Capacitive Spring Assembly for Crosstalk Reduction in Communications Jacks
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Communication jacks face challenges in providing adequate contact force between tines and plug contacts while also requiring electrical crosstalk compensation, with existing designs being complex and costly due to numerous components and difficult assembly processes.
Innovation Solution
A communication jack design featuring a dielectric housing, resilient contacts, a spring assembly, and a printed circuit board, where the spring assembly provides supplemental contact force and crosstalk compensation without the need for a flexible PCB, reducing component count and improving manufacturability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a flexible PCB with crosstalk attenuating circuits is added to provide crosstalk compensation, then crosstalk compensation is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the crosstalk compensation function with the existing spring arms by making them capacitively coupled conductive structures. Instead of using a separate flexible PCB with crosstalk attenuating circuits, the spring arms themselves are designed to provide both mechanical contact force and electrical crosstalk compensation through their conductive nature and capacitive coupling to the tines.
Solution Approach 2:
The spring arms are designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: providing supplemental contact force to the tines and providing crosstalk compensation through capacitive coupling. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate components and reduces overall device complexity while maintaining both mechanical and electrical performance.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a flexible PCB with crosstalk attenuating circuits is added to provide crosstalk compensation, then crosstalk compensation is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the crosstalk compensation function with the existing spring arms by making them capacitively coupled conductive structures. Instead of using a separate flexible PCB with crosstalk attenuating circuits, the spring arms themselves are designed to provide both mechanical contact force and electrical crosstalk compensation through their conductive nature and capacitive coupling to the tines.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the crosstalk compensation function from the complex flexible PCB implementation and integrates it directly into the simpler spring arm structures. This extraction eliminates the need for expensive flexible PCB materials, soldering processes, and complex circuit board manufacturing while achieving the same electrical compensation effect through capacitive coupling.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If multiple separate components (flexible PCB, spring assembly, tines) are used to achieve contact force and crosstalk compensation, then functional performance is improved, but assembly difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the crosstalk compensation function with the existing spring arms by making them capacitively coupled conductive structures. Instead of using a separate flexible PCB with crosstalk attenuating circuits, the spring arms themselves are designed to provide both mechanical contact force and electrical crosstalk compensation through their conductive nature and capacitive coupling to the tines.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design achieves enhanced contact force and crosstalk compensation with fewer components, simplifying assembly and reducing costs, while maintaining compatibility with legacy plugs and meeting FCC standards.
Implementation Method 1
Each of the spring arms 220 is independently movable relative to the other ones of the spring arms, and each spring arm provides a second generally upward force on the correspondingly positioned tine
Implementation Method 2
At least one of the spring arms 220 is constructed from a conductive material. The conductive spring arms capacitively couple the tines to one another to provide electrical crosstalk compensation
Data Source
AI summary
A spring assembly for a communications jack configured to receive a communications plug having a plurality of plug contacts. The jack includes first, second, third, and fourth jack contacts. The first and second jack contacts are configured to carry a first differential signal. The third and fourth jack contacts are configured to carry a second differential signal. Each jack contact is electrically connected to a corresponding one of the plug contacts when the plug is received by the jack. The spring assembly has a conductive spring member for each jack contact. Each spring member is electrically connected to a corresponding jack contact and biases that jack contact against a corresponding plug contact. To reduce crosstalk, the spring member connected to the first jack contact is capacitively coupled to the third jack contact and the spring member connected to the fourth jack contact is capacitively coupled to the second jack contact.