WO2013027130A1

WO2013027130A1 - Card connector

Info

Publication number: WO2013027130A1
Application number: PCT/IB2012/053462
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yongfeng Ma; James L Mcgrath; Zhiqiang Li; Yi Wei Chang
Original assignee: Tyco Electronics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.; Tyco Electronics Uk Ltd; Tyco Electronics Corporation; Tyco Electronics Holdings (Bermuda) No. 7 Limited
Priority date: 2011-07-12
Filing date: 2012-07-06
Publication date: 2013-02-28
Also published as: TWM452507U; CN102882031A; CN102882031B

Abstract

Disclosed is a card connector, comprising: an insulating body (110) in which is provided with an inserting slot (101) for connecting with an inserted memory card; a pair of latches (102) provided respectively at two ends of the inserting slot (101) and adapted to be moved between a latching position for latching the memory card and a releasing position for releasing the memory card, wherein each latch is provided with a hook (103) which drives the memory card to disengage from the inserting slot when the latch is moved from the latching position to the releasing position; a group of first conductive terminals (1042) provided in the inserting slot and including a plurality of first power terminals and a plurality of signal terminals; and a group of second power terminals (1041), the second power terminals having resistance smaller than that of the first power terminals to transmit power different from that transmitted by the first power terminals.

Description

CARD CONNECTOR

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application No. 201110194516.0 filed on July 12, 2011 in the State Intellectual Property Office of China, the whole disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a card connector, more particularly, relates to a Dual Date Rate, Dual-Inline-Memory-Modules (DDR DIMM) connector.

Description of the Related Art

Fig. l shows a DDR3 DIMM connector 200 including: an inserting slot 201; a pair of latches 202 provided respectively at two ends of the inserting slot 201, the latches 202 each being adapted to be moved between a latching position for latching a memory card (not shown) and a releasing position for releasing the memory card; and a plurality of connecting terminals 203 provided within the inserting slot 201. Further, as mentioned later, each latch has a hook which drives the memory card to disengage from the inserting slot 201 when the latch is moved from the latching position to the releasing position.

Fig.2 is an enlarged view of the end of the connector 200 in Fig.1. It can be seen from Fig.2 that a region A at the end is located between the latch 202 and a pair of outermost connecting terminals. Though the hook of the latch 202 is moved to the releasing position, there is still a certain distance between the hook of the latch 202 and the outermost connecting terminals in the inserting slot 201 because of the region A, so that the connecting terminals are prevented from being in contact with the hook and the deforming of the connecting terminals caused by the contacting is also prevented.

However, with the technical improvements, there is a need for providing more connecting terminals in the inserting slot and for supplying more power to the memory card, without increasing the dimension of the card connector.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to alleviate at least one aspect of the technical problems in the prior art, the present invention provides a card connector which may supply more power to the memory card by arranging or designing power terminals without changing the dimension of the card connector.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a card connector comprises: an insulating body provided with an inserting slot for connecting with an inserted memory card; a pair of latches provided respectively at two ends of the inserting slot and adapted to be moved between a latching position for latching the memory card and a releasing position for releasing the memory card, wherein each latch is provided with a hook which drives the memory card to disengage from the inserting slot when the latch is moved from the latching position to the releasing position; a group of first conductive terminals provided in the inserting slot and including a plurality of first power terminals and a plurality of signal terminals; and a group of second power terminals, the second power terminals having resistance smaller than that of the first power terminals to transmit power different from the power transmitted by the first power terminals.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the cross section area of the second power terminals is larger than that of the first conductive terminals. Further, the width of the second power terminals is substantially the same as that of the first power terminals in the longitudinal direction of the inserting slot.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the second power terminal is adapted to transmit a larger current, compared to the first power terminals. Further, the first power terminals are adapted to transmit a current of 0.5 A, while the second power terminals are adapted to transmit a current of 1.5 A.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the group of second power terminals is provided at one end or both ends of the inserting slot.

Further, the group of second power terminals are formed into at least one pair of second power terminals, and the second power terminals of one pair of second power terminals are opposite to each other in the inserting slot and define a plane, wherein the hook of one latch at the releasing position has went across the plane and located between the second power terminals of the one pair of second power terminals without interfering with any second power terminal of the one pair of second power terminals.

Furthermore, each second power terminal in each pair of second power terminals includes a pin portion, a contact portion and a bridge portion connected between the pin portion and the contact portion; and the bridge portions of the second power terminals in the pair of second power terminals are parallel with or substantially parallel with each other, and the hook of the latch at the releasing position is located between the bridge portions of the pair of second power terminals. And further, the contact portion of each second power terminal in the pair of second power terminals is bent from the bridge portion to from an arc contact surface, the tip end of the contact portion is directed to the bridge portion connected to the contact portion, and the arc contact surface is used to electrically connected with the memory card; the contact surfaces of the pair of second power terminals are opposite to each other.

Alternatively, furthermore, each terminal includes a pin portion, a contact portion and a bridge portion connected between the pin portion and the contact portion, wherein the contact portion has a contact region for electrically connected with the memory card; in the inserting direction of the memory card, the distance from the contact regions of the second power terminals in the pair of second power terminals to the bottom of the inserting slot is larger than the distance from the contact regions of the first conductive terminals to the bottom of the inserting slot.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the card connector in the above solutions may be a DDR DIMM connector. Further, the at least one second-power terminal pair includes two pair of second power terminals, one pair of second power terminals is arranged at one end of the inserting slot, and the other pair of second power terminals is arranged at the other end of the inserting slot.

With the solution of the present invention, more power may be provided to the memory card without changing the dimension of the card connector, and the space between the latch and the pair of terminals closest to the end of the inserting slot may be effectively used. For instance, new connecting terminals may be arranged to the current DDR3 DIMM connector to provide an additional power transmission channel for a new-type DIMM.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig.1 is a schematic perspective view of a conventional DDR3 DIMM connector;

Fig.2 is an enlarged view of the end of the DDR3 DIMM connector in Fig.l;

Fig.3 is a schematic view of a pair of connecting terminals of the DDR3 DIMM connector in Fig.1 ;

Fig.4 is a schematic perspective view of a card connector according to one embodiment of the present invention;

Fig.5 is a locally enlarged view of the end of the card connector in Fig.4, wherein the latch is at the opened position or releasing position; Fig.6 is a schematic structure view of a pair of connecting terminals according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE IVENTION

The embodiments of the present disclosure will be described hereinafter in detail with reference to the attached drawings, wherein the like reference numerals refer to the like elements. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiment set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that the present disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

As shown in Figs.4-6, the card connector 100 according to the present invention comprises:

an insulating body HOprovided with an inserting slot 101 for connecting with an inserted memory card (not shown);

a pair of latches 102 provided respectively at two ends of the inserting slot 101 and adapted to be moved between a latching position (refer to Fig.4) for latching the memory card and a releasing position (refer to Fig.5) for releasing the memory card, wherein each latch is provided with a hook 103 which drives the memory card to disengage from the inserting slot 101 when the latch 102 is moved from the latching position to the releasing position;

a group of first conductive terminals 1042 provided in the inserting slot 101 and including a plurality of first power terminals and a plurality of signal terminals; and

a group of second power terminals 1041, the second power terminals having resistance smaller than that of the first power terminals to transmit power different from the power transmitted by the first power terminals.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the cross section area of the second power terminals 1041 is larger than that of the first conductive terminals 1042. Alternatively, the second power terminals 1041 may be made of a material having a greater conductivity to present a smaller resistance and a better conductive performance.

Further, the width of the second power terminals 1041 is substantially the same as that of the first power terminals in the longitudinal direction of the inserting slot. Thus, the pitch between the second power terminal 1041 and an adjacent first conductive terminal 1042 is the same as that between two adjacent first conductive terminals. In this case, the second power terminal 1041 may be provided at a position between the two ends of the card connector 100, or at a position adjacent to the end of the card connector. When the second power terminal 1041 is arranged adjacent to the end of the card connector 100, however, it is not necessarily required that the width of the second power terminal 1041 should be the same as that of the first conductive terminal 1042.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the second power terminal 1041 is adapted to transmit a larger current, compared to the first power terminals. Specifically, the first power terminals are adapted to transmit a current of 0.5 A, while the second power terminals 1041 are adapted to transmit a current of 1.5 A.

Next, the case in which the second power terminal 1041 is provided adjacent to the end of the card connector 100 will be described.

Referring to Figs.4-5, the group of second power terminals 1041 are formed into at least one pair of second power terminals, and the second power terminals 1041 of one pair of second power terminals are opposite to each other in the inserting slot 101 and define a plane P perpendicular to an insertion direction of the memory card, wherein the hook 103 of one latch 102 at the releasing position has went across the plane P and located between the second power terminals 1041 of the one pair of second power terminals without interfering with any second power terminal 1041 of the one pair of second power terminals.

Pleased be noted that though the concept of the present invention is illustrated in Figs.4-5 by amending a DDR3 DIMM connector as shown in Fig. 1, the solution of the present invention may be applied to other card connectors.

The plane defined by the pair of second power terminals herein means a plane defined by the pair of opposed second power terminals 1041 which are assumed to be very thin. Specifically, the plane may be one that is defined by the side surfaces S of the pair of opposed second power terminals 1041, or one that is defined by the respective symmetry central lines of the pair of opposed second power terminals 1041, as shown in Figs.5-6.

The purpose of introducing the plane P is to define the position relation between the hook 103 of the latch 102 at the releasing position and the pair of second power terminals 1041 closest to the hook 103 and to facilitate describing that the hook 3 has went into between the pair of second power terminals 1041 closest to the hook 3 (that is, when it has went across the plane P, it has went into between the pair of second power terminals 1041 closest to the hook 3). In the present invention, the hook 103 may be located between the pair of second power terminals 1041 closest to it, which differs from the conventional solution in which the hook 103 will not go into between the pair of second power terminals 1041 closest to it.

As shown in Fig.5, the limitation "the hook 103 of one latch 102 at the releasing position has went across the plane P and located between the second power terminals 1041 of the one pair of second power terminals" may be expressed in the following manner: in Fig.5, in the projection view in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the diagram and directed away from the reader, the projection of the hook 103 of the latch 102 at the releasing position is overlapped with the projection of the pair of second power terminals 1041 closest to the hook 103.

Because the hook 103 may be moved into between the pair of second power terminals 1041 closest to it or even more pairs of second power terminals, the space (corresponding to the region A mentioned in the Background) at two ends of the inserting slot 101 and between the latch 102 and the closest connecting terminals may be effectively used, and additional power transmission channel may be provided for the card connector.

The above solution may be achieved by increasing the distance by which the hook 103 of the latch 102 may be moved between the pair of second power terminals 1041.

Specifically, as shown in Fig.6, each second power terminal 1041 in each pair of second power terminals includes a pin portion a, a contact portion c and a bridge portion b connected between the pin portion a and the contact portion c; and the bridge portions b of the second power terminals 1041 in the pair of second power terminals are parallel with or substantially parallel with each other, and the hook 103 of the latch 102 at the releasing position is located between the bridge portions b of the pair of second power terminals. Compared to the conventional connecting terminals shown in Fig.3, the distance in the moving range of the hook 3 between the two second power terminals 1041 of the pair of second power terminals is effectively increased, so that the contacting or intervening between any second power terminal 1041 of the pair of second power terminals and the hook 103 is prevented during the moving of the hook 3.

As shown in Figs.4 and 6, the contact portion c of each second power terminal 1041 in the pair of second power terminals is bent from the bridge portion b to from an arc contact surface 105, the tip end of the contact portion is directed to the bridge portion b connected to the contact portion c, and the arc contact surface 105 is used to electrically connected with the memory card; the contact surfaces 105 of the pair of second power terminals are opposite to each other.

As long as there is no contacting between the hook 3 and any one of the second power terminal 1041 during the moving of the hook 3, the shape of the second power terminal 1041 is not limited to this. For instance, the bridge portion b may be protruded outwards to further increase the distance between the opposed bridge portions b.

The contacting between the hook 103 of the latch 102 and the second power terminal 1041 may be prevented by increasing the height of the contact portion c relative to the bottom of the inserting slot 101. Specifically, each terminal includes a pin portion a, a contact portion c and a bridge portion b connected between the pin portion a and the contact portion c, wherein the contact portion d has a contact region for electrically connected with the memory card; in the inserting direction of the memory card, the distance h2 from the contact regions c of the second power terminals 1041 in the pair of second power terminals to the bottom of the inserting slot is larger than the distance hi from the contact regions of the first conductive terminals 1042 to the bottom of the inserting slot 101, referring to Fig.5. Because the distance between the contact portions c of the pair of second power terminals is the smallest, the moving range, in which the hook 3 does not contact with the second power terminal, between the pair of second power terminals 1041 may be expanded by locating the contact portions c of the pair of second power terminals at a higher position. In the above solution, the second power terminal 1041 may be in the shape of the connecting terminal shown in Fig.3 or Fig.6.

Regarding the distance between the contact portion and the bottom of the inserting slot, for example, it may be:

when the contact portion is in line contact with a contact terminal of the memory card, the distance from the contact line to the bottom of the inserting slot; or

when the contact portion is in plane contact with the contact terminal of the memory card, the distance from a horizontal central line of the contact plane to the bottom of the inserting slot.

In addition to designing the shape and the arranging position of the second power terminals 1041 adjacent to the latch 102, the width of the hook 103 in a direction perpendicular to the plane P may be reduced, and the hook 103 may be designed to be moved at a substantially middle position between the opposed second power terminals 1041 , thus, if the precision is high enough, the space at two ends of the inserting slot 101 and between the latch 102 and the closest connecting terminals may be effectively used, and additional power transmission channel may be provided for the card connector.

The reducing of the width of the hook 103 and the designing of the shape and arranging manner of the second power terminals 1041 may be incorporated.

The second power terminals 1041 in the above pair of second power terminals may provide additional power transmission channel for the card connector 100. For instance, the second power terminals 1041 may remove or alleviate the power supply problem caused by insufficient number of the power terminals of the DDR3 DIMM connector as shown in Fig. 1.

As shown in Fig.4, the card connector may be a DDR DIMM connector. Alternatively, the at least one pair of second-power terminals includes two pairs of second-power-terminals, one pair of second-power-terminal is arranged at one end of the inserting slot 101, and the other pair of second power terminals is arranged at the other end of the inserting slot 101.

Although several embodiments have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes or modifications may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the disclosure, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.

As used herein, an element recited in the singular and proceeded with the word "a" or "an" should be understood as not excluding plural of said elements, unless such exclusion is explicitly stated. Furthermore, references to "one embodiment" of the present invention are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features. Moreover, unless explicitly stated to the contrary, embodiments "comprising" or "having" or "including" an element or a plurality of elements having a particular property may include additional such elements not having that property.

Claims

1. A card connector, comprising:

an insulating body (110) provided with an inserting slot (101) for connecting with an inserted memory card;

a pair of latches (102) provided respectively at two ends of the inserting slot (101) and adapted to be moved between a latching position for latching the memory card and a releasing position for releasing the memory card, wherein each latch is provided with a hook (103) which drives the memory card to disengage from the inserting slot when the latch is moved from the latching position to the releasing position;

a group of first conductive terminals (1042) provided in the inserting slot and including a plurality of first power terminals and a plurality of signal terminals; and

a group of second power terminals (1041) having resistance smaller than that of the first power terminals to transmit power different from the power transmitted by the first power terminals.

2. The card connector of claim 1, wherein

the cross section area of the second power terminals (1041) is larger than that of the first conductive terminals.

3. The card connector of claim 2, wherein

the width of the second power terminals (1041) is substantially the same as that of the first power terminals in the longitudinal direction of the inserting slot.

4. The card connector of claim 1, wherein

the second power terminal is adapted to transmit a larger current, compared to the first power terminals.

5. The card connector of claim 4, wherein

the first power terminals are adapted to transmit a current of 0.5 A, while the second power terminals are adapted to transmit a current of 1.5 A.

6. The card connector of claim 1, wherein

the group of second power terminals is provided at one end or both ends of the inserting slot.

7. The card connector of claim 6, wherein

the group of second power terminals are formed into at least one pair of second-power-terminal, and the two second power terminals of one pair of second-power-terminals are opposite to each other in the inserting slot and define a plane (P), wherein the hook of one latch at the releasing position has went across the plane and located between the two second power terminals of the one pair of second power terminals without interfering with any second power terminal of the one pair of second-power-terminal.

8. The card connector of claim 7, wherein

each second power terminal in each pair of second power terminals includes a pin portion, a contact portion and a bridge portion connected between the pin portion and the contact portion; and

the bridge portions of the second power terminals in the pair of second power terminals are parallel with or substantially parallel with each other, and the hook of the latch at the releasing position is located between the bridge portions of the pair of second power terminals.

9. The card connector of claim 8, wherein

the contact portion of each second power terminal in the pair of second power terminals is bent from the bridge portion to from an arc contact surface, the tip end of the contact portion is directed to the bridge portion connected to the contact portion, and the arc contact surface is used to electrically connected with the memory card;

the contact surfaces of the pair of second power terminals are opposite to each other.

10. The card connector of claim 7, wherein

each terminal includes a pin portion, a contact portion and a bridge portion connected between the pin portion and the contact portion, wherein the contact portion has a contact region for electrically connected with the memory card;

in the inserting direction of the memory card, the distance from the contact regions of the second power terminals in the pair of second power terminals to the bottom of the inserting slot is larger than the distance from the contact regions of the first conductive terminals to the bottom of the inserting slot.

11. The card connector of any one of claims 7-10, wherein

The card connector is a DDR DIMM connector.

12. The card connector of claim 11, wherein

the at least one pair of second-power terminals includes two pairs of second power terminals, one pair of second power terminals is arranged at one end of the inserting slot, and the other pair of second power terminals is arranged at the other end of the inserting slot.