Spring loaded electrical connector

Abstract

An electrical connector that has a housing, a contact carrier slidably coupled to the housing, at least one spring member received inside of the housing and adjacent the contact carrier for abutment with the contact carrier, and an interposer received in the receiving end of the contact carrier and remote from the spring member. The contact carrier is slidable with respect to the housing along a mating axis between unmated and mated positions.

Claims

1. An electrical connector, comprising: a housing having a mating interface end section and an opposite cable termination end section and the housing having an inner support member; a contact carrier slidably coupled to the housing, the contact carrier including a receiving end and a spring engagement end, and the contact carrier supporting at least one contact member; at least one spring member received inside of the housing and adjacent the contact carrier for abutment with the spring engagement end of the contact carrier; and an interposer received in the receiving end of the contact carrier and remote from the spring member, the interposer including at least one contact side for electrically connecting with the contact member, wherein the contact carrier is slidable with respect to the housing along a mating axis between unmated and mated positions position.

2. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the at least one contact side includes a plurality of individual contacts that electrical connect with the contact member coupled to the contact carrier.

3. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the interposer includes a second contact side that is opposite to the at least one contact side for electrically connecting with a mating connector.

4. The electrical connector of claim 1, further comprising one or more alignment pins that extend through the interposer and into the contact carrier to align the interposer with the contact member.

5. The electrical connector of claim 1, further comprising a coupling member associated with the housing for coupling the mating connector to the housing.

6. An electrical connector, comprising: a housing having a mating interface end section and an opposite cable termination end section; a contact carrier slidably coupled to the housing, the contact carrier including a receiving end and a spring engagement end, and the contact carrier supporting at least one contact member, the contact member being a flexible printed circuit board; at least one spring member received inside of the housing and adjacent the contact carrier for abutment with the spring engagement end of the contact carrier; an interposer received in the receiving end of the contact carrier and remote from the spring member; a coupling member associated with the housing, wherein the contact carrier is slidable with respect to the housing along a mating axis between unmated and mated positions.

7. The electrical connector of claim 6, wherein the interposer has a wafer body supporting a plurality of individual contacts and each individual contact is a C-clip.

8. The electrical connector of claim 6, wherein one or more alignment pins extending through the first contact member, the interposer, and the second contact member for alignment thereof.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) A more complete appreciation of the invention and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing figures:

(2) FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of an electrical connector according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

(3) FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the electrical connector illustrated in FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector illustrated in FIG. 1, showing a core or contact carrier of the electrical connector in an unmated position;

(5) FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional of the electrical connector illustrated in FIG. 1, showing the electrical connector mated to a mating connector and showing the core or contact carrier thereof in a mated position;

(6) FIG. 5A is a perspective view of one side of an interposer of the electrical connector illustrated in FIG. 1;

(7) FIG. 5B is an enlarged view of an individual contact of the interposer illustrated in FIG. 5A; and

(8) FIG. 6 is an exploded view of a mating connector that mates with the electrical connector illustrated in FIG. 1

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(9) Referring to FIGS. 1-4, 5A, 5B, and 6, the present invention generally relates to an electrical connector 100, preferably a high density electrical connector, that incorporates a spring loaded core or contact carrier 110 designed to provide positive electrical contact with a mating connector 200, thereby ensuring consistent signal integrity across the connector system, that is without intermittencies before or during use of the system. Spring loaded core or contact carrier 110 is designed to allow over-travel to overcome the tolerance stack of the mated connector to ensure each of the contacts are fully engaged. Additionally, spring loaded core or contact carrier 110 maintains the electrical connection between the connectors even if their respective mating faces are non-planar to each other during mating. In a preferred embodiment, the spring loaded core or contact carrier 110 of the electrical connector 100 cooperates with a double-sided contact interposer 112 to provide the consistent electrical connection between connectors 100 and 200. Another advantage of the connector of the present invention is that it may have an increased density, such as 1 mm pitch, and may be mated/unmated up to 5,000 times. Additionally, the connector of the present invention provides an increased high density of signal contacts at low cost and that is reliable for up to 5K cycles. The design of the connector of the present invention allows users to increase the signal count while keeping the same size connector and raw cable.

(10) In general, electrical connector 100 includes a housing 102 that slidably supports core or contact carrier 110, a spring member 114 received in housing 102 behind core 110, the interposer 112 which is received in core 110, and a contact member 116. Core or contact carrier 110 slides axially along a longitudinal axis of housing 102 between an unmated position (FIG. 3), in which core 110 is biased outwardly ready to be mated with mating connector 200, and a mated position (FIG. 4), in which core 110 is pushed inwardly and compresses spring 114 and electrically engages the mating connector. Spring member 114 may be any biasing member, such as one or more wave springs or the like.

(11) Housing 102 generally includes a mating interface end section 104 for interfacing with a mating end 202 of mating connector 200, a cable termination end section 106 that receives a prepared end of a cable C, an inner support member 108 that slidably supports core 110, and an inner receiving area 109 surrounding inner support member 108 for receiving at least a portion of core 110 and receiving spring member 114 inside of housing 102. Cable termination end section 106 may also receive a potting member 10 and a strain relief member 12, such as a boot, for the prepared end of the cable C, as is well known in the art. Inner support member 108 is preferably a longitudinally extending center post or barrel, as seen in FIGS. 3 and 4. The post 108 may extend outwardly beyond mating interface end section 104 such that a distal free end thereof may engage a corresponding component 204 of mating connector 200 to provide stability to the connector system when the connectors 100 and 102 are mated, as best seen in FIG. 4. In one embodiment, post 108 is hollow at its distal end to receive corresponding component 204 of mating connector 200, which may be a post sized to be insertable into the distal end of post 108.

(12) Core or contact carrier 110 is mounted on and slides along inner post 108 of housing 102 between its unmated and mated positions. Core 110 may also be slidably attached to the housing 102, such as by snaps and the like. Core 110 generally includes a spring engagement end 120 that abutments spring member 114 when core 110 is compressed inwardly in the mated position, and a receiving end 122 that sized and shaped to accept interposer 112. Contact member 116 is mounted in the core's spring engagement end 102 preferably such that one end is adjacent interposer 112 and its other end is near or at cable termination end section 106 of housing 102. Contact member 116 may be, for example, a flexible printed circuit board that has an end face 126 received in core 110 that is configured to electrically engage interposer 112 and a tail end 128 that connects to cable C. The tail end 128 of the flexible printed circuit board is designed to allow for bucking due to the spring loaded movement of core 110 along inner post 108 between its unmated and mated positions.

(13) Interposer 112 includes at least one contact side 130 for electrically contacting contact member 116, preferably at the end face 126 thereof. In a preferred embodiment, interposer 112 is a double-sided contact interposer that has a second contact side 132 that is opposite the contact side 130 and configured to electrically contact a contact member 216 of mating connector 200. Contact member 216 of mating connector 200 may also be a flexible printed circuit board with an end face 226 and tail end 228, as seen in FIG. 6, similar to contact member 116. The end face 226 is configured to abut the second contact side 132 of interposer 112.

(14) In one embodiment, interposer 112 has a wafer body 136 that may include a central opening 138 sized to receive the post 108 of housing 102. Each of the contacts sides 130 and 132 of interposer 112 may include a plurality of individual contacts 140, as seen in FIG. 5A, for electrical contact with contact members 116 and 216, respectively. The individual contacts 140 may be, for example, conductive C-clips, as seen in FIG. 5B, or the like. The biasing force of spring member 114 is preferably higher than the mating force of each individual C-clip 140 loaded on interposer 112 to provide overtravel of core or contact carrier 110 beyond the full mating compression of C-clips for consistent contact with spring member 114. This ensures full compression of the contact member's end face 126 on the individual contacts 140 so that the connector system, that is the mated connectors, will have consistent mating force because that force will be dictated by the spring member 114. The mating force of the connector system may be adjusted for use of different spring members. For example, the number of individual contacts 140 of interposer 112 may be increased or decreased to increase or decrease, respectively, their biasing force where the biasing force of spring member 114 can compensate for this increase or decrease in the contacts' 140 biasing force to provide the overtravel of core or contact carrier 110. As such, the connector system can be structured to have the minimum max insertion force that can be achieved with respect to a given number of contacts.

(15) Once the connectors 100 and 200 are mated, a coupling member 150, such as a coupling nut, may be employed to latch the connectors together. Coupling nut 150 may be designed, for example, to be spring loaded so that it auto-rotates and latches in place. Although the coupling nut 150 is preferably used to latch connectors 100 and 200, any know latching mechanism and/or friction fit may be used to latch or secure the connectors 100 and 200 together.

(16) In one embodiment, the center post 108 and its corresponding component 204 of mating connector 200 generally provide the gross-alignment of the connector system, while one or more alignment members 160, such as alignment pins, generally provide fine alignment of the connector system. The one or more alignment pins 160 may extend through contact end face 226, interposer 112, contact end face 126, and into core 110 to align interposer 112, and particularly its individual contacts 140, with the end faces 126 and 226, respectively, of contact members 116 and 216 of each of the connectors 100 and 200. Alignment pins 160 may also extend through to the mating connector to ensure fine enough alignment between the connectors so that all contacts line up with the mating pad of the flex circuits.

(17) While a particular embodiment has been chosen to illustrate the invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.