AU764903B2 - A connector element for telecommunication - Google Patents

Description

S&F Ref: 312346D2

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name and Address of Applicant: Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: Invention Title: Cekan/CDT A/S Videhojvej 4, Holmstol DK-8883Gjern Denmark Poul Kjeldahl Spruson Ferguson St Martins Tower,Level 31 Market Street Sydney NSW 2000 A Connector Element for Telecommunication The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us:- 5845c 1 A CONNECTOR ELEMENT FOR TELECOMMUNICATION FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a connector plug or jack for us in communication networks, including data transmission networks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The traditional copper wires in these networks have been challenged by fibre optics, which provides for a very high transmission capacity, that is the ability of conducting a very high number of bits per second. However, the copper wire system still has pronounced advantages, and it has been possible to develop the copper wire cables so io as to achieve a noticeable increase of the transmission capacity. A main problem has been the electrical capacity between the wires in a bundle of wires, but very good results have been achieved by different measures such as a twisting of the wires.

In these systems there is a bottle neck problem associated with the use of the connector elements, in which it is common practice, derived from already established standards, to arrange neat rows of cable connector terminals through parallel conductors inside the connector element. Inevitably, there will be a certain capacitive coupling between these conductors, and this coupling will be the stronger, the smaller the distance is between the conductors. It is a pronounced desire that the connector elements should be as small as possible, and this, of course, will accentuate the problem, because the required small dimensions will imply a small mutual distance between the internal leads of the single connector elements and thus a relatively high capacity between these leads.

However, while the capacity between neighbouring conductors is relatively high, it may be undesirably low between non-neighbouring conductors. The standard already set for the dedicated use of the single terminals are not too lucky for the favouring of ideal S 25 conditions in the connector elements, and problems occur not only as far as the capacities are concerned, but also with respect to conductor inductance and mutual inductance, the former being associated with the width of the conductors and the latter with the coil effect of the pairs of associated conductors.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is the object of the present invention to overcome or substantially ameliorate at least one of the above disadvantages, or to provide a useful alternative.

[R:\LBTT]03355spcci.doc:hxa: KEH SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention at least in a preferred embodiment is believed to be a pioneer work in the study of the interactions of these different phenomena, but since the physical result of the invention at least in a preferred embodiment seems to be structurally new, it is deemed unnecessary to described the said phenomena in more detail. Of course, the structure of the invention has to be closely linked with the said, already established standards, but such standards may change, and the connector according to the invention may well be adapted to other standards.

In one broad form, the present invention preferably provides a connector jack or 1o plug element for use in high frequency communication networks based on electrical conductors, comprising a standardized group of contact terminals for connection with corresponding terminals of a plug or jack counterpart, respectively, the connector element further having wire connector terminals which are connected with the contact terminals through internal leads (14, 16, 18) in the jack or plug element, characterized in that the internal leads of the connector are arranged anchored in a cast block member (4) of a di-electric material in a spatial or three-dimensional manner such that at least some of the leads are mutually spaced not only laterally, but also cross-wise to the lateral spacing, and that the leads are shaped and mutually arranged with the aim of optimizing the electrical transfer function of the connection.

As far as the capacity is concerned, it is possible to hereby maintain a desired distance between two leads in the connector, while at the same time it is possible to bring more closely together two non-neighbouring leads for increasing the capacity between them.

With respect to the mutual inductance, it will clearly make an important 2 5 difference whether the coil axis is oriented one way or the other, and while the axis is conventionally located perpendicularly to the basic, common plane of the conductors, it S* will now be possible to turn the direction of the axis into a more or less inclined cross direction, by arranging for leads belonging to the same loops to be located one above the other, whether or not additionally being staggered in the transverse direction. The mutual inductance can be largely affected and controlled in this manner.

Also the inductance of the single leads can be adjusted, because once the leads are brought into a three-dimensional pattern they can be arranged generally with increased mutual distance, whereby their widths can be varied somewhat without any major influence on the capacities.

*ooke e eeoc: eooo [R\LIBTT]03355speci.doc:hxa: KEH In practice, of course, the quantities of the capacity, the inductance and the mutual inductance will be highly interrelated in the structure, but in fact it has been found possible to design the lay-out in such a manner that the connector, seen electrically, simply disappears, causing no disturbance in the signal transmission even at very high transmission capacities. The detailed lay-out will depend on the standards used for termination sequence and various electrical conditions, but given the conditions, the structure according to the invention will be widely adaptable thereto.

While the connector contact elements, normally made as strip end portions of the said internal leads, are desired or prescribed to be quite narrow and located in a row a0 with small mutual spacing, the wire connector terminals cannot possibly be correspondingly arranged, as they have to be much broader. In a know connector as disclosed in US-A-5,186,647, this problem is overcome by arranging the wiring terminals at both lateral sides of the connector, but this adds to the overall width of the connector.

With the invention, at least in a preferred embodiment, thanks to the spatial arrangement of the leads, it has been found possible to arrange these terminals in two rows, one behind the other in a lower level, whereby the total width of the connector can be kept small.

Besides, it will be possible to mount all the wires by a single press-cap operation, if the terminals are of the type provided with upwardly open notches for receiving the wire ends and cutting into the sides of these ends.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred form of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the connector unit according to an embodiment of the invention, S 25 Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the internal leads of the connector, seen from the front end thereof, Fig. 3 is a similar view, seen from the rear end, Fig. 4 is a plan view of a section of a punched strip member for forming the different leads in two layers, Fig. 5 is a top view of these layers when laid together, Fig. 6 is a side view of the leads, according to Figs. 1 and 2, Fig. 7 and 8 are cross sectional views showing different spatial dispositions of the leads, i TT033 speci.doc:hxa: KEH R:\LI BTT]03355speci~doc:hxa: KEH Fig. 9 is a perspective view corresponding to Fig. 1, but showing the unit in a more detailed manner, and Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a finished connector, based on the unit shown in Fig. 9, Fig. 11 is a sectional view of the unit, Fig. 12 is a view similar to that of Fig. 3, though of a further embodiment, Fig. 13 is a view similar to that of Fig. 12 but yet of a further embodiment, Fig. 14 is a schematic side elevational view of the embodiment of Fig. 13, Fig. 15 is a view similar to that of Fig. 12, though of yet a further embodiment, to and Fig. 16 is a schematic side elevational view of the embodiment of Fig. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFFERED EMBODIMENT In relation to mated connectors, in real world cabling situations, when making a connection from one cable to the next, it is necessary to use two interconnecting parts, is namely a plug-part and a jack-part. The interference between these two parts is very often given by international standards in terms of mechanical design. This standard, however, often imposes an electrical imbalance on bothjack and plug-parts. If a high speed data-communication is needed over such a plug-jack interconnection, compensation is needed in at least one of the components to account for the imbalance in the other part.

Very often parameters of the plug are set, and can hardly be significantly improved, so most of the compensation has to be done in the jack-part. In this way, it can be said that the plug-part imbalance is given and fixed, so the structure of the conductors in the jackpart needs to be mated to balance the imbalance in the plug-parts.

The connector unit shown in Fig. 1, has eight contact springs 2 protruding at the ~25 front end of the connector and being bent-over into their operative positions, see also Fig. 6, in which they are shown in dotted lines in that position. The leads of the connector are cast into a plastic block 4, in which the contact springs 2 are, respectively, connected with individual wire connector terminals 6 arranged in two rows with four in each row, viz. a foremost high level row 8 and a rearmost low level row 10. Each of these oe oooe [R:\LBTT]03355speci.doc:hxa: KEH inverted U-shaped terminals is provided with a notch 12 for receiving a horizontally disposed wire end, and on the conductor block 4 they are marked with the uneven figures 1-7 at the higher row 8, and (as indicated in Fig. 3) with the even figures 2-8 at the lower row Figs. 2 and 3 show the packing of leads as made ready for being cast into the body 4. The leads connecting the wiring terminals in the rear row 10 with their associated contact springs 2 extend in the plane of the lo forwardly projecting, not yet bent-over contact springs 2, while only the inverted U-shaped terminals 6 are provided as bent-up portions on these leads. At their roots adjacent to the contact springs 2, the other four leads are bent upwardly a short distance at 14, wherer after they extend rearwardly through a short horizontal stretch 16 and then further through an upwardly inclined stretch 18 to the inverted U-member forming the associated terminal 6 in the upper terminal row, and therefrom further rearwardly through a downwardly inclined io stretch 20 and a following, rear stretch 23 almost in level with the foremost horizontal stretch 16, i.e.

somewhat spaced above the level of the lowermost leads.

Also the lower terminals 6 have rearwardly projecting portions.

i. The Figs. 2 and 3 will almost speak for themselves, but they will be further commented upon later on in the Sfollowing.

The lead packing according to Figs. 2 and 3 is made of two superimposed layers made, each, of four leads as illustrated in Fig. 4. This figure shows a section of a bronze strip 24, from which is punched, repeatedly, two bottom layers 26 and two top layers 28, which layers are then subjected to spatial shaping for the formation of the terminals 6 and the raised runs 18, 20 of the upper 3 layer. Thereafter, the two different layers are consecutively superimposed and fed to an injection moulding machine, in which they are provided with the block 4 according to Fig. 1. The immediate result is shown in a more detailed view in Fig. 9, where the contact springs 2 are shown leaving the block 4 horizontally and with their outer ends interconnected by an integral cross strip 3 in each layer. After the moulding of the block 4 these strips are cut off and the springs are bent over according to Fig. 1. The contact terminal springs 2 of one of the said layers are located flush and interlaced with those of the other layer.

Thereafter, as shown in Fig. 10, the unit is provided with a front frame member 5, which is secured by snap locking into non-illustrated apertures in the underside of the foremost flat portion of the block unit.

In Fig. 10 is shown, in dotted lines, a press-cap member 30 which, according to known principles, may facilitate the mounting of the isolated connector wires in the self-cutting type of wiring terminals 6, 12. For such a mounting it could be natural to insert the straight wire ends into orderly arranged holes at the rear side of the cap member, such that the wire ends would automatically be pressed down into the correct terminals when the cap is pressed down. However, the electrical conditions are very critical, and instead of prescribing such a mounting, see the wire pair A shown in dot-and-dash lines in Fig. 6, it is found better to arrange the wires as shown by the wire pair B in the same figure, i.e. let in through the top of the press-cap 30 with a 20 positioning between the two terminal rows. The reason is that wires A, particularly the uppermost wires, form loops together with the leads of the connector, and it will be noted from Fig. 6 that the areas of these loops will be considerably smaller for wires B than for wires A. The wires B are mounted in the press-cap as shown in Fig. 11.

In the example shown the connector is made according to a specific standard, Oo 25 according to which the different terminals as numbered 1-8 in Fig. 1 should be ooo..

[N:\IBLL]01052:TCW used in pairs for different circuits, these pairs being defined by the following terminals: 1-2; 4-5; 3-6; 7-8.

For at least one of these pairs it will be characteristic that the associated leads 18 will be located one above the other, such that the loop portion they form will have its cross axis located horizontally or in an oblique plane rather than vertically as in case of leads running in parallel side by side. This is illustrated in Fig. 7, where the two leads a and b form a coil portion having the field axis x. Another wire pair c, d is located in a vertical plane, thus having a horizontal loop axis. These field orientations are significant for the mutual inductance between the wire pairs.

It will be appreciated that from (or to) the tight- S ly disposed contact springs 2 leads inside the connector are arranged in a very open structure. With the spatial arrangement the distance between the leads, generally, is largely increased, and it is possible to use leads of varying width in order to optimize the inductances for the desired result.

ooooo An important parameter to be balanced in the capacity between the leads, both of the single pairs and the different pairs. Generally, the open structure conditions reduced capacities, but still there is a need Ir for further reducing them at some places and for reducing them less at other places or even increasing them.

Also this can be regulated thanks to the spatial struc- *ture, as now explained with reference to Fig. S: Fig. a shows three leads e, f and g arranged in a 3o spatial, triangular pattern. They should be compared with a corresponding flat system, with lead g located in the position marked In that situation the capacity between g' and e, as well as between e and f, may be satisfactory, while it could be desired to increase the capacity between g' and f. In a plane system this will be practically impossible without adversely affecting the other capacities, but if in a spatial system the lead g' is swung along a circle centred in e, it will maintain its capacity to e while increasing its capacity to f. Thus, in position g it still has the desired capacity to e and a capacity to f increased as much as desired.

Correspondingly, it is desired to decrease the capacity between g' and f, without changing the capacity then e could be swung about away from f.

Additionally, e may be arranged more or less close to g' for changing even this capacity, and furthermore the widths of the leads will influence the capacities.

Thus, also for this purpose it will be a characteristic feature that once at least one of the leads has attained a level above that of an underlying lead, as at the bent-up lead portions 14, Fig. 2, there will be a lateral displacement of the longitudinal extension of one of these leads, not only for forming a non-horizontal loop as already described, but also, that is either additionally or alternatively, for adjusting relevant capacities in the neighbourhood. Hereby the leads might even cross each other in different planes, but so far no such crossings have been found required, while as particularly clear from Fig. 5 it is found advantageous and possible to let the leads extend predominantly in pairs with the leads located one directly above the other. As reflected by Fig. 5, however, there is used five lead paths due to uneven horizontal spacing between leads in the two layers. As to some other details, Fig. 5 shows S 20 another design, in which for example, the rear portions 23 are of different widths.

At least one lead extending rearwardly from its associated contact terminal, when seen with the contact terminals located in a horizontal plane, projects upwardly from its neighbouring lead, then laterally to a position overhead the neighbouring lead and then rearwardly overhead and vertically diverging from the neighbouring lead.

From Fig. 9 it is apparent that some lead portions, designated 32, are exposed on the cast body 4. Such exposed areas also occur at the underside of this body, with a view to the optimizing of the dielectrical coverage of the leads at any place thereof.

[N:\LIBLLIO1O52:TCW Once the detailed structure of the lead system has been determined and reduced to practice, i.e. stamped out and spatially shaped, it will normally be a very delicate matter to transfer the lead structure to the r die casting machine, since the accuracy requirements will be extremely high. Thus, deviations or deformations of just some hundredths of a millimetre may make the connector unusable for the qualified purpose. On this background the lead system is provided with various t0 portions such as protrusions 34, Fig. 3, and rear extensions 20, 22 from the upper row of terminals 6, such that these portions can be gripped by suitable transfer means. The presence of these electrically non-required portions will call for special attention in the design of the system, because they will inevitably affect at least some of the operationally relevant parameters.

The connector shown is a female jack or socket member for receiving a counterpart made as a plug with rigid connector terminals. It will be understood that Zo such a plug may be designed widely similar to the disclosed jack or at least according to the same principles *0.0with respect to the spatial arrangement of the leads.

Many modifications will be possible within the scope of the invention, not only as far as the detailed •12 design of the illustrated leads is concerned. From a practical point of view it is desirable that the leads in the lower level extend in a common plane viz. the bottom plane also comprising the originally punched-out contact springs 2 according to Figs. 1 and 2, but it Jo will be an open possibility that these leads or some of them might extend otherwise, upwardly or downwardly. The same is true for the row of upper leads, which should not necessarily be located in a common plane. Even the terminals 6 will not have to be provided in line or 3s' level with each other; for the electrical adaptation there could be good reasons for arranging them otherwise, but it will be appreciated that it is indeed practical to have them arranged in neat rows. Besides, it is highly advantageous that these terminals, which are potential high-capacity units, can be separated in the 7 longitudinal direction, while in the transverse direction they can be allowed to have a considerable, mechanically required width without making the entire width of the connector element excessive. Besides, as also apparent from the Figures, the terminals in the to single rows may be non-uniformly interspaced.

The two or even more rows of wire connection terminals 6 may thus be located otherwise as shown, and so may the contact strips 2, which should not necessarily be arranged in one neat row.

4* *a

Claims (8)

1. A connector jack or plug element for use in high frequency communication networks based on electrical conductors, comprising a standardized group of contact terminals for connection with corresponding terminals of a plug or jack counterpart, respectively, the connector element further having wire connector terminals, which are connected with the contact terminals through internal leads in the jack or plug element, wherein the internal leads of the connector are arranged anchored in a cast block member of a di-electric material in a spatial or three-dimensional manner characterized in that at least some of the leads are mutually spaced in a first dimension, to provide two spaced-apart planes of connectors with the connectors in each plane being laterally spaced in a second dimension, said first dimension being vertical to the lateral spacing, that the leads are shaped and mutually arranged with the aim of optimizing the electrical transfer function of the connection, that the leads extending rearwardly from the contact terminals are generally spread away from each other, some of the leads extending in a common plane, in which they divert laterally from each other, and other leads extending a diverging manner in one or more planes diverging from said common plane, and that at least one lead extending rearwardly from its associated contact terminal projects upwardly from its neighbouring lead, then laterally to a position overhead the neighbouring lead and then rearwardly overhead and vertically diverging from the neighbouring lead.

2. A connector element according to claim 1, in which the leads extend to respective wire connector terminals located in transverse rows, if required with non- uniform terminal widths and interspacing in each row, one row spaced behind another and preferably also spaced therefrom perpendicularly to the plane of connection between the contact terminals and that other row of wire connector terminals.

3. A connector element according to claim 1, in which the leads are arranged generally in two layers, with the contact terminals of each layer located flush and interlaced with the contact terminals of the other layer, the leads in each layer continuing rearwardly from said wire connector terminals to the rear end of the connector element.

4. A connector element according to claim 3, in which a bottom layer extends in a generally planar manner, except for upwardly bent wire terminal loops near the rear end of the element, while a top layer extends generally upwardly and rearwardly inclined over the bottom layer up to a row of integral wire terminals above and in front of the wire terminals of said bottom layer, and then further rearwardly and downwardly S••towards the rear end of the element. oooo o 9 9 9 99*9 [R:\LIBLL]01 943.doc:KEH:AVS:hxa:KEH A connector element according to claim 2 and comprising a press-cap operable to receive respective wire ends to be mounted collectively in notches in the wire connector terminals by a press-down operation of the press-cap over the terminals, wherein the press-cap is provided with wire throughlet-holes in its top side such that in its moulded position the wire ends are disposed generally at an area between the said terminal rows.

6. A connector element according to claim 1, in which the leads are arranged in a cast block of a di-electric material, and in which some lead area portions, apart from the terminals, are exposed on the surface of the block.

7. A method of manufacturing a connector element according to claim 3, characterized in bringing together two layers of endwise interconnected, punched-out leads, of which one layer is substantially planar, except for bent-up wire terminal portions on the single leads, while the other layer has its leads extending upwardly diverging from the leads of the lower layer, then anchoring the leads together by incorporating them in an injection moulded block member and cutting away the interconnecting portions between the lead ends.

8. A method according to claim 7 whereby the wire connector terminals are arranged to be located in inter-spaced transverse rows, provided with rearmost transverse connection portions, which are finally cut away.

9. A connector jack or plug element substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 of the accompanying drawings. Dated 8 July, 2003 Cekan/CDT A/S Patent Attorneys for the Applicant/Nominated Person SPRUSON FERGUSON S S S S [R:\LIBLL]0 I 943.doc:KEH:AVS:hxa:KEH