WO1998056077A1

WO1998056077A1 - Electrical connector with formed area ground spring

Info

Publication number: WO1998056077A1
Application number: PCT/US1998/011080
Authority: WO
Inventors: B. Joseph Shuey
Original assignee: Berg Technology, Inc.
Priority date: 1997-06-02
Filing date: 1998-06-01
Publication date: 1998-12-10
Also published as: TW377885U

Abstract

A receptacle (10) for an electrical connector comprising a housing (14) having a first face (12) adjacent a bottom side and a second face (16) and a plurality of signal conducting means each extending from said first face to said second face. The housing has a pair of longitudinal sides interposed between said first face and said second face. The receptacle has a contact element (32) on its bottom side, and the contact comprises an upper member and a lower spring member. The contact element is integral with a conductive shield mounted in the housing. The lower spring member is bent at an angle to the upper member which is coplanar with the shield. The spring member is a doubly supported beam and is cantilevered. The contact is, therefore, formed without the use of a die.

Description

ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR WITH FORMED AREA GROUND SPRING Background of the Invention

Cross Reference to Related Application

This application is related to International Application PCT US

97/ 14631 , filed August 20, 1997, the contents of which are incorporated

herein by reference.

1. Field of the Invention: The present invention relates to electrical connectors and more particularly to ground springs for use with electrical connectors.

2. Brief Description of Prior Developments; In many electrical connectors springs are used at the base of the connector to ground the connector to a printed circuit board (PCB) or other substrate. For a number of applications the use of a low inductance ground is desirable. Obtaining such characteristics would ordinarily means that both ends of the spring would need to be connected to the conductor. Furthermore, it is also desirable to have a spring in which there is a relatively wide area in contact with the mating header.

Summary of the Invention It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a low inductance ground with a relatively wide area. The present invention is a receptacle for an electrical connector which includes a housing having a first face adjacent a bottom side and a second face on its front side. A plurality of signal conductors extend from the first face to the second face. The housing has a pair of longitudinal sides interposed between said first face and said second face. The receptacle has a ground element on its bottom side. The ground spring comprises an upper axial member fixed to the housing and a lower spring member integral with said upper longitudinal member and bent at an angle to the upper axial member. The conductor in this case, is the ground shield. The design of this part required that only a flat only a flat part of the shield pass through the connector body to form a ground contact.

With regard to the method for making such a connector, shields are inserted into the housing from the top, so forming a contact on the underside must be performed by a subsequent operation. The flat shield is, therefore, bent over the housing to form a spring. The spring is both a cantilever (from the bend) and also a double-supported beam. A concave surface is formed in the beam by bending the flat loop in a way that causes the ends to be closer after forming. The contact spring is, therefore, formed without the use of a die. It is preferable that the metal for the contact beam be bent in such a way that the ends of the beam are closer together after bending. This action forces the metal to buckle thus forming a leaf spring. The attachments at each end of the leaf spring will also act as a cantilever. Brief Description of the Drawings

The present invention is further described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of the preferred embodiment of the electrical connector of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the electrical connector shown in

Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 at an intermediate stage in the positioning of the ground spring;

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of a ground spring element used in the connector shown in Fig. 1 ; Fig. 5 is an end view of the ground spring element shown in Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a side elevational view of the ground spring element shown in Fig. 4 prior to installation in the connector.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments Referring to Figs. 1 - 3, the receptacle is shown generally at numeral 10. The receptacle has a first face 12 on a front insulative housing shown generally at numeral 14. The receptacle also has a second face 16 on its bottom side as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, conductive signal terminals (not shown) extend from the first face to the second face. There is also a ground terminal 18. The first face has a plurality of openings as at 20 where, as is explained hereafter, pins from a header engage the signal terminals. The receptacle also includes a plurality of longitudinal parallel spaced shields as at shield 22 which are mounted in the housing 14. The housing 14 also includes lateral longitudinal sides 24 and 26 and a top longitudinal side 28. In opposed relation to the first face is an end 30. The contact element is shown generally at numeral 32 and extends downwardly from the housing 14.

Referring to Figs. 4 - 6, the contact element has an upper attachment member 34 and a lower arcuate spring member 36. The spring member has a first end 38 and an opposed second end 40.

Between the attachment member and the spring member there is a slot 42 which has a first end 44 and an opposed second end 46. Adjacent the first end there is a first tab 48 and adjacent the second end of the slot there is a second tab 50. These tabs connect the upper attachment element 34 and the lower ground spring element 36. The first and second tabs have respectively a first bend 52 and a second bend 54 so that the ground spring member is disposed at an angle to the upper vertical attachment member 34.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 4, prior to final positioning the upper attachment section 34 and lower spring section 36 are in the same vertical plane. The upper attachment section 34 and lower spring section 36 are also coplanar with the shield 22 in the position shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Subsequently the lower spring section 36 is bent to put it into a position angularly disposed to the upper attachment section 34 as is shown in Figs. 5 and 6.

Referring again to Figs. 1 , it will be seen that there are other contact elements 56, 58, 60, 62 and 64 which are essentially identical to contact element 32. Each of these ground elements also extend from a separate shield (not shown) which is mounted in housing 14 and is essentially identical to shield 22.

While the present invention has been described in connection with the preferred embodiments of the various figures, it is to be understood that other similar embodiments may be used or modifications and additions may be made to the described embodiment for performing the same function of the present invention without deviating therefrom. Therefore, the present invention should not be limited to any single embodiment, but rather construed in breadth and scope in accordance with the recitation of the appended claims.

Claims

Claims WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A receptacle for an electrical connector comprising a housing having a first face adjacent a bottom side and a second face and a plurality of signal conducting means each extending from said first face to said second face and said housing having a pair of longitudinal sides interposed between said first face and said second face and a metallic shield is mounted in said housing and a contact element extends from said shield and said contact element comprises an upper member which directly extends from said shield in coplanar relation and a lower spring member which is bent at an angle to the axial upper member.

2. The receptacle of claim 1 wherein there is a transverse slot between the upper member and the lower spring member.

3. The receptacle of claim 2 wherein the transverse slot has first and second opposed ends and outwardly adjacent said opposed ends there are respectively first and second opposed tabs which connect the upper member and the lower spring member.

4. The receptacle of claim 3 wherein the lower spring member is bent at an angle to the upper member at the first and second opposed tabs.

5. The receptacle of claim 4 wherein the spring member is cantilevered.

6. The receptacle of claim 4 wherein the spring member is a doubly supported beam.

7. The receptacle of claim 4 wherein the spring member has opposed first and second ends and said ends are positioned at a closer distance to each other after the spring member has been bent.

8. The receptacle of claim 1 wherein the contact element is integral with the shield.

9. The receptacle of claim 8 wherein the lower spring member of the contact element is integral with the upper member of the contact element.

10. The receptacle of claim 1 wherein the contact element is a ground contact.

11. The receptacle of claim 1 wherein contact member depends from the bottom side of the receptacle.

12. The receptacle of claim 1 wherein the shield and upper member are vertical.

13. The receptacle of claim 1 wherein there are a plurality of contact elements each of which depends from a separate shield.

14. The receptacle of claim 1 1 wherein each of the contact elements comprises an upper member which directly extends from its respective shield and a lower spring member which is bent at an angle to the upper member.

15. An electrical connector having a conductive element from which a contact element extends and said contact element comprises a first member which is coplanar with the conductive element and a second member which is bent at an angle to the first member.

16. The connector of claim 15 wherein the first member is attached to the conductive element and the second member is a spring member.

17. The connector of claim 16 wherein there is a transverse slot between the first member and the second member.

18. The connector of claim 17 wherein the spring member is cantilevered.

19. The connector of claim 18 wherein the spring member is a doubly supported beam.

20. The connector of claim 15 wherein the contact element is formed without the use of a die.