JP2006100210A - Memory card connector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the falling-off of a memory card when the card is inserted to be locked, and to prevent the popping-out of the memory card when the card is ejected. <P>SOLUTION: A half-lock spring 18 is fixed to a slider 17 that is biased by a return spring 15 in the direction of card ejection. An engaging projection 20 engaged to the recess 5 of the memory card 3 is formed. On the inner-wall surface of a housing 10, there are provided inclined rib 22 for preventing the popping-out of the memory card 3 by the return spring when card is ejected, and a spring push lib 24 for preventing the falling-off of the memory card 3 when the card is inserted to be locked. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a memory card connector, and more particularly to a memory card connector having a half-lock mechanism for holding a memory card in a half-locked state.

  Conventionally, this type of memory card connector has a slider attached to the inside of the casing so as to be able to move forward and backward, and a half lock spring attached to the slider, and an engagement protrusion is formed at the end of the half lock spring. What formed the part is known. When the memory card is inserted into the casing, the engaging convex portion of the half lock spring is engaged with the concave portion provided on the side surface of the memory card, and the memory card is held in the half locked state.

  When the memory card is pushed in this half-locked state, the slider moves to the advance position against the biasing force of the return spring. In this case, the pin attached to the casing moves along the forward path of the cam groove provided in the slider. Then, the pin is locked to the cam convex portion, the slider is locked at the forward position, and the memory card is positioned and fixed in a readable / writable state.

  When removing the memory card, the memory card may be further pressed. Then, the slider once advances, and the pin moves from the cam convex portion to the forward end portion of the cam groove and is locked. Thereafter, when the memory card is released, the slider is pushed back by the biasing force of the return spring, the pin moves along the return path of the cam groove to the end thereof, and the slider moves to the retracted position.

  At this time, the engaging convex part of the half-lock spring is engaged with the concave part of the memory card from the lateral direction so that the memory card is half-locked and does not pop out. When the memory card is pulled after the slider reaches the retracted position, the engaging convex portion of the half lock spring is released from the concave portion of the memory card, and the memory card is pulled out from the connector.

As described above, the memory card connector uses a so-called heart cam mechanism and a return spring to insert the memory card into and out of the set position by a push-in / push-out method. (Patent Document 1).
JP-A-11-135192

  In the invention described in Patent Document 1, a half-lock spring is disposed along the side surface of the slider, and the engaging convex portion of the half-lock spring engages with the concave portion on the side surface of the memory card to hold it in the half-locked state. It is formed as follows. Accordingly, when the slider moves back and forth, the memory card is held in a half-locked state, but when the card is removed, if the urging force of the return spring is strong, the memory card suddenly jumps out of the connector.

Further, when the memory card is moved, the half lock spring is bent and deformed in the lateral direction by receiving a reaction force from the engaging portion with the memory card, but there is no means for suppressing this bending deformation. Therefore, the spring force cannot be adjusted during operation. Here, if the pressing force of the half lock spring is set strongly, the memory card can be prevented from popping out from the connector. However, in this case, if the pressing force of the half lock spring is too strong, there is a problem that the memory card cannot be smoothly inserted and ejected.

  Furthermore, in order to prevent the memory card from popping out, the biasing force of the return spring of the slider can be set weak. However, if the urging force of the return spring is too weak, there is a possibility that the return force (stroke) necessary for ejecting the memory card from the connector cannot be secured.

  Therefore, there arises a technical problem to be solved in order to prevent the memory card from popping out when the card is taken out and to securely prevent the memory card from being detached when the card is locked, and the present invention solves this problem. For the purpose.

  The present invention has been proposed to achieve the above object, and the invention according to claim 1 includes a casing formed by attaching a shield plate to a housing, a slider slidably provided in the casing, A return spring for urging the slider in the card ejection direction; and a half lock spring attached to the slider and having an engagement convex portion; and the engagement of the half lock spring in a concave portion on one side of the memory card In the memory card connector in which the convex portion engages and is half-locked, the inner wall side of the casing has an inclined surface that inclines toward the side away from the half-lock spring as it goes in the card insertion direction. An inclined rib is provided to prevent the card from popping out, and the half lock bar is brought into contact with the half lock spring when the card is taken out. And the bending deformation suppressing provide memory card connector that is configured to prevent jumping out of the memory card by the return spring.

  According to this configuration, when the memory card is inserted into the casing, the engagement convex portion of the half lock spring engages with the concave portion of the memory card and is held in the half lock state. When the memory card is further pushed and moved to the lock position, the memory card is held in the locked state. When the memory card is taken out after locking, when the memory card suddenly jumps out toward the opening of the casing, the half lock spring is restrained from being deformed by the inclined rib. The engagement force between the memory card and the memory card increases.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the memory card connector according to the first aspect, wherein the card pop-out prevention inclined rib is integrally formed with the card retaining spring pressing rib.

  According to this configuration, the card retaining spring holding rib is integrally provided on the card pop-out preventing inclined rib, so that the spring pressing rib is also resin-molded simultaneously with the resin molding of the inclined rib.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a casing formed by attaching a shield plate to a housing, a slider slidably provided in the casing, a return spring for urging the slider in the card discharging direction, and the slider. And a half-lock spring having an engaging projection, and the half-spring is half-locked by engaging the engaging projection of the half-lock spring with a recess on one side of the memory card. In this case, on the inner wall side of the casing, there is provided a spring retaining rib for preventing the card from being detached when the card is locked, so that the half locking spring is prevented from being deformed by the spring retaining rib. The memory card can be prevented from coming off by increasing the engagement force between the half lock spring and the memory card. To provide a memory card connector according to claim.

  According to this configuration, the engagement protrusion of the half lock spring is engaged with the recess of the memory card inserted into the housing, whereby the memory card is held in the half lock state. When the memory card is further pushed and moved to the lock position, the memory card is held in the locked state. When the card is locked, if the engagement force between the half lock spring and the memory card is weakened due to the bending deformation of the half lock spring, the bending deformation of the half lock spring is suppressed by the spring pressing rib. Increase the engagement with the memory card.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the memory card connector according to the third aspect, wherein the card retaining spring pressing rib is integrally formed with the card pop-out preventing inclined rib.

  According to this configuration, by providing the card holding-off spring pressing rib integrally with the card pop-out preventing inclined rib, the inclined rib is also resin-molded simultaneously with the resin molding of the spring pressing rib.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the first, second, third, or fourth aspect in which the shield plate is formed with an engaging protrusion that engages with a notch recess provided on the other side of the memory card when the card is taken out. A memory card connector as described is provided.

  According to this configuration, the protrusion of the shield plate is engaged with the notch recess on the other end surface of the memory card, so that the memory card is engaged and held from both sides in the width direction when locked after the memory card is inserted. Increases the locking force on the memory card.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the memory card according to the second, fourth, or fifth aspect, wherein the half lock spring is provided with a guide portion that slides along the inclined rib for preventing popping out and the spring retaining rib for preventing card removal. A connector is provided.

  According to this configuration, when the memory card is locked or unlocked, the half lock spring is guided and moved along the inclined rib and the spring pressing rib by the guide portion.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the memory card is about to pop out toward the opening when the memory card in the locked state is taken out, the bending deformation of the half lock spring is suppressed by the inclined rib. Since the engagement force between the lock spring and the memory card is increased, the memory card can be prevented from suddenly popping out when the card is taken out.

  According to the invention of claim 2, since the spring retaining rib for retaining the card can be molded simultaneously with the resin molding of the inclined rib, in addition to the effect of claim 1, the spring retaining rib can be easily manufactured, The arrangement space for both members can be reduced. Further, since the inclined rib and the spring pressing rib are integrally formed, there is a merit that the strength of both members is increased.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the card is locked, the spring holding rib suppresses the bending deformation of the half lock spring, and the engagement locking force between the half lock spring and the memory card is increased. It is possible to prevent accidental exit.

In the invention described in claim 4, since the sloped rib for preventing protrusion can be molded simultaneously with the resin molding of the spring pressing rib, in addition to the effect of claim 3, the sloped rib can be easily manufactured and The arrangement space can be reduced. Further, since the inclined rib and the spring pressing rib are integrally formed, there is a merit that the strength of both members is increased.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the locking force to the memory card is increased, in addition to the effect of the first, second, third, or fourth aspect, the locked memory card suddenly pops out or unexpectedly comes out. It can be blocked more reliably.

  In the invention according to claim 6, since the half lock spring moves while being guided along the inclined rib and the spring holding rib, in addition to the effect of claim 2, 4 or 5, the movement of the half lock spring is smooth. As the memory card is inserted and ejected smoothly, the operability of inserting and removing the memory card is improved.

  The present invention provides an inclined rib for preventing the card from popping out on the inner wall side of the casing and having an inclined surface that is inclined to the side away from the half lock spring as it goes in the card insertion direction. Further, a spring retaining rib is provided on the inner wall side of the casing for preventing the card from being removed when the card is locked. The half retaining spring is provided with a spring retaining rib for preventing the card from being detached. This prevents the memory card from coming out when the card is locked, and prevents the memory card from popping out when the card is ejected. Achieved the purpose.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a flat box-shaped memory card connector, and an opening 4 for inserting and removing the memory card 3 is formed on the front surface of the casing 2 of the connector 1. The memory card 3 is a mini SD card, an xD picture card or the like used for information equipment such as a digital camera or a mobile phone.

  A concave portion 5 is formed on one end face in the width direction of the memory card 3, and a notch concave portion 6 is formed on the other end face in the width direction of the memory card 3. In addition, a plurality of terminal portions 7 are formed to extend in parallel to each other on the back side portion in the insertion direction S of the memory card 3.

  The casing 2 includes a resin housing 10 fixed to the surface of the substrate 9 and a metal shield plate 11 attached to the housing 10. A plurality of substantially L-shaped connection terminal pins 12 are attached in parallel to each other on the back side portion of the housing 10 in the card insertion direction, and the back end portions of the connection terminal pins 12 are bent upward. The end portion is integrally fixed to the end surface portion of the housing 10 by a resin mold.

  The connection terminal pin 12 has an exposed surface portion with which the terminal portion 7 of the memory card 3 comes into contact. The exposed surface portion is located and supported in the same plane as the shield plate 11. Further, when the memory card 3 is moved forward to the lock position, the terminal portion 7 of the memory card 3 comes into contact with the exposed surface portion and becomes conductive.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a substantially V-shaped engagement protrusion 13 that engages with the notch recess 6 of the memory card 3 from the lateral direction is provided on the side of the shield plate 11. The engaging protrusion 13 engages with the notch recess 6 of the memory card 3 when the memory card 3 moves to the half-lock position. For example, when the card is taken out, the memory card 3 is popped out by a return spring 15 described later. To prevent.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a resin pressing rib 16 that comes into contact with the back surface of the engaging protrusion 13 is integrally provided at a position corresponding to the engaging protrusion 13 on the inner wall of the housing 10. . The holding rib 16 restricts the engagement protrusion 13 from moving outward when the memory card 3 moves in the insertion / removal direction. When the engaging protrusion 13 is engaged with the notch recess 6 of the memory card 3 when the card is taken out, for example, the memory card 3 is prevented from popping out by the urging force of the return spring 15.

  A known heart cam mechanism is provided on the bottom surface of the housing 10. The heart cam mechanism includes an outer guide groove portion on which an outer sliding portion of the slider 17 slides, an inner sliding portion of the slider 17, and a half lock spring 18. The bent portion (not shown) has an inner guide groove portion that slides. The slider 17 is always urged in the card discharge direction R by the return spring 15.

  As shown in FIG. 4, a base end portion of a half lock spring 18 is attached to one end portion of the slider 17. The half lock spring 18 includes a leaf spring portion 19 fixed to the slider 17 and a substantially V-shaped engagement convex portion 20 connected to the distal end side of the leaf spring portion 19. Further, the engaging convex portion 20 of the half lock spring 18 engages the concave portion 5 of the memory card 3 from the lateral direction when the memory card 3 is inserted to the half lock position.

  The leaf spring portion 19 of the half lock spring 18 extends obliquely with respect to the inner wall surface of the housing 10 so as to approach the memory card 3 side from the base end portion toward the tip end portion. The spring force of the leaf spring portion 19 is set so that the memory card 3 can be engaged and held with an appropriate pressing force.

  As shown in FIG. 5, an inclined rib 22 for preventing card pop-out is provided on the inner wall portion of the housing 10 facing the half lock spring 18. As shown in FIG. 4, the inner wall surface of the inclined rib 22 gradually inclines toward the side away from the half lock spring 18 in the card insertion direction S. The inclined rib 22 abuts and presses against the back surface of the leaf spring portion 19 when removing the card, thereby suppressing the bending deformation of the leaf spring portion 19 and increasing the spring force of the leaf spring portion 19.

  Furthermore, the planar shape of the inclined rib 22 is formed in a substantially wedge shape so that the width dimension gradually increases as it goes in the card discharge direction R, and the maximum width end portion thereof is as shown in FIG. In addition, a bend-shaped bent portion 23 whose central portion protrudes to the opposite side of the half lock spring 18 is provided. The bent portion 23 facilitates the operation when the half lock spring 18 contacts and separates from the inclined rib 22.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 6, a card retaining spring holding rib 24 is provided on the inner wall surface of the housing 10. The spring pressing rib 24 is formed at a location on the back side of the card insertion direction S with respect to the inclined rib 22. When the card is locked, the spring pressing rib 24 abuts against the back surface of the leaf spring portion 19 and presses it, thereby suppressing the bending deformation of the half lock spring 18 and strengthening the spring force of the leaf spring portion 19.

  The card retaining spring pressing rib 24 and the card pop-out preventing inclined rib 22 are integrally formed with each other by a resin mold. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, both are formed with upper and lower step surfaces, and spring holding ribs 24 and inclined ribs 22 are provided on the upper and lower steps, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 7, an L-shaped guide portion 25 can be provided at the tip of the leaf spring portion 19 of the half lock spring 18. In this case, the outer end surface portion of the guide portion 25 moves in sliding contact with the inner end surface portion of the upper spring holding rib 24, and the lower surface portion of the guide portion 25 is the lower inclined rib 2.
2 in sliding contact with the upper surface portion. The half lock spring 18 moves smoothly along the shape surfaces of the spring pressing rib 24 and the inclined rib 22 without rattling by the guide portion 25.

  In the above configuration, as shown in FIG. 8, when the memory card 3 is inserted into the opening 4 of the casing 10 and moved to the half-lock position, the half-lock spring 18 is engaged with the recess 5 of the memory card 3. The memory card 3 is lightly held in a half-locked state by entering and engaging with the mating convex portion 20 (see FIG. 9).

  Thereafter, when the memory card 3 is pushed forward, the slider 17 slides forward and once reaches the front end in the card insertion direction as shown in FIG. Thereafter, the slider 17 is slightly retracted, the guide pin engages with a cam locking portion (not shown), and the slider 17 stops. At this time, the memory card 3 in the half-locked state is locked in a readable / writable state as shown in FIG.

  When taking out the locked memory card 3 from the housing 10, as shown in FIG. 12, the memory card 3 may be pushed further forward to release the lock. Then, the slider 17 moves forward once and is unlocked.

  Thus, when the pressure on the memory card 3 is released, the slider 17 is pushed back by the urging force of the return spring 15. When the slider 17 moves backward to the half lock position, the memory card 3 is again held in the half lock state (see FIG. 9).

  Further, when the half-locked memory card 3 is pulled forward, the engaging convex part 20 of the half-lock spring 18 is detached from the concave part 5 of the memory card 3 and the memory card 3 is pulled out from the opening part 4 of the casing 10. (See FIG. 8).

  Here, when the slider 17 is retracted, the memory card 3 is pressed by the engaging portion 20 of the half lock spring 18, so that the memory card 3 moves smoothly without being detached. Therefore, when the card is taken out, the engaging force between the engaging portion 20 of the half lock spring 18 and the concave portion 5 of the memory card 3 is reliably maintained. For this reason, even if the memory card 3 suddenly pops out due to the urging force of the return spring 15, the memory card 3 is prevented from popping out due to the engagement force between the half lock spring 18 and the memory card 3.

  In this embodiment, when the memory card 3 in the locked state is taken out, the memory card 3 is moved to the opening 4 side by the biasing force of the return spring 15, but if the connector has a conventional structure, the biasing force of the return spring 15 is used. However, in the present invention, such a problem is prevented.

  That is, when the memory card 3 is moved to the half-lock position near the inclined rib 22 when the card is taken out, the leaf spring portion 19 of the half-lock spring 18 reacts from the recess 5 of the memory card 3 as the memory card 3 moves. However, this deformation is restrained by the inclined rib 22 abutting against the back surface of the leaf spring portion 19. Therefore, the spring load of the leaf spring portion 19 increases, and the engagement force between the engagement convex portion 20 of the half lock spring 18 and the concave portion 5 of the memory card 3 increases. Thus, when the card is taken out, the urging force of the return spring 15 reliably prevents the memory card 3 from suddenly popping out.

  Further, if the connector has a conventional structure when the card is locked, there is a problem that the locking force on the memory card 3 is reduced due to the bending of the half-lock spring 18 and the memory card 3 is unexpectedly pulled out. Such a malfunction is also prevented.

  That is, when the leaf spring portion 19 of the half lock spring 18 is about to be bent at the time of card locking, this bending deformation is suppressed by the card retaining rib spring holding rib 24 that contacts the back surface of the leaf spring portion 19. Therefore, the spring load of the leaf spring portion 19 increases, and the engagement force between the engagement convex portion 20 of the half lock spring 18 and the concave portion 5 of the memory card 3 increases. Thus, when the card is locked, the locked memory card 3 is reliably prevented from being accidentally removed.

  In the above configuration, since the card pop-out preventing inclined rib 22 and the card retaining spring pressing rib 24 are connected to each other, they can be integrally formed by a resin mold. That is, both members can be molded simultaneously in one step. Further, since the inclined rib 22 and the pressing rib 24 are integrally formed, the assembling space can be reduced and the assembling strength of both members can be improved.

  Further, since the engaging projection 13 that engages with the notch recess 6 of the memory card 3 is provided on the shield plate 11, the memory card 3 is engaged so as to be sandwiched from both sides in the width direction when locked after the card is inserted. Holding force acts. Accordingly, the locking force with respect to the memory card 3 is increased by the amount of the engagement holding force by the engagement protrusion 2 of the shield plate 11. Therefore, when the card is taken out, the locked memory card 3 is biased by the return spring 15. Can be more reliably prevented from popping out or being unlocked.

  Further, when the memory card 3 is locked or unlocked, the half lock spring 18 smoothly slides along the inclined rib 22 and the spring pressing rib 24 by the guide portion 20. Along with this, the insertion and ejection operations of the memory card 3 become smooth, and the operability of card insertion / extraction is improved.

  In the above embodiment, the shield plate 11 and the connection terminal pin 12 are applied to the reverse type memory card connector 1 in the same plane. However, the present invention can also be applied to other types of connectors.

  It should be noted that the present invention can be variously modified without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and the present invention naturally extends to the modified ones.

The perspective view which showed one Embodiment of this invention and looked at the connector for memory cards from the downward direction. FIG. 2 is a partially sectional bottom view showing a state in which the memory card is half-locked to the connector of FIG. 1. The principal part sectional view showing the details of the notch crevice of the memory card concerning one embodiment. The principal part sectional view showing the details of the half lock spring concerning one embodiment. The perspective view which shows the detail of the front end side part of the half lock spring which concerns on one embodiment. The bottom view which shows the time of card pushing in of the connector for memory cards which concerns on one Embodiment. The principal part perspective view which shows the detail of the inclination rib which concerns on one Embodiment, and a spring pressing rib. The bottom view which shows the connector for memory cards before the card insertion which concerns on one Embodiment. The bottom view which shows the connector for memory cards of the half lock state concerning one embodiment. The bottom view which shows the connector for memory cards at the time of card pushing maximum concerning one embodiment. The bottom view which shows the connector for memory cards of the card lock state concerning one embodiment. The bottom view which shows the connector for memory cards at the time of pushing in again the card | curd concerning one Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Connector 2 Casing 3 Memory card 4 Opening part 5 Recessed part 6 Notch recessed part 7 Terminal part 9 Substrate 10 Housing 11 Shield plate 12 Connection terminal pin 13 Engaging protrusion 15 Return spring 16 Pressing rib 17 Slider 18 Half lock spring 19 Plate Spring part 20 Engaging convex part 22 Card pop-out prevention inclined rib 23 Bending part 24 Card retaining spring holding rib 25 Guide part

Claims (6)

A casing formed by attaching a shield plate to the housing, a slider slidably provided in the casing, a return spring for urging the slider in the card ejection direction, and an engagement projection attached to the slider. A half-lock spring having a portion, and a memory card connector in which a half-lock spring is engaged with a concave portion on one side of the memory card so that the half-lock spring is half-locked.
Provided on the inner wall side of the casing is an inclined rib for preventing card pop-out having an inclined surface that is inclined toward the side away from the half lock spring as it goes in the card insertion direction. A memory card connector configured to suppress bending deformation of the half lock spring by contact with a spring and prevent the memory card from popping out by the return spring.   2. A memory card connector according to claim 1, wherein said card pop-out preventing inclined rib is formed integrally with a card retaining spring pressing rib. A casing formed by attaching a shield plate to the housing, a slider slidably provided in the casing, a return spring for urging the slider in the card ejection direction, and an engagement projection attached to the slider. A half-lock spring having a portion, and a memory card connector in which a half-lock spring is engaged with a concave portion on one side of the memory card so that the half-lock spring is half-locked.
Provided on the inner wall side of the casing is a spring retaining rib for preventing the card from being removed when the card is locked, and the spring retaining rib suppresses the deformation deformation of the half lock spring. A connector for a memory card, characterized in that the engagement force between the half lock spring and the memory card is strengthened to prevent the memory card from coming off.   4. The memory card connector according to claim 3, wherein the card retaining spring pressing rib is formed integrally with the card pop-out preventing inclined rib.   5. The memory according to claim 1, wherein the shield plate is formed with an engaging protrusion that engages with a notch recess provided on the other side of the memory card when the card is taken out. Card connector. 6. The memory card connector according to claim 2, wherein the half lock spring is provided with a guide portion that slides along the protruding rib for preventing protrusion and the spring retaining rib for preventing card removal. .

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