Abstract:
A compact electrical connector assembly comprises a printed circuit board having a predetermined thickness and defining a first face and a second face opposite to the first face. A low profile electrical connector sits on the first face of the printed circuit board and comprises an insulating housing defining a longitudinal central slot opened forwardly with first contacts and second contacts respectively retained at opposite sides of the central slot. A card is inserted into the central slot at an angle with regard to the printed circuit board, and then rotated from the second face to the first face of the printed circuit board until reaching to a secured position which is substantially overlapped with the printed circuit board.

Description:
[0001]    This application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/315,392 filed on Dec. 3, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,828,574 issued on Nov. 9, 2010. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an edge connector with daughter boards such as memory card or the like rotatably inserted thereinto and locked therein in a parallel position. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0005]    A conventional card edge connector, which includes a longitudinal card-inserting slot and two rows of contacts arranged on two opposite sides of the slot. The connector is assembled on a mother board or a PCB and a memory card is downwards inserted into the card-inserting slot in a slantwise direction relative to the PCB and then downwards rotates until parallel to the PCB and locked by a latching device, wherein resilient contacting portions of the contacts touch corresponding electrical pads of the card to complete a connection between the card and the PCB. To meet different usage circumstance, varies edge connectors are required and developed. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an edge connector with reverse insertion of a daughter board. 
         [0007]    In order to achieve the object set forth, an electrical connector adapted for receiving a memory module therein, comprises an insulating housing defining a central slot extending along a longitudinal direction with a forward opening thereof, and the slot being surrounded by a first wall and a second wall opposite to the first wall. A plurality of first contacts are located in the first wall, each having a first contacting portion projecting into the slot and a first solder portion extending outwardly. A plurality of second contacts are located in the second wall, each having a second contacting portion projecting into the slot and a second solder portion extending outwardly. The first and second solder portions commonly define a mounting face on which the electrical connector is mounted. The first contacting portions are located in front of the second contacting portions in a front-to-rear direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction so as to allow one end of the memory module slantwise inserted into the central slot initially under condition that the other end of the memory module is overlapped with the mounting face, and then rotated the memory module toward the first wall until reaching to a horizontal level. 
         [0008]    Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]    For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0010]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an edge connector assembled in a PCB and a card which is adapted for being inserted into the edge connector in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of edge connector and the PCB of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a schematic cross-sectional view of the connector in  FIG. 1  to show the configuration of a terminal of an upper row; 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  is a schematic cross-sectional view of the connector in  FIG. 1  to show the configuration of a terminal of a lower row; 
           [0014]      FIG. 5  is similar view of  FIG. 3  wherein the card is inserted into the connector; 
           [0015]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a connector assembly wherein the connector is mounted in the PCB and the card is retained in the connector by a latching device; 
           [0016]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the connector assembly shown in  FIG. 6  without the card; and 
           [0017]      FIG. 8  is an exploded perspective view of the connector assembly shown in  FIG. 7 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0018]    Reference will be made to the drawing figures to describe the present invention in detail, wherein depicted elements are not necessarily shown to scale and wherein like or similar elements are designated by same or similar reference numeral through the eight views and same or similar terminology. 
         [0019]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , a sunk type card edge connector  100  is adapted for being assembled in a large notch defined on a PCB  200  and being inserted by a daughter board such as memory card  300  or the like, so as to complete electrical connection between the PCB and the card. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the connector includes an insulating housing  1  with a forward-opened card-receiving slot  11  along a longitudinal direction and a plurality of conductive terminals  2 ,  3  (only some are shown in  FIG. 2  for simplification) located in opposite inside walls of the slot  11 . The plurality of terminals are arranged offsetting along the longitudinal direction. The PCB  200  has corresponding terminal holes  202  at an inner edge thereof, opposite to a front opening of the notch  201  of the PCB, to be inserted and soldered by soldering legs of the terminals. The PCB has two holes  203  at side edges adjacent to the inner edge thereof to be inserted and retained by a pair of metallic board locks  12  which are retained in opposite end flanges of the housing so as to retain the housing in the notch  201 . 
         [0020]    Referring to  FIG. 3 , the first terminals  2  of one upper row are arranged above the slot. Each first terminal  2  includes a longitudinal base portion  21 , a resilient contacting portion  22  extending forward and downwards into the slot  11  from a front end of the base portion and a soldering leg  23  perpendicular bending downward from a back end of the base portion  21 . A retaining portion  24  with tabs at sides thereof, perpendicularly extends from the base portion near to the front end of the base portion and is retained in the slit  13  opened upward so that the first terminals of the upper row are inserted into corresponding passageways which are arranged on the housing and running through the top face of the housing along an up-to-down direction. The soldering legs  23  are supported by the back of the housing. 
         [0021]    Referring to  FIG. 4 , the second terminals  3  of one lower row are arranged on the lower wall and below the slot  11 . Each second terminal  3  includes a base portion  31 , a resilient contacting portion  32  extending downwards firstly and then bending forwardly to be inserted into the slot  11  from a front end of the base portion  31  and a soldering leg  33  perpendicularly extending downward from a back end of the base portion  31 . A retaining portion  34  with tabs at sides thereof, forward projects from the front end of the base portion  31  and is inserted into a slit  15  opened rearwards in a rear-to-front direction. The soldering legs  33  of the second terminals  3  are located in front of the soldering legs  23  of the first terminals  2 . 
         [0022]    Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the housing  1  has a front portion  101  and a rear portion  102  smaller than the front portion  101  (with respect to a top face  205  of the PCB in a normal state). The rear portion  102  extends downward horizontally from the front portion  101  and defines a recess thereunder. The front portion  101  is embedded in the notch  201  of the PCB and the rear portion  102  defines a mounting face D confronting to the top face of the PCB. The contacting points  221 ,  231  at free ends of the contacting portions  22 ,  32  are exposing in the slot  11 , wherein the contacting points  221  of the first terminals  2  are nearer to a front opening of the slot  11  than that of the second terminals  3 , i.e. far away from an inner face  18  of the slot  11  so as to form a downward slant inserted space A as shown in  FIG. 3 . The inserted space A slants downwards to the PCB from an upper lever thereof. A front face  16  of an upper wall is in front of a front face  17  of the lower wall. 
         [0023]    Referring to  FIG. 5 , the card  300  is inserted into the slot  11  along the inserted space A and rotated about a front mating edge portion  301  along a direction C until the card is parallel to the PCB  200  and locked by the latching device  6  which will be described hereinafter. The connector  100  is assembled in the notch  201  in a normal direction, i.e., from the top face  205  of the PCB  200  to a lower face of  206  the PCB  200 , therefore the card  300  is inserted into the slot  11  from the lower face  206  of the PCB along a reverse direction, which is substantially a downside-up direction. In application, the connector  100  is located in an electronic apparatus such as a notebook or the like. When the connector  100  is located on the PCB with the slot  11  facing downwards, the users can insert the card from the bottom of the notebook, which will facility the replacement of an iffy card in the notebook through a large opening in the bottom of the notebook without taking apart the notebook. 
         [0024]      FIGS. 6 ,  7  and  8  show the usage of the latching device  6 , the latching device includes supporting faces  62  facing downward, mounting faces  66  confronting to the PCB and latching portions  61 . The latching device is retained in the notch  201  by the mounting faces  66  abutting against the top face  205  of the PCB and a rear retaining portion  302  of the card  300  which is opposite to the front mating edge portion  301  is sandwiched between the supporting faces  62  and the latching portions  61 . The latch device  6  is substantially a C-shaped configuration with two base portions  601  at opposite ends connected by a bridge portion  602 . A supporting face  62  and a mounting face  66  are defined on a bottom face of the base portion  601 , wherein the mounting face  66  is lower than the supporting portion  62  with relative to the top face  205  of the PCB. A card-positioning post  63  unitarily extends downward from the supporting face  62 . A PCB-positioning post  65  extends downwards from the mounting face  66  to be inserted into a hole  207  defined in the PCB. A pair of PCB-retaining board locks  64  at sides of the PCB-positioning post  65  project downward from the mounting face  66  to be inserted into holes  208  defined in the PCB. A long metal plate is attached to the bridge portion  602  with a bending portion upwards bending toward the supporting face  62  with a distance equal to the height of the card  300 . The bending portion functions as the locking portion  61  with a pressing portion  611  at a front end thereof, confronting to the supporting face  62 . Alternatively, the pressing portion  611  is configured as point contact or line contact. 
         [0025]    Referring to  FIGS. 6 and 7 , the supporting faces  62  and the mounting faces  66  are in a same side of the base portion  602  of the latching device  6 . In the preferred embodiment, the pressing portion  611  is located in the notch and the supporting faces  62  is higher than the top face of the PCB  200  to allow the card  300  to be received within the notch  201  for decrease the whole high of the connector and the card. By nature, the height of the supporting faces  62  is designed by the sink-dimension of the card in the notch. The corresponding retaining portion  302  sandwiched between the supporting faces  62  and the mounting faces  66  is thinner than the PCB, that causing one of the pressing portion  611  and the supporting portion  62  is in the notch  201  and the other of the pressing portion  611  and the supporting portion  622  is over or below the notch  201 , i.e. over the top face  205  of the PCB or below the lower face  206  of the PCB. 
         [0026]    However, the disclosure is illustrative only, changes may be made in detail, especially in matter of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention.