JP2000148927A - Card connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a card connector provided with a mechanically discharging means having a long life. SOLUTION: This card connector 10 has a tray 70 for storing cards. The tray 70 is arranged on a connector body 30 in a slidable way. A post 82 projecting in the direction of thickness is formed on the tray 70, and the connector body 30 is provided with a cam member 40 performing a cam operation with the post 82 and an elastic arm 40 supporting it. The cam member 40 includes a cam plane and an engaging part that engages with the post 82. The engagement of the post 82 with the member 40 and their release are realized by such a manner that the arm 40 is flexibly displaced in a lateral direction.

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 a card, and more particularly to a card connector having a card ejection mechanism (or an ejection mechanism).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An example of this type of card connector is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-36079. The disclosed card connector has a connector body and a tray slidable with respect to the connector body and biased outward. A pair of elastic engagement fingers are formed at the rear end of the tray.
The connector body has a cam portion and an engaging portion that cooperate with the elastic engaging finger. When the card is received by the tray and the tray is pressed and slid toward the inside of the connector main body for electrical connection of the card, the elastic engaging fingers are engaged with the engaging portions to prevent the tray from coming off. To eject the tray, the tray is pressed and slid further inward via the card.
Thereby, the elastic engagement finger can be released from the engagement portion. The tray is pushed outward by the urging force so that the elastic engaging finger moves at a different height from the engaging portion, and the card is ejected.

[0003]

According to the above construction, the elastic characteristic of the elastic locking finger is not sufficient, and a stable operation cannot be guaranteed when the card is inserted and removed many times. Further, the connector body requires a relatively large dimension in the depth direction. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a card connector having a card ejection mechanism as described above, which can guarantee a stable operation for a large number of operations and can be realized in a small size. .

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises a tray for receiving a card, and a connector body having a spring member for urging the tray outward, wherein the tray is provided inside the connector body. The card connector is configured to be engaged with the connector main body by being pressed and moved toward, and to be prevented from being removed, and to be released from the connector main body and released when pressed again.
The connector body includes an elastic arm extending in a card receiving direction, and a cam portion having a cam surface located near a tip of the elastic arm, and the tray is provided on a part of the cam surface. A post engageable with a lock engagement portion to be engaged, and the cam surface is configured to deflect the elastic arm toward one side when the tray is moved in the insertion direction toward the connector body. The post is engaged with the lock engagement portion while acting on the post, and when pressed again, the engagement between the post and the lock engagement portion is released, and the post causes the elastic arm to bend to the other side. It is characterized in that it is configured to move in the direction opposite to the insertion direction while acting on the cam surface.

[0005] Preferably, the elastic arm is formed as a metal member, and the cam portion is a molded member made of resin.

Preferably, the cam portion comprises a substantially heart-shaped base having the lock engagement portion at a rear end, and an extension provided on the rear side.

Preferably, the metal member forming the elastic arm is formed by bending a wire, or is provided integrally with a metal shell member forming a part of the connector body.

[0008]

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.

FIG. 1 is an exploded plan view showing each member constituting the card connector.

Referring to FIG. 1, it is understood that the card connector 10 has a connector body 30 and a tray 70. The connector body 30 includes a plurality of contacts 2 that can electrically contact terminals provided on the housing 31 and the card.
Has zero. The top side of the housing 31 is covered by a metal cover 33. Contact 2 on metal cover 33
A window 34 for confirming the 0 surface mount portion 22 is formed. The contact portion 21 of the contact 20 is located relatively rearward in the connector body 30. The connector main body 30 has an elastic arm 41 for providing a card discharging operation and a cam member 40 fixed to the tip thereof. The elastic arm 41 and the cam member 40 are indicated by solid lines in the drawing for convenience, but are actually arranged at substantially the same height as the contacts 20 on the bottom side of the metal cover 33 of the housing 31. Elastic arm 4
1 can be displaced in the left-right direction indicated by an arrow A in FIG. The elastic arm 41 is formed of a metal wire or the connector body 3.
0 can be formed as part of a metal component (eg, metal cover 33).

The tray 70 includes a main plate 71 formed by processing a metal plate, and an operation portion 73 formed of resin at an end of the main plate 71. The main plate 71 is the connector body 30
It includes a recess 74 that opens to the side, thereby defining a pair of arms 75, 76 on either side thereof. The tray 70 further has side walls 77 and 78 that are bent along the edges of the arms 75 and 76. The side wall 78 on one side is bent outward at an intermediate position to form a spring contact wall 79. The operation will be described later. An inclined wall 81 is formed at the tip of the arm 75. This acts as a key means for determining the direction in which tray 70 receives the card. Further, a post 82 protruding toward the bottom side is fixed at an intermediate position of the arm 75. Post 82 can be secured by known means such as welding. The post 82 cooperates with the above-described cam member 40, and its operation will be described later.

The tray 70 is moved in the direction of arrow B toward the connector body 30 and is received in the connector body 30. The main plate 71 is received in a cavity 43 defined on the bottom side of the metal cover 33. At this time, the spring contact wall 7
9 comes into contact with a spring (see FIGS. 2 and 3) accommodated in the spring accommodating portion 34 of the connector body 30, and the tray 70 is held at a predetermined position where it is pushed in against the spring force. Is locked by.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are views showing a state in which the card connector is receiving a card. FIG. 2A is a plan view, and FIG. 2B is a longitudinal sectional view showing a part of a housing. FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams showing a state in which the card is completely received, in which FIG. 3A is a plan view and FIG. 3B is a longitudinal sectional view showing a part of a housing.

The tray 70 is slidably mounted on the connector body 30 by the assembly described with reference to FIG. The card 100 is placed on the main plate 71 with the tray 70 taken out of the connector main body 30 by an appropriate size. After that, the card 100 is moved to the tray 70 by pressing the operation section 73.
Is also inserted into the cavity 43. FIG. 2 shows a state during insertion.

The tray 70 receiving the card 100 is inserted into the cavity 43 against the urging force of the spring 90, and the terminals or electrodes of the card 100 are connected to the contact portions 21 of the contacts 20 for electrical interconnection. Placed on top of each other. FIG. 3 shows the receiving completion position where the tray 70 is located at a predetermined position in the cavity 43. Operation unit 73
It can be seen that overlaps with the wall 5 of the housing and is located in the recess 7 provided in the housing. Even in this position, the tray 70 is urged in the discharge direction by the spring 90. However, the post 82 provided on the tray 70 and the cam member 40 on the connector body 30 engage to prevent the tray 70 from coming off. I have. The cooperative action of these members will be described in more detail.

FIGS. 4 to 7 are plan views showing the cooperative action of the post and the cam member. FIG. 4 is a view showing the initial cam action when the tray is received, and FIG. FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams showing an operation of locking engagement for the operation, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an operation of releasing the engagement, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a cam operation when the tray is ejected.

The operation of the cam member 40 and the post 82 will be described below in order. First, the shape of the cam member 40 will be described. The shape will be described with reference to FIG. According to FIG. 6, the cam member 40 has a substantially heart-shaped base 45 and an extension 46 formed at the rear end thereof when viewed in a plan view. The extension portion 46 is formed to be thinner than the base portion 45, and the top surface 45a of the base portion 45 is formed at a position sufficiently higher than the extension portion 46 in FIG. As shown in the drawing, when the two are combined and viewed as a plan view, the outer shape is substantially a parallelogram. The base 45 and the extension 46 constitute a cam surface 47 along the outer surface thereof.
The cam surface 47 includes a first surface 51 located on the post receiving side, a second surface 52 extending rearward in the receiving direction from the first surface 51, and extending forward from a rear end of the second surface 52 to form the base 45. An engagement portion (lock engagement portion) 5 having a substantially V-shaped configuration at the rear end.
3. a third surface 54 extending in the inclined direction at the rear end of the extension 46;
A fourth surface 55 extending opposite to the first surface 51 so as to return to the post receiving side from the third surface 54, and a distal end portion 56 from the end of the fourth surface 55 toward the end of the first surface 51. And a fifth surface 57 extending in the direction. The extension portion 46 is provided with a projecting wall 58 projecting slightly in front of the paper along the third surface 54, thereby defining a groove 59 extending in an oblique direction between the projecting wall 58 and the engaging portion 53. Is done.

According to the tray receiving initial state shown in FIG. 4, when the tray 70 is received, the post 82 first comes into contact with the first surface 51. Since the first surface 51 extends obliquely, when the tray 70 is further received, the post 82 acts on the cam member 40 to deflect the elastic arm 41 in the direction of arrow a. As a result, the post 82 moves rearward from the first surface 51 along the second surface 52, that is, in the direction of arrow A. During this movement, the post 82 and the second surface 52 are placed in contact with each other by the elastic force of the elastic arm 41.

When the post 82 moves rearward by the movement in the direction of arrow A shown in FIG. 4 and reaches a position beyond the base 45, the post 82 overlaps the groove 59. At this time, the elastic arm 41 has a sufficient elastic force. As a result, the elastic arm 41 is displaced in the returning direction, so that the post 82 is received in the groove 59. As a result, the post 82 is slightly returned in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 5 and is engaged with the engaging portion 53, so that the tray 70 is prevented from coming off. As shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 3, since the tray 70 is normally urged in the ejection direction, it is understood that the post 82 is maintained in the engagement portion 53. Since the elastic arm 41 returns in the direction of the arrow b during the engagement process, the amount of displacement of the elastic arm 41 at the engagement position can be made substantially zero. The contacts 20 that make electrical contact with the card 100 are arranged so that reliable electrical connection is realized in this engaged state.

As described above, when the card 100 is ejected, the tray 70 is pushed inward again. At this time, the post 82 moves as shown by the arrow C in FIG. That is, the post 82 is disengaged from the groove 59 and the extension 4
It is understood that it moves beyond the rear end of the six. Post 8
In the process in which the second arm 2 passes over the protruding wall 58, the elastic arm 41 is slightly displaced in the height direction, that is, in the depth direction perpendicular to the paper surface.

Since the tray 70 is urged in the discharging direction by the spring 90, the post 82 is thereafter placed in a state of pressing the third surface 54. However, since the third surface 54 extends inclining, the tray 70 is discharged. The elastic arm 41 is bent in the direction of arrow d by the urging force of the spring 90 that urges in the direction. By the subsequent relative movement of the post 82, the post 82 moves from the third surface 54 to the fourth surface 55 as shown in FIG. At this time, it should also be noted that the post 82 and the cam member 40 are slid in contact with each other by the elastic force of the elastic arm 41 elastically deformed. Further, the post 82 moves away from the cam member 40 via the fifth surface 57, and
0 is ejected to a position where the card 100 can be taken out of the tray 70.

The card connector 10 according to the present embodiment is
As described above, the interaction between the post 82 and the cam member 40 provided at the distal end of the elastic arm 41 makes it possible to provide a relatively long and reliable configuration for the engagement and disengagement of the tray 70 with a relatively simple structure. This can be realized with a configuration. As described with reference to FIG. 3, when the card 100 is connected, the operation unit 73 at the front end of the tray 70 is located inside the outer surface of the wall of the housing 5. There is little risk that the card will be ejected by being pushed. It should also be noted that the operating portion 73 is arranged to have play in the concave portion 7 so that the operating portion 73 can be pushed further inward from the card use state, that is, the locked state of the tray 70. .

As described above, the card connector according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail. However, this is merely an example, and does not limit the present invention. Is possible.

[0024]

According to the card connector of the present invention, the connector body has an elastic arm extending in the card receiving direction, and a cam portion having a cam surface located near the tip of the elastic arm. The tray has a post engageable with a lock engagement portion provided on a part of the cam surface, and when the tray is moved in the insertion direction toward the connector body, the post faces the elastic arm toward one side. The post is engaged with the lock engagement portion while acting on the cam surface so as to bend, and when pressed again, the engagement between the post and the lock engagement portion is released, and the post causes the cam to bend the elastic arm to the other side. It is characterized in that it is configured to move in the direction opposite to the insertion direction while acting on the surface, so that it has sufficient reliability for multiple engagement and disengagement actions related to card insertion and removal. Can be provided with , It is possible to realize a tray locking and ejection mechanism in the relatively simple and compact configuration.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded plan view showing members constituting a card connector.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams showing a state in which the card connector is receiving a card, in which FIG. 2A is a plan view and FIG. 2B is a longitudinal sectional view showing a part of a housing.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams showing a card receiving completed state, wherein FIG. 3A is a plan view and FIG. 3B is a longitudinal sectional view showing a part of a housing.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a cam action of a cam member with an initial post in which a tray is received.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing an operation in which a post and a cam member are locked to prevent the tray from coming off.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing an operation of releasing lock engagement between the post and the cam member.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a cam action between a post and a cam member when the tray is discharged.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Card connector 30 Connector main body 40 Cam part (cam member) 41 Elastic arm 47 Cam surface 53 Lock engagement part 70 Tray 90 Spring member 100 Card

Claims (1)

[Claims] A tray for receiving the card; and a connector body having a spring member for urging the tray outward, wherein the tray is pressed and moved toward the inside of the connector body. The card connector is configured so as to be engaged with the connector main body to prevent the connector main body from being disengaged, and to be released from the connector main body when pressed again, wherein the connector main body is in a card receiving direction. And a cam portion having a cam surface located near the distal end of the elastic arm, and the tray is engaged with a lock engagement portion provided on a part of the cam surface. Having a possible post, wherein the post acts on the cam surface to deflect the elastic arm toward one side when the tray is moved in the insertion direction toward the connector body. The post is engaged with the lock engagement portion and when pressed again, the engagement between the post and the lock engagement portion is released, and the post acts on the cam surface to deflect the elastic arm to the other side. A card connector configured to move in a direction opposite to the insertion direction while performing the insertion.