Electrical connector with two signal and two grounding contact ends alternately positioned in two rows

An electrical connector is disclosed having a plurality of contacts. The plurality of contacts includes contact ends positioned in two rows and terminating ends positioned in one row. A first grouping of the plurality of contacts includes units of two differential signal carrying contacts having signal carrying contact ends connected to two signal terminating ends on a one to one ratio. The first grouping also includes grounding contacts positioned adjacent to the signal carrying contacts, and having grounding contact ends connected to grounding terminating ends with a ratio of the number of grounding contact ends being greater than or equal to the number of grounding terminating ends.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention generally relates to an electrical connector, and more specifically to an electrical connector that transmits a differential signal.

BACKGROUND

Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-157505A discloses a conventional electrical connector that transmits a differential signal. The connector has a plurality of contacts having contact end portions positioned in two rows along a mating face, and contact terminating portions extending in one row out of a circuit board mounting side of the connector. The contact terminating portions extend in one row, because if the contacts terminating portions on circuit board mounting side were in a two row configuration similar to the contact end portions on the mating end, inspection or repair of soldering of an inner row would be obstructed by an outer row. Therefore, particularly in surface mounted connectors, the contact terminating portions are conventionally arranged in one row.

However, since all of the contact terminating portions extend in one row, the width of the electrical connector will be longer than a connector having the contact terminating portions extending in a two row configuration from the circuit board mounting side. The width presents a limitation in designing electrical connectors that are smaller in size. There is a need for a connector having a two-row contact end portion configuration on a mating face of the connector, and a row of contact terminating portions extending from the circuit board mounting with a smaller width, while not obstructing the inspection or repair of soldering.

SUMMARY

An electrical connector has a plurality of contacts. The plurality of contacts includes contact ends positioned in two rows and terminating ends positioned in one row. A first grouping of the plurality of contacts includes units of two differential signal carrying contacts having signal carrying contact ends connected to two signal terminating ends on a one to one ratio. The first grouping also includes grounding contacts positioned adjacent to the signal carrying contacts, and having grounding contact ends connected to grounding terminating ends with a ratio of the number of grounding contact ends being greater than or equal to the number of grounding terminating ends.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT(S)

An electrical connector10has a plurality of contacts12positioned in a housing11. The housing11is enclosed by a shield13made of metal. Cantilevered arm members131are formed in the shield13. The arm members131are brought into contact with a shield of a complimentary mating connector (not shown) mated with the electrical connector10to retain shielding performance, and press against the mating connector to secure the mating connector and ensure the mating connector remains connected. In an embodiment, the housing11is made of resin, and the shield13is made of metal.

In the embodiment ofFIG. 1, the contact12includes contact ends121. The contact ends121are positioned inside a mating connector receiving opening101of the shield13, and on a tongue111of the housing11(also seeFIG. 7). The mating connector receiving opening101is disposed on a mating end of the electrical connector10. The contact ends121are positioned on the tongue111. The contact ends121are brought into contact with a complimentary contact of the mating connector.

The contacts12include a signal carrying contact12ahaving a narrower plate-like portion and a first grounding contact12bhaving a wider plate-like portion on a mating end. The narrower signal carrying contacts12aare brought into contact with one contact of the mating connector, while the wider first grounding contacts12bare brought into contact with two contacts of the mating connector. For example, one contact end121may contact each narrower plate-like portion, while two contact ends121may be present for each wider plate-like portion, such that the two contact ends121are both positioned on the wider plate-like portion.

In the embodiment inFIG. 1, while only an upper surface of the tongue111is shown having the contacts12positioned thereon, the contacts12are also positioned on a lower surface of the tongue111. In the embodiment, the contacts12are positioned in two rows along opposite surfaces of the tongue111.

In the embodiment ofFIG. 2, the contact12includes a contact terminating end122. The contact terminating ends122are surface-mounted on a circuit board (not shown). As shown inFIG. 2, the contact terminating ends122are positioned in one row.

In the embodiment ofFIG. 3, the contact ends121are positioned in two rows along the mating end of the connector10, and the contact terminating ends122are position in one row along a circuit board facing end of the connector10.

The contact ends121include white-square signal contact ends121athat carry signals. The signal contact ends121aare positioned as pairs of adjacent signal contact ends121ato carry a differential signal. However, the white signal contact ends121apositioned at both right and left ends have no adjacent signal contact ends121ato be paired with, and are therefore are optionally available to be used for carrying a low-speed signal other than a differential signal, or as a ground terminal, a power terminal, or other similar applications known to those of ordinary skill in the art. The differential-signal carrying signal contact ends121a, excluding the white signal contact ends121apositioned at both the right and left ends, are referred to as a first grouping of contact ends121.

The hatched-square grounding contact ends121bare ground-connection contact members. The grounding contact ends121bare referred to as a second grouping of contact ends121.

The grounding contact ends121bare positioned adjacent to the differential-signal carrying signal contact ends121a. The term “adjacent” may include neighboring in a same row and in a different row. In an embodiment, the grounding contact ends121b, excluding the grounding contact ends121bat both the right and left ends, are adjacent to the differential-signal carrying signal contact ends121aboth in the same row and in the different row. However, as discussed above, the signal contact ends121ashown as white squares at both the right and left ends are not differential-signal carrying terminals, so the grounding contact ends121bat both the right and left ends are adjacent only to the differential-signal carrying signal contact ends121ain the same row.

In an embodiment, the contact ends121are positioned in two rows where two differential-signal carrying signal contact ends121aand two grounding contact ends121balternate. The contact ends121are positioned such that the phases of the signal contact ends121aand the grounding contact ends121balternate between the two rows so that the signal contact ends121aand the grounding contact ends121bface each other on different rows.

Since the pair of signal contact ends121acarrying differential-signal are arranged so as to be surrounded by the grounding contact ends121b, the shielding performance is improved so that crosstalk between adjacent differential signals is reduced.

In the embodiment ofFIG. 3, of the contact terminating ends122include two signal terminating ends122ashown as a white rectangle, similar to the signal contact ends121ashown as a white square, are positioned adjacent to contact members which are paired to carry a differential signal. In this regard, however, the white-rectangular signal terminating ends122apositioned at both right and left ends, like the signal contact ends121a, are connected to the signal contact ends121aat both the right and left ends, respectively, and are optionally used for carrying a low-speed signal other than a differential signal, or used as a ground terminal, a power terminal, or other similar applications known to those skilled in the art. Of these white-rectangular signal terminating ends122a, the differential-signal carrying signal terminating ends122a, excluding the two contact members positioned at both the right and left ends, are referred to as a first grouping of signal terminating ends122a.

In an embodiment, hatched-rectangular grounded terminating ends122bare connected to the grounding contact ends121b, and used for ground connection. These grounded terminating ends122bare referred to as a second grouping of grounded terminating ends122b.

In the above described embodiment, paired signal terminating ends122aand paired grounded terminating ends122bare alternately arranged.

In another embodiment, in comparison of the number of contact ends121with the number of contact terminating ends122, the white-square signal contact ends121aand the white-rectangular signal terminating ends122aare the same in number. However, the number of hatched-square grounding contact ends121bis eighteen inFIG. 3, while the number of hatched-rectangular grounded terminating ends122bis nine. That is, the number of grounded terminating ends122bis reduced to half the number of grounding contact ends12lb.

This allows the contact terminating ends122to be arranged with predetermined pitches, and further achieves a reduction in overall dimensions of the electrical connector.

In the above embodiments, signal contact ends121ashown as a white square and the signal terminating ends122ashown as a white rectangle are the same in number, and are connected to each other on a one-to-one ratio. That is, the signal contact ends121aand the signal terminating ends122aare connected to each other one by one.

However, all of the grounding contact ends121band grounded terminating ends122bin the above embodiments are connected to each other.

In an embodiment ofFIG. 4, the signal carrying contacts12aare differential-signal carrying contacts. AlthoughFIG. 4shows two signal carrying contacts12a, only one signal carrying contact12ais disposed at each of the right and left ends, and used for a purpose other than for carrying a differential signal, as described above with reference toFIG. 3.

Further, as described with reference toFIG. 3, the differential-signal carrying signal contact ends121aand signal terminating ends122aare connected to each other on a one-to-one basis via the signal carrying contacts12a. The signal contact ends121amay include a plurality of contact members, but the signal contact ends121aare connected to the signal terminating ends122aon a one-to-one basis.

Additionally, the signal carrying contacts12aare positioned along an upper and a lower row, namely, in a row proximate to the circuit board and in a row distal to the circuit board (seeFIG. 6). Therefore, the signal carrying contacts12ainclude a signal carrying contact12ahaving a longer leg and a signal carrying contact12ahaving a shorter leg on the contact terminating end122. In the embodiment ofFIG. 4, the signal carrying contacts12ahaving the shorter legs are positionable in the row proximate to the circuit board. The signal carrying contacts12apositioned in the row distal to the circuit board has structure same as the signal carrying contacts12ashown inFIG. 4, except the length of the leg is longer.

In the embodiment ofFIG. 5, the first grounding contact12bis a ground-connection contact. The grounding contact ends121bare positioned along upper and lower two rows on the mating end, shown inFIG. 1, of the first grounding contact12b. As described in the embodiments above, two grounding contact ends121bare positioned on each wider-plate-like portion, such that two ground-connection contacts of the mating connector come into contact with one plate-like portion. One grounding contact end121bis positioned on each of the narrower plate-like members formed at both ends. The tongue111of the housing11is inserted into between these two rows of plate-like members so that these plate-like members are supported by the tongue111of the housing11. (SeeFIGS. 1 and 7) In an embodiment shown inFIGS. 1 and 7, nine grounded terminating ends122bare formed at equal intervals.

The contacts12in the embodiments ofFIGS. 6 and 7are supported by the housing11, which is positioned in the electrical connector10embodiment shown inFIGS. 1 and 2. Therefore, the connections between the contact ends121and the contact terminating ends122, and the connections between the contact ends121and the contact terminating ends122, as shown in theFIG. 3, are maintained.

The electrical connector10, described above in the embodiments ofFIGS. 1 and 2, and having the plate-like contacts12described in the embodiments ofFIGS. 4-6, is a male contact.

In the embodiments of the electrical connector10ofFIGS. 8-18, the electrical connector10has substantially the same structure as the embodiments discussed above ofFIGS. 1-7. As such, only differences from the embodiments described above will be described below.

In the embodiment ofFIG. 3, all the grounding contact ends121band all the grounded terminating ends122bare connected to each other.

In an embodiment ofFIG. 8, the grounding contact ends121band grounded terminating ends122bare divided into a plurality of groups. The contact ends121are divided into groups125, each group125including a total of eight contacts ends121positioned in two rows. Each row includes four consecutive contact ends121. However, a contact end group125′ at an end of the two rows cannot complete eight contact ends121and therefore has only four contact ends121.

The contact terminating ends122are divided into groups126, each group126including six consecutive contact terminating ends122positioned in two rows. A terminating end group126′, positioned at the same end as the contact end group125′, cannot complete six second contact members, and therefore has only three contact terminating ends122.

Taken together, the group125of eight contact members for the contact ends121and the group126of six contact members for the contact terminating ends122have four grounding contact ends121bwithin one group125and the two grounded terminating ends122bwithin one group126connected to each other. However, the contact end group125′ and terminating end group126′ have two grounding contact ends121bwithin the contact end group125′ that are connected to one grounded terminating end122bwithin the terminating end group126′.

In the embodiment ofFIG. 9, a second grounding contact22breplaces the first grounding contact12bshown inFIG. 5.

The second grounding contact22b, described with reference toFIG. 8, has a shape divided into separated groups.

While the second grounding contact22bshown inFIG. 9is referred to as a ground-connection contact, in one embodiment the plurality of second grounding contact22bfunction as a ground-connection. However, in the embodiment ofFIG. 9, the second grounding contact22bis not limited to serving as a ground-connection, but each may alternatively function as a power supply. Therefore, one skilled in the art would appreciate that for the embodiment ofFIG. 9, the second grounding contact22bmay be used in a variety of applications than that of the first grounding contact12bdescribed in the above embodiments.

In an embodiment ofFIG. 10, contact members are also divided into groups125,125′;126,126′, similar to the embodiment ofFIG. 8. However, where the embodiment ofFIG. 8has all the grounding contact ends121band grounded terminating ends122bconnected to each other within the same groups125,126, in the embodiment ofFIG. 10, connections are split evenly within one of the groups125,126, such that some of the four grounding contact ends121bwithin one group125(three grounding contact ends121bshown inFIG. 10) are connected to one of the two grounded terminating ends122bwithin one group126. In addition, the remainder of the four grounding contact ends121b(the remaining one grounding contact end121bshown inFIG. 10) is connected to the remaining one grounded terminating end122bof the two grounded terminating ends122b. The contact end group125′ and terminating end group126′ at have an incomplete number of contact members, in the same manner as the embodiment ofFIG. 8, and the two grounding contact ends121bwithin the contact end group125′ are connected to one grounded terminating end122b.

In the embodiment ofFIG. 11, a third grounding contact32breplaces the first grounding contact12bshown inFIG. 5.

The third grounding contact32bshown inFIG. 11has a structure divided into groups and further divided into two subgroups within one group, as described above with reference toFIG. 10.

The third grounding contact32bis a ground-connection contact in the context of the above description, and all of the third grounding contacts32bmay be used for ground connections. However, the third grounding contact32b′connecting one grounding contact end121band one grounded terminating end122bon a one-to-one basis in other embodiments may carry a low-speed signal.

In the exemplary embodiments ofFIGS. 4-6 and 9-11, contacts are described having a plate-like portion against which a contact of a mating connector is pressed, resulting in an electrical connector10having male contacts.

However,FIGS. 12-18disclose exemplary embodiments of an electrical connector10having female contacts. The embodiments ofFIGS. 12-18described below have contacts differing in shape from the contact in the various embodiments described above, but the relationship of electrical connection remains substantially the same as described above.

The signal carrying contacts12ashown inFIG. 4are male contacts, and when female contacts of a mating connector (not shown) are brought into contact with the plate-like portion of the signal carrying contact12a, the female contacts are elastically deformed to engage the male contacts. In an embodiment ofFIG. 12, signal carrying contacts42aare female contacts. The signal carrying contacts42aengage with plate-like contacts of a mating contact (not shown). The signal carrying contacts42ainclude signal contact ends121athat are elastically deformed by the plate-like contacts of the mating connector, and the signal carrying contacts42ahold the plate-like contact under elastic contact. Similar to the signal carrying contacts12ashown inFIG. 4, the signal contact end121aof the signal carrying contacts42amay include a plurality of contacts, but the signal contact end121ais connected to the signal terminating end122aon a one-to-one ratio.

Similar to the embodiment ofFIG. 5, the signal carrying contacts42ainclude signal carrying contacts42ahaving longer legs and signal carrying contacts42ahaving shorter legs on the signal terminating end122aside (seeFIG. 14). The signal carrying contacts42ashown in the embodiment ofFIG. 12are contacts each having a shorter leg of these two kinds of contacts.

In the embodiment ofFIG. 13, a fourth grounding contact42balso has the same relationship of connection between contact members as the first grounding contact12bshown inFIG. 5, except that the fourth grounding contact42bis a female contact. For example, the fourth grounding contact42b, as described above with reference toFIG. 3, includes the grounding contact end121bconnected with all the grounded terminating ends122bto establish a ground connection.

In an embodiment ofFIG. 14, the signal carrying contacts42aare positioned in combination with the fourth grounding contacts42b, and an embodiment ofFIG. 15shows the contacts42a,42bpositioned on a housing41. InFIG. 15, the respective arrangements of the contact ends121and the contact terminating ends122of the contacts42a,42b, is the same as the connection between the contact ends121and the contact terminating ends122shown inFIG. 3.

In the embodiment ofFIG. 16, an electrical connector40includes the housing41covered with a shield43made of metal. Cantilevered arm members431are formed in the shield43, and press against a shield of a mating connector (not shown), like the electrical connector10shown inFIGS. 1 and 2.

In the embodiment ofFIG. 17, fifth grounding contacts52breplace the fourth grounding contact42bshown inFIG. 13. The fifth grounding contacts52bare divided into groups, as described above with reference toFIG. 8.

The fifth grounding contact52bhas the same connection relationship between contact members as the grounding contact22bin the embodiment described above forFIG. 9, except that the fifth grounding contact52bis a female contact, and is therefore not described further.

In the embodiment ofFIG. 18, sixth grounding contacts62breplace the fourth grounding contacts42bshown inFIG. 13. The sixth grounding contacts62bare divided into groups and further divided into two subgroups per one group, as described above with reference toFIG. 9.

The sixth grounding contact62bhas the same relationship of connection between contact members as the third grounding contact32bdescribed above in the embodiment ofFIG. 11, except that the sixth grounding contact62bis a female contact, and is therefore not described further.