JP2013054885A - Card connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To miniaturize a card connector by preventing elastic deformation of a switch spring member of a card detection mechanism of the card connector.SOLUTION: A card detection mechanism 14 has a basic structure in the form of a switch, and has a switch spring piece 15 and a switch opposite piece 16 having elasticity and conductivity. A base end 151 of the switch spring piece 15 is embedded on a left side wall 11a side of the connector housing 11, and an elastic deformation part 152, an engagement part 153, and a contact part 154 are formed into an integral cantilevered structure. The switch spring piece is elastically displaced with the base end 151 as a fulcrum and the contact part 154 as a free end. The engagement part 153 is engaged with a stationary protrusion 17 standing at a side of a card housing space 12, and locked with the stationary protrusion 17 when an excessive load is applied by inserting the card from a card insertion/removal port 13. Then, the switch spring piece 15 is restrained from being displaced beyond an elastic limit.

Description

  The present invention relates to a card connector to which a card with a built-in electronic circuit such as a memory chip is attached and detached, and more particularly to a card connector provided with a card detection mechanism for detecting insertion or installation of a card.

  In recent years, the use of IC built-in cards (hereinafter also simply referred to as cards) has increased in electronic devices such as personal computers, digital cameras, recorders, mobile phones, portable audio devices, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistance), and various information terminal devices. ing. There are many types of cards with built-in ICs that record, transmit or process information, such as PC cards, MMC (Multi Media Card) cards, SD (Secure Digital) cards, SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards, etc. To do.

  Usually, these cards are used by being attached to a card connector (hereinafter also simply referred to as a connector) attached to a circuit board or the like of the device. Here, the card is inserted into a card housing portion from a card insertion / extraction opening provided in a connector housing (hereinafter referred to as a connector housing) in a direction parallel to the surface of the card, and at least a tip region thereof is in the connector housing. Be contained. Then, the contact pads that are conducted to the electronic circuit inside the card and taken out on the surface are electrically connected to the contact terminals provided on the bottom of the connector housing.

  The connector is provided with a card detection mechanism inside a connector housing into which the card is inserted. The state of the inserted card, for example, whether or not write protection is set can be detected (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Alternatively, insertion of a card into the connector housing can be detected, and different types such as its outer shape and contact pad position can be identified (see, for example, Patent Documents 2 and 3).

  The card detection mechanism is basically a switch, and has a switch spring piece having elasticity and conductivity, which is attached inside the connector housing. When the card is inserted into the connector housing, the switch spring piece is elastically deformed by the pressing force of the card. Then, the contact of the switch provided at a predetermined position of the switch spring piece is elastically displaced to come into contact with or separate from another contact of the switch provided in the connector housing. Here, the contact / separation of the pair of contacts is determined by detecting the presence / absence of current due to voltage application between them.

JP 2001-236469 A JP 2003-86299 A Japanese Patent No. 3640343

  By the way, in the structure in which the contact portion with the card is arranged in the vicinity of the insertion / extraction opening, the switch spring piece that performs the above switching operation in the downsizing and low profile (thinning) of the connector It is attached to the side part of the connector housing so that the direction applied to the part is opposite to the card insertion direction. That is, the base end side fixed to the side portion of the card housing portion in the connector housing serves as a fulcrum, and the tip end portion serving as the free end of the switch spring piece can be elastically displaced. Here, the closer the tip end portion of the switch spring piece is to the card insertion / removal port that is the card insertion port of the card housing portion, the shorter the connector housing dimension in the card insertion direction can be. Thereby, the miniaturization of the connector can be promoted.

  However, in the conventional card detection mechanism, when the position of the tip of the switch spring piece approaches the card insertion / extraction slot, the switch spring piece is easily damaged by the card insertion operation.

  As described above, when the cards are reduced in size and thickness and various types of cards appear in different sizes, an erroneous insertion operation by a user of a card different from a regular card for the connector is likely to occur. When an irregular card whose plane size is smaller than regular is inserted, for example, obliquely from the card insertion / extraction slot, the front end of the card may give an unexpected overload different from the appropriate pressing force to the switch spring piece. is there. This unexpected overload includes, for example, a force that strongly pushes the switch spring piece in the direction in which the card is inserted. Here, when the card rotation operation is repeated in order to correct the oblique insertion, a force to scrape the tip end portion of the switch spring piece toward the center of the card accommodating portion also works. Such an overload gives a displacement exceeding the elastic limit to the switch spring piece and causes its plastic deformation.

  Further, for example, even in a connector having a structure in which two different types of cards are loaded into different card accommodating portions from one card insertion / extraction slot, the switch spring piece due to erroneous insertion similar to that described above with a card having a small planar size is used. There is a risk of causing plastic deformation. In the switch spring piece used in the conventional card detection mechanism, in order to prevent the spring damage as described above, it has been necessary to dispose the tip part away from the card insertion / extraction opening to some extent. This is one of the factors that hinder the miniaturization and thinning of the connector having the card detection mechanism.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the tip of a switch spring piece used in a card detection mechanism against an unexpected overload caused by an irregular operation such as oblique insertion of a card. The purpose is to increase the resistance of the resin and prevent its plastic deformation. It is another object of the present invention to remove the limit of miniaturization of a connector provided with a card detection mechanism.

  A card connector according to the present invention includes a housing in which a card accommodating space for accommodating a card and a card insertion / extraction opening communicating therewith, and a plurality of contact terminals provided at the bottom of the housing and electrically connected to the accommodated card And a card detection mechanism that is disposed on a side portion of the card storage space and detects insertion or mounting of the card into the card storage space, and performs a switching operation by a pressing force received by insertion of the card. A switch spring member having conductivity and a switch facing member that contacts and separates from the switch spring member, and the switch spring member extends from a base end portion to a tip end portion in a direction opposite to the insertion direction of the card. A card detection mechanism provided in front of the switch spring member provided at a side portion of the card accommodation space; A fixed protrusion that is positioned at the tip, and that engages and locks the tip even when the tip of the switch spring member receives the pressing force and an overload exceeding the elastic limit of the switch spring member is applied. It is characterized by comprising.

  According to the present invention, resistance against an unexpected overload generated by an irregular operation such as oblique insertion of a card is improved, and plastic deformation of a switch spring piece of the card detection mechanism is prevented. And miniaturization of the connector provided with the card detection mechanism is promoted.

It is an upper surface figure which showed an example of the card connector concerning the embodiment of the present invention, and notched a part of the upper wall. It is an expanded sectional view of the II-II arrow of FIG. It is a figure used for description of insertion operation | movement of the card connector which has write protection, (a) is a top view which notched a part of connector upper wall which shows the state switched on by the pressing force of a card | curd, (b ) Is a top view showing a state in which the card is further inserted into the connector from the state (a). It is a figure with which it uses for description of insertion operation | movement of the card connector which has a write protection, (a) is a top view which notched a part of connector upper wall which shows the state which mounted | wore the card | curd with which the write protection switch was turned on (B) is the top view which notched a part of the connector upper wall which shows the state which mounted | wore the connector with the card | curd in which a write protection switch is OFF. It is an enlarged top view which notched a part of connector upper wall for using for description of the effect of the card | curd detection mechanism in embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. In each figure, the same or similar parts are denoted by common reference numerals, and a part of overlapping description is omitted. In this specification, in order to make the description of the card connector structure easy to understand, the terms are based on the card insertion / extraction direction with respect to the connector. For example, the term “front” is attached to the insertion direction at the front end of the card, and the term “rear” is attached to the drawing direction at the rear end of the card. Further, the term “lower” is attached to the bottom side where the contact terminal is arranged in the connector, and the term “upper” is attached in the opposite direction.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the card connector 10 has a card housing space 12 in a connector housing 11 that has a rectangular parallelepiped shape. The card housing space 12 is opened as a card insertion / extraction opening 13 at the rear end of the connector housing 11. Further, a card detection mechanism 14 for detecting a card inserted or attached from the card insertion / extraction opening 13 is provided in the connector housing 11 at the side of the card accommodation space 12.

  Here, the connector housing 11 has an integral structure made of an insulating resin material such as a liquid crystal polymer. Alternatively, for example, a base member made of an insulating resin material having excellent workability and a terminal may be combined with a cover member made of a plate spring metal material such as a sheet metal cover made of stainless steel or the like. In this case, a space in which the card detection mechanism 14 is arranged together with the card accommodation space 12 is formed by the cover member and the base member that are superimposed one above the other.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the card detection mechanism 14 is a switch having a basic structure, and a switch spring piece 15 having elasticity and conductivity, and a switch facing piece 16 facing the switch spring piece 15 are paired with a pair of switch pieces. Have as. The switch spring piece 15 has a base end portion 151 planted on the left side wall 11a side of the connector housing 11 made of, for example, an insulating resin, and an elastically deformable portion 152, an engaging portion 153, and a contact portion 154 are integrally cantilevered. Formed in the structure. Here, the contact portion 154 is positioned at the forefront of the engaging portion 153 that is the tip portion of the switch spring piece 15. The base end 151 side fixed to the left side wall 11 a of the connector housing 11 serves as a fulcrum, and can be elastically displaced as a free end of the switch spring piece 15.

  The switch spring piece 15 is provided to extend from the base end portion 151 to the engaging portion 153 in the direction opposite to the card insertion direction, and the engaging portion 153 is fixed to the side portion of the connector housing 11. The projection 17 is engaged. Even when an overload due to card insertion from the card insertion / extraction opening 13 is applied to the engaging portion 153, the engaging portion 153 is locked to the fixing protrusion 17. And the displacement which exceeds the elastic limit of the switch spring piece 15 and leads to the plastic deformation is prevented. For this reason, the engaging part 153 can be disposed at a position close to the card insertion / extraction opening 13.

  In the example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the engaging portion 153 is formed in a semi-annular shape by bending the region that becomes the free end of the switch spring piece 15 a plurality of times, and the first engaging portion 153 a and the second engaging portion are formed. It has a portion 153b, a third engagement portion 153c, and a fourth engagement portion 153d. Here, the first engagement portion 153 a is a contact portion 154 having two contact points at the forefront, and the fourth engagement portion 153 d is connected to the elastic deformation portion 152.

  The fixing protrusion 17 is fixed to the side of the card accommodating portion 12 in the connector housing 11 so as to engage with the engaging portion 153 of the switch spring piece 15 when the card is attached to and detached from the connector 10. Furthermore, the switch spring piece 15 is provided so as to be able to suppress displacement exceeding the elastic limit.

  In the example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the fixing protrusion 17 is fixed to the lower wall 11 b of the connector housing 11 and is erected in the direction of the upper wall 11 c. Here, the first projecting surface 17a, the second projecting surface 17b, the third projecting surface 17c and the fourth projecting surface 17a corresponding to the semi-annular shape of the engaging portion 153 are formed so as to have a polygonal prism. It has a projection surface 17d and a fifth projection surface 17e. The first engaging portion 153a, the second engaging portion 153b, the third engaging portion 153c, and the fourth engaging portion 153d described above are respectively provided with the first projecting surface 17a and the second projecting surface. 17b, the 3rd projection surface 17c, and the 4th projection surface 17d can be contact | abutted.

  An insulating material is used for the fixing protrusion 17. The fixing protrusion 17 is preferably made of the same resin material as the connector housing 11 and formed integrally with the connector housing 11 or the base member. Alternatively, the fixing protrusion 17 made of the same or different kind of insulating material as the connector housing 11 may be attached to the side portion of the connector housing 11.

  Similarly to the switch spring piece 15, the switch facing piece 16 is a cantilevered metal piece implanted on the left side wall 11 a side of the connector housing 11, and is formed in parallel with the switch spring piece 15. The area of the free end of the switch facing piece 16 is where the contact portion 154 comes into contact with the elastic displacement of the switch spring piece 15. Here, the contact portion 154 is subjected to displacement (wiping) that slides on the surface of the switch facing piece 16 in order to ensure contact with the switch facing piece 16. Even if foreign matter such as dust or oxide film is present on the surface of the contact portion 154 of the switch spring piece 15 or the free end region of the switch facing piece 16, reliable electrical connection can be made between them. It is effective to do so. Further, since the contact portion 154 has a plurality of, for example, two contacts, the contact reliability with the switch facing piece 16 is increased, and stable contact can be obtained.

  The switch spring piece 15 and the switch facing piece 16 can be integrally formed so as to be connected to the switch external connection terminals 18 and 19 extending from the front wall 11d of the connector housing 11 to the outside of the housing. These switch external connection terminals 18 and 19 are electrically connected to wiring of a circuit board to which the card connector 10 is attached by, for example, soldering. In the electronic device in which these circuit boards are incorporated, the switch spring piece 15 and the switch facing piece 16 are turned on / off, that is, the switch spring piece 15 and the switch facing piece 16 are in contact or not in contact with each other. This is detected and determined from the presence or absence of current due to voltage application.

  The switch spring piece 15 is preferably made of a metal having an appropriate elasticity as its material. Examples of such a metal material include copper alloys such as phosphor bronze and beryllium copper. For example, the metal plate is punched to produce an elongated spring piece. And the engaging part 153 which has a desired engaging surface is formed through the bending process of the thickness direction of the said spring piece. Here, at least the contact portion 154 may be formed with a plating layer made of, for example, gold or platinum so that an oxide film is not formed on the surface thereof.

  The switch facing piece 16 is made of a metal exhibiting conductivity as its material. As the metal material, for example, stainless steel, aluminum, an alloy or the like which has mechanical strength and is easy to process is suitable. Alternatively, copper alloys such as phosphor bronze and beryllium copper can be cited as metal materials having moderate elasticity. The metal plate is punched to produce a switch facing piece 16 which is an elongated metal piece. Here, a plating layer made of, for example, gold or platinum is formed at least on the free end region of the switch facing piece 16 that contacts the contact portion 154 of the switch spring piece 15 so that an oxide film is not formed on the surface thereof. Also good.

  Then, an IC built-in card such as an SD card is inserted into or pulled out from the card insertion / extraction opening 13 opened at the rear end of the card accommodation space 12. Here, at the bottom of the connector housing 11, for example, contact terminals 20 made of a plurality of (9 in the figure) elastic contact pieces that are in pressure contact with contact pads provided at the front end of the card are provided in a line shape. ing. The contact terminals 20 are embedded in the lower wall 11b of the connector housing 11 or are implanted in a desired shape by press-fitting. A contact terminal partition wall 21 is provided around the contact terminal 20. The contact terminal 20 is not limited to the example provided at the bottom of the connector housing 11, and may be provided at the top of the connector housing 11.

  Each of these contact terminals 20 is connected to a contact external connection terminal 20a extending from the front wall 11d of the connector housing 11 to the outside of the housing. These contact external connection terminals 20a are electrically connected to the wiring of the circuit board to which the card connector 10 is attached, for example, by soldering.

  For example, an SD card has stepped guides on both side edges. When the card is inserted into the card accommodating space 12, the left and right side edges of the card are smoothly guided by the left guide step 22 and the right guide step 23, respectively, corresponding to the side edges of the SD card. ing. Here, the left guide step portion 22 is provided in parallel with the left side wall 11 a of the connector housing 11, and serves as a partition portion between the region where the card detection mechanism is arranged and the card accommodation space 12 in the connector housing 11. Yes. On the other hand, the right guide step portion 23 is provided along the right side wall 11 e of the connector housing 11.

  When the card is attached to the card connector 10, the contact terminal partition wall 21 provided around the contact terminal 20 is fitted into a recess (not shown) provided at the front end of the card. A chamfered portion (not shown) provided at the right corner of the front end portion of the card comes into contact with an inclined surface 11f formed in a region where the front wall 11d and the right side wall 11e of the connector housing 11 intersect. Yes. When the mounting is completed, the contact pads attached to the inner surface of the recess at the front end of the card are electrically connected to the respective contact terminals 20. The inclined surface 11f or the contact terminal partition 21 described above also serves as a mechanism for preventing an erroneous insertion of the card into the card connector 10.

  Next, the operation of the card connector 10 of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. Hereinafter, a case where a regular card 100 that matches the card connector 10 that can be set to write protection is mounted on the card connector 10 will be described. As shown in FIG. 3A, the slidable write protect button 101 is disposed at a predetermined position on the left end 100a of the regular card 100 and is slid to one position indicated by a solid line. The front end 100b of the regular card 100 is inserted into the card insertion / extraction opening 13 of the card connector 10, and the rear end 100c is pressed. By this pressing, the rounded left corner portion 100d of the front end 100b comes into contact with the second engaging portion 153b of the engaging portion 153 of the switch spring piece 15, and the switch spring piece 15 is elastically deformed.

  The engaging portion 153 is displaced in the direction of the switch facing piece 16 together with the card insertion direction by the pressing force from the regular card 100 received by the second engaging portion 153b. Due to this elastic displacement, the foremost portion of the first engaging portion 153a, that is, the contact portion 154 comes into contact with the switch facing piece 16 and is switched on. At the same time, the switch spring piece bends in the card insertion direction, and the first engagement portion 153 a comes into contact with the first projection surface 17 a of the fixed projection 17.

  When the regular card 100 is further inserted, the first engaging portion 153a is engaged and locked with the first projecting surface 17a. Further, the first engaging portion 153a is locked by the first projecting surface 17a, so that the displacement in the card insertion direction beyond a certain level due to the elastic deformation of the switch spring piece 15 is suppressed and prevented. Further, the displacement of the engaging portion 153 to the central region of the card accommodating space 12 caused by friction between the left corner portion 100d of the regular card 100 and the second engaging portion 153b is also restricted.

  Next, at the card insertion stage shown in FIG. 3B, the left end 100 a of the regular card 100 comes into contact with the third engaging portion 153 c of the engaging portion 153. At the same time, the third engagement portion 153 c comes into contact with the third protrusion surface 17 c of the fixed protrusion 17. The regular card 100 is also guided to be inserted by the third engaging portion 153c. Further, at the stage of this card insertion, the first engaging portion 153a is separated from the first protrusion surface 17a of the fixed protrusion 17 with which the first engaging portion 153a is engaged. At the same time, the first engaging portion 153a moves rearward, and the pointed contact portion 154 slides on the contact surface while keeping contact with the switch facing piece 16. That is, wiping of the contact portion 154 of the switch spring piece 15 occurs.

  Then, at the stage where the insertion of the regular card 100 shown in FIG. 4A is completed, the write protect button 101 arranged at the left end of the regular card 100 contacts the third engagement portion 153c of the engagement portion 153. Touch. Then, the third engagement portion 153 c remains in contact with the third protrusion surface 17 c of the fixed protrusion 17, and the switch spring piece 15 is electrically connected to the switch facing piece 16 through the contact of the contact portion 154. This electrical connection is detected by the electronic device via the circuit board as described above, for example. Then, for example, it is detected that data that is attribute information of the regular card 100 can be written.

  The regular card 100 is detached from the card connector 10 by grasping the rear end 100b side of the regular card 100 and pulling out the regular card 100 from the card insertion / removal opening 13 as opposed to the insertion. When the regular card 100 is pulled out in this case, the movement of the switch spring piece 15 due to the elastic deformation is almost opposite to the case of card insertion.

  When the write protect is not set, as shown in FIG. 3A, the write protect button 101 is slid to the other position indicated by the broken line. In this case, insertion of the regular card 100 is the same as in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b). When the insertion of the regular card 100 is completed, the write protect button 101 disposed at the left end 100a of the regular card 100 is connected to the third engagement portion of the engagement portion 153 as shown in FIG. No contact with 153c. Then, the contact portion 154 of the switch spring piece 15 is separated from the switch facing piece 16 and is switched off so as not to contact. This separation is detected by the electronic device as described above. Then, it is detected that data writing of the regular card 100 is prohibited.

  In this case, when the legitimate card 100 is removed, the rear end 100b side is gripped, and when the legitimate card 100 is pulled out from the card insertion / removal port 13 as opposed to the insertion, it is first engaged with the concave portion of the left end 100a of the legitimate card 100. The fourth engaging portion 153d of the portion 153 contacts. The subsequent movement of the switch spring piece 15 due to elastic deformation is almost opposite to that in the case of card insertion.

  The setting and non-setting of the write protection are determined by the electronic device from the switching operation in the card detection mechanism 14 as described above. Here, conversely, the card detection mechanism 14 is switched on, that is, the state of FIG. 4A is prohibited from being written to the regular card 100, and the switch off, that is, the state of FIG. 4B is determined to be writable. It doesn't matter.

  Next, the effect of the switch spring piece 15 in the card detection mechanism 14 will be described with reference to FIG. Hereinafter, the plastic deformation tolerance with respect to the unexpected overload of the switch spring piece 15 demonstrated by this embodiment is shown. Here, FIG. 5 is a top view when the irregular card 200 having a small planar size is inserted obliquely from the card insertion / extraction opening 13 of the card connector 10, for example.

When the non-regular card 200 is inserted obliquely from the card insertion / extraction slot 13, the left corner 200b of the front end 200a of the card is properly pressed against the second engagement portion 153b of the engagement portion 153 of the switch spring piece 15. An unexpected overload different from the pressure is applied. Here, if an operation in the rotation direction M of the card 200 is performed in order to correct the oblique insertion, the overload is in the direction in which the card 200 acting on the engaging portion 153 of the switch spring piece 15 is inserted. The pushing force F ₁ and the pushing force F _{2 that} are scraped toward the center of the card accommodation space 12 are obtained.

In the oblique insertion operation of the irregular card 200, the first engagement portion 153a of the engagement portion 153 is first engaged with the first protrusion surface 17a of the fixed protrusion 17. Then, the first engaging portion 153a receives equal drag _{R 1} in absolute value by the pushing force _{F 1} and the reverse direction from the first protrusion surface 17a. Similarly, a drag force R ₂ having an absolute value equal to the pushing force F ₂ in the opposite direction is received from the first projection surface 17 a. The first engaging portion 153a is strongly locked to the first projecting surface 17a.

  Due to the locking of the first engaging portion 153a by the first projecting surface 17a, the switch spring piece 15 is restrained from being displaced beyond its elastic limit. Then, plastic deformation of the switch spring piece 15 is prevented. Usually, the plastic deformation of the switch spring piece 15 tends to increase due to repeated overloads as described above. However, in the switch spring piece 15 of the present embodiment, since the resistance against overload always acts on the engaging portion 153 from the fixing protrusion 17, such plastic deformation is also suppressed.

In the switch spring piece 15, it is preferable that the engaging portion 153 can always engage with the fixed protrusion 17 when various unexpected overloads occur. For this purpose, in the switch spring piece 15 in the state as shown in FIG. 1, the foremost portion of the first engaging portion 153 a, that is, the contact portion 154 is located in front of the fixing protrusion 17 in the card insertion direction. Is preferred. In the example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the contact portion 154 is located in front of the ridge line P where the first protrusion surface 17 a and the second protrusion surface 17 b of the fixed protrusion 17 intersect with each other in the insertion direction. With such an arrangement, even if the absolute value of the pushing force F ₂ described in FIG. 5 is larger than the absolute value of the pushing force F ₁ , the first engagement The portion 153a can be easily engaged with the first projecting surface 17a.

  Next, modifications of the switch spring piece 15, the switch facing piece 16, and the fixing protrusion 17 in the card detection mechanism 14 described above will be described. Although the switch spring piece 15 is described as a cantilever plate spring, it may be an elastic rod-like spring. Alternatively, a bar spring and a plate spring may be mixed. Further, the engaging portion 153 may be hooked so as to be engaged with the fixing protrusion 17, and may be a semicircular ring in addition to the semicircular shape as described above, or these portions are mixed. A semi-annular shape may be used. In this case, the engaging portion 153 is formed in a semi-annular shape so as to surround a part of the surface of the fixed protrusion 17 to be erected and to protrude toward the card accommodating space 12 side.

  Various other modifications are possible, but in any case, even if an overload due to card insertion from the card insertion / extraction opening 13 is applied to the engaging portion 153, the engaging portion 153 is locked to the fixing protrusion 17. The And the displacement which exceeds the elastic limit of the switch spring piece 15 and leads to the plastic deformation should just be prevented. Further, in the switch spring piece 15, the contact portion 154 is not limited to the forefront of the engaging portion 153, and may be provided at a predetermined location of the elastic deformation portion 152, for example.

  The switch facing piece 16 may constitute a switch together with the switch spring piece 15 and may not be in the form of a spring. For example, in FIG. 1, it may be fixed to the inner surface of the left side wall 11a by bonding. Alternatively, a part of the lower wall 11b may be embedded and fixed. Then, for example, a contact portion provided on the elastic deformation portion 152 so as to extend toward the switch facing piece 16 side does not contact or come into contact with a predetermined position of the fixed switch facing piece 16 as a contact. .

  The fixing protrusion 17 does not necessarily have a columnar shape. And the fixed protrusion 17 may be cylindrical. Alternatively, the cross-sectional shape may be a triangle, a circle, an ellipse or the like in addition to a polygon. In any case, when the card is attached to or detached from the card connector 10, the connector housing 11 is fixed to the side of the card accommodating space 12 so as to engage with the engaging portion 153 of the switch spring piece 15. And what is necessary is just to be able to latch the engaging part 153 with respect to the overload exceeding the elastic limit of the switch spring piece 15. FIG.

  In the present embodiment, a card detection mechanism that detects insertion or mounting of a card into the connector is provided at the side of the card accommodation space. A switch spring piece constituting the switch having the basic structure is provided extending from the base end portion to the tip end portion in the direction opposite to the card insertion direction. The engaging portion at the tip is engaged with a fixing protrusion fixed to the side portion of the card receiving space. Even if an overload due to card insertion from the card insertion / extraction slot is applied to the engaging portion, the engaging portion is locked by the fixing protrusion, and the displacement that exceeds the elastic limit of the switch spring piece and leads to plastic deformation is prevented. It has become so.

  For this reason, in the card detection mechanism of this embodiment, for example, the resistance of the switch spring piece is extremely high against an unexpected overload due to an erroneous card insertion operation such as oblique insertion, and plastic deformation is prevented. Here, there are various unpredictable forces in the unexpected overload. For example, a strong pushing force in the direction in which the card is inserted or an pushing force for scratching in the center direction of the card accommodation space can be considered. And a highly reliable high quality connector is attained.

  In addition, since the resistance against the unexpected overload of the switch spring piece described above is increased, the tip of the switch spring piece can be positioned near the card insertion / extraction opening. For this reason, the size of the switch spring piece in the card insertion direction of the connector can be shortened compared to the case of the conventional card detection mechanism. And it becomes easy to miniaturize the connector.

  Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the above-described embodiments do not limit the present invention. Those skilled in the art can make various modifications and changes in specific embodiments without departing from the technical idea and technical scope of the present invention.

  For example, although the case where the card detection mechanism in the embodiment is provided in the left side portion of the card accommodation space is described, it may be attached to the right side portion of the card accommodation space.

  Further, the connector may have a structure provided with an eject mechanism for pulling out a card mounted in the card accommodation space. Alternatively, a plurality of card accommodation spaces in which two or more kinds of cards can be attached and detached are formed, and a structure in which a mechanism for preventing erroneous insertion of such cards is provided may be employed.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Card connector, 11 ... Connector housing, 11a ... Left side wall, 11b ... Lower wall, 11c ... Upper wall, 11d ... Front wall, 11e ... Right side wall, 11f ... Inclined surface, 12 ... Card accommodation space, 13 ... Card insertion / extraction Port 14, card detection mechanism 15, switch spring piece (switch spring member), 151, base end portion, 152, elastic deformation portion, 153, engagement portion (tip portion), 153 a, first engagement portion, 153b ... second engaging portion, 153c ... third engaging portion, 153d ... fourth engaging portion, 154 ... contact portion, 16 ... switch facing piece (switch facing member), 17 ... fixing protrusion, 17a ... 1st projection surface, 17b ... 2nd projection surface, 17c ... 3rd projection surface, 17d ... 4th projection surface, 17e ... 5th projection surface, 18, 19 ... External connection terminal for switches, 20 ... Contact terminal, 20a ... External connection terminal for contact 21 ... Contact terminal partition wall, 22 ... Left guide step, 23 ... Right guide step, 100 ... Regular card, 100a ... Left end, 100b, 200a ... Front end, 100c ... Rear end, 100d, 200b ... Left corner, 101 ... write protect button, 200 ... non-regular card

Claims (7)

A card housing space in which a card is housed and a housing in which a card insertion / extraction port communicating with the card housing space is formed;
A plurality of contact terminals provided in the housing and electrically connected to the accommodated card;
A card detection mechanism that is disposed at a side of the card storage space and detects insertion or mounting of the card into the card storage space, and performs a switching operation by a pressing force received by insertion of the card. And a switch facing member that comes into contact with the switch spring member elastically deformed by the pressing force, and the switch spring member extends from the base end portion to the tip end portion in a direction opposite to the insertion direction of the card. A card detection mechanism provided,
The switch spring member is provided at a side portion of the card receiving space and is positioned at the tip portion of the switch spring member, and the tip portion of the switch spring member is engaged to suppress displacement of the switch spring member in the card insertion direction. A fixing protrusion,
A card connector comprising:   2. The card connector according to claim 1, wherein the tip end portion is positioned forward of the fixed protrusion in the insertion direction of the card.   The tip portion is formed in a semi-annular shape so as to surround a part of the surface of the fixing protrusion and protrude toward the card accommodation space, and comes into contact with the card inserted into the card accommodation space from the card insertion / extraction opening. The card connector according to claim 2, wherein:   The front end is a leaf spring, bent from the foremost end toward the base end in the thickness direction a plurality of times, and inclined from the front to the back in the card insertion direction toward the card accommodation space. A first engaging portion, a second engaging portion that inclines toward the card receiving space side from the rear to the front in the card insertion direction, a third engagement portion that is substantially parallel to the card insertion direction, and the card. It is comprised from the 4th engaging part which inclines to the outer side of the said card accommodation space from back to the front of an insertion direction, The said fixing protrusion is a polygonal column shape or a polygonal cylinder shape, The said 1st engaging part, 2nd 4. The card connector according to claim 3, further comprising side surfaces that respectively contact the first engaging portion, the third engaging portion, and the fourth engaging portion.   The card connector according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the leading end of the tip is in contact with the switch facing member.   6. The card connector according to claim 5, wherein the tip end portion has a plurality of contact portions. The card connector according to claim 1, wherein the fixing protrusion is fixed to a lower wall of the housing and is erected toward the upper wall of the housing.

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