Patent Publication Number: US-7708599-B2

Title: Card edge connector with power contacts

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to card edge connectors, more particularly to card edge connectors with power contacts. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Card edge connectors are employed widely in computers to receive a memory card for increasing memory capacity of the computers. With rapid development of electronic industry, the computer has a rapid speed of data operation, and need a mass of electric current to supply the data operation. Therefore, the card edge connector is arranged with a plurality of power contacts to supply added transmission channels for transmitting a mass of current to the computer. However, when the power contacts have been added into the card edge connector, the impedance of contacts in the card edge connector is increased at the same time, therefore, the power contacts will produce more heat when a mass of current transfluxes the power contacts, and affect the signal transmission stability of card edge connector. 
     Hence, an improved card edge connector is desired to overcome the above problems. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to one aspect of the present invention, a card edge connector comprising: an elongate insulative housing defining a pair of opposed side walls and a central slot between the side walls, each side wall defining a plurality of passageways communicating with the central slot; a plurality of signal contacts retained in the passageways, each signal contact having a contact portion exposed to the central slot; and at least a power contact retained in the insulative housing, the power contact having a securing portion retained in the insulative housing, a plurality of contact portions extending upwardly and sidewardly into the central slot from one end of the securing portion and arranged in a row along a length direction of the insulative housing, and at least one tail portion extending downwardly from another end of the securing portion. 
     According to another aspect of the present invention, a card edge connector defining a central slot to receive a memory card, comprising: an elongate insulative housing having a pair of opposed side walls, the central slot is formed between the side walls, each side wall defines a plurality of passageways; a plurality of signal contacts retained in the passageways, each signal contact having a contact portion extending into the central slot; and a plurality of power contacts arranged in two rows respectively retained in two side walls of the insulative housing, each power contact has a securing portion, a contact portion extending upwardly and sidewardly from one end of the securing portion, and a tail portion extending downwardly from another end of the securing portion. The securing portions of the power contacts in each row are connected with each other. 
     The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       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: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a card edge connector according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a view similar to  FIG. 1 , while taken from a different aspect; 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view of the card edge connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  a perspective view of an insulative housing of the card edge connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of a power contact of the card edge connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional view taken along line  6 - 6  of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without such specific details. In other instances, well-known circuits have been shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the present invention in unnecessary detail. For the most part, details concerning timing considerations and the like have been omitted inasmuch as such details are not necessary to obtain a complete understanding of the present invention and are within the skills of persons of ordinary skill in the relevant art. 
     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 several views and same or similar terminology. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-6 , a card edge connector  100  according to the present invention is disclosed. The card edge connector  100  comprises an elongate insulative housing  1 , a pair of ejectors  2  retained in two ends of the insulative housing  1 , a plurality of signal contacts  3  and a pair of power contacts  4  retained in the insulative housing  1 , and a plurality of board locks  5  retained in the insulative housing  1  for fastening the card edge connector  100  to a circuit board (not shown). 
     The insulative housing  1  has a pair of opposed side walls  11  extending along a length direction of the insulative housing  1 , a bottom wall  12 , and a central slot  13  extending along the length direction for receiving an edge portion of a memory card (not shown). Each side wall  11  defines a plurality of passageways  12  extending there through along a height direction of the insulative housing  1  for retaining the signal contacts  3 , and a plurality of through holes  111  at an inner side thereof for communicating the passageways  12  and the central slot  13  together. The insulative housing  1  has a separated board  14  in the central slot  13  to separate the central slot  13  in two slots which have different length for preventing the memory card from mismating. Each side wall  11  defines a groove  15  adjacent to the separated board  14  along the length direction and communicating with the central slot  13 . The groove  15  defines a width which is larger than that of the passageway  12  along the length direction. 
     The insulative housing  1  has a pair of opposed tower portions  16  at two ends thereof. Each tower portion  16  has a pair of opposed arm portions  161  and two receiving cavities  162  between the arm portions  161  to receive the ejectors  2 . Each arm portion  161  defines a circular recess  163  at an inner side thereof and a locking block  164  extending to the receiving cavity  162  at an upper and outer side of the recess  163  for locking the ejector  2  when the memory card is inserted into the central slot  13 . Each tower portion  16  has a limiting wall  165  in the receiving cavity  162  for preventing the ejector  2  from rotating overly. The receiving cavities  162  communicate with the central slot  13 , therefore, the ejector  2  can extends into the central slot  13  to push the memory card out of the central slot  13 . The bottom wall  12  defines a plurality of slits  121  extending along a width direction of the insulative housing  1 . Each board lock  5  has a retaining portion  15  retained in the slits  121  and a pair of mounting legs  52  extending downwardly and out of the bottom wall  12 . 
     Each signal contact  3  has a retention portion  31  retained in the passageway  110 , an engaging portion  31  extending upwardly from the retention portion  31  and a soldering portion  33  extending downwardly and out of the insulative housing  1 . The engaging portions  31  extend into the central slot  13  through the through holes  111  for engaging with the memory card. 
     The pair of power contacts  4  are retained in the grooves  15  and oppose to each other. Referring to  FIG. 5 , each power contact  4  is stamped from a piece of metal sheet and has an elongate securing portion  41  extending along the length direction, a plurality of contact portions  42  extending upwardly and sidewardly from one end of the securing portion  41 , and three tail portions  43  extending downwardly and out of the bottom wall  12  from another end of the securing portion  41  and being perpendicular to the securing portion  41 . 
     The contact portions  42  of each power contact  4  are arranged in a row and spaced apart from each other along the length direction. The contact portions  42  connect with each other by the securing portion  41  at lower ends thereof, and by a connecting portion  44  at upper ends thereof. The contact portions  42  extend into the central slot  13  for contacting the memory card. The securing portion  41  has a plurality of retention strips  45  extending sidewardly for resisting side walls of the groove  15 . The connecting portion  44  is parallel to the securing portion  41 . The securing portion  41  abuts against an inner side wall of the groove  15 , and the connecting portion  44  abuts against another inner side wall opposed to that of the securing portion  41  abuts against. The three tail portions  43  in each power contact  4  are offset from the contact portions  42  along the width direction of the insulative housing  1 . In practice, each power contact  4  can alternatively has only one tail portion  43  or more tail portions  43  according to circuit of the circuit board. 
     According to the structures of two power contacts  4  described above, the power contacts  4  can be also understand as connecting a plurality of separated power contacts  4  together by the securing portion  41  and connecting portion  44 . The plurality of power contacts  4  can be arranged in two rows which are respectively retained in two side walls  11  of the insulative housing  1 . Each power contact  4  has a securing portion  41  retained in the groove  15 , a contact portion  42  extending upwardly and sidewardly from one end of the securing portion  41 , and a tail portion  43  extending downwardly from another end of the securing portion  41 . The power contacts  4  in each row are connected with each other by a securing portion  41  at a lower end of the contact portions  42 , and by a connecting portion  44  at an upper end of the contact portions  42 . The tail portions  43  of the power contacts  4  in each row can be used in common, thereby, the power contacts  4  in each row can alternatively comprise only one or more tail portions  43  which is fewer than the contact portions  42  in a row. 
     Each ejector  2  has a body portion  21 , a operation portion  22  at a top portion thereof, and a resisting portion  23  at a lower portion thereof for pushing the memory card out of the central slot  13 . The body portion  21  has two pivots  211  at two sides thereof to engage with the recesses  163  of the arm portions  163 , and two projections  212  at an upper position of the pivots  211  for locking with the locking blocks  164 . 
     As fully described above, the power contacts  4  are added in the electrical connector  100  in the present invention to supply a plurality of transmission channels for transmitting a mass of current. In addition, the power contacts  4  in a row are connected with each other, thereby, the impedance of all power contacts  4  in a row is decreased, and heat produced in current transmission process on the power contacts  4  are decreased at the same time. The card edge connector  100  in the present invention can be worked stably. 
     It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.