Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6406325
-
Patent Number
6,406,325
-
Date Filed
Thursday, December 28, 200023 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, June 18, 200222 years ago
-
Inventors
-
Original Assignees
-
Examiners
- Bradley; P. Austin
- Gushi; Ross
Agents
- Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch, LLP
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 439 418
- 439 676
- 439 941
- 439 344
-
International Classifications
-
Abstract
An electrical connector plug applicable to connectors for high speed communication cabling is disclosed. The plug includes a spacer mounted in the case. The spacer is formed with a plurality of grooves for guiding the communication lines in specific positions before linking to metal plates of connecting pins. The communication lines are guided to form a capacitance effect from different position levels. That is, the first, third, sixth and seventh lines are separated from the second, fourth, fifth and eighth lines at top and bottom sides of the spacer, so as to reduce interference of signals in the lines, and improve the communication performance.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electrical connector applied to transmit electrical signals, and more particularly relates to an electrical connector plug applicable to connectors of high speed communication cabling.
2. Related Art
Information transmissions through network communication are recently more and more popular. The applications are getting wider. As a demand, the high speed and high efficiency transmissions require high quality cabling and connectors. Generally, the network communication paths are composed of transmission media and electrical connectors. On the transmission media, there are twisted pair cables, coaxial cables, and optical fibers. There are a certain defects, such as near-end cross talk and return loss, occurred in the communication paths which will get worsen as the frequency of signals getting higher.
For the aforesaid reason, the EIA/TIA 568 standard established by Electronic Industries Association has been adopted into IEEE 802.3u standard by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.. The IEEE 802.3u standard includes all the standards for the transmission media and connectors, and classifies them into several categories. For example, “Category 3” is network cabling for voice, which uses solid cooper wires of 24AWG with impedance 100Ω and certifies UTP for data transmission up to 10 Mbps; “Category 4” is the same as Category 3 but with bandwidth of 16 Mbps; “Category 5” is the same as Category 3 but with bandwidth of 100 Mbps. Another category with tighter requirements than Category 5 is “Category 5e” which requests for a limited extent of return loss caused by reflections in the communication system due to the discontinuous impedance.
In order to prevent attenuation in high-speed communication, the standards are established, but all concern to transmission media and connectors. No limitation for connector plug is described. But, high-speed communication requires a total solution, any point in the system should be free from defect. The reason why the connector plug hasn't been requested in standard is that the plugs are usually manually installed. There are variations of manual operation that cause uncertainty hard to be requested as standards. In order to accommodate with requirements of connectors of Category 5e, the following requirements are used practically as control target of connector plug:
|
Near-end cross talk (dB)
|
Line pairs
Category 5e @ 100 MHZ
|
|
1-3
34.4-37.6
|
3-2
42-50
|
3-4
42-50
|
1-2
≧50
|
1-4
≧50
|
2-4
60
|
|
Interference that causes attenuation of transmission comes from cross talk of the eight communication lines located in parallel and in a same plane. The interference of the parallel lines badly influences the communication quality. There have been prior arts to solve the problem of decreased performance in transmitting higher frequency signals. For example, using guide blades to separate the first pair, the second and fourth pairs, and the third pair into three different planes; and further utilizing metallic conductors to enhance the compensation effect. Though the construction may theoretically meet aforesaid requirements, it is still affected by manual assembly deviation, and the following defects also exist:
1) Interference still exists because the pairs of communication lines are still in parallel;
2) Several guide blades and conductors are used, which increase the cost;
3) Since the communication lines are separated into three planes, the metallic pins for connecting the lines have to be of three shapes, which will increase the cost, and cannot be used with a single kind;
4) The guide blades have to be furnished with holes for receiving the communication lines. The assembly is therefore bothersome.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an electrical connector plug applicable to connectors for high speed communication cabling. The connector plug can lower the manufacturing cost, reduce the assembly deviation by an open-type assembly of communication lines, and improve the successful manufacture conforming to the requirements.
To achieve the aforesaid object, an electrical connector plug applicable to connectors for high speed communication cabling includes a spacer mounted in the case. The spacer is formed with a plurality of grooves for guiding the communication lines in specific positions before linking to the metal plates. The communication lines are guided to form a capacitance effect from different position levels. That is, the first, third, sixth and seventh lines are separated from the second, fourth, fifth and eighth lines at top and bottom sides of the spacer, so as to reduce interference of signals in the lines, and improve the communication performance.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:
FIG. 1
is an exploded view of the present invention;
FIG. 2
is a top view of a spacer in the present invention;
FIG. 3
is a bottom view of a spacer in the present invention; and
FIGS. 4A and 4B
are embodiments of a cover included in the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
As shown in
FIG. 1
, an electrical connector plug applicable to connectors for high-speed communication cabling according to the present invention includes a spacer
30
mounted in the case
10
. The spacer
30
guides the communication lines
51
˜
58
in specific positions before they link to the metal plates
20
. The communication lines are guided to form a capacitance effect from different position levels. The case
10
includes eight grooves
101
formed at the front end for mounting the metal plates
20
; a latch
102
formed near the rear end for being fixed with a connector when being used; and a lock portion
103
for fixing the lines
51
˜
58
in place after assembly. The metal plates
20
will pierce the communication lines
51
˜
58
after pressing into the grooves
101
and electrically connect with the lines
51
˜
58
.
Taking cabling of EIA/TIA T568B for example, the communication lines
51
˜
58
are the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth line respectively. And, the fourth and fifth lines are the first pair of communication lines; the first and second lines
51
,
52
are the second pair; the third and sixth lines
53
,
56
are the third pair; while the seventh and eight lines are the fourth pair. As shown in
FIGS. 2 and 3
, the spacer
30
separates the lines
51
,
53
,
56
and
57
to the top side of the spacer
30
and separates the lines
52
,
54
,
55
and
58
to the bottom side of spacer
30
.
That is, the first, second, sixth and seventh lines are separated from the second, fourth, fifth and eighth lines at upper and lower sides of the spacer, so as to reduce interference of signals in the lines, and improve the communication performance.
As shown in
FIGS. 2 and 3
, the top view and bottom view of the spacer
30
, there is a slope
302
formed on the spacer
30
. A plurality of grooves
301
are formed on both side of the spacer
30
. The grooves
301
are not in parallel to each other. The grooves
301
on the topside are formed to guide the lines
51
,
53
,
56
and
57
, while the grooves
301
on the bottom side are formed to guide the lines
52
,
54
,
55
and
58
. The different grooves
301
prevent the lines from parallel in horizontal plane, and the slope
302
prevents the lines from parallel in vertical plane.
A connector plug according to the present invention can fulfill the requirements. A test result is listed below.
|
Near-end cross talk (dB)
|
Line pairs
Category 5e @ 100 MHZ
|
|
|
1-3
36.69
|
3-2
47.41
|
3-4
45.57
|
1-2
60.5
|
1-4
63.72
|
2-4
72.03
|
|
In embodiments of the present invention, there is further a cover for pressing the lines
51
˜
58
in place during assembly. In
FIG. 4A
, a first embodiment of the cover
40
is shown. The cover
40
can be fixed on the spacer
30
through couples of extrusions
401
and holes formed on the cover
40
and spacer
30
respectively. The cover, made of plastic, is molded in conjunction with the spacer
30
, and can be bent over to cover in place. Of course, the cover
40
can be separately made as shown in FIG.
4
B.
To assemble the connector plug, the communication lines
51
˜
58
are first put into grooves
301
, then fixed by the cover
40
. The spacer
30
with lines
51
˜
58
is then inserted into the case
10
. Further, the metal plates
20
are pressed to pierce into the lines
51
˜
58
. And, finally, the lock portion
103
is pressed down to hold the lines
51
˜
58
firmly in place. The assembly is simple and stable that high quality can be obtained.
The electrical connector plug according to the present invention has the following advantages:
1) a one piece spacer can reduce the cost;
2) an open-type line assembly makes the manufacture easy and of less failure rate;
3) the metal plates are of a common shape that is usually used.
The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.
Claims
- 1. An electrical connector plug applicable to connectors for communication cabling comprising:a case, having one end formed with a plurality of slots, and another portion formed with a latch for fixing with said connectors; a plurality of metal plates with the same length, to be mounted into said plurality of slots, for electrically linking to a plurality of communication lines located in a same plane; a spacer, to be mounted into said case, formed with a slope and a plurality of grooves for guiding said communication lines in specific positions before linking to said metal plates, so that, the first, third, sixth and seventh lines are separated from the second, fourth, fifth and eighth lines at top and bottom sides of said spacer, so as to reduce interference of signals in said lines via a capacitance effect from different position levels; and a cover mounted on said spacer, for fixing said communication lines in place, wherein said cover is linked on one side of the spacer, and rotatively movable for mounting to said spacer.
- 2. The electrical connector plug as recited in claim 1 wherein at least some of said plurality of grooves formed on said spacer are not in parallel to each other.
- 3. The electrical connector plug as recited in claim 1 wherein said slope prevents at least some of said lines from being parallel in a vertical plane.
- 4. The electrical connector plug as recited in claim 1 wherein said cover is connected to said spacer via extrusions and holes formed respectively on the two.
US Referenced Citations (5)