Electrical connector assemblies and methods of fabrication

• US 20070111598A1
• Filed: 11/14/2005
• Published: 05/17/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: James Quilici
• Original Assignee: James Quilici
• Inventors: Quilici, James
• Application Number:
  US11/274,896
• Publication Number:
  US 20070111598A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 439/595
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/6594 the shield being mounted on a PCB and connected to conductive members
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 2107/00 Four or more poles
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 24/60 Contacts spaced along planar side wall transverse to longitudinal axis of engagement

Abstract

Embodiments of electrical connector assemblies and/or method of formation are disclosed. In one embodiment, an electrical connector assembly comprises a receptacle assembly and a plug assembly, wherein the plug assembly includes one or more wire trays coupled to a shroud, and wherein the receptacle assembly comprises two or more stacked and laminated printed circuit sub-assemblies.

Claims

1. An electrical connector assembly, comprising:

a receptacle assembly having a plurality of receptacles, wherein at least a portion of the receptacle assembly is shielded;

a plug assembly having a plurality of plugs adapted to contact at least a portion of the receptacles, wherein the plug assembly includes a plurality of wire trays coupled to a shroud.

2. The electrical connector assembly of claim 1, and further comprising a slip collar coupled to the plug assembly, wherein the slip collar is configured to actuate between a first and a second position with respect to the shroud.

3. The electrical connector of claim 2, and further comprising:

one or more tabs formed on the receptacle assembly; and

one or more channel features formed on the plug assembly, wherein the one or more tabs are coupled with the one or more channel features.

4. The electrical connector of claim 3, wherein the slip collar is configured to contact the receptacle assembly tabs and apply force to the one or more tabs when the slip collar is in a first position.

5. The electrical connector assembly of claim 1, and further comprising communications media coupled to the wire tray.

6. The electrical connector assembly of claim 1, wherein the receptacle assembly comprises four receptacles arranged in a 2×

2 configuration.

7. The electrical connector assembly of claim 1, wherein the plug assembly comprises four plugs arranged in a 2×

2 configuration.

8. The electrical connector assembly of claim 1, wherein the connector assembly is coupled to a circuit board of a data transmission device.

9. The electrical connector assembly of claim 5, wherein the communications media comprises unshielded twisted pair wire.

10. The electrical connector of claim 2, and further comprising a compression spring coupled to the shroud, and configured to apply spring force to the slip collar.

18. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the plurality of plugs of the shroud comprise a plurality of contact arrays arranged in a pin-out configuration in accordance with a data transmission protocol.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the data transmission protocol comprises the Ethernet protocol.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the contact arrays further include one or more leads press fitted into the one or more channels.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a plug assembly, comprising;

a wire tray having a plurality of features adapted to substantially fix a plurality of wires in a pin-out configuration;

a shroud coupled to the wire tray, wherein the shroud includes a plurality of plugs adapted to contact at least a portion of the receptacles, and at least one channel feature adapted to receive a portion of one or more tabs of a receptacle assembly; and

a slip collar coupled to the shroud, and adapted to be actuated between a first to a second position with respect to the shroud.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the slip collar is capable of applying force to one or more tabs of a receptacle assembly when the one or more tabs are coupled to the at least one channel feature.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, and further comprising a compression spring coupled to the shroud, and configured to apply spring force to the slip collar.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the plurality of plugs comprise four plugs arranged in a 2×

2 configuration.

15. The apparatus of claim, wherein the shroud further comprises a plurality of crimping tabs adapted to crimp communications media.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, and further comprising communications media coupled to the wire tray by use of the plurality of crimping tabs.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the communications media comprises unshielded twisted pair wire.

21. An apparatus, comprising:

a receptacle assembly, comprising;

a plurality of circuit boards having a plurality of contact arrays formed thereon, wherein at least a portion of the circuit boards are stacked;

a metal housing formed over at least a portion of the stacked circuit boards, wherein the plurality of circuit boards and the metal housing form a plurality of receptacles.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the plurality of receptacles comprise four receptacles arranged in a 2×

2 configuration.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, and further comprising one or more tabs formed on the metal housing and adapted to couple to one or more channel features of a plug assembly.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein at least a portion of the receptacles are capable of coupling to one or more types of communications media, including:

unshielded twisted pair wire and/or coaxial cable.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, and further comprising a data transmission device.

26. The apparatus of claim 21, and further comprising four circuit boards, wherein the four circuit boards are stacked.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein at least a portion of the circuit boards comprise embedded circuitry.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein at least a portion of the circuit boards have a substantially planar top surface, and comprise embedded magnetic, resistive and/or capacitive components.

29. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the metal housing comprises an EMI shield.

30. A method, comprising:

disposing a communications media in a wire tray, wherein the communications media includes a conductive portion;

disposing the wire tray at least partially in a shroud, wherein the shroud includes one or more metal contacts; and

applying pressure to one or more metal contacts of the shroud to contact a conductive portion of the communications media.

31. The method of claim 30, and further comprising crimping one or more crimping tabs of the shroud to crimp the communications media.

32. The method of claim 30, and further comprising:

disposing a compression spring in the shroud; and

disposing a slip collar to on the shroud, wherein the slip collar is in contact with the compression spring.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the wire tray is substantially fixed in the shroud by use of the crimping tabs.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein the wires are arranged in a pin-out configuration.

35. The method of claim 30, wherein applying pressure comprises press fitting the metal contacts into at least a portion of the communications media to form electrical continuity between the metal contacts and the communications media.