JPH08250238A - Edge connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an edge connector capable of smoothly inserting without an error in an insertion angle of a substrate. CONSTITUTION: A guide member 7 whose one end is integrally formed with a housing 2 is formed in the housing 2, and the guide member 7 is formed so as to be capable of swing between a guide position where the upper edge part 73 of the other end of the guide member 7 is protruded from a substrate placing surface 22e and a housing position which is made flush with the substrate placing surface 22e. When the lower surface of the substrate is brought into contact with the upper edge part 73 of the guide member 7 located in the guide position, since the substrate jumps up to a specified angle, the lower surface is brought into contact with the upper edge part 73, and when the substrate is inserted as it is slid, the rear part of the substrate jumps up to a specified angle against an arm part, and in this position, the substrate is inserted into an accepting space 21a.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an edge connector used for mounting a substrate such as a memory module having a plurality of conductive pads at its tip on the surface of another substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an edge connector for a substrate (module substrate) such as a memory module, there is one as shown in FIG. The body of the edge connector 201 is made of a resin material (insulating material) such as plastic, and as shown in (A), the rear portion of the edge connector 201 is flipped up from the arm portion 222 by a predetermined angle (rebound angle) α. In this state, the edge connector 201 is inserted into the receiving space 221a at the front. And the front end is inserted into the receiving space, and
The memory module 6 in a position where the rear part is flipped up (hereinafter, referred to as a “flip-up position”) is, as shown in (B), a position in which the memory module 6 is parallel to the arm 222 and another substrate (hereinafter, “mounting position”). Position ”), and the locking mechanism 205 holds and holds the edge connector 201 at the mounting position.

As shown in the cross section of the receiving space 221a of the edge connector 201 in FIG.
Inside, the lower contact 203 and the upper contact 2
A plurality of 04 are arranged side by side in the left-right direction. Each contact 203, 204 has a contact portion 2 extending rearward.
34 and 244, the tip 234a of the lower contact portion 234 is formed to project upward, and the tip 244a of the upper contact portion 244 is formed to project downward. The tip 234a of the lower contact portion 234 is located rearward of the tip 244a of the upper contact portion 244.

The memory module 6 and each contact 20
When contacting the memory modules 3 and 204, the memory module 6 is tilted at a predetermined angle and inserted between the tips 234a and 244a, so that the memory modules 6 can be inserted between the contacts 203 and 204 with almost no insertion force. You can The angle at this time is the flip-up angle α, and the substrate is located at the flip-up position when it is inserted between the contacts 203 and 204 at the flip-up angle α. Then, by pushing down the memory module 6 from the flip-up position to the mounting position, the tips 234a, 244a and the memory module 6 are pressed into contact with each other by the elastic force of the contacts 203, 204.

[0005]

However, since the edge connector 201 and the memory module 6 are often small in size, it is difficult to insert the memory module 6 into the narrow receiving space 221a at an accurate flip-up angle α. For example, when the insertion angle of the memory module 6 into the receiving space 221a is an angle α ′ that is larger than the flip-up angle α, the front end portion of the memory module 6 has the lower contact 20.
The contact portion 234 may not be smoothly inserted into the receiving space 221a by coming into contact with the tip 234a of No. 3 and the contact portion 234 may be deformed by an excessive insertion force applied to the memory module 6.

On the contrary, if the insertion angle is shallower than the flip-up angle, the front end portion of the memory module 6 may come into contact with the tip end 244a of the upper contact 204 and deform the contact portion 244. Since the insertion angle differs depending on the manufacturer that manufactures the edge connector, for example, when the edge connectors of different manufacturers are mounted on one board, the insertion angle is often wrong.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide an edge connector which can be smoothly inserted without erroneous insertion angle of a substrate.

[0008]

To achieve the above object, in the present invention, a front end portion of a substrate is configured to be received in a receiving space in which a contact is disposed, and the front end portion of the substrate is provided along an arm portion. The arm connector is provided with a lock means for fixing and holding the substrate in the extended state to form an edge connector. Then, the rear portion of the board is pushed up by a predetermined angle with respect to the arm portion, and the lower surface of the board is pushed down to a mounting position where the lower surface of the board comes into contact with the board mounting surface formed on the arm portion. It is designed to be retained. A guide member having one end integrated with the housing is formed in the housing. The guide member is configured to be swingable between a guide position in which the upper end of the other end projects from the substrate mounting surface and a storage position on the same surface as the substrate mounting surface. When the lower surface of the substrate is brought into contact with the upper end of the guide member at the guide position, the substrate is in a state of being lifted up by a predetermined angle.

[0009]

In the edge connector constructed as described above, if the lower surface of the board is brought into contact with the upper end portion of the guide member at the guide position and is inserted while sliding, the rear portion of the board is predetermined with respect to the arm portion. The substrate can be inserted into the receiving space with the angle raised, that is, in the raised position. Therefore, when the substrate is inserted, the insertion angle with respect to the receiving space is constant, and the substrate is not inserted into the receiving space at an angle that may damage the arranged contact.

When the board is inserted into the receiving space and the board at the flip-up position is pushed down, the guide member whose upper end is in contact with the lower surface of the board moves downward around the one end side formed integrally with the housing. The substrate can be held in the mounting position because it is rocked to move to the storage position. Further, since the guide member is made of the same resin material as the housing, it has elasticity and flexibility, and when the board is removed from the edge connector,
Since the guide member always returns to the guide position, the work of inserting the substrate can be performed without having to pull up the guide member from the storage position to the guide position.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of the edge connector according to the present invention. This edge connector 1
Is composed of a housing 2 integrally formed of an insulating material such as resin, contacts (lower contact 3 and upper contact 4) held in the housing 2, and lock mechanisms 5 attached to the left and right of the housing 2. Then, the memory module 6 inserted in the flip-up position as shown in FIG. 2A is pushed down to the mounting position as shown in FIG.

The housing 2 is composed of a main body portion 21 extending in the left-right direction and an arm portion 22 extending rearward (front side in FIG. 1) from the left and right end portions of the main body portion 21. Inside the main body 21, a substrate receiving groove (reception space) 2 that extends in the left-right direction and opens rearward of the main body 21.
1a is formed. On the lower surface of the upper wall portion 21b of the substrate receiving groove 21a, a number of upper contact receiving grooves 21c extending in the front-rear direction are formed in parallel in the left-right direction.

Further, the upper surface of the thick portion 21d below the substrate receiving groove 21a is formed at the rear portions of the left and right ends, and the arm portion 2 is formed.
The substrate mounting surface 22e is formed to extend in two, and the contact arrangement surface 21f is sandwiched between the substrate mounting surfaces 22e and formed to be one step lower than these. The front part of the substrate mounting surface 22e is formed with a front descending surface 21h that is inclined so as to have the same height as the contact arrangement surface 21f.

A large number of lower contact receiving grooves 21g extending in the front-rear direction are formed on the contact array surface 21f in parallel in the left-right direction. The upper and lower contact receiving grooves 21c and 21g are arranged in a zigzag pattern at the top and bottom. Further, on the lower surface of the housing 2, a boss 21k for positioning the edge connector 1 with respect to another substrate (not shown) such as a computer substrate on which the edge mount 1 is surface-mounted is provided.

The arm portion 22 faces the inside of the edge connector 1 and has an inner portion 22a having an upper surface at the same height as the substrate mounting surface 22e, and the arm portion 22 faces the outside of the edge connector 1, and the upper surface is higher than the inner portion 22a. And a higher outer portion 22b. The inner wall surface 22c of the outer portion 22b is formed so as to spread upward and outward in order to facilitate mounting of a substrate, which will be described in detail later, on the substrate mounting surface 21e. Body 2
1 and the arm portion 22 on the right side, the substrate mounting surface 21
A protrusion 23 for L-shaped protrusion is formed on the upper surfaces of the e and the inner portion 22a, and the protrusion 23 for alignment is also formed with an inclination connected to the inner wall surface 22c.

As shown in FIG. 3, the lower contact 3 includes a base portion 31 extending in the vertical direction and the base portion 3
1 includes a press-fitting portion 33 extending from the lower rear side to the rear (rightward in FIG. 3), and a contact portion 34 extending from the upper rear side of the base portion 31. After the contact portion 34 extends slightly upward from the upper end of the base portion 31,
It extends rearward, the end thereof is largely curved downward in a U shape, and the tip 34a is formed in a shape bent obliquely downward. The lower contact 3 is held by being press-fitted into the housing 2 from the front.
The U-shaped portion of the contact portion 34 is received in the lower contact receiving groove 21g, and the front end 34a extends from the vicinity of the rear end of the contact arranging surface 21f to the module receiving groove 21a.
It projects inside.

The upper contact 4 has a base portion, a lead portion and a press-fitting portion which are formed similarly to the lower contact 3,
The contact portion 44 extends from the upper rear side of the base portion. The contact portion 44 extends upward (higher than the contact portion 34 of the lower contact 3) from the upper end of the base portion, and then extends straight rearward to the tip (rear end).
44a is formed in a shape curved downward in a small U shape. The upper contact 4 is also press-fitted and held in the housing 2 similarly to the lower contact 3. The contact portion 44 is received in the upper contact receiving groove 21c, and only the lower portion of the tip 44a is in the module receiving groove 21c.
It projects into a.

Next, the guide member 7 formed on the arm portion 22 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3. The guide member 7 includes a leaf spring portion 71 and a protruding portion 72. The leaf spring portion 71 has a front end portion integrally formed with the arm portion 22 at the same height as the upper surface of the substrate mounting surface 22e near the root of the arm portion 22 with respect to the main body portion 21, and the other end portion. It is formed to extend rearward. A projecting portion 72 is formed at the other end of the leaf spring portion 71 so as to extend upward. The contact portion 73 on the upper end surface of the protruding portion 72 is formed so as to descend forward by the same angle α as the flip-up angle (predetermined angle) of the memory module 6 at the flip-up position.

The leaf spring portion 71 has a thickness (height) of the arm portion 22.
The front end portion is integrally formed with the housing 2 with a thinner thickness and made of a resin material. Therefore, in the leaf spring portion 71, the upper surface 71a is flush with the substrate mounting surface 21e when no vertical load is applied, and when the vertical force is applied, the front end of the leaf spring portion 71 is elastically moved. The rear end is swingable in the vertical direction as indicated by an arrow J with the portion as the swing center. Further, the protruding portion 72 is formed such that its rear end portion protrudes from the substrate mounting surface 22e by a height H at a position separated from the center of the tip end portion 34a of the lower contact 3 by a distance L1.

Next, the lock mechanism 5 provided at the rear end of the arm portion 22 for locking and holding the memory module 6 at the mounting position will be described. The lock mechanism 5 is composed of a release lever 25 configured to open to the left and right sides with respect to the arm portion 22, and a locking portion 54 that integrally opens with the release lever 25 and opens to the left and right sides. ing. The locking portion 54 prevents the rear portion of the memory module 6 from springing up by contacting the tip of the locking portion 54 with the upper surface of the memory module 6 when the memory module 6 is located at the mounting position. . When the memory module 6 that has been engaged and held is to be removed, the locking portions 54 and 54 are unlocked by pushing open the left and right release levers 25 and 25 to the left and right.

The edge connector 1 constructed as described above
The memory module 6 shown in FIG. 4 is detachably attached to the. The memory module 6 includes a card-shaped module substrate 61 and a plurality of memory chips 62 mounted on the substrate 61. Conductive pads 6 are provided on the front ends of the upper and lower surfaces of the module substrate 61, respectively.
3, 64 are formed, and these conductive pads 63, 64 are
It is connected to the memory chip 62 via a wiring pattern (not shown). In addition, an L-shaped notch 61a for alignment is formed at the corner of the right front end of the module substrate 61. Further, a positioning recess 61b cut out in a semicircular shape is formed on the rear side of the left and right ends of the module substrate 61.

Next, the operation of attaching / detaching the memory module 6 to / from the edge connector 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.
In the edge connector 1, the guide member 7 is horizontal as shown in FIG. 3A when the memory module 6 is not inserted. When the memory module 6 is attached to the edge connector 1, first, hold the memory module 6 by hand and attach the front end of the memory module 6 to the housing 2 (main body portion 21) as shown in FIG. 3B. It is inserted into the substrate receiving groove 21a from diagonally above. At this time, the lower surface 61c of the substrate 6 is brought into contact with the entire surface of the contact portion 73, and the upper surface of the contact portion 73 is slid to insert the tip portion of the substrate 6 into the receiving groove 21a. 34a, 4
It enters well between 4a and maintains a predetermined angle α.

That is, as described above, the lower contact 3
The extension line of the upper surface of the contact portion 73 having the height H and the predetermined angle α at a position separated from the center of the tip end portion 34 a of the end portion 34 a is almost the same as the upper end of the tip end 34 a of the lower contact 34. Pass the same height. On the other hand, the extension line which is parallel to the extension line and is separated by the distance L2 upward passes substantially the same height as the lower end of the tip end 44a of the upper contact 44.

Therefore, the distance L2 and the module substrate 6 are
If the thickness t of 1 is substantially the same, the memory module 6 that has slid on the upper surface of the contact portion 73 will not substantially elastically deform the upper and lower contacts 34 and 44, and the contacts (module receiving groove 21a Inside)
Is inserted into. That is, the insertion force when inserting the memory module 6 into the edge connector 1 is substantially zero (zero insertion force). This prevents deformation of the contacts 3 and 4 without the front end portion entering below the tip end 34a of the contact 3 or above the tip end 44a of the contact 4 and twisting it when the substrate is inserted.

As described above, since the memory module 6 is smoothly guided by the guide member 7 into the module receiving groove 21a, the insertion angle of the memory module 6 into the module receiving groove 21a is not erroneous. Also, if the orientation protrusion 23 of the edge connector 1 is inserted into the orientation notch 61a of the memory module 6 so as to be received, the edge connector 1 of the memory module 6 is inserted.
There is no mistake in the direction.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3B, the lower end of the front end of the memory module 6 has a contact arranging surface 21f.
When it is inserted into the module receiving groove 21a until it comes into contact with, the conductive pad 63 on the lower side of the memory module 6
The tip 34a of the lower contact 3 comes into contact, and the tip 44 of the upper contact 4 contacts the upper conductive pad 64.
This is the flip-up position in which a is in contact and has jumped up by a predetermined angle α. The front-down surface 21h connected to the module mounting surface 22e is also formed at the same angle as the predetermined angle α. As a result, the memory module 6 is securely held in the flip-up position as shown in FIG.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, the memory module 6 is resisted against the elastic force of the upper and lower contacts 3 and 4.
Push down on the rear part. At this time, the corner formed by the lower surface of the memory module 6 and the inner surface of the positioning recess 61b comes into contact with the upper surface of the inner side of the locking portion 54, and as the memory module 6 is pushed down, the corner becomes the locking portion 54. The locking portion 54 is spread while sliding on the upper surface of the release lever 25, and the release lever 25 also moves outward together.

When the locking portion 54 is opened to the outside, the locking portion 54 is inserted into the locking notch 61b, and the memory module 6 is brought into contact with the substrate mounting surface 22e of the main body portion 22 of the housing 2 and the upper surfaces of the inner portion 22a (mounting). (Positioned) (mounting position), the locking notch 6 is provided below the locking portion 54.
1b is located. Here, the locking portion 54 is returned to the locking position by the urging force of the locking member side leaf spring portion (not shown), and the lower surface of the locking portion 54 contacts the upper surface of the module substrate 61. Engagement is held without splashing.

At this mounting position, the lower contact 3 is held in a state of being moved down to a certain extent by the memory module 6, and the tip 34a of the lower contact 3 is held by the elastic force of the lower contact 3 to the conductive pad 6 on the lower surface side of the memory module 6.
Press to 3. Further, the upper contact 4 is held in a state of being moved upward to some extent, and the tip end 44a thereof is pressed against the conductive pad 64 on the upper surface side of the memory module 6 by its own elastic force.

Further, when the memory module 6 at the flip-up position is pushed down to the mounting position, since the lower surface 61c of the substrate and the contact portion 73 are in contact with each other, the elastic force of the leaf spring portion 71 causes the protruding portion 72 to move downward. The contact portion 73 and the substrate mounting surface 22e are positioned on the same plane, and the memory module 6 is locked and held at the mounting position as shown in FIG. 2B.

Memory module 6 held in the mounting position
When detaching from the edge connector 1, the release lever 25 may be spread laterally with a finger to release the locking of the module substrate 61 by the locking portion 54. The unlocked memory module 6 is moved from the mounting position to the flip-up position by the elastic force of each connector 3 and 4 and the elastic force of the leaf spring portion 71, and is held at the flip-up position. Therefore, after that, the memory module 6 may be held by hand and pulled out from the edge connector 1.

In the above embodiment, the contact portion 73
Although the description has been given of the case where the is formed in a planar shape, a protrusion (preferably a hemispherical protrusion) is provided on the upper surface of the contact portion 73 in order to reduce the resistance when the module substrate 61 slides. Good. Further, the shape of the guide member of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment,
It may have a shape as shown in FIG.

The guide member 170 of the edge connector 101 has a leaf spring portion 171 extending obliquely upward and rearward from the vicinity of an intermediate portion of the body portion 21 in the vertical direction.
And a projecting portion 172 formed at the tip of the leaf spring portion 171 (the other end of the end portion integrally connected to the main body portion 21) and projecting above the substrate mounting surface 22e. There is. In addition, in this edge connector 101,
The other configurations are the same except for the shape of the guide member 170, and thus the same reference numerals as those of the edge connector 1 are given and the description thereof is omitted.

The contact portion 173 on the upper surface of the projecting portion 172 is formed to have the same angle α as the above-mentioned flip-up angle α in a state in which no vertical force is applied to the leaf spring portion 171. Then, when the memory module 6 is inserted into the edge connector 1, the contact portion 173 and the lower surface 61c of the substrate 61 are brought into contact with each other and slid until the tip portion comes into contact with the contact arrangement surface 21f. Similar to 7, contact angle of each contact 3,
The tip of the substrate 61 can be inserted into the receiving space 21a.

[0035]

As described above, the edge connector of the present invention has the guide member for guiding the front end portion of the substrate to be inserted into the receiving space at a predetermined insertion angle at the guide position. The guide member is formed so as to project onto the substrate mounting surface formed on the arm portion extending rearward from the main body portion in which the receiving space is formed. That is, since the guide member is disposed on the front side with respect to the insertion direction into the receiving space, it is possible to improve the guideability when the substrate is inserted so as to be positioned at the flip-up position.

Therefore, if this edge connector is used,
The memory module can be smoothly inserted into the receiving space without erroneous insertion angle (that is, with a small inserting force and without deforming the contacts arranged in the receiving space). Then, by pushing down the substrate which is received in the receiving space and is in the flip-up position, it is possible to move the substrate to the mounting position while swinging the guide member to the storage position. Since the guide member is formed integrally with the housing, it can be molded at the same time when the housing is molded, and the edge connector provided with the guide member can be manufactured at low cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an edge connector according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a state in which the board is in a flip-up position in the edge connector and a state in which the board is in a mounting position is shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a memory module mounted on the edge connector.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the edge connector.

FIG. 6 shows a conventional edge connector VI-V in FIG.
It is arrow sectional drawing at the time of cutting by I line.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Edge Connector 2 Housing 3,4 Contact 5 Lock Mechanism 6 Memory Module 7 Guide Member

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A housing formed of a resin material having a main body portion having a receiving space capable of receiving the front end portion of the substrate, and arm portions extending rearward from the left and right ends of the main body portion, and the receiving space. A plurality of contacts that are arranged in alignment with each other and that abut the conductive pads formed on the front end of the substrate while receiving the front end of the substrate;
A lock means provided on the arm portion, for receiving the front end portion in the receiving space, and fixing and holding the substrate in a state of extending along the arm portion, wherein the front end portion of the substrate is From the flip-up position where the rear portion of the substrate is inserted into the receiving space and is flipped up by a predetermined angle with respect to the arm portion, to the mounting position where the lower surface of the substrate abuts the substrate mounting surface formed on the arm portion. An edge connector in which the conductive pad and the contact come into pressure contact by being pushed down, one end of which is formed integrally with the housing, and the upper end of the other end of which is projected upward from the substrate mounting surface, A guide position that abuts the lower surface of the substrate during insertion into the receiving space and guides the substrate to be inserted into the flip-up position in a state of being flipped up by the predetermined angle,
A guide member that moves downward together with the substrate when the substrate is pushed down to the mounting position and is swingable between a storage position in which the upper end portion is flush with the substrate mounting surface. Edge connector characterized by.