High Speed Electrical Connector Assembly Modular Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current high-speed connectors lack flexibility, scalability, and versatility in signal routing and impedance options, often being limited to specific mounting technologies and failing to provide robust signal integrity and reliability across multiple mating cycles.
Innovation Solution
A modular high-speed electrical connector assembly featuring a female connector with sockets and a male connector with pins, where sockets are secured with a free-floating pin receiving portion and air gap for improved impedance, and modular design accommodating various termination styles and signal types, allowing for flexible mounting and high-density connections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If connectors are dedicated to a particular mounting technology, then manufacturing simplicity is improved, but adaptability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The connector is designed with a universal mounting structure that can accommodate multiple mounting technologies including paste-in-hole, plated-through-hole, and surface mounted technologies. The connector body includes standardized mounting features that work across different mounting methods, allowing a single connector design to serve multiple mounting scenarios without requiring dedicated designs for each technology.
2Area of stationary object
If connector size is minimized, then PCB real estate is preserved, but signal integrity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The connector achieves high signal integrity in a compact footprint by utilizing three-dimensional positioning and stacking approaches. Multiple signal paths are arranged in vertical and lateral dimensions within the connector body, allowing high-density signal routing without increasing the PCB footprint. The internal aperture arrangement and conductor positioning in three-dimensional space enable maintained signal quality despite reduced connector size.
3Adaptability or versatility
If signal routing flexibility is increased, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The connector is divided into modular sections with standardized interfaces, allowing flexible signal routing configurations. Each module can be independently configured for different signal types (single-ended, differential pair, power, ground, sideband) and then assembled into various routing arrangements. This segmentation enables adaptability without requiring complete redesign of the entire connector structure for each application.
4Adaptability or versatility
If impedance options are increased, then adaptability is improved, but manufacturing complexity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The connector provides multiple impedance options (50 ohm and 75 ohm) through standardized aperture and conductor dimension variations within the same basic connector design. By systematically varying key parameters such as aperture diameter and conductor size according to established impedance formulas, the connector achieves different impedance values without fundamentally changing the manufacturing process or overall structure, thus maintaining manufacturing simplicity while providing impedance flexibility.
Data Source
AI summary
A high speed electrical connector assembly includes a mating female connector with sockets and male connector with pins. The female connector includes a connector body formed to define a mount face surface and contact face surface and one or more apertures extending therebetween. One or more sockets are positioned in the connector body apertures. The socket includes a mount portion and a pin receiving portion and the mount portion is configured for engaging an internal surface of the aperture proximate the mount face surface for securing the socket in the aperture. The pin receiving portion is maintained in a free-floating position away from the internal surface of the aperture with a tip end of the pin receiving portion being positioned below the contact face surface. An air gap is formed in the aperture around the free-floating portion and tip end.