This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-001187 filed on Jan. 6, 2011, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector, more particularly relates to a connector which establishes electrical connections.
2. Description of the Related Art
Known in the art is a connector device which has a plurality of pairs of signal contacts which form balanced transmission lines which transmit differential signals inverted in phase from each other, wherein a shield structure which can efficiently reduce the differential signals becoming noise with respect to other signals, that is, crosstalk, can be realized by a smaller number of parts (see Japanese Patent Publication (A) No. 2004-087348).
In this regard, as shown in Japanese Patent Publication (A) No. 2004-087348, FIG. 6, sometimes the transmission lines of a pair of signal contacts arranged in parallel are bent, whereby the transmission line of the outside signal contact becomes longer than the transmission line of the inside signal contact. As a result, a signal which is transmitted by an outside signal contact ends up in the final analysis being transmitted delayed from the signal transmitted by an inside signal contact.
The present invention, in one aspect, provides a connector which has a plurality of signal contacts which have different transmission line lengths, wherein signals are transmitted without being delayed compared with other signal contacts.
Further, the present invention, in one aspect, provides a connector which makes the transmission loss decrease.
In a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector which comprises a plurality of signal contacts, each of which is provided with two aligned first connecting parts at one end and two aligned second connecting parts at the other end and which form balanced transmission lines, wherein the connector further comprises a first holding member which holds the first connecting parts of the plurality of signal contacts and a second holding member which holds the second connecting parts, intermediate parts of the plurality of signal contacts between the first holding member and the second holding member being exposed to the air.
That is, according to this aspect, since the intermediate parts of the signal contacts are exposed to the air, compared with signal contacts which are covered by insulators as seen in ordinary connectors, the contacts are covered by a substance with a low dielectric tangent, that is, the air, so the transmission loss can be made to decrease more.
Further, in a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector which further comprises at least one connecting and fastening member which connects and fastens the intermediate parts of the plurality of signal contacts while separating them from each other.
That is, according to this aspect, by connecting and fastening the intermediate parts of the signal contacts while separating them from each other, the strength against external force applied to the signal contacts is increased.
Further, in a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector wherein the first holding member, the second holding member, and the connecting and fastening member are formed together with the plurality of signal contacts by insert molding.
That is, according to this aspect, by using insert molding, there is the advantage that production of the connector becomes easier.
Further, in a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector further comprising a ground contact which comprises a shield body which is arranged in parallel with the plurality of signal contacts and shield members which are provided at an end edge of the shield body, pass through the first holding member or second holding member, and are arranged between the connecting parts of the pairs of signal contacts in the plurality of signal contacts.
That is, according to this aspect, by further providing the ground contact, it is possible to reduce crosstalk. Further, since the shield members are arranged through the shield body which is arranged in parallel with the signal contacts, mounting also becomes easy.
Further, in a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector which is provided with a plurality of signal contacts which are supported by contact support members while being bent to give different transmission line lengths, wherein a relative permittivity of the contact support members around the signal contacts with short transmission line lengths is higher than a relative permittivity of the contact support members around the signal contacts with long transmission line lengths.
Further, in a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector wherein at least parts of the surroundings of the signal contacts with short transmission line lengths are covered by the contact support members with a relative permittivity higher than the relative permittivity of the surroundings of the signal contacts with long transmission line lengths.
Further, in a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector wherein at least parts of the surroundings of the signal contacts with long transmission line lengths are covered by the contact support members with a relative permittivity lower than the relative permittivity of the surroundings of the signal contacts with short transmission line lengths.
Further, in an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector wherein parts of the contact support members which support the signal contacts with long transmission line lengths are provided with recesses and are exposed to the air.
Further, in a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector wherein the plurality of signal contacts are at least one pair of signal contacts which form a balanced transmission line.
That is, according to the fifth to ninth aspects of the present invention, by adjusting the relative permittivity of the substance at the surroundings of the signal contacts, it becomes possible to change the transmission speed of the signals transmitted by the signal contacts and becomes possible to absorb delay of signals due to differences in transmission line lengths between signal contacts which unavoidably arise due to design factors.
Below, the present invention will be able to be understood more clearly from the attached drawings and the description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention.
Below, embodiments of the present invention will be explained in detail while referring to the drawings. Throughout the figures, corresponding component elements are assigned common reference notations. Further, the connectors which are explained below by several aspects are used as connectors for establishing electrical connection for balanced transmission (that is, differential transmission) etc. in for example computers, servers, exchanges, routers, etc. In the aspects of the present invention which are shown below, the explanations are given with reference to the example of a connector for balanced transmission.
Note that, between the connecting parts 12a of each pair of parts to be connected to the jack connector, a reinforcing member 15 made of an insulator is inserted so that the elasticity of the spring-type connecting part of the jack connector side can be withstood at the time of connection.
The signal contacts 11 are held while separated from each other by the first holding member 13 and second holding member 14, so the surfaces of the intermediate parts of the signal contacts 11 between the first holding member 13 and the second holding member 14 are exposed. Therefore, the intermediate parts are covered by a substance with a lower dielectric tangent compared with signal contacts which are covered by an insulator such as seen in ordinary connectors, that is, by the air, so the transmission loss can be made to decrease more.
The plug connector 10 is formed by first forming the pairs of signal contacts 11, arranging them separated from each other, then forming the first holding member 13 and second holding member 14 by insert molding. Due to this, the signal contacts 11 can be easily attached to the first holding member 13 and the second holding member 14.
The surfaces of the intermediate parts of the signal contacts 21 are exposed in the same way as the plug connector 10 shown in
Note that, in
Note that, in
Further, one or three or more of the connecting and fastening members 16 or connecting and fastening members 26 shown in
Further, the plug connector 50 shown in
Furthermore, the plug connector 50 shown in
If explaining the attachment of the ground contact 58, first, in the same way as the plug connector 10 shown in
According to this assembly method, the ground contact 58 need only be produced at a separate process from the other parts of the plug connector 50, so there are the advantages that insert molding can be made simpler and productivity can be improved. Further, the ground contact 58 can also be applied to another aspects, for example, can also be applied in the aspect shown in
Further, the connecting and fastening member 56 shown in
Note that, there were two pairs of signal contacts in the aspect of the present invention explained above, but only naturally there may be a single pair or three or more pairs as well. Further, in the aspect of the present invention shown in
In the above aspects of the present invention, the pairs of signal contacts for transmitting the differential signals were of the same transmission line lengths. Below, a connector which has a plurality of signal contacts with different transmission line lengths wherein signals can be transmitted without delay compared with other signal contacts will be explained.
The jack connector 65 has a body 66 made of an insulator. The body 66 is formed with a plurality of grooves separated by a plurality of partitions. The grooves at the two sides of each partition are provided with a pair of signal contacts and are terminated at the connecting parts. That is, pairs of differential signals of the signal contacts S1+ and S1−, S2+ and S2−, and S3+ and S3− are formed and are connected to the corresponding connecting parts T1, T2, and T3.
As clear from
In this regard, the transmission speed of a signal which is transmitted by a signal contact, that is, the phase speed Vp, is expressed by the following formula (1).
Vp=c/(μs×∈s)1/2 (1)
Here, “c” is light speed (m/s) in a vacuum, μs is the relative magnetic permeability, and ∈s is the relative permittivity.
Therefore, the connector structure of a right angle type connector which by adjusts the ∈s, that is, the relative permittivity of the substance around the signal contacts, to transmit a signal with the longer transmission line length without delay will be explained.
In the present aspect, parts of contact support member 74a are cut away and filled instead with transmission speed delay members 75 at the side facing the signal contact, of the pair of signal contacts S1+ and S1− separated by the contact support member 74a, with the shorter transmission line length, that is, the signal contact S1+ side. The relative permittivity of the transmission speed delay members 75 is larger than the relative permittivity of the material of the insulator of the contact support member 74a. Therefore, according to the above formula (1), by making the relative permittivity larger, the speed Vp becomes smaller. As a result, it becomes possible to adjust a signal to be transmitted simultaneously with the signal contact S1− side with the long transmission line length.
Note that, the suitable range and size are determined by experiments or calculations in accordance with the relatively permittivity of the transmission speed delay member 75. The recesses which are provided at the contact support member 74b will be explained in the next aspect.
In the present aspect, parts of contact support member 84b are cut away to form recesses 85 at the side facing the signal contact, of the pair of signal contacts S2+ and S2− separated by the contact support member 84b, with the longer transmission line length, that is, the signal contact S2− side. For example, if making the insulator material of the contact support member 84b polyethylene, the relative permittivity of polyethylene is about 2.3, while the relative permittivity of the part exposed by the recesses 85, that is, the air, is about 1. Therefore, the relative permittivity of air is smaller than the relative permittivity of polyethylene. Therefore, according to the above formula (1), by making the relative permittivity smaller, the speed Vp becomes larger. As a result, it becomes possible to adjust a signal to be transmitted simultaneously with the signal contact S2+ side with the short transmission line length.
Note that, the suitable ranges and sizes of the recesses 85 are determined by experiment or calculations. The bridge part which is provided at the contact support member 84a will be explained in the next aspect.
In the present aspect, a bridge part 95 is provided which bridges the contact support member 94a at the side facing the signal contact, of the pair of signal contacts S1+ and S1− separated by the contact support member 94a, with the shorter transmission line length, that is, the signal contact S1+ side, and the partition 93a. The bridge part 95, as shown by the cross-sectional view of
Note that, the suitable range and size of the bridge part 95 are determined by experiments or calculations.
Only naturally, the aspects of the present invention shown in
The above aspects of the present invention were all explained with reference to a connector for balanced transmission, but the invention can also be applied to an application which transmits signals other than differential signals to a plurality of, such as four or eight, signal contacts and simultaneously receives them.
Note that, the present invention was explained in detail based on specific embodiments, but a person skilled in the art could make various changes, modifications, etc. without departing from the claims and concept of the present invention.
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