Electrical connectors – Including or for use with coaxial cable
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-04
2004-04-06
Lee, Benny (Department: 2817)
Electrical connectors
Including or for use with coaxial cable
C439S585000, C333S260000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06716061
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the priority of German Patent Application Serial No. 100 18 595.9, filed Apr. 7, 2000, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates, in general, to a coaxial cable connector, and more particularly to a coaxial cable connector of a type having a housing with a recess for receiving, contacting and clamping the end of the outer conductor of a coaxial cable, and with an inner conductor in the connector that contacts the inner cable conductor.
As disclosed in DE 42 06 092 C1, a particularly low intermodulation can be achieved by soldering the end section of a connector housing to the outer conductor of the coaxial cable. For soldering, the end section of the connector housing is positioned on the end of the outer conductor of the cable and heated, for example, heated tongs surrounding the end section of the connector housing or through induction. The solder in the form of a solder wire is supplied manually through bores in the end section of the connector housing into the gap between the inner wall of the recess of the end section of the connector housing and the outer conductor of the cable. This installation method for the connector on the cable requires special tools and considerable experience and can only be successfully done in the factory with cables having a maximum diameter of 13 mm ({fraction (1/2″)}). This makes it almost impossible to attain a connection with a low intermodulation by mechanically contacting and clamping at least the outer conductor of the cable in the field, i.e., during installation by the user and at the installation site.
For example, increasingly cables with a particularly low attenuation are required for mobile radio communications, in particular for connecting a mobile radio base station with a remote antenna installation. These cables can have an outer diameter of more than 60 mm and are for practical reasons typically fitted with the necessary connectors only at the installation site. With these connectors, at least the outer conductor of the cable is mechanically clamped in the end section of the connector housing. This process is not suitable for providing connections with low intermodulation. However, the marketplace increasingly requires field-installable connectors for even thicker cables which provide adequate intermodulation performance.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved coaxial connector, which can be soldered in the factory as well as at the installation site, even for large-diameter coaxial cables for providing an optimal connection with low intermodulation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect of the invention, the inner diameter of the recess is identical to the smallest outer diameter of the outer conductor of the respective cable type and the wall of the recess has slots so as to be elastic in the radial direction.
Advantageously, the slots can extend parallel to an axial direction of the connector housing. The elastic segments in the portion of the connector housing which receives the end of the outer conductor compensate any tolerances in the diameter as well as deviations from the roundness of the outer conductor of the cable, which can be significant in particular when the outer conductors are corrugated. The various segments of the wall of the recess thereby contacts the outer conductor of the cable. Heat is then transmitted rapidly and uniformly from the wall of the end section of the connector housing to the outer conductor of the cable, and the supplied or existing solder melts quickly and essentially uniformly, with capillary action distributing the solder uniformly across the entire surface of the solder gap.
According to another feature of the present invention, a solder wire including flux agent is disposed on the wall of the recess in at least in the region of the nominal position of the front edge of the outer conductor of the cable. In this way, for cables with a smooth outer conductor as well as for cables with an annular or helical corrugated outer conductor, an amount of solder sufficient for filling the solder gap is provided and uniformly distributed along the circumference before the solder begins to melt. The soldering operation is thereby accomplished quickly without melting the dielectric of the cable.
If an inner conductor of the connector is to be soldered to the inner cable conductor, then the cable end is prepared for installation by having the inner cable conductor protrude over the end of the outer conductor of the cable by a distance that is equal to approximately two diameters of the inner conductor. in this way, the connection between the inner connector conductor and the inner cable conductor is established first. Subsequently, the end section of the connector housing is pushed over the cable, including the inner conductor of the connector, and subsequently heated to solder the end section of the connector housing to the outer conductor of the cable.
According to another feature of the present invention, the wall thickness of the wall recess at least in the receiving area of the outer conductor of the cable may be less than in the remaining region of the end section of the connector housing. This reduces the heat capacity of the end section of the connector housing in the area that is to be soldered, so that less heat has to be supplied and the solder operation takes less time.
Advantageously, the solder reservoir (reservoirs) is (are) disposed in a circumferential groove provided in the wall of the recess. This keeps the solder reservoir in place before the soldering operation and permits a smaller. the solder gap. Typically, two solder reservoirs that are separated in the axial direction are sufficient.
Suitably, round or slot-like recesses can be distributed along the circumference of the wall to allow visual observation of the solder process. The number and location of the recesses can be selected according to the circumference of the cable.
According to another feature of the present invention, the width of the slots can be so dimensioned that the solder flows into the slots through capillary action, independent of the exact position of the connector during soldering. The solder fills the slots uniformly after the soldering operation, so that connection between the end section of the connector housing and the outer conductor of the cable is sealed, both mechanically and against HF leakage.
According to another feature of the present invention, at least one additional solder reservoir can be disposed outside the wall of the recess at the height of the slots. The additional solder reservoir can have the form, for example, of an axial recess located in an annular shoulder of the wall that is filled with solder. The additional solder reservoir is recommended when the slots, which are located in the wall to provide sufficient radial elasticity, extend from the end section of the connector housing facing the cable a certain distance beyond the edge of the outer conductor of the cable towards the connector side. With this additional solder reservoir, even the region near the end portions of the slots will be completely filled with solder after the soldering operation.
According to another feature of the present invention, the wall can be surrounded by a solderable sleeve at least over a portion of the length of the slotted region. The sleeve is preferably located in a region of the end section of the connector housing that is located on the connector side of the front edge of the outer conductor of the cable. The sleeve increases the mechanical rigidity, in particular the bending stiffness, of the thin-walled region of the end section of the connector housing after the soldering operation, which functions as strained relief for the cable, absorbing tensile and bending forces. As mentioned above, the wall is kept thin to reduce the heat capacity. Depending on the diameter in this region, this sleeve can b
Jun Anton Lorenz
Mischerikow Klaus-Dieter
Peschka Rudolf
Pitschi Franz
Feiereisen Henry M.
Lee Benny
Spinner GmbH Elektrotechnische Fabrik
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