Patent Publication Number: US-6700066-B1

Title: Cable connector assembly and method of manufacturing the cable connector assembly

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a cable connector assembly and a method of manufacturing the cable connector assembly, particularly to a cable connector assembly having a plurality of contacts each electrically connecting with an improved coaxial cable and an improved terminating method used to connect the coaxial cable with the contacts. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     A cable connector assembly includes an electrical connector and a plurality of cables connected with the electrical connector. The electrical connector generally includes a crimping type of contact crimping one end of a cable for providing electrical transmission therebetween which has been conventionally known. Such a crimping type of terminating method is widely used in the art because of its convenience, high speed transmission, and lowest cost. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,961 discloses a terminal crimping method basically comprising the steps of: (a) assembling an electric cable W in one end of a crimping terminal A; (b) holding a claw A 3  of the crimping terminal A; (c) enclosing an insulated layer W 2  of the electric cable W; (d) crimping a claw A 1  of the crimping terminal A to a conductor W 1  for providing an electrical transmission. The cable connector assembly is thus formed. However, such cable connector assembly generally adopts an ordinary discrete cable which has no shielding layer and noise is increased during signal transmission, especially including electromagnetic interface (EMI) between two neighboring cables. 
     To solve the problems stated above, the conventional cable connector assembly further comprises a shielding fabricated from metal or other conductive materials enclosing a housing for eliminating problems resulting from EMI. However, the shielding can not prevent noise from interfering the neighboring cables. It is desired to provide a new and an improved cable used in the cable connector assembly to overcome the disadvantages of the related art. 
     Furthermore, a center conductor of the cable may have a small dimension in a small size cable connector assembly. The retention force between the center conductor of the cable and a corresponding crimping contact with a claw portion thereof is not reliable. The electrical transmission is affected. Correspondingly, the present problem that person in the art confronts is that an improved crimping termination method is required for providing a reliable structural connection. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide a cable connector assembly that noise between two neighboring coaxial cables can be effectively reduced and suppressed. 
     A second object of the present invention is to provide a method for terminating a plurality of coaxial cables to corresponding contacts. 
     In order to achieve the objects set forth, a cable connector assembly in accordance with the present invention comprises a plurality of cables and contacts. Each cable has a center conductor, an insulated layer, a metal braiding, and a coating layer. The center conductor, the insulated layer and the metal braiding are ordinally and partially exposed at a tip part of the cable. Each contact has a pair of first claws and a pair of second claws. Each contact electrically connects with a corresponding cable with the pair of first claws crimping the center conductor of the cable for providing signal transmission and the pair of second claws engaging with the insulated layer thereof for providing a reliable retention therebetween. 
     Furthermore, a method of manufacturing the cable connector assembly comprises the steps of: (a′) preparing a metal strip, the metal strip comprising a plurality of contacts and a carrier connecting with front ends of the contacts, each contact having a pair of first claws and a pair of second claws; (b′) providing a plurality of coaxial cables, each coaxial cable comprising a center conductor, an insulated layer, a metal braiding, and a coating layer, the center conductor, the insulated layer and the metal braiding partially and ordinally exposed at the tip part of the coaxial cable; (c′) assembling the coaxial cables to the contacts with each center conductor received in the pair of first claws of the contact, the insulated layer received in the pair of second claws; (d′) soldering the center conductor of the coaxial cable to the contact, crimping the pair of first claws of the contact to the center conductor of the coaxial cable for providing a signal transmission, and crimping the pair of second claws to the insulated layer of the coaxial cable for holding the coaxial cable. 
     Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a partial, exploded, perspective view of a cable connector assembly in accordance with the present invention showing contacts thereof with a carrier and a grounding member soldered on coaxial cables; 
     FIG. 2 is an assembled view of the cable connector assembly of FIG. 1 showing center conductors of the cables assembled in the contacts; 
     FIG. 3 is an assembled view of the cable connector assembly of FIG. 1 showing the second claws of the contacts holding corresponding insulated layers and center conductors soldered on the contacts; 
     FIG. 4 is a partial, assembled, perspective view of the cable connector assembly of FIG. 1; and 
     FIG. 5 is a flowing chart illustrating a method of manufacturing the cable connector assembly of FIG.  1 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to FIGS. 1-4, a cable connector assembly  1  in accordance with the present invention includes a dielectric housing (not shown), a plurality of cables  10  arranged in a row, a plurality of contacts  20  each electrically connecting with a corresponding cable  10 , and a grounding member  40 . 
     The cables  10  are coaxial cables, for instance. Each cable  10  contains a center conductor  61 , an insulated layer  62  enclosing the center conductor  61 , a metal braiding  64  made of woven strands of a conductive metal and surrounding the insulated layer  62 , and a coating layer  63  finally covering the metal braiding  64 . The tip part of each cable  10  is stripped off the coating layer  63  so that the center conductor  61 , the insulated layer  62 , and the metal braiding  64  are ordinally and partially exposed along the front-to-rear direction. The cables  10  are electrically and mechanically connected to corresponding contacts  20  as described hereinafter. 
     The grounding member  40  is generally made of a conductive metal and has a top and a bottom grounding bars  41 ,  42  respectively covering the row of the cables  10 . The top and bottom grounding bars  41 ,  42  are respectively soldered on corresponding exposed portions of the metal braiding  64  of the coaxial cables  10 . The grounding member  40  is further electrically connected with an outer shielding (not shown) of the cable connector assembly  1  for providing grounding transmission. 
     A conductive metal sheet is stamped to form a metal strip  2 . The metal strip  2  includes a plurality of contacts  20  arranged side by side and a carrier  30  connecting front ends of the contacts  20 . Each contact  20  has a body  24 , a mating portion  23  extending upwardly from lateral sides of a front end of the body  24  and bent to form a rectangular hollow frame adapted for mating with a corresponding contact of a complementary connector (not shown), and a retaining portion  200  for holding a corresponding cable  10 . The retaining portion  200  of the contact  20  has a pair of first claws  21  integrally extending from a rear end of the mating portion  23  and a pair of second claws  22  at the rear end of the contact  20 . The pair of first claws  21  engages with the center conductor  61  and the pair of second claws  22  engages with the insulated layer  62  of the cable  10  for providing a reliable retention and a detail description will be given hereinafter. 
     The dielectric housing molded of plastic or polymer material is provided to over-mold and enclose the contacts  20 , the tip part of the cable  10  and the grounding member  40 . 
     Referring to FIG. 5 in conjunction with FIGS. 1-4, a method of terminating the cables  10  to corresponding contacts  20  of the cable connector assembly  1  of the present invention comprises following steps: 
     Step (a′) is preparing a metal strip  2  from a metal sheet. The metal strip  2  includes a plurality of contacts  20  and a carrier  30  connecting front ends of the contacts  20 , referring to FIG.  1 . 
     Step (b′) is providing a plurality of coaxial cables  10 . The coaxial cables  10  are arranged in a row. The tip part of each cable  10  is stripped off the coating layer  63  so that the center conductor  61 , the insulated layer  62 , and the metal braiding  64  are ordinally and partially exposed. 
     Step (c′) is providing a grounding member  40  made of conductive metal. The grounding member  40  has a top and a bottom grounding bars  41 ,  42 , referring to FIG.  1 . 
     Step (d′) is soldering the grounding member  40  to the coaxial cables  10  with the top and the bottom grounding bars  41 ,  42  electrically connecting with the exposed portions of the metal braiding  64  of the coaxial cables  10 , as shown in FIG.  1 . 
     Step (e′) is assembling the coaxial cables  10  to the contacts  20 . Referring to FIG. 2, each center conductor  61  of the coaxial cable  10  is positioned on the body  24  and locating between the pair of first claws  21 . Correspondingly, each insulated layer  62  locates between the pair of second claws  22 , as shown in FIG.  2 . 
     Step (f′) is soldering the center conductor  61  of the coaxial cable  10  to the contact  20 , crimping the pair of first claws  21  of each contact  20  to the center conductor  61 , and crimping the pair of the second claws  22  to the insulted layer  62  of the coaxial cable  10 . Referring to FIG. 3, the center conductor  61  of the coaxial cable  10  is soldered and crimped by the first claws  61  of the corresponding contact  20  for providing a signal transmission. Corresponding, referring to FIG. 4, the second claws  62  engages with the insulated layer  62  of corresponding coaxial cable  10  and the retention force therebetween is then enhanced. 
     Step (g′) is removing the carrier  30  from the metal strip  2 , as shown in FIG.  4 . 
     It should be noted that the termination procedures of the coaxial cables  10  to the contacts  20  is illustratively described above. The coaxial cables  10 , the contacts  20  and the grounding member  30  is later over-molded and enclosed by the dielectric housing and the cable connector assembly  1  is then formed which is known to persons skilled in the art and the detailed description thereof is omitted here. 
     As mentioned above, the advantages of the prevent invention is that a cable connector assembly  1  is provided with the coaxial cables  10  has the metal braiding  64  electrically connecting with the grounding member  40  for providing a grounding path. The cable connector assembly  1 , therefore, can eliminate the noise, especially the noise from interfering between neighboring coaxial cables  10  and thus has an excellent shielding effect. Furthermore, each center conductor  61  of the coaxial cable  10  is prearranged to be soldered on a corresponding contact  20 . The electrical and mechanical connection between the coaxial cables  10  and the contacts  20  is thus enforced. The signal transmission is thus reliably assured. 
     It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.