Information
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Patent Grant
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6630624
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Patent Number
6,630,624
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Date Filed
Thursday, November 8, 200122 years ago
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Date Issued
Tuesday, October 7, 200320 years ago
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Inventors
-
Original Assignees
-
Examiners
Agents
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CPC
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US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 174 36
- 174 113 R
- 174 117 F
- 174 107
- 174 102 R
- 174 116
- 174 117 FF
- 174 28
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International Classifications
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Abstract
An electrical cable (1) adapted for an electrical connector (2) having a number of terminals, has two cable subassemblies (10) each having two signal wires (101) and a metal braid (102) wrapping up thereabout, and a number of drain wires (13, 14) positioned among the two cable subassemblies and conductively contacting with the metal braids. Each drain wire has a center conductor and a semiconductive layer (134) extruded around the center conductor. Distances between center lines of the drain wires and the signal wires are equal to pitches of the terminals of the electrical connector for facilitating soldering procedure.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical cable, and particularly to an electrical cable which provides an improved grounding means.
2. Description of Prior Art
Referring to
FIGS. 4 and 5
, a conventional electrical cable assembly includes an electrical connector
50
having a plurality of terminals
51
with equal pitches therebetween and an electrical cable
40
connecting therewith for transmitting signals. The electrical cable
40
comprises a pair of cable subassemblies
41
. Each cable subassembly
41
includes two signal wires
42
with two outer non-insulated grounding drain wires
43
and a conductive layer
44
surrounding the signal wires
42
and the outer non-insulated grounding drain wires
43
. The conductive layer
44
electrically contacts with the outer non-insulated grounding drain wires
43
and ends of the non-insulated grounding drain wires together with ends of signal wires are respectively soldered with corresponding terminals
51
of the electrical connector
50
, thus to provide signals with high quality during transmitting. The drain wires are made of metal material, such as copper or copper alloy, aluminum or aluminum alloy, tin-copper alloy, and other metal conductors. However, when the drain wires should be soldered to grounding terminals of the electrical connector, operators have to align the drain wires with the corresponding grounding terminals respectively, which complicates the manufacturing process as well as impairs the manufacturing efficiency. Additionally, such a kind of electrical cable needs considerable non-insulated grounding drain wires, which increases the manufacturing cost.
Hence, an improved grounded electrical cable is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide an electrical cable having an improved grounding means which reduces the cost of the electrical cable and simplifies the manufacturing process thereof.
In order to achieve the object above-mentioned, an electrical cable in accordance with the present invention, which is used with an electrical connector having ground and signal terminals, includes a pair of cable subassemblies parallel to each other, a middle drain wire positioned between the two cable subassemblies and two outer drain wires arranged at outermost sides of the two cable subassemblies, both the middle drain wire and the outer drain wires conductively contacting with the metal braids of the cable subassemblies, and an jacket covering the drain wires and the cable subassemblies. Each cable subassembly comprises two signal wires each having a signal conductor and an insulating layer surrounding the signal conductor, and a metal braid wrapping up the two signal wires. Each drain wire comprises a center conductor and a layer made from semiconductive material being extruded around the center conductor. Pitches between every two adjacent center conductor and signal conductor are equal to pitch between every two signal conductors in a same cable subassembly.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is an exploded, perspective view of an electrical cable used with an electrical connector in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2
is a top plan view of an electrical cable shown in
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 3
is a cross-sectional view of the electrical cable shown in
FIG. 2
;
FIG. 4
is a top plan view of a conventional shielded cable; and
FIG. 5
is a cross-sectional view of the conventional shielded cable shown in FIG.
4
.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring to
FIGS. 1 through 3
, an electrical cable
1
in accordance with the present invention is adapted for terminating with a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) connector
2
for signal transmission. The ATA connector
2
has a plurality of ground terminals
21
,
22
and
23
, and a plurality of signal terminals
24
accommodated therein. The pitches between the adjacent terminals are equal.
The electrical cable
1
comprises two cable subassemblies
10
, one middle drain wire
13
and two outer drain wires
14
parallel arranged among the two cable subassemblies
10
, and an insulating jacket
12
covering both the two cable subassemblies
10
and the drain wires
13
,
14
.
Each cable subassemblies
10
comprises a pair of signal wires
101
and a metal braid
102
surrounding the two signal wires
101
thereabout. The signal wire
101
includes a signal conductor
103
for transmitting data and an insulating layer
104
wrapping up the signal conductor
103
. The middle drain wire
13
is positioned between inner sides of the neighboring cable subassemblies
10
, and the two outer drain wires
14
are arranged at outer sides of the two cable subassemblies
10
. Each drain wire
13
,
14
comprises a center tin-copper conductor
133
and a layer
134
made from semiconductive material extruded around the center tin-copper conductor
133
. Both the middle drain wire
13
and the outer drain wires
14
contact with the metal braids
102
of the cable subassemblies
10
through the semiconductive layers
134
thereof to achieve the grounding function. Ends of the signal wires
101
are soldered with the corresponding signal terminals
24
of the ATA connector
2
and the center tin-copper conductors
133
of the drain wires
13
,
14
are soldered respectively with the corresponding ground terminals
21
,
22
,
23
. Center lines of the signal wires
101
and the drain wires
13
,
14
are fall on the same plane, and the distances between every two center lines are average and equal to the pitches of the terminals of the Serial ATA connector
2
.
It is well known in the art that the semiconductive material is such a material that the electrical conductivity thereof are greater than insulators but less than good conductors, and the unit area impedance thereof changes when it is affected by light, heat or electricity. Comparing with the prior arts, the usage of the semiconductive material can increase the diameter of the drain wire
13
,
14
so as to achieve a same distance between the center conductors of the drain wires
13
,
14
and the signal wires
101
as the pitch of the terminals of the Serial ATA connector
2
for facilitating the soldering procedure. That is, using the semiconductive material to be extruded around the center conductors of the drain wires can adjust the distances between the drain wires and the signal wires to match the pitch which is required in any applications.
It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
Claims
- 1. An electrical cable adapted for terminating with an electrical connector having ground and signal terminals, comprising:a pair of cable subassemblies arranged side by side, each cable subassembly having two signal wires and a metal braid wrapping up the two signal wires, the signal wire having a signal conductor in a center surrounded by an insulating layer; three drain wires respectively positioned between and outside the two cable subassemblies and conductively contacting with the metal braids thereof, each drain wire comprising a center conductor and a semiconductive layer extruded around the center conductor, a spacing between the center conductor and an adjacent signal conductor being equal to a pitch between the two signal conductors of the cable subassembly; and an outer insulating jacket surrounding the pair of cable subassemblies and the drain wires.
- 2. The electrical cable as claimed in claim 1, wherein center lines of the drain wires and the signal wires are parallel to each other and fall on a same plane.
US Referenced Citations (13)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
0784327 |
Jan 1997 |
EP |
2646276 |
Oct 1990 |
FR |