information handling system comprising:
a processor; and
a receptacle connector communicatively coupled to the processor, the receptacle connector comprising:
a housing;
a first pin of a first length disposed in the housing and configured to be coupled to a first corresponding pin of an information handling resource receivable by the receptacle connector, wherein the information handling resource conforms to an M.2 physical connector standard that does not include hot-plugging, and wherein the first pin of the receptacle connector comprises two contact bumps for maintaining electrical contact with the first corresponding pin of the information handling resource; and
a second pin of a second length disposed in the housing and configured to be coupled to a second corresponding pin of the information handling resource, wherein:
the second length is substantially shorter than the first length such that when the information handling resource is inserted into the receptacle connector, the first corresponding pin of the information handling resource is configured to engage with the first pin of the receptacle connector before the second corresponding pin of the information handling resource engages with the second pin of the receptacle connector, such that the information handling resource is capable of being safely hot-plugged into the receptacle connector; and
the second pin of the receptacle connector comprises one contact bump for maintaining electrical contact with the second corresponding pin of the information handling resource.

9. The information handing system of claim 8 , wherein the receptacle connector further comprises a third pin of a third length disposed in the housing and configured to be coupled to a third corresponding pin of the information handling resource, wherein the third length is substantially shorter than the second length such that when the information handling resource is inserted into the receptacle connector, the second corresponding pin is configured to engage with the second pin before the third corresponding pin engages with the third pin.

10. The information handling system of claim 9 , wherein when the information handling resource is inserted into the receptacle connector while the receptacle connector is in a powered-on state, the first corresponding pin is configured to become electrically active before the second corresponding pin, and the second corresponding pin becomes active before the third corresponding pin.

11. The information handling system of claim 8 , wherein when the information handling resource is inserted into the receptacle connector while the receptacle connector is in a powered-on state, the first corresponding pin is configured to become electrically active before the second corresponding pin.

12. The information handling system of claim 8 , wherein the first pin comprises a ground pin and the second pin comprises a pin other than a ground pin.

13. The information handling system of claim 8 , wherein the information handling resource is a storage device.

14. The information handling system of claim 8 , the first pin configured such that when a second contact bump of the two contact bumps engages with the first corresponding pin, a first contact bump of the two contact bumps is suspended so as to avoid contact of the first pin to portions of the information handling resource other than the first corresponding pin.

15. A method for engaging an information handling resource with a receptacle connector, comprising:
engaging a first pin of a first length disposed in a housing of the receptacle connector with a first corresponding pin of the information handling resource, wherein the information handling resource conforms to an M.2 physical connector standard that does not include hot-plugging, and wherein the first pin of the receptacle connector comprises two contact bumps for maintaining electrical contact with the first corresponding pin of the information handling resource; and
after engaging the first pin with the first corresponding pin, engaging a second pin of a second length disposed in the housing with a second corresponding pin of the information handling resource, wherein:
the second length is substantially shorter than the first length;
the second pin of the receptacle connector comprises one contact

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp
• Dell Prodcuts L P

Inventors

• Kotzur Gary B
• Saraiva Marcelo
• Strmiska Bernard

Classifications

• H01R12/716

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