JP2000058206A - Card connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a high-reliability electrical connection to a special card by providing a housing storing a card, first contacts and ground members, keeping second contacts in contact with a signal contact section provided on one face of the card, and arranging them on the same side as the ground members. SOLUTION: This card connector 10 is provided with a connector 20 receiving the end of a card 100, a guide frame section 11 guiding the card 100 to the connector 20 and a card discharge mechanism 12 fitted along one side face of the frame section 11, and a plurality of contacts are stored in the connector 20. The contacts can be connected to another circuit board mounted with the card connector 10 via a circuit board 150 arranged on the back side of the connector 20. The card connector 10 is provided with second contacts 50 to be connected to the surface of the card 100 at positions along its top side face, and the second contacts 50 are arranged in parallel with ground members 60.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a card connector for receiving and electrically connecting a card, and more particularly to a card connector including a grounding member connected to a ground contact portion provided on one side of the card.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A card connector of this kind is disclosed in
No. 241764. The disclosed card connector includes a housing for receiving a card at a rear end of a frame portion for guiding the card. In the housing,
In addition to a contact for connecting to each contact of a connector portion provided at an end of the card, a grounding member for connecting to a grounding contact portion provided on one surface of the card to be received is provided.

[0003]

In recent years, a card having the same shape and dimensions as a conventional product has been used, and a position other than an end portion (for example, a main surface thereof) has been used.
Cards have been devised for use in special applications in which signal contacts are provided. An object of the present invention is to provide a card connector capable of performing a highly reliable electrical connection even to a special card as described above, while maintaining a configuration for making a good connection with a normal card. And

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises a housing for receiving a card, a first contact connected to the contact when the card has a contact at an end, and a contact on one side of the card. And a grounding member connected to the grounding contact portion, wherein the second contact connected to the signal contacting portion when receiving the card having the signal contacting portion provided on the one side is formed by the grounding. It is characterized in that it is provided side by side with the grounding member on the same side as the member.

[0005] Preferably, the grounding member includes a plurality of contacts separated from each other, and the second contact is arranged between the plurality of contacts.

Preferably, the grounding member and the second contact are formed of a metal plate, and are placed so that their plate surfaces are coplanar.

[0007] Preferably, the ground member and the second contact are provided on a first surface of the housing.
And press-fit into the second passage or groove, respectively.

[0008] Preferably, the grounding member and the second contact have press-fitting shoulders aligned in a predetermined relationship with each other, and both are press-fitted and fixed to the housing in the same step.

Preferably, the contact portions of the ground member and the second contact form a row at different positions with respect to the receiving direction of the card.

[0010] Preferably, the first contact, the grounding member and the second contact are interconnected to another circuit board via a single multilayer circuit board located on a rear side of the card connector. Is done.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of a card connector according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 1A and 1B show the entirety of a card connector according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1A is a plan view, and FIG.
Is a side view.

The card connector 10 according to the present invention is a card (particularly a PC card based on the PCMCIA standard) 100
And to be electrically connected to it.
According to FIG. 1, the card connector 10 includes a connector 20 for receiving an end of the card 100, and a card
It has a guide frame portion 11 for guiding to zero and a card ejection mechanism 12 mounted along one side surface of the frame portion 11. Although not shown, the connector 20 accommodates a plurality of contacts. Card 1 inserted into frame 11
00 reaches the connector 20 by the guidance of the frame 11, and the contacts located at the end of the card 100 engage with the contacts in the connector 20. The contact can be connected to another circuit board on which the card connector 10 is mounted via a circuit board 150 arranged on the rear side of the connector 20. In particular, FIG. 1A shows a connector 130 that can be mounted on another circuit board for connection to the circuit board 150.

The card connector 10 has an additional contact (second contact) 50 at a position along the top surface thereof for connection to the surface of the card. This is for connecting to an additional signal contact portion using a portion other than the end portion (for example, one surface) of such a card required in recent years, and particularly in the card connector 10 according to the present invention. The additional contact 50 is characterized in that it is juxtaposed with the ground contact (ground member) 60 on one side of the connector 20. The details of the configuration will be described below.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are views showing a connector portion of the card connector shown in FIG. 1, wherein FIG. 2A is a longitudinal sectional view, and FIG. 2B is a partial perspective view seen from the back side. However, the circuit board on the back side of the card connector is shown only in (b).

Referring to FIG. 2A, the housing 22 of the connector 20 supports a plurality of male contacts (first contacts) 40 which can be engaged with the contacts arranged at the end of a normal card. You. The contact 40 is press-fitted into the housing 22 and fixed. A contact portion 42 for contacting a contact in the card is provided inside each of the two-stage connector portions 21a and 21b provided in the housing 22.
They are arranged in rows. As can be understood with reference to FIG.
And a connection portion 41 for connection to the terminal.

As can be understood from FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b), the ground contact 60 and the contact 50 are disposed on the top connector 21a of the two-stage connector 21a, 21b as described above. Then, only the grounding member 65 is disposed on the bottom connector portion 21b. Ground contact 60
And the ground member 65 are connected to the respective connector portions 21a, 21a.
b, for contacting a ground contact portion provided on a surface near the end of a normal card 100 or a special-purpose card received by the card b to form a ground circuit. Although the shape of the grounding member 65 is not shown, for example, it is manufactured by punching and bending a single metal plate extending in the width direction of the connector 22. The ground contact 60, the contact 50, and the ground member 65 are connected to the circuit board 15 similarly to the contact 40.
0, connecting portions 62, 5 for being connected by soldering or the like.
2,67. The metal members 35a and 35b placed at the positions facing the ground contacts 60 and 50 and the positions facing the ground member 65 corresponding to the connectors 21a and 21b are rotatably arranged in the connector 20. Arm for card ejection.

In particular, as shown in FIG. 2B, the ground contact 60 and the additional contact 50 located corresponding to the connector portion 21a located on the top side are press-fitted and fixed to the housing 22 in a coplanar relationship. You. They have contact pieces 61, 51, respectively, including contact projections 64, 54 which are elastically curved and project inward. Contact protrusion 6
4 and 54 can be stably contacted with the ground contact portion and the signal contact portion of the card for special use by the sufficient elastic force of the contact pieces 61 and 51. As shown in the figure, the contact pieces 61 and 51 have substantially the same shape and size, and each extend from a fixing portion 63 or 53 fixed to the housing 22. As shown, the press-fit projections 63a along the side edges of the fixing portions 63, 53,
53a are provided. Openings 23a and 23b are formed on the top surface of the housing 22 in order to provide a sufficient bending space for the contact pieces 61 and 51 while keeping the height of the housing 22 low.

The ground contact 60 and the additional contact 50 are preferably formed by stamping and bending the same metal plate. The ground contact 60 and the additional contact 50 formed by such a process can be pressed into the housing 22 in the same process. This simplifies the process of fixing these components to the housing 22 and can reduce the assembly cost. Further, the contact piece 6
Having the same shape and dimensions of the parts 51 and 51 has a manufacturing advantage that they can be molded in the same mold, and facilitates dimensional control or spring design for contact and special application. It is possible to guarantee the connection reliability of the card with the ground contact part and the signal contact part (particularly with the latter).
Further, the position of the contact protrusion 64 of the contact piece 61 is the same as the position of the elastic piece of the grounding member of the card connector disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H8-241664 referred to above. In other words, the card connector 10 according to the present invention enables connection with a card for special use and maintains good characteristics at a relatively high frequency when connected to a normal card 100.

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view illustrating the contact operation of the ground contact and the additional contact when the card is received.

FIG. 3 shows a special-purpose card 100 ′ for receipt by the card connector 10. The card 100 ′ has the same shape and dimensions as a normal card 100, but additionally has a ground contact 1 on its major surface 110.
21 and a signal contact portion 122. Ground contact 1
21 and the signal contact part 122 are each a card 100 '.
Contact protrusions 121a, 1a projecting from the surface 110 of the
22a. Since they are arranged at positions shifted in the card receiving direction, when the card 100 ′ is received (see arrow A), the contact piece 61 first interferes with the end 105 of the card 100 ′ and then the contact piece 51 Interfere. Therefore, the peak of the insertion force required when the card 100 'is received is shifted, and the card 100' is smoothly received. When the card 100 'is completely received, the contact piece 61 and the contact piece 51 become the contact protrusion 121a,
121b. Note that the card 100 'does not necessarily include an internal contact to be connected to the contact 40.

As described above, the card connector according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described. However, this is merely an example, and further modifications can be made by those skilled in the art. For example, according to the present preferred embodiment, the ground contact 60 and the additional contact 50 are press-fitted and fixed to the housing 22, but may be fixed by insert molding or the like. Further, according to the present preferred embodiment, the ground contact 60 and the additional contact 50 are formed in a shape in which the lengths of the respective fixing portions 63 and 53 are changed (see FIG. 3). A configuration in which the insertion force peak is shifted by making the press-fitting depth different may be realized.

[0023]

According to the card connector of the present invention, the second contact connected to the signal contact portion provided on one surface of the card is provided side by side on the same side as the grounding member. A highly reliable connection with a card provided with an additional signal contact portion on the surface can be provided while maintaining the basic configuration of a conventional card connector. In particular, according to the present invention, since such a configuration can be realized with a low profile, it is suitable for application to a notebook PC or the like that requires a low profile and a small size.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIGS. 1A and 1B are views showing the entirety of a card connector according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 1A is a plan view and FIG.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are views showing a connector portion of the card connector of FIG. 1, wherein FIG. 2A is a longitudinal sectional view, and FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view illustrating a contact operation of a ground contact and an additional contact when the card connector of FIG. 1 receives a card for a specific use.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Card Connector 22 Housing 40 First Contact 50 Second Contact 60 Grounding Member (Grounding Contact) 100, 100 'Card 121 Grounding Contact 122 Signal Contact

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A housing for receiving a card, a first contact connected to the contact when the card having a contact at an end is received, and a ground contact located on one side of the card. A card connector having a signal contact portion provided on the one side, and a second contact connected to the signal contact portion when receiving the card having the signal contact portion provided on the one surface; A card connector characterized by being provided side by side with a card connector.