JP2003346985A - Card connector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a card connector capable of reducing the number of parts, assembling man-hours, and costs, when a ground plate is provided. <P>SOLUTION: This card connector 10 has a connector body 12 and a guide frame 14. The guide frame 14 has a pair of guide rails 22a, 22b and two bridge parts 24a, 24b. A ground plate part 26 is installed extending forwardly of the bridge part 24a. The ground plate part 26 can be broken at a portion of an elongate groove 29, and separated from the bridge part 24a. A plurality of ground terminals 28 are formed on the ground plate part 26. At the time of inserting the card, the ground terminals 28 are connected with the surface terminals of the card for energization, so as to ground the card. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a card connector.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, it has been widely practiced to provide a card connector for connecting a card-type information recording medium (hereinafter simply referred to as a card) to an electronic device such as a personal computer or a portable terminal.

[0003] In these electronic devices, the size and weight of housings for housing electronic components have been reduced, and accordingly, the size and weight of card connectors have also been required. In this case, since the volume occupied by the card accommodated in the card connector cannot be reduced, it has been pursued to reduce the size and weight of the other parts.

An example of a card connector will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 is an exploded view of the connector body and the ground plate, FIG. 2 is an assembly view of the connector body and the ground plate, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a front view of the connector main body and the ground plate of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a guide frame;
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the card.

[0005] The card connector has a resin connector main body 2 on which a plurality of contacts 1 connected to contacts of a card (not shown) are mounted, and a metal guide frame 3 for guiding insertion and removal of the card.

The plurality of contacts 1 include a signal contact 1a, a ground contact 1b, and a detection contact 1c for detecting insertion of a card, and are arranged in a predetermined order and pitch.

A metal ground plate 4 is attached to the connector body 2. The ground plate 4 has a plurality of ground terminals 4a. Each ground terminal 4a is bent and formed so that the tip protrudes in the lower right direction in FIG. 1, and has a spring property.

The card 5 has a protruding surface 5b provided on a main surface (upper and lower surfaces) 5a, and a plurality of surface terminals (ground terminals) are provided on a portion of the main surface 5a exposed from the protruding surface 5b to the upper left in FIG. )
5c is provided. Although not shown in FIG. 5, an opening is formed in the leading edge portion 5d of the card 5 at the upper left in FIG. 5, and signal and ground contacts are arranged in the opening. Such a card 5 is suitable for processing signals at high speed. On the other hand, when it is not necessary to process signals at high speed, a card having no surface terminals is used. In this case, the ground terminal of the card connector is not required.

In a state where the card 5 is mounted on the card connector, the corresponding contacts of the card 5 and the card connector are connected and conductive, and the ground terminal 4a of the card connector is connected and conductive to the front terminal 5c of the card 5. To ground.

[0010] The guide frame 3 is a pair of guide rails 3a, 3a for nipping and guiding both sides of the inserted card.
Having. In this case, the pair of guide rails 3a, 3a are connected and integrated by two bridge portions 3b, 3c.
The guide frame 3 is integrated with the connector main body 2 by fitting and connecting the connecting portions 3d, 3d formed at the tips of the guide rails 3a, 3a to the connecting portion 2a of the connector main body 2. The card connector is provided with an ejection member (ejection member) for ejecting the mounted card 5 (not shown), and engages with one end of the ejection member to rotate the ejection member. The eject lever 6 is attached to one guide rail 3a so as to be able to reciprocate in the direction of the arrow in FIG.

In the case of the card connector described above, the guide frame 3 is formed of a metal material as a separate member from the resin connector main body 2. On the other hand, in the case of another type of card connector, a resin guide is used. In some cases, a frame formed integrally with the connector main body is used, or a resin guide frame is fitted and connected to the connector main body and used integrally.

[0012]

However, as described above, all of the conventional card connectors have a structure in which a metal ground plate, which is a separate member, is attached to a resin connector body. The number of parts increases,
This also increases the number of assembly steps. Furthermore, this is also a factor of cost increase. In particular, when a metal guide frame is used, this problem is more remarkable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and in the case where a ground plate is provided, the number of components can be reduced, and as a result, the number of assembling steps and costs can be reduced. It is intended to provide a card connector.

[0014]

A card connector according to the present invention comprises a resin connector body having a plurality of contacts connected to the contacts of a card, and a metal guide frame for guiding insertion and removal of the card. A card connector having a pair of guide rails, wherein the guide frame is provided on both sides in the insertion direction of the card, and a bridge connecting the pair of guide rails; And a ground contact portion having a plurality of ground contacts connected to and connected to a plurality of ground contacts provided on the main surface of the card (the invention according to claim 1).

Thus, the number of parts of the card connector, the number of assembling steps, and the cost can be reduced by integrally molding the ground contact portion with the guide frame.

In this case, if a breakable groove line (break line) is formed at the boundary between the bridge portion and the ground contact portion (the invention according to claim 2), no ground contact is provided. When a card connector for mounting a type of card is manufactured, it can be coped with by removing an unnecessary ground contact portion, which is preferable.

Here, the shape of the groove line is not limited as long as it can be broken. For example, the sectional shape of the groove can be various shapes such as a V-shape and a concave shape.
Also, the groove line may be a continuous line or a discontinuous line such as a perforation.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of a card connector according to the present invention (hereinafter, referred to as an embodiment) will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, the basic configuration of the card connector is the same as that of the conventional card connector described above, unless otherwise specified. The description of the operation will be omitted.

First, the card connector according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

The card connector 10 according to the present embodiment
Has a connector body 12 made of resin and a guide frame 14 made of metal.

The connector body 12 includes the contact mounting portion 1.
5 and connection portions 16a and 16b formed in leg shapes on both sides of the contact mounting portion 15, and are formed in a U-shape. In the contact mounting portion 15, signal and ground contacts are arranged (not shown; see FIG. 3), and a slit portion 18 is formed above. Connection part 1
6a and 16b each have an opening 20.

The guide frame 14 has a pair of guide rails 22a and 22b formed in a U-shape facing inward.
And a pair of guide rails 22a, 22b
And two bridge portions 24a and 24b for connecting and integrating them.

The guide frame 14 further includes a bridge 2
A ground plate portion (ground contact portion) 26 is provided to extend forward (upper left in FIG. 6) of 4a. At the boundary between the bridge portion 24a and the ground plate portion 26, FIG.
A long groove (groove line) 29 having a V-shaped cross section is formed on the middle and lower surfaces from the lower left to the upper right. By bending and folding this long groove forming portion, it is possible to break at this portion and separate the ground plate portion 26 from the bridge portion 24a.

The ground plate portion 26 is formed in a shape in which a tip portion 26a extending to the upper right in FIG. 6 is stepped down. A plurality of ground terminals (ground contacts) 28 are formed on the ground plate portion 26. Ground terminal 28
6 is formed by bending a distal end portion 28a extending in the upper right direction in FIG. 6 downward, and the ground terminal 28 has a spring property.

The card connector 10 also has a discharge mechanism for discharging the card. Details of the discharging mechanism will be described later. An operation lever 30 that engages with the ejection mechanism and rotates the ejection mechanism is connected to the card connector 1.
No. 0 guide rail 22a. The operation lever 30 is of a so-called normal type, and the long portion 30a is engaged with the cut-and-raised portions 32a and 32b formed on the guide rail 22a.
Can be easily reciprocated. Also,
When a so-called push-type operation lever 34 is used instead of the operation lever 30 and operated by pushing a button 34b into an outer cylinder 34a as shown in FIG.
The operation lever 34 can be easily moved to the guide rail 22 by providing a protrusion 34c having a T-shaped cross section at the tip of the side surface a and engaging the protrusion 34c with the raised portions 32a and 32b.
a. Thus, when using different types of operation levers, the guide rail 2
There is no need to change the side shape of 2a, and it is possible to share the guide frame parts.

The above components are assembled and the card connector 1 is assembled.
To complete 0, for example, first, the connector body 12 is fixed on a board of an electronic device (not shown) by soldering. At this time, in the conventional card connector in which the ground plate is attached to the connector main body, both sides of the ground plate may be formed in a U-shape so as to wrap the ends of the lower surfaces on both sides of the connector main body (see FIG. 3). Then, a step is generated between the lower surface of the connector body with the ground plate attached (a1 portion in FIG. 3) and the lower surfaces on both sides of the ground plate (a2 portion in FIG. 3). It may be hindered. On the other hand, in the card connector 10, since the ground plate is not attached to the connector main body, such a problem does not occur.

After attaching the connector body 12 to the board,
The guide frame 14 having the operation lever 30 previously mounted on the guide rail 22a is attached to the connector main body 12.
At this time, the guide frame 14 is moved horizontally on the board, and the connecting portions 3 at the tips of the guide rails 22a and 22b are moved.
The guide frame 14 is attached to the connector main body 12 by inserting d and 3d into the connection portions 16a and 16b of the connector main body 12 and inserting the distal end portion 26a of the ground plate portion 26 into the slit portion 18 of the connector main body 12. Thus, the card connector 10 mounted on the board is completed. At this time, the tip 26a of the ground plate 26
Is inserted and fixed in the slit portion 18 of the connector body 12, there is no possibility that a problem such as bending of the ground plate portion 26 occurs, and the guide frame 14 is securely fixed by the connector body 12.

Card connector 10 according to the present embodiment
By integrally molding the ground plate 26 with the guide frame 14, the number of parts, the number of assembling steps, and the cost can be reduced as compared with the conventional card connector.

The card connector 10 can be used, for example, by manufacturing a card connector for mounting a card having no ground contact by removing an unnecessary ground plate portion 26. Can be. Thus, for example, when manufacturing each component of the card connector and supplying it to a card connector assembler, the guide frame 14 of the card connector 10 is prepared as a common component, and ground contacts are provided according to the type of card used. If a card connector assembler is requested for a card connector component that has not been provided, it can be satisfied by providing a guide frame 14 with the ground plate portion 26 removed.

Here, the ejection mechanism provided in the card connector 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 8 is an exploded view of the ejection mechanism, and FIG. 9 is a view for explaining the positional relationship between the ejection mechanism and the card.

As shown in FIG. 8, the discharge mechanism 36 includes a fixed plate 38, an arm plate 40, and a slider plate 42. The fixed plate 38 is formed with two angled cut-and-raised portions 38a and 38b facing each other, and two bulge-shaped cut-and-raised portions 38c and 38d at one end. In addition, two bulge-shaped cut-and-raised portions are formed at one end on the opposite side of the fixing plate 38 (not shown in FIG. 8). The arm plate 40 has two holes 40a, 40b.
Is formed, and a cut-and-raised portion 40c having a concave portion at one end is formed. A part of the arm plate 40 that defines the hole 40b is formed in a projecting shape (indicated by an arrow X).
The cut-and-raised portion 40c is engaged with the tip of the operation lever 30. The slider plate 42 has a hole 42a and a cut-and-raised portion 42b, and wall-like cut-and-raised portions 42c and 42d formed on one side. Cut-and-raised part 42
A hole is further formed in b (shown by an arrow Y). The cut-and-raised portions 42c and 42d become wall portions with which the leading end portions of the inserted cards abut.

Then, the cut-and-raised portion 42b of the slider plate 42 is inserted into the hole 40b of the arm plate 40 (arrow A1), and the projecting portion X is engaged with the hole Y so that one end of the arm plate 40 is moved to the slider. In the state of being locked to the plate 42 (arrow A2), the cut-and-raised portions 38a of the fixing plate 38 are formed in the holes 40a and 40b of the arm plate 40 on which the slider plate 42 is mounted.
38b are inserted and engaged (arrows A3, A3),
The ejection mechanism 36 in which the arm plate 40 and the slider plate 42 are disposed on the upper surface 8 is completed. Finally, the cut-and-raised portions 38c and 38d of the fixing plate 38 are connected to the connecting portions 16 of the connector body 12.
b (see arrow A).
4, A4), the discharge mechanism 36 is attached to the connector body 12.

The ejection mechanism 36 attached to the connector body 12 has the form shown in FIG. 9, and the overall height H is equal to the total thickness of the card 5 (T1 + T2 + T3) or the entire height of the card 5 The dimensions are less than the thickness. Here, the thickness T
1 is, for example, 3.3 mm, and both the thicknesses T2, T3 are, for example, 0.85 mm. Then, even when the card 5 is inserted into the card connector 10 and the leading end of the card 5 is disposed on the slider plate 42, the entire thickness of the card 5 and the ejection mechanism 36 may exceed the entire thickness of the card 5. Absent. Therefore, the thickness of the card connector 10 can be reduced.

Next, a modified example of the card connector 10 will be described with reference to FIG.

A modified card connector 10 shown in FIG.
Since a has the same basic configuration as that of the card connector 10, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals and redundant description is omitted.

In the card connector 10a, the connecting portions 44a and 44b of the guide frame 14 are formed so as to protrude downward in FIG.
The card connector 10 differs from the card connector 10 in that the openings 20a of the a and 16b are formed so as to open upward.

When assembling the components of the card connector 10a on the board of the electronic device, the connecting portions 44a and 44b of the guide frame 14 are opened from above the connector body 12 fixed to the board by soldering.
, The card connector 10a is assembled and mounted on the board. Therefore, when the guide frame 14 is attached to the connector main body 12, there is no possibility that the guide frame 14 touches the substrate and damages the substrate.
Further, there is no possibility that the electronic components formed on the substrate will interfere with each other and become an obstacle when the guide frame 14 is mounted.

[0038]

According to the card connector of the present invention,
1 includes a resin connector main body having a plurality of contacts connected to the card contacts, and a metal guide frame for guiding insertion and removal of the card, wherein the guide frames are provided opposite to both sides in the card insertion direction. In a card connector having a pair of guide rails, a bridge portion connecting the pair of guide rails, and a plurality of ground contacts extending to the bridge portion and connected to a plurality of ground contacts provided on a main surface of the card are connected. Therefore, the number of parts, the number of assembling steps, and the cost of the card connector can be reduced by integrally molding the ground contact portion with the guide frame.

According to the card connector of the present invention, since a breakable groove is formed at the boundary between the bridge portion and the ground contact portion, a card having no ground contact is mounted. When a card connector is manufactured, unnecessary ground contact portions can be removed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of parts of a conventional card connector excluding a guide frame.

FIG. 2 is an assembly view of the components of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the component of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a guide frame of a conventional card connector.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a card.

FIG. 6 is an exploded view of the card connector according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a view in which a push type operation lever is partially omitted.

FIG. 8 is an exploded view of the discharge mechanism according to the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a positional relationship between a card and an ejection mechanism.

FIG. 10 is an exploded view of a card connector according to a modification.

[Explanation of symbols]

3d, 44a, 44b connection 10, 10a Card connector 12 Connector body 14 Guide frame 15 Contact mounting part 16a, 16b connection part 22a, 22b Guide rail 24a, 24b Bridge 26 Ground plate 26a Tip 28 Ground terminal 29 long groove 30, 34 Operation lever 36 Ejection mechanism 38 Fixing plate 40 arm plate 42 Slider plate

Continuation of front page    (72) Inventor Noboru Shimizu             2-3-5 Higashi Gotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Wealth             Shitsu Component Co., Ltd. F term (reference) 5B058 CA14 KA24                 5E021 FA05 FA11 FB18 FC17 FC30                       FC33 HB16 HC36 LA01                 5E023 AA04 AA21 BB19 CC02 DD19                       GG02 HH12 HH17

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A resin connector body having a plurality of contacts connected to the contacts of a card, and a metal guide frame for guiding insertion and removal of the card, wherein the guide frame is inserted in a direction in which the card is inserted. A card connector having a pair of guide rails provided on both sides facing each other, comprising: a bridge connecting the pair of guide rails; and a plurality of grounds extending on the bridge and provided on a main surface of the card. A ground contact portion having a plurality of ground contacts connected to the contacts. 2. The card connector according to claim 1, wherein a breakable groove line is formed at a boundary between the bridge portion and the ground contact portion.