Patent Publication Number: US-9407022-B1

Title: Unitary interface used for PCI-E SAS

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present application relates to the field of interface technology, particularly to a unitary interface used for PCI-E SAS. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     PCI-Express (simply referred to as PCI-E), proposed by INTEL in 2001, is a new criterion for bus and interface and represents an I/O interface standard of the next generation. PCI-E pertains to a high-speed serial point-to-point dual-channel broadband transmission. The devices connected with PCI-E each occupy a dedicated broadband channel rather than sharing the broadband of a bus, and support the functions of active power management, error reporting, stable end-to-end transmission, hot plugging and quality of service (QOS), etc. The new standard PCI-E will completely replace the current PCI and AGP, realizing unification of bus standards. Its main advantage is high-speed data transmission. A speed as high as 10 GB/s could be achieved with the updated version 16×2.0, and there is still great space to improve. 
     During the process of research and development of PCI-E interface, researchers need to repeatedly plug in and out the connecting portion when testing the interconnecting performance of the interface. However, in order to adapt to the design of long-time fixed connection, the male part of the common PCI-E interface needs to be repeatedly plugged into and out of the female part thereof. This exacerbates the wearing of the interface, causing the risk of unreliable connection. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention aims at providing a unitary interface used for PCI-E SAS, the unitary configuration of the male part and female part of the interface make it convenient to repeatedly plug in and pull out of the two parts, meanwhile, a high-frequency data transmission speed as high as 12 Gbps could be guaranteed. Furthermore, the interface is a widely applicable to the channels of SATA, SAS and PCI-E. 
     In order to solve the above mentioned problem, the present application provides the following technical solution. A unitary interface used for PCI-E SAS includes a connecting assembly, a terminal assembly and a fastening assembly. The connecting assembly includes a male sub-assembly, a female sub-assembly and a PCB sub-assembly. The fastening assembly includes at least one ferrule-arm-hook component. The male sub-assembly is provided with more than one male terminal grooves at its connecting end and one male protrusion on each side. The male sub-assembly can be fastened to the PCB sub-assembly so as to conductively connect with the PCB sub-assembly. The female sub-assembly is provided with more than one female terminal grooves on its connecting end and one female protrusion on each side. The female sub-assembly could be fastened to the male sub-assembly by means of the at least one ferrule-arm-hook component. A perforated groove is provided in the PCB sub-assembly, and the connecting end of the female sub-assembly can be accommodated within the perforated groove. 
     Each ferrule-arm-hook component includes a ferrule, an arm and a hook, with the ferrule and the hook being respectively located at one of the two ends of the arm. The male protrusion and the female protrusion at the same side, which are brought against each other beforehand, can be encircled tightly by each ferrule, while each arm provides elastic force to make each hook respectively snap to one of the two sides of the female sub-assembly. 
     In a preferred solution, the ferrule-arm-hook component includes at least one protuberance on the inner rim of the ferrule. 
     In a preferred solution, the male terminal grooves include 40P male terminal grooves, 15P male terminal grooves, 7P male terminal grooves and 6P male terminal grooves, and the female terminal grooves include 40P female terminal grooves, 7P female terminal grooves and 6P female terminal grooves. 
     The terminal assembly includes 40P terminal sub-assembly, 15P terminal sub-assembly, 7P terminal sub-assembly and 6P terminal sub-assembly  24 , wherein each terminal of the 40P terminal sub-assembly, the 7P terminal sub-assembly and the 6P terminal sub-assembly has two connecting pins, a male connecting pin and a female connecting pin. Each of the male connecting pins is inserted into a respective one of the terminal grooves of the male sub-assembly, and each of the female connecting pins is inserted into a respective one of the terminal grooves of the female sub-assembly, and each terminal of the 15P terminal sub-assembly is inserted into a respective one of the terminal grooves of the male sub-assembly. 
     In a preferred solution, the fastening assembly further includes at least one screw and at least one nut. The male sub-assembly is fastened to the PCB sub-assembly by means of the screw and nut. 
     In a preferred solution, the male sub-assembly is provided with one outer screw hole on each side and the PCB sub-assembly is provided with one inner screw hole on the corresponding side. Each screw can pass through a respective outer screw hole and a respective inner screw hole and be threadedly engaged to a respective nut. 
     With the above mentioned technical solutions, the present invention could achieve the following advantageous effects. Firstly, compared with the technical solutions in the prior art, thanks to the unitary configuration of the male part and female part of the present interface, repeated plugging in and pulling out of the two parts is facilitated, meanwhile, a high-frequency data transmission speed as high as 12 Gbps could be guaranteed. Secondly, the interface could be widely applied to the channels of SATA, SAS and PCI-E. Finally, the protuberance in the preferred solutions can further strengthen the ferrule&#39;s encirclement and fixation of the male protrusion and the female protrusion. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded view of the unitary interface used for PCI-E SAS. 
         FIG. 2  is a view showing the distribution of the terminal grooves of the male sub-assembly. 
         FIG. 3  is a view showing the fixation of the ferrule-arm-hook component. 
         FIG. 4  is a view showing the structure of the ferrule-arm-hook component. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the specific embodiments, taken in conjunction with  FIG. 1  to  FIG. 6 . However, the description and figures are not intended to limit the scope of the present application. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , a unitary interface used for PCI-E SAS specifically comprises a connecting assembly  1 , a terminal assembly  2  and a fastening assembly  3 . The connecting assembly  1  includes a male sub-assembly  11 , a female sub-assembly  12  and a PCB sub-assembly  13 . The fastening assembly  3  includes two ferrule-arm-hook components  31 . The male sub-assembly  11  is provided at its connecting end with male terminal grooves and provided with one male protrusion  111  on each side. The male sub-assembly  11  can be fastened to the PCB sub-assembly  13  so as to conductively connect with the PCB sub-assembly  13 . The female sub-assembly  12  is provided at its connecting end with female terminal grooves and provided with one female protrusion  121  on each side. The female sub-assembly  12  could be fastened to the male sub-assembly  11  by means of the ferrule-arm-hook components  31 . There is provided with a groove  131  in the middle of the PCB sub-assembly  13  within which the connecting end of the female sub-assembly  12  can be accommodated. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , each of the two ferrule-arm-hook components  31  includes a ferrule  311 , an arm  312  and a hook  313 . Specifically, the ferrule  311  and the hook  313  are respectively located at the two ends of the arm  312 . When the male protrusion  111  and the female protrusion  121  at the same side are brought against each other beforehand, the ferrule  311  can encircle them tightly, and the arm  312  provides elastic force to make the hook  313  snap to one of the two sides of the female sub-assembly  12 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 4 , on the basis of the above described embodiment, the ferrule-arm-hook component  31  includes two protuberances  314  on the inner rim of the ferrule  311 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , on the basis of the above described embodiment, the male terminal grooves includes 40P male terminal grooves  112 , 15P male terminal grooves  113 , 7P male terminal grooves  114  and 6P male terminal grooves  115 . The female terminal grooves includes 40P female terminal grooves, 7P female terminal grooves and 6P female terminal grooves. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the terminal assembly  2  includes 40P terminal sub-assembly  21 , 15P terminal sub-assembly  22 , 7P terminal sub-assembly  23  and 6P terminal sub-assembly  24 . Among them, each terminal of the 40P terminal sub-assembly  21 , the 7P terminal sub-assembly  23  and the 6P terminal sub-assembly  24  has two connecting pins, a male connecting pin and a female connecting pin. Each of the male connecting pins is inserted into a respective one of the terminal grooves of the male sub-assembly  11 , and each of the female connecting pins is inserted into a respective one of the terminal grooves of the female sub-assembly  12 . Each terminals of the 15P terminal sub-assembly  22  is inserted into a respective one of the terminal grooves of the male sub-assembly  11 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , on the basis of the above described embodiment, the fastening assembly  3  includes two screws  32  and two nuts  33 . The male sub-assembly  11  is fastened to the PCB sub-assembly  13  by means of the screws  32  and nuts  33 . The male sub-assembly  11  is provided with one outer screw hole  116  on each side, and the PCB sub-assembly  13  is provided with one inner screw hole  132  on each side. Each screw  32  can pass through a respective outer screw hole  116  and a respective inner screw hole  132  and be threadedly engaged to a respective nut  33 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1 to 4 , the interface according to the present invention facilitates repeated plugging, making it convenient to carry on related performance tests. The particular operating steps are as follows. 
     (1) Initial Installation 
     Steps include: fasten the male sub-assembly  11  to the PCB sub-assembly  13 ; fix the female sub-assembly  12  to the combination of the male sub-assembly  11  and the PCB sub-assembly  13  through the perforated groove  131 ; at the same time with the above operations, bring the male protrusion  111  and the female protrusion  121  at the same side closely to each other; tightly encircle the male protrusion  111  and the female protrusion  121  at the same side with the ferrule  311  of the respective ferrule-arm-hook component  31 ; further, pull the two hooks  313  to make them respectively snap to one of the two sides of the female sub-assembly  12 . Accordingly, the snapped hooks  313  strengthen through the arm  312  the encirclement and fixing of the ferrules  311  for the male protrusions  111  and the female protrusions  121 . 
     (2) Dismounting 
     Steps include: pull the hooks  313  upward and away from the sides of the female sub-assembly  12 ; press the female protrusions  121  against the male protrusions  111 , then pull the arms  312  laterally to make the ferrules  311  disconnect from the male protrusion  111  and the female protrusion  121 ; without the restriction of the ferrules  311 , the female sub-assembly  12  is able to be dismounted from the male sub-assembly  11  to complete the whole dismounting process. 
     (3) Plugging 
     During the plugging process of the assembled interface, the interface connection is achieved by plugging the cables into the female sub-assembly  12  instead of plugging the male sub-assembly  11  into the female sub-assembly  12 . 
     From the common knowledge in the field, the present invention can be realized by other embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and essential features of the application. Therefore, under any circumstances, the above disclosed embodiments are intended for the purpose of illustration only, and are not intended to be exhaustive. The modifications and variations within the scope of the application or its equivalents will fall within the protection scope of the invention.