USB-C Connector Ground Plate Overlap for Crosstalk and Warpage
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Solution Overview
Problem
The USB Type-C electrical connectors experience crosstalk between high frequency signal contact pairs due to the proximity of the ground plate, and the division of the ground plate into pieces leads to warpage and bending of the inner structure during insert molding, causing contact failures.
Innovation Solution
The electrical connector features a first and second ground plate arranged in a ground plane, with extending portions that overlap each other, ensuring continuous ground coverage and reducing stress on the inner structure, while also utilizing these spaces for tie bar cuts to minimize the number and size of tie bar cut holes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If the ground plate is placed close to the high frequency signal contact pairs to suppress crosstalk, then crosstalk suppression is improved, but the inner structure becomes susceptible to warpage and bending during insert molding
Solution Approach 1:
The ground plate is divided into multiple separate ground plates (first ground plate and second ground plate) positioned on opposite sides of the high frequency signal contact pairs. This segmentation allows each ground plate to be optimally positioned for crosstalk suppression while maintaining sufficient distance from the contacts to prevent warpage during molding
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the connector are assigned different ground plate configurations - the first ground plate is positioned near the first high frequency signal contact pair and the second ground plate near the second contact pair, providing localized crosstalk suppression without uniformly constraining the entire inner structure
2Reliability
If the ground plate is divided into pieces to prevent warpage, then structural integrity is improved, but crosstalk suppression between high frequency signal contact pairs deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The ground plate is segmented into multiple separate ground plates positioned on opposite sides of the high frequency signal contact pairs. This segmentation prevents warpage by distributing structural constraints while maintaining effective crosstalk suppression through strategic positioning of each segment near its corresponding contact pair
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of dividing the ground plate in the plane parallel to the contact arrangement, the invention extends the ground plate configuration in the direction perpendicular to the contact plane, positioning ground plates on both sides of the contact pairs to achieve both structural stability and electromagnetic shielding
3Ease of manufacture
If tie bar cut holes are formed in the ground plate to enable contact separation, then manufacturing flexibility is improved, but the ground plate coverage is reduced leading to increased warpage and bending
Solution Approach 1:
The ground plate is divided into multiple separate ground plates, which eliminates the need for tie bar cut holes in a continuous ground plate structure. Each separate ground plate can be independently positioned and secured, providing contact separation capability without compromising overall structural stability
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the functional requirement of contact separation from the ground plate structure itself by using separate, movable ground plate components rather than relying on holes through a continuous plate, thereby maintaining ground plate coverage and structural integrity
Data Source
AI summary
An electrical connector 1 contains a plurality of contacts 31, a first ground plate 32L and a second ground plate 32R facing the plurality of contacts 31 and arranged so as to be separated from each other in a ground plane parallel to the at least one plane in which the plurality of contacts 31 are arranged and an insulator 33 for holding the plurality of contacts 31, the first ground plate 32L and the second ground plate 32R in a state that the plurality of contacts 31, the first ground plate 32L and the second ground plate 32R are insulated from each other. Both of the first ground plate 32L and the second ground plate 32R include an extending portion extending from one of the first ground plate 32L and the second ground plate 32R toward the other one of the first ground plate 32L and the second ground plate 32R in the ground plane.