Patent Application
20150124425
The present disclosure relates generally to interference prevention.
Electromagnetic interference (EMI) is a disturbance that affects an electrical circuit due to either electromagnetic induction or electromagnetic radiation emitted from an external source. The disturbance may interrupt, obstruct, or otherwise degrade or limit the effective performance of the circuit. These effects can range from a simple degradation of data to a total loss of data. The source may be any object, artificial or natural, that carries rapidly changing electrical currents, such as an electrical circuit.
EMI can be intentionally used for radio jamming, as in some forms of electronic warfare, or can occur unintentionally, as a result of spurious emissions for example through intermodulation products, and the like. It frequently affects the reception of AM radio in urban areas. It can also affect cell phone, FM radio and television reception, although to a lesser extent.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate various embodiments of the present disclosure. In the drawings:
An apparatus may be provided. The apparatus may comprise a core and a covering material disposed on a portion of the core. At least one opening may be disposed in the core. The at least one opening may expose at least one interior surface on the core. The at least one interior surface may be devoid of the covering material.
Both the foregoing overview and the following example embodiment are examples and explanatory only, and should not be considered to restrict the disclosure's scope, as described and claimed. Further, features and/or variations may be provided in addition to those set forth herein. For example, embodiments of the disclosure may be directed to various feature combinations and sub-combinations described in the example embodiment.
The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the following description to refer to the same or similar elements. While embodiments of the disclosure may be described, modifications, adaptations, and other implementations are possible. For example, substitutions, additions, or modifications may be made to the elements illustrated in the drawings, and the methods described herein may be modified by substituting, reordering, or adding stages to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, the following detailed description does not limit the disclosure. Instead, the proper scope of the disclosure is defined by the appended claims.
Integrated connectors may be used to interface a device to the world outside the device. When constructing the device, an Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) containment feature called a “Faraday Cage” may be designed into the device. A Faraday Cage may comprise an enclosure formed by conducting material or by a mesh of conducting material. This enclosure may block static and non-static electric fields. Consequently, a Faraday Cage may comprise an approximation to an ideal hollow conductor. Externally or internally applied electromagnetic fields produce forces on charge carriers (i.e., electrons) within the ideal hollow conductor. The charges are redistributed accordingly (e.g., electric currents may be generated). Once the charges have been redistributed so as to cancel the applied electromagnetic field inside, the currents may stop.
Embodiments of the disclosure may comprise a gasket to provide EMI shielding. Electromagnetic shielding may be the practice of reducing the electromagnetic field in a space by blocking the EMI field with barriers made of conductive or magnetic materials. Consistent with embodiments of the disclosure, for example, a conductive fabric may be added to a conductive foam core at a front, a back, a top, and a bottom side of a gasket to increase the EMI shielding performance of the gasket disposed on a device.
As device 100 is being constructed, the plurality of integrated connectors (e.g., first integrated connector 105, second integrated connector 110, and third integrated connector 115) may be installed onto a circuit board 130 from the top and either press fit or soldered in place. Device 100 may further comprise a power supply 135.
A first application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) 140 and a second ASIC 145 may be disposed on circuit board 130. First ASIC 140 and second ASIC 145 may comprise integrated circuits (ICs) customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use. A plurality of direct current (DC)-to-DC converters may be included on circuit board 130. The plurality of DC-to-DC converters may comprise, but are not limited to, a first DC-to-DC converter 150, a second DC-to-DC converter 155, and a third DC-to-DC converter 160.
A plurality of physical layer (PHY) circuits may be disposed on circuit board 130. A PHY circuit may connect a link layer device (e.g., a Media Access Control, or MAC address) to a physical medium such as an optical fiber or copper cable. A PHY circuit may include a Physical Coding Sublayer (PCS) and a Physical Medium Dependent (PMD) layer. The PCS may encode and decode the data that is transmitted and received. The purpose of the encoding may be to make it easier for the receiver to recover the signal.
The plurality of PHY circuits may comprise, but are not limited to, a first PHY circuit 165, a second PHY circuit 170, and a third PHY circuit 175. First PHY circuit 165 may correspond to first integrated connector 105, second PHY circuit 170 may correspond to second integrated connector 110, and third PHY circuit 175 may correspond to third integrated connector 115.
Vertical plane members may be placed between the plurality of integrated connectors. The vertical plane members may be electrically connected to a chassis of device 100. Side fingers from the integrated connectors may be in electrical contact with the vertical plane members thus grounding the integrated connectors to the chassis and extending the Faraday Cage. Device 100 may comprise, but is not limited to, a network card, a networking device such as a router, a switch, or any type device.
During operation of device 100, a plurality of jacks (e.g., RJ-45s) may be plugged into the plurality of receptacle. The plurality of receptacles may respectively connect signal wires from the plurality of jacks to ones of circuit board connectors 220. Circuit board connectors 220 may be soldered or press fit onto circuit board 130.
First opening 315 may expose a first plurality of interior surfaces. The first plurality of interior surfaces may comprise a first first interior surface 330, a second first interior surface 335, a third first interior surface 340, and a fourth first interior surface 345. Similarly, second opening 320 may expose a second plurality of interior surfaces. The second plurality of interior surfaces may comprise a first second interior surface 350, a second second interior surface 355, a third second interior surface 360, and a fourth second interior surface 365. And third opening 325 may expose a third plurality of interior surfaces. The third plurality of interior surfaces may comprise a first third interior surface 370, a second third interior surface 375, a third third interior surface 380, and a fourth third interior surface 385. While
Core 305 may be electrically conductive and may comprise a foam material. The foam material may be electrically conductive and may comprise electrically conductive particles. For example, when core 305 is compressed, a portion of the electrically conductive particles may come into contact with each other and may create a plurality of electrical pathways through core 305. Covering material 310 may be electrically conductive and may comprise a fabric that may be electrically conductive. The fabric may be woven or non-woven. Core 305 and covering material 310 may be electrical contact with one another.
Consistent with embodiments of the disclosure, core 305 may be provided and then covered with covering material 310. The plurality of openings may then be provided in core 305 by punching core 305, for example. Providing the plurality of openings in core 305 may expose at least one interior surface on core 305. The exposed at least one interior surface may be devoid of covering material 310. In other words, a conductive fabric (e.g., covering material 310) may be added to a conductive foam core (e.g., core 305) at a front, a back, a top, and a bottom side, for example, to form gasket 300. However, the plurality interior surfaces left when the plurality of openings are formed may not be covered by the conductive fabric.
Embodiments of the present disclosure, for example, are described above with reference to block diagrams and/or operational illustrations of methods, systems, and computer program products according to embodiments of the disclosure. The functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order as shown in any flowchart. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.
While the specification includes examples, the disclosure's scope is indicated by the following claims. Furthermore, while the specification has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, the claims are not limited to the features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example for embodiments of the disclosure.
