Abstract:
The invention offers a particularly simple self-centering floating connector mechanism. For this purpose, the connector ( 20 ) is attached to a frame ( 24 ), at a predetermined distance therefrom, by resilient fasteners ( 26 ).

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to back-plane connectors and more specifically to a bay for receiving a removable computer peripheral device, such as a hard disk drive or a CD-ROM drive, configured for instance according to the Intel-Microsoft-Compaq “Device Bay” standards. 
     2. Description of the Related Art. 
     FIG. 1 schematically shows a removable peripheral device  10  being inserted into a bay  12 . Bay  12  includes a back-plane  14  provided with a connector  16  adapted to mate a corresponding connector (not shown) on the back of device  10 . Cooperating guiding means (not shown) of device  10  and bay  12  ensure that, when device  10  is fully pushed into the bay, the connectors of the back-plane and of device  10  engage each other. In practice, the two connectors will not exactly face each other, whereby they may be damaged upon engagement. 
     Some connectors are specifically designed to bend to a certain extent for compensating a misalignment. However, in some cases, the bending of the connectors may not be sufficient for compensating a misalignment. In other cases, although a misalignment may be compensated by the bending, an intensive use will make the connectors have a short life time. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,652,695 discloses a removable hard drive carrier and bay assembly wherein the hard drive carrier has a floating connector for compensating a misalignment with a mating connector. The carrier connector is mounted on a printed circuit board, or PCB, which is held in slots with lateral and longitudinal clearance. 
     A drawback of this floating connector mechanism is that the connector does not have a known rest position, since all the positions within the floating range are stable. As a consequence, if the connector is in a limit rest position where one edge of the PCB is fully engaged in a slot, a misalignment which would lead the connector to go in an opposite limit position may not be compensated. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the present invention is to provide a particularly simple self-centering floating connector mechanism. 
     This object is achieved by a floating connector attached to a frame, at a predetermined distance therefrom, by resilient fasteners. 
     According to an embodiment of the invention, the connector is mounted on a printed circuit board which is attached by said fasteners to the frame. 
     According to an embodiment of the invention, each of said fasteners is in the form of a nail adapted to pass through holes of the printed circuit board and of a plate of the frame, having grooves for axially holding the printed circuit board and the plate apart from each other. 
     According to an embodiment of the invention, each nail has a conical portion extended by a tail. 
     The present invention also provides electronic apparatus having a bay for receiving a removable peripheral device, the bay comprising a floating connector as mentioned above. 
     In practical implementations, for instance to personal computers, it is preferable for reasons of cost and reliability that the floating connector be mounted in the bay, rather than on the removable peripheral device. Moreover, if the floating connector is mounted in the bay, the fact that the removable device is already at least to some extent mobile within the bay allows a further degree of relative movement between the mating connectors which provides for easier and more convenient mating. Nevertheless, the possibilities that the floating connector be mounted on a removable peripheral device, or on both a removable peripheral device and within the bay are not excluded. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments, given by way of illustration and not of limitation with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     FIG. 1, previously described, schematically shows a removable peripheral device being inserted into a connection bay; 
     FIG. 2 shows a side section view of an embodiment of a floating connector assembly according to the present invention; and 
     FIG. 3 shows a top view of the assembly of FIG.  2 . 
    
    
     In FIG. 2, a connector  20  for a removable device and bay assembly within a personal computer is mounted on a printed circuit board, or PCB,  22 . Connector  20  could be the connector located at the back of the removable device  10  but it is preferably the back-plane connector of the bay, where more space is available for mounting. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     In the preferred embodiment, the bay is configured according to the Device Bay Interface Specification (revision 0.85) available from Microsoft Corporation. 
     According to the invention, PCB  22  is attached to a back-plane plate  24 , at a predetermined distance therefrom, by resilient fasteners  26 . As shown in FIG. 3, at least three non aligned fasteners  26  are used to avoid a tilting of PCB  22 . The fasteners  26  are mounted with a small clearance in holes of PCB  22  and plate  24 . 
     With this arrangement, if PCB  22  is urged laterally, the middle portions of fasteners  26 , between PCB  22  and plate  24 , will allow a lateral movement by bending. If the lateral force on PCB  22  or connector  20  is canceled, fasteners  26  bend back elastically to their initial shapes, whereby connector  20  regains its initial center position. 
     The lateral freedom of movement of connector  20  and PCB  22  depends on the distance between PCB  22  and plate  24  and on the elasticity of fasteners  26 . 
     Of course, the resilient fasteners  26  also allow PCB  22  and connector  20  to move, resiliently, in the axial direction of the fasteners, which is beneficial in absorbing shocks caused when driving the carrier home in the bay. 
     FIG. 2 shows exemplary resilient fasteners  26 . They are rubber fasteners of the type used to resiliently mount cooling fans to casings in machines manufactured by Hewlett Packard. The fasteners are in the shape of nails which pass through holes of PCB  22  and plate  24 . Each fastener  26  comprises two annular grooves in which PCB  22  and plate  24  are respectively held. The lateral wall of one of the grooves of each fastener  26  is defined by the base of a cone  28  whose top is extended by a tail  30 . Cone  28  and tail  30  simplify the mounting of the fastener in the holes of PCB  22  and plate  24 : first tail  30  is inserted through the holes until cone  28  rests in one hole. The tail  30  then protrudes from the other hole and may be gripped with a specific tool with which cone  28  is pulled through the holes of PCB  22  and plate  24  up to the position shown in FIG. 2, where PCB  22  and plate  24  are each held in one groove. 
     As shown in FIG. 2, an additional connector  32  is usually provided on PCB  22  opposite connector  20 . Connector  32  extends through an opening of plate  24  so that it may be connected with ribbon cables, or any other appropriate means, to devices behind the back-plane. 
     As an alternative, connectors  20  and  32 , and PCB  22  may be a single part having preconnected cables. 
     Many alterations and modifications of the above described embodiments will appear to those skilled in the art. For example, PCB  22  may be attached by only two fasteners  26  and one of its edges be inserted in a slot. 
     Of course, a floating connector according to the invention is not limited to back-plane connectors. It may be used in any application where two mating connectors may be misaligned.