Patent ID: 8157598

Claim:
A connector assembly for providing a capacitively coupled connection between a plurality of wires and a plurality of planar contact disposed on a circuit board, comprising: a hollow shell for mounting to the circuit board, the shell including a plurality of walls, including at least two opposing side walls and a top wall interconnecting the two sidewalls together, the walls cooperatively defining a hollow interior receptacle that encloses the circuit board contacts and which receives a portion of an opposing mating connector; a plug connector insertable into said shell, the plug connector including an insulative housing, a mating blade extending outwardly from the housing, the mating blade including a mating surface and an opposing pressure surface, the mating surface including a plurality of conductive planar contact surfaces disposed thereon and spaced apart from each other widthwise of said mating surface, the mating blade contact surfaces being dimensioned so as to lie in one-to-one opposition to said circuit board contacts when said plug connector is fully inserted into said shell, said plug connector further including a dielectric barrier disposed on each of said mating blade contact surfaces so as to prevent galvanic contact between said plug connector contact surfaces and said circuit board contact pads when said plug connector is fully inserted into said shell, the dielectric barriers cooperatively providing a dielectric interface that permits capacitive coupling between said mating blade contact surfaces and said circuit board contact pads when said plug connector is fully inserted into said shell; wherein said shell further including means for exerting pressure on said mating blade pressure surface to force said mating blade dielectric barriers into contact with said circuit board contact pads.