GB2330244A

GB2330244A - Flexible card connector

Info

Publication number: GB2330244A
Application number: GB9816101A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Shuji Kajinuma
Original assignee: Whitaker LLC
Current assignee: Whitaker LLC
Priority date: 1997-07-30
Filing date: 1998-07-23
Publication date: 1999-04-14
Also published as: GB9816101D0; JPH1154220A; KR19990013811A; JP4030077B2

Abstract

A connector (10) for mounting a flexible printed circuit card comprising a housing (20) in which two staggered rows of contacts (30a) are secured by contact barbs and a pressure member (50) is rotatably mounted by means of posts (52) extending from opposite ends of the pressure member (50). A spring arm (72) of a metal mounting member (70) bears on a semi-cylindrical extension (52b) of each post (52) to hold the pressure member (50) in an open position. Once a card has been placed in a card receiving slot (28) of the housing (20), the pressure member (50) is rotated into a closed position in which the spring arms (72) are disengaged from the post extensions (52b), an arm of the pressure member (50) urges traces on the card against the contacts (30a) and lugs (55) on opposite ends of the contact member (50) latchingly engage slots (26) in the housing (20).

Description

2330244 FLEXIBLE CARD CONNECTOR This invention relates to flexible card

connectors intended for the forming of electrical connections with flexible PC cards.

An example of a conventional flexible card connector can be found in the Japanese Patent Publication No. 8-250232. Since electrical contacts of the flexible card connector must be arranged at a relatively narrow pitch in a housing, they are made from a metal sheet material with sheet edges being used as contact surfaces. Therefore, the direction of the contact array pitch is perpendicular to a surface of the metal sheet edges. However, in order to provide for stable contact pressure and to reduce the cost of the contacts, it is desirable to use the surface of the metal sheet as the contact surface of the contacts.

Another type of conventional flexible card connector having a pressure member for the purpose of improving the stability of electrical connections is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model No. 3,035,692. The flexible card connector disclosed therein has a pressure member that can rotate between open and closed positions. When the pressure member is placed in the closed position, it provides pressure against contact pads of a flexible card. The pressure member is designed so that in the closed position, a portion thereof becomes engaged with a part of the contacts, thus providing a relatively stable electrical connection. However, since journals of rotation of the pressure member are retained in the same bearings of the insulating housing as in the open position, the pressure is distributed unevenly in the direction of the pitch of contacts.

1 Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is a flexible PC card connector providing for reliable electric connection even with flexible cards having contacts arrayed at a narrow pitch that can be fabricated at a low cost.

Another purpose of the present invention is a flexible PC card connector providing for reliable electrical connections even with multi-terminal cards.

The present invention is directed to a flexible PC card connector comprising two rows of electrical contacts arranged in a front end and a back end of an insulating housing with all the contacts of the two rows having spring-loaded arms including contact sections, the purpose of which is to form electrical connections with multiple contact pads arranged on one surface of a flexible PC card inserted in the housing so that the contact sections of the contacts are arrayed in a two row staggered pattern and that the contact sections use a surface of a metal sheet from which the contacts are formed.

It is preferable that the flexible card connector has a pressure member. The action of the pressure member involves pressing the flexible card against the contact sections.

The present invention relates to a flexible PC card connector comprising an insulating housing supporting multiple electrical contacts that can accept a flexible PC card, the insulating housing being equipped with a pressure member mounted so that it can rotate relative to the housing between open and closed positions which can be closed after the flexible PC card is inserted in the housing while the pressure member is in the open position, thus forming electrical connections between the flexible PC card and the contacts, so that when the 2 pressure member is in the open position, posts at both sides of the pressure member become engaged with spring-loaded arms provided on the insulating housing, thereby securing the pressure member in the housing so that the pressure member can rotate without being separated from the housing, and the pressure member is latched in the closed position by means of latch arms on the pressure member which are engaged with parts of the contacts. The posts and spring-loaded arms can be disengaged from each other.

It is desirable that the spring-loaded arms are part of mounting members made of metal affixed to the insulating housing. The mounting members may be also used for securing the insulating housing to a circuit board.

It is desirable that the pressure member and the insulating housing have latch members retaining them in the closed position.

It is desirable that portions of the posts that become engaged with the springloaded arms have a semi-circular cross section and that they be placed eccentrically relative to a center of rotation.

A card connector comprises an insulating housing having a cardreceiving slot along which a card is received; electrical contacts mounted in the housing and having contact sections extending into the cardreceiving slot for electrical connection with contact pads on the card when it is inserted into the cardreceiving slot; a pressure member mounted on the housing and movable between an open position so that the card can be inserted into the card-receiving slot and a closed position whereby the pressure member applies pressure to the card thereby effecting electrical connection between contact pads on the card and the contact sections of the electrical contacts; mounting 3 members provided by the housing and the pressure member maintaining the pressure member on the housing in the open position and enabling the pressure member to move to the closed position; and latch members provided by the housing and the pressure member latching the pressure member in the closed position.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a flexible card connector according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a part top plan view of the flexible card connector shown in Figure 1.

Figures 3a and 3b are crosssectional views of the flexible card connector shown in Figure 1 taken along line 3-3 of Figure 2, where Figure 3a shows the position at which the pressure member is open and Figure 3b shows the position at which the pressure member is closed Figures 4a and 4b are schematic views illustrating interaction between a post and a spring-loaded latch, where Figure 4a shows the position at which the pressure member is open and Figure 4b shows the position at which the pressure member is closed.

As can be seen in Figures 1 through 3b, flexible card connector 10 has an insulating housing 20 with multiple electrical contacts 30a, 30b secured therein. Contacts 30a, 30b are pressed into the insulating housing 20 respectively from a front end and from a back end, thus forming front and back rows of electrical contacts.

Contacts 30a, 30b have terminating sections 31a, 31b, the purpose of which is to affix the connector to electrical circuitry on a printed circuit board by means 4 of a surfacemounting technique, and contact sections 32a, 32b, the purpose of which is to form electrical connection with contact pads (not shown) on a flexible card F that is inserted in a card-receiving slot 28. As can be seen from Figures 3a and 3b, the contact sections 32a, 32b face the same direction to engage a bottom surface of the flexible card. As can be seen from Figure 2, the contact sections are arrayed in a staggered pattern. The contact pads on the flexible card F are also arranged in the same staggered pattern as the contact sections 32a, 32b.

As shown in Figures 3a, 3b, the contact 30a has a terminating section 31a, a spring-loaded section 33a including the contact section 32a, and an extended base section 34a. The base section 34a is made by bending the metal sheet 1900 to obtain a double-layered base section. The lower layer of the base section 34a has barbs 35a, the purpose of which is to secure the contact 30a in a lower section 21 of the insulating housing 20. The spring-loaded section 33a is the upper layer of the base section 34a extending forward and having a U-shaped bend at a back end. Near a free end of the contact 30a, a contact section 32a is provided in the form of an arcuate contact member facing upward and extending into the cardreceiving slot 28.

The contact 30b also has a terminating section 31b, a spring-loaded section 33b including the contact section 32b, and an extended base section 34b. The base section 34b is made by bending the metal sheet 1800 to obtain a double-layered base section. The portion of the upper layer of the base section 34b extending backwards has barbs 35b, the purpose of which is to secure the contact 30b in an upper section 22 of the insulating housing 20. The spring-loaded section 33b is the lower layer of the base section 34b extending backward and having a U-shaped bend facing forward. The contact section 32b has an arcuate configuration so that it extends into the card-receiving slot 28 as an arcuate contact member. The front end 39 of the base section 34b is curved to a semicircular configuration. It should be pointed out that the front end 39 partly overlaps the contact section 32a of the contact 30a. Extensions 38 of the contacts 30b, including terminating sections 31b, extend along a back side of the housing 20 and are separated by partitions 29 of housing 20 from adjacent extensions.

In order to increase reliability of the mounting of the flexible card connector 10 to the printed circuit board, at both ends of the insulating housing 20, metal mounting members 70 are provided that also retain a pressure member 50 (see Figure 1) in the housing. The metal-mounting members 70 have mounting legs 71 for attachment to the printed circuit board by the surfacemounting technique and spring-loaded arms 72, the purpose of which is to secure the pressure member 50 in the insulating housing 20. As explained below, the pressure member 50 is secured in the insulating housing so that it can rotate. Position of the metal-mounting members 70 is shown in Figure 3b by broken lines.

Figures 3a and 3b illustrate the operation of the pressure member 50 and the formation of electrical connections with the flexible card. As shown in Figure 3a, the flexible card F is inserted in the cardreceiving slot 28 of the insulating housing 20 when the pressure member 50 is at the open position. Position of the flexible card F at the time of insertion is shown in Figure 3a by dot-and-dash lines. In this position, the pressure member 50 is standing upright. According to Figures 1 and 4a, the pressure member 50 has posts 52 at both ends thereof which are disposed in bearing surfaces 6 in the housing. The posts 52 have a cylindrical base 52a and a semi- cylindrical extension 52b. When the pressure member 50 is in the open position, as can be seen from Figures 1 and 4a, the extension 52b of the post 52 is engaged with the spring-loaded arm 72, thus preventing the pressure member 50 from slipping out of the insulating housing 20. The pressure member 50 has an arm 51, but when the pressure member is in the open position, the arm 51 is spaced from the card-receiving slot. When the flexible card F is inserted in the cardreceiving slot 28 of the insulating housing 20, it is stopped in the correct position by means of a stop surface 23 in the insulating housing 20.

After that, the pressure member 50 is rotated from the open position shown in Figure 3a to the closed position shown in Figure 3b (the direction is shown by arrow A in Figure 3a). At this time, the arm 51 of the pressure member 50 slides under the base sections 34b of the contacts 30b and pressure surface 53 of the pressure member 50 pushes the flexible card against contacts 30a, 30b, thus implementing electrical connections between the flexible card and contacts 30a, 30b.

When the pressure member 50 moves to the closed position, latching lugs 55 at both side surfaces 54 of the pressure member 50 fit into slots 26 of the insulating housing 20. When the latching lugs 55 become engaged with the slots 26, the front side of the pressure member cannot be lifted. on the other hand, as shown in Figure 4b, in the closed position of the pressure member 50, the engagement between the extensions 52b of the posts 52 and the spring-loaded arms 72 is released, and the back side of the pressure member 50 can be slightly lifted. However, since as shown in Figure 3b, the arm 51 is located under the base sections 34b of the contacts 30b, the back side of the 7 pressure member 50 cannot be lifted more than necessary. Therefore, the pressure member is supported by the slots 26 engaged with the latching lugs 55 and by the arm 51 engaging the base sections 34b of the contacts 30b, thus providing for a well balanced and stable-engaging pressure in the direction of the pitch of contacts 30a, 30b produced by the pressure member 50.

Above, explanations concerning the embodiment of the flexible card connector according to this invention have been provided. However, this is only an example, and various changes and modifications can be introduced.

The flexible card connector according to the present invention has contact sections of electrical contacts arrayed in two rows according to a staggered pattern, and since the contact sections are formed by a surface of the sheet metal contacts, it is possible to create sufficient contact-engaging pressure even at a narrow pitch of contacts, thus providing for highlyreliable electrical connections while keeping the cost of the flexible card connector low.

In addition, when a pressure member of the flexible card connector is in an open position, it is retained in an insulating housing by posts at both ends of the pressure member which are engaged with spring-loaded arms of mounting members on the insulating housing, thus preventing the pressure member from slipping out of the housing while making it possible for the pressure member to be rotated; and in a closed position, an arm of the pressure member becomes engaged with sections of electrical contacts, thus retaining it on the insulating housing, while the engagement between the posts and spring-loaded arms can be released. This arrangement provides for a relatively-uniform and stable distribution of pressure onto a flexible card in the direction of the contact pitch, thus ensuring highly8 reliable electrical connections.

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Claims

A card connector comprising an insulating housing having a card-receiving slot along which a card is received; electrical contacts mounted in the housing and having contact sections extending into the cardreceiving slot for electrical connection with contact pads on the card when it is inserted into the cardreceiving slot; a pressure member mounted on the housing and movable between an open position so that the card can be inserted into the cardreceiving slot and a closed position whereby the pressure member applies pressure to the card thereby effecting electrical connection between contact pads on the card and the contact sections of the electrical contacts; moun--na means maintaining the pressure member on the housing an-d enabling the pressure member to move to the c' oseApos--'r--- on; and latch members provided by the housing and the pressure member latching the pressure member in the closed position.
2. A card connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mounting means include posts provided by said pressure member and spring-loaded arms on the housing engaging the posts.
3. A card connector as claimed in claim 2, wherein the posts have semicylindrical extensions for engagement by said spring-loaded arms when the pressure member is in -the open position.
4. A card connector as claimed in claim 2 or 3, wherein the spring-loaded arms are parts of metal mounting members having mounting legs for attaching the card connector to a circuit board.
5. A card connector as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the electrical contacts have base sections from which the contact sections extend, said pressure member includes an arm engaging the base sections when the pressure member is in the closed position whereby the pressure member is supported by the latch members and the arm engaging the base sections of the contact when the pressure member is in the closed position.
6. A card connector as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the latch members include latching lugs and slots provided by the pressure member and the housing.
7. A card connector as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the electrical contacts include a front row of contacts and a rear row of electrical contacts, the front row of contacts being staggered with respect to the rear row of contacts.
8. A card connector as claimed in claim 7, wherein the front row of contacts extends along a lower wall of the housing, and the rear row of contacts extends along an upper wall of the housing.
9. A card connector as claimed in claim 8, wherein the front row of contacts includes base sections secured along the lower wall of the housing and springloaded sections including the contact sections adjacent free ends thereof.
10. A card connector as claimed in claim 8 or 9, wherein the rear row of contacts includes base sections secured along the upper wall of the housing and spring loaded sections having a Ushaped bend facing forward including the contact sections adjacent free ends thereof.
11. A card connector substantially as herein described and as shown in the accompanying Figures.

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