JP5776710B2 - Card connector - Google Patents

Description

The present invention includes an IC card used in various electronic devices such as a mobile phone, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), a portable digital audio player, a game device, a digital camera, and an information terminal device. The present invention relates to a card connector that performs electrical connection between the two.

  The IC card is an IC (Integrated Circuit) embedded in the card. As a type of IC card, a memory card using a non-volatile memory is widely used. Memory cards such as SD memory cards are used as removable recording media in portable digital audio players, digital cameras, and the like. Furthermore, in a mobile phone, a SIM card (Subscriber Identity Module Card) in which a user's unique ID number is recorded is used.

  An IC card can be inserted into and removed from the card connector. For example, there is known a device that uses a lock mechanism by a heart cam and inserts and removes an IC card or an IC card attached to an adapter by a push-in / push-out method.

  For example, Patent Document 1 describes a card connector provided with a resin slider that engages with a side surface of an IC card and slides integrally when the IC card is pushed in. A force in the discharging direction is always applied to the slider by a spring. A latch pin with one end rotatably fixed is provided on the inner side of the housing of the resin molded product having a card storage space, and the other end of the latch pin is inserted into a cam groove formed on the slider to slide in the cam groove. It is made to move.

Japanese Patent No. 4866451

  In the card connector of Patent Document 1, the bottom of the housing in the area where the slider slides becomes thin, and the strength of the housing may be reduced. Further, since the cam groove is formed in the slider itself, it is necessary to enlarge the slider to some extent. As a result, the area of the thin region having a width corresponding to the width of the slider becomes relatively large. As a result, after the reflow process of soldering the card connector to the printed wiring board, there is a possibility that the warp of the housing becomes large.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a card connector that can solve these problems of conventional card connectors.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is a flat storage space that includes an insulating plate and a cover, into which a card-like body or a tray on which the card-like body is placed can be inserted, and which can store the card-like body or tray A housing having
A metal spring housing member formed integrally with the insulating plate and having left and right side walls extending in the front-rear direction;
A coil spring housed in a housing groove sandwiched between the left and right side walls;
In the vicinity of the spring storage member, a rib formed in parallel with one of the left and right side walls, extending along the front-rear direction and projecting inward on the insulating plate;
A metal slider that is urged in the pushing direction by a coil spring and slides across one of the left and right side walls and the rib;
I have a,
In order to lock the pushing state of the card-like body or the tray, a lock mechanism having a pin guide groove comprising a forward guide groove portion and a return guide groove portion, and a reciprocating common groove portion provided at a joining portion of the forward guide groove portion and the backward guide groove portion. Are used, the forward guide groove and the return guide groove are formed on the rear side of the housing, and the common groove is extended forward in parallel with the rib,
A reciprocating common groove is formed by one of the left and right side walls and the inner surface of the rib facing one of the left and right side walls,
A card connector in which a sliding end of a lock pin, one end of which is supported by a slider, is inserted into a pin guide groove, and the sliding end slides in the pin guide groove in conjunction with insertion or removal of a card-like body or tray .

  According to this invention, the area of the area | region where a baseplate becomes thin within a card | curd storage space can be narrowed, and the warp after reflow can be suppressed. Furthermore, since the strength of this region can be increased, it is not necessary to form the bottom plate with a metal plate. Further, since the groove formed on the surface of the rail communicates with the reciprocating common groove of the cam groove, the movable range of the lock pin can be lengthened.

It is a 6th view of the card connector by one embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the card connector by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of the card connector by one embodiment of this invention. It is a top view of the state which removed the shield cover of the card connector by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of the state where the shield cover of the card connector by one embodiment of this invention was removed. FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged plan view of FIG. 4. It is a top view for description of a heart cam. It is a perspective view of the state which removed the shield cover of the card connector by one Embodiment of this invention, and the state which removed the guide pin. FIG. 9 is a partially enlarged perspective view of FIG. 8. It is a perspective view of the state which removed the shield cover of the card connector by one Embodiment of this invention, and the state which removed the slider. It is a perspective view of the state which removed the shield cover of the card connector by one Embodiment of this invention, and the state which removed the slider. FIG. 12 is a partially enlarged perspective view of FIG. 11. FIG. 13 is a partially enlarged perspective view of FIG. 12. It is a partially expanded plan view used for description of the effect of one embodiment of this invention. It is a top view of the state which removed the shield cover of the card connector by one Embodiment of this invention, and the state which removed the slider and the guide pin. FIG. 16 is a partially enlarged perspective view of FIG. 15. It is a partial expanded sectional view of the card connector by one embodiment of this invention. FIG. 6 is a six-sided view of a slider according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view of the slider in one embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of the slider in one embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of the slider in one embodiment of this invention.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The embodiments described below are preferred specific examples of the present invention, and various technically preferable limitations are given. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the present invention in the following description. Unless otherwise specified, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

The following description is made in the following order.
<1. Embodiment>
<2. Modification>

<1. Embodiment>
A card connector according to an embodiment of the present invention will be schematically described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a six-sided view of the card connector 1. The card connector 1 includes an insulating plate 2 and a shield cover 3 provided to face the insulating plate 2. The insulating plate 2 and the shield cover 3 constitute a housing. The insulating plate 2 is, for example, a liquid crystal polymer molded product. The shield cover 3 is formed by bending a metal such as stainless steel.

  An IC card 5 (indicated by a two-dot chain line), for example, a SIM card, for example, a SIM card is inserted from a card insertion opening 4 on one end surface of the housing into a card housing recess formed inside the housing. Both the ejection position and the insertion position with respect to the IC card 5 are shown. The shield cover 3 is formed with a window portion 6 facing an external connection terminal derived from a contact that contacts a pin of the IC card 5. In this specification, the side of the card insertion slot 4 is referred to as the front or the front, the side opposite to the card insertion slot is referred to as the rear or the back, and the right side as viewed from the card insertion slot is referred to as the right or right side. The left side is appropriately referred to as the left or left side.

  As the SIM card, there is a micro SIM card having a shape smaller than a standard SIM card, or a nano SIM card smaller than a micro SIM card. Although these SIM cards have different sizes, physical characteristics such as pin arrangement are the same as each other. The present invention can be applied to any SIM card. Furthermore, the present invention can be applied to other IC cards such as an SD memory card. Furthermore, the present invention can also be applied to the case where IC cards of different sizes are attached to adapters and used in the same way as standard IC cards. Furthermore, the present invention can be applied to a case where the card connector includes a tray and the IC card is placed on the tray for use. The card-like body means an IC card or an adapter.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. In these drawings, the insulating plate 2 with the shield cover 3 removed is shown. The insulating plate 2 is integrally formed with a bottom plate 7a, a right side wall 7b, a left side wall 7c, a rear wall 7d, and a front wall 7e adjacent to the card insertion slot 4, thereby forming a storage space in which the IC card 5 can be stored. . A shield cover 3 is attached on the insulating plate 2 and fixed by welding or the like.

  A slider 9 that is urged in the card discharge direction by a coil spring 8 is provided. The coil spring 8 is housed in a metal spring housing member having a groove having a U-shaped cross section. The spring housing member is made of metal and is formed integrally with the insulating plate 2 by insert molding. The right side wall 7b is formed by the right side wall of the spring accommodating member. The left side wall 7c is a metal piece formed integrally with the insulating plate 2 by insert molding.

  In the SIM card, eight pins (also referred to as electrodes, terminals, and pads) are formed by gold plating, and each pin is assigned to a data input / output terminal, a ground terminal, a power input terminal, and the like. For example, in the case of a SIM card for a mobile phone, actually, 6 pins out of 8 pins are used. Corresponding to the pin arrangement of the SIM card, the insulating plate 2 is provided with six contacts 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d, 10e, and 10f, respectively. In addition, when it is not necessary to distinguish contacts individually, they are simply referred to as contacts 10.

  The contact 10 is a spring contact made of phosphor bronze, for example, which is cut and raised from the bottom surface of the housing and has a tip that is a contact surface with a pin of the SIM card. The other end of the contact 10 is led out below the insulating plate 2 so as to face the window portion 6 formed in the insulating plate 2. The other end of the contact 10 is soldered to the wiring pattern on the printed wiring board on which the housing is installed, and the IC card 5 inserted into the card connector 1 and the printed wiring board are electrically connected. The contact 10 is provided on the insulating plate 2 by, for example, insert molding. In addition, metal parts other than the contact 10 are similarly integrated with the insulating plate 2 by insert molding. However, components such as the coil spring 8, the slider 9, and the guide pin are separate from the insulating plate 2.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, an IC card is inserted and removed by a push-in / push-out method. That is, in the push-in / push-out method, the push-in operation and the pull-out operation are performed by repeating the operation force in the same direction. Specifically, a heart cam type push-in / push-out mechanism is used.

  The slider 9 is made of metal that contacts the IC card 5 and reciprocates in conjunction with the insertion and removal of the IC card 5. The slider 9 is always urged in the pushing direction by the coil spring 8. The coil spring 8 is disposed in a metal spring housing member. As shown in FIGS. 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, and 16 showing the state where the shield cover 3 is removed, the right side wall 7b is one wall of the spring accommodating member, and the side wall 7f is accommodated in the spring. It is the other wall parallel to the right side wall 7b of the member. A coil spring 8 is accommodated in a groove between the right side wall 7b and the side wall 7f.

  The slider 9 has a substantially L shape with the rear wall 7d on the lower side. The slider 9 is formed by drawing and bending a metal such as stainless steel. It has a sliding portion 21 corresponding to an L-shaped vertical line and an arm portion 22 corresponding to an L-shaped horizontal line. The contact portion at the tip of the IC card 5 and the tip of the arm portion 22 of the slider 9 are in contact with each other. When the IC card 5 is inserted into the card storage space, the slider 9 slides backward integrally with the IC card 5 against the biasing direction of the coil spring 8.

  One end of the guide pin 11 is rotatably inserted into the support hole formed in the slider 9. That is, one end of the guide pin 11 is bent and one end is inserted into the support hole of the slider 9, and the rotation center axis of the guide pin 11 is configured. The other rotatable end of the guide pin 11 is bent, and the end of the bent guide pin 11 is inserted into the reciprocating common groove 16 of the pin guide groove 12. A pin guide groove 12 is formed on the insulating plate 2 on the rear wall 7d side.

  FIG. 7 shows only a lock mechanism using a heart cam. The pin guide groove 12 is provided with an outward guide groove 14 and a return guide groove 15 on both sides of a heart-shaped heart cam 13, and a reciprocating common groove 16 is formed at the junction of the forward guide groove 14 and the return guide groove 15. Is provided. The reciprocating common groove 16 is clearly shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 showing the state where the guide pin 11 is removed, and FIGS. 15 and 16 showing the state where the slider 9 and the guide pin 11 are removed.

  An end portion of the guide pin 11 is inserted into the pin guide groove 12, and the end portion circulates along the forward path guide groove portion 14 and the backward path guide groove portion 15. A push-in / push-out mechanism is constituted by the end portions of the pin guide groove 12 and the guide pin 11. The bottom surfaces of the forward guide groove portion 14, the return path guide groove portion 15, and the reciprocating common groove portion 16 so that the end portion of the guide pin 11 does not return during circulation along the forward path guide groove portion 14, the return path guide groove portion 15, and the reciprocating common groove portion 16. Are provided with step portions 17a, 17b, 17c, and 17d for restricting the moving direction.

  The step portion 17a is provided so that the end portion of the guide pin 11 that has reached the distal end side of the outward guide groove portion 14 does not return to the outward guide groove portion 14 side, but goes to the detent stop position c that is a recessed portion of the heart cam 13. Yes. The step portion 17b is provided so that the end portion does not return to the step portion 17a side from the detent stop position c. The stepped portion 17c is provided so that the end of the guide pin that advances from the detent stop position c to the return path guide groove 15 does not return to the detent stop position c. The step 17 d is provided so that the end of the guide pin that has entered the forward guide groove 14 and the reciprocating common groove 16 from the end of the return guide groove 15 does not return to the return guide groove 15.

  When the IC card 5 is pushed out, that is, when the IC card 5 is moved in the pulling-out direction, the end of the guide pin 11 is located at the pushing stop position a. Next, when the card pushing operation, that is, the push-in operation is performed, the end portion reaches the push-in pushing operation end stop position b through the forward guide groove portion 14, and when the pushing operation force is released at that position, the coil spring By the spring force of 8, the end portion reaches the detent stop position c.

  Then, the end portion of the guide pin 11 reaches the push-out pushing operation end stop position d by the pushing operation of the IC card 5 again for releasing the lock, that is, the push-out operation. Next, by releasing the pushing operation force, the end portion returns to the pushing stop position a through the return path guide groove portion 15 by the spring force of the coil spring 8.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 13, 16, 17A and 17B, a rib 30 is integrally formed on the insulating plate 2 so as to extend in the insertion direction from the card insertion slot 4 toward the rear wall 7d. A reciprocating common groove 16 of the pin guide groove 12 is formed between the rib 30 and the side wall 7 f of the spring housing member 31. The sliding end portion of the guide pin 11 and the protrusion 27 of the slider 9 are inserted into the reciprocating common groove portion 16. The side walls 23a and 23b of the sliding portion 21 of the slider 9 slide over the rib 30 and the side wall 7f. These ribs 30 and the side wall 7f constitute a rail. In FIG. 17, the illustration of the coil spring 8 disposed in the groove of the spring housing member 31 is omitted.

  Further, a force for rotating the slider 9 is generated by the spring force of the coil spring 8. In one embodiment, since the sliding end of the guide pin 11 is inserted into the reciprocating common groove 16 between the rib 30 and the side wall 7 f, the force biased with respect to the slider 9 by the spring force of the coil spring 8. Even if is added, the slider 9 can be prevented from becoming unstable. Furthermore, since the protrusion 27 of the slider 9 is also inserted into the common groove portion 16, the slider 9 can be slid even more stably.

  Since the rib 30 forms a groove portion that constitutes a part of the pin guide groove 12 and is formed in an area where the slider 9 slides, even if this area of the bottom plate 7a is thin, an insulating plate is used during reflow processing. 2 can be prevented from warping.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the pin guide groove 12 is formed on the back side of the insulating plate 2 and the slider 9 is made small so that the pushing amount required for pushing the card (position a and position in FIG. 7). b) and the card discharge amount (between position d and position a in FIG. 7) can be increased. Therefore, when an IC card having a shape smaller than that of a regular IC card is erroneously inserted, the IC card can be reliably discharged.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, a switch 18 for detecting whether or not the IC card 5 is in a push-in state with respect to the card connector is provided in the card storage space. That is, the switch 18 that is switched in conjunction with the movement in the insertion / removal direction of the IC card 5 detects the insertion / removal state of the IC card 5 and the detection result is a control for switching the live / inactive state of the signal transmission contact 10. Used for etc.

  The switch 18 includes a first contact 19 and a second contact 20. Both the first contact 19 and the second contact 20 are spring contacts made of phosphor bronze, and are provided behind the card housing recess of the insulating plate 2 by insert molding. A terminal electrically connected to the first contact 19 and a terminal electrically connected to the second contact 20 are led out to the side surface or the bottom surface of the insulating plate 2 and connected to an external printed wiring board.

  The first contact 19 is a leaf spring having a plate surface substantially orthogonal to the insertion / extraction direction of the IC card 5, and its base is fixed to the insulating plate 2 by insert molding in the vicinity of the rear wall 7 d of the card housing recess. . A semicircular protrusion is provided at the tip of the plate-like spring portion of the first contact 19. Further, the tip is bent so as to be parallel to the card insertion / removal direction. The semicircular protruding portion is an operating portion that comes into contact with the front end surface of the IC card 5.

  One end of the first contact 19 is open and has a strip-like slit extending from the other end side of the first contact 19 to one end side. The slit is formed at an intermediate position of the width of the first contact 19, and the opening width gradually decreases from the other end side of the first contact 19 toward the one end side. The lower end surface of the other end of the first contact 19 is a contact portion that contacts the second contact 20. The contact portion has an inclination along the inclined contact surface of the second contact 20.

  A window portion is formed in contact with the rear wall 7d of the insulating plate 2, a plate spring having a plate surface parallel to the card insertion / removal direction and protruding toward the rear wall 7d is provided. The central portion of the plate spring is cut and raised to form the second contact 20. The second contact 20 is a cut-and-raised piece having an inclined surface that rises from the base on the card insertion slot side toward the free end on the rear wall 7d side. The contact portion of the first contact 19 can be brought into contact with the inclined surface. Further, the slopes are different so that the vicinity of the free end of the second contact 20 faces upward. This is because, when the contact portion of the first contact 19 slides along the inclined surface of the second contact 20, a larger contact pressure is generated near the tip of the inclined surface of the second contact 20, This is to stabilize the contact between the first and second contacts.

  FIG. 5 shows the position of the first contact 19 that changes according to the state of mounting of the IC card 5. The first contact 19a indicates the position where the insertion of the IC card 5 is not completed, that is, the position of the card push-out state. In the card push-out state, the first contact 19 and the second contact 20 are in a non-contact state and are in a switch OFF state (normal OFF). The first contact 19b indicates the position where the IC card 5 is pushed. Then, the IC card 5 is pushed in, and the first contact 19c indicates the position in the mounting completion state. In this state, the first contact 19 and the second contact 20 come into contact with each other, and the switch is turned on.

  An example of the slider 9 will be described with reference to FIGS. Side walls 23a and 23b projecting and parallel to the inner surface facing the bottom plate 7a of the insulating plate 2 of the sliding portion 21 are integrally formed. The front end of one side wall 23a is bent to form the spring receiving portion 24. The corner portion 25 extending from the side wall 23a to the spring receiving portion 24 has a slight curvature with respect to a right angle bending angle.

  A support hole 26 for the fixed end of the guide pin 11 is formed on the side of the arm portion 22 of the sliding portion 21. The sliding end of the guide pin 11 slides in the pin guide groove 12 of the heart cam as a lock mechanism. A protrusion 27 is formed in the vicinity of the support hole 26 so as to protrude obliquely inward.

  The side wall 23 b is formed to extend to the arm portion 22. The corner portion 28 extending from the side wall 23b to the arm portion 22 has a certain curvature with respect to a right angle bending angle. A tip end surface of the side wall 23 b extended to the arm portion 22 is a card receiving portion 29. The contact portion of the IC card 5 comes into contact with the card receiving portion 29, and the slider 9 moves to the back as the IC card 5 is pushed. The side wall 23b is continuously formed at the corner portion 28 where the sliding portion 21 and the arm portion 22 are connected, thereby obtaining an L-shaped cross section. As a result, the bending rigidity of the slider 9 when the card is inserted can be improved, and the edge of the slider 9 is not exposed at the time of sliding. Can slide.

<2. Modification>
Although the embodiments of the present invention have been specifically described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications based on the technical idea of the present invention are possible. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the rib 30 and the side wall 7f of the spring housing member 31 constitute a rail having a groove. The rail strength can be maintained by using the metal spring housing member 31 as in the embodiment. However, both the rib as the rail and the groove at the center of the rib may be formed on the insulating plate 2.

  The configurations, methods, steps, shapes, materials, numerical values, and the like given in the above-described embodiments are merely examples, and different configurations, methods, steps, shapes, materials, numerical values, and the like may be used as necessary. good.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Card connector 2 ... Insulating plate 3 ... Shield cover 4 ... Card insertion slot 5 ... IC card 7a ... Bottom plate 7b ... Right side wall 7f Side wall 8 ... Coil spring 9 ... sliders 10a to 10f, 10 ... contact 11 ... guide pin 12 ... pin guide groove 13 ... heart cam 16 ... reciprocating common groove 18 ... switch 21 ... sliding Part 22 ... arm part 30 ... rib 31 ... spring storage member

Claims (1)

A housing comprising an insulating plate and a cover, into which a card-like body or a tray on which the card-like body is placed is inserted, and having a flat storage space in which the card-like body or the tray can be stored;
A metal spring housing member formed integrally with the insulating plate and having left and right side walls extending in the front-rear direction;
A coil spring housed in a housing groove sandwiched between the left and right side walls;
In the vicinity of the spring housing member, a rib formed in parallel with one of the left and right side walls and extending in the front-rear direction and projecting inwardly on the insulating plate;
A metal slider that is biased in the pushing direction by the coil spring and slides across one of the left and right side walls and the rib;
I have a,
In order to lock the pushing state of the card-like body or the tray, a pin guide groove comprising an outward path guide groove part and a return path guide groove part, and a reciprocating common groove part provided at a junction of the forward path guide groove part and the return path guide groove part. A locking mechanism is used, the forward guide groove portion and the backward guide groove portion are formed on the rear side of the housing, and the common groove portion is extended forward in parallel with the rib,
The reciprocating common groove is formed by one of the left and right side walls and an inner surface of the rib facing one of the left and right side walls,
A sliding end of a lock pin, one end of which is supported by the slider, is inserted into the pin guide groove, and the sliding end slides in the pin guide groove in conjunction with insertion / extraction of the card-like body or the tray. Card connector.

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