Electrical connectors – With insulation other than conductor sheath – Plural-contact coupling part
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-25
2002-06-11
Paumen, Gary (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With insulation other than conductor sheath
Plural-contact coupling part
C439S460000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06402559
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to modular electrical plugs and, more particularly, to a modular plug having performance properties which will be in compliance with Category 6 standards.
The present invention also relates to plug-cable assemblies of a multi-conductor cable and a plug at one end terminating the cable and a plug or other electrical connector terminating the other end of the cable, or the other end being unterminated.
The present invention also relates to a load bar and a terminal blade for a modular electrical plug.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In view of the continual desire to increase the transmission rate of data through electrical cables, new performance standards are being promulgated for modular electrical connectors. Connectors having characteristics in compliance with this standard will be known as Category 6 connectors, or Cat 6 connectors for short.
Although existing modular connectors such as jacks and plugs, e.g., those having characteristics in compliance with the immediate lower standards (Category 5), might be found to be in compliance with Category
6
standards as well, it is advantageous to develop new modular connectors designed specifically to comply with Cat 6 standards.
Cat 6 modular jacks and plugs are intended to be used in data communication networks to enable the flow of information at higher transmission rates than currently available with known modular connectors, including Cat 3 and Cat 5 connectors. However, data transmitted at high rates in multi-pair data communication cables has an increased susceptibility to crosstalk, which often adversely affects the processing and integrity of the transmitted data. Crosstalk occurs when signal energy “crosses” from one signal pair to another. The point at which the signal crosses or couples from one set of conductors to another may be 1) within the connector or internal circuitry of the transmitting station, referred to as “near-end” crosstalk, 2) within the connector or internal circuitry of the receiving station, referred to as “far-end crosstalk”, or 3) within the interconnecting cable.
Near-end crosstalk (“NEXT”) is especially troublesome in the case of telecommunication connectors of the type specified in sub-part F of FCC pan 68.500, commonly referred to as modular connectors. The EIA/TIA (Electronic/Telecommunication Industry Association) of ANSI has promulgated electrical specifications for near-end crosstalk isolation in network connectors to ensure that the connectors themselves do not compromise the overall performance of the unshielded twisted pair (UTP) interconnect hardware typically used in LAN systems. It is expected that electrical specifications for Cat 6 plugs will also be promulgated in the near future.
In the prior art, reference is made to the assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,647 (Rohrbaugh et al., incorporated by reference herein) which describes Cat 5 modular plugs including a management bar or load bar for receiving the conductors in separate conductor-receiving passages or channels. Inter-conductor capacitance in the plugs is reduced by offsetting adjacent conductors, i.e., vertically spacing adjacent conductors from one another, such that the conductor-receiving channels, and thus the conductors, are arranged in two planar arrays spaced one above the other. The offset conductors help to lower the plug's internal capacitance thus enabling compliance with, for the disclosed plugs, Cat 5 standards.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide new and improved modular plugs and modular plug-cable assemblies including the same.
It is another object of the present invention to provide new and improved modular plugs and modular plug-cable assemblies including the same in compliance with Category 6 standards.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide new and improved designs of modular plugs offering crosstalk performance better than that of existing modular plugs.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved conductor management bar or load bar for use in modular electrical plugs.
It is another object of the present invention to provide new and improved terminal blades for use in modular electrical plugs.
Briefly, in accordance with the present invention, these and other objects are achieved by providing a modular plug including a plug housing made of dielectric material including a plurality of parallel, spaced, longitudinally extending terminal-receiving slots at a forward end and a longitudinal cavity extending from a rear face thereof forward to a location below the slots such that the cavity is in communication with the slots. Each terminal-receiving slot receives a respective terminal blade or insulation displacing contact. The plug also includes a conductor management bar, or load bar, arranged in the cavity and defining conductor-receiving channels in which the two channels receivable of the conductors forming conductor pair #
3
, i.e., conductors
3
and
6
according to TIA/EIA-ANSI standard 568B, are located in a first row or level while the two channels receivable of the conductors forming conductor pair #
1
, i.e., conductors
4
and
5
according that standard, are located in a second row or level substantially parallel to and spaced from the first level. Preferably, the channels receivable of conductors
4
and
5
are spaced laterally inwardly, i.e., between the channels receivable of conductors
3
and
6
.
In a first preferred embodiment comprising an 8-position plug (terminating four twisted wire pairs), the conductor-receiving channels are located in three substantially parallel rows or levels arranged such that each level receives at least one pair of conductors operatively forming a circuit during use. The channels adapted to receive the conductors forming conductor pair #
1
, conductors
4
and
5
, and the channels adapted to receive the conductors forming conductor pair #
3
, conductors
3
and
6
, are situated in the levels most distant from one another to thereby reduce crosstalk between these conductor pairs. The two additional pairs of channels are situated at a third intermediate level between the first and second levels.
More particularly, according to a first embodiment of the invention, the load bar housing includes first (or rearward), second (or intermediate) and third (or forward) longitudinally adjoining portions, the third portion being situated below the contact-receiving slots and each portion having a different transverse cross-sectional form, although the load bar housing is a unitary member. At one (a top) level, two channels are formed from, a longitudinal indentation or trough on an upper surface of the first (or rearward) portion, a shaped cavity or bore in the second or intermediate portion and a longitudinal indentation or trough on an upper surface of the third portion). A groove is provided in the first and second portions to receive a conductive strip and hold the conductive strip between the channels in the first level and thereby correct an impedance problem arising from the horizontal separation of the conductors received in the channels in this level. At a second (a bottom) level, two channels are formed from a respective longitudinal indentation on a lower surface of the first portion, a shaped cavity in the second portion and a respective indentation on an upper surface of the third portion. At a third (an intermediate) level, two additional pairs of channels are formed within the load bar housing and between the first and second levels. The load bar assembly preferably comprises means for distributing crosstalk between the pairs of conductors received in the channels in the third level and the pairs of conductors received in other channels and operatively forming a circuit during use, i.e., conductive strips situated alongside the channels.
The conductive strips may be strips of metallic material such as copper, strips of conductive plastic, strips of insert molded pla
Colantuono Robert
Locati Ronald
Marowsky Richard
Figueroa Felix O.
Paumen Gary
Steinberg & Raskin, P.C.
Stewart Connector Systems, Inc.
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