Electrical connectors – Including or for use with coaxial cable – Adapted to join cable conductors to different type conductors
Patent
1994-10-31
1997-02-18
Bradley, P. Austin
Electrical connectors
Including or for use with coaxial cable
Adapted to join cable conductors to different type conductors
439932, H01R 905
Patent
active
056036353
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to electrical connectors, and in particular to connectors for forming electrical connections to coaxial cables.
It is often necessary to form a connection between a coaxial cable and a printed circuit board (PCB) or other electrical component and a number of devices for forming such connections have been proposed, for example as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,743,748 and 4,060,887, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. One such device which has been widely employed is that sold by Raychem Corporation under the registered trademark "PinPak". This device comprises a dimensionally heat-recoverable sleeve that is formed from a pair of component sleeves, each of which contains a quantity of solder. The sleeves are of different sizes and one end of the larger sleeve and a bond is formed between the sleeves by means of a ring of adhesive. A piece of wire is bent so that each end can be inserted into one of the sleeves (one end into the small sleeve and one end into the end of the larger sleeve that contains the smaller sleeve), and the sleeves are partially recovered to grip the wire. In order to terminate a coaxial cable the cable, after cutting back the jacket, outer conductor and dielectric by appropriate amounts, is inserted into the sleeve and the sleeve is heat recovered about the cable so that the conductors of the cable are each connected to one end of the wire by means of the solder. Afterwards the central portion of the wire can be removed by means of snips, so that the remaining parts of the wire act as pins for insertion into a PCB or other device.
Although this type of connector works well in practice it is relatively complex and requires a complex manufacturing process: The smaller of the two sleeves must be partially recovered about one end of the wire and a solder preform, the larger sleeve must be partially recovered about another solder preform and a ring of adhesive, and finally the larger sleeve must be accurately positioned over the end of the smaller sleeve and the free end of the wire and partially recovered thereon.
This invention has, as its object, the provision of a similar coaxial cable connection device that can be produced by means of a less complex process. According to one aspect, the invention provides a device for electrically connecting a coaxial cable to another electrical component, which comprises a sleeve for receiving an end of the coaxial cable, the sleeve having a pair of elongate conductive members that extend out of the sleeve from the interior thereof for forming a connection with the electrical component, which may for example be a printed circuit board, and two quantities of solder for connecting each conductive member to a conductor of the coaxial cable, wherein the sleeve is a unitary sleeve and the conductive members both extend out of the same end of the sleeve, at least one of the elongate conductive members being electrically insulated in order to prevent a short circuit between the conductive members. By the expression `unitary sleeve` is meant a sleeve having a single aperture out of which both elongate conductive members extend.
The device according to the invention can be manufactured by: together at one end and have one free end; insulation; brought into proximity but are offset from one another, are substantially parallel and extend in the same direction; and the sleeve having two quantities of solder for connecting each conductive member to one conductor of the coaxial cable.
This invention has the advantage that the total number of components that need at some stage to be individually handled is reduced, thereby allowing the possibility of lower manufacturing costs. For example, only one sleeve is employed and the relatively difficult requirement of locating one sleeve within another is removed.
Preferably the sleeve is dimensionally heat-recoverable, that is to say the article has a dimensional configuration that may be made substantially to change when subjected to heat treatment. Usually these articles r
REFERENCES:
patent: 2863132 (1958-12-01), Sowa
patent: 3743748 (1973-07-01), Reeder
patent: 3980382 (1976-09-01), Reeder
patent: 4060887 (1977-12-01), DeGroef
patent: 5334050 (1994-08-01), Andrews
Damene Jacqueline
Delamotte Jean-Christian
Bradley P. Austin
Burkard Herbert G.
Novack Sheri M.
Raychem S.A.
Wittels Daniel
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