Patent Application
20170125951
This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) of Patent Application No. 15192011.3 filed in the European Patent Office on Oct. 29, 2015, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The invention relates to a network connector assembly, a corresponding counter connector assembly and a network connector system in particular for vehicles, wherein the network connector assembly is suitable for networks communicating at data rates at 100 Megabits per second (Mbit/s) and/or 1 Gigabit per second (Gbit/s).
In recent years, vehicles have been equipped with numerous on board electronics. These on board electronics provide a wide field of functionality, such as sensors, control functions and the like. For data communication between single on board electronic components, data networks have been established within vehicles. These data networks are, for example, based on Ethernet operating at data rates up to 100 Mbits/s or 1 Gbit/s.
With providing new on board electronics, the need for higher data rates increases. However, the higher the data rate, the higher is the crosstalk level, particularly if connectors and/or cables of single data signal paths are arranged adjacent to each other.
Further, with increasing data rates, the EMC properties (electromagnetic compatibility) of the connectors used decreases. Thus, different connectors are provided for 100 Mbit/s networks and 1 Gbit/s networks. To overcome increased crosstalk and reduced EMC properties at data rates up to 1 Gbit/s, the distance between single connectors has been increased. Thus, these connectors need more space, when collected, or have to be placed farther from each other. Since the smaller 100 Mbit/s connectors are still used (e.g. for space requirements), two different connector types are established. However, different connector types lead to an increased number of parts and increased manufacturing and storage costs.
Thus, there is the need in the art to provide a network connector that is suitable to transfer signals with data rates of at least 1 Gbit/s having reduced space requirements and good crosstalk and EMC properties.
The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.
An electrical terminal for a female connector, is presented herein. The terminal includes at least one contact blade having a first sheet plane. The contact blade is configured to contact an electrical pin with a contact force when the terminal is mated with the electrical pin; and at least one separate support blade having a second sheet plane. The support blade engages with a corresponding contact blade to increase the contact force, and wherein the first and second sheet planes are orientated substantially perpendicular to each other.
The above-described drawbacks are at least partly overcome by a network connector assembly for vehicles, wherein the network communicates at data rates between 100 Mbit/s and 1 Gbit/s, and wherein the connector assembly includes a header, having at least two pins forming a pin pair, wherein the pins extend in a mating direction; an electrically conductive shielding member, shielding the pin pair on at least two sides, wherein the shielding member has a front face that is orientated substantially normal to the mating direction; and a header shroud, wherein the header shroud is provided with a shielding cavity for receiving the shielding member, wherein the front face of the shielding member is at least partly covered by the header shroud.
Those network connector assemblies allow data transmission at data rates between 100 Mbit/s and 1 Gbit/s, while using one type of connector with reduced crosstalk. Ethernet protocol may be used. The header may be formed of an insulating material such as plastic, wherein the at least two pins are formed from an electrically conductive material such as metal.
The header supports the pins mechanically and provides a defined distance between the pins. The pin pair that is formed by two adjacent pins is used for data transmission. Thereby, the pins have one mating portion that is configured to be mated with a corresponding terminal of a counter connector. The opposite side of the pin is a contact portion that is used to contact the pin to another electrically conductive member, such as a printed circuit board (PCB) or a wire. The mating portion and the contact portion of a pin can be provided in a line so that the pin is substantially linear, i.e. the pin is not angled. The pins may be provided with a bending angle, wherein the bending angle is in the range of 30°-120°, more preferably in the range of 50°-110° and most preferably in the range of 85°-95°. Thus, angled network connector assemblies can be provided that can be adjusted to space requirements in a vehicle. To reduce crosstalk between two adjacent pin pairs and/or other data communication members in the environment of a pin pair, a shielding member is provided that shields the pin pair on at least two sides.
It has shown that a two-sided shielding member provides good crosstalk properties so that the network connector assembly can be used up to data rates of at least 1 Gbit/s. Thereby, the front face of the shielding member is orientated substantially normal to the mating direction, so that the shielding member is at least partly parallel to the pins of the pin pair.
Still further, a header shroud is provided. The header shroud is typically formed of an electrical insulator such as plastic and is provided to protect the pins and/or the shielding member from damages. Further, the header shroud provides high mechanical stability so that the network connector assembly can be mated with a corresponding counter connector assembly without being damaged. Thus, the header shroud is typically provided with at least one opening that receives the pin pair. Further, the header shroud is provided with a shielding cavity that is different from the opening that receives the pin pair. The shielding cavity may have no through hole, so that the shielding member is at least partly covered by the header shroud on its front face. This will lead to an improved mechanical stability, so that the shielding member and the pins are protected by the header shroud. Therefore, the risk of damaging the network connector assembly during transportation, mating and installation in a vehicle is significantly reduced.
The shielding member may include at least two first shielding plates, wherein the at least one pin pair is provided between the two first shielding plates so that the shielding member shields the pin pair on at least two sides, and wherein each of the two first shielding plates is spaced apart from a corresponding pin of the pin pair by an equal distance xs, wherein the distance is preferably at most 3.5 mm, even more preferably at most 3 mm and most preferably at most 2.5 mm.
Providing a shielding plate that is assigned to a specific pin of a pin pair and positioned in a distance xs from the pin pair, has shown to provide an efficient crosstalk reduction. By providing each shielding plate at an equal distances from an assigned pin of the pin pair, a symmetrical shielding arrangement is achieved that leads to significantly reduced crosstalk, even under high data rates of at least 1 Gbit/s.
The shielding member may further include at least one second shielding plate, wherein the at least one second shielding plate shields the at least one pin pair on a third side and/or on a fourth side. Thus, the shielding member or at least a portion of the shielding member that partly surrounds the pin pair is U-shaped when seen from the front face or encircles the pin pair entirely, if two second shielding plates are used. Providing additional second shielding plates further increases the shielding properties and reduces crosstalk. Still further, by providing second shielding plates the mechanical stability of the shielding member can be increased and damages can be prevented. With providing second shielding plates, the overall length of the shielding member in the mating direction can be reduced.
The network connector assembly may include at least two pin pairs, preferably at least six pin pairs and most preferably at least eight pin pairs, wherein the pin pairs are arranged in at least one row and wherein at least one first shielding plate is arranged between two adjacent pin pairs, so that each first shielding plate is spaced apart from a corresponding pin of a pin pair by an equal distance xs.
The values for the distance xs may be the same as described above. By providing multiple pin pairs, the number of on board electronic components in a vehicle can be easily increased, since multiple data transmission paths can be connected simultaneously by using the network connector assembly. Therefore, manufacturing time and costs can be reduced.
By providing first shielding plates that are arranged between two adjacent pins at an equal distance xs, each pin has the same shielding environment, and therefore, crosstalk can be significantly reduced. Between two adjacent pin pairs that are arranged in a row, at least one first shielding plate is arranged. That means that the one shielding plate is assigned to two pins of different pin pairs and can be arranged between two adjacent pin pairs.
The network connector assembly may include multiple pin pairs, wherein the pin pairs are arranged in rows and columns and wherein the shielding member further includes at least one second shielding plate that is provided, preferably centered, between two adjacent rows. With providing a second shielding plate between two adjacent rows, crosstalk between two adjacent pin pairs of different rows can be reduced. Further, by centering the second shielding plate between the two adjacent rows, every pin of a pin pair can be provided with similar shielding properties, so that the crosstalk reduction can be achieved for every pin pair of the different rows, in the same manner.
The distance xp between two pins of a pin pair may be in the range of 1.4 mm to 2.1 mm and is preferably 1.8 mm; and wherein the distance xc between two adjacent pins of different pin pairs in a row may be in the range of 5.0 mm to 6.5 mm and is preferably 5.4 mm; and wherein preferably the distance hr between two adjacent pins of different pin pairs in a column is in the range of 3.3 mm to 5.3 mm and is preferably 3.6 mm. These dimensions have shown to provide a network connector assembly having small space requirements and being suitable for data transmission at data rate of at least 1 Gbit/s with reduced crosstalk.
The first shielding plates may extend beyond the second shielding plate in the mating direction and/or in a direction opposite to the mating direction. It has surprisingly shown that the first shielding plates that extend beyond the second shielding plate lead to a significant reduction of crosstalk. If angled pins are provided, the second shielding plate can be angled in the same manner as the pins, so that the pin pairs are shielded on the third and/or fourth side along the entire length of the pins. Further, providing first shielding plates that extend beyond the second shielding plates in a direction opposite to the mating direction will further reduce crosstalk.
The shielding member may be integrally formed. Thus, the shielding member can be manufactured from a single metal sheet that is bent accordingly. Alternatively, the first and second plates of the shielding member can be separate parts that are assembled to form the shielding member. Still further, the shielding member can be formed from a conductive plastic material and can be molded or extruded as an integrally formed shielding member. Thus, the shielding member may be formed of a metal sheet and/or an electrically conductive polymer.
Suitable metals or alloys can include any of aluminum, copper, steel, zinc and the like. An electrically conductive polymer can be an organic polymers or any other polymer having a polymer matrix that may be filled with electrically conductive fillers, such as metal particles. These electrically conductive polymers can easily be formed with known polymer processing techniques, such as injection molding, extrusion and/or the like and can be formed to very complex shielding members. The header shroud may be integrally formed with the shielding member. Thus, manufacturing of the network connector assembly is simplified.
The header is molded on the shielding member, wherein the header may be integrally formed with the header shroud. Over molding the shielding member at least partly with the header leads to increased mechanical stability and a strong connection between the header and the shielding member. Further, the header surrounds the shielding member at least partly so that the shielding member is protected from environmental influences by the header. Further, the header can be integrally formed with the header shroud so that the number of parts is reduced and manufacturing costs can be reduced.
The shielding cavity of the header shroud may be provided with at least one through hole for electrically contacting the shielding member with a counter shielding member of a corresponding counter connector assembly, upon mating the network connector assembly with the corresponding counter connector assembly. Thus, a continuous shielding can be provided over the mated connector. This will lead to significantly reduced crosstalk and further will increase the EMC properties of the connector assembly.
The network connector assembly may be mounted on a printed circuit board, wherein the shielding member includes a contacting member for electrically conductive contacting the shielding member with the printed circuit board. Providing a contacting member that can be contacted with, e.g. the ground plane of a painted circuit board will further reduce crosstalk and increase the EMC properties. The contacting member can e.g. be formed as a solder pin, a bonding surface or can be glued electrically conductive to the PCB.
The drawbacks discussed above are at least partly overcome by a counter connector assembly, wherein the counter connector assembly is configured to be mated with the network connector assembly as described above and wherein the counter connector assembly includes at least one counter connector having at least two contact terminals; a collector housing being configured to receive at least one counter connector; and an electrically conductive counter shielding member, wherein the counter shielding member is arranged within the collector housing so that the counter connector is shielded on at least two sides by the counter shielding member.
The counter connector having at least two contact terminals and is configured to be connected with a pin pair of the connector assembly. Thus, if multiple pin pairs are provided, the counter connector assembly is also provided with multiple counter connectors. The collector housing thereby serves to arrange the multiple counter connectors according to the arrangement of the pin pairs. Thus, the collector housing provides corresponding distances between the rows and columns of the counter connectors as of the network connector assembly. Further, the terminals of the counter connector have the same distance as the pins of the pin pairs. By providing a collector housing, multiple counter connectors can be simultaneously connected to the network connector assembly. A single counter connector can be unmated or replaced after the counter connector assembly has been mated to the network connector assembly. The electrically conductive counter shielding member reduces crosstalk even under high data rights of at least 1 Gbit/s.
The counter shielding member may include at least one shielding element, wherein the shielding element includes at least two first counter shielding plates and wherein the counter connector is positioned between the two first counter shielding plates, so that the shielding element shields the counter connector on at least two sides, and wherein the shielding element further includes at least one second counter shielding plate, wherein the at least one second counter shielding plate shields the at least one counter connector on a third side and/or on a fourth side.
Thus, each counter connector is provided with similar shielding conditions so that crosstalk can be significantly reduced. Further, the counter shielding member is formed of a metal sheet and/or an electrically conductive polymer, wherein the shielding element and/or the counter shielding member may be integrally formed.
If metal sheets are provided to form the counter shielding member, conventional bending techniques can be used. The use of electrically conductive polymers, as described above, allows to provide integrally formed shielding members or shielding elements that may have complex forms. Still further, single shielding elements can be provided that are assigned to single counter connectors or to a defined number of counter connectors. A single shielding element may be used with at least one counter connector, at least two counter connectors, and/or at least four counter connectors.
Further, these shielding elements can be integrally formed as a counter shielding member. Providing counter shielding elements allows to use the same elements for different counter connector assembly configurations. For example, if the counter connector assembly includes an even number of counter connectors, a shielding element that is assigned to two counter connectors is advantageous, since a corresponding number of shielding elements can be provided for different configurations of counter connector assembly.
The drawbacks are further at least partly overcome by a network connector system, wherein the network connector system includes a network connector assembly and a counter connector assembly as described above, wherein the network connector system is an Ethernet network connector system configured to transmit data at a data rate of at least 100 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s. Thus, the network connector assembly and the counter connector assembly can be used for 100 Mbit/s networks and for 1 Gbit/s networks so that the number of different parts in the vehicle manufacturing can be reduced.
The shielding member and the counter shielding member of the network connector system may not overlap when the network connector system is mated. This allows to provide the shielding members entirely within the header shroud and/or the collector housing to provide increased mechanical stability. Further, the shielding members are protected from environmental influences, so that the overall lifespan of the network connector system can be increased.
The present invention will now be described, by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
In particular,
In
The counter shielding member 420 includes in the preferred embodiment three shielding elements 426, wherein a shielding element 426 can receive two counter connectors 430. Each shielding element 426 includes two first shielding plates 422, wherein the first shielding plates 422 are shown in a vertical orientation. Further, second shielding plates 424 are provided that are shown in a horizontal orientation. First and second shielding plates 422, 424 shield the counter connector 430 on at least three sides.
In
While this invention has been described in terms of the preferred embodiments thereof, it is not intended to be so limited, but rather only to the extent set forth in the claims that follow. Moreover, the use of the terms first, second, primary secondary, etc. does not denote any order of importance, but rather the terms first, second, etc. are used to distinguish one element from another. Furthermore, the use of the terms a, an, etc. do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced items.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15192011.3 | Oct 2015 | EP | regional |
