1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to communication stations and associated signal cable connectors.
2. Description of the Related Art
With increases in data rates, such as including data rates of 10 gigabits over copper base cable, isolation of external cross-talk and noise between adjacent signal cable connectors (jacks), in addition to the customary isolation of internal cross-talk and noise between signal pairs within a connector, has become a focus of concern. When internal crosstalk and noise within individual connectors and external crosstalk and noise transmitted between connectors are reduced, signal quality can be enhanced and data rates can be increased. With the advent of new cable designs that isolate external crosstalk and noise between cabling systems, it has become even more desirable to reduce external crosstalk and noise between connectors as well.
Conventional approaches to reduce external crosstalk and noise between connectors have used shielded connectors such as for specialized secure communication. Unfortunately, conventional shielded connectors require terminations for cable and for connectors that are labor intensive to implement.
As discussed herein implementations of a shielded connector system involve connector isolation shielding using shield enclosures to reduce crosstalk and noise transmitted between adjacent signal cable connectors. These implementations allow for manufacture of new equipment and also retrofitting of existing equipment for connector isolation shielding using standard configurations of connectors without specialized labor intensive terminations for the cable and for the connectors is required of conventional approaches.
Shield enclosure implementations may be fabricated to include either a sheet metal part, a cast part, or an injection molded part. Some shield enclosure implementations only have one of its walls providing a majority of shielding for a pair of connectors positioned on either side of the wall at times when casting or injection molding is used to form the shield enclosure implementation. On the other hand, shield enclosure implementations as stamped parts can have walls as little as 0.008 inches thick allowing for more than one wall to provide shielding. Regarding injection molded implementations, shielding can be enhanced by a foil shield that is placed on the side of a connector that is not covered by the injection molded shield enclosure.
A first implementation 100 of the shielded connector system is shown in
The connector 102 includes a first face 105a, a second face 105b, a third face 105c, a fourth face 105d, a front face 105e, and a rear face 105f. The connector 102 has a front section 106 with beveled tabs 106a extending therefrom on the second face 105b to assist in part for engagement with a connector port of a stand-alone or rack mounted station (see examples below regarding
The shield enclosure 103 includes a first wall 124a, a second wall 124b, a third wall 124c, a first portion of a fourth wall 124d, a second portion of the fourth wall 124e, and a rear wall 124f. The shield enclosure 103 has engagement portions including a first beveled tab 130a, a second beveled tab 130b, and a third beveled tab 130c. The engagement portions allow the shield enclosure 103 to be coupled with the connector 102 by a snap fit engagement. The first beveled tab 130a extends from the second wall 124b. The second beveled tab 130b extends from the third wall 124c. The third beveled tab 130c extends from the second portion of the fourth wall 124e. When the shield enclosure 103 engages with the connector 102, the first beveled tab 130a of the shield enclosure engages with the first tab 116a of the connector 102, the second beveled tab 130b of the shield enclosure engages with a forward face of the spacer 112 of the connector, and the third beveled tab 130c engages with the third tab 116c. Other implementations use other types of engagement portions of snap fit engagement or other removably engagement of the shield enclosure 103 with the connector 102. The first portion of the fourth wall 124d and the second portion of the fourth wall 124e are spaced apart to form a slot 132 used in part for access to wire that is coupled with the wire pair receivers 118. In some implementations the slot 132 may allow the shield enclosure 103 to be snapped onto the connector 102 while wires (not shown) are coupled to the wire receivers 118. Spacers 128 extend from the third wall 124c to assist in positioning of the shield enclosure 103 when engaged with the connector 102.
The shield sheet 104 includes two rearwardly extended portions 134 spaced apart to form a slot 135 therebetween. As shown in
As shown in
Consequently, between each of the adjacent pairs of the connectors 102, one of the third walls 124c is position therebetween to perform a substantial amount of shielding of crosstalk and noise that could otherwise occur between the adjacent connectors of the pair. The respective shield sheet 104 and the respective first wall 124a positioned between the pair adjacent connectors also contribute in reducing crosstalk and noise being transferred between adjacent connectors. The overall combined effect in reducing crosstalk and noise from being transferred between adjacent pairs of the connectors 102 can thus be sizeable.
A second implementation 150 of the shielded connector system is shown in
The shielded enclosure has a first wall 154a, a second wall 154b, a third wall 154c, a first portion of a fourth wall 154d, a second portion of a fourth wall 154e, and a rear wall 154f. Extending from the second wall 154b is a first catch 156a and a second catch 156b. Extending from the second portion of the fourth wall 154e is a third catch 156c and extending from the first portion of the fourth wall 154d is a fourth catch 156d.
When the shielded enclosure 152 is engaged with the connector 102, as shown in
Although, the connector 102 was depicted in
From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention. For instance, a shield enclosure implementation could be molded with a conductive plastic interior and a resistive outer skin. Other shield enclosure implementations could include stainless steel fiber filled polycarbonate and/or nylon. Some shield enclosure implementations could use a 10% composition of stainless steel. Still other shield enclosure implementations could include polyphenyline sulfide or other material filled with carbon fiber (such as at a 40% composition level). Other shield enclosure implementations could use materials including aluminum flake filled plastics or nickel coated graphite fiber filled plastics.
As depicted in
As depicted in
As depicted the second wall 124b, the first portion of the fourth wall 124d, and the second portion of the fourth wall 124e of the shield enclosure 103 extend forwardly from the rear face 105f a majority of the rear section 115 of the connector 102. The second wall 154b, the first portion of the fourth wall 124d, and the second portion of the fourth wall 124e of the shield enclosure 152 extended substantially forwardly from the rear face 105f a majority of the rear section 115 of the connector 102. In other implementations, the degree to which these various walls extend could also differ to cover amounts of the rear section 115 different than depicted. In other implementations, the connector 102 could have only the rear section 115 and the front section 106 without the mid-section 111 so that these various walls could be sized differently to provide further coverage of the rear section 115.
As further examples, other shielded enclosure implementations use various materials including but not limited to cartridge brass, phosphor bronze, stainless steel, nickel silver, and nickel bronze in sheet metal. Other shielded enclosure implementations can use injection molded parts with associated resin being impregnated with conductive material. In some shielded enclosure implementations using stamped metal, an insulator can be placed on the inside of the stamped metal to prevent accidental contact of associated terminated wires. However in other shielded enclosure implementations, stamped metal can be located sufficiently far from terminated wires so that such an insulator may not be necessary. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.
This application claims priority benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 60/690,821 filed Jun. 14, 2005, the content of which is incorporated in its entirety.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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5207597 | Kline et al. | May 1993 | A |
5378172 | Roberts | Jan 1995 | A |
6126476 | Viklund et al. | Oct 2000 | A |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20070026736 A1 | Feb 2007 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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60690821 | Jun 2005 | US |