Patent Application
20250174945
The present disclosure relates generally to electrical systems, and specifically, to a communication cable and a connector for the cable.
Signal connectors that provide electrical connection between a pair of wires are necessary in nearly every piece of wired communications environment. There are numerous environmental challenges that can arise from ensuring connection of wires over long distances, such as to facilitate the use of signal connectors. One such environmental challenge includes the use of signal connectors in environments that can provide electrical conduction in ambient conditions. For example, electrical connections can be required in environments such as in fluids, such as water (e.g., seawater), that can create challenges in ensuring that separate signal conductors do not experience conduction between each other. Such conduction can lead to signal loss, noise, and/or cross-talk in the respective signals that are transmitted.
In a described example, a cable can include a first conductor, a second conductor, and an offset structure. The first conductor can be formed to include a first self-passivating metal. The second conductor can be formed to include a second self-passivating metal. The offset structure can be disposed between the first conductor and the second conductor. The offset structure can be configured to enable a medium to contact the first conductor and the second conductor along a length of the cable.
In a described example, a method of forming a cable can include forming a first conductor to include a first self-passivating metal, forming a second conductor to include a second self-passivating metal, and forming an offset structure to be disposed between the first conductor and the second conductor and formed to maintain a constant distance between the first conductor and the second conductor.
In a described example, a cable connection system can include a cable, a first connector, and a second connector. The cable can include a first conductor formed to include a first self-passivating metal, a second conductor formed to include a second self-passivating metal, and an offset structure disposed between the first conductor and the second conductor. The offset structure can be configured to enable a medium to contact the first conductor and the second conductor along a length of the cable. The first connector can include a first housing, a first contact formed from a third self-passivating metal and having a first portion configured to be in contact with the medium, and a first contact insulator at least partially surrounding a second portion of the first contact. The first contact of the first connector can be electrically connected to the first conductor of the cable. The second connector can include a second housing, a second contact formed from a fourth self-passivating metal and having a first portion configured to be in contact with the medium, and a second contact insulator at least partially surrounding a second portion of the second contact, the first housing and the second housing can be configured to be coupled to provide an electrical connection between the first contact of the first connector and the second contact of the second connector.
This description relates to electrical systems, and specifically, to a cable and a communication cable connection system for the cable. A cable, such as a coaxial cable, can include a first conductor formed of a first self-passivating metal, such as niobium, a second conductor formed of a second self-passivating metal, and an offset structure disposed between the first conductor and the second conductor. According to one example, the first self-passivating metal and the second self-passivating metal can be the same self-passivating metal. Examples of self-passivating metals include niobium, tantalum, titanium, zirconium, molybdenum, ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, hafnium, tungsten, rhenium, osmium, and iridium. The offset structure is configured to enable a medium to contact the first conductor and the second conductor along a length of the cable while providing physical separation of the first and second conductors. As described herein, the term “medium” refers to a fluid (e.g., water) or a high-particulate ambient environment that nominally provides for electrical arcing between electrical conductors of different voltage potential across a physical separation through the medium. However, because both the first conductor and the second conductor are formed of self-passivating metals and due to the spacing provided by the offset structure, submerged or “wet” ambient environments (e.g., high humidity) do not cause any signal loss and/or cross-talk issues between the first conductor and the second conductor.
Therefore, the cable is not required to be sealed and is ready for use in submerged or “wet” environments. Because the cable is not required to be sealed (i.e., is designed to operate without requirement for waterproofing or being a watertight enclosure), engineering requirements and cost can be greatly reduced. In other words, foregoing a waterproof construction means that the cable can utilize a simple, less complicated design which welcomes water or fluid into the cable and provides the benefit or advantage of a large reduction of engineering requirements and maintenance costs, for example. Therefore, no special actions or seals are required to preclude entry of fluids into the cable. It will be appreciated that although water is used as an example of a fluid herein, any fluid can be considered for introduction into the cable. Conversely, a cable which is designed to be sealed or moisture proof is often associated with additional costs, such as maintenance of the seal, repair, or field failures when the seal is penetrated by moisture, especially when the cables are located in remote locations or not easily accessible.
Additionally, the above-described concept can be applied to a twisted pair. For example, a cable can include a first conductor formed of a first self-passivating metal, such as niobium, a second conductor formed of a second self-passivating metal, a first portion of an offset structure surrounding at least a portion of the first conductor, and a second portion of an offset structure surrounding at least a portion of the second conductor. The first conductor and the second conductor can be helically intertwined to form the twisted pair. Again, the offset structure is configured to enable a medium, such as water, to contact the first conductor and the second conductor along a length of the twisted pair.
Finally, a cable connection system (e.g., RF coaxial connector system including a jack and a plug) can include signal conducting contacts and/or surfaces formed of self-passivating metals. For example, a first connector can include a first housing, a first contact formed from a self-passivating metal (e.g., niobium) and have a first portion configured to be in contact with a medium (e.g., a fluid, such as water), and a first contact insulator at least partially surrounding a second portion of the first contact. A second connector can include a second housing, a second contact formed from a self-passivating metal (e.g., niobium) and have a first portion configured to be in contact with the medium, and a second contact insulator at least partially surrounding a second portion of the second contact. The use of the self-passivating metal for the first contact and the second contact enables the cable connection system to operate with a low loss across a variety of RF power levels in the submerged or “wet” environments.
However, it will be appreciated that water or fluid is not necessary for operation or signal conduction during use of the cable. The cable and cable connection system of the present disclosure can thus be used in submerged and/or dry environments and be unaffected by insertion loss and impedance issues when moisture is present within the cable, while providing shielded signal transmission and a known, controlled intrinsic impedance over the length of the cable which is lower than an impedance for a typical “dry” or “sealed” cable of the same physical parameters and separating dielectric material type. For example, the “dry” or watertight cable dielectric can incorporate a combination of air (dielectric constant, εr=1) and polyethylene (εr=2.2), while the cables described herein can include the presence of water (εr=78), which is allowed to freely flow inside the cable and remain inside the cable throughout the lifetime of the cable. Again, although water is discussed as an example of a fluid, any fluid can be utilized.
As seen in
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According to one example, the cable 100A, 100B of
Such an RF power level of 1.6 kW is usable for a variety of applications.
According to one example, the first portion 212 or the second portion 214 can have a helical shape (e.g., similar to
According to one example, the cable 200 of
The first connector 310 can include a first housing 312, a first contact 314 formed from a third self-passivating metal and having a first portion 316 configured to be in contact with a medium 350, and a first contact insulator 322 at least partially surrounding a second portion 318 of the first contact 314. The first contact 314 of the first connector 310 can be electrically connected to the first conductor of the corresponding cable (e.g., at the second portion 318). The second connector 330 can include a second housing 332, a second contact 334 formed from a fourth self-passivating metal and having a first portion 336 configured to be in contact with the medium 350, and a second contact insulator 342 at least partially surrounding a second portion 338 of the second contact 334. According to one example, two or more of the first self-passivating metal, the second self-passivating metal, the third self-passivating metal, and the fourth self-passivating metal can be the same self-passivating metal (e.g., niobium). It will be appreciated that in some examples, merely one of the first contact 314 or the second contact 334 is formed of the self-passivating metal while the other can be formed of a non-self-passivating metal. Certain self-passivating metals provide a benefit of being connectable to non-self-passivating metals without generating inherent voltages (which may not be desirable). Therefore, forming one or both of the first contact 314 or the second contact 334 of self-passivating metal, such as niobium, is advantageous.
The first housing 312 and the second housing 332 can be configured to be coupled to provide an electrical connection between the first contact 314 of the first connector 310 and the second contact 334 of the second connector 330 (e.g., by mating portion 316 of the first contact 314 with the first portion 336 of the second contact 334). Additionally, the first housing 312 and the second housing 332 can be formed of corrosion-resistant non-conducting materials, thereby enabling the cable connection system 300 to be utilized underwater without outer shell conducting materials. Contact retention features can be implemented using mechanical coupling techniques, such as by using a mated-pair retention system (e.g., ring nut with threads 352 and threaded sleeve 354) to ensure the connector set stays mated across multiple environments, for example. According to another example, the cable connection system 300 can include a multi-contact connector with multiple first connectors and multiple second connectors.
Each of the first contact insulator 322 and the second contact insulator 342 can be formed to include a dielectric material having a dielectric constant which can be approximately equal to a dielectric constant of the medium 350. For example, TiO2 can be utilized for the material for either contact insulator 322, 342 because TiO2 generally has good retention characteristics for the corresponding contact while also providing the benefit of not adding a large impedance.
In any event, this similar dielectric constant is utilized to enable impedance matching to connect a source to the cable, the cable to a load, such as an electronic assembly (e.g., which can be 50-ohm, 90-ohm, 120-ohm, etc.) and from the load to an antenna, for example. This changes a resultant overall cable impedance which was previously designed for ˜50 ohms for the “dry” cable to less than 10 ohms for the cable described herein, assuming the cable dimensions remain the same. However, the impedance shift to 10 ohms does not preclude use of the cable when considerations for input and/or output matching to source and load functions are matched to the cable impedance value. Thus, the impedance of the cable connection system 300 can be designed according to a system operating impedance. For example, components or portions of the cable connection system 300 impedance can be set based on factors including transmission source impedance, submerged or wet RF connector impedance, submerged or wet transmission line impedance, and load (e.g., antenna) impedance, etc.
The offset structure can be formed to include one or more openings (e.g., 106, 206) configured to enable the medium to contact the first conductor and the second conductor. For example, the offset structure can be formed to have an open cell structure including a plurality of cells. Each cell can include two or more openings which can be configured to interface with two or more of another cell, the first conductor, or the second conductor.
According to the example of
According to the example of
In this description, the term “couple” can cover connections, communications, or signal paths that enable a functional relationship consistent with this description. For example, if device A generates a signal to control device B to perform an action: (a) in a first example, device A is coupled to device B by direct connection; or (b) in a second example, device A is coupled to device B through intervening component C if intervening component C does not alter the functional relationship between device A and device B, such that device B is controlled by device A via the control signal generated by device A.
What has been described above are examples. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies, but one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many further combinations and permutations are possible. Accordingly, the disclosure is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications, and variations that fall within the scope of this application, including the appended claims. As used herein, the term “includes” means includes but not limited to, the term “including” means including but not limited to. The term “based on” means based at least in part on. Additionally, where the disclosure or claims recite “a,” “an,” “a first,” or “another” element, or the equivalent thereof, it should be interpreted to include one or more than one such element, neither requiring nor excluding two or more such elements.
