Patent Application
20230114286
This application claims the benefit of the filing date under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a)-(d) of Chinese Patent Application No. 202111173710.0, filed on Oct. 8, 2021.
The present invention relates generally to a cable, and more particularly, to a cable capable of data transmission at a higher data transmission rate, and a cable assembly including the cable.
A conventional structure of a data transmission cable mainly comprises a pair of insulated conductors, a conductive shielding layer wrapping around the insulated conductors and a ground wire, and an outer insulating layer wrapping around an outside of the conductive shielding layer. However, a high-frequency test bandwidth that the conventional structure can achieve is low, which cannot meet the requirements of higher-frequency data transmission, and the high-frequency performance is unstable. Furthermore, it is usually necessary to wind the outer insulating layer and/or the shielding layer turn by turn, resulting in low production efficiency.
A cable includes a pair of conductors extending longitudinally and spaced apart from each other, an inner insulating layer circumferentially wrapped around an outside of the conductors and fixing the conductors, a conductive shielding layer circumferentially wrapped around an outside of the inner insulating layer, and an outer insulating layer circumferentially wrapped around an outer peripheral surface of the conductive shielding layer. At least one of the conductive shielding layer and the outer insulating layer includes a pair of diametrically opposed circumferential halves. Each circumferential half surrounds a part of a circumference of the inner insulating layer and extends longitudinally.
The features of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described hereinafter in detail taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the description, the same or similar parts are indicated by the same or similar reference numerals. The description of each of the embodiments of the present disclosure hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings is intended to explain the general inventive concept of the present disclosure and should not be construed as a limitation on the present disclosure.
In addition, in the following detailed description, for the sake of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent, however, that one or more embodiments may also be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are illustrated schematically in order to simplify the drawing.
As shown in
As shown, the cable according to the embodiments of the present disclosure comprises at least two conductors 110 for transmitting signals or data, which are arranged to extend longitudinally and be spaced apart from each other. As an example, the conductor 110 can be made of a high-conductivity material such as a copper conductor, a silver-plated wire, and its diameter is, for example, 0.20 mm or more.
In the exemplary embodiments shown in
In a conventional cable, the insulating layer is wound around or bonded to the outside of each conductor to form an insulated core wire, and outer peripheries of the insulating layers of the adjacent insulated core wires are abutted against each other. There is a gap between the adjacent insulated core wires, which causes the cable structure to be easily deformed or the core wire to be easily displaced, thus the data transmission performance is unstable.
Compared with the conventional cable, in some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, all conductors 110 of the same cable may be wrapped by a single inner insulating layer 120, the material of the inner insulating layer 120 is filled between the wrapped conductors 110, and the inner insulating layer 120 and all conductors 110 wrapped therein form a stable integrated structure, which can ensure that the conductors 110 will not be displaced and the cable structure will not be deformed or less deformed in use, for example during use in a bent state, and the performance stability of the cable will be improved.
In some embodiments, the inner insulating layer 120 is a single extruded layer that wraps around all conductors 110 along a longitudinal length of the at least two conductors 110. The inner insulating layer 120 may be made of insulating polymer material. For example, the inner insulating layer 120 is formed over the at least two conductors 110 by a single extrusion step using an insulating material, such as polyolefin, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polyethylene terephthalate (“PET” for short), in the extrusion process. The extruded layer is, for example, a continuous insulating layer 120 extending longitudinally over the outer peripheral surface of the conductors 110. The extruded layer may be integrally and efficiently formed over the outer peripheral surface of the conductors 110 by the extrusion process.
In addition, in the conventional cable, the conductive shielding layer 130 surrounds the inner insulating layer 120 in the form of a complete loop or tape in a circumferential direction, and usually does not fit over the internal structure very well. In addition, an insulating tape or a Mylar sheet is conventionally wound around an outside of the conductive shielding layer 130 in a longitudinal direction, the winding is time-consuming and inefficient, and there is a winding or wrapping pitch and a return loss with the insulating tape or the Mylar sheet, thus, the high-frequency test bandwidth of the conventional cable with this structure can only reach about 40 GHz, and the performance of the cables is unstable.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, at least one of the conductive shielding layer 130 and the outer insulating layer 140 comprises two circumferential halves each circumferentially wrapped around a part of a circumference of the inner insulating layer 120 and extending longitudinally, the two circumferential halves are, for example, arranged to be diametrically opposed and combined to completely encircle the internal structure. In other words, instead of the full longitudinal wrapping or full wrapping arrangement of the conductive shielding layer or the outer insulating layer in the conventional cable, the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure proposes a conductive shielding layer 130 and/or an outer insulating layer 140 in the form of a semi-longitudinal wrapping, which includes two halves circumferentially wrapped around the internal structure (for example, the internal insulating layer 120, the conductive shielding layer 130, a ground wire, etc.) in the circumferential direction, each half wrapping around at least half of the circumference of the corresponding internal structure in the longitudinal direction. As an example, the circumferential halves of the conductive shielding layer 130 may comprise a metallic shielding layer or tape, and the circumferential halves of the outer insulating layer 140 may comprise a polyester tape or layer.
The semi-longitudinal wrapping arrangement eliminates the conventional wrapping structure, so that the conductive shielding layer 130 and/or the outer insulating layer 140 can better fit over the internal structure, and the overall return loss caused by the wrapping structure is eliminated, thereby the frequency bandwidth of the cable is increased from e.g. 40 GHz to 60 GHz or even higher to meet the frequency bandwidth of 60 GHz required by, for example, a 224 Gbps high-speed connector. As an example, a mold may be used to perform the fitting operation of the conductive shielding layer 130 and/or the outer insulating layer 140 in the form of semi-longitudinal wrapping, for example, the wrapping material of the conductive shielding layer 130 and/or the outer insulating layer 140 is supplied to the mold, and while the semi-finished product (such as the conductor 110 already wrapped with the inner insulating layer 120 and/or the conductive shielding layer 130) travels longitudinally, the wrapping material of the conductive shielding layer 130 is fitted (e.g., bonded by hot-melting or by an adhesive) over the inner insulating layer 120, or the wrapping material of the outer insulating layer 140 is fitted (for example, bonded by hot-melting or by an adhesive) over the conductive shielding layer 130 using the mold. Removing the wrapping structure may also eliminate the limitation of the production efficiency due to the wrapping speed of a wrapping machine. For example, in one example, the production speed can be increased from 3 m/min to 20-50 m/min (for example, compared with a conventional 112 Gbps cable made with a 2.4 mm pitch and a wrapping speed of 1300 R/min). Thus, according to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the production efficiency of the cable can be significantly improved, the above-mentioned pitch can be eliminated, and the performance of the cable can be significantly improved, for example, the high-frequency test bandwidth of the cable can be increased to a higher frequency, such as 60 GHz or higher, so that the cable can be used as a cable suitable for data transmission at higher rates.
As an example of the semi-longitudinal wrapping arrangement, each circumferential half may circumferentially surround at least half the circumference of the internal structure (for example, the inner insulating layer 120 or the conductive shielding layer 130) of the cable, such that the two diametrically opposed circumferential halves are combined to encircle the entire circumference of the internal structure (for example, the inner insulating layer 120 or the conductive shielding layer 130). Each circumferential half may be a continuous layer extending longitudinally, or comprise a plurality of longitudinal segments having a length significantly greater than the aforementioned pitch of the conventional cable.
In the illustrated embodiment, the two diametrically opposed circumferential halves at least partially overlap in the circumferential direction of the inner insulating layer 120 to form a closed loop. For example, the two diametrically opposed circumferential halves partially overlap at positions on two diametrically opposed sides of the inner insulating layer 120.
Specific arrangement of the conductive shielding layer 130 and the outer insulating layer 140 according to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The conductive shielding layer 130 is wrapped around the outer peripheral surface of the inner insulating layer 120 and is wound around the outside of the inner insulating layer 120 in the longitudinal direction or along a longitudinal length of the inner insulating layer 120, so as to provide electromagnetic or signal shielding function for the conductors 110. The presence of the inner insulating layer 120 may prevent the conductive shielding layer 130 from entering the gap between the conductors 110.
For example, the conductive shielding layer 130 may be bonded to the outer peripheral surface of the inner insulating layer 120 by hot-melt or by the adhesive. Exemplarily, the conductive shielding layer 130 may include a conductive layer that is bonded to the inner insulating layer 120 by the adhesive, or there is filler between the conductive layer 130 and the inner insulating layer 120, which may further improve the robustness of the cable. As an example, the conductive layer of the conductive shielding layer 130 is made of aluminum or copper, which may be, for example, an aluminum/polypropylene tape. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present disclosure is not limited to this, and for example, the conductive shielding layer 130 may include a non-conductive matrix and conductive particles in the non-conductive matrix.
As shown in
The two circumferential ends of the first conductive shielding half 131 or the second conductive shielding half 132 are spaced apart from each other on the outer circumferential surface of the inner insulating layer 120 in the circumferential direction, for example, they may be located at positions on different sides of the inner insulating layer 120, respectively.
In the embodiment shown in
Portions of the first conductive shielding half 131 and the second conductive shielding half 132 overlapping with each other may be flat portions (e.g., see
As shown in
The two circumferential ends of the first outer insulating half 141 or the second outer insulating half 142 are spaced apart from each other on the outer circumferential surface of the conductive shielding layer 130 in the circumferential direction, for example, they may be located at positions on different sides of the conductive shielding layer 130, respectively.
As shown in
Portions of the first outer insulating half 141 and the second outer insulating half 142 overlapping with each other may be flat portions (e.g., see
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the conductive shielding layer 130 may be adapted to be electrically connected to an external ground to function as a ground wire. For example, a conductive surface of the conductive shielding layer may face outward, that is, face the outer insulating layer, which facilitates the electrical connection between the conductive shielding layer and the external ground, and thereby better improving the shielding effect. Alternatively or additionally, as shown in
In the embodiment illustrated in
As an example of manufacturing the cable, an inner insulating layer 120 is formed over the conductor 110 (for example, a single extruded layer is extruded over the conductor 110 by a single extrusion step), and a first conductive or metal layer or tape is semi-longitudinally wrapped around one side of the inner insulating layer 120 so as to be used as the first conductive shielding half 131 of the conductive shielding layer 130, and then a second conductive or metal layer or tape is semi-longitudinally wrapped around the other side of the inner insulating layer 120 so as to be used as the second conductive shielding half 132 of the conductive shielding layer 130. Then, a first insulating layer or tape is semi-longitudinally wrapped around an outside of the first or the second conductive or metal layer or tape so as to be used as the first outer insulating half 141 of the outer insulating layer 140, and finally, a second insulating layer or tape is semi-longitudinally wrapped around an outside of the second or the first conductive or metal layer or tape so as to be used as the second outer insulating half 142 of the outer insulating layer 140. All four layers or tapes (i.e., halves) can have hot melt adhesive and a side where the hot melt adhesive is located faces inward, so that the tapes or layers are thermally bonded to the internal structure upon each semi-longitudinal wrapping. In the case of setting the ground wires 150, one ground wire 150 can be added when semi-longitudinal wrapping the first insulating layer or tape, and another ground wire 150 can be added when semi-longitudinal wrapping the second insulating layer or tape, and the ground wire 150 is in contact with the conductive shielding layer 130.
According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is also provided a cable assembly, as shown in
The outer sleeve 12 can be in the form of a sheath, such as a metal tube or a plastic tube, to provide some protection. As shown, the cable assembly also comprises a conductive shielding structure 11 provided within the outer sleeve 12, and the conductive shielding structure 11 may take the form of a layer/tape of metal or other conductive material and wrapped or wound around an outside of the all cables to provide improved electromagnetic shielding effect.
In some examples, as shown in
Although the above embodiments of the present disclosure have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes or modifications may be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the disclosure, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. It should be noted that, the terms “comprise”, “include” and “have” as used herein doesn't exclude other elements or steps.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202111173710.0 | Oct 2021 | CN | national |
