Cable connector assembly with improved grounding member

A cable connector assembly (100) includes a printed circuit board (2) having a number of signal and ground pads (25, 26) alternatively arranged at opposite front and rear ends thereof, a wire organizer (3) defining a number of through holes (30), a unitary grounding member (6) assembled to the wire organizer and including a number of grounding plates (62) integrally formed therewith to electrically connect with the ground pads of the printed circuit board, and a number of wires (4) protruding through the through holes of the wire organizer. Each wire includes at least one signal conductor (40) soldered with the signal pad of the printed circuit board, an insulator (41) enclosing the at least one signal conductor and a ground conductor (43) electrically connecting with the grounding member to form ground path with the printed circuit board.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to a cable connector assembly, and more particularly to a cable connector assembly for high-speed signal transmission.

2. Description of Related Art

For high-speed signal transmission electrical connectors, EMI and wire management are two most significant problems to be solved since such electrical connector usually has a large number of wires to transmit signals which need to be managed. Infiniband connector is a kind of high-speed signal transmission connector which comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of signal and ground terminals retained in the insulative housing, a spacer assembled to the housing and the terminals, a plurality of wires each comprising a signal differential pair transmitting positive and negative signals and a grounding conductor. The wires are managed by the spacer with the signal differential pairs and the grounding conductors respectively electrically connecting with the signal and ground terminals. Additionally, for depressing EMI, a grounding member is adopted to electrically connect with the ground terminals and the grounding conductors.

Such features are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,685,501, 6,726,503, 6,764,342, 6,869,308, and 6,739,904. As for U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,685,501, 6,869,308 and 6,739,904, each spacer disclosed therein is a whole piece or a pair of upper and lower halves defines a plurality of aligning holes to permit the penetration of wires for aligning the wires. Each spacer is assembled with a large number of grounding plates each soldered to corresponding grounding conductors of the wires and ground terminal to depress EMI in signal transmission. However, the number of the grounding plates is large which is costly and assembling the so many grounding plates to the spacer is time consuming and also costly.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,726,503 discloses an Infiniband type connector with a spacer having upper and lower halves assembled together to align wires and engaging with tail portions of ground terminals with grounding conductors electrically connecting with the tail portions of the ground terminals. U.S. Pat. No. 6,764,342 discloses a whole-piece spacer aligning wires and assembled with a pair of grounding plates and short arms of ground terminals with the grounding plates directly electrically connecting with grounding conductors of the wires and the short arms of the ground terminals to form electrical connection between the ground terminals and the grounding conductors of the wires. However, the ground terminals of these two connectors all directly connect the grounding plates or the grounding conductors of the wires. In some circumstances, a printed circuit board is needed to realize the electrical connection between terminals and wires. The spacers and the grounding plates are not suitable for above circumstance. Therefore, a cable connector with improved wire organizer and grounding plate is desired to be developed to address above problems.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a cable connector assembly with improved grounding member to achieve EMI depression and low cost.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a cable connector assembly in accordance with the present invention comprises a printed circuit board having a plurality of signal and ground pads alternatively arranged at opposite front and rear ends thereof, a wire organizer defining a plurality of through holes, a unitary grounding member assembled to the wire organizer and comprising a plurality of grounding plates integrally formed therewith to electrically connect with the ground pads of the printed circuit board, and a plurality of wires protruding through the through holes of the wire organizer. Each wire comprises at least one signal conductor soldered with the signal pad of the printed circuit board, an insulator enclosing the at least one signal conductor and a ground conductor electrically connecting with the grounding member to form ground path with the printed circuit board.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Please refer toFIGS. 1-2, a cable connector assembly100in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a printed circuit board (PCB)2, a pair of metal grounding members6(only one is shown) electrically connecting with the PCB2and wires4, a wire organizer3aligning the wires4and engagingly receiving the grounding members6, the wires4electrically connecting with the grounding members6and the PCB2at the same time, an inner mold5molded with the wires4, and a die-cast casing (not shown) enclosing all the members mentioned above therein with the wires4exiting from rear end of the casing and the mating interface accessible from front end of the casing.

The PCB2is a flat board, and comprises opposite front and rear ends21,22and opposite upper and lower surfaces23,24. A plurality of first and second conductive pads25,26are formed at front and rear ends21,22of the upper and lower surfaces23,24. The first and second conductive pads25,26are in pairs along front-to-rear direction and each pair25,26connects to each other by a conductive trace20. Each set of the first and second conductive pads25,26consist of four sets of signal differential pairs250,260and five ground pads252,262alternatively arranged with the signal differential pairs250,260for assuring signal transmission effect.

The wire organizer3made from insulative material is of a rectangular block. The wire organizer3defines upper and lower rows of elliptic-shape through holes30spaced arranged along transverse direction. The inner periphery of each through hole30is same as outer periphery of each wire4. The through holes30of the upper row are not aligned with the through holes30of the lower row in up-to-down direction. That is, each through hole30of the upper row is substantially located between a pair of through holes30of the lower row. A pair of openings31are respectively recessed downwardly and upwardly from upper and lower surfaces of the body portion30and respectively communicate with the through holes300of the upper row and the through holes30of the lower row.

Each grounding member6comprises a fitting portion61interferentially received in the openings31of the wire organizer3, and a plurality of grounding plates62extending forwardly from lower/top edge of the fitting portion61. The lower/top edge of each fitting portion61defines a plurality of semi-elliptical receiving spaces610between adjacent two grounding plates62for receiving the wires4. Each grounding plate62is located in a vertical plane and substantially of L-shape. The grounding plate62comprises a rear wider stop section621connecting with the fitting portion61and a narrower soldering section622extending from upper/lower part of the stop section621of upper/lower row. A slit620extends upwardly/downwardly from the joint location of the stop section621and the soldering section622for receiving excessive solder when soldering the grounding members6with the ground pads262of the PCB2. The structure of the fitting portion61of the grounding member6is corresponding to outer periphery of the opening31. The fitting portion61comprises a U-shape sandwiching section611sandwiching a vertical front edge of the opening31and a flat pressing section612extending rearwardly from rear edge of the sandwiching section611to press on the wires4received in the through holes30. A vertical flange6121extends upwardly a certain distance from rear edge of the pressing section612for preventing warp of the pressing section612from the opening31. A plurality of slits6111are defined in the sandwiching section611.

The wires4are divided into upper and lower groups (only one row is shown) corresponding to the through holes30of the wire organizer3, that is, each wire4of the upper group is located in the middle of the two adjacent wires4of the lower group viewed from up-to-down direction. Such arrangement helps to reduce cross talk in signal transmission. Each wire4comprises a pair of signal conductors40respectively transmitting positive and negative signals, a pair of insulators41respectively enclosing corresponding signal conductors40, a pair of conductive layers44surrounding the insulators41, a ground conductor43disposed between the pair of signal conductors40and electrically contacting the conductive layers44, and an outer jacket42enclosing the conductor layers44and the ground conductor43therein. The front end of the wire4is partially stripped to expose the pair of signal conductors40, the front ends of the pair of insulators41, the pair of conductive layers44and the ground conductor43along front-to-back direction. The ground conductor43exposed out of the outer jacket42is longer than the signal conductors40exposed out of the outer jacket42for being of U-shape to locate above/below the pair of signal conductors40after assembling to the wire organizer3.

When assembly, the inner mold5is firstly molded with the wires4to hold the wires4together. Then, the wires4respectively protrude through the through holes30of the wire organizer3to fill up the through holes30with upper and lower parts of the outer jackets42thereof exposed in the openings30. Then the grounding member6is assembled to the wire organizer3and the wires4with the fitting portion61interferentially received in the opening30as described above and each grounding plate62locating between two adjacent wires4. The pressing section612is pushed to exert a downward/upward force to the wires4to press the exposed portions of the wires4for adjusting the configurations of the wires4to fit in the through holes30well. There are four round positioning holes6120in the pressing section612corresponding to the position of the wires4. Glue or other may spread to the positioning holes6120to position the wires to the grounding member6. Further, Glue made from Epoxy Bong may be spread to the openings31of the wire organizer3to retain the wire organizer3with the grounding plate6. After such assembly, the front ends of the signal conductors40substantially flush with the front edges of the grounding plates62. Then, the wires4and the grounding member6are assembled to the PCB2together with the stop portions621abutting against the rear end22of the PCB2. The soldering portions622of the grounding plates62and the signal conductors40are respectively soldered to the ground pads262and the signal differential pairs260of the second conductive pads26to form electrical connection therebetween. The ground conductors43are formed into U-shape and soldered to side surfaces of the grounding plates62. Thus, signal transmission paths and grounding paths are established. In alternative embodiment, the ground conductors43also can be pressed through the slits6111into conductor-receiving slots6112to electrically connect with the grounding member6to form ground paths with the PCB2. When mating with a complementary connector, the first conductive pads25of the PCB2may directly electrically connect with terminals of the complementary connector, or soldered with contacts (not shown) assembled into an insulative housing (not shown) of the cable connector assembly of the present invention.