Patent Publication Number: US-11387607-B2

Title: Electrical connector assembly and interconnect device

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to Patent Application No. 202010295864.6 filed in China, P.R.C. on Apr. 15, 2020, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Technical Field 
     The instant disclosure relates to an electrical connector assembly, and more particular to an electrical connector assembly having an elastic conductor and an interconnect device. 
     Related Art 
     A common contact of the connectors known to the inventor(s) is implemented by allowing upper and lower rows of metal terminals being in contact with each other through the normal force between the upper and lower rows of metal terminals. As far as the contact is concerned, the metal terminals belong to the elastic contact structure, so that the normal force affects the impedance of the metal terminal. Therefore, a sufficiently low contact impedance is to be maintained between the terminals to avoid the disconnection caused by vibration or other external forces in the use of the connectors. 
     In terms of structural improvement, an eye-of-the-needle (EON) terminal has been designed. With the elastic restoring force, each of the terminals is in close contact with a corresponding insertion hole and ensures electrical connections between the terminals and the main circuit board. However, due to the structure of the eye-of-the-needle terminals, the connector cannot be easily removed from the main circuit board. 
     SUMMARY 
     In view of this, an embodiment of the instant disclosure provides an electrical connector assembly. The electrical connector assembly is capable of being assembled on a carrier, and a plurality of first signal bumps and a plurality of first grounding bumps are disposed on the carrier. The electrical connector assembly comprises a plurality of signal terminals, a plurality of grounding terminals, and an elastic conductor. The signal terminals are capable of being corresponding to the first signal bumps. The grounding terminals are disposed adjacent to the signal terminals and capable of being corresponding to the first grounding bumps. The elastic conductor has a plurality of elastic conductive portions. The elastic conductor is capable of being disposed above the carrier, and the signal terminals and the grounding terminals compress the elastic conductive portions of the elastic conductor, so that the signal terminals and the grounding terminals are capable of being electrically connected to the first signal bumps and the first grounding bumps of the carrier. 
     In some embodiments, the signal terminals are directly abutted against the elastic conductor, so that the signal terminals are capable of being electrically connected to the first signal bumps. The grounding terminals are directly abutted against the elastic conductor, so that the grounding terminals are capable of being electrically connected to the first grounding bumps. 
     In some embodiments, the electrical connector assembly further comprises a connector circuit board. The connector circuit board is disposed between the signal terminals and the elastic conductor and disposed between the grounding terminals and the elastic conductor. The connector circuit board comprises a plurality of signal channels and a plurality of grounding channels, and a plurality of second signal bumps and a plurality of second grounding bumps are disposed on a bottom of the connector circuit board. The signal terminals pass through and are electrically connected to the signal channels on the connector circuit board, and the second signal bumps compress and are electrically connected to the elastic conductor. The grounding terminals pass through and are electrically connected to the grounding channels on the connector circuit board, and the second grounding bumps compress and are electrically connected to the elastic conductor. 
     In some embodiments, the carrier is a circuit board. 
     In some embodiments, the electrical connector assembly further comprises an insulated body and a plurality of cables. The insulated body comprises a plurality of through holes, and the cables pass through the through holes from one of two ends of the insulated body. Two of the signal terminals are connected to an end portion of one of the cables, and the two of the signal terminals pass out of the insulated body from the other end of the two ends of the insulated body. 
     In some embodiments, each of the signal terminals has a first fisheye, and each of the grounding terminals has a second fisheye. The first fisheye of each of the signal terminals is perpendicular to the second fisheye of each of the grounding terminals. 
     In some embodiments, each of the cables comprises an insulation layer, a plastic layer, and a shielding layer. The insulation layer respectively encloses the two of the signal terminals, the plastic layer encloses the insulation layer, and the shielding layer encloses the plastic layer. 
     In some embodiments, the electrical connector assembly further comprises a plurality of metal spacers disposed in the insulated body. Each two of the grounding terminals are combined as a terminal set and adjacent to each other, each of the terminal sets is perpendicular to the metal spacers, and the terminal sets are disposed on the metal spacers at intervals, so that a plurality of spaces is divided by the terminal sets and the metal spacers; each of the cables passes through each of the spaces. 
     In some embodiments, the insulated body comprises a plurality of insulating frames arranged parallel to each other. Each of the insulating frames is fixed with the signal terminals, the grounding terminals, and the cables. 
     In some embodiments, each of the insulating frames is enclosed by a plurality of conductive shells. The conductive shells are connected to the grounding terminals. 
     In some embodiments, a conductive plate is disposed between the conductive shells adjacent to the insulating frames. A plurality of elastic pieces bilaterally extends from side portions of the conductive plates, and the elastic pieces are abutted against the conductive shells. 
     In some embodiments, a plurality of convex sheets extends from bottoms of the conductive shells toward the carrier. Each of the convex sheets is adjacent to a corresponding pair of the signal terminals. 
     Another embodiment of the instant disclosure provides an interconnect device. The interconnect device comprises the electrical connector assembly, a carrier, and a chip. The chip is assembled on and electrically connected to the carrier. 
     In some embodiments, the carrier is a circuit board. The electrical connector assembly is assembled on the carrier and electrically connected to the chip through the carrier. 
     In the electrical connector assembly and the interconnect device provided by one or some embodiments of the instant disclosure, with the configuration of the elastic conductor, when the elastic conductor is compressed at the contact between the connector and the main circuit board, the electrical connection between the connector and the main circuit board can be achieved. Moreover, with the configuration of the elastic conductor, the connector can be easily removed from the main circuit board, thereby meeting flexible users&#39; needs. 
     Detailed description of the characteristics and the advantages of the instant disclosure are shown in the following embodiments. The technical content and the implementation of the instant disclosure should be readily apparent to any person skilled in the art from the detailed description, and the purposes and the advantages of the instant disclosure should be readily understood by any person skilled in the art with reference to content, claims, and drawings in the instant disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The disclosure will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below for illustration only, and thus not limitative of the disclosure, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an exploded view of an electrical connector assembly according to an exemplary embodiment of the instant disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a perspective view of the electrical connector assembly of the exemplary embodiment; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a partial perspective view of a plurality of signal terminals and a plurality of grounding terminals of the electrical connector assembly of the exemplary embodiment; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a partial cross-sectional view of a cable of the electrical connector assembly of the exemplary embodiment; 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a schematic cross-sectional view showing a plurality of conductive particles of an elastic conductor of the electrical connector assembly of the exemplary embodiment in which the conductive particles are not compressed yet; 
         FIG. 6  illustrates a schematic cross-sectional view showing the conductive particles of the elastic conductor of the electrical connector assembly of the exemplary embodiment in which the conductive particles are compressed; 
         FIG. 7  illustrates an exploded view (I) of an internal structure of an insulated body of the electrical connector assembly of the exemplary embodiment; 
         FIG. 8  illustrates an exploded view (II) of the internal structure of the insulated body of the electrical connector assembly of the exemplary embodiment; and 
         FIG. 9  illustrates a perspective view of an interconnect device according to an exemplary embodiment of the instant disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , an electrical connector assembly according to an exemplary embodiment of this disclosure is illustrated.  FIG. 1  illustrates an exploded view of the electrical connector assembly.  FIG. 2  illustrates a perspective view of the electrical connector assembly. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the electrical connector assembly  100  comprises a plurality of signal terminals  30 , a plurality of grounding terminals  40 , and an elastic conductor  50 . In this embodiment, the electrical connector assembly  100  is capable of being assembled on a carrier  60 . For example, the carrier  60  may be a circuit board, and a plurality of first signal bumps  61  and a plurality of first grounding bumps  62  are disposed on the circuit board. 
     During assembly, the signal terminals  30  of the electrical connector assembly  100  correspond to the first signal bumps  61 , while the grounding terminals  40  are disposed adjacent to the signal terminals  30  and correspond to the first grounding bumps  62 . 
     Please keep referring to  FIG. 1 , in this embodiment, the elastic conductor  50  is capable of being disposed above the carrier  60 . When the signal terminals  30  and the grounding terminals  40  are to be electrically connected to the first signal bumps  61  and the first grounding bumps  62  of the carrier  60 , the signal terminals  30  and the grounding terminals  40  can be electrically connected to the first signal bumps  61  and the first grounding bumps  62  of the carrier  60  by directly or indirectly contacting the elastic conductor  50  to compress the elastic conductor  50 , respectively. 
     In one embodiment, the signal terminals  30  are directly abutted against the elastic conductor  50 , so that the signal terminals  30  are capable of being electrically connected to the first signal bumps  61 . The grounding terminals  40  are directly abutted against the elastic conductor  50 , so that the grounding terminals  40  are capable of being electrically connected to the first grounding bumps  62 . 
     In this embodiment, the signal terminals  30  and the grounding terminals  40  are electrically connected to the first signal bumps  61  and the first grounding bumps  62  of the carrier  60 , respectively, by indirect contact and compression of the elastic conductor  50 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , the electrical connector assembly  100  further comprises a connector circuit board  70 . The connector circuit board  70  is disposed between the signal terminals  30  and the elastic conductor  50  and disposed between the grounding terminals  40  and the elastic conductor  50 . The connector circuit board  70  comprises a plurality of signal channels and a plurality of grounding channels (not shown in the  FIG. 1 ), and a plurality of second signal bumps  71  and a plurality of second grounding bumps  72  are disposed on a bottom of the connector circuit board  70 . The second signal bumps  71  are disposed between the signal channels and the elastic conductor  50 , and the second grounding bumps  72  are disposed between the grounding channels and the elastic conductor  50 . The signal terminals  30  pass through and are electrically connected to the connector circuit board  70  via the metal of the signal channels, and the second signal bumps  71  compress and are electrically connected to the elastic conductor  50 . The grounding terminals  40  pass through and are electrically connected to the connector circuit board  70  via the metal of the grounding channels, and the second grounding bumps  72  compress and are electrically connected to the elastic conductor  50 . 
     With the configuration of the elastic conductor  50 , when the elastic conductor  50  is compressed at the contact between the signal terminals  30 , the grounding terminals  40 , and the carrier  60  (such as a circuit board), the electrical connection among the signal terminals  30 , the grounding terminals  40 , and the carrier  60  can be achieved. Furthermore, with the configuration of the elastic conductor  50 , the signal terminals  30  and the grounding terminals  40  can be easily removed from the carrier  60  (such as the circuit board), thereby meeting flexible users&#39; needs. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , in this embodiment, the first signal bumps  61 , the first grounding bumps  62 , the second signal bumps  71 , and the second grounding bumps  72  are exemplified by pads on the circuit board, but embodiments are not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the first signal bumps  61 , the first grounding bumps  62 , the second signal bumps  71 , and the second grounding bumps  72  may be ball grid arrays (BGA) that are additionally provided on the circuit board. 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the electrical connector assembly  100  further comprises an insulated body  10  and a plurality of cables  20 . The insulated body  10  comprises a plurality of through holes  11 . The cables  20  pass through the through holes  11  from one of two ends  12  of the insulated body  10 , and the signal terminals  30  and the grounding terminals  40  pass out of the insulated body  10  from the other end of the two ends  13  of the insulated body  10 . 
     In order to illustrate and explain the connection arrangement between the cables  20  and the signal terminals  30  more clearly, and to illustrate the relative positional relationship between the signal terminals  30  and the grounding terminals  40  at the front end fisheye structure, please refer to  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  illustrates a partial perspective view of a plurality of signal terminals and a plurality of grounding terminals of the electrical connector assembly. For convenience of explanation, portions of the external structures of the cables  20  have been omitted. As shown in  FIG. 3 , two of the signal terminals  30  are connected to an end portion  21  of the cable  20 . Each of the signal terminals  30  has a first fisheye  31 , and each of the grounding terminals  40  has a second fisheye  41 . The first fisheye  31  of each of the signal terminals  30  is perpendicular to the second fisheye  41  of each of the grounding terminals  40 , thereby the first fisheye  31  and the second fisheye  41  guiding the installation direction, so that the electrical connector assembly  100  can be accurately crimped onto the connector circuit board. 
     In this embodiment, through the fisheye structures, the signal terminals  30  and the grounding terminals  40  are compressed and electrically connected to the elastic conductor  50 , but embodiments are not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the signal terminals  30  and the grounding terminals  40  may have other compressible configurations to compress and electrically connected to the elastic conductor  50 . 
     Furthermore, as shown in  FIG. 3 , in this embodiment, the electrical connector assembly  100  further comprises a plurality of metal spacers  90  disposed in the insulated body  10 . Each two of the grounding terminals  40  are combined as a terminal set and adjacent to each other. Each of the terminal sets is perpendicular to the metal spacers  90 , and the terminal sets are disposed on the metal spacers  90  at intervals, so that a plurality of spaces is divided by the terminal sets and the metal spacers  90 . Each of the cables  20  passes through each of the spaces, and the grounding wires of the cable  20  are connected to the metal spacers  90 . 
     Please refer to  FIG. 4 .  FIG. 4  illustrates a partial cross-sectional view of a cable of the electrical connector assembly. As shown in  FIG. 4 , each of the cables  20  comprises an insulation layer  22 , a plastic layer  23 , and a shielding layer  24 . The insulation layer  22  respectively encloses the two of the signal terminals  30 , the plastic layer  23  encloses the insulation layer  22 , and the shielding layer  24  encloses the plastic layer  23 . 
     Next, please refer to  FIGS. 5 and 6 .  FIG. 5  illustrates a schematic cross-sectional view showing a plurality of conductive particles of an elastic conductor of the electrical connector assembly of the exemplary embodiment in which the conductive particles are not compressed yet.  FIG. 6  illustrates a schematic cross-sectional view showing the conductive particles of the elastic conductor of the electrical connector assembly of the exemplary embodiment in which the conductive particles are compressed. In this embodiment, the elastic conductor  50  has a plurality of elastic conductive portions  51 , an upper circuit board  53 , and a lower circuit board  54 . The upper circuit board  53  has a plurality of second bumps  531 , and the lower circuit board  54  has a plurality of first bumps  541 . Specifically, in this embodiment the conductive particles in each of the elastic conductive portions  51  are arranged in the compression direction, and do not contact the conductive particles of the adjacent elastic conductive portion. As shown in  FIGS. 5 and 6 , the conductive particles  52  in the compression direction in  FIG. 6  are denser than the conductive particles  52  in  FIG. 5 . Therefore, the elastic conductor  50  in the compressed state (as indicated by  FIG. 6 ) has a better conductive efficiency as compared with the elastic conductor in the uncompressed state (as indicated by  FIG. 5 ). 
     In order to illustrate and explain the internal structure of the insulated body  10  more clearly, please refer to  FIGS. 7 and 8 .  FIG. 7  illustrates an exploded view (I) of the internal structure of an insulated body of the electrical connector assembly.  FIG. 8  illustrates an exploded view (II) of the internal structure of the insulated body of the electrical connector assembly. For convenience of explanation, one row of the cables  20  and some components are illustrated in  FIG. 7  with the outer shell body of the insulated body  10  omitted. As shown in  FIG. 7 , the insulated body  10  comprises a plurality of insulating frames  14 , and each of the insulating frames  14  is fixed with the signal terminals  30 , the grounding terminals  40 , and the cables  20 . Each of the insulating frames  14  is enclosed by a plurality of conductive shells  15 , and the conductive shells  15  are connected to the grounding terminals  40 . When the grounding terminals  40  are fixed on both sides of the cables  20 , the grounding terminals  40  are arranged perpendicular to each other. Each of the grounding terminals  40  comprises a side plate  42 , and the side plates  42  are perpendicular to the metal spacers  90 . Each of the cables  20  is disposed between two adjacent side plates  42 . A plurality of the second fisheyes  41  is protruding out of the side plates  42  of the grounding terminals  40 , and a plurality of through holes  152  is disposed on the conductive shells  15  correspondingly. During assembly, the side plates  42  of the grounding terminals  40  are accommodated in the through holes  152  of the conductive shells  15  to be fixed with the conductive shells  15 . 
     Furthermore, the conductive shells  15  comprise a plurality of through holes  151 , and a plurality of bumps  141  is disposed on the insulating frames  14  correspondingly. Hence, after the grounding terminals  40  are perpendicular to the metal spacers  90  and the cables  20  pass through the spaces  20 , by the corresponding buckling between the bumps  141  and the through holes  151 , the conductive shells  15 , the insulating frames  14 , and the cables  20  can be fixed and assembled in the internal structure of the insulated body  10 . The insulating frames  14  may be plural and arranged in parallel with each other. In each of the insulating frames  14 , a plurality of the signal terminals  30 , a plurality of the grounding terminals  40 , and a plurality of the cables  20  are fixed with the insulating frame  14  and are assembled with the metal spaces  90  to form a horizontal row component. 
     As shown in  FIG. 8 , a conductive plate  16  is disposed between the conductive shells  15  of the adjacent insulating frames  14 . A plurality of elastic pieces  17  bilaterally extends from side portions of the conductive plates  16 . The elastic pieces  17  are abutted against the conductive shells  15 . A plurality of convex sheets  18  extends from bottoms of the conductive shells  15  toward the carrier  60 , and each of the convex sheets  18  is adjacent to a corresponding pair of the signal terminals  30 . 
     According to another embodiment of the instant disclosure, an interconnect device  200  is provided. The interconnect device  200  comprises the aforementioned electrical connector assembly  100 , a carrier  60 , and a chip  80 . 
     Please refer to  FIG. 9 .  FIG. 9  illustrates a perspective view of an interconnect device according to an exemplary embodiment of the instant disclosure. The chip  80  is assembled on and electrically connected to the carrier  60 . The carrier  60  is a circuit board, and the electrical connector assembly  100  is assembled on the carrier  60  and electrically connected to the chip  80  through the carrier  60 . The interconnect device  200  according to one or some embodiments of the instant disclosure can achieve the electrical connection between the electrical connector assembly  100  on the carrier  60  and the chip  80 . 
     In the electrical connector assembly  100  and the interconnect device  200  provided by one or some embodiments of the instant disclosure, with the configuration of the elastic conductor  50 , when the elastic conductor  50  is compressed at the contact between the connector and the main circuit board, the electrical connection between the connector and the main circuit board can be achieved. Moreover, with the configuration of the elastic conductor  50 , the connector can be easily removed from the main circuit board, thereby meeting flexible users&#39; needs. 
     While the instant disclosure has been described by the way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention need not be limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, the scope of which should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.