CN217848394U

CN217848394U - Electrical connector with improved contact arrangement

Info

Publication number: CN217848394U
Application number: CN202221193522.4U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 曾建科
Original assignee: Amphenol Commercial Products Chengdu Co Ltd
Current assignee: Amphenol Commercial Products Chengdu Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-05-17
Filing date: 2022-05-17
Publication date: 2022-11-18
Anticipated expiration: 2032-05-17

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an electrical connector. The electrical connector includes: an insulating housing having a mating face and a mounting face; a plurality of conductors disposed in the insulative housing, the plurality of conductors arranged in a row along a longitudinal direction, each of the plurality of conductors extending from the mating face beyond the mounting face, the longitudinal direction being parallel to the mating face and the mounting face; a positioning assembly including a first positioning member to position a first location of the plurality of conductors and a second positioning member to position a second location of at least a portion of the plurality of conductors, the first and second locations being spaced apart along a direction of extension of the plurality of conductors. The first positioning members can be used for positioning the first parts of all the conductors, and the positions of all the conductors can be effectively positioned under the action of the first positioning members, so that the conductors cannot be displaced due to installation or transportation and the like. The conductors may be located at desired positions so as to maintain desired clearances from other components.

Description

Electrical connector

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to electrical interconnection systems, and more particularly to improving signal integrity in electrical interconnection systems, particularly high speed electrical connectors.

Background

Electrical connectors are used in many electronic systems. It is generally easier and more cost effective to manufacture the system as separate electronic components, such as Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), which may be coupled together using electrical connectors. One known arrangement for coupling printed circuit boards is to have one printed circuit board act as a backplane through which other printed circuit boards (known as "daughter boards" or "daughter cards") may be connected.

A backplane in the form of a printed circuit board may have a number of electrical connectors mounted thereon. The conductive traces in the backplane may be electrically connected to signal conductors in the electrical connectors so that signals may be conveyed between the electrical connectors. The daughter card may also have an electrical connector mounted thereon. Electrical connectors mounted on the daughter card may be plugged into electrical connectors mounted on the backplane. In this manner, signals may be routed between daughter cards through the backplane. The daughter card may be inserted into the backplane at a right angle. Accordingly, electrical connectors for these applications may include right angle bends and are often referred to as "right angle electrical connectors". Other known electrical connectors include, but are not limited to, orthogonal electrical connectors. The electrical connector may also be used in other configurations for interconnecting other types of devices, such as cables, to a printed circuit board.

Regardless of the exact application, the design of electrical connectors has been adapted to trends in the electronics industry. Electronic systems as a whole have become smaller, faster, and functionally more complex. As a result of these changes, the number of circuits in a given area in an electronic system and the frequency at which the circuits operate have increased significantly in recent years. Current systems transfer more data between printed circuit boards and require electrical connectors that are electrically capable of handling more data at a faster rate than electrical connectors just a few years ago.

In high density, high speed electrical connectors, the electrical connectors may be in close proximity to one another such that there may be electrical interference between adjacent signal conductors. To reduce interference and also to provide desired electrical performance, shielding members are typically provided between or around adjacent signal conductors. The shield may prevent signals carried on one conductor from generating "crosstalk" on the other conductor. The shield may also affect the impedance of each conductor, which may further affect electrical performance.

Other techniques may be used to control the performance of the electrical connector. For example, transmitting signals in a differential manner may reduce crosstalk. A differential signal is carried on a pair of conductive paths called a "differential pair". The voltage difference between the conductive paths represents the signal. Generally, differential pairs are designed to have preferential coupling between pairs of conductive paths. For example, the two conductive paths of a differential pair may be arranged to extend closer to each other than adjacent signal paths in the connector. No shielding is required between pairs of conductive paths, but shielding may be used between differential pairs. Electrical connectors may be designed for differential signaling as well as single-ended signaling.

As the performance of electrical connectors continues to improve, new generation electrical connectors require less crosstalk, which requires sufficient machining precision to ensure that the individual components of the electrical connector are themselves dimensionally accurate and that their set will also be as error free as possible. However, this is contrary to the desire to manufacture electrical connectors at a lower cost and with a simpler process. It is therefore desirable to design an electrical connector having a novel structure to solve the above problems.

Disclosure of Invention

To at least partially solve the problems in the prior art, according to one aspect of the present disclosure, an electrical connector is provided. The electrical connector includes: an insulating housing having a mating face and a mounting face; a plurality of conductors disposed in the insulative housing, the plurality of conductors arranged in a row along a longitudinal direction, each of the plurality of conductors extending from the mating face beyond the mounting face, the longitudinal direction being parallel to the mating face and the mounting face; and a positioning assembly including a first positioning member to position a first location of the plurality of conductors and a second positioning member to position a second location of at least a portion of the plurality of conductors, the first and second locations being spaced apart along a direction of extension of the plurality of conductors.

Illustratively, the electrical connector further comprises an insulating spacer disposed within the insulating housing, the first and second positioning members each being disposed on the insulating spacer.

Illustratively, the insulating spacer is provided with a plurality of heat fusion parts which are protruded and spaced apart along the longitudinal direction, and the plurality of heat fusion parts are heat-fused and fixed with the ends of the plurality of conductors as the first positioning member.

Illustratively, one conductor is arranged between any two adjacent hot melting parts along the longitudinal direction.

Illustratively, each of the plurality of heat-fusible parts extends out of the plurality of conductors before being heat-fused and fixed to the end portions of the plurality of conductors, and an edge of the extending end is provided with a chamfer.

Illustratively, one end of each of the plurality of hot melting parts, which is close to the mounting surface, is provided with a notch.

Illustratively, the plurality of conductors includes a plurality of signal conductors and a plurality of ground conductors, the plurality of ground conductors being distributed among the plurality of signal conductors, the second locating member being made of a lossy material, the second locating member abutting the plurality of ground conductors.

Illustratively, the plurality of conductors are arranged in two rows along the longitudinal direction on both sides of the insulating spacer, the both sides of the insulating spacer being disposed oppositely in a predetermined direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, the second positioning member includes: a positioning body accommodated within the insulating spacer; and a plurality of teeth projecting from both sides of the insulating spacer to the outside of the insulating spacer, wherein the plurality of teeth abut against a middle portion of the at least one portion of the plurality of conductors.

For example, the insulating spacer is provided with a mounting cavity penetrating along the predetermined direction, and the second positioning member penetrates through the mounting cavity and is freely movable along the predetermined direction.

Illustratively, the mounting cavity includes a groove recessed inward in the predetermined direction from one of the two sides, and a plurality of through holes extending from a groove bottom of the groove to the other of the two sides in the predetermined direction, and the plurality of teeth include a plurality of first teeth protruding from a notch of the groove to the outside of the insulating spacer and a plurality of second teeth protruding from the plurality of through holes to the outside of the insulating spacer in a one-to-one correspondence.

For example, the length of the second teeth is greater than the length of the first teeth, and/or the length of the second teeth is greater than the length of the through holes.

For example, the first plurality of teeth and/or the second plurality of teeth have a decreasing longitudinal dimension in a direction from root to tip.

Illustratively, a reinforcing rib is arranged at the joint of each of the plurality of second teeth and the positioning main body.

Illustratively, gaps are provided between the plurality of conductors and the insulating spacers, the gaps being uniform along the length of the plurality of conductors.

Illustratively, the second positioning member is configured to control the gap.

Illustratively, the gap is between 0.01mm and 0.5 mm.

Illustratively, the insulating spacer is provided with a step on which the first positioning member is disposed, and the ends of the plurality of conductors abut against the step.

Exemplarily, the two ends of the insulating spacer in the longitudinal direction are provided with buckles, and the insulating spacer is clamped to the insulating housing through the buckles.

Illustratively, the positioning assembly further comprises a third positioning member, the third positioning member positions a third portion of the plurality of conductors, and the third positioning member and the first positioning member are respectively positioned at two sides of the second positioning member.

Illustratively, the plurality of conductors are fixed to the third positioning member, the third positioning member is fixed to an insulating spacer located in the insulating housing, the insulating spacer is provided with oppositely-arranged clamping jaws on both ends in the longitudinal direction, the third positioning member is provided with notches on both ends in the longitudinal direction, and the clamping jaws clamp on the notches in a one-to-one correspondence.

Exemplarily, the third positioning member includes a first clamping member and a second clamping member, the first clamping member is provided with a recess having a small opening and a large bottom, the second clamping member is provided with a protrusion adapted to be connected to the recess, and the first clamping member and the second clamping member are both provided with a conductor.

Illustratively, the first positioning member exerts a first positioning force on the first location, the second positioning member exerts a second positioning force on the second location, the third positioning member exerts a third positioning force on the third location, the first and third positioning forces include an internal pulling force toward the insulative housing, and the second positioning force includes an external pushing force toward the insulative housing.

Illustratively, the electrical connector is a right angle electrical connector.

Illustratively, the second positioning member is located between the bent portions of the plurality of conductors and the mounting surface, and is closer to the bent portions than to the mounting surface.

Illustratively, the electrical connector further includes an L-shaped insulating spacer extending along the plurality of conductors, the insulating spacer being disposed within the insulating housing, a portion of the plurality of conductors being located inside the insulating spacer and another portion being located outside the insulating spacer, each of the plurality of conductors including a contact tail portion extending to the mating face, a mounting tail portion extending to the mounting face, a first straight edge portion connected between the mounting tail portion and the bent portion, and a second straight edge portion connected between the contact tail portion and the bent portion, the second positioning member being disposed on the insulating spacer, the second positioning member abutting against the first straight edge portion, and the second positioning member extending beyond the first straight edge portion of the inner conductor in a direction away from the mounting face.

Illustratively, the first positioning member exerts a first positioning force on the first location, the second positioning member exerts a second positioning force on the second location, one of the first and second positioning forces comprises an external pushing force towards the insulating housing, and the other of the first and second positioning forces comprises an internal pulling force towards the insulating housing.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, an electrical connector is also provided. The electrical connector includes: the insulating spacer is provided with a plurality of outwards-protruding hot melting parts spaced in the longitudinal direction on two opposite sides in the transverse direction; the conductors are respectively positioned on the two sides of the insulating spacer and are arranged in two rows along the longitudinal direction perpendicular to the transverse direction, one conductor is arranged between any two adjacent hot melting parts along the longitudinal direction, the hot melting parts are fixed with the end parts of the conductors so that the hot melting parts serve as first positioning members, second positioning members protruding out of the two transverse ends are arranged on the insulating spacer, and the second positioning members are clamped between at least one part of the conductors in the two rows of conductors along the transverse direction.

Illustratively, the electrical connector further includes an insulative housing having a mating face and a mounting face, the plurality of conductors being disposed in the insulative housing, each of the plurality of conductors extending from the mating face beyond the mounting face, the longitudinal direction being parallel to the mating face and the mounting face, the insulative spacer being disposed in the insulative housing.

Exemplarily, the middle part of the insulating spacer is provided with buckles at two ends along the longitudinal direction, and the insulating spacer is clamped to the insulating shell through the buckles.

Illustratively, the electrical connector is a right angle electrical connector.

Illustratively, the insulating spacer is L-shaped, a part of the plurality of conductors is located inside the insulating spacer and another part is located outside the insulating spacer, each of the plurality of conductors includes a contact tail portion extending to the butting surface, a mounting tail portion extending to the mounting surface, a first straight edge portion connected between the mounting tail portion and the bent portion, and a second straight edge portion connected between the contact tail portion and the bent portion, the second positioning member abuts against the first straight edge portion, and the second positioning member extends beyond the first straight edge portion of the inner conductor in a direction away from the mounting surface.

Illustratively, the second positioning member includes: a positioning body accommodated within the insulating spacer; and a plurality of teeth projecting from both sides of the insulating spacer outside the insulating spacer, wherein the plurality of teeth abut against a middle portion of the at least one portion of the plurality of conductors.

For example, the insulating spacer is provided with a mounting cavity penetrating along the transverse direction, and the second positioning member penetrates through the mounting cavity and is freely movable along the transverse direction.

Illustratively, the mounting cavity includes a groove recessed inward in the lateral direction from one of the two sides and a plurality of through holes extending from a groove bottom of the groove to the other of the two sides in the lateral direction, and the plurality of teeth include a plurality of first teeth protruding from a notch of the groove to the outside of the insulating spacer and a plurality of second teeth protruding from the through holes to the outside of the insulating spacer in one-to-one correspondence.

Illustratively, a connection of each of the plurality of second teeth with the positioning body is provided with a reinforcing rib.

Illustratively, the second positioning member is configured to control the gap.

Illustratively, the gap is between 0.01mm and 0.5 mm.

Illustratively, the electrical connector further comprises a third positioning member that fixes the plurality of conductors to the insulating spacer, the third positioning member and the heat fusion part being located on both sides of the second positioning member, respectively.

Illustratively, the plurality of conductors are fixed to the third positioning member, the insulating spacer is provided with oppositely-arranged clamping jaws on both ends in the longitudinal direction, respectively, the third positioning member is provided with notches on both ends in the longitudinal direction, respectively, and the clamping jaws clamp on the notches in a one-to-one correspondence.

Exemplarily, the third positioning member includes a first clamping member and a second clamping member, a concave portion with a small opening and a large bottom is provided on the first clamping member, a convex portion adapted to the concave portion is provided on the second clamping member, and conductors are disposed on both the first clamping member and the second clamping member.

In the electric connector of the embodiment of the disclosure, the first positioning members can be used for positioning the first parts of all the conductors, and the positions of all the conductors can be effectively positioned under the action of the first positioning members, so that the conductors cannot be displaced due to installation or transportation and the like. In this way, the conductor can be located at a desired position so that a desired gap can be maintained with other components. Further, the second positioning member also positions the second portion of the conductor, that is, the portion of the conductor can be positioned at two locations, so that its position holding ability is better. Those skilled in the art can select the type of the portion of the conductors as desired, or have all of the conductors simultaneously positioned by the first and second positioning members.

A series of concepts in a simplified form are introduced in the summary of the invention, which is described in further detail in the detailed description section. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Advantages and features of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

The following drawings of the present disclosure are included to provide an understanding of the present disclosure. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and their description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. In the drawings there is shown in the drawings,

fig. 1 is a rear perspective view of an electrical connector according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a bottom perspective view of another angle of the electrical connector shown in FIG. 1;

fig. 3 is a sectional view of the electrical connector shown in fig. 1 taken along a plane perpendicular to the X-X direction;

fig. 4A is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector shown in fig. 1 taken along a plane perpendicular to the Z-Z direction;

FIG. 4B is an enlarged partial view of the electrical connector shown in FIG. 4A;

fig. 5 is a rear perspective view of the internal structure of the electrical connector shown in fig. 1 with the insulative housing and conductors of the electrical connector removed;

FIG. 6 is a front perspective view of the internal structure shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the internal structure shown in FIG. 6 with the third positioning member removed;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the internal structure shown in FIG. 7 taken along a plane perpendicular to the X-X direction;

fig. 9 is a front perspective view of an insulating spacer inside an electrical connector according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; and

fig. 10 is a perspective view of a second positioning member inside an electrical connector according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

Wherein the figures include the following reference numerals:

100. an insulating housing; 110. a butt joint surface; 120. a mounting surface; 200. a conductor; 200a, an outer conductor; 200b, inner conductors; 201. a contact tail; 202. mounting the tail part; 203. a bending section; 204. a first straight edge portion; 205. a second straight edge portion; 210. a signal conductor; 220. a ground conductor; 300. a first positioning member; 310. a heat-melting section; 311. chamfering; 312. a notch; 400. a second positioning member; 410. a positioning body; 420. a tooth portion; 421. a first tooth portion; 422. a second tooth portion; 430. reinforcing ribs; 500. an insulating spacer; 501. a vertical section; 502. a horizontal segment; 510. a mounting cavity; 511. a groove; 512. a through hole; 520. a clamping jaw; 530. buckling; 540. chamfering; 550. a step; 600. a third positioning member; 601. a recess; 610. a first clamping member; 611. a recessed portion; 620. a second clamping member; 621. a projection.

Detailed Description

In the following description, numerous details are provided to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. One skilled in the art, however, will understand that the following description merely illustrates preferred embodiments of the disclosure and that the disclosure may be practiced without one or more of these details. Furthermore, some features that are well known in the art have not been described in detail in order to avoid obscuring the present disclosure.

With existing electrical connectors, in order to achieve a compact structure, it is common to provide multiple rows of conductors and to space the rows of conductors apart by insulating spacers. It is desirable that there is no gap between the conductor and the insulating spacer, and that other electrical properties of the electrical connector are designed in terms of the ability of the conductor to fit snugly against the insulating spacer.

The inventors have found that in actual production there is often a gap between the conductor and the insulating spacer, and that this gap is difficult to control. The difficulty of controlling the gap may include two aspects, on the one hand the shape and size of the gap is difficult to control; on the other hand, the position of the gap is difficult to control because the conductors are generally elongate structures, and other parts of the conductors need to be substantially separated by insulating spacers, except at the two ends of the conductors (e.g., the contact tails to be in electrical contact with a mating electrical connector or an electronic card inserted into the electrical connector and the mounting tails to be connected to a printed circuit board), where there may be gaps in any one or more of the small sections of the other parts. This uncertainty in the gap is highly undesirable. The inventors have recognized that this gap can result in high crosstalk of the electrical connector, thereby affecting signal transmission quality, resulting in poor Signal Integrity (SI). Moreover, the gap existing between the conductor and the insulating spacer may also change after long use of the electrical connector or during transport, and even during use the conductor vibrates along with the system due to the vibration of the system itself, which further results in a change of the gap. The difficulty of controlling the gap also introduces significant uncertainty into the electrical connector. For example, gaps may be inconsistent between different electrical connectors, which may introduce some uncertainty in the mass-produced electrical connectors, resulting in compromised consistency between the mass-produced electrical connectors.

The inventors have also recognized and appreciated a design for an electrical connector that prevents undesirable crosstalk, improves signal transmission quality and reduces crosstalk, and also maintains consistency between mass-produced electrical connectors. In some embodiments, an electrical connector may include a positioning assembly and a conductor. The positioning assembly can position the conductor so as to effectively control the position of the conductor. In this manner, the gap between the conductor and the insulating spacer can be effectively controlled, thereby ensuring that the size of the gap meets the desired requirements.

In this way, embodiments of the present disclosure provide electrical connectors that may effectively reduce crosstalk, thereby improving signal integrity, as compared to existing electrical connectors. The electrical connector can support the requirement of PCIE Gen5 (peripheral component interconnect Standard 5 th generation) for high speed performance, for example. Moreover, the electrical connector can have forward compatibility performance, for example, the requirement of PCIE Gen 3 and PCIE Gen 4 on high-speed performance can be supported.

The inventors have recognized and appreciated that various techniques may be used, either alone or in any suitable combination, to improve signal integrity for high speed interconnect systems. The techniques provided by the present disclosure may be particularly advantageous in right angle interconnect systems. The use of electrical connectors employing these techniques can be effective in improving the ability to provide good signal integrity in right angle interconnect systems.

Some embodiments of the electrical connector are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

For clarity and simplicity of description, the vertical direction Z-Z, the longitudinal direction X-X, and the lateral direction Y-Y are defined. The vertical direction Z-Z, the longitudinal direction X-X and the transverse direction Y-Y may be perpendicular to each other. The vertical direction Z-Z generally refers to the height direction of the electrical connector. The longitudinal direction X-X generally refers to the length direction of the electrical connector. The transverse direction Y-Y generally refers to the width direction of the electrical connector.

As shown in fig. 1-3 and 4A-4B, an electrical connector may include an insulative housing 100, a positioning assembly, and a plurality of conductors 200. In the illustrated embodiment, the electrical connector may be a right angle electrical connector. In embodiments not shown in the figures, the electrical connectors may also be vertical electrical connectors or the like.

The insulative housing 100 may have a mating face 110 and a mounting face 120. The longitudinal direction X-X may be parallel to the mating face 110 and the mounting face 120. In embodiments where the electrical connector is a right angle electrical connector, the mating face 110 and the mounting face 120 may be perpendicular to each other. In other types of electrical connectors, such as vertical connectors, the mating face 110 and the mounting face 120 may be opposite each other. The mating face 110 and the mounting face 120 function in a variety of electrical connectors generally the same regardless of the type of electrical connector. The insulating case 100 may be molded from an insulating material such as plastic. The insulating housing 100 is typically a unitary piece.

A plurality of conductors 200 may be disposed in the insulating housing 100. The plurality of conductors 200 may be arranged in rows along the longitudinal direction X-X. The number of rows is not limited and includes, but is not limited to, one row, two or more rows, and the like. In embodiments where the number of rows is multiple, multiple rows of conductors 200 may be spaced apart in a predetermined direction. The predetermined direction is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction X-X. I.e. the predetermined direction is any direction in the plane of the vertical direction Z-Z and the lateral direction Y-Y configuration.

Adjacent conductors 200 within each row may be spaced apart to ensure that adjacent conductors 200 are electrically isolated from each other. The conductor 200 may be made of a conductive material such as metal. Conductor 200 is generally an elongated, unitary piece. Each conductor 200 may include a contact tail 201 and a mounting tail 202 at both ends of the conductor 200 along its direction of extension. The portion between the contact tail 201 and the mounting tail 202 may be referred to as the middle portion. The contact tails 201 may be used to electrically connect with electrical components such as electronic cards or mating conductors on a mating electrical connector. The mounting tails 202 can be electrically connected to the printed circuit board by any suitable means, such as soldering, to thereby electrically connect to the printed circuit board. In this manner, the electrical connector may electrically connect the electrical component and the printed circuit board via the conductors 200, thereby enabling interconnection of the circuitry on the electrical component with the printed circuitry on the circuit board. Contact tail 201 of conductor 200 may extend to mating face 110. Illustratively, the mating face 110 may form a mating interface of the electrical connector. The mating interface includes, but is not limited to, a socket. The socket may receive an electrical component such as an electronic card or mating electrical connector. The mounting tail portions 202 of the conductors 200 may extend beyond the mounting face 120. The mounting surface 120 may face a printed circuit board or the like.

The positioning assembly may be used to position conductor 200 to act as a fixation for conductor 200. The positioning assembly includes, but is not limited to, a clamping jaw or a snap. In one embodiment, the positioning assembly may include a first positioning member 300 and a second positioning member 400. The first positioning member 300 may position the first portions of the plurality of conductors 200 by one or more of clamping, snapping, bonding, welding, screwing, and the like. The first location may be one and is near or located at a contact tail 201 or a mounting tail 202 of a conductor 200. The first location may be a plurality, e.g., two, located near or at the contact tail 201 and the mounting tail 202 of the conductor 200, respectively. Second positioning member 400 may position a second location (e.g., a middle portion of a conductor) on at least a portion of plurality of conductors 200. The first and second locations may be spaced apart along the direction of extension of the conductor 200. The portion of the conductor 200 where the second positioning member 400 is positioned may be a specific type of conductor, such as a ground conductor or a signal conductor, or may be a high-speed signal conductor among signal conductors. When the conductors on which the second positioning member 400 is positioned are signal conductors, the second positioning member 400 is preferably made of an insulating material. When the conductor located by the second locating member 400 is a ground conductor, the second locating member 400 may be made of an insulating material, a conductive material or a lossy material. When the second positioning member 400 is made of an insulating material, it can be positioned with both the signal conductor and the ground conductor. Alternatively, second positioning members of different materials may be provided for the signal conductors and the ground conductors, respectively, and the different second positioning members are used for positioning the signal conductors and the ground conductors, respectively.

In the electrical connector according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first positioning member 300 can position the first portions of all the conductors 200, and the positions of all the conductors 200 can be effectively positioned by the first positioning member 300, so that the conductors are not displaced due to installation or transportation. In this way, the conductor 200 can be located at a desired position so that a desired gap can be maintained with other components (e.g., an insulating spacer 500 to be mentioned later). Further, the second positioning member 400 also positions the second portion of the conductor 200, that is, it can be positioned at two portions for the portion of the conductor, and thus its position holding ability is better. Those skilled in the art can select the type of this portion of conductors as desired, or have all conductors 200 positioned by first and

second positioning members

300 and 400 simultaneously.

By properly designing the structures of the first and

second positioning members

300 and 400, the conductor 200 can be positioned at a desired position, and thus, the gap between the conductor 200 and the insulating spacer 500 can be precisely controlled. Therefore, the electric connector can effectively reduce crosstalk, thereby improving the signal transmission quality and having better integrity of transmission signals. And the batch consistency of the electric connector is better.

Since a portion of the conductor 200 is positioned by the first and

second positioning members

300 and 400 at the same time, the position of the portion of the conductor is relatively more stable. First positioning member 300 applies a first positioning force to a first portion of conductor 200 and second positioning member 400 applies a second positioning force to a second portion of conductor 200. Preferably, one of the first and second positioning forces comprises a pushing force toward the outside of the insulating housing 100, and the other of the first and second positioning forces comprises a pulling force toward the inside of the insulating housing. Illustratively, when the location is on or adjacent to an end of the conductor, the positioning force applied to the portion may include a pulling force toward the interior of the insulated housing 100. When the location is located at the middle of the conductor, the locating force applied to the portion may include a pushing force toward the outside of the insulating housing 100. By applying positioning forces in at least two directions to the same conductor, the conductor can be made to have a greater position holding ability, in which case the position of the conductor can be accurately controlled by properly designing the structure of the positioning member.

The contact tails 201 of the conductors 200 are to make electrical contact with a mating electrical connector or an electronic card inserted into the electrical connector. The contact tails 201 are intended to exert a clamping force on a mating electrical connector or electronic card to make a reliable electrical contact, and it is therefore desirable that the contact tails 201 be biased or have a curvature inwardly toward the interior of the insulative housing 100. For the first portion closer to the contact tail 201 than the second portion, the first positioning member 300 exerts a pulling force toward the inside of the insulative housing 100 at the first portion to facilitate a reliable electrical contact between the contact tail 201 and the mating electrical connector or the electronic card. The mounting tail portions 202 are to be connected to a printed circuit board, which tends to be miniaturized, and thus, a mounting space thereon is limited. The first positioning member 300 exerts a pulling force toward the inside of the insulative housing 100 at the first location closer to the mounting tail 202 than the second location, which is more advantageous for the mounting tail 202 to occupy less space, i.e., not occupy too much space on the printed circuit board. When the second positioning member 400 applies an outward pushing force to the second portion located in the middle of the conductor, the entire conductor 200 can be stably held at a desired position with excellent position holding ability, and the position of the conductor 200 can be directly and effectively adjusted by adjusting the size or configuration of the second positioning member 400.

Illustratively, the electrical connector may further include an insulating spacer 500. The first and

second positioning members

300 and 400 may be respectively disposed on the insulating spacer 500 by any suitable means such as welding, bonding, insertion, or molding. The insulating spacer 500 may be formed of an insulating material such as plastic using a molding process. The first and

second positioning members

300 and 400 and the insulating spacer 500 may be made of the same material or different materials. Since the first positioning member 300 and the second positioning member 400 are both disposed on the insulating spacer 500, the positional relationship between the first positioning member 300 and the second positioning member 400 is relatively fixed, so that the positioning effect on the conductor 200 can be better, and the integrity of the transmission signal can be better ensured.

In other embodiments, the first and

second positioning members

300 and 400 may be all provided on the insulating housing 100. Alternatively, some of the first and

second positioning members

300 and 400 may be disposed on the insulating spacer 500 and the others on the insulating case 100.

For example, the second positioning member 400 may abut against a middle portion of at least a portion of the plurality of conductors 200 toward the outside of the insulating housing 100. In embodiments where the electrical connector is a right angle electrical connector, the conductor 200 may be bent substantially in an L-shape. The second positioning member 400 may be located between the bent portions 203 of the plurality of conductors 200 and the mounting surface 120. The second positioning member 400 may be closer to the bent portion 203 than the mounting surface 120. Since the mounting tail portions 202 of the conductors 200 at the mounting face 120 typically need to be soldered to the printed circuit board, the gap at this location is more difficult to control. By providing the second positioning member 400 here, the gap at that location can be heavily controlled, thereby ensuring good integrity of the transmitted signal.

For example, the second positioning member 400 may be configured to control the gap S between the plurality of conductors 200 and the insulating spacer 500. The gap S is preferably uniform along the length of the plurality of conductors 200. Thus, the integrity of the transmission signal can be ensured to be better. For right angle electrical connectors, each conductor 200 is typically bent to form a bend 203, as shown in fig. 3. The bent portion 203 may be substantially right-angled. In a typical right angle electrical connector, the insulating spacer 500 is also generally L-shaped. Thus, the gap S may be substantially L-shaped along the length of the plurality of conductors 200. In particular, the gap S may include a first gap extending substantially along the vertical direction Z-Z and a second gap extending substantially along the lateral direction Y-Y. In the drawing, the gap S is shown only between the inner conductor 200b and the insulating spacer 500, and the gap between the outer conductor 200a and the insulating spacer 500 is not shown, but actually, a gap is also present between the outer conductor 200a and the insulating spacer 500. Outer conductors 200a refer to those conductors that are half-surrounded by insulating spacer 500, and inner conductors 200b refer to those conductors that are half-surrounded by insulating spacer 500, outer conductors 200a being longer than inner conductors 200 and located to the upper right of inner conductors 200b in fig. 3. Insulating spacer 500 is positioned between outer conductor 200a and inner conductor 200 b. The second positioning member 400 may protrude to both sides of the insulating spacer 500 to abut against the outer conductor 200a and the inner conductor 200b, respectively, so that the gap between the outer conductor 200a and the insulating spacer 500 and the gap between the inner conductor 200b and the insulating spacer 500 may be controlled, respectively.

Illustratively, for a vertical electrical connector, the conductors on both sides of the insulating spacer are substantially linear. Typically, the insulating spacers are substantially rectangular. The conductors may be symmetrically distributed on both sides of the insulating spacer, in which case the second positioning member may also be configured to control the gap between these conductors and the insulating spacer. For example, the second positioning member may protrude to both sides of the insulating spacer, abutting against the conductors of both sides, respectively.

Illustratively, the gap S may be between 0.01mm and 0.5 mm. For example, the gap S may be 0.01mm, 0.25mm, 0.5mm, or the like. Too large a gap S may result in too high an impedance of conductor 200. Further, the size of the electrical connector is increased, which is contrary to the trend of miniaturization. The gap S is too small resulting in too low an impedance of the conductor 200. Further, a resonance phenomenon may occur. Such resonance may interfere with the signal, such that the signal integrity of the electrical connector may not meet the crosstalk requirements of PCIE CEM (Card electrical) GEN 5.

With continued reference to fig. 3, each conductor 200 may further include a first straight edge portion 204 connected between the mounting tail portion 202 and the bent portion 203, and a second straight edge portion 205 connected between the contact tail portion 201 and the bent portion 203. The second locating member 400 may abut against the first straight edge portion 204 of the conductor 200. Specifically, for the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the second positioning member 400 may abut against the first straight edge portion 204 of the outer conductor 200a and the first straight edge portion 204 of the inner conductor 200b in the lateral direction. The second positioning member 400 may extend beyond the first straight edge portion 204 of the inner conductor 200b in a direction away from the mounting surface 120. The second positioning member 400 may be located on one side of the L-shaped insulating spacer 500, for example, on the vertical section 501 of the insulating spacer 500. The second positioning member 400 may abut against another edge of the L-shaped insulating spacer 500, for example, against the horizontal section 502 of the insulating spacer 500. Wherein the vertical section 501 is perpendicular to the mounting surface 120 and the horizontal section 502 is parallel to the mounting surface 120. Specifically, the second positioning member 400 may rest on a surface of the horizontal segment 502 facing the mounting surface 120. Since the second positioning member 400 protrudes out of the insulating spacer 500 toward the inner conductor 200b, the portion of the second positioning member 400 protruding out of the insulating spacer 500 can limit the horizontal section 502 of the insulating spacer 500, and thus the gap between the horizontal section 502 and the second straight edge portion 205 of the inner conductor 200b can also be adjusted to some extent.

The second positioning member 400 may be penetratingly disposed on the insulating spacer 500 in the transverse direction Y-Y. The overall length D of the second positioning member 400 may be greater than the length C of the horizontal segment 502, as shown in fig. 4B. In this way, when the second positioning member 400 is mounted in place, the second positioning member 400 may protrude from both sides in the lateral direction out of the insulating spacer 500. The spacing between each row of conductors 200 against which the second positioning member 400 abuts and the insulating spacer 500 may be half of the sum D-C of the spacings between the two rows of conductors 200 and the insulating spacer 500, respectively, i.e., equal to (D-C)/2. The arrangement of the spacing is described later in connection with a preferred embodiment. Alternatively, the second positioning member 400 may also be provided so that the position thereof can be self-adjusted in the lateral direction on the insulating spacer 500 in accordance with the force applied thereto by the outer conductor 200a and the inner conductor 200 b. Optionally, the position of the second positioning member 400 on the insulating spacer 500 is fixed, non-adjustable. Thus, when second positioning member 400 is fixed, the size of the gap between outer conductor 200a and inner conductor 200b and insulating spacer 500 is determined.

The insulating spacer 500 may be disposed in the insulating housing 100 by any suitable means such as welding, gluing, or plugging. For example, as shown in fig. 5 to 8, both ends of the insulating spacer 500 in the longitudinal direction X-X may be provided with snaps 530. The insulating housing 100 may be provided with a slot adapted to the latch 530. The insulating spacer 500 may be snapped into a snap 530 of the insulating housing 100. With this configuration, the connection structure of the insulating spacer 500 and the insulating housing 100 is simple, the manufacturing cost is low, and the installation and the removal are convenient.

For example, as shown in fig. 5-9, and preferably in fig. 8, the insulating spacer 500 may be provided with a step 550 thereon. The step 550 may protrude outward from the side of the insulating spacer 500. In the illustrated embodiment, steps 550 are provided on both sides of the insulating spacer 500. The two sides of the insulating spacer 500 face the two rows of conductors 200, respectively. The two sides may be oppositely arranged in the transverse direction Y-Y. The first positioning member 300 may be disposed on the step 550. The first locating members 300 may be separate from each other, with the separate first locating members 300 sharing the step 550. The ends of plurality of conductors 200 (i.e., mounting tails 202) may rest on step 550.

Illustratively, the electrical connector may further include a third positioning member 600. Third positioning member 600 may position a third location of plurality of conductors 200. The third positioning member 600 and the first positioning member 300 may be respectively located at both sides of the second positioning member 400. Third positioning member 600 may secure a third location of plurality of conductors 200 to insulating spacer 500. The third location may be near or located at the contact tail 201 of the conductor 200. By providing the third positioning member 600, the conductor 200 can be further positioned, so that the integrity of the transmission signal can be further ensured.

As previously described, the first positioning member 300 applies a first positioning force to the first location and the second positioning member 400 applies a second positioning force to the second location. Third positioning member 600 may apply a third positioning force to a third location of conductor 200. The first and third positioning forces may include an inner pulling force toward the insulating case 100, and the second positioning force may include an outer pushing force toward the insulating case 100. When the first positioning member 300 and the third positioning member 600 respectively apply tensile forces to both sides of the second positioning member 400 and the second positioning member 400 applies a pushing force toward the outside at the second portion located in the middle of the conductor 200, the entire conductor 200 can be stably held at a desired position and excellent position holding ability is provided, and the position of the conductor 200 can be directly and effectively adjusted by adjusting the size or configuration of the second positioning member 400.

Illustratively, the plurality of conductors 200 may be secured to the third positioning member 600 by any suitable means, such as by plugging. The third positioning member 600 may be fixed to the insulating spacer 500. The insulating spacer 500 may be provided with the jaws 520 oppositely disposed on both ends in the longitudinal direction X-X, respectively. The third positioning member 600 may be provided with notches 601 on both ends thereof in the longitudinal direction X-X, respectively. The clamping jaws 520 may clamp onto the notches 601 in a one-to-one correspondence. With the arrangement, the electric connector is simple in structure and low in manufacturing cost.

Illustratively, the third positioning member 600 may include a first clamp 610 and a second clamp 620. The first clamping member 610 may be provided with a recess 611. The recess 611 may have a shape with a small opening and a large bottom. A protrusion 621 may be provided on the second clamping member 620. The protrusion 621 may be fittingly connected with the recess 611. Conductors 200 are disposed through both first clamping member 610 and second clamping member 620. So configured, the third positioning member 600 is easy to mount and dismount.

In other embodiments, third positioning member 600 may also sandwich plurality of conductors 200 between third positioning member 600 and insulating spacer 500, or secure plurality of conductors 200 to insulating spacer 500 by any other suitable means.

Illustratively, the plurality of conductors 200 may include a plurality of signal conductors 210 and a plurality of ground conductors 220. A plurality of ground conductors 220 may be distributed among the plurality of signal conductors 210. The plurality of signal conductors 210 and the plurality of ground conductors 220 may be arranged in various desired patterns. In the embodiment shown in the figures, the signal conductors 210 may be present in pairs to form differential signal conductor pairs for transmitting differential signals. The ground conductors 220 may be located between any adjacent two pairs of signal conductors 210. Differential signal conductor pairs may be used to transmit high speed signals to reduce crosstalk. Alternatively, the signal conductor 210 may also be used to transmit single-ended signals.

Exemplarily, the second positioning member 400 may be made of a lossy material. The second positioning member 400 may abut against the plurality of ground conductors 220. Such materials can be considered lossy: the material dissipates a sufficient portion of the electromagnetic energy to interact with the material to significantly affect the performance of the connector. The important effect is caused by attenuation in the frequency range where the connector is of interest. In some configurations, the lossy material can suppress resonance within the ground structure of the connector, and the frequency range of interest can include the natural frequency of the resonant structure without the lossy material in place. In other configurations, the frequency range of interest may be all or a portion of the operating frequency range of the connector.

To test whether a material is lossy, the material may be tested in a frequency range that can be less than or different from the frequency range that is detrimental to the connector in which it is used. For example, the test frequency may range from 10GHz to 25GHz. Alternatively, the lossy material may be identified from measurements taken at a single frequency, such as 15 GHz.

Losses may be caused by the interaction of the electric field component of the electromagnetic energy with the material, in which case the material may be referred to as electrically lossy. Alternatively or additionally, the loss may be caused by an interaction of a magnetic field component of electromagnetic energy with the material, in which case the material may be referred to as magnetically lossy.

The electrically lossy material can be formed of a lossy dielectric material and/or a poorly conductive material. Electrically lossy materials can be formed from materials conventionally considered dielectric materials, such as those having an electrical loss tangent (electrical loss tangent) greater than about 0.01, greater than 0.05, or between 0.01 and 0.2 over the frequency range of interest. "electric tan delta" is the ratio of the imaginary to the real part of the complex dielectric constant of a material.

Electrically lossy materials can also be formed from materials that are generally considered conductors, but are relatively poor conductors in the frequency range of interest. These materials may conduct electricity in the frequency range of interest but with some loss, so that the material is less conductive than the conductor of the electrical connector but better than the insulator used in the connector. Such materials may comprise conductive particles or regions that are sufficiently dispersed such that they do not provide high conductivity, or that are otherwise prepared to have such properties: this property results in relatively weak bulk conductivity compared to good conductors such as copper in the frequency range of interest. For example, die cast metals or poorly conducting metal alloys may provide sufficient losses in certain configurations.

Electrically lossy materials of this type typically have a bulk conductivity of from about 1 siemens/meter (siemens/meter) to about 100,000 siemens/meter, or from about 1 siemens/meter to about 30,000 siemens/meter, or from 1 siemens/meter to about 10,000 siemens/meter. In some embodiments, materials having a bulk conductivity between about 1 siemens/meter to about 500 siemens/meter may be used. As a specific example, a material having an electrical conductivity between about 50 siemens/m and 300 siemens/m may be used. It should be understood, however, that the conductivity of the material may be selected empirically or by electrical simulation using known simulation tools to determine the conductivity that provides suitable Signal Integrity (SI) characteristics in the connector. For example, the measured or simulated SI characteristic may be low crosstalk combined with low signal path attenuation or insertion loss, or low insertion loss deviation as a function of frequency.

It should also be understood that the lossy member need not have uniform properties throughout its volume. For example, the lossy member may have, for example, an insulating sheath or a conductive core. A component may be identified as lossy if its properties are, on average, sufficient to attenuate electromagnetic energy in the region of interaction with the electromagnetic energy.

In some embodiments, the lossy material is formed by adding a filler comprising particles to a binder. In such embodiments, the lossy member may be formed by molding or otherwise shaping the binder with the filler into a desired form. The lossy material may be molded over and/or through openings in conductors, which may be ground conductors or shields of the connector. Molding the lossy material over or through openings in the conductor can ensure intimate contact between the lossy material and the conductor, which can reduce the likelihood that the conductor will support resonance at the frequencies of interest. Such intimate contact may, but need not, result in ohmic contact between the lossy material and the conductor.

Alternatively or additionally, the lossy material can be molded over or injected into the insulative material, for example, in a two-shot molding operation, or vice versa. The lossy material may be positioned against or sufficiently close to the ground conductor so as to have significant coupling with the ground conductor. Close contact does not require electrical coupling between the lossy material and the conductor, as sufficient electrical coupling, such as capacitive coupling, between the lossy member and the conductor can produce the desired result. For example, a coupling of 100pF between the lossy member and the ground conductor may have a significant effect on suppressing resonance in the ground conductor in some cases. In other examples employing frequencies in the range of about 10GHz or higher, the reduction in electromagnetic energy in the conductor can be provided by sufficient capacitive coupling between the lossy material and the conductor having a mutual capacitance of at least about 0.005pF, such as a mutual capacitance in the range of between about 0.01pF and about 100pF, between about 0.01pF and about 10pF, or between about 0.01pF and about 1 pF. To determine whether a lossy material is coupled to a conductor, the coupling may be measured at a test frequency such as 15GHz or in a test range such as 10GHz to 25GHz.

To form an electrically lossy material, the filler can be conductive particles. Examples of conductive particles that may be used as fillers to form electrically lossy materials include carbon or graphite formed into fibers, flakes, nanoparticles, or other types of particles. Various forms of fibers, either woven or non-woven, coated or non-coated, may be used. Non-woven carbon fibers are one suitable material. Metals in the form of powders, flakes, fibers, or other particles may also be used to provide suitable electrical loss characteristics. Alternatively, a combination of fillers may be used. For example, metal-plated carbon particles may be used. Silver and nickel are suitable metal coatings for the fibers. The coated particles may be used alone or in combination with other fillers such as carbon flakes.

Preferably, the filler will be present in a volume percentage sufficient to allow the formation of a conductive path from particle to particle. For example, when metal fibers are used, the fibers may be present at about 3% to 40% by volume. The amount of filler can affect the conductive properties of the material.

The binder or matrix may be any material that will set to position the filler, cure to position the filler, or can otherwise be used to position the filler. In some embodiments, the bonding agent may be a thermoplastic material conventionally used in the manufacture of electrical connectors to facilitate molding the electrically lossy material into a desired shape and into a desired location as part of the manufacture of the electrical connector. Examples of such materials include Liquid Crystal Polymers (LCP) and nylon. However, many alternative forms of binder material may be used. A curable material such as epoxy may be used as the binder. Alternatively, a material such as a thermosetting resin or an adhesive may be used.

While the binder material described above may be used to form an electrically lossy material by forming a binder around a filler of conductive particles, other binders or otherwise lossy materials may be used. In some examples, the conductive particles may be impregnated into the formed matrix material or may be coated onto the formed matrix material, for example by applying a conductive coating to a plastic or metal part. As used herein, the term "binder" includes materials that encapsulate, are impregnated with, or otherwise serve as a substrate to retain a filler.

For example, the magnetically lossy material can be formed from materials that are conventionally considered ferromagnetic materials, such as those having a magnetic loss tangent (magnetic loss tangent) greater than about 0.05 over the frequency range of interest. The "magnetic loss tangent value" is the ratio of the imaginary part to the real part of the complex permittivity of a material. Materials with higher tan delta values may also be used.

In some embodiments, the magnetically lossy material may be formed of a binder or matrix material filled with particles that provide the layer with magnetically lossy characteristics. The magnetically lossy particles may be in any convenient form, such as flakes or fibers. Ferrites are common magnetically lossy materials. Materials such as magnesium ferrite, nickel ferrite, lithium ferrite, yttrium garnet, or aluminum garnet may be used. In the frequency range of interest, ferrites generally have a magnetic loss tangent higher than 0.1. Presently preferred ferrite materials have a loss tangent of between about 0.1 and 1.0 in the frequency range of 1GHz to 3GHz, and more preferably a magnetic loss tangent higher than 0.5 in this frequency range.

The actual magnetically lossy material or mixture containing magnetically lossy material may also exhibit dielectric loss or conductive loss effects of useful magnitude over portions of the frequency range of interest. Similar to the manner in which electrically lossy materials can be formed as described above, suitable materials can be formed by adding fillers that produce magnetic losses to the binder.

The material may be both lossy dielectric or lossy conductor and magnetically lossy material. Such a material may be formed, for example, by using a partially conductive magnetically lossy filler or by using a combination of a magnetically lossy filler and an electrically lossy filler.

The lossy portion can also be formed in a variety of ways. In some examples, the binder material and filler may be molded into a desired shape and then fixed in that shape. In other examples, the binder material may be formed into a sheet or other shape from which a lossy member having a desired shape may be cut. In some embodiments, the lossy portion may be formed by interleaving layers of lossy and conductive material, such as metal foil. The layers may be securely attached to each other, such as by using epoxy or other adhesive, or may be held together in any other suitable manner. The layers may have a desired shape before they can be secured to one another, or may be stamped or otherwise formed after they are held together. As a further alternative, the lossy portion may be formed by plating plastic or other insulating material with a lossy coating such as a diffused metal coating.

Although the above structure can effectively control the size of the gap S between the conductor 200 and the side surface of the insulating spacer 500, it is difficult to precisely control the gap S in mass production. The second locating member 400, which is made of lossy material, is effective to suppress resonances in the ground conductors 220, such that a shield is formed between adjacent signal conductors or pairs of signal conductors, thereby preventing crosstalk of signals carried on one signal conductor 210 on another signal conductor 210. Therefore, the signal interference can be reduced by inhibiting the resonance, and the signal transmission speed and the signal integrity are effectively improved. Shielding may also affect the impedance of each conductor 200, which may further contribute to obtaining desired electrical properties.

Illustratively, the plurality of conductors 200 may be arranged in two rows along the longitudinal direction X-X on both sides of the insulating spacer 500. Both sides of the insulating spacer 500 may be oppositely disposed in a predetermined direction. Illustratively, the predetermined direction may be a lateral direction Y-Y. The second positioning member 400 may protrude from both lateral ends of the insulating spacer 500 in the lateral direction Y-Y. The second positioning member 400 may be clamped between at least a portion of the conductors 200 in the two rows of conductors 200 in the transverse direction Y-Y.

The second positioning member 400 may include a positioning body 410 and a plurality of teeth 420. The positioning body 410 may be accommodated within the insulating spacer 500. The plurality of teeth 420 may protrude out of the insulating spacer 500 from both sides of the insulating spacer 500. Wherein the plurality of teeth 420 may abut against a middle portion of at least a portion of the plurality of conductors 200. Accordingly, the gap between the two rows of conductors 200 may be the width of the second positioning member 400. In this way, the gap between the two rows of conductors 200 is better controlled.

For example, the insulating spacer 500 may be provided with a mounting cavity 510 penetrating in a predetermined direction. The second positioning member 400 may be inserted into the installation cavity 510. The second positioning member 400 may be freely movable in a predetermined direction. As such, the second positioning member 400 and the insulating spacer 500 may be easily mounted and dismounted.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 9-10, the mounting cavity 510 may include a recess 511 and a plurality of through-holes 512. The groove 511 may be recessed inward in a predetermined direction from one of both sides of the insulating spacer 500. The plurality of through holes 512 may extend from the groove bottom of the groove 511 to the other of the two sides in a predetermined direction. Plurality of teeth 420 may include a plurality of first teeth 421 and a plurality of second teeth 422. The plurality of first teeth 421 may protrude from the notches of the groove 511 to the outside of the insulation spacer 500. The plurality of second teeth 422 may protrude from the plurality of through holes 512 out of the insulating spacer 500 in one-to-one correspondence. The second positioning member 400 may be movably moved in a predetermined direction so as to be inserted into or withdrawn from the notch of the groove 511. When the second positioning member 400 is inserted into the mounting cavity 510, the groove bottom of the groove 511 can serve as a limiting function, so that the second positioning member 400 can be located at a desired position along a predetermined direction. The plurality of through holes 512 may further serve as a stopper so that the second positioning member 400 may be located at a desired position in the longitudinal direction X-X. Therefore, the mounting cavity 510 has a good positioning effect on the second positioning member 400.

For example, in the predetermined direction, the length B of the plurality of second teeth 422 may be greater than the distance a from the roots of the plurality of second teeth 422 to the notches of the grooves 511; and the total length D of the second positioning member 400 may be greater than the length C of the mounting cavity 510. In this way, when the second positioning member 400 is mounted in place, the second positioning member 400 may protrude out of the insulating spacer 500 from both sides of the mounting cavity 510 in a predetermined direction. The spacing between the row of conductors 200 and the insulating spacer 500 against which the second tooth 422 abuts may be B-ase:Sub>A. The sum of the distances between the two rows of conductors 200 and the insulating spacers 500, respectively, may be D-C. Thus, the spacing B-A between each row of conductors 200 and insulating spacer 500 may be (D-C)/2.

For example, the length of the plurality of second teeth 422 may be greater than the length of the plurality of first teeth 421. In this manner, the thickness of the groove bottom of the groove 511 can be relatively large, so that the mechanical strength of the mounting cavity 510 can be ensured.

For example, the length of the plurality of second teeth 422 may be greater than the length of the plurality of through holes 512. In this way, when the second positioning member 400 abuts against the groove bottom of the groove 511, the plurality of second teeth 422 can protrude from the plurality of through holes 512 out of the insulating spacer 500 in one-to-one correspondence.

For example, the first plurality of teeth 421 may have a decreasing longitudinal dimension in the direction from the roots to the tips of the teeth. With this arrangement, the tooth root can ensure a relatively high mechanical strength of the plurality of first teeth 421. The tooth tips may prevent the plurality of first teeth 421 from contacting the other conductors 200.

Illustratively, the plurality of second teeth 422 may have a decreasing longitudinal dimension in a direction from root to tip. So arranged, the tooth root may ensure a relatively high mechanical strength of the second plurality of teeth 422. The tips may prevent the plurality of second teeth 422 from contacting other conductors 200. Also, the plurality of second tooth portions 422 may also function as a guide, thereby facilitating insertion of the plurality of through holes 512 in a one-to-one correspondence.

For example, an edge of each of the plurality of through holes 512 facing the second tooth 422 may be provided with a chamfer 540. The chamfer 540 functions as a guide to facilitate the insertion of the plurality of second teeth 422 into the plurality of through holes 512 in a one-to-one correspondence.

Illustratively, the connection of each of the plurality of second tooth portions 422 to the positioning body 410 may be provided with a reinforcing rib 430. The reinforcing rib 430 can reinforce the mechanical strength of the plurality of second teeth 422, and even if the length of the plurality of second teeth 422 is long, the plurality of second teeth 422 are less likely to break.

In a preferred embodiment, a plurality of the thermal fuses 310 may be provided on the insulating spacer 500. The plurality of fuse parts 310 may protrude from the insulating spacer 500. In an embodiment in which both sides of the insulating spacer 500 may be oppositely disposed in the transverse direction Y-Y, the heat fusion parts 310 may protrude outward from both sides of the insulating spacer 500 opposite in the transverse direction Y-Y, respectively. A plurality of the heat fuses 310 may be disposed at intervals in the longitudinal direction X-X.

The plurality of heat fusion parts 310 may serve as the first positioning member 300. The plurality of heat fusion parts 310 may be heat-fused to the ends of the plurality of conductors 200. The heat fusion part 310 may be made of a thermoplastic material such as polypropylene (PP), acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), or Polycarbonate (PC). Thermoplastic materials are known to those skilled in the art and will not be described in detail for the sake of brevity.

In actual production, after the conductor 200 is disposed at a desired position, the heat-fusible part 310 may be heated by a high-frequency welder or other devices, so that the heat-fusible part 310 is heat-fused, and the end of the conductor 200 may be wrapped. When the heat-fusible part 310 is cooled, the heat-fusible part 310 may heat-fuse the end of the conductor 200 to be fixed. With such an arrangement, the fixing strength of the heat-melting part 310 to the end of the conductor 200 is high, and the positioning effect on the conductor 200 is good, so that the size of the gap can be controlled to meet the expected requirement, and the integrity of the transmission signal is ensured to be good. In addition, the production process has the advantages of high efficiency, energy conservation, low production cost, high product quality and the like.

Illustratively, one conductor 200 may be disposed between any two adjacent thermofuses 310 along the longitudinal direction X-X. With this arrangement, the end of the conductor 200 can be uniformly wrapped by the heat-fusible part 310 after the heat-fusible part 310 is melted, thereby preventing the individual conductor 200 from being fixed by the heat-fusible part 310. Moreover, each of the heat-fusible parts 310 may also play a role in limiting before being heat-fused and fixed to the ends of the conductors 200, and a worker may place the conductors 200 in the gaps between two adjacent heat-fusible parts 310 in a one-to-one correspondence manner, so that the conductors 200 may be pre-positioned.

For example, each of the plurality of heat fusible parts 310 may protrude out of the plurality of conductors 200 before being thermally fused to the end portions of the plurality of conductors 200. The edge of the protruding end of the plurality of fuse parts 310 may be provided with a chamfer 311. Chamfer 311 may act as a guide to facilitate placement of conductor 200 in the gap between two adjacent hotmelts 310.

For example, one end of each of the plurality of heat-fusible parts 310 close to the mounting surface 120 may be provided with a notch 312. The notches 312 may allow more space at the mounting face 120 to facilitate soldering of the conductors 200 to a printed circuit board.

Thus, the present disclosure has been described in terms of several embodiments, but it will be appreciated that numerous variations, modifications, and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art in light of the teachings of the disclosure, and that such variations, modifications, and improvements are within the spirit and scope of the disclosure as claimed. The scope of the disclosure is defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof. The foregoing embodiments are presented for purposes of illustration and description only and are not intended to limit the present disclosure to the scope of the described embodiments.

In the description of the present disclosure, it is to be understood that the orientation or positional relationship indicated by the orientation words such as "front", "rear", "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "lateral", "vertical", "horizontal" and "top", "bottom", etc., are usually based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience of description and simplicity of description, and in the case of not making a reverse explanation, these orientation words do not indicate and imply that the device or element being referred to must have a specific orientation or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore, should not be considered as limiting the scope of the present disclosure; the terms "inner" and "outer" refer to the interior and exterior relative to the contours of the components themselves.

Various changes may be made to the structures illustrated and described herein. For example, the positioning assembly described above may be used with any suitable electrical connector, such as backplane connectors, daughter card connectors, stacking connectors, mezzanine connectors, I/O connectors, chip sockets, gen Z connectors, and the like.

Moreover, while many of the inventive aspects are described above with reference to a right angle electrical connector, it should be understood that aspects of the present disclosure are not so limited. As such, any one of the inventive features, alone or in combination with one or more other inventive features, can also be used with other types of electrical connectors, such as coplanar electrical connectors and the like.

For ease of description, spatially relative terms such as "over 8230 \ 8230;,"' over 8230;, \8230; upper surface "," above ", etc. may be used herein to describe the spatial relationship of one or more components or features to other components or features as illustrated in the figures. It is understood that the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass not only the orientation of the component as depicted in the figures, but also different orientations in use or operation. For example, if an element in the drawings is turned over in its entirety, the articles "over" or "on" other elements or features will include the articles "under" or "beneath" the other elements or features. Thus, the exemplary terms "at 8230; \8230; 'above" may include both orientations "at 8230; \8230;' above 8230; 'at 8230;' below 8230;" above ". Further, these components or features may also be positioned at various other angles (e.g., rotated 90 degrees or other angles), all of which are intended to be encompassed herein.

It is noted that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of exemplary embodiments according to the present application. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and/or "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, and it should be understood that when the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising" are used in this specification, they specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or combinations thereof, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

It should be noted that the terms "first," "second," and the like in the description and claims of this application and in the accompanying drawings are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the data so used is interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the application described herein are capable of operation in other sequences than those illustrated or described herein.

Claims

1. An electrical connector, comprising:

an insulating housing having a mating face and a mounting face;

a plurality of conductors disposed in the insulative housing, the plurality of conductors arranged in a row along a longitudinal direction, each of the plurality of conductors extending from the mating face beyond the mounting face, the longitudinal direction being parallel to the mating face and the mounting face; and

a positioning assembly including a first positioning member to position a first location of the plurality of conductors and a second positioning member to position a second location of at least a portion of the plurality of conductors, the first and second locations being spaced apart along a direction of extension of the plurality of conductors.

2. The electrical connector of claim 1, further comprising an insulative spacer disposed within the insulative housing, the first and second positioning members each being disposed on the insulative spacer.

3. The electrical connector of claim 2, wherein a plurality of heat-fusible portions are provided on the insulating spacer, projecting and spaced apart in the longitudinal direction, and are heat-fused to ends of the plurality of conductors as the first positioning member.

4. The electrical connector of claim 3, wherein one conductor is disposed between any adjacent two of the heat-fusible parts in the longitudinal direction.

5. The electrical connector of claim 3, wherein each of the plurality of heat-fusible parts protrudes out of the plurality of conductors before being heat-fused to the end portions of the plurality of conductors, and an edge of the protruding end is provided with a chamfer.

6. The electrical connector of claim 3, wherein each of the plurality of heat stakes is notched at an end adjacent the mounting surface.

7. The electrical connector of claim 2, wherein the plurality of conductors includes a plurality of signal conductors and a plurality of ground conductors, the plurality of ground conductors being distributed among the plurality of signal conductors, the second locating member being made of a lossy material, the second locating member abutting the plurality of ground conductors.

8. The electrical connector according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of conductors are arranged in two rows along the longitudinal direction on both sides of the insulating spacer, the both sides of the insulating spacer being disposed oppositely in a predetermined direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, the second positioning member includes:

a positioning body accommodated within the insulating spacer; and

a plurality of teeth extending from both sides of the insulating spacer outside the insulating spacer, wherein the plurality of teeth abut against a middle portion of the at least one portion of the plurality of conductors.

9. The electrical connector of claim 8, wherein the insulating spacer is provided with a mounting cavity extending therethrough along the predetermined direction, and the second positioning member is inserted into the mounting cavity and freely movable along the predetermined direction.

10. The electrical connector of claim 9, wherein the mounting cavity includes a groove recessed inward in the predetermined direction from one of the two sides and a plurality of through holes extending in the predetermined direction from a groove bottom of the groove to the other of the two sides, and the plurality of teeth include a plurality of first teeth protruding from a notch of the groove to the outside of the insulating spacer and a plurality of second teeth protruding from the plurality of through holes to the outside of the insulating spacer in one-to-one correspondence.

11. The electrical connector of claim 10, wherein the length of the second plurality of teeth is greater than the length of the first plurality of teeth and/or the length of the second plurality of teeth is greater than the length of the through holes.

12. The electrical connector of claim 10, wherein the first plurality of teeth and/or the second plurality of teeth have a decreasing longitudinal dimension in a direction from a root to a tip of the tooth.

13. The electrical connector of claim 10, wherein a connection of each of the plurality of second teeth with the positioning body is provided with a stiffener.

14. The electrical connector of claim 2, wherein a gap is provided between the plurality of conductors and the insulating spacer, the gap being uniform along a length of the plurality of conductors.

15. The electrical connector of claim 14, wherein the second positioning member is configured to control the gap.

16. The electrical connector of claim 14, wherein the gap is between 0.01mm-0.5 mm.

17. The electrical connector of claim 2, wherein the insulating spacer is provided with a step on which the first positioning member is disposed, and wherein the ends of the plurality of conductors abut against the step.

18. The electrical connector of claim 2, wherein two ends of the insulating spacer in the longitudinal direction are provided with snaps by which the insulating spacer is snapped to the insulating housing.

19. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the positioning assembly further comprises a third positioning member that positions a third portion of the plurality of conductors, the third positioning member and the first positioning member being positioned on opposite sides of the second positioning member.

20. The electrical connector of claim 19, wherein the plurality of conductors are fixed to the third positioning member, the third positioning member is fixed to an insulating spacer in the insulating housing, the insulating spacer is provided with opposing clamping jaws on both ends in the longitudinal direction, respectively, and the third positioning member is provided with notches on both ends in the longitudinal direction, respectively, and the clamping jaws clamp on the notches in a one-to-one correspondence.

21. The electrical connector of claim 19, wherein the third positioning member comprises a first clamping member and a second clamping member, the first clamping member is provided with a concave portion with a small opening and a large bottom, the second clamping member is provided with a convex portion adapted to be connected with the concave portion, and the first clamping member and the second clamping member are both provided with a conductor.

22. The electrical connector of claim 19, wherein the first positioning member exerts a first positioning force on the first location, the second positioning member exerts a second positioning force on the second location, the third positioning member exerts a third positioning force on the third location, the first and third positioning forces comprise an internal pulling force toward the insulative housing, and the second positioning force comprises an external pushing force toward the insulative housing.

23. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the electrical connector is a right angle electrical connector.

24. The electrical connector of claim 23, wherein the second positioning member is located between the bending portions of the plurality of conductors and the mounting surface and closer to the bending portions than to the mounting surface.

25. The electrical connector of claim 24, further comprising an L-shaped insulating spacer extending along the plurality of conductors, the insulating spacer being disposed within the insulating housing, a portion of the plurality of conductors being located inside the insulating spacer and another portion being located outside the insulating spacer, each of the plurality of conductors including a contact tail portion extending to the mating face, a mounting tail portion extending to the mounting face, a first straight edge portion connected between the mounting tail portion and the bend portion, and a second straight edge portion connected between the contact tail portion and the bend portion, the second locating member being disposed on the insulating spacer, the second locating member abutting against the first straight edge portion, and the second locating member extending beyond the first straight edge portion of the inner conductor in a direction away from the mounting face.

26. The electrical connector of claim 1, wherein the first positioning member exerts a first positioning force on the first location and the second positioning member exerts a second positioning force on the second location, one of the first and second positioning forces comprising an external pushing force towards the insulative housing and the other of the first and second positioning forces comprising an internal pulling force towards the insulative housing.

27. An electrical connector, comprising:

the insulating spacer is provided with a plurality of outwards-protruding hot melting parts spaced in the longitudinal direction on two opposite sides in the transverse direction;

the conductors are respectively positioned on the two sides of the insulating spacer and are arranged in two rows along the longitudinal direction perpendicular to the transverse direction, one conductor is arranged between any two adjacent hot melting parts along the longitudinal direction, the hot melting parts are fixed with the end parts of the conductors so that the hot melting parts serve as first positioning members, second positioning members protruding out of the two transverse ends are arranged on the insulating spacer, and the second positioning members are clamped between at least one part of the two rows of conductors along the transverse direction.

28. The electrical connector of claim 27, further comprising an insulative housing having a mating face and a mounting face, the plurality of conductors being disposed in the insulative housing, each of the plurality of conductors extending from the mating face beyond the mounting face, the longitudinal direction being parallel to the mating face and the mounting face, the insulative spacer being disposed in the insulative housing.

29. The electrical connector of claim 28, wherein the insulating spacer is provided with a snap at both ends of the middle part along the longitudinal direction, and the insulating spacer is snapped to the insulating housing by the snap.

30. The electrical connector of claim 28, wherein the electrical connector is a right angle electrical connector.

31. The electrical connector of claim 30, wherein the second positioning member is located between the bends of the plurality of conductors and the mounting surface and closer to the bends than to the mounting surface.

32. The electrical connector of claim 31, wherein the insulating spacer is L-shaped, wherein a portion of the plurality of conductors are located inside the insulating spacer and another portion are located outside the insulating spacer, wherein each of the plurality of conductors includes a contact tail portion extending to the mating face, a mounting tail portion extending to the mounting face, a first straight edge portion connected between the mounting tail portion and the bent portion, and a second straight edge portion connected between the contact tail portion and the bent portion, wherein the second positioning member abuts against the first straight edge portion, and wherein the second positioning member extends beyond the first straight edge portion of the inner conductor in a direction away from the mounting face.

33. The electrical connector of claim 27, wherein the plurality of conductors includes a plurality of signal conductors and a plurality of ground conductors, the plurality of ground conductors being distributed among the plurality of signal conductors, the second locating member being made of a lossy material, the second locating member abutting the plurality of ground conductors.

34. The electrical connector of claim 27, wherein the second positioning member comprises:

a positioning body accommodated within the insulating spacer; and

a plurality of teeth extending from both sides of the insulating spacer outside the insulating spacer, wherein the plurality of teeth abut against a middle of the at least a portion of the plurality of conductors.

35. The electrical connector of claim 34, wherein the insulating spacer is provided with a mounting cavity extending therethrough in the transverse direction, and the second positioning member is inserted into the mounting cavity and freely movable in the transverse direction.

36. The electrical connector of claim 35, wherein the mounting cavity includes a groove recessed inwardly in the lateral direction from one of the two sides and a plurality of through holes extending in the lateral direction from a bottom of the groove to the other of the two sides, the plurality of teeth including a first plurality of teeth protruding from a notch of the groove beyond the insulating spacer and a second plurality of teeth protruding from the through holes beyond the insulating spacer in a one-to-one correspondence.

37. The electrical connector of claim 36, wherein the length of the second plurality of teeth is greater than the length of the first plurality of teeth, and/or the length of the second plurality of teeth is greater than the length of the through holes.

38. The electrical connector of claim 36, wherein the first plurality of teeth and/or the second plurality of teeth have a decreasing longitudinal dimension in a direction from a root to a tip of the tooth.

39. The electrical connector of claim 36, wherein a connection of each of the plurality of second teeth to the positioning body is provided with a stiffener.

40. The electrical connector of claim 27, wherein a gap is provided between the plurality of conductors and the insulating spacer, the gap being uniform along a length of the plurality of conductors.

41. The electrical connector of claim 40, wherein the second positioning member is configured to control the gap.

42. The electrical connector of claim 40, wherein the gap is between 0.01mm-0.5 mm.

43. The electrical connector of claim 27, further comprising a third positioning member securing the plurality of conductors to the insulating spacer, the third positioning member and the heat stake being positioned on either side of the second positioning member.

44. The electrical connector of claim 43, wherein the plurality of conductors are fixed to the third positioning member, wherein the insulating spacer is provided with oppositely arranged clamping jaws on both ends in the longitudinal direction, respectively, and wherein the third positioning member is provided with notches on both ends in the longitudinal direction, respectively, and wherein the clamping jaws clamp on the notches in a one-to-one correspondence.

45. The electrical connector of claim 43, wherein the third positioning member comprises a first clamping member and a second clamping member, the first clamping member has a recess with a small opening and a large bottom, the second clamping member has a protrusion adapted to be connected to the recess, and the first clamping member and the second clamping member both have a conductor passing therethrough.