Grounding Contact for High Speed, High Density Connector

1. Field of The Invention

The present invention relates to a grounding contact for a high speed, high density connector, particularly to a grounding contact having contact portions which engage with contact traces on a mated daughter card without scraping the contact traces.

2. The Prior Art

Computers having a high processing speed and occupying a small space are the trend of computer technology development. To meet the trend, high speed and high density connectors are developed, but noise is the main problem affecting such connectors. Therefore, the connectors are equipped with grounding contacts, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,026,292 and 5,051,099 and Taiwan Patent Application Nos. 79109775 and 80208341.

FIG. 1 of the present application appears as FIG. 3 in U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,292 ('292 patent) with different reference numbers. A grounding contact 3 is formed by stamping (blanking) a metal sheet to have a pair of cantilevered beams 30 each defining a contact portion 301 at a free end thereof. The contact portions 301 are connected to a common bight section 33. A terminal portion 32 extends downward from the bight section 33 to be soldered to a printed circuit board (not shown) for inducing noise received by the contact portions 301 to ground. A pair of projections 31 extend upward from the bight section 33 and engage with an internal wall of a housing of a connector (not shown) to hold the grounding contact 3 in position when the grounding contact 3 is mounted to the connector.

The grounding contact 3 of the '292 patent has been proven to successfully induce noise to ground; however, since the grounding contact 3 is made by blanking a metal sheet, the contact portions 301 thereof are formed with sharp edges which scrape and damage the contact traces on a daughter card when the daughter card is inserted into/withdrawn from the connector. Furthermore, the grounding contact 3 can only be mounted to the connector at a time, which is time consuming and laborious.

Hence, an improved grounding contact for a high speed, high density connector is needed to eliminate the above mentioned defects of current grounding contacts.

Accordingly, an objective of the present invention is to provide a grounding contact for a high speed, high density connector which engages with contact traces on a mated daughter card without scraping the contact traces.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a grounding contact for a high speed, high density connector, wherein the grounding contact can be more efficiently assembled to the connector.

To fulfill the above mentioned objectives, according to one embodiment of the present invention, a grounding contact for inducing noise on a corresponding pair of contacts of a high speed, high density connector to ground includes a first and second section. The first section is formed with an elongate first and second body portion connected together via a generally U-shaped portion. The first body portion defines a first terminal portion for electrically connecting with a printed circuit board. The first terminal portion connects with the first body portion via a first horizontally bent portion. The second body portion defines a contact portion for engaging with a daughter card inserted into the connector. The second section is formed to have a configuration substantially the same as the first section, but with a shorter second terminal portion and a longer second horizontally bent portion. When the grounding contact is mounted to the connector, the second terminal portion engages with an upper part of the first terminal portion.

FIG. 1 is perspective view of a prior art grounding contact in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,292.

FIG. 2 is perspective view of a grounding contact in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a partial cut-away, perspective view showing an electrical daughter board and a high speed, high density electrical connector incorporating the grounding contact of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a right side view of the connector of FIG. 3.

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, a grounding contact 1 for engaging with a corresponding pair of contacts in a high speed, high density connector is shown. The contact 1 consists of a first section 10 and a second section 11. The first section 10 is formed by stamping and bending a metal sheet to have a first elongate body portion 101 and a second elongate body portion 103 parallel to the first body portion 101 and connecting therewith via a U-shaped portion 1012.

The first body portion 101 includes a fitting portion 104 consisting of four barbs, and a terminal portion 12 extending downward from the fitting portion 104 and connecting to a common blank portion (not shown). The terminal portion 12 connects with the first body portion 101 via a horizontally bent portion 122.

The second body portion 103 includes an upper arc-shaped contact portion 102 and a lower free engaging end 1032. The contact portion 102 and the free engaging end 1032 project from the second body portion 103 away from the first body portion 101.

Similar to the first contact section 10, the second section 11 is also formed with a first elongate body portion 111 and a second elongate body portion 113 parallel to the first body portion 111 and connecting therewith via a U-shaped portion 1112.

The first body portion 111 includes a fitting portion 114 consisting of four barbs, and a terminal portion 13 extending downward from the fitting portion 114 and connecting to a common blank portion (not shown). The terminal portion 13 connects with the first body portion 111 via a horizontally bent portion 132.

The second body portion 113 includes an upper arc-shaped contact portion 112 and a lower free engaging end 1132. The contact portion 112 and the free engaging end 1032 project from the second body portion 113 away from the first body portion 111. The terminal portion 13 of the second section 11 is shorter than the terminal portion 12 of the first section 10, while the horizontally bent portion 132 of the former is longer than the horizontally bent portion 122 of the latter.

Referring to FIG. 3, a connector 2 incorporating the grounding contact 1 and a daughter card 40 to be inserted into the connector 2 are shown. The connector 2 has a dielectric housing 20 having a top mating face 201 defining a central slot 212 for receiving the daughter card 40, a bottom face 211 for mounting to a printed circuit board (not shown), a number of contact passageways 213 defined between the top and bottom faces 201, 211 and located beside the central slot 212 for receiving a number of contacts 215, and an internal wall 205 below the central slot 212. The daughter card 40 is provided with upper contact traces 402 for engaging with contact portions (not labeled) of the contacts and lower contact traces 404 for engaging with the contact portions 102, 112 of the grounding contacts 1 when the card 40 is inserted into the connector 2.

Also referring to FIG. 4, to assemble the connector 2, the contacts 215 are mounted in the housing 20 by inserting the contacts 215 into the corresponding contact passageways 213 to cause fitting portions (not labeled) thereof to interferentially engage with the housing 20. Thereafter, the first sections 10 of the grounding contacts 1, which have their terminal portions 12 connected to the common blank portion (not shown), are mounted to the housing 20 on a right side of the central slot 212 to reach a position in which the fitting portions 104 interferentially engage with the housing 20 and the engaging ends 1032 are urged against the internal wall 205 thereby generating a preload in the contact portions 102 so that when the daughter card 40 is inserted into the slot 212, the contact portions 102 engage with the lower contact traces 404 of the daughter card 40. The blank portion (not shown) is then bent away from the terminal portions 12. Afterwards, the second section 11 is mounted to the housing 20 on a left side of the slot 212 by a manner similar to that for mounting the first section 10. However, when the first sections 10 are mounted, the terminal portions 12 thereof extend a sufficient distance beyond the bottom face 211 of the housing 20 so that the terminal portions 12 can extend through a printed circuit board (not shown) for being soldered thereto. When the second sections 11 are mounted, the terminal portions 13 thereof engage with an upper part of the terminal portions 12 of the corresponding first sections 10, whereby noise received by the second sections 11 can be induced to ground via the terminal portions 12 of the first sections 10. After the first and second sections 10, 11 are mounted, a soldering operation may be optionally applied to the contact point between the terminal portions 12, 13 to enhance the electrical connection therebetween.

While the present invention has been described with reference to a specific embodiment, the description is illustrative of the invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention. Various modifications to the present invention can be made to the preferred embodiment by those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.