Claims
- 1. An electrical connector assembled from connector modules aligned in parallel, each connector module for transferring a plurality of differential signals between electrical components, each connector module comprising:a plurality of pairs of signal conductors, each pair having a first signal path and a second signal path, each signal path having a pair of contact portions located at opposing ends of the signal path, and an interim section extending between the pair of contact portions; and wherein for each pair of signal conductors a first distance between the interim sections within a pair is less than a second distance between the interim section of one of said signal paths of the pair and the interim section of one of said signal paths of an adjacent pair of signal conductors.
- 2. The connector module of claim 1, wherein the interim section of each first signal path is aligned in a first plane, and the interim section of each second signal path is aligned in a second plane parallel to and spaced from the first plane.
- 3. The connector module of claim 1, wherein the interim section of each first signal path and the interim section of each second signal path are aligned in a plane.
- 4. The connector module of claim 1, wherein the connector is a right angle connector and the interim sections of each pair of signal conductors have equal electrical lengths.
- 5. The connector module of claim 1, wherein at least some of the paired signal paths are connected to a set of differential signals.
- 6. The connector module of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of shield plates, each shield plate in parallel with a module and spaced from the pairs of signal conductors, the shield plate providing a common ground signal path.
- 7. The connector module of claim 6, wherein the shield plate further comprises a main body and a tab, the tab extending from the main body and between at least two pairs of signal conductors.
- 8. The connector module of claim 6, wherein the shield plate further comprises a main body and a grounding contact portion extending from the main body.
- 9. The connector module of claim 8, wherein the grounding contact portion is adjacent to the contact portions of the signal paths.
- 10. The connector module of claim 8, wherein the grounding contact portion extends between the contact portions.
- 11. The connector module of claim 8, wherein the grounding contact portion extends between adjacent contact portions of two signal paths.
- 12. The connector module of claim 6, wherein the shield plate further comprises a main body and a resilient tab, the resilient tab having ends connected to the main body, and a center area of the resilient tab spaced away from the main body.
- 13. The connector module of claim 12, wherein the resilient tab has a curved shape between the ends.
- 14. The connector module of claim 6, further comprising an insulating member extending along a portion of the shield plate.
- 15. The connector module of claim 14, wherein the insulating member is a housing external to the shield plate and the plurality of signal conductors.
- 16. An electrical connector assembled form a plurality of modules aligned in parallel, each module for transferring a plurality of differential signals between electrical components, each connector module comprising:a plurality of signal conductors, each signal conductor having a pair of contact portions located at opposing ends of the signal conductor, and an interim section extending between the contact portions; wherein the intermediate portions of a first portion of the signal conductors are aligned in a plane and contain curved sections that route the intermediate section of each signal conductor in the first plurality toward to the intermediate section of a signal conductor in a second plurality of signal conductors, thereby forming a plurality of pairs of signal conductors within each module; wherein for each pair of signal conductors a first distance between the interim sections within a pair is less than a second distance between the pair of signal conductors and any other pair of signal conductors of the plurality.
- 17. The electrical connector of claim 16 wherein one half of the contact portions extend from a first edge of the module in a first line and a second half of the contact portions extend from a second edge of the module in a second line.
- 18. The electrical connector of claim 17 wherein the contact portions in the first line have a uniform pitch.
- 19. An electrical connector assembled from a plurality of modules aligned in parallel, each module comprising:a) an insulative housing; b) a plurality of signal contacts having intermediate portions within the housing, mating contact portions extending from a first edge of the housing and contact tails extending from a second edge of the housing; c) wherein the intermediate portions of alternating ones of the intermediate portions contain bend towards an adjacent signal conductor whereby the signal conductors are disposed in pairs with spacing between the intermediate portions of signal conductors in a pair less than the spacing between the intermediate portions of signal conductors in adjacent pairs.
- 20. The electrical connector of claim 19 wherein the contact tail portions are on a uniform pitch.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/797,537, filed Feb. 7, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,993,259 entitled High Speed, High Density Electrical Connector.
US Referenced Citations (31)
Foreign Referenced Citations (6)
Number |
Date |
Country |
0 212 764 |
Mar 1987 |
EP |
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Aug 1991 |
EP |
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Non-Patent Literature Citations (2)
Entry |
Siemens, “SpeedPac: A New Concept for the Next Generation of Transmission Speed”, Backplane Interconnection, Issue 1/96. |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
08/797537 |
Feb 1997 |
US |
Child |
09/199126 |
|
US |