PC electrical card connector

Abstract: A PC card electrical connector comprises a housing having a pair of guides (3, 4) for guiding the PC card (1) into the housing and a connector section (5) at the rear of the guides for engagement with the contact elements (2) of the PC card. A slider (13) is mounted for reciprocal sliding movement along the guides (3, 4) and has tabs for abutment against the front end of the PC card. An ejector lever (9) is pivotted to the connector section (5), and an ejector bar (6) is connected to the ejector lever and mounted for movement rearwardly of the housing such that rearward movement of the ejector bar causes a corresponding rotation of the ejector lever to push the slider (13) forwardly to disengage the PC card from the connector section. A cantilever spring (11) is arranged to store resilient deformation energy prior to disengagement of the PC card from the connector section, and the stored energy is released when the PC card is disengaged from the connector section to further push the PC card forwardly away from the connector section. In another embodiment the cantilever spring is replaced by two compression springs acting between the rear of the guides and the slider.

Description: The present invention relates to PC card electrical connectors. Japanese patent application Kokai No. 243299/94 discloses an electrical connector having a connector section to be connected to a PC card having a plurality of contact elements at a front end thereof. This connector has a pair of guide sections for guiding sides of a PC card and the connector section connected to the rear portions of the guide sections. An ejector lever is provided on the connector section for rotation and having abutment portions for abutment with the front end of the PC card for pushing the PC card forwardly. An ejector bar is connected to the ejector lever and is movable rearwardly when pushed by the operator. A pushing portion is provided on the front portion of the ejector lever for pushing the front end of the PC card. When the ejector lever is depressed, the rotation center moved from the first fulcrum to the second fulcrum. That is, the ejector lever has two cam portions. When the ejector lever is depressed, the first cam abuts against the abutment of the housing forming the first fulcrum for rotation which provides a relatively large force for disconnecting the PC card from the connector section. When the ejector lever is further depressed, the second cam and the second abutment form the second fulcrum for rotation which provides a long stroke for moving the disconnected PC card for easy removal. However, the pushing portion is provided on the front end of the ejector lever so that the PC card is pushed at a front corner, making the PC card inclined in the space within the housing and causing damage to the side of the PC card. In addition, the fulcrum point of the ejector lever moves from the first point to the second point providing uneasy sense of operation. WO 95/14317 discloses a PC card electrical connector for receiving a PC card having a plurality of contact elements at a front edge thereof, the connector comprising: a housing having a pair of guide sections for guiding opposite side edges of the PC card into the housing and a connector section at the rear of the guide sections for engagement with the contact elements of the PC card when the latter is inserted into the housing, a slider member for reciprocal sliding movement along the guide sections and having means for abutment against the front end of the PC card, an ejector lever pivotted to the connector section, an ejector bar connected to the ejector lever and mounted for movement rearwardly of the housing when pushed, such rearward movement of the ejector bar causing a corresponding rotation of the ejector lever to push the slider member forwardly to disengage the PC card from the connector section resilient means arranged to store resilient deformation energy prior to disengagement of the PC card from the connector section by the slider member. The present invention provides a PC card electrical connector characterised in that the stored energy of the resilient means is released when the PC card is disengaged from the connector section, and said resilient means are arranged to further push the PC card forwardly away from the connector section. The PC card is disengaged from the connector section before the operator releases the ejector bar. In the case of the invention, this means that the stored energy of the resilient means is used to further eject the PC card away from the connector section rather than in the prior art where it is only used to return the ejector bar to its original state. An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a PC card connector according to the invention; and Figs. 2(A)-(C) are plan views of the connector section showing the connection/disconnection of a PC card. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the connector section of a PC card connector according to a second embodiment of the 35 invention; Fig. 4 is a plan view of the connection section of Fig. 3 wherein the PC card is released from the connection; and Fig. 5 is a plan view, partially cutaway, of a lock mechanism of the PC card connector of Fig. 3. In Fig. 1, a PC card 1 has a plurality of contact elements 2 disposed at a front edge thereof. A pair of parallel guide sections 3 and 4 are connected at their rear ends to a connector section 5 to form a housing. A pair of guiding channels 3A and 4A are provided in the opposed inner sides of the guide sections 4 and 5 for guiding the opposite side edges of the PC card. Protruding sections 3B are provided on the outer side of the guide section 3 and have slots 3C for supporting an ejector bar 6 for reciprocal forward/backward sliding movement. A plurality of contact elements 7 extend through the connector section 5 in forward/backward directions such that the front portions of the elements 7 correspond to the contact elements 2 while their rear portions are disposed in a zigzag fashion 20 and bent downwardly for connection to a printed circuit board. A fulcrum stud 8 is provided on the top of the connector section 5 for pivotally supporting an ejector lever 9. The ejector lever 9 has a C-shaped end 9A for engagement with a hole 6A in the ejector bar 6. The ejector lever 9 is made by stamping and forming a metal sheet so as to provide a first push portion 10 between the stud 8 and the other end thereof. A cantilever spring 11 extends laterally from the front edge of the ejector lever 9 and has a second push portion 12 at its free end. A slider member 13 is provided on the top of the connector section 5 for reciprocal forward/backward sliding movement over a predetermined range. The slider member 13 is made by stamping and forming a metal sheet so as to provide C-shaped end portions 14 and 15 for sliding movement along the guiding sections 3 and 4. A pair of abutment tabs 16 and 17 extend downwardly from the front edge of the slider member 13 for abutment against opposite ends of the front edge of the PC card 1 for removal of the latter. A left side recess 18 and a right side recess 19 extend forwardly from the rear edge of the slider member 13, and an intermediate section between them is raised by at least the thickness of the ejector lever 9. Conversely, the portions of the ejector lever to the left from the left recess 18 and to the right from the right recess 19 are raised by the thickness of the slider member 13. Thus, when the slider member 13 and the ejector lever 9 are in motion, they can intersect each other at the left and right side recesses 18 and 19. An abutment portion 20 extends downwardly and rearwardly from the centre of the rear edge of the slider member 13 for abutment against the push portion 10 of the ejector lever 9. The operation of the electrical connector will be described with reference to Figs. 2(A)-(C). (1) When a PC card 1 is inserted into the connector, the front edge of the PC card 1 abuts against the abutment tabs 16 and 17 of the slider member 13 to move the slider member 13 rearwardly to its most retracted position as shown in Fig. 2A and the contact elements 2 of the PC card 1 engage the contact elements 7 of the connector section 5. The most retracted position of the slider member 13 is indicated by a distance L1 between the abutment tab 17 and the rear end of the guide section 4. When the slider member 13 is moved to the most retracted position, the convex abutment portion 20 of the slider member 13 abuts against the push portion 10 of the ejector lever 9 to rotate the ejector lever 9 clockwise about the fulcrum stud 8 thereby moving forwardly the ejector bar 6. (2) To remove the PC card 1, the ejector bar 6 is pushed rearwardly as shown in Fig. 2(B). The rearward movement of the ejector bar 6 turns the ejector lever 9 counterclockwise about the fulcrum stud 8 so that the push portion 10 abuts against the abutment portion 20 and pushes the slider member, 13 forwardly. Consequently, the abutment tabs 16 and 17 of the slider member 13 push the PC card forwardly for disconnection from the connector section 5. L2 is the distance between the abutment tab 17 and the rear end of the guide bar 4 (L2 > L1) at the point of disengagement of the PC card 1 from the connection section 5. During such forward movement of the slider member 13 the second push portion 12 of the cantilever spring 11 engages the recess 19 of the slider member 13 to resiliently deform the cantilever spring 11 out of its rest position indicated by a phantom line so that cantilever spring 11 is flexed and stores the resilient deformation energy. (3) When the PC card is disengaged from the connector section 5 in the above step (2), the slider member 13 is pushed further forward by the return spring force produced by the release of the resilient deformation energy of the cantilever spring 11 as shown in Fig. 2(C). This position is indicated by L3 (L3 > L2). Since the second push portion 12 is spaced far from the stud 8, the distance of further forward movement of the slider member 13 provided by the cantilever spring 11 is large. Alternatively, the spring may be separated from the ejector lever, as shown in Fig. 3. A pair of spring cavities 21 and 22 are provided in the rear portions of the guide sections 3 and 4 to accommodate compression springs 23 and 24 each having one end attached to the slider member 13. As shown in Fig. 5, a slit 25 extends forwardly from the rear end of the slider member 13 to provide a leaf spring 26. A triangular projection 27 provided on the guide section 3 has a steep rear slope and a gentle front slope. An engaging window 28 is provided in the leaf spring 26 for forming a lock mechanism. As shown in Fig. 3, the guide section 4 has a similar lock mechanism. Alternatively, the compression springs 23, 24 may be replaced by tension springs in a modified embodiment. When a PC card is inserted into the connector to move the slider member 13 rearwardly, the compression springs 23 and 24 are compressed within the spring cavities 21 and 22. As shown in Fig. 5, the engaging windows 28 of the leaf springs 26 engage the triangular projections 27 of the guide sections 3 and 4 for making a lock, keeping the springs 23 and 24 compressed. To remove the PC card, the ejector bar 6 is pushed rearwardly as shown in Fig. 4. Consequently, the ejector lever 9 turns counterclockwise to push the PC card forwardly via the slider member 13 thereby disengaging the PC card from the connector section 5. Until this point, the operation is the same as that of the embodiment in Figs. 1 and 2. When the slider member 13 is moved forwardly by the ejector lever 9, the leaf springs 26 run over the triangular projections 27 for releasing the lock. Consequently, the PC card is pushed by the compression springs 23 via the slider member 13 for further forward movement, thereby facilitating removal of the PC card. Alternatively, the lock mechanism in Figs. 3-5 may be omitted by selecting an appropriate spring force. The springs 23, 24 are provided only to push further forward the PC card once it is disengaged from the connection section 5 so that the power of spring forces need only be small. On the other hand, the number of contact elements 2 on the PC card is very large and so is the connection force between the PC card and the connector section. Consequently, if the forces of the springs 23, 24 is set below the connection force but sufficiently large to push out the released PC card, the lock mechanism may be omitted without having any adverse effects. As has been described above, the spring forces are applied through the slider member to the PC card which is released from the connector section, so that the PC card is not inclined against the guide sections but removed smoothly. In addition, the spring forces push out the PC card sufficiently far in the removal direction that it is very easy to remove the PC card.

Claims: A PC card electrical connector for receiving a PC card (1) having a plurality of contact elements (2) at a front edge thereof, the connector comprising: a housing having a pair of guide sections (3,4) for guiding opposite side edges of the PC card into the housing and a connector section (5) at the rear of the guide sections for engagement with the contact elements of the PC card when the latter is inserted into the housing, a slider member (13) for reciprocal sliding movement along the guide sections and having means for abutment (16,17) against the front end of the PC card, an ejector lever (9) pivotted to the connector section, an ejector bar (6) connected to the ejector lever and mounted for movement rearwardly of the housing when pushed, such rearward movement of the ejector bar causing a corresponding rotation of the ejector lever to push the slider member (13) forwardly to disengage the PC card from the connector section (5), resilient means (11) arranged to store resilient deformation energy prior to disengagement of the PC card from the connector section by the slider member, characterised in that the stored energy of said resilient means (11) is released when the PC card is disengaged from the connector section, and said resilient means (11) are arranged to further push the PC card forwardly away from the connector section. A PC card electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ejector lever (9) has a first portion (10) on the opposite side of the pivot (8) to the ejector bar for pushing the slider member forwardly when the ejector bar is pushed rearwardly and a resiliently mounted second portion (11,12) more remote from the pivot than the first portion also for pushing the slider member forwardly, the second portion mount being resiliently deformed prior to disengagement of the PC card from the connector section by the slider member so as to store said resilient deformation energy for release as aforesaid. A PC card electrical connector as claimed in claim 2, wherein the second portion is mounted by a cantilever spring (11) from the ejector lever, the spring being resiliently deformed during forward movement of the slider member (13) under the action of the first portion. A PC card electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the resilient means comprises a spring (23) provided between the slider member (13) and the housing which spring is resiliently deformed by rearward movement of the slider member (13) as the PC card is inserted into the housing. A PC card electrical connector as claimed in claim 4, further including lock means (27,28) for holding the spring (23) in the resiliently deformed condition, the lock being released upon disengagement of the PC card from the connector section. A PC card electrical connector as claimed in claim 4, wherein the force of the spring on the slider member is less than the connection force between the PC card and the connector section.

Inventors: OBARA SHUU, TOMIOKA SHOICHI, OBARA, SHUU, TOMIOKA, SHOICHI
Applicants: HIROSE ELECTRIC CO LTD, HIROSE ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
Application year: 1996
Main classification: H01R12
IPC codes: G06K13, H01R13, H01R12