Plug Connector Air-Enveloped Termination Impedance Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
High-speed plug connectors experience impedance dips due to plastic overmolding, leading to noise and crosstalk issues at high data transmission rates, while maintaining a robust structure is desirable.
Innovation Solution
A plug connector design featuring a wire organizer and spacer that defines the boundaries of a body portion formed with a thermosetting adhesive, keeping wires terminated to circuit boards with exposed ends enveloped in air, reducing capacitance and impedance drops, and ensuring proper orientation and engagement with a housing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If plastic overmolding is used to provide robust connector structure and strain relief, then structural reliability is improved, but impedance dip increases causing noise and crosstalk at high data speeds
Solution Approach 1:
The connector is divided into distinct functional zones: a first region with plastic overmolding for structural support and strain relief, and a second region with air-filled space for maintaining impedance. This segmentation allows each zone to optimize its function without compromising the other, resolving the contradiction between structural reliability and impedance stability.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the connector are assigned different dielectric properties: the first region uses plastic material with higher dielectric constant for mechanical strength, while the second region uses air with lower dielectric constant for impedance control. This local differentiation allows simultaneous achievement of structural reliability and minimal impedance dip.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If plastic overmolding is removed to improve impedance profile, then impedance dip is reduced, but connector structure becomes non-unitary and less robust
Solution Approach 1:
The connector structure is segmented into two functional regions: one with plastic overmolding for structural integrity and strain relief, and another with air-filled space for impedance control. This allows the connector to maintain robustness while minimizing impedance dip.
Solution Approach 2:
A distinct boundary or interface is introduced between the plastic overmolded region and the air-filled region, allowing the two materials with different dielectric properties to coexist without direct interference. This intermediary arrangement enables the connector to achieve both structural robustness and improved impedance profile.
3Reliability
If hot melt is applied to envelop conductor terminations for secure bonding, then connection reliability is improved, but capacitance increases causing larger impedance drop
Solution Approach 1:
The dielectric material distribution is locally optimized: hot melt is applied only to the cable assembly and wire connections where mechanical bonding is needed, while the conductor terminations and signal paths are kept in an air-filled environment. This local differentiation maintains connection reliability while minimizing capacitance and impedance drop.
Solution Approach 2:
The connector interior is segmented into a hot melt-filled region for mechanical bonding and an air-filled region for electrical signal transmission. This segmentation allows the hot melt to provide secure bonding without enveloping the conductor terminations, thereby avoiding excessive capacitance increase.
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 improves impedance profiles by minimizing impedance drops, reducing noise and crosstalk at high data speeds while maintaining a robust and reliable connector structure.
Implementation Method 1
a body portion formed from a hot melt (typically a thermosetting adhesive) applied to the cables
Implementation Method 2
The lower dielectric constant of air, as compared to the hot melt or a plastic, reduces the capacitance of the connector system at the termination
Data Source
AI summary
A plug style connector has an outer connector housing with an internal passage which accommodates a cable assembly. A plurality of multi-wire cables extend through a wire organizer that arranges the cables in a preselected arrangement. Exposed free ends of the conductors of the wires are terminated to multiple circuit boards which are separated in a preselected spacing by a spacer member. The spacer member and wire organizer have flat opposing surfaces that define boundaries of a body portion formed by the application of a hot melt to the cables, the hot melt adheres to the wire organizer and the spacer to hold the cable wires and their associated circuit boards in place for correct insertion into the connector housing.