Molex Corporation

David Brearley, Jr

Kent E Regnier

Victor V Zaderej

David E Dunham

George M Hubbard

Kevin Alberts

A shielded electrical connector is provided for mounting on a printed circuit board. The connector includes a dielectric housing having a plurality of terminal-receiving cavities and a plurality of board-engaging pads projecting from the bottom of the housing. A plurality of terminals are received in the cavities. Portions of the housing between the terminals are plated with conductive metal material to electrically shield the terminals from each other and to provide a controlled impedance. The plating is continuous onto the pads for connection to appropriate ground circuit means on the printed circuit board. In an alternative embodiment, a shielded electrical connector assembly includes a pair of connectors both of which have plated housings with interengaging plated portions.

Shielded electrical connector

A solder-less printed circuit board edge connector ( ) translates construction and impedance characteristics associated with a coaxial cable ( ) to construction and impedance characteristics associated with a micro-strip transmission line formed on a printed circuit board ( ). The solder-less printed circuit board edge connector ( ) comprises a first edge connector ( ), a second edge connector ( ), and a &ldquo;C-shaped&rdquo; ground contact ( ). The first edge connector ( ) receives a first coaxial cable ( ) having a first signal potential and a first ground potential, and has a first slot formed therein having the first ground potential. The second edge connector ( ) receives a second coaxial cable ( ) having a second signal potential and a second ground potential. The second edge connector ( ) has a second slot formed therein having the second ground potential. The &ldquo;C-shaped&rdquo; ground contact ( ) is electrically and mechanically coupled to the first slot having the first ground potential and the second slot having the second ground potential. The &ldquo;C-shaped&rdquo; ground contact ( ) has multiple &ldquo;V-shaped&rdquo; spring members ( ) for contacting multiple ground contacts ( ) on a printed circuit board ( ) when the printed circuit board ( ) is positioned in the first slot and the second slot. Multiple &ldquo;C-shaped&rdquo; ground contacts ( ) may be electrically and mechanically coupled together using an extension member ( ), integrally formed as a unitary unit with the multiple &ldquo;C-shaped&rdquo; ground contacts ( ). The extension member ( ) has a notch ( ) formed therein to permit the extension member ( ) to bypass a signal contact ( ) carrying the second signal potential.

Growing community of inventors

Naperville, IL, United States of America

David Brearley, Jr