Shielded Keystone Punchdown Jack With Bonded Braid Grounding
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Solution Overview
Problem
The market lacks a cost-competitive, shielded keystone jack with a rear wire cover assembly that can effectively connect a shielded cable's braid to the jack's shield and secure conductors, utilizing the existing punchdown style termination method, similar to Mini-Com jacks with a TG style termination.
Innovation Solution
A keystone style punchdown jack assembly featuring a rear wire cover assembly with a shield wrap and grounding prongs to encircle the cable and engage the cable's braid, combined with a front shield wrap that creates a fully bonded assembly through wiping tabs, ensuring electrical connection and shielding continuity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a shielded keystone jack with rear wire cover assembly is designed to connect shielded cable braid to jack shield, then electrical connection and shielding integrity are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The rear wire cover assembly is nested within the jack housing, with the shield wrap integrated into the housing structure. The grounding prongs are embedded within the rear wire cover assembly, creating a compact nested configuration that provides complete shielding functionality without proportionally increasing overall device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines multiple functions into unified components: the rear wire cover assembly integrates both cable management and electrical grounding functions, while the shield wrap simultaneously provides electromagnetic shielding and structural support. This merging of functions reduces the number of separate components needed.
2Reliability
If grounding prongs extend from the opening to engage the cable braid, then electrical connection reliability is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The grounding prongs are designed with specific dimensional parameters that allow for tolerance accommodation. The prongs extend a controlled distance from the rear wire cover assembly, providing sufficient engagement with the cable braid while maintaining manufacturability through standardized dimensions that can be produced within normal tolerance ranges.
3Reliability
If wiping tabs are configured to engage inside walls of the rear wire cover, then shielding continuity is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The shielding system is segmented into discrete wiping tabs that are distributed around the interior of the rear wire cover assembly. These tabs make contact at multiple points along the shield wrap, creating continuous shielding through distributed contact points rather than requiring a single complex bonding mechanism.
4Reliability
If the shield wrap fully encircles the cable, then shielding effectiveness is improved, but ease of manufacture decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The shield wrap is constructed as a flexible thin film that can be easily formed into a cylindrical shape to encircle the cable. This flexible construction allows the shield wrap to be manufactured as a pre-formed component that can be simply installed by wrapping it around the cable and securing it with the rear wire cover assembly, maintaining ease of manufacture while achieving full 360-degree shielding coverage.
Data Source
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AI summary
A keystone style punchdown jack assembly (216) comprising: a jack housing assembly (226), the jack housing assembly comprising: a rear wire cover assembly (228) comprising: a rear wire cover shield wrap (278) with an opening configured to fully encircle a cable (24) to be inserted into the keystone style punchdown jack, and grounding prongs (292) extending from the opening configured to engage a grounding braid of the inserted cable; and a front shield wrap (230) comprising: wiping tabs (96) configured to engage inside walls of the rear wire cover in order to create a fully bonded assembly.