Patent Application
20060274483
Surge protectors protect voltage sensitive equipment connected to electrical, communications, and signaling lines by discharging high voltage signals or current surges to ground before the high voltage signal can damage the equipment. Communication systems employ large numbers of surge protectors to connect voltage sensitive switching equipment and other equipment to outside cables. Communication lines, which normally carry relatively low voltage message signals, are subject to high current surges caused by lightning and other phenomena associated with the location of the communications lines.
Often, communication lines are bundled for logistic reasons including simplifying line routing. A communication bundle can include over 100 lines. Because of the large number of lines, connecting surge protectors to each of the lines is a labor-intensive task. One conventional device for connecting the communication lines to the surge protectors is a device known as a protector block.
A protector block provides a rigid structural platform for supporting a plurality of surge protector modules for coupling them to multi-line communications cables. Generally, protector blocks come in various sizes, including ones that handle ten, twenty-five, fifty, and one hundred surge protectors for coupling to an equal number of communication line pairs. The design of communication line and protector assemblies is currently limited to the availability of a specific protector block configuration. The protector blocks are rather expensive to produce, making the flexibility of their design rather limited.
A protector block assembly is fabricated as a single slab of plastic insulating material. On one side is a plurality of wire-wrap pins, one for each wire. On the opposite side, there is, for each wire-wrap pin, a female socket electrically connected to the wire wrap pins. The pins and the sockets are typically arranged in groups of five or six, with the pins in each group having a specified configuration depending on the type of surge protector module being used. The pins of the surge protector module, regardless of whether it has a five or six pin configuration, are inserted into the appropriate socket to establish a compression fit electrical connection with the socket and the wire-wrap pin.
There are two conventional methods for coupling communication lines to surge protector modules located on the protector block: wire wrapping each communication wire that is located within the communication line to the pin on the protector block or terminating multiple wires to a connector and connecting to a mating connector on a connectorized printed circuit board that is flow soldered to the protector block using a conventional flow soldering method known in the art. There is a need, therefore, for allowing the required connections to be made in a more efficient manner.
According to one embodiment of the invention, a multi-layer printed circuit board assembly provides a rigid structural platform for supporting a plurality of surge protector modules for coupling to multi-line communications cables on one board. The multi-layer printed circuit board assembly includes a printed circuit board, multiple protector female sockets pins and at least two connectors mounted on the printed circuit board. The multi-layer printed circuit board assembly can also include a ground plane and a pin support block.
The multiple protector female socket pins partially reside in receptacles within the printed circuit board and are arranged to accept, align, fit, hold, support, receive, retain and electrically connect surge protector modules to the multi-layer printed circuit board. Each multiple protector female socket pin forms a compression fit around a surge protector pin and a compression fit between the female socket pin and the receptacle of the multi-layer printed circuit board to create an electrical connection between the corresponding trace and its surge protector pin. This allows the traces within the printed circuit board to electrically connect each lead of a designated communication line with a corresponding surge protector pin.
In one embodiment, the invention provides a means for mounting and supporting a ground plane and/or support block to the printed circuit board by way of the multiple protector female socket pins. This mounting provides additional support to the printed circuit board, isolates the leads of the surge protectors from external contact, provides an attachment to mount the assembly in a working environment, and holds, supports, and retains the ground plane and/or support block to the printed circuit board without the need of any additional elements, such as, retention pins, wire wrap pins, metal sockets and any other connectors commonly used in the art.
Each metal trace provides a unique, low resistance electrical connection between one connector pin socket and one protector pin socket. Each metal trace includes multiple runs (for simplicity the term “run” shall be used to refer to each trace when there are multiple traces having common end points). The multiple runs on different printed circuit board layers allow the transfer of large current surges from induced power signal without breaking down. Using runs instead of sufficiently thick individual traces is advantageous in that it is less expensive.
The present invention eliminates one or more of the protector block, cross-connect block, and associated wire wrapping for assemblies requiring surge protection and/or cross-connecting on multi-line communications cables. Consequently, production time, manufacturing cost, and both labor and component costs are reduced, while also eliminating unnecessary wire connections and manufacturing processes. Furthermore, the electrical connection between the surge protectors and the cables is made through traces within the printed circuit board. This provides for high quality connections, avoids the likely manufacturing defects that are commonly associated with a manual wire wrapping, cabling, or flow soldering process. The connector sockets allow easy connection and disconnection of incoming and outgoing cables as needed. Yet another benefit of the present invention is that surge protector modules, protector blocks, ground blocks and/or support block can all be accommodated on or fixed to the multi-layer printed circuit board using only a protector female socket pin. Therefore, eliminating the added labor and cost of material due to connecting or attaching external parts in a manner that is customary in the art, such as, retention pins, female sockets, wire wrap pins, and connectors.
Other advantages and objectives of the invention are described or will otherwise be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring now to
The protector block 120 provides a rigid structure in which a plurality of surge protector modules 10 is mounted to establish an electrical connection between the protector block 120 and the PCB 130. The protector block 120 comprises a plurality of socket pins 122, each of which comprises a female socket section (not shown) that receives the surge protector pins 11, and a male pin section (not shown) that inserts into corresponding receiving sockets 132 of the PCB 130. The socket pins 122 provide the electrical connection between the PCB 130 and the surge protector 10.
The electrical connection between the printed circuit board 130 and the protector block 120 is obtained through a plurality of wire wrap pins 122 of the protector block 120 and an equivalent number of receiving sockets 132 corresponding on the printed circuit board 130. Through these sockets and their corresponding traces, each lead of the surge protectors is electrically connected to a corresponding communication wire. Traces (not shown) within the printed circuit board 130 electrically couple the appropriate incoming and outgoing communication lines 52 coupled to the printed circuit board 130 by way of industry standard connector 40 to the appropriate pins 11 of the surge protectors 10 that are mounted on the protector block 120.
The printed circuit board 130 provides an electrical connection to one or more pairs of communications lines 52. Generally, the communication lines 52 are configured in pairs of incoming and outgoing communication lines, each communication line 52 comprising one or more wires, but typically 25 wires. In a typical embodiment, each communication line 52 comprises 12 ring and tip pairs plus 1 ground, for 25 total wires. In operation, the incoming communication line is electrically connected to the outgoing communication line via the surge protector 10 as described below, providing protection from line surges. The method of connecting of the communication lines 52 to the printed circuit board 130 is well known to a person of ordinary skill in the art and, therefore, will not be discussed in further detail.
Furthermore, the printed circuit board 130 is preferably a multi-layered printed circuit board fabricated from multiple layers of dielectric material, such as fiberglass and the like, that are bonded together using commonly known techniques in the art. Each layer of the multi-layer printed circuit board 130 can be fabricated with patterns of electrically conductive traces (not shown) or “runs” using a conventional subtractive process which is also commonly known in the art and is described in '593. In one embodiment, the electrically conductive traces (not shown) contain an enhanced copper content for sustaining high conductivity.
A dielectric plane 230 preferably separates the ground plane 240 from the printed circuit board 130. The ground plane preferably comprises copper, which is electrically grounded. The ground plane is, in turn, electrically connected to a good ground. The method of electrically grounding an element is considered well known in the art and will not be discussed in greater detail. While the printed circuit board 130, the dielectric plane 230, and the ground plane 240 are illustrated as separate entities, alternatively, a single board comprising layers for each of the above planes may be used, or a combination thereof.
Adjacent to the ground plane is preferably the pin support block 250 for providing an essentially rigid support platform for the ground plane 240, the dielectric plane 230, the printed circuit board 130, and the surge protector module 10. As illustrated below in reference to
In an embodiment, the socket pins 300 comprise a male tip pin portion 330, a base 320 and a female socket portion 310, as further illustrated in
The elongated protector socket 310 of the socket pin 300 also electrically couples the surge protector 10, or other electrical components, to the printed circuit board and/or the ground plane 240. While the embodiment shown in
Use of the socket pins 300 as a receptacle for and direct connection with one or more surge protectors 10 eliminates the need for the wire wrap pins 122, and associated pin receptacles 132 in the printed circuit board 130 of the prior art assembly 100 (shown in
In operation, the incoming and outgoing communication lines 52 are electrically coupled to the printed circuit board 130. The printed circuit board 130 comprises one or more layers, each layer comprising one or more traces. The traces electrically couple the wires of the communication lines 52 to a surge protector 10 via the protector female socket pins 300.
The surge protector module preferably comprises at least five pins, two pairs of pins that correspond to tip and ring wires and a ground pin. The module's ring and tip wires correspond to and are electrically coupled to respective tip and ring wires of the respective incoming and outgoing communication lines 52. The fifth pin of the surge protector 10 is electrically coupled to the ground plane. Therefore, signals from the tip and ring wires of incoming communication line are electrically coupled to the respective wires of the outgoing communication line via the surge protector 10. The surge protector 10 routes power surges in the tip and ring wires to the ground plane 240 via the fifth pin of the surge protector 10, preventing damage to equipment.
The coupling of an external member, such as a surge protector module, pin support block and/or ground plane, to the multi-layer printed circuit board will be better explained in the following discussion of the remaining figures.
The base 320 and the expandable elongated socket 310, on the other hand, reside outside the printed circuit board 130. In the preferred embodiment, the base forms a compliant fit with the pin support block 250 as it is pressed into the receptacle 550 of the pin support block 250. Elongated protector socket fingers 310 receive, connect, accept, hold, fit, secure, hold, grasp, retain and support surge protectors module pins that are inserted into the receptacle 550 of the pin support block 250. The protector female socket pin 300 is made of rigid conductive material sufficient to electrically couple a trace of the printed circuit board to a surge protector module pin 11.
In an embodiment, each tip pin 330 of the conductive protector female socket pin 300 reacts as an inverted spring that resist compression. The tip pin 330 resists external pressure caused by being pressed into a corresponding narrower receptacle 580 formed through the printed circuit board 130. When insertion is completed into the narrower receptacle 580, the external pressure collapses the tip pin 330 which forms a compression fit with the receptacle 580 of the printed circuit board 130. The compression fit acts to electrically connect the receptacle 580 with the conductive protector female socket pin 300 to a trace in the printed circuit board 130.
In an embodiment, five protector female socket pins 300 are pressed into corresponding receptacles 520 and/or 580 and are arranged to accept, hold, support, grasp and electrically couple and connect a corresponding surge protector module 10 (As seen in
Referring now to
Now referring back to
In one embodiment, before the tip pin 330 is pressed and inserted into the first and second through holes, 570 and 580 respectively, the entire protector female socket pin 300 is inserted into a third non-coated through hole 550 of the pin support block 250. The third through hole 550 accepts and receives the protector female socket pin and holds, grasps, supports and retains the elongated protector socket fingers 310 and the base 320 of the protector female socket pin 300 to form a compliant fit with the third receptacle 550 and its base 560.
Whenever a pin 11 is inserted into the protector female socket pin 300, the elongated protector socket fingers 310 of the female socket pin 300 expands and forms a compression fit around the surge protector module pin 11. The compression fit is formed by a protector female socket pin 300 having a plurality of elongated fingers 310 that are forced to expand and accept a pin 11 that is inserted into the protector female socket pin 300. Each of the elongated protector socket fingers 310 of the protector female socket pin 300 reacts as a spring that resists expansion due to the insertion of the pin 11, and is designed to grasp, secure and retain the surge protector pin 11. The compression fit electrically couples each surge protector pin module 11 with each protector female socket pin 300. The interference connection forms an electrical coupling between each protector female socket pin 300 and each receptacle 550. Together, the coupling maintains electrical connection between the surge protector pin 11 and the plated through hole 550 as well as securing the surge protector pin 11 and surge protector to the printed circuit board 130.
At least one surge protector module 10 is similarly secured, attached, supported, held, retained and electrically connected to a plurality of protector female socket pins 300 that are compressed on the printed circuit board 130 (See
Referring back to
In this embodiment, a single rigid printed circuit board assembly is created when the printed circuit board 130, ground plane 240 with dielectric layer 230, and pin support block 250 are held firmly together by the compression and/or compliant fits that are formed when the metal protector socket pin 300 is pressed into the receptacles 550 of the printed circuit board 130 and the pin support block 250.
Each elongated protector socket finger 310 of the female socket pin 300 can accept a surge protector module pin 11, wherein the elongated socket fingers 310 expand and form a compression fit around the surge protector module pin 11. The compression fit is formed when a surge protector pin 11 is forced into the elongated socket fingers 310, which expand and accept the pin 11 as it is inserted into the protector female socket pin 300. Each elongated protector socket finger 310 electrically connects a surge protector pin 11 to a corresponding trace as well as securing the surge protector pin 11 and surge protector to the printed circuit board 130.
In this embodiment the male tip pin 330 holds, grasps, retains, secures the pin support block 250 and/or the ground plane to the printed circuit board 130, as well as electrically connecting at least one surge protector module pin 11 to a corresponding trace within the printed circuit board 130. Thus, this embodiment teaches another means for attaching, connecting, supporting, and electrically connecting a pin support block to a printed circuit board and a corresponding trace.
Having thus described the present invention by reference to certain of its preferred embodiments, it is noted that the embodiments disclosed are illustrative rather than limiting in nature and that a wide range of variations, modifications, changes, and substitutions are contemplated in the foregoing disclosure and, in some instances, some features of the present invention may be employed without a corresponding use of the other features. Many such variations and modifications may be considered obvious and desirable by those skilled in the art based upon a review of the foregoing description of preferred embodiments. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the scope of the invention.
This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending patent application Ser. No. 09/348,906, entitled “PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD FOR CONNECTING OF MULT-WIRE CABLING TO SURGE PROTECTORS”, filed on Jul. 7, 1999, (Attorney Docket No. 1082000).
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 09348906 | Jul 1999 | US |
| Child | 11465363 | Aug 2006 | US |
