CONNECTOR WITH EMBEDDED FILTER

Abstract

The present invention allows a connector other than an adapter to have a pin and an insulator, and thus the connector functions as a filter. A module using the connector of the present invention has a small size so as to be economically and widely applicable. The pin is formed to have a multistage structure of at least two stages having different heights to provide a proper filter function.

Claims

1. A connector with an embedded filter, the connector comprising: a body having an inner side thereof provided with a space; an insulator provided at the inner side of the body; and a pin provided inside the insulator, the pin having a multistage structure of at least two stages having different heights.

2. The connector of claim 1, wherein the insulator is configured such that an inner surface of the insulator facing the pin has a bump structure so as to complementary to the multistage structure of the pin.

3. The connector of claim 1, wherein the pin and the insulator are accommodated and inserted by predetermined lengths into the space formed at the inner side of the body, and remaining portions of the pin and the insulator are exposed outside.

4. The connector of claim 1, wherein the body extends such that the body covers at least an entire length of the insulator.

5. The connector of claim 1, wherein the pin having the multistage structure is divided into a plurality of pins, and each of the pins divided is spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance.

6. The connector of claim 1, wherein a front side of the insulator extends further frontward than corresponding portions of the body and the pin such that an exposed portion is formed, a cap portion is formed such that the cap portion surrounds an outer side of the exposed portion, and a plug or a jack is mounted from a cross-section of the pin to an end of the exposed portion.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate illustrative embodiments of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the inventive concepts.

[0025] FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a connector with an embedded filter of the present disclosure.

[0026] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating another embodiment of the connector with the embedded filter in FIG. 1.

[0027] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a still another embodiment of the connector with the embedded filter of the present disclosure.

[0028] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a yet another embodiment of the connector with the embedded filter of the present disclosure.

[0029] FIG. 5 is a view illustrating an adapter in the related art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments or implementations of the invention. As used herein embodiments and implementations are interchangeable words that are non-limiting examples of devices or methods employing one or more of the inventive concepts disclosed herein. It is apparent, however, that various embodiments may be practiced without these specific details or with one or more equivalent arrangements. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring various embodiments. Further, various embodiments may be different, but do not have to be exclusive. For example, specific shapes, configurations, and characteristics of an embodiment may be used or implemented in another embodiment without departing from the inventive concepts.

[0031] Unless otherwise specified, the illustrated embodiments are to be understood as providing illustrative features of varying detail of some ways in which the inventive concepts may be implemented in practice. Therefore, unless otherwise specified, the features, components, modules, layers, films, panels, regions, and/or aspects, etc. (hereinafter individually or collectively referred to as elements), of the various embodiments may be otherwise combined, separated, interchanged, and/or rearranged without departing from the inventive concepts.

[0032] The use of cross-hatching and/or shading in the accompanying drawings is generally provided to clarify boundaries between adjacent elements. As such, neither the presence nor the absence of cross-hatching or shading conveys or indicates any preference or requirement for particular materials, material properties, dimensions, proportions, commonalities between illustrated elements, and/or any other characteristic, attribute, property, etc., of the elements, unless specified. Further, in the accompanying drawings, the size and relative sizes of elements may be exaggerated for clarity and/or descriptive purposes. When an embodiment may be implemented differently, a specific process order may be performed differently from the described order. For example, two consecutively described processes may be performed substantially at the same time or performed in an order opposite to the described order. Also, like reference numerals denote like elements.

[0033] When an element, such as a layer, is referred to as being on, connected to, or coupled to another element or layer, it may be directly on, connected to, or coupled to the other element or layer or intervening elements or layers may be present. When, however, an element or layer is referred to as being directly on, directly connected to, or directly coupled to another element or layer, there are no intervening elements or layers present. To this end, the term connected may refer to physical, electrical, and/or fluid connection, with or without intervening elements. Further, the D1-axis, the D2-axis, and the D3-axis are not limited to three axes of a rectangular coordinate system, such as the x, y, and z-axes, and may be interpreted in a broader sense. For example, the D1-axis, the D2-axis, and the D3-axis may be perpendicular to one another, or may represent different directions that are not perpendicular to one another. For the purposes of this disclosure, at least one of X, Y, and Z and at least one selected from the group consisting of X, Y, and Z may be construed as X only, Y only, Z only, or any combination of two or more of X, Y, and Z, such as, for instance, XYZ, XYY, YZ, and ZZ. As used herein, the term and/or includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0034] Although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various types of elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used to distinguish one element from another element. Thus, a first element discussed below could be termed a second element without departing from the teachings of the disclosure.

[0035] Spatially relative terms, such as beneath, below, under, lower, above, upper, over, higher, side (e.g., as in sidewall), and the like, may be used herein for descriptive purposes, and, thereby, to describe one elements relationship to another element(s) as illustrated in the drawings. Spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of an apparatus in use, operation, and/or manufacture in addition to the orientation depicted in the drawings. For example, if the apparatus in the drawings is turned over, elements described as below or beneath other elements or features would then be oriented above the other elements or features. Thus, the term below can encompass both an orientation of above and below. Furthermore, the apparatus may be otherwise oriented (e.g., rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations), and, as such, the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly.

[0036] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms, a, an, and the are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Moreover, the terms comprises, comprising, includes, and/or including, when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. It is also noted that, as used herein, the terms substantially, about, and other similar terms, are used as terms of approximation and not as terms of degree, and, as such, are utilized to account for inherent deviations in measured, calculated, and/or provided values that would be recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art.

[0037] Various embodiments are described herein with reference to sectional and/or exploded illustrations that are schematic illustrations of idealized embodiments and/or intermediate structures. As such, variations from the shapes of the illustrations as a result, for example, of manufacturing techniques and/or tolerances, are to be expected. Thus, embodiments disclosed herein should not necessarily be construed as limited to the particular illustrated shapes of regions, but are to include deviations in shapes that result from, for instance, manufacturing. In this manner, regions illustrated in the drawings may be schematic in nature and the shapes of these regions may not reflect actual shapes of regions of a device and, as such, are not necessarily intended to be limiting.

[0038] Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure is a part. Terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense, unless expressly so defined herein.

[0039] In a communication module or a communication assembly in which a connector and another connector are connected to each other or a connector and an adapter are connected to each other, which component has a filter function is an important issue.

[0040] In the related art, an adapter has a filter structure, but the biggest feature of the present disclosure is that a connector has a filter structure therein.

[0041] In a broad aspect including the technical field of the present disclosure, a connector is a member that connects electronic devices to each other, and there are various types of adapters such as an adapter spaced apart from the connector and connected to the connector, an adapter in which the connector is embedded, an adapter accommodating a portion of a configuration of the connector, and so on. Furthermore, as the connector is physically or functionally distinguished from the adapter, the connector described in the present disclosure is not limited to a specific structure or use, and the following embodiments do not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0042] Hereinafter, an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to accompanying drawings.

[0043] FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a connector 1 with an embedded filter of the present disclosure. In the present disclosure, the connector 1 in a BMA (blind mate) type, which is widely used for wireless and microwave transmission, is exemplified, but other connectors such as an MBX connector and an MMBX connector that are used for board-to-board connection, a DIN connector and an SMB connector used in the RF field, and so on are also capable of being applied in the present disclosure, but the types of the connector do not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0044] From the outside, the connector 1 with the embedded filter includes a body 2, a dielectric or an insulator 4 inside the body 2, and a pin 6 inside the insulator 4.

[0045] The body 2 includes a sleeve 20 having a slender cylindrical shape that extends from a first side (frontward) to a second side (rearward), and includes a flange 22 which protrudes integrally from a second end portion of the sleeve 20 and which has a diameter larger than a diameter of the sleeve 20. A groove for mounting an O-ring is formed in a middle portion in a length of the sleeve 20 and in a middle portion in a height of the flange 22. The body 2 is an exposure type body in which a predetermined length of the pin 6 and a portion of the insulator 4 are accommodated therein and other portions of the pin 6 and the insulator 4 are exposed to the outside. An inner portion of the body 2 provides a space having a constant diameter, and the insulator 4 and the pin 6 are inserted into the space and accommodated.

[0046] Although an inner surface of the pin 6 of the present disclosure provides a space having a constant diameter, an outer surface 60 has a three-stage structure including a first surface 62 that most protrudes outward toward the body 2, a second surface 68 that protrudes next most, and a third surface 64 that protrudes the innermost. A middle portion of the pin 6 has a concavo-convex structure in which the third surface 64 and the first surface 62 are alternately repeated, the second surface 68 at the front of the structure forms an upper surface of a step supporting the insulator 4, a front sleeve 680 extends further frontward, and a rear sleeve 600 extends further rearward. The front sleeve 680 may have a height difference with the third surface 64 or may have a height equal to a height of the third surface 64.

[0047] Conventionally, a pin mounted in a connector has a cylindrical shape in which inner and outer surfaces of the pin have uniform diameters. However, in the present disclosure, the outer surface of the pin 6 is formed in a multistage structure, and the insulator 4 is mounted therebetween, thereby realizing a filter function.

[0048] Specifically, the insulator 4 is formed in a shape that is coupled to and complementary to the structure of the pin 6. Therefore, as illustrated in the drawing, a lower surface 42 of the insulator 4 has a shape in which a bump is repeated so that the lower surface 42 of the insulator 4 is sequentially in contact with the third surface 64 and the first surface 62 of the pin 6. An upper surface 40 of the insulator 4 has a constant diameter along a longitudinal direction of the insulator 4 so that the upper surface 40 is in contact with an inner surface of the body 2. A first end portion of the insulator 4 may be supported by the step of the pin 6, and a second side of the insulator 4 may extend rearward while the second side of the insulator 4 is in contact with the rear sleeve 600 so that the second side of the insulator 4 is formed by a predetermined length of the rear sleeve 600.

[0049] The connector 1 with the embedded filter of the present disclosure performs the filter function by an interaction of the insulator 4 with the pin 6. Since a portion of the insulator 4 mounted between the first surface 62 of the pin 6 and the inner surface of the body 2 is thin and a portion of the insulator 4 mounted between the third surface 64 and the inner surface of the body 2 is thick, a capacitor element and an inductor element may be alternately provided. Control variables such as capacitance, inductance, and so on may be adjusted by changing the thickness, the height, or the length of each portion of the pin 6, and by changing the structure of the insulator 4 according to the thickness, the height, or the length of each portion of the pin 6, only a desired frequency band may be passed.

[0050] Although the pin 6 is described that the pin 6 has the three-stage structure, the pin 6 may have a two-stage structure or may have a four-stage structure or more, and the thickness and the number of each stage may be changed. The insulator 4 is not always mounted such that the insulator 4 is in contact with the two members that are the body 2 and the pin 6, and a portion of the insulator 4 may be spaced apart from the two members or a portion of the insulator 4 may be removed according to a filter function.

[0051] Since the connector 1 with the embedded filter of the present disclosure acts as a filter, a separate filter is not required to be provided when a transmitting and receiving module is manufactured, so that effects of a module miniaturization, a structural simplification, and an economical cost reduction may be expected.

[0052] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating another embodiment of the connector 1 with the embedded filter in FIG. 1. The difference from FIG. 1 is that a rear sleeve 24 which extends rearward behind the flange 22 of the body 2 is formed, and a second end portion of the rear sleeve 24 at least covers the insulator 4. The rear sleeve 600 of the pin 6 is also accommodated inside the body 2 except for a required exposed portion.

[0053] The connector 1 in FIG. 2 may be referred to as a shield type compared to the connector 1 in FIG. 1. A user may select any one of a structure that exposes a portion of the insulator 4 or a structure that covers all portions of the insulator 4, so that the range of use may expand and the usage may vary. When a cable assembly is manufactured by combining the connector 1 of the present disclosure with a cable, the connector 1 in FIG. 2 may be selected to prevent damage or deformation of the insulator 4 during assembly. Then, the insulator 4 may be protected and stability of the pin 6 may be secured. Meanwhile, when the connector 1 of the present disclosure is coupled to an apparatus such as a housing and is connected to a PCB, the connector 1 in FIG. 1 may be selected since the insulator 4 may be sufficiently protected by the apparatus during assembly.

[0054] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a still another embodiment of the connector 1 with the embedded filter of the present disclosure.

[0055] The difference from the previous embodiment is that the pin 6 is not manufactured as an integrated type, but is divided into five portions 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, and 6e, for example, and the five portions are separately mounted. There is a predetermined distance d between each of the portions 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, and 6e. As illustrated the drawing, the insulator 4 may be separately mounted according to each of the portions 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, and 6e, but may be manufactured as an integrated type. In addition, the insulator 4 may not be interposed between regions where the distance d is formed.

[0056] Since the embodiment in FIG. 3 is one of several examples for passing a desired frequency band by adjusting the filter function inside the connector 1, so that the number of partitions and the size of the distance may be variously changed at the level of those skilled in the art and the embodiment does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0057] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a yet another embodiment of the connector 1 with the embedded filter of the present disclosure.

[0058] The difference from the previous embodiment is that a circular arc portion in front of the connector 1 is changed to a structure of an adapter. Compared to FIG. 1, the sleeve 20 of the body 2 extends frontward shorter, the step and the front sleeve 680 of the pin 6 are removed, and the front surface of the pin 6 ends by a cross-section 620. On the other hand, the insulator 4 has an exposed portion 400 that extends frontward further beyond the body 2 and the pin 6. a cap portion 302 is formed such that the cap portion 302 surrounds the exposed portion 400 of the insulator 4 from the outside, and a plug 300 extends from the cross-section 620 of the pin 6 to an end of the exposed portion 400. The plug 300 is applied to a male type adapter, and a jack instead of the plug 300 may be formed when an adapter is required to be changed to a female type adapter.

[0059] FIG. 4 is a representative example of an adapter structure, and the adapter structure may be appropriately changed according to various adapter types such as an MBX type adapter, an MMBX type adapter, an SMP type adapter, an SMPS type adapter, an SMPM type adapter, and so on.

[0060] The connector 1 with the embedded filter of the present disclosure in FIG. 4 has a characteristic that the connector 1 is a hybrid type in which the connector 1 adopts a portion of connection structure of an adapter while performing an original function that is the filter function. When the connector 1 in FIG. 4 is used, connectors 1 such as a plug type connector, a jack type connector, and so on for example can be directly connected without a separate adapter, so that the connector 1 may be economical and easy to mount and a module may be miniaturized in a more compact size. In addition, the adapter structure may be formed not only at a front side but also at a rear side of the connector 1 with the embedded filter, and shapes of the pin 6 and the insulator 4 may be changed accordingly.

[0061] The present disclosure is not limited to the specific preferred embodiments described above, and any person of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure pertains may implement various modifications without departing from the gist of the present disclosure claimed in the claims. Furthermore, it is obvious that such modifications will fall within the scope of the description of the claims.

[0062] Although certain embodiments and implementations have been described herein, other embodiments and modifications will be apparent from this description. Accordingly, the inventive concepts are not limited to such embodiments, but rather to the broader scope of the appended claims and various obvious modifications and equivalent arrangements as would be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art.