Patent Publication Number: US-2022231461-A1

Title: Electrical connector

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector capable of reducing crosstalk interference between conductive terminals. 
     2. Description of Related Arts 
     With the increase of data transmission speed, how to reduce or eliminate the crosstalk interference in the electrical connector becomes very important. A conventional electrical connector has a total of 8 terminals forming four channels—a third terminal and a sixth terminal forming a second channel to transmit a pair of differential signals and a fourth terminal and a fifth terminal forming a third channel to transmit a pair of differential signals. The fourth terminal and the fifth terminal are sandwiched between the third terminal and the sixth terminal, causing the four terminals in the second channel and the third channel to have the largest cross talk interference among the eight terminals. Reducing crosstalk between terminals has become an urgent problem in the industry. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,329 discloses an electrical connector comprising a first to eighth conductive terminals arranged horizontally, wherein the third terminal and the fifth terminal are laterally close, and the fourth terminal and the sixth terminal are laterally close. Assume that the crosstalk between the third terminal and the fourth terminal is a, the crosstalk between the third terminal and the fifth terminal is b. Because the distance between the third terminal and the fourth terminal is closer, the value of a is much greater than the value of b. In order to increase balance, the third terminal is close to the fifth terminal to increase the value of b, so that the value of (a-b) is reduced. However, the third terminal and the fifth terminal are laterally close, and the fourth terminal and the sixth terminal are laterally close to balance their crosstalk interference caused by the distance, However, the close parts of the third terminal and the fifth terminal are located in the same plane, and the close parts of the fourth terminal and the sixth terminal are located in the same plane, make the distance that the terminal can approach in the lateral direction is limited, and the adjustment ability is limited. 
     An improved electrical connector is desired. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A main object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector which can effectively reduce crosstalk interference between electrical terminals. 
     To achieve the above-mentioned object, an electrical connector comprises an insulating body and first through eighth terminals sequentially arranged in a lateral direction in the insulating body, wherein the first and second terminals, the third and sixth terminals, the fourth and fifth terminals, and the seventh and eighth terminals are respectively used to transmit a pair of differential signals, each terminal including: a mating portion for mating to a mating connector; a tail portion opposite to the mating portion; and a connecting portion connected between the tail portion and the mating portion, the connecting portions of the third terminal to the fifth terminal are all provided with a coupling portion; wherein the coupling portions of the third through fifth terminals are in three different planes, respectively, and the coupling portion of the fifth terminal and the coupling portion of the third terminal at least partially overlap in a longitudinal direction perpendicular to the lateral direction 
     Compared to prior art, in the electrical connector of the present invention, the coupling portions of the third terminal to the fifth terminal are in three different planes, respectively, and the coupling portion of the fifth terminal and the coupling portion of the third terminal can be overlapped in the longitudinal direction perpendicular to the lateral direction. The capacitive coupling benefit of the third terminal and the fifth terminal is increased to effectively reduce the crosstalk interference between the terminals. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an electrical connector in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is another perspective view of the electrical connector in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded view of the electrical connector in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is another exploded view of the electrical connector in  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 5  is an exploded view of the terminal module of the electrical connector in  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 6  is another exploded view of the terminal module of the electrical connector in  FIG. 5 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the mating terminal of the terminal module in  FIG. 5 ; 
         FIG. 8  is a another perspective view of the mating terminal of the terminal module in  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 9  is a rear view of mating terminal of the terminal module in  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 10  is a front view of mating terminal of the terminal module in  FIG. 7 ; and 
         FIG. 11  is a cross-sectional view taken along line  11 - 11  of the electrical connector in  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-11 , an electrical connector  100  of the present invention is shown. The electrical connector  100  can be mated with a mating connector (not shown). The electrical connector  100  comprises an insulating body  1  and a terminal modules  2  installed at the rear of the insulating body  1 , a metal shielding shell  3  covering the outer side of the insulating body  1  and the terminal module  2 . 
     The insulating body  1  includes a front wall  11  and a rear wall  13  opposite to the front wall  11 . The front wall  11  is provided with a receiving cavity  110  recessed inward to receive the mating connector. The rear wall  13  is provided with a row of partition groove  131  arranged in a transverse direction. The partition groove  131  communicates with the receiving cavity  110  in the front-to-back direction. 
     The terminal module  2  includes an insulating carrier  21 , a circuit board  22  on the insulating carrier  21 , a mating terminal  24  mounted on the circuit board  22 , a row of foot terminals  26  that are mounted on the circuit board  22  and can be mounted to an external circuit board (not shown) and a magnetic module  27  that is mounted on the circuit board  22  and electrically connected between the mating terminal  24  and the foot terminal  26 . The mating terminal  24  is installed to the receiving cavity  110  through the partition groove  131 . 
     The mating terminal  24  includes a first terminal  41  to an eighth terminal  48  arranged in order from left to right in the transverse direction and mounted on the front end of the circuit board  22 , wherein the first terminal  41  and the second terminal  42  form a first differential terminal pair, the third terminal  43  and the sixth terminal  46  form a second differential terminal pair, the fourth terminal  44  and the fifth terminal  45  form a third differential terminal pair, and the seventh terminal  47  and the eighth terminal  48  form a fourth differential terminal pair, in this way, the third differential terminal pair is located between the second differential terminal pair in the lateral direction. 
     Each of the mating terminals  24  includes an obliquely arranged mating portion  241  for mating with the mating connector, a tail portion  243  that can be mounted on the circuit board and a connecting portion  245  between the tail portion  243  and the mating portion  241 . Each of the connecting portions  245  includes a coupling portion. The respective tails portions of the first terminal  41  to the eighth terminal  48  are defined as a first tail portions  61  to an eighth tail portions  68 . The coupling portions corresponding to each of the first terminal  41  to the eighth terminal  48  are defined as a first coupling portion  711  to an eighth coupling portion  781 . The size of the first coupling portion  711  to the eighth coupling portion  781  in the lateral direction is larger than the lateral size of the other parts of the corresponding terminals. The third coupling portion  731  of the third terminal  43  to the fifth coupling portion  751  of the fifth terminal  45  are respectively in three different planes. The fifth coupling portion  751  of the fifth terminal  45  is close to the third coupling portion  731  of the third terminal  43  in the lateral direction. Specifically, the fifth coupling portion  751  of the fifth terminal  45  and the third coupling portion  731  of the third terminal  43  at least partially overlap in the longitudinal direction perpendicular to the lateral direction. The fourth coupling portion  741  of the fourth terminal  44  to the sixth coupling portion  761  of the sixth terminal  46  are located in three different planes. The fourth coupling portion  741  of the fourth terminal  44  is close to the sixth coupling portion  761  of the sixth terminal  46  in the lateral direction. Specifically, the sixth coupling portion  761  of the sixth terminal  46  and the fourth coupling portion  741  of the fourth terminal  44  may at least partially overlap in the longitudinal direction. In this embodiment, The third coupling portion  731  of the third terminal  43  to the sixth coupling portion  761  of the sixth terminal  46  are in four planes parallel to each other in the longitudinal direction perpendicular to the mating direction and perpendicular to the transverse direction. The third coupling portion  731  of the third terminal  43 , the fifth coupling portion  751  of the fifth terminal  45 , the sixth coupling portion  761  of the sixth terminal  46 , and the fourth coupling portion  741  of the fourth terminal  44  are arranged in order from top to bottom in the longitudinal direction. The distance between the third coupling portion  731  of the third terminal  43  and the fifth coupling portion  751  of the fifth terminal  45  is equal to the distance between the sixth coupling portion  761  of the sixth terminal  46  and the fourth coupling portion  741  of the fourth terminal  44  in the longitudinal direction. The distance between the coupling portions of the third terminal  43  and the sixth terminal  46  in the longitudinal direction is equal to the distance between the coupling portions of the fifth terminal  45  and the fourth terminal  44  in the longitudinal direction. The lateral dimension of the fourth coupling portion  741  of the fourth terminal  44  and the fifth coupling portion  751  of the fifth terminal  45  is larger than the lateral dimension of the other coupling portions of the first coupling portion  711  to the eighth coupling portion  781 . The left side of the fifth coupling portion  751  of the fifth terminal  45  does not exceed the left side of the third coupling portion  731  of the third terminal  43 . The right side of the fourth coupling portion  741  of the fourth terminal  44  does not exceed the right side of the sixth coupling portion  761  of the sixth terminal  46 . The fourth coupling portion  741  of the fourth terminal  44  is provided with a hollow portion  743 . The fifth coupling portion  751  of the fifth terminal  45  is provided with a hollow portion  753 . The hollow portions  743 ,  753  are used to adjust impedance matching between terminals. Specifically, in this embodiment, the hollow portion  753  of the fifth terminal  45  is recessed to the left from the right side of the fifth terminal  45 , and the hollow portion  743  of the fourth terminal  44  is recessed from the left side to the right side of the fourth terminal. 
     The first coupling portion  711  of the first terminal  41  and the seventh coupling portion  771  of the seventh terminal  47  are located in the same plane as the third coupling portion  731  of the third terminal  43 . The second coupling portion  721  of the second terminal  42  and the eighth coupling portion  781  of the eighth terminal  48  are in the same plane as the sixth coupling portion  761  of the sixth terminal  46 . The coupling portions of each pair of differential terminals have the same distance in the longitudinal direction. The first coupling portion  711  of the first terminal  41  and the second coupling portion  721  of the second terminal  42  are close to each other in the lateral direction and at least partially overlap in the longitudinal direction. The seventh coupling portion  771  of the seventh terminal  47  and the eighth coupling portion  781  of the eighth terminal  48  are close to each other in the lateral direction and at least partially overlap in the longitudinal direction. Specifically, in this embodiment, the first coupling portion  711  of the first terminal  41  and the second coupling portion  721  of the second terminal  42  cross in the lateral direction. The seventh coupling portion  771  of the seventh terminal  47  and the eighth coupling portion  781  of the eighth terminal  48  cross in the lateral direction. The second tail portion  62  of the second terminal  42  is located outside the first tail portion  61  of the first terminal  41 . The seventh tail portion  67  of the seventh terminal  47  is located outside the eighth tail portion  68  of the eighth terminal  48 . The fourth coupling portion  741  of the fourth terminal  44  and the fifth coupling portion  751  of the fifth terminal  45  cross in the lateral direction. The fourth tail portion  64  of the fourth terminal  44  is located on the right side of the fifth tail portion  65  of the fifth terminal  45 . 
     The first tail portion  61  of the first terminal  41 , the fifth tail  65  of the fifth terminal  45 , the sixth tail portion  66  of the sixth terminal  46 , and the seventh tail portion  67  of the seventh terminal  47  are arranged in a first row in the transverse direction and are located in the same plane. The tail portions of the remaining terminals are arranged in a second row in the transverse direction, and are located in another plane that is different from the same plane. 
     In the present invention, the coupling portions of the third terminal  43  to the fifth terminal  45  are arranged in three different planes to increase the space between the third coupling portion  731  and the fifth coupling portion  751  in the lateral direction close to each other, therefore the fifth coupling portion  751  and the third coupling portion  731  can be overlapped in the longitudinal direction perpendicular to the lateral direction, which increases the capacitive coupling benefit between the third terminal  43  and the fifth terminal  45 , thereby effectively reducing the crosstalk between the terminals.