1. A container for heating a food product with microwave energy comprising a wavelength, the container comprising:
a generally circular centerline having an axis;
a receptacle comprising a sidewall extending at least partially around a cavity, at least a portion of the cavity extending along at least a portion of the centerline;
the sidewall comprising an inner edge and an outer edge each being spaced apart from the axis of the centerline for at least partially retaining the food product in the cavity in proximity to the centerline.
2. The container of claim 1, wherein the inner edge is generally circular and is generally concentric with the centerline.
3. The container of claim 2, wherein the centerline has a first diameter that is generally equal to the wavelength of the microwave energy, and the inner edge has a second diameter that is generally equal to at least half the wavelength of the microwave energy.
4. The container of claim 3, wherein the outer edge extends around an outer perimeter of the receptacle and is spaced apart from the inner edge by at least half the wavelength of the microwave energy.
5. The container of claim 1, wherein the inner edge extends along an inner perimeter of the receptacle and at least partially around the axis of the centerline.
6. The container of claim 5, wherein the outer edge extends along an outer perimeter of the receptacle and at least partially around the axis of the centerline.
7. The container of claim 5, further comprising an inner receptacle disposed within the inner perimeter.
8. The container of claim 7, wherein the centerline has a diameter that is generally equal to the wavelength of the microwave energy, and the inner receptacle is generally confined to within a quarter of the wavelength from the axis of the centerline.
9. The container of claim 8, wherein the food product comprises a primary food item for being disposed in the cavity of the receptacle and a secondary food item for being disposed in a secondary container that is for being received in the inner receptacle, and the primary food item is for being exposed to relatively higher microwave energy in the cavity of the receptacle than the secondary food item in the inner receptacle.
10. The container of claim 9, wherein the primary food item comprises a generally lossless dielectric material and the secondary food item comprises a dielectric material that is relatively lossy with respect to the generally lossless dielectric material.
11. The container of claim 7, further comprising an inner flange extending inwardly from the inner edge, the inner flange at least partially defining the inner receptacle.
12. The container of claim 5, further comprising an inner spacing feature at least partially defined by the inner edge.
13. The container of claim 1, further comprising an inner flange extending from the inner edge and an outer flange extending from the outer edge.
14. The container of claim 13, wherein the inner flange extends along an inner perimeter of the receptacle and the outer flange extends along an outer perimeter of the receptacle.
15. The container of claim 1, wherein:
the receptacle is a first receptacle, the sidewall is a first sidewall, and the cavity is a first cavity;
the container further comprises at least a second receptacle comprising a second sidewall extending at least partially around a second cavity, at least a portion of the second cavity extending along at least a portion of the centerline.
16. The container of claim 15, wherein each of the first sidewall and the second side wall comprises an inner portion, an outer portion spaced apart from the inner portion, and an oblique portion extending from the respective inner portion to the respective outer portion.
17. The container of claim 16, wherein the oblique portion of the first sidewall is disposed proximate to the oblique portion of the second sidewall.
18. The container of claim 16, wherein the centerline has a diameter that is generally equal to the wavelength of the microwave energy, and, for each of the first sidewall and the second sidewall, the inner portion is spaced apart from the axis of the centerline by at least a quarter of the wavelength from the axis of the centerline.
19. The container of claim 18, wherein, for each of the first sidewall and the second sidewall, the outer portion is spaced apart from the inner portion by generally less than half the wavelength of the microwave energy.
20. The container of claim 15, further comprising a support element comprising a top panel with at least a first opening at least partially receiving the first receptacle and a second opening at least partially receiving the second receptacle.
21. The container of claim 20, wherein the first opening and the second opening of the support element at least partially retain the respective first receptacle and second receptacle so that each of the first cavity and the second cavity is at least partially disposed along at least a portion of the centerline.
22. The container of claim 20, wherein the first receptacle comprises a first flange extending from the first sidewall and the second receptacle comprises a second flange extending from the second sidewall, and each of the first flange and the second flange engages the top panel of the support element to at least partially support the respective first receptacle and second receptacle.
23. The container of claim 1, wherein the wavelength of the microwave energy is an average wavelength of the microwave energy, and the centerline has a diameter that is generally equal to the average wavelength of the microwave energy.
24. The container of claim 1, wherein the wavelength of the microwave energy is an average wavelength of the microwave energy, and the cavity comprises a maximum width extending radially from the inner edge to the outer edge, the maximum width being generally equal to or less than half the average wavelength of the microwave energy.
25. The container of claim 24, wherein the food product comprises a generally lossless dielectric material.
26. A method of heating a food product, comprising:
obtaining a container comprising a generally circular centerline having an axis, a receptacle comprising a sidewall extending at least partially around a cavity, at least a portion of the cavity extending along at least a portion of the centerline, the sidewall comprising an inner edge and an outer edge each being spaced apart from the axis of the centerline for at least partially retaining the food product in the cavity in proximity to the centerline;
positioning at least a portion of the food product in the cavity; and
exposing the container and the food product to microwave energy comprising a wavelength.
27. The method of claim 26, wherein the inner edge is generally circular and is generally concentric with the centerline.
28. The method of claim 27, wherein the centerline has a first diameter that is generally equal to the wavelength of the microwave energy, and the inner edge has a second diameter that is generally equal to at least half the wavelength of the microwave energy.
29. The method of claim 28, wherein the outer edge extends around an outer perimeter of the receptacle and is spaced apart from the inner edge by at least half the wavelength of the microwave energy.
30. The method of claim 26, wherein:
the container further comprises an inner receptacle disposed within the inner perimeter, wherein:
the food product comprises a primary food item and a secondary food item, the positioning at least a portion of the food product comprises positioning the first food item in the cavity; and
the method further comprises disposing the secondary food item in a secondary container and positioning the secondary container to be at least partially received in the inner receptacle.
31. The method of claim 30, wherein the centerline has a diameter that is generally equal to the wavelength of the microwave energy, and the inner receptacle is generally confined to within a quarter of the wavelength from the axis of the centerline, and the exposing the container and the food product to the microwave energy comprises producing the microwave energy having at least the wavelength so that the primary food item generally is exposed to a relatively higher intensity of the microwave energy in the cavity of the receptacle than the secondary food item is generally exposed to in the inner receptacle.
32. The method of claim 31, wherein the primary food item comprises a generally lossless dielectric material and the secondary food item comprises a dielectric material that is relatively lossy with respect to the generally lossless dielectric material.
33. The method of claim 26, wherein:
the receptacle is a first receptacle, the sidewall is a first sidewall, and the cavity is a first cavity;
the container further comprises at least a second receptacle comprising a second sidewall extending at least partially around a second cavity, at least a portion of the second cavity extending along at least a portion of the centerline; and
the positioning at least a portion of the food product further comprises positioning at least a portion of the food product in the second cavity.
34. The method of claim 33, wherein the container further comprises a support element comprising a top panel with at least a first opening at least partially receiving the first receptacle and a second opening at least partially receiving the second receptacle, the method further comprising at least partially removing at least one of the first receptacle and the second receptacle from the support element after the exposing the container and the food product to the microwave energy.
35. The method of claim 26, wherein the wavelength of the microwave energy is an average wavelength of the microwave energy, and the centerline has a diameter that is generally equal to the average wavelength of the microwave energy.
36. The method of claim 35, wherein the food product comprises a generally lossless dielectric material.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A contact module assembly comprising:
a dielectric body having a mating end with a plurality of mating contacts and a mounting end with a plurality of mounting contacts;
a lead frame at least partially enclosed by the dielectric body, the lead frame having signal conductors and ground conductors, the signal and ground conductors held by the dielectric body within and extending along a lead frame plane, at least one of the ground conductors including a mating segment located at the mating end and a mounting segment located at the mounting end, the mating and mounting segments being electrically separated and spaced apart from one another along the lead frame plane by a gap therebetween, the mating segment including a mating contact terminal located proximate to the gap and the mounting segment including a mounting contact terminal located proximate to the gap; and
a commoning member mounted to a side of the dielectric body, the commoning member electrically engaging the mating contact terminal and the mounting contact terminal to electrically connect the mating segment and the mounting segment of at least one of the ground conductors.
2. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the signal conductors and ground conductors extend from respective ones of the mating contacts and the mounting contacts.
3. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the dielectric body has a trench extending entirely therethrough at least partially along the gap between the mating contact terminal and the mounting contact terminal of at least one of the ground conductors.
4. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the side of the dielectric body is substantially parallel to and spaced apart from the lead frame plane, the commoning member is mounted to the side such that the dielectric body extends between the lead frame plane and the commoning member, the commoning member having at least one tab oriented to traverse the lead frame plane and electrically engage the mating contact terminal and the mounting contact terminal of at least one ground conductor.
5. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the ground conductors are entirely contained within the lead frame plane, the commoning member is spaced apart from the lead frame plane in a non-coplanar orientation with respect to the lead frame plane.
6. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the signal and ground conductors of the lead frame are stamped from a common blank, and the dielectric body is overmolded around portions of the signal and ground conductors.
7. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the signal and ground conductors define a pinout having signal conductors arranged as differential pairs, wherein a first ground conductor is provided on one side of one of the differential pairs of signal conductors and a second ground conductor is provided on an opposite side of the same differential pair, the first and second ground conductors are discrete and physically separate from one another and electrically connected by the commoning member.
8. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the signal conductors have a thickness extending in a direction defined between opposed sides of the dielectric body, the ground conductors have a thickness that is substantially identical to the thickness of the signal conductors.
9. An electrical connector comprising:
a housing;
first and second contact module assemblies held by the housing, each of the contact module assemblies comprising:
a dielectric body having a mating end with a plurality of mating contacts and a mounting end with a plurality of mounting contacts;
a lead frame at least partially enclosed by the dielectric body, the lead frame having signal conductors and ground conductors, the signal and ground conductors held by the dielectric body within and extending along a lead frame plane, at least one of the ground conductors including a mating segment located at the mating end and a mounting segment located at the mounting end, the mating and mounting segments being electrically separated and spaced apart from one another along the lead frame plane by a gap therebetween, the mating segment including a mating contact terminal located proximate to the gap and the mounting segment including a mounting contact terminal located proximate to the gap; and
a commoning member mounted to a side of the dielectric body, the commoning member electrically engaging the mating contact terminal and the mounting contact terminal to electrically connect the mating segment and the mounting segment of at least one of the ground conductors.
10. The electrical connector of claim 9, wherein for each of the contact module assemblies the dielectric body has a trench extending entirely therethrough at least partially along the gap between the mating contact terminal and the mounting contact terminal of at least one of the ground conductors.
11. The electrical connector of claim 9, wherein for each of the contact module assemblies the signal conductors are arranged in differential pairs, the signal conductors have different lengths defined between the mating and mounting contacts, the signal conductors have a generally constant width defined between the mating and mounting contacts, wherein one of the signal conductors within each differential pair includes at least one compensation region, the compensation region being an integral part of the conductor that extends outward therefrom within the lead frame plane such that the signal conductors are wider along the segments of the signal conductors having the compensation regions, wherein at least a portion of the compensation region is exposed to air by a window in the dielectric body.
12. The electrical connector of claim 9, wherein the commoning member of the second contact module assembly is positioned between the signal conductors of the first contact module assembly and the signal conductors of the second contact module assembly to provide shielding between the signal conductors of the contact module assemblies.
13. The electrical connector of claim 9, wherein the lead frames of the contact module assemblies are different from one another such that at least some of the signal conductors of the first contact module assembly are directly aligned with a corresponding gap between the mating contact terminal and the mounting contact terminal of at least one of the ground conductors of the second contact module assembly when the contact module assemblies are held within the housing.
14. A contact module assembly comprising:
a dielectric body having a mating end with a plurality of mating contacts and a mounting end with a plurality of mounting contacts, the dielectric body defining at least one window therein; and
a lead frame at least partially enclosed by the dielectric body, the lead frame having ground conductors and signal conductors, the signal conductors extend from respective ones of the mating contacts to respective ones of the mounting contacts, the signal conductors including first and second signal conductors arranged in a differential pair, the first signal conductor being longer than the second signal conductor, the first signal conductor having a length extending between the mating and mounting contacts and the first signal conductor having a first width provided along at least a portion of the length, the first signal conductor including a compensation region formed as a segment along the length of the first signal conductor, the segment forming the compensation region having a second width that is wider than the first width, at least a portion of the compensation region being aligned with, and exposed to air by, a respective one of the windows in the dielectric body.
15. The assembly of claim 14, wherein the compensation region of the first signal conductors is exposed by the windows for a predetermined length of the segment, wherein the predetermined length is selected to compensate by a certain amount for skew created by an added signal path length of the first signal conductor.
16. The assembly of claim 14, wherein the window is elongated and has a longitudinal axis substantially parallel to the length of the compensation region.
17. The assembly of claim 14, wherein at least some of the ground conductors include a mating contact terminal proximate the respective mating contact and a mounting contact terminal proximate the respective mounting contact, the ground conductors extend only partially between the mating contact and the mounting contact associated with the respective ground conductor such that a gap exists between the mating contact terminal and the mounting contact terminal of the ground conductor.
18. The assembly of claim 14, wherein the dielectric body has a trench extending entirely therethrough, the trench being positioned between signal conductors of adjacent differential pairs, and the trench having a longitudinal axis extending substantially parallel to the adjacent signal conductors.
19. The assembly of claim 14, wherein the ground conductors are discrete from one another, the assembly further comprising a commoning member electrically connecting the ground conductors to one another, wherein the commoning member is non-coplanar with the lead frame.
20. The assembly of claim 14, wherein the dielectric body has opposed sides, the signal and ground conductors being discrete from one another and being held within and extend along a lead frame plane that is parallel to and non-coplanar with the sides of the dielectric body, the commoning member is mounted to one of the sides of the dielectric body such that the commoning member is oriented in a non-coplanar relation with the lead frame plane.