Patents by Inventor Bruce Allen Champion

Bruce Allen Champion has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9666998
    Abstract: A ground contact module includes a ground leadframe having a ground contact with a transition portion extending between mating and terminating ends. A ground dielectric body holds the ground leadframe. The ground dielectric body has a low loss layer overmolded over the ground leadframe. The ground dielectric body has a lossy band separate and discrete from the low loss layer and attached thereto in proximity to the ground contact such that the lossy band is electrically coupled to the ground contact. The lossy band is manufactured from lossy material having conductive particles in a dielectric binder material and absorbs electrical resonance propagating through the contact module stack.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: TE CONNECTIVITY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Thomas Taake de Boer, Michael John Phillips, John Joseph Consoli, Sandeep Patel, Bruce Allen Champion, Linda Ellen Shields
  • Patent number: 9666990
    Abstract: A plug connector includes a plug body having a terminating end terminated to an electrical component and a mating end mated with a mating electrical connector. The plug body has first and second outer sides. The plug body has pockets between the first and second outer sides. A plug shroud extends from the plug body at the terminating end that is configured to be coupled to the electrical component. A contact array is held by the plug body and includes signal and ground contacts. The signal and ground contacts are exposed along the first and second outer sides. At least some of the ground contacts are aligned with corresponding pockets. Resonance-control lossy inserts are provided in corresponding pockets adjacent corresponding ground contacts. The lossy inserts are manufactured from lossy material capable of absorbing electrical resonance propagating through the plug body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: TE CONNECTIVITY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Thomas Taake de Boer, Michael John Phillips, John Joseph Consoli, Sandeep Patel, Bruce Allen Champion, Linda Ellen Shields
  • Patent number: 9666961
    Abstract: An electrical connector includes a housing stack comprising a front housing and a rear housing coupled to the front housing at a seam. The housing stack defines plural contact cavities that extend continuously through the front housing and the rear housing between mating and mounting ends. A lossy spacer is disposed at the seam between the front and rear housings. The lossy spacer has plural contact cavities aligned with corresponding contact cavities of the housing stack. Signal and ground contacts are disposed in corresponding contact cavities of the housing stack. The signal contacts extend through the lossy spacer such that the signal contacts do not directly engage the lossy spacer. The ground contacts extend through the contact cavities in the lossy spacer such that the ground contacts are coupled by the lossy spacer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: TE CONNECTIVITY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michael James Horning, Leo Joseph Graham, Wayne Samuel Davis, Bruce Allen Champion, Dave Helster, Chad William Morgan
  • Publication number: 20170069986
    Abstract: An electrical connector includes a housing stack comprising a front housing and a rear housing coupled to the front housing at a seam. The housing stack defines plural contact cavities that extend continuously through the front housing and the rear housing between mating and mounting ends. A lossy spacer is disposed at the seam between the front and rear housings. The lossy spacer has plural contact cavities aligned with corresponding contact cavities of the housing stack. Signal and ground contacts are disposed in corresponding contact cavities of the housing stack. The signal contacts extend through the lossy spacer such that the signal contacts do not directly engage the lossy spacer. The ground contacts extend through the contact cavities in the lossy spacer such that the ground contacts are coupled by the lossy spacer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 3, 2015
    Publication date: March 9, 2017
    Inventors: Michael James Horning, Leo Joseph Graham, Wayne Samuel Davis, Bruce Allen Champion, Dave Helster, Chad William Morgan
  • Patent number: 9570857
    Abstract: Electrical connector includes a connector body having a front side configured to engage a mating connector and a mounting side configured to engage an electrical component. The electrical connector also includes a conductor array including a plurality of signal conductors and a plurality of ground conductors that extend through the connector body. The plurality of signal conductors includes adjacent signal conductors and the plurality of ground conductors include first and second ground conductors that are positioned between the adjacent signal conductors. The first and second ground conductors are separated from each other by a physical gap. The electrical connector also includes first and second resonance-control elements attached to the first and second ground conductors, respectively, within the gap between grounds. The first and second resonance-control elements are spaced from each other and include at least one of an electrically-lossy or magnetically-lossy material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: TYCO ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Chad William Morgan, Bruce Allen Champion, Margaret Mahoney Fernandes
  • Patent number: 9559465
    Abstract: An electrical connector assembly may include a plurality of signal isolating barriers. Each of the plurality of signal isolating barriers may be positioned around a group of board contacts proximate to a board connecting interface. Each of the plurality of signal isolating barriers isolates the group of the plurality of board contacts from other groups of the plurality of board contacts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: TYCO ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michael John Phillips, Michael Eugene Shirk, Bruce Allen Champion, Linda Ellen Shields
  • Publication number: 20170018881
    Abstract: Pluggable connector includes a plug housing configured to couple to a communication cable. The plug housing has a plug cavity. The pluggable connector also includes a module board that is disposed within the plug cavity and configured to be communicatively coupled to the communication cable. The module board has a mating edge configured to interface with a mating connector. The module board includes a plurality of signal pathways and a plurality of ground pathways in which the signal pathways are interleaved between corresponding ground pathways. The signal and ground pathways include respective contact pads that are disposed proximate to the mating edge for engaging corresponding contacts of the mating connector. Each of the ground pathways has separate first and second trace segments and a damping component that electrically joins the first and second trace segments.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 14, 2015
    Publication date: January 19, 2017
    Inventors: Sandeep Patel, Linda Ellen Shields, Bruce Allen Champion, Chad William Morgan, Masayuki Aizawa
  • Patent number: 9531130
    Abstract: An electrical connector includes a housing having a mating housing and a contact organizer. The mating housing has a mating slot configured to receive a mating connector having contact pads. The contact organizer has signal and ground contact channels separated by separating walls with inner ends between the separating walls. The contact organizer has lossy fillers at the inner ends of the ground contact channels. The lossy fillers are manufactured from lossy material capable of absorbing electrical resonance propagating through the housing. The electrical connector includes a contact assembly disposed in the housing with ground contacts and signal contacts interspersed between corresponding ground contacts in corresponding ground and signal contact channels of the contact organizer. The ground contacts are positioned adjacent the lossy fillers at the inner ends of the corresponding ground contact channels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2016
    Assignee: TYCO ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michael John Phillips, Thomas Taake de Boer, Bruce Allen Champion, John Joseph Consoli, Sandeep Patel, Linda Ellen Shields
  • Patent number: 9531133
    Abstract: An electrical connector includes a housing stack having a first housing and a second housing stacked together with the first housing. The housing stack defines a mating end and a mounting end opposite the mating end. The housing stack defines signal contact cavities and ground contact cavities that extend continuously through the housings. At least one of the first housing and the second housing has pockets around the ground contact cavities with lossy spacers disposed therein each having a groove aligned with the corresponding ground contact cavity. Signal contacts are disposed in corresponding signal contact cavities. Ground contacts are disposed in corresponding ground contact cavities. The ground contacts are disposed in the grooves of the corresponding lossy spacers such that the ground contacts are coupled to the corresponding lossy spacers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2016
    Assignee: Tyco Electronics Corporation
    Inventors: Michael James Horning, Chad William Morgan, Leo Joseph Graham, Bruce Allen Champion, David W. Heister
  • Publication number: 20160336692
    Abstract: An electrical connector includes a housing and a plurality of ground wafers and signal wafers. A front side is configured to mate with a mating connector. The ground wafers and signal wafers are stacked next to one another along a stack axis. The ground wafers are interleaved between adjacent pairs of the signal wafers. Each signal wafer includes at least one signal conductor held by a signal holder that is composed of a first material. Each ground wafer includes at least one ground conductor held by a ground holder that is composed of second material. The second material is a lossy material and the first material is a low loss dielectric material that has a loss tangent that is lower than a loss tangent of the lossy material. The signal conductors and the ground conductors are configured to engage and electrically connect to the mating connector.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 14, 2015
    Publication date: November 17, 2016
    Inventors: Bruce Allen Champion, Chad William Morgan
  • Patent number: 9490587
    Abstract: A contact module stack includes signal contact modules and ground contact modules flanking the signal contact modules in a ground-signal-signal-ground contact module arrangement. The signal contact modules each include signal leadframes and signal dielectric bodies. The ground contact modules each include ground leadframes and ground dielectric bodies. The ground leadframes each have at least one ground contact. Each ground dielectric body has a low loss layer on a first side of the ground leadframe and a lossy layer on a second side of the ground leadframe. The lossy layer and the low loss layer substantially enclose a transition portion of the ground contact. The lossy layers are manufactured from lossy material having conductive particles in a dielectric binder material. The lossy layers absorb electrical resonance propagating through the contact module stack.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: Tyco Electronics Corporation
    Inventors: Michael John Phillips, Thomas Taake de Boer, Bruce Allen Champion, John Joseph Consoli, Sandeep Patel, Linda Ellen Shields
  • Patent number: 9472900
    Abstract: An electrical connector includes a housing having a first end and a second end. The housing has a mating slot formed between the first and second ends configured to receive a mating connector having contact pads. A contact array is received in the housing. The contact array includes ground contacts and signal contacts interspersed between corresponding ground contacts. The ground contacts include attachment portions thereon. At least one lossy ground absorber is received in the housing and is coupled to at least one corresponding ground contact. Each lossy ground absorber includes at least one opening. The at least one opening receives the attachment portion of the corresponding ground contact.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2016
    Assignee: Tyco Electronics Corporation
    Inventors: Michael John Phillips, Thomas Taake de Boer, Bruce Allen Champion, John Joseph Consoli, Sandeep Patel, Linda Ellen Shields
  • Publication number: 20160285204
    Abstract: Electrical connector includes a connector body having a front side configured to engage a mating connector and a mounting side configured to engage an electrical component. The electrical connector also includes a conductor array including a plurality of signal conductors and a plurality of ground conductors that extend through the connector body. The plurality of signal conductors includes adjacent signal conductors and the plurality of ground conductors include first and second ground conductors that are positioned between the adjacent signal conductors. The first and second ground conductors are separated from each other by a physical gap. The electrical connector also includes first and second resonance-control elements attached to the first and second ground conductors, respectively, within the gap between grounds. The first and second resonance-control elements are spaced from each other and include at least one of an electrically-lossy or magnetically-lossy material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 27, 2015
    Publication date: September 29, 2016
    Inventors: Chad William Morgan, Bruce Allen Champion, Margaret Mahoney Fernandes
  • Patent number: 9444189
    Abstract: Pluggable connector includes a module body having a mating plug that is configured to be inserted into a receptacle assembly during a mating operation. The mating plug has first and second plug sides that face in opposite directions and a front edge that joins the first and second plug sides. The pluggable connector also includes a plurality of signal contacts that are positioned along the first and second plug sides and a ground plate disposed within the mating plug. The ground plate is positioned between the signal contacts along the first plug side and the signal contacts along the second plug side. The pluggable connector also includes a plurality of resonance-control blades disposed within the mating plug and extending between the ground plate and at least one of the first plug side or the second plug side. The resonance-control blades have edge projections that engage the ground plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: Tyco Electronics Corporation
    Inventors: Steve Douglas Sattazahn, Matthew Ryan Schmitt, Bruce Allen Champion, Brandon Michael Matthews
  • Patent number: 9431768
    Abstract: Electrical connector includes a connector housing having a front side configured to mate with a mating connector and a mounting side configured to be mounted to a circuit board. The electrical connector also includes signal and ground conductors that extend through the connector housing between the front and mounting sides. The signal conductors form a plurality of signal pairs. The ground conductors are positioned relative to the signal pairs to form a plurality of ground-signal-signal-ground (GSSG) sub-arrays. Each GSSG sub-array includes a corresponding signal pair and first and second ground conductors that separate the corresponding signal pair from adjacent signal pairs. The electrical connector also includes a plurality of resonance-control bridges in which each resonance-control bridge electrically couples the first and second ground conductors of a corresponding GSSG sub-array. Each of the resonance-control bridges includes at least one of a capacitor or a resistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2016
    Assignee: Tyco Electronics Corporation
    Inventors: Bruce Allen Champion, Chad William Morgan, John Joseph Consoli, Thomas de Boer
  • Patent number: 9413112
    Abstract: An electrical connector includes a housing and a plurality of contact modules and ground plates held by the housing. Each contact module includes left and right signal wafers stacked next to each other along a stack axis. The signal wafers include electrical terminals held by a dielectric body. The electrical terminals have mounting contacts protruding from the dielectric body at a mounting face of the housing. The electrical terminals of at least one of the signal wafers in each contact module are jogged toward the other signal wafer such that the mounting contacts of each contact module align in a column. Each of the ground plates is disposed along an outer side of a corresponding contact module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2016
    Assignee: Tyco Electronics Corporation
    Inventors: David Wayne Helster, Linda Ellen Shields, Michael John Phillips, Bruce Allen Champion, Sandeep Patel
  • Publication number: 20160211629
    Abstract: A receptacle connector includes a housing having a slot configured to receive a mating connector therein. Signal contacts are held by the housing. The signal contacts include signal mating segments and signal mounting segments. The signal mating segments include signal mating interfaces that are exposed within the slot for engagement with the mating connector. Ground contacts are held by the housing. The ground contacts include ground mating segments and ground mounting segments. The ground mating segments include ground mating interfaces that are exposed within the slot for engagement with the mating connector. A ground bus electrically commons the ground contacts with each other. The ground contacts and the ground bus are integrally fabricated as a single, unitary, continuous structure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 20, 2015
    Publication date: July 21, 2016
    Inventors: Michael John Phillips, Matthew Ryan Schmitt, Bruce Allen Champion, Brandon Michael Matthews, Steve Douglas Sattazahn
  • Publication number: 20160043508
    Abstract: An electrical connector includes a housing and a plurality of contact modules and ground plates held by the housing. Each contact module includes left and right signal wafers stacked next to each other along a stack axis. The signal wafers include electrical terminals held by a dielectric body. The electrical terminals have mounting contacts protruding from the dielectric body at a mounting face of the housing. The electrical terminals of at least one of the signal wafers in each contact module are jogged toward the other signal wafer such that the mounting contacts of each contact module align in a column. Each of the ground plates is disposed along an outer side of a corresponding contact module.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 7, 2014
    Publication date: February 11, 2016
    Inventors: David Wayne Helster, Linda Ellen Shields, Michael John Phillips, Bruce Allen Champion, Sandeep Patel
  • Publication number: 20160036165
    Abstract: An electrical connector assembly may include a plurality of signal isolating barriers. Each of the plurality of signal isolating barriers may be positioned around a group of board contacts proximate to a board connecting interface. Each of the plurality of signal isolating barriers isolates the group of the plurality of board contacts from other groups of the plurality of board contacts.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2014
    Publication date: February 4, 2016
    Inventors: Michael John Phillips, Michael Eugene Shirk, Bruce Allen Champion, Linda Ellen Shields
  • Patent number: 8610000
    Abstract: A circuit board includes a substrate having upper and lower sides, and first and second conductive vias extending between the upper and lower sides. The first and second conductive vias include circular outer profiles. The circuit board also includes a differential pair of conductive traces, which includes a first conductive trace having first upper and lower segments disposed on the upper and lower sides, respectively. The first upper and lower segments are electrically connected together through the first conductive via. The first upper segment is curved around the second conductive via such that the first upper segment follows the circular outer profile of the second conductive via. The differential pair of conductive traces also includes a second conductive trace having second upper and lower segments disposed on the upper and lower sides, respectively. The second upper and lower segments are electrically connected together through the second conductive via.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2013
    Assignee: Tyco Electronics Corporation
    Inventor: Bruce Allen Champion